Prompt: see the photo on the cover.
Detective Kate Beckett had been stressing out for so long that when her partner, the famous author Richard Caste, asked her to take a few days off she somehow agreed. Well, not at first. He'd nagged about it for three days straight before she'd given in with a harsh tone and narrowed eyes. To her utter irritation he'd had the audacity to grin wide back at her. She had thought about canceling last minute, especially when he said he was planning on making sure she relaxed, but - deep inside - she was actually looking forward to some relaxation. Plus Montgomery had apparently been told about the plans and she'd been even more irritated when he had taken the writer's side.
"But sir, I..."
"This is non-negotiable," her captain had interrupted her when he'd told her the vacation was permitted.
She had wanted to stomp off. To just walk out the office and slam the door behind her in protest. But she didn't. She wasn't a child! Not like the nine-year-old on a sugar rush to a partner! So, she'd walked out the door with determined steps, not stomping, and given her captain a glance of annoyance.
Her partner had gone up to her, a big, excited smile plastered onto his lips as he asked her if she would be free. The look she'd given him was apparently enough for him to understand what the answer was. When he'd followed her back to her desk that day he'd bounced on his feet as a gleefulness had surrounded him, but to her surprise he'd kept his mouth shut and when she'd given him a glance from her chair to his he'd been fooling around on his phone. Suspicious of his behavior she'd asked him what he was up to but he'd simply said he was texting Alexis and - how stupid of her - she'd believed him. It wasn't until the Friday arrived, when she was done for the day and her week of vacation would start, that she found out his true intention for her time off.
"You're out of your mind if you think I'm going to accept a trip overseas from you!" she'd hissed when he'd told her to go home and pack her bags, that he'd pick her up at ten pm in order to take them to the airport.
They'd been arguing the whole ride down the elevator, or - more like - she'd argued. Her partner had just been standing still, not moving his mouth until she was done scolding him for deciding something he was not allowed to decide.
"I've already bought the ticket, Kate," she'd flinched at his usage of her first name. "I promise you'll enjoy this, and you will have your own room and everything. No funny business, I promise."
For the first time in a long time she believed his promise. She'd believed in him before, yes, but it was something about the gentle blues staring at her and the tone he was using that made her raging heart calm down. It was weird how he could do that, calm her down. She'd known him for three years now and she couldn't understand how deep beneath her skin he'd gotten.
"Fine," she'd muttered before walking out of the elevator to set her pace towards her home.
"Kate, we're here," his soft voice woke her up slowly, his breath against her ear sending shivers down her spine.
She hadn't been able to get wind of where here was before she boarded the private plane he'd arranged, apparently in order to keep their destination a secret, and when she'd asked the two flight attendants they had just smiled with the answer; "it's a surprise". She'd nearly growled at them, but Castle had told her he had given them all instructions not to tell her and that if she should be mad at someone it was him. Though he did prefer if she wasn't too angry considering he was really doing this for her. After that she'd crossed her arms and leant her whole body into her seat in order to show her utter irritation. She hadn't even been aware she'd fallen asleep until he was waking her up again.
"Where's here?" she muttered as she started to rub her eyes with her fingers, a bit irritated the softness of the seat had lulled her to sleep.
"You'll see the second we get out of the plane," he teased, but there was a gentleness to his voice that she had only heard him use on his daughter. And occasionally when she'd been feeling down and he'd wanted to show her he cared.
Meeting his blues she knew he cared, a lot more than she had been prepared to admit to herself earlier, and maybe - just maybe - she cared about him too. Too much. It was a bit too much for her to take and so she broke their eye contact in order to fake a sigh before unfastening the belt and stand up. He didn't hesitate before he did the same and let her walk first out the door, he didn't let her take her own suitcase though. Her eyes rolled at that, but she was too irritated to argue. If he wanted to carry her suitcase then he could carry her suitcase, as long as he didn't snoop around in it. She hadn't had much clothes to take with her considering she had planned on washing during the weekend. Plus she hadn't planned on putting on any other clothes than those she usually used at home, those comfy ones that is. Oh, and she also only had one bra... the one she was wearing. Absolutely freakingly fantastic.
"France?!" Kate exclaimed with wide eyes when she noticed the flags and words screaming back at her. "You bought tickets to France?!" She turned on her heel in order to stare at her partner.
His lips was slightly pulled up in a smile as he observed her reaction, observing her like he did every day. She prayed her cheeks didn't redden because she could definitely feel them warm up. He shrugged his shoulders as he leaned his head a little on its side.
"Yeah. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did a couple years ago when I needed a break from everything. You see, I got here after I first realized I didn't want to write more Derek Storm. I needed to clear my head in order to decide what to do with him and his last book. And so I went here," he explained and as he was about to continue she saw his jaws tighten and he closed his mouth. Had he said more than he'd planned? "Come on, let's go. We need to hail a cab before it gets too dark."
Rolling her eyes she followed him out of the small private airport their plane had landed at. "Castle, it's day," she corrected him and he just muttered something incoherent in reply.
Once they hailed a cab Kate was surprised to hear him tell the driver where to take them in french, she looked at him with questioning eyes because she had no idea he could speak more languages than their native one.
"What?" he questioned and she glanced between him and the driver with a pointing look. "Oh, I've practiced since I booked the trip, impressed?" he smirked and she wanted to hit him.
