Just a quick little follow up to Watershed because I woke with the words in my mind and the overwhelming urge to write pushing at my fingertips
Disclaimer: I own nothing and seek to gain no profit.
"No," she whispers as she curls her fingers around the collar of his shirt and pulls him to her. Every move of her body is counter-intuitive of the word spilling past her lips. She prods him until he is knelt between her knees and he fingers are curled at his jaw, lips against his ear as she breathes the word into him. "I'm saying 'no', Castle. I got the job but I'm turning them down. I'm not leaving the city or the 12th or you. So put that ring back in your pocket, Rick, and ask me again when you're not looking at me like you hate me. 'Cause, god help me, I'll say yes, Castle. I'll say yes a thousand times over in a heartbeat but not when you're looking at me like you hate me as much as you love me. And I understand that. I would hate me too if I were you but we're not doing this right now."
"You're not leaving," he mumbles into the crook of her neck and his shaking hand moves up to curl just below her ribs as he breathes a sigh of relief. He'd been so stuck in the mindset of a life where Kate was living hundreds of miles away and he saw her every few months if he was lucky. And there had been the fleeting fear of there not being a Kate Beckett in his life at all. "You're staying."
"I'm staying, Rick." She pulls back and thumbs the tear from his face. "I love you."
"I love you too." He leans up and brushes his lips over hers for a fleeting kiss. She catches him by the earlobes and pulls him back in, sinking into him and mending their hearts with the actions of her body.
She pulls away to rest her forehead on his. "Ask me again."
"Ka-" He pulls up short when he sees the so very serious look in her eyes. On command, he moves back onto one knee and holds the ring up to her – this time with a wide smile on his face. "Katherine Houghton Beckett, will you marry me?"
"Yes," she breathes as a wild grin spreads across her face. "Yes, I'll marry you."