Love Letters
The honeymoon phase wasn't past them by any means, but things had quieted down a bit, settled into something of a rhythm, one they both welcomed and enjoyed. It'd been four months since Rick had professed his love, again, and though he wanted more than anything to hear those sweet words in return, he knew what he had, what Kate had already given him, and how fragile it all was, and he was using everything he had in him to make sure he did everything right.
He found himself at Kate's door unexpectedly on that evening. She just couldn't bring herself to make the trek to the loft after work, after a day that'd been so utterly forgettable, and rather than spending the night without her, he told her he'd come to her, instead - invited himself was what he did, really. Honestly, she wasn't sure she was prepared to handle his level of energy, but she was very sure that seeing him always made things a bit better.
Rick gave her the hour she'd requested to get a few things done before he made his way over. She'd taken a steaming hot shower, straightened up the bedroom, sipped a glass of wine, and caught up with her father by phone. Rick's arrival interrupted the end of their call, and as she opened her door to his soft knock, all he managed to hear was her "I love you, too." His eyes shot to hers instantly, failing to notice the phone at her ear. "Bye, Dad," she said, bringing to a screeching halt his very brief roller coaster ride of emotion. He was going to carry that moment around all night.
"Hey," she smiled softly, welcoming him inside.
He kissed her on the cheek and moved past her as she shut the door. She smelled heavenly from her shower, and her body still radiated its warmth. "What's all that, Castle?" she asked, bags of various sizes and shapes dangling from his hands.
"Well, it sounded like you had a tough day, so I wanted to try and help." He set the bags on the island in the kitchen before realizing he'd left something out in the hallway. "Oh, wait, there's one more thing."
"Really, Castle? Looking at all these bags, I'm wondering how there's anything left anywhere in the city."
"Ha, ha, yes, funny," he said. "Hang on a sec." He stepped back outside and returned with a small bouquet of roses in hand. It wasn't extravagant, a quiet gesture. "These are for you. I thought they might make you smile. You know how much I love that."
Kate accepted the flowers and brought them to her nose to inhale their perfect aroma. "Thank you, Castle. They're really beautiful. And they smell amazing." She stepped into him and thanked him with a kiss, while he assured her they were nowhere near as beautiful as she. "Why don't you tell me what all this other stuff is," she said, reaching under the counter for a vase.
"Oh, right, well I thought you might not feel like making anything, so I stopped and got us some dinner. I may have gone a bit overboard."
He began pulling all the dining options from their respective bags, and the tower of containers began to overtake the counter. "You? Overboard? Never," she teased, her words oozing sarcasm. "But, tell me this, when's the rest of the precinct getting here because we can't possibly eat all of this ourselves."
"Now, now, Detective, you know I only have food for you" he replied with a bat of his eyelashes. "Besides, I'm a growing boy. I need sustenance." He gave his body a once-over before he looked back up to find her smirking face.
"I think the only part of you that's still growing, Castle, is your ego."
"Well, you know what they say, don't you? Big ego, large-"
"OOOkkkaaaay, so what are you feeding me?" she jumped in playfully.
"You're right," he nodded. "It's better that I show you rather than tell you, but we can get to dessert later. Grab us some plates and I'll start bringing this stuff over."
They ate at the dining table, which wasn't something they often did, but given the amount of space all the food required, it was just easier. Neither of them was particularly chatty while they ate, she as a result of her exhausting day and he in appreciation of her unspoken but obvious need, but that didn't matter to him. He'd make an Olympic sport out of just watching her if she'd allow it.
His insistence upon cleaning up after dinner earned him a most inappropriate kiss for any kitchen, which he returned with fervor before banishing her to the sofa to relax with another glass of wine. She was tired but not sleep tired, and he was tossing out suggestions as he tidied, and while she knew she'd enjoy nothing more than to take him up on his offer to "fluff her pillows," she felt too stuffed from dinner just yet to give that the full attention it deserved.
"How about Scrabble?" he called out. "Writers become irresistible during a game of Scrabble, and that could really work in my favor. We know a lot of words."
"Is that so? And what to detectives become?" Kate said, humoring him for her own amusement.
"Victims," he replied with a smug grin. "Come on, let's do this."
Fifteen minutes later, they were knee-deep in a game. Kate couldn't help but sneak glances at him across the board and feel happiness. All the years she'd spent hidden away, not allowing it in, and now he was there with her, knowing all of it, accepting all of it. She was still scared, but she was scared because she knew it was right and she didn't ever want to lose it. His hands were right: the hands that protected her in the face of harm. His eyes were right: the eyes that said everything without words. His mind was right: the mind that was open to any possibility. His body was right: the body that made her feel more alive than she ever had. His heart was right: the heart that loved her even when she couldn't accept it.
A boisterous "Ah-ha!" rattled her from her thoughts and brought her back to the game. He was beyond proud of the word 'VICE' that he'd just played and he was busy rubbing it in. "Okay, seriously, I should get bonus points for relevance, no?"
"Any bonus points for relevance that I would have given you, Castle, just got wiped away by the points I deducted for you acting disgustingly pleased with yourself."
"You wound me, Detective, but okay then, let's see what you've got, hmm? I'll give you a hundred bucks if you can play a word more relevant than that," he challenged.
Kate took a moment as her eyes moved from his self-satisfied face down to her available tiles and finally to the board. It was only then that she saw it, as clearly as she could see him sitting next to her, and her entire body blushed, her heart already beating faster. She had to decide right then if that was it, if that was the moment. "I-"
"Come on, Beckett, a hundred bucks. Are you in or are you out?"
She knew it so long ago, but there were so many things in the way, and he'd managed to move them all aside with his bottomless heart. "You know what? Absolutely, Writer, get that crisp bill ready because I'm all in," she answered, wondering, even herself, where the sudden fortitude had come from.
Rick reached into his pocket for his wallet and pulled out the money. "I think you'll be staying right where you are," he taunted, making eyes at the green paper.
Kate took her time, of course, let him stew a bit, wonder, sliding her tiles around the rack, squinting her eyes, furrowing her brow, though she knew precisely what her move was to be. She could see he was growing more anxious as his leg began to bounce up and down and his body leaned in over the table, and she removed just three tiles, sure he believed he had the game sewn up. She couldn't do what she was about to do without his previous play, without him, and she quietly noted the irony. Placing her 'L', and her two 'U's around his 'V', she looked up at him slowly.
He looked at the board for all of two seconds before shouting, "No way. Is that even English? I am so challenging that. That's not even-"
"Might want to take a closer look at that, Writer," she suggested, waiting impatiently for it to click.
"Wait...What…Does that say what I think it says?"
"It does, and I do. I love you, Castle." She watched as his expression turned from one of shock to one of joy. It was the right moment. It was the best moment.
"God, Kate, for that you can have all my money," he beamed, pulling her in for a kiss.