A/n: Thecoolanonymouswriter and I were talking about how every season finale cliff hanger just gives birth to so much angst. We wanted to write a post s6 finale caskett story that didn't dive into agony and tears but instead brought out the fun, playful side of the couple. We ended up with a vision of a drugged up Castle and a dressed up Beckett. If you like it, please drop me a review. If you don't like it, could you tell me what went wrong so I could do better next time? On we go…
You'll see me
He feels happy, liberated, invigorated even. He shouldn't- not when his toes feel as if they don't belong to him, not when he can't remember anything about the last 24 hours, not when his clothes feel alien, not when everything around him is so still and silent. Yet he feels so light, like he could fly away to the land his wildest dreams always lead him to- an afternoon by the beach with Kate. He hasn't even opened his eyes yet. But in his mind, everything is aglow- the sun is shining, the flowers are dancing, the birds are singing, and the reds and yellows and pinks and purples of the spring are shining brighter than ever. He can't wait to open his eyes to the picture his imagination has painted for him.
When he does finally blink away the daydreams, there are no colours or sunshine or birds or flowers. In fact, there's just a colourless, listless barren chamber of silence- a hospital room. But she's watching him through the glass barricade, his Kate. She stands frozen in her spot, palms pressed up against the glass with hopeful eyes trained on him. He turns to her, raises his hand to give her a wave, watches her wiping away the tears, as her face spreads into the most beautiful smile - that glorious smile she has when she's having a really good dream. He should know. He's spent so many mornings watching her sleep, wondering if he was ever the reason for it. She raises her hand and mouths, "Hi". He wishes she would come in and sit beside him and so he points his eyebrows towards the chair.
A nurse arrives outside just then and he sees Kate excitedly telling her something, tapping her finger on the glass, just like the way she does with suspects up on the murder board. She's saying something which looks like, "He just woke up," if his lip reading skills are as good as they used to be. The nurse turns and looks at him and he waves at her too, putting on his best smile like he was trying to impress one of Kate's high school friends. She smiles back at him with warm encouragement, and then leads Kate away by the arm. He's incredibly mad at her for dragging her away, but Kate scrunches up her face and holds up her index finger, telling him she'll be back in just a minute. He nods, still smiling like he's won the lottery, even though he's in a hospital bed with a bandaged head, with no idea as to how he got here.
He tries to distract himself until she returns, fidgeting with the switches and wires that surround him. He turns on the TV and turns it off again, tries out the settings on the lever for his bed, strains his eyes to see out the window, flips through a magazine on the side table. Nothing works. She's been gone for way longer than a minute. He pouts in quiet frustration. Where did she disappear off to? Sitting up is about as far as his physical strength allows him to go. However enthusiastic he might be feeling on the inside, walking out of the room to actually go find her was out of the question. Time for plan B. He tries to shout out to the people in the corridor outside the glass. Nobody pays attention to him. Great. Soundproof rooms. He gives up after a few attempts. The light, heady feeling starts to fade away and he winces in pain. He presses the button for the morphine, and glares at the empty chair where she should've been, waiting for the relief to come. It does come eventually and he's soon oblivious to the physical pain. It's the emotional pain he cares most about- the one that he feels every time she's nowhere to be found.
"Hello Rick," he hears her call out and the sight that he sees makes his mouth gape open and shut like a fish. He's sure she rolled the 'r' on purpose.
For there she stands- clad in a nurse's white uniform that's wayyy too short for anything Kate Beckett would ever wear in a public place. As his eyes travel up and down the tight, white bodice, he can't help but notice how the buttons are barely hanging on. Just a touch and they'd be off. They both knew how deft his fingers could be. Half the job has already been done for him anyway. The top two buttons are already popped open and the neckline plunges dangerously low. And the belt…oh the belt. He can think of a million uses for it and none of them are even close to appropriate for a hospital. He just can't stop staring down her legs, so bronzed and so damn long, right down to the lace stockings and the patent four inch black pencil heels. Oh this was no uniform. It was a costume, deliberately put on to give him a seizure. This wasn't Kate Beckett. This was some evil goddess in disguise, waiting to kill him and then steal all his money, and then his muse. I mean come on! No real nurse looked like that. Nurses aren't even allowed to leave their hair open like that, flaring over their shoulders. Wasn't that against hospital policy or something? No she couldn't be teasing him like this. This was a whole new level of cruel, even for Kate. Oh no Beckett, not now! Not when I can't even get out of my bed. Not when I can't take you, right here, right now!