"Jackass," she muttered and he scolded once again how he was a wise-ass, not a jackass.
The rest of the ride was ridden in silence, none of the two spoke and neither did the driver. Until they were at their destination and Kate couldn't stop ogling the house they'd stopped at. She didn't even pay any attention when her partner handed over money to their cab driver. When he turned to her to tell her they should leave the cab she was climbing out as if on autopilot. The house was magnificent, not really that big but it still had two floors and she wondered how much this would cost him. She had a feeling he didn't care, but she did. There was no way she wold let him spend so much money on her. He'd already booked her a flight overseas, a flight she'd almost declined immediately due to the same fact - she didn't want his money.
"Castle, I can't-" she started but when his eyes met hers instantly she suddenly wasn't sure how to express herself. How was it that almost every time she met his eyes she felt like she was drowning? It didn't make sense! He was an annoying nine-year-old on a sugar rush for god's sake! Yet, somehow, she couldn't really see that any more. He'd grown during the time they'd known each other, and - yes - he was still a child at times but it wasn't to that extreme it was in the beginning. He was... sweet. And kind. And handsome. "You've spent way too much money on this, I'll pay you back," she eventually said but he was immediately shaking his head with great determination.
"Don't be ridiculous, Beckett," he said. "You're worth every dime, plus, I didn't spend any money on this house at all. Or, well, not this year anyway," he shrugged his shoulders.
"You own this?!" she half screeched in surprise and looking at him she saw him nod excitedly.
"Mhmm, wait until you see the inside, come one."
He grabbed their suitcases and started towards the door with eager steps. At first she just stared at him, watched as he walked up the small stairs in order to get to his door, watched as he dug out his keys from his pocket and put it in the door to unlock. It wasn't until he had opened and looked back at her that she got out of her frozen state.
"You coming?"
"Yes-yeah."
Castle was more than a little amused by the uncertainty in her hazel eyes. He was so used to the hardcore detective that knew exactly what she was doing all of the time, so this was absolutely a sight he'd wanted to witness for a long time. When he decided to take her on a trip he hadn't been sure he would be able to get her to accept, especially not considering she'd declined his offer to go to the Hamptons a year earlier. Then again, they had grown so much closer the past year, and now he knew he was a lost case. He just prayed she felt the same, and even if she didn't he just wanted her to get to relax for once. She was always overworking herself, stressing out about her cases, and he knew for a fact that she sucked at eating. When she did eat it was always takeout, and he wanted to give her a week of complete relaxation.
"Here's your room," he had given her the same tour only his mother and his daughter had gotten before and ended it at the guest room she would be staying in for this week. "My room is just down the hall to the right. Oh! And, this whole side of the second level has a joining balcony." When she gave him a skeptical look he quickly added, "Don't worry, you can lock your door and there's curtains you can close."
She nodded but he could tell she was still a bit suspicious. She had that cute wrinkle in her forehead.
"I'll just let you unpack, you can put all your clothes in the drawers and that door there is to a bathroom of your own," Castle pointed to the door that wasn't the one they were standing at before he excused himself in order to go into his own room.
He started unpacking his own suitcase once inside his bedroom. He hadn't exactly packed much clothes since he had some permanently in the house but he had still packed the essentials like his tooth brush, his laptop, the book he's currently reading, and so on. He figured he would be able to do some writing since he assumed his partner wouldn't want to spend every minute of her time with him. Of course he was hoping she would want to spend much time with him, he'd actually been hoping this could be their chance to get to know each other on a deeper level. Once he was done with the unpacking he walked towards her door, getting ready to knock when he realized she might've wanted to be alone. Therefore he carefully put down his fist again and slowly backed away to set pace towards the kitchen instead. They needed to eat soon and he knew exactly what to make, his infamous pasta carbonara.
While he was moving around in the kitchen Kate was sitting on the bed she would be sleeping in, thinking about this whole trip. Why had he asked her to come? Why had she said yes? Why couldn't she stop thinking about how sweet he was? Falling down onto the bed so her back was sinking into the mattress she also wondered how come she was not as afraid as she normally would be. God, what had she gotten herself into? She could feel herself softening, and she didn't like it. How was he able to make her relax and feel so... happy, at times? Even when he was fooling around lately she caught herself enjoying it, caught herself laughing at his jokes. Another thing she caught herself doing was looking at him, observing him when he didn't know she was, her eyes tracing his lines. Before she knew it she had memorized every single feature on his face, could close her eyes and see him behind her lids. She'd even dreamt about him a couple times, woken with his name on her lips, her fingers tracing her skin to...
"Kate?" The sudden knock on her door had her jerk straight up in bed. "If you want some din-eh-lunch, there's some waiting for you in the kitchen," Castle's voice sounded through the door and Kate could feel her heart skip a beat at the kindness.
"I'll be right down," she promised and heard his footsteps lead away from the door.
He'd made her food? God, he was going to spoil her. And for once it actually made her look forward to the week ahead.
A/N: Thank you all for being so patient with me and my stories, and thanks for all the support on my last one!
This is story have three chapters and I started it sometime during November last year (2018) but never got to finish because other stories got in the way lol. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter and I look forward to be giving you the next two soon. Until next time, xxxx