in our own ways
we all break.
it is okay
to hold your heart outside of your body
for
days.
months.
years.
at a time.
Heal, Nayyriah Waheed
Disclaimer: Are you kidding me? But wow, Veritas was a long time coming, huh? I'm still speechless.
The entire precinct claps for her.
They're all so damn proud, and he's ridiculously proud of her too, as she stands with her chin held up and unshed tears lurking in her eyes.
No more tears for Bracken. Not anymore.
Her eyes catch his, and a smile blooms across them all.
His mother and his daughter swarm them the moment they're back home. Hugs, squeezes, kisses. All of it. Warmth. He feels it flowing through them all, this sense of relief, this unashamed hope that filters through the gaps between his ribs and sets fire across his skin. He thinks maybe all of this, and the tiny moments within it that he captures, is the most important thing he's ever witnessed.
The light weight of her hand against his shoulder.
The soft press of her lips against his neck.
The I love you she whispers, and there is no need for anything other than this.
It's quiet and buoyant, in this peace.
His mother and daughter have long since gone to bed, so now they're alone, curled up on the couch. Kate's legs are in his lap, her head against his shoulder, his arm resting lazily around her, stroking softly at the skin of her waist beneath her shirt. There's two glasses of untouched wine on the coffee table, music soft in the background but all he can focus on is her humming, her breathing, and her freedom.
"How're you feeling?"
Her lids stir, her fingers tripping down his chest to pluck at one of the buttons of his shirt.
"Good."
"Just good?"
Kate hums, low this time, shifting forward to graze her lips against the ridge of his jaw. His body reacts to her without question, his hand tightening against her skin. Yet there's something different about her, about this, and of course there would be. He likes it. He hopes she does too.
He shifts, nose nudging through the curls of her hair, lips tenderly brushing her temple.
She speaks before he can.
"Thank you, Castle," she murmurs.
"What did I do?"
She rolls her eyes, shaking her head, the jostle of her hair tickling his skin and making him smile, too. He is so ridiculously in love with this woman. He doesn't know what to do with it, all this love he has for her. So he settles for placing another hand on her knee, thumb tracing patterns against her pants.
"You were gonna run with me. To Canada," she says, tilting her head back, hazel eyes shining with gratitude while she speaks softly. "Is there anything you wouldn't do, Castle?"
"I'd do anything for you, Kate," his answer rolls from his tongue immediately.
No hesitation. Never.
Kate smiles, palm reaching up so that her fingers curl around the shell of his ear. He hums, leaning into the touch and he feels her shift, the shape of the smile of her lips before she kisses him sweetly.
"Just so you know," she murmurs, "I'd do anything for you, too."
His forehead presses against hers, and he tugs her into his lap completely then, his arms around her back as she straddles him, fingers stroking against the small hairs that are scattered along the bottom of his neck. There are so many words he could say. But she's been given so many about her mother's case already; they're all meaningless and redundant now. So he gives her actions instead.
When his fingers begin to unbutton her shirt, his lips land on the junction of her neck, kissing a slow and lazy path across her skin. He feels the hitch of her chest, the sharp dig of her nails against his neck. They're forced to part from his skin when he pushes her shirt down her shoulders, places it on the couch next to them and the soft rustling sound of it is drowned out by the low, soft hum she makes when his tongue finds the scar between her breasts.
She blinks lazily, staring down at him, lips parted and watching his every move. This isn't what he'd expected.
His hands are distracted by the chain around her neck instead of the clasp of her bra. Her hand wraps around his wrist, and when he looks up at her again, she nods. And once again, there are no words, just actions.
The metal is cool against his skin when he unclasps it from her neck, and she slips her engagement ring from the chain, pushes it onto her finger instead.
"And this?"
Kate's fingers brush against his when she cups her mother's ring, squeezes the pads of his fingers gently.
"Gates gave me a couple days off. So I was thinking, tomorrow," her words are a little disjointed, her breath still hard to catch, "we could go to my apartment. Put it in a box with the rest of my stuff related to my mom's murder."
He nods, and she smiles, leaning down to kiss him again. Sipping from him slowly.
When she pulls away, her smile is gentle and hopeful and honest. All of that from just one curl of her lips, the glimmer in the corner of her eyes.
There's no hesitancy to her happiness now.
"Maybe someday we'll have a child to give it to, hm?"
"Kate," he grits out, because shit, maybe they will.
Maybe they will.
And it'll be just like this – safe.
Kate stands, leaving the ring and the chain on the coffee table in front of him. Then she stretches her hands out, murmuring bed, Castle, and he follows her without hesitation.
Goddess that she is, she pulls him down with her onto the mattress, soft and liquid as she hikes a leg over his hip. His hands curl beneath her, and she pulls him closer, her breathing soft and tranquil in his ear and he could stay like this for moments, here, with her.
Safe.
