Spill the Fangirl

Because Rimah, my flawless best friend, is a neverending source of inspiration

Prompt: Rick and Kate could be about to watch Nebula 9 or something, but then the DVD is scratched or it stops working for some reason and Kate gets upset or something. You could channel your frustration about there being no episode of Castle this week :P

A/N: I do not own Castle or any of its characters

Rick Castle knocked on Kate Beckett's door with slight hesitance. He had agreed, rather grudgingly, to watch a Nebula 9 costume in exchange for Kate dressing up in one of her old costumes. Even though she had totally tricked him, she more than made up for it later that night. Rick couldn't help but smile when he thought of that night. And as a result, here he was 2 weeks later, bottle of wine in hand, waiting to watch a very terrible show with a very extraordinary fangirl. She opened the door, and Rick had the air knocked right out of him.

There she stood, hair pulled to the side in that adorable little braid he loved so much. Wearing one of his button downs, which he didn't even realize had been missing from his closet, was hanging loosely over her frame. The way it looked on her made him realize that he never wanted that shirt back again as long as she continued to wear it around him. A pair of simple black leggings hugged the curves of her legs perfectly, and her mismatched stripy socks finished off the look in a dorky, but inexplicably hot Kate Beckett way.

Rick pulled her in for a giant hug, grinning into her hair as he admired the height difference. Her power heels were nothing short of intimidating and sexy *no pun intended*. However, this height difference made her less Beckett and more Kate. She seemed much softer, and fit perfectly into his large chest and open arms. He felt her breath ghosting along his neck as she whispered "Missed you."

Pulling her away just a fraction, Rick tightened his arms around her waist, as he bent down and she went up onto her tiptoes and pressed a light kiss on her welcoming lips. "Missed you too" he murmured against them, and felt her smile and hum in response.

Pulling away before things got too out of hand, he handed over the DVDs. "Now, my dear, I do believe I have a debt to pay."

Kate took his hand eagerly and led him over to her couch, where her laptop and a blanket were laying across the surface. "Yes you do mister. Now get us some wine glasses and I'll get the first DVD loaded."

They split up, and Rick was stuck by the domesticity of the act. He felt surprisingly at home in Kate's apartment. It lacked his normal amenities of the loft, but it was still cozy and had all the quirks he had come to associate with Kate Beckett. The mismatched pillows on her couch, the large variety of mismatched yet complimentary coffee cups and wine glasses. The small little things that his writer's brain picked up on immediately. "Rick, quit stalling and get your butt back in here" he heard Kate call. Smiling at the use of his first name, Rick grabbed the wine and 2 glasses and headed back to his girlfriend, who was now perched on the couch, blanket half over her body and with the laptop situated comfortably on her lap.

Rick placed the glasses on the coffee table and sat down next to Kate. He placed his arm around her, and draped the blanket over his lap. Grabbing her shoulder gently, he pulled her so she was tucked right in against his chest. She hummed appreciatively as she snuggled impossibly closer. Rick placed a kiss right above her ear and whispered seducvitely in her ear "You know, we could just skip the tv show and get on to more…exciting activities."

As he said this, his other hand ghosted under the blanket and began dancing across her thigh under the blanket, drawing nonsense patterns along her leg and causing Kate's breath to hitch slightly. Despite his attempts, she laughed and replied "down boy. There's time for that later, for now, it's time for the best tv show of all time."

"I can't believe you like this show Kate. I've tried to watch it before, it's not that great. I just don't see what you see in it."

"Rick," Kate chastised, "have you ever had something in your life that was so big it just became a part of you? Did you ever get so immersed in the world of something it just began to take over? And all of a sudden you would find yourself thinking about it when you were supposed to be paying attention to something else? Or you would get giddy when you thought about it. Or you would want the world to know how amazing it was but at the same time you would want to keep it to yourself because it became rather personal? And you had such a love and a fierce protection over these characters they became the best friends you'd ever had? And one day you'd wake up and look at your life and wonder what it was even like before the show happened? Because that's what this is for me. So don't make fun."

As Kate talked, she looked into Rick's eyes. He saw that shining enthusiasm behind them, and heard as her voice got higher and faster as she got more into it. He had lost himself in his own writing before, but Kate made the fandom experience sound all together magical. She wasn't a writer, but she was no rookie in spinning tales. She had such eloquence with her words as she wove together her stories of her days as a fangirl. Rick couldn't stop himself from smiling down at the beautiful creature nestled up beside him.

