I do not own Castle, even though I wish I did!
Esposito let out an annoyed sigh as he hung up his phone after running into another dead end on his case. For four days he and Ryan had been investigating the death of a young brunette haired woman named Jessie Donalds. She was found shot point blank in an alley after leaving work on Friday. She lived alone and didn't have many friends, so they didn't have much to go on except for her job. Unfortunately for them the small Italian restaurant that she worked in was closed for a few days due to a family emergency so they couldn't contact her boss to get her delivery receipts for the past week, which is exactly what they needed to put together their timeline so they could prove or disprove the drug dealer that they currently had in lock up.
This was the first case that Ryan and Esposito had worked together since Esposito's suspension three months ago. They were separated for those grueling three months do to the fact that they started a very public brawl in the middle of the station and both ended up bleeding and on suspension again. They had since made their peace, although very slowly at that, and ask to be reassigned to each other promising not to start anymore bar brawls in the precinct. Captain Gates had seemed hesitant at first to pair them again but then realized that in Beckett's absence she needed at least one solid team that she could count on.
Both Ryan and Esposito missed Beckett but they would never publicly admit to that. Neither of them had talked to her since she resigned, they figured that she was doing something different with her life, that she was happy, and they didn't want to break her happiness that may or may not exist. Ryan had thought about calling Castle to see if he had heard from her, but decided that since Castle stopped coming around he had heard about her resignation and just decided to give up on her all together this time. Esposito had almost forgotten about Castle because if he thought about Castle he would think about Beckett and that was too painful to think about.
The summer had seemed to fly by for Richard Castle and Kate Beckett who were at this moment peacefully sleeping wrapped in each others arms in his bed. From the very moment Kate showed up soaking wet in his doorway she knew that she was in this for the long haul and him too. They had been together ever since.
Kate stirred a little and awoke but lay still as to not wake up her sleeping boyfriend. She looked at the clock on the nightstand, 7am, still too early to get up, but she found herself refreshed and not really wanting to go back to sleep. She looked up at his peacefully happy face as he slept and couldn't help the smile that graced her lips at the sight. She loved him, and he loved her and it was like the rest of the world didn't matter. Especially now that she didn't have a job to go to every day and could spend all her time with him. Granted a lot of that time was spent in the bedroom whenever Alexis and Martha weren't home.
She let her mind innocently drift from subject to subject until it landed on Ryan and Esposito, and everyone at the 12th that she had just abandoned that day. She hadn't talked to Ryan or Esposito since that day and that made her feel nauseous, but she knew that if she called them they would try to convince her to come back, and that wasn't what she needed right now. She just needed pure happiness and relaxation, and that's what she got when she was with Castle. His childlike charm could pull her into almost anything. A light saber battle in the middle of the living room, a water balloon fight on the roof, or even a laser tag battle throughout the entire loft. She had spent almost the entire summer in his loft except for the occasional night where she went home just so she could check on things in her apartment.
Kate shifted her gaze from his face to the ceiling and began to think about Lanie. She hadn't even talked to Lanie since that day and she as her best friend. She knew that if she called Lanie that she would do the exact same thing as Ryan and Esposito or she would play the pity card and try to guilt trip her into coming back. On multiple occasions Kate had thought about calling Lanie but she stopped herself and would just tell herself that she would call another time. But right now Kate was happy, actually happy for the first time in longer than she could remember, and she didn't want to do anything to break that happiness for as long as she possibly could.
"Yo, I finally got a hold of the restaurant owner and he said he'd email us the delivery receipts that Jessie delivered on Friday" Ryan told Esposito as he walked into the nearly empty break room. "We should have them within the hour" He finished
"Great, it's about time we got a damn lead on this case!" Esposito puffed as he poured his coffee.
"You got that right" Ryan agreed as he also filled his coffee cup before both leaving the break room and returning to their desks. They sat there silently both fidgeting with random things on their desks for about twenty minutes before the email finally came in.
"Okay, it looks like she only had five deliveries on Friday so hopefully something shakes out from them" Ryan said as he pressed the pint button and grabbed the paper from the printer.
They interviewed the first four residents of the apartment she delivered to which helped their timeline and it was looking promising that the drug dealer did it. But they still had one more interview to conduct.
As Ryan and Esposito walked out of the apartment building and toward their car Esposito asked "Where's the last apartment building?" Ryan looked down at the list and stopped as he furrowed his brow in surprise and confusion.
"What?" Esposito asked
"It's Castle's apartment" Ryan said in disbelief
"Seriously?" Esposito asked
"Yeah" is all that Ryan could manage to say
They both got in the car and rode in silence until they arrived at Castle's apartment building and they both got out pausing by the main door to the building.
"What do you think he's gonna say when he sees us?" Ryan asked
"No clue bro" Esposito responded before entering the building and walking toward the elevator quickly followed by Ryan. They rode up to Castles floor in silence until the elevator dinged and they walked to his door, stopping again unsure of what to do. They looked at each other for a moment before Esposito knocked on the door.