There's the whisper of a smile against his neck, and then she's pushing on his shoulders. Light enough to keep him close, as he should be, but far enough so that her lips can find his, wet and ripe. Slow. Her tongue curling against his and he feels the twitch of her thigh against his hip, the undulation of her hips that drive him crazy as the fire on his skin ignites again.
"Kate."
It's crazy, how one word can mean so many things to him. Laughter in the park. Sultry eyes and wine glasses. Bullet scars and unsolved murders.
But she is more.
She's always been more than her mother's murder.
She rolls, pressing him down against the mattress, straddling him but refusing to remove her lips from his. Her fingers sneak along the buttons of his shirt, patient as she untucks it from his pants, and her skin finds his skin.
While her hands are busy, and his mouth busy with hers, his hands slip low, palm her ass. She jerks against him, huffing a laugh against his mouth when he can't help but the smug curl of his own. His hands move to the button of her pants then, unzipping them slowly and she groans, tongue in his mouth and encompassing everything.
He rolls them again, tugging the pants down her long legs and pressing kisses along the boneless skin as he goes. When he does the same heading back up her body, he watches as she smiles, serene, resting her head back on her pillow with her hands resting either side of her head. Her eyes flutter closed, her legs falling open for him, completely trusting. She simply shivers, biting her lips when he tucks his thumbs beneath the elastic waistband of her panties, drags those down her legs too.
"You're wearing entirely too many clothes," she murmurs without opening her eyes, and when he glances up at her he watches as she rolls her thumb along the metal on her ring finger.
Castle smiles, pressing a kiss to her navel and reveling in her soft moan.
He ditches his own pants and boxers then, until there's nothing left between them. He covers her body with his own, fingers skating down to between her thighs where he finds her swollen and wet and ready, and then he dips down to graze his teeth against the marred skin between her breasts. Kate gasps, hands hooking around his ears when his lips mouth again, finding one pebbled peak of her breast as his fingers stroke her carefully, just enough that she enjoys it but not enough to end things too soon.
Together.
Kate cards her fingers through his hair, pulls him back up so that their lips are pressed against one another's again.
He doesn't need to say it, but he does.
"I love you," he murmurs. "And I'm glad this is over."
Kate nods, eyes shining.
"A new beginning."
Her hands find purchase on his shoulders and rolls them again, but she surprises him, stopping when they lay side by side, facing each other. Then she hooks a thigh over his hip, his thigh sliding between hers and she smiles, so beautiful, one palm against his cheek now and the other cupping his shoulder blade.
Carefully, his fingers trace up and down the surgical scars lining her side. All of these barriers they've succumbed to in the past, all the self-imposed walls she'd trapped herself inside that had created hurdle after hurdle for them as more blood was spilt and time ran out like tiny granules of sand.
Gone now.
His eyes stay locked with hers as he enters her, her nails biting his skin. He feels the moment she gives in, the moment the relief overwhelms her because her head falls forward, forehead against his as she lets out a low, trembling moan that shoots right through him.
It's hard to find purchase, so he settles his hands against the small of her back, and she begins undulating against him, grinding so fucking sensually and he's lost in her, the hitch of her breathing, the tiny infinite forevers released in the sound of her moans, replacing the horrid images he has of her in his head, of that motel room, of her blood on the wall and her body limp as he'd cradled her against him. But now she's coming alive against his body, so dazzling to watch as her eyes roll into the back of her head and she whimpers yes, again and again, immediate and forever.
She's already so close, even after such a little amount of time, but that's okay because he's right there with her. He is. Always. Can't help but smile a little when she closes her eyes, brows furrowing as she struggles to maintain control, her grinding irregular in its pattern now as she traps her tongue between her teeth.
"Let go, Kate," he murmurs, hands palming her ass as he darts forwards slightly, kissing her so that her toes curl and she groans. "I'm right there with you."
"Don't – wanna – "
He laughs, crying now, which is just ridiculous, but he doesn't hold back, can't hold back.
"We've got all the time is the world, Kate. So much time."
He grinds his own hips against hers, skin brushing against her clit and she gasps, arching into him, her body trembling.
"Shit, Castle, I – I – Oh God."
He pulls her tight against him when she falls over the edge, following right behind her as her muscles flutter around him. He can't breathe, feels the shallow breaths she can manage in his ear, the wet of his tears against the skin of her neck. Shit. Shit. He loves her. Loves her so much and he almost lost her but she's here and she's not going anywhere without him ever again.
Too soon, Kate recovers control of her body, rolling him over slightly so that he is laying on his back and she can snuggle against his side, eyes heavy as she presses every inch of her skin against his.
"And now, Kate?" he asks quietly, hooking a hand over her thigh and pulling her close, because he refuses to be without her again. "How do you feel now?"
Kate's fingers palm over his heart, tickle his sweat slicked skin as she smiles, dopey and beautiful and buoyant all at once.
"Free."
The End.