"Okay, sorry. No more making fun. Scout's honour" He winked at her, before resuming his attention to the first episode, which was just about to start.

Kate smiled up at him one last time and turned back to the TV, smiling to herself as the opening sequence began.

2 and a half later episodes later, Rick was sort of beginning to see why Kate liked this show so much. The acting was terrible, and the plotline was unrealistic. But the writing was phenomenal and the message behind the plot was really quite profound. Rick found himself drawing parallels between Kate and lieutenant Chloe. He even saw some features of Captain Max that he had to admit that he didn't hate.

The current scene found their intrepid heroes fighting off Kreevers, who had infiltrated the spaceship through a flaw in the design somehow. Kate was clearly on edge, waiting tensely for the next scene to occur. Even though she knew almost every scene by heart, Kate still reacted as if she had never seen the episode before. Rick had to admit that it was incredibly cute and dorky and just all together weird yet strangely arousing. A giant explosion went off as Lieutenant Chloe went into a nearby loading bay.

Suddenly, the screen went black. Kate all of a sudden jumped up, nearly throwing the computer onto the floor. "WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?!" Kate screamed at no one in particular.

"Kate? What's wrong?" Rick asked, slightly worried.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHAT JUST HAPPENED?! CASTLE, LIEUTENANT CHLOE WAS ABOUT TO GO INTO THAT BAY AND FIND LIEUTENANT MARCUS AND CONFESS HER LOVE FOR HIM BUT THE DVD JUST STOPPED WORKING AND HOW COULD IT DO THAT TO ME IT'S MY FAVOURITE SCENE IN THE ENTIRE SHOW THIS SO ISN'T FAIR!"

Rick just froze, looking perplexed at Kate, who was now standing up and appeared to be holding back tears in her eyes.

"Kate, it's just a TV show, it's fine." Rick said calmly, trying to get her to calm down. Kate plopped back down onto the couch and started crying in Rick's arms. Rick tightened his arms around her and let her cry, stroking her hair and whispering nonsense words into her ear.

"Rick, have you ever been watching a show and all of a sudden there's a huge cliffhanger and even though you know that it's going to be okay and that everyone will be fine you still find yourself reeling with emotions? Because that just happened."

"Kate, I'm no stranger to cliffhangers. Biggest cliffhanger of my life? Watching you get taken into surgery after you had gotten shot and not knowing if you were going to live. I know cliffhangers. But you know things are going to be okay. The characters will be okay and you and I are okay and it will all be okay."

Rick lightly grabbed her face and looked deep into her eyes, now slightly bloodshot and watery. "I love you Kate and no one is ever going to take you away from me. So don't worry about cliffhangers and romances from TV shows because what you and I have is so much more than all of that. So, can we put away the Nebula 9 for now? We can watch it later, I promise. I just want to spend the rest of the evening with you in my arms showing you how much this all means to me."

Kate brought her face closer to Rick's so their noses were touching. Closing her eyes, she sighed. "Rick, I love you."

Rick smiled so big it felt like his face was going to split in two. "That's all I ever needed to hear."

Scooping her up in his arms, she screamed playfully as he began kissing any open skin he could reach. Spinning her around, he couldn't help the brief laugh of wonder at the woman in front of him. Taking her to her bedroom, he placed her at the foot of her bed. He began the meticulous work of unbuttoning her shirt as her hands found her way under his shirt and pulled it off of him in one swift movement.

Tongues mingling, body parts touching, they quickly found themselves going over the edge, collapsing into a heap next to one another. Kate perched up onto one elbow, and kissed his nose. "I love you Castle."

Rick moved his arm around her, pulling her into his chest as he brought the covers over them. "I love you Kate. Now sleep and we'll figure out what the hell happened to those DVDs tomorrow."

And as she fell asleep in his arms, he knew that things were all going to be okay.

A/N: This was inspired by my reactions to the past 2 season finales. At the end of Season 3 I literally cried myself to sleep (Oh how I wish I was kidding). At the end of Season 4, I cried for 20 minutes in Rimah's arms and then couldn't stop shaking. I definitely didn't anticipate the ending of this, just sort of happened. Oh well, I just can't wait for the day we FINALLY get to hear an 'I love you' from these two lovesick fools.

I'll get back to writing Spill the Sickness soon, I swear.

Cheers!