It was around noon now and the Castle household was awake and beginning the days activities. Breakfast was long done and her and Castle were curled up on the couch watching some movie that Kate wasn't entirely invested in. Castle was not oblivious to her disinterest and asked "What wrong Kate?"
Kate shifted a little until her head was lying comfortably on his shoulder and she said "Nothing, I'm good"
"Kate, I know you too well for you to lie to me, something's bothering you what is it?" He said sweetly
"I feel guilty that I haven't talked to anyone from the 12th ever since that day. I haven't talked to Lanie, Ryan, or Esposito either" She responded letting out a sad sigh
"You know what, why don't we go down there for a visit tomorrow, you can see that everybody is fine, and I can annoy Captain Gates for a few hours" He said with a smile attempting to cheer her up.
"That sounds fantastic" She replied with a smile in return before turning his head with her hand and placing a soft kiss gently against his lips. "I'm gonna grab a soda, you want anything?" She asked as she stood up slowly.
"I'm good, thanks" He replied with a smile, returning his attention to the movie playing in front of him.
Kate laughed a bit and walked into the kitchen and toward the fridge when she heard a knock at the door.
"I'll get it" She lightly shouted out so that no one else would come rushing over for no reason.
She walked quickly over to the door and turned the deadbolt unlocking the door. When she opened the door she couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was Ryan and Esposito looking at her with the same confused look that she was looking at them with.
"Beckett?" Esposito said stunned
"What are you guys doing here?" She asked them, by now Castle had heard the commotion and shuffled over to the doorway protectively putting his hands on Kate's shoulders.
"Castle?" Ryan and Esposito both said in unison
"Ryan? Esposito? What are you guys doing here?" he asked
"Um, we're working a case, a dead delivery girl, we're running down all the deliveries she made on Friday before she was killed" Ryan explained to them
"Can we come in, we need to ask you a few questions" Esposito said formally
"Oh, yeah sorry" Kate said backing out of the doorway so they could come in. Castle led them over to the dining room table and Ryan and Esposito sat opposite of Castle and Beckett.
"Did you have a delivery from Gian Carlo's Italian, delivered by a young women named Jessie Donalds?" Ryan asked
Kate looked at Castle and then back at the detectives and said "Yeah, we ordered an early dinner before going to the movies"
"We are just trying to set up a timeline of our victim's whereabouts before she was killed" Ryan said
"I know, if you don't remember I used to be a detective" Kate responded, sensing some tension between the group.
"And thanks to your confirmation on the delivery we can now arrest the suspect we have in holding" Esposito responded
Ryan and Esposito got up to leave but Kate said "Wait" and they said back down
"Are you guys mad at me?" She asked
Neither of them responded.
"What about me, are you mad at me?" Castle asked also
"Why would we be mad at you guys, it's not like you just left and then never even bothered to call us to let us know how you were doing" Esposito responded sarcastically
"Javi I'm sorry, I just didn't want you harassing me to come back, I'm happy right now, and If I want to come back, I want it to be on my terms and when I want" She said tilting her head to the side slightly and fighting back the tears that were forming. Castle immediately recognized the action as her being about to cry and put his arms around her pulling her into a hug. She didn't hesitate at all and simply let him hug her, a move that surprised both Ryan and Esposito.
"Wait are you two..?" Ryan asked even more surprised then before
"Yeah" Castle responded releasing Kate from the hug.
"How long?" Esposito questioned
"Ever since the day I resigned, I realized that I needed to be more than the job and I finally admitted to myself what I really wanted, and I came here" Kate said with a small smile aimed at Castle
"Wait, no I don't believe it, you're gonna have to prove it" Ryan stated boldly
"How?" Castle laughed
"Kiss, and I don't mean just a peck on the cheek kiss, I mean a full on kiss with tongue" Esposito explained
Both Castle and Beckett looked at them with a 'seriously' look on their faces before shrugging and diving in for the kiss. Ryan and Esposito both sat there with open mouths as they watched the scene play out in front of them.
"Okay we believe you, you can stop now" Ryan said, partially disgusted
Both Castle and Beckett laughed as they finally pulled apart.
"So, about you coming back, we could really use you" Esposito said, half begging
"Give me a day to think about it, and so Castle and I can talk about it, we'll come to the station tomorrow and I'll give you my decision then, okay?" She offered
"Okay" Ryan said
"Tell Lanie I say hi and that I'll see her tomorrow I promise, tell her exactly what I told you before, hopefully she won't be as mad" Kate responded
"It was good to see you Beckett, see you tomorrow" Esposito said on his and Ryan's way out the door.
I'm debating whether or not to do another chapter where they visit the station…give me some feedback in the reviews please! Thanks!