"Rick? Hello?" she cuts through his thoughts.
"Am I dreaming?" he sighs, dreamily, "Because this is not funny at all, universe, nuh-uh."
She leans over his torso, closer and closer, until he can feel the heat of her breath on his skin.
"Still believe you're dreaming, Rick?"
He swallows instinctively. "Uh no umm I-uh."
"Shhhhh."
"Man is it hot in here!" he manages to mumble before her lips take control of his. She gives him no opportunity to protest and he doesn't make any effort to resist her. And why would he? No amount of morphine could feel better than this.
"Oh Kate, you make such a gorgeous sight for sore eyes and a sore head," he says when they finally pull apart.
"I missed you so much," she says and places another quick kiss to his bandaged head.
"Oh you have no idea."
She holds his gaze for just a moment too long and then spins on her heel and turns away. But he's quick. He grabs her hand and yanks her close. "Don't you dare leave, Beckett. I can't do this by myself. I need you here."
"Will you relax, you sap? I'm just getting the chair ok? I'm not going anywhere. Now stop jerking your arm or you'll rip off the stitches."
"Ok ok, good. You do that."
She pulls up the chair near his bed and sits down, taking his palm in hers and squeezing softly.
"So how'd you get it?" he asks. "The outfit, I mean. It's just..holy smokes. Wow. I knew you were hot and all but gosh, Kate Beckett."
"You sound so much like Lanie …except the leering part."
"I can't help it. Do you want me to umm stop?" he asks lasciviously, putting on his best bedroom voice.
"Sure."
"Oh that's not fair. You know I can't."
"You started this game."
"Oh no, you did - when you walked in in that devilish dress of yours. What were you even thinking? Please don't tell me you've had it for ages and I've only just seen it."
"It's somewhat of a special acquisition."
"Like you needed anymore material to torture me. Speaking of material…is this sillk?" he asks as he thumbs the hem of it, devouring the skin underneath, smug with satisfaction as he sees the flush of arousal spreading across her face. She hums slightly and shuts her eyes.
"I don't know why you're so riled up about it, Castle. It's doing its job pretty fine, wouldn't you say?"
"I wouldn't…because 'pretty fine' would be an understatement."
"You do know you owe me after this, don't you?"
"Owe you what?"
"A costume-."
"Sure."
"- of my choice."
"Say what now? I didn't get to pick yours."
"Give it up, Ricky boy. Where do you think I got this idea? I read your list, the one you keep rolled up behind the Nikki Heats in the study. And barbecue sauce? Really? How is that even plausible?"
"Who said fetishes have to be plausible? And plus you'd smell like barbecue. Yum."
"So you can eat me?"
"So I can ravish you."
"You wouldn't. Cannibal."
"Try me. Just try me."
"Fine. Clearly we're not going to have a sensible conversation right now."
"Well let me ask you this. Did you come here expecting to have sensible conversation when you showed up in that evil little number of yours?"
"You have a point. I concede."
"Aha. I win."
"Honestly, Castle. I just wanted to see you smile. I can't sit by another hospital bed wondering if I'll ever see your smile again. And I don't want to waste another moment on the dark side of it all, because if I do, I may never be able to see the bright side again."
"I know how you feel. I've been where you are and it was the scariest time I've ever had to face. Bar none."
"Even that time your mother walked in on us when we were…you know?"
"I admit that one's a tough contender," he admits and they both break into a laugh. "But don't change the topic, Beckett. Can we get back to the elephant in the room here? Are you keeping that dress or not?"
"Probably not."
"But why not? It would be such a waste to return it."
