Hello everyone.
This is really just a little silliness; pure candy-floss fluff and filled to the brim with Castle and Beckett love. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Everything and everyone belongs to their rightful owners, I am simply borrowing them for a little while.

Missing You

He had been writing for hours; struggling through the chapters that he had promised to send Gina weeks ago, forcing his mind to stutter through imaginary worlds if only to avoid her hammering on his door and demanding to see them in person.
But now he has truly had enough; he simply can't write anymore, not tonight, not when he misses Kate so much that her absence has become a physical pain that clamps tightly around his heart. He knows how silly that sounds; that she would roll her eyes and tell him to stop using her as an excuse to get out of work, but honestly, he can't stand to be away from her any longer. His back aches and his eyes sting, and in that moment, he needs her so much closer.

Walking through to their bedroom, he finds her snuggled against his pillow, nose buried deep in a copy of Derek Storm so tattered that she has had to sellotape a few unruly pages back in. He cannot help but lean against the door-frame and watch her for a while, the love that he feels stealing his breath away. He studies the emotions that play out on her features, rejoices at how free and unaffected by the world she now is, utterly absorbed in the story that she probably knows better than he does, toes wriggling to keep themselves warm and fingers trailing soothing patterns across the swell of her belly that seems to be growing a little more each day. She's like a magic cure, the stress of the day long forgotten now that he is back by her side; back where his heart belongs.

He sinks onto the empty space beside her, smirking a little at the surprise that flashes emerald green in her eyes, loves that she was too wrapped up in his words to even realise that he was there. "Make you jump?"

Her reply is soft and bashful, cheeks flushed pink and utterly adorable. "Only a little."
But then she is changed, concern knitting itself into her words, book carefully placed on the mattress so as not to dislodge any more pages and hands reaching out for his own, "You look exhausted, Rick."

"I'm fine, just..." He knows better than to carry on; nothing gets past Kate Beckett, least of all where he is concerned. "...Just utterly worn out. I never have been any good at writing to a deadline, and Gina was never any better at waiting for late chapters."

"Silly man," she's smiling up at him now, cool hands tingling his skin as they find the crook of his neck, "you'll wear yourself out if you're not careful."

He doesn't know whether to tease her or kiss her, or perhaps a little of both; because there she was, Detective Kate Beckett, telling him to slow down. Oh, how times had changed.
But the look in her eyes tells Castle that she isn't joking, "Don't look so worried, Kate. Everything is up to date and ready to be sent off tomorrow morning; Nikki will just have to amuse herself for a little while."

"Promise?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die."

And with that she's back to teasing glances and girlish giggles, concern melting into a joyful happiness that lifts his heart; forehead leaning against his shoulder and lips kissing away the last lingering ache of his muscles.

"So, Derek Storm? I haven't seen him around here for a while." He places the book on the bedside table and scoots himself into its place beside her; his voice light and almost teasing, amazed that she still reads his first books.

She cuddles close to him, nuzzles into the warmth of his chest and holds tight to his hands that instinctively drift their familiar resting place atop her belly, "We missed you."

His heart aches with love; heavy and weighted and utterly thrilled. She's not trying to make him feel guilty, or even really anything at all; she's just telling him the truth. She missed him, and their baby girl missed him; and somehow that seems beautiful and terrible all at the same time.
God, he loves them both so much.

Pressing a kiss to the top of her head, he pulls her even closer to the curve of his body, needing her to feel the love that words alone can't convey. Needing her to know that every second he is away from them hurts and aches and feels almost impossible to survive. That time passes so slowly he sometimes thinks it never really existed at all, or perhaps that the world stops working when they are apart. And compared to everything that he feels, the words don't seem quite enough, but something makes him say them anyway, "I missed you, too."

And he's glad that he does, because in them she finds the opportunity to tell him something that has been eating away at her for weeks now, "She knows when I'm lonely, when her Daddy isn't close by."

"She does?"

"Yep, she fidgets and hiccups and kicks about as soon as you leave," she kisses him then, lips finding his own with a suddenness he wasn't expecting; deliberate and almost desperate, fuelling her to carry on, to share the secrets that pass between her and their baby girl, "I think she wants to reassure me that I will always have a little part of you in my life, that I never need to feel alone or scared."

"I'm sorry, Kate. I'm so sor..."

"Sshhh, no, you don't need to be sorry. You never need to be sorry. Missing you hurts; it always has and it always will, but that's ok. It's ok because you always come back to me, back to us, and we would both wait a thousand years for a single second of your love."

He is so absolutely in awe of her; overwhelmed by her honesty and her strength, and there don't seem words enough in the world to express all that he feels for her; except perhaps for three, "I love you."

And then they don't need words at all, because really, they never did.
Their bodies are pulled flush to each other, lips a whisper apart; lust clouding their vision and hands roaming across tingled skin, but it seems that their baby has other ideas. Castle feels the sharp kick reverberate between them, the moan of Kate's body as she fights between annoyance and love; love eventually winning over as they erupt into giggles, fingers entwining as they try to soothe away the kicks of their little girl. In doing so her forest eyes find his own in a silent count, smiling wide and unveiled as they rub gentle patterns over Kate's belly and speak their words together, "We love you, too!"

End.

So, what did you think?
I don't normally write stories with so much conversation - but I wanted to try something a little different.
Please let me know what you thought; good or bad, all feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for reading,
Katie

Twitter: katieupatree