Ding
The elevator doors opened and Castle swept out, carrying a large take-out bag and two giant to-go cups of caffeine to keep him and Beckett going for the rest of the night.
They had just closed a case of a triple homicide on 34th and Lex. It had proved to be a rough case on all of them, with one of the dead being a 4-year-old little girl with curly red hair and striking dimples.
Castle had taken it the hardest, with each crime scene photo of the little girl, he kept picturing Alexis at that age, inquisitive and rambunctious. Child cases were always the hardest. Sometimes, when cases like this came around, he couldn't make out why Beckett would choose to do this job day in and day out, despite what he knew of her mother.
After they closed the case, Ryan and Esposito chose to go home. Ryan, to Jenny, and Esposito to some mystery woman (which Castle highly suspected to be the beautiful and sassy medical examiner, but he'd yet to find proof.) Beckett, as always, chose to stay behind and finish up the paperwork, working late and straight through dinner.
That's why Castle came bearing a mountain of take-out food. He rounded Ryan and Esposito's desk in the bullpen and stopped at the sight at Kate's desk. Demming had beat him to the punch, and had what looked like Italian food spread across Beckett's desk.
He noticed Kate was softly chuckling at some story Demming had just wrapped up, and was playing with her food, pushing the chicken dish around the small Styrofoam container. She was the first to look up when she noticed Castle awkwardly standing there.
"Hey! Castle!" Beckett said, starting to blush. She snuck a glance at Demming who had turned around to see who Beckett was talking to. "What brings you by?"
"Oh, nothing that hasn't already been taken care of," Castle said, trying to hide his disappoint and an emotion that felt suspiciously similar to hurt. "Just some take-out from Remy's. I figured you'd probably be here doing paperwork, and that you'd skipped dinner, again." He emphasized again with a pointed look and raised eyebrows, to which she just rolled her eyes and smiled.
"Demming, how are you?" Castle finally tore his eyes away from Kate long enough to politely address the robbery detective.
"Not bad, Castle, just brining dinner to Kate," Demming replied, looking uncomfortable.
Beckett cleared her throat, snapping Castle in to action. "Oh, let me just leave this here for you then, and I'll be getting back home to Alexis and Mother." He leaned over the front of her desk to place the take-out bag and to-go cups next to her Italian meal when he noticed she had hardly ate anything.
"Beckett! Why aren't you eating your…..oh!" Castle said, noticing the offending vegetable that Kate was avoiding. "No wonder, it's mushrooms, here," he said, digging around in the bag and producing her favorite cheeseburger with bacon from Remy's. "Just eat this."
"Thanks Castle," Beckett said awkwardly, but with a hint of gratitude and amusement in her eyes.
Castle turned to leave with a nod towards the other detective.
"What's wrong with mushrooms?" Demming asked Kate.
Kate blushed, but before she could answer, Castle turned around and said, "Oh, she's allergic. Has been since she was 8."
Kate stared at him with her mouth hanging wide open. "How did you…" she started.
Castle just winked, and the childish spark in his eyes was back, having dimmed when he spotted Demming. "Because, I know you better than you think I do, Detective."
He turned back around and sauntered to the elevator, with a bit more spring in his step. And if the half contemplating, half jealous look Demming shot him as he left the bullpen added a little pep to that spring, well, that was just an added bonus.