"Its job is done, Castle; that grin on your face right there- mission successful."
"Kate Beckett- Nurse Spy extraordinaire and Richard Castle-the young, suave doctor who falls in love with her. Come on, think about it. The possibilities for that line of role play are endless, what with your flexibility and my finesse." He winks at her persuasively but she just rolls her eyes.
"Think you'll be able to handle it, Mr. Hotshot Doctor?" she plays along.
"Are you questioning my talents in role playing? Because I believe I've proven myself an actress' son on multiple occasions."
"Did you have to drag your mother into this? Ugh. Now I have images in my head."
"Serves you right for being a tease."
"Fine. I borrowed this costume from Alexis, which is why it's so tight. And short," she says, consciously tugging it down delicately, careful not to rip open the buttons. "Good luck with the images now. Serves you right for being an ass."
"Oh my God. No no no no no. No no no no no no no."
"Ok ok. calm down. I got it from that store down at Broadway," she throws her head up and laughs, as his expression turns from one of sheer horror to one of defeat.
"You got me," he raises his hands in surrender.
"Speaking of Alexis and Martha, they're both on their way here and I'm never going to let them see me like this, let alone Ryan and Espo. I'll never hear the end of it. I gotta go. I'll go get changed and come back here in five minutes, ok babe?"
"Don't go, Kate. I'm afraid I'll never see you again."
"You will. I promise you, you'll see me. Every day and every night, you'll see me. Until you're sick of seeing my face, you'll see me. Until you can see no more, you'll see me."
"And you'll see me too. Always."
She brushes her fingers across his face and walks away, heels clicking, leaving him to stare at her ass, and ponder how on earth he got so lucky with a woman like her. He spends quite a while in pleasant contemplation, still reliving the encounter, time and time again until he falls asleep. And when he wakes, she's there, sitting on the chair next to him, dressed in a simple slacks and t shirt, just like she said she would be. You'll see me.
"Hey," he begins.
"Hey. How you feeling?"
"Never been better."
"Good. The doctor will be here in a minute. Is anything hurting? How's the head?"
"Why are you so serious all of a sudden, Beckett?"
"What do you mean?"
"Oh drop the act. Nobody else is here."
"What are you talking about?"
"Your little slutty nurse outfit? That I'm hoping you'll keep for Halloween? Pretty please?"
"How much morphine have you had? Are you having hallucinations? We need to tell the Doctor about this."
"I'm not making this up!"
"Think about it. Does 'me wearing a nurse's costume to a hospital' occur to you as an event that would ever occur in reality?"
"This is ridiculous. I'm telling you, you were here and practically seducing me and now you're denying the whole thing and calling me crazy?"
"Well you were in a lot of pain, Castle. And the drugs made you hallucinate. They made you feel better. That's all. It's nothing. Don't get yourself all ruffled up. You'll tire yourself."
"Ok," he whines, still upset that his entire dream world collapsed in a few seconds. "Well, will you get a slutty nurse costume for Halloween this year to make up for this?"
"Not happening."
"Damn. I still can't get over the fact that it wasn't you. She was so real. She even kissed like you."
"Hmm. Mysteries of the brain, Castle."
"So tell me, has the real Kate Beckett ever been a naughty, naughty nurse?" he says, wiggling his eyebrows with a mischievous smile.
"I guess you'll never know, Castle," she teases and he doesn't miss the slight upward curl of her lips.
"Richard!" "Dad!" He hears his mother and daughter call out in unison as they rush through the door and towards him.
"I'll give you guys some space. Go easy on the morphine till you get your bearings back ok?" she says, considerate as always.
"Don't worry, Detective. I'll make sure of it," Alexis chimes in.
"I have no doubt you'll do a great job, Alexis," she says, pressing a kiss to his cheek, and making her way to the door. She pauses for just a second before the door shuts behind her- long enough to say her parting words- "Oh and Castle, you'll be seeing me." By the time he can fully comprehend her words, she's disappeared. He can only gasp in response.
Fin
If you haven't read any of thecoolanonymouswriter 's stories, you need to go now because she is so talented.