Prompt from the castlefanficprompts tumblr; '"It's raining on the bus stop and you have a big umbrella sooo…" AU'
Sort of changed this prompt to 'It's raining on the bus stop and I have a big umbrella' but shhh.
Kate stood in the pouring rain, her knees knocking together underneath her navy blue loose slacks as she waited at the designated bus stop, the forceful rain splattering from the cobbled pavement and soaking the cuffs of her trousers.
She sighed loudly as she shifted the sleeve of her black coat to glance at her watch, the hands confirming that the bus should've been arriving about ten minutes ago. Originally, when her car's headlight had stopped working and she put it in for repair, she wasn't too upset when she was informed that the job would take two days (even though she was sure that replacing a bulb couldn't need a full forty-eight hours). She'd heard somewhere about an Alternative Travel Project, that everyone going car free for a day could save one billion trees, and she was happy to do her share for once.
But as the rain began to pour down heavier and thunder rumbled behind her, she was feeling less and less content by the minute.
Suddenly, a shadow was cast over her. She whipped her head upwards to see that she was now being covered by a large dark green umbrella hovering above her. Kate looked over to her right, where a man quirked his eyebrow with a smirk at her confused face.
"Uh, hi?" Beckett spoke cautiously, running her gaze up and down the stranger, taking in the sight of his blue jeans and long brown coat that showed no sign of a single drop of rain.
"Not that the frowny face you're sporting isn't adorable, but I can't let you get any more soaked." He grinned, though his crystal blue eyes showed a teasing glint.
Kate shook her head, her nose scrunching as the tips of her wet strands of hair hit her cheeks, "We don't even know each other." She pointed out.
"No, but even if you're a person who kicks puppies in your spare time, no one should be objected to wearing wet socks for the rest of the day." He explained, as if his motive was obvious.
She opened her mouth to speak – whether she was going to thank him or argue with him, she wasn't sure – but at the sound of a horn beeping, the two looked to the right to see the large white bus finally approaching.
As the vehicle stopped, the tyres were submerged into a puddle, causing a spray of water to wash over to the sidewalk. Beckett whirled around quickly so that the water would hit her back, but she felt nothing. With confusion she turned back around to see that the man had tilted his umbrella forwards to shield the two of them, a large proud smile now covering his features.
"After you." He offered happily, lifting his left hand in the direction of the bus.
Without hesitation she scurried through the entrance to the vehicle, immediately pulling the hood of her coat down and paying the driver, who thanked her with a gruff voice. She fell into the first seat, leaning her head against the window as she took a deep exhale of exhaustion, even though it was still before 10am.
When she opened her eyes, Kate noticed that the man was walking towards her. She sighed inwardly, not having any effort to talk to another human, let alone shout at one. Luckily, he seemed to notice her unconscious message, and instead took the seat behind her, (which wasn't completely necessary as most of the rows were empty, but Kate didn't question it).
The journey went past in a blur as she shuts her eyes once more, trying not to focus on the droplets of water that are dripping down her neck and the wet stick of her slacks on the skin of her legs, and instead thinking forward to the glorious moment when she can go to her precinct locker and change into heavenly dry clothes.
A shrill ring of a phone makes her instinctively reach for her pocket, but she realises it's not hers when she hears the man sitting behind her greeting someone on the other side of the line.
She relaxed back into the seat, knowing that the call wasn't her captain scrutinising her for being late, only capturing select words from the stranger's conversation like 'sweetheart' and 'already on my way' and 'Gram took the car' and 'love you'.
Soon enough, she recognised the buildings passing by outside the window and leant forward to press the circular red 'stop' button. With an inhale, she forced her frozen legs to work again as she cautiously walked to the front of the bus. She turned around when she heard a 'woah!' erupting from behind her, met with the sight of the now familiar man gripping tightly onto one of the bright yellow bars before he fell to the ground as the vehicle broke to a sharp halt.
She smiled good-naturedly at him then began to leave, instantly wincing as the rain hits her shoulders once more. But after a few seconds, it stopped, and she had no qualms about rolling her eyes towards the man with the green umbrella.
"I can handle the rain, you know." She quipped, "I'm already soaked through, it's kind of pointless to follow me around."
He scoffed and placed his hand up to his chest at the accusation, "I'm not following you," He rebutted, "I'm just probably going the same way you are."
She sighed and began to head to the right, and unsurprisingly, he walked beside her.
"See, we're totally going the same way." He exclaimed, but Kate easily noticed him glancing at all the buildings and squinting at the street signs.
Before long, they arrived in front of the police precinct. She stopped abruptly, laughing to herself as the man kept walking for a few strides then scurried back next to her. He tilted his head up to look at the tall building, and she managed to capture the intruded 'oh' he emitted as he read over the silver letters of NYPD that were nailed to the wall above the glass double doors.
With a curt nod and a smile, which Beckett hoped he would perceive as a parting gesture, she strode towards the door, silently both relieved and disappointed that he didn't follow on her tail, but pushed confidently through the double doors, appreciating the warmth of the inside.
She continued forward and pushed the elevator up button, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot as she waited for it to descend. During the wait, she glanced back through the glass, and saw the man helplessly turning his head from left to right, waving his non dominant hand around and pointing in multiple directions, as if he was trying to find his bearings with a manmade compass. With a roll of her eyes, Kate returned outside to the cold.
"You don't know what part of the city you're in, do you?"
The sound of her voice made the man turn around in shock, droplets of water flying from the rim of his umbrella.
With a shy smile, he replied, "Don't even know if I'm still in the city."
Kate let out a small chuckle and walked towards the man, standing underneath his cover once more, "You're still in the city." She assured, making him release an exaggerated sigh of relief.
"Is there somewhere I could catch a cab from then?" He asked, still somehow looking upbeat and happy, a stark contrast from the muted tones of grey that were surrounding him.
"Where were you heading? You know, before you decided to stalk me?" Kate accused, but her words were wrapped in a teasing tone, making the man laugh.
"Marlowe Prep." He revealed, making Kate's head tilt in interest, which prompted him to continue, "My daughter felt ill this morning but she caught the bus to school anyway, despite my efforts to stop her."
Kate raised her eyebrows at this information, remembering the days where she would have to prove she was practically on her death bed before her Dad allowed her an absence from school, and even then Jim would always call the school and ensure that his daughter didn't have any exams or important lessons that could be the possible reason for her sudden illness.
However, she smiled to herself as she reminisced about how her Mother would instantly call her work, honestly telling them that her Katie was sick and needed to be taken care of, even if the only thing Kate was struck down by was a measly sore throat. Beckett felt the memories of sick days flood back to her; the two women snuggled under the blanket her Grandmother had knitted her for her eighth birthday, watching endless reruns of any trashy TV shows they could find and eating candy and ice cream.
The voice of the man continuing his explanation snapped Kate out of her haze, "Thirty minutes after school started, I got a phone call from the teaching assistant in her class, saying Alexis has been sitting at her desk with her head in her hands and is looking deathly pale – well, more pale than usual – but is still refusing to call me to pick her up."
"The call I got on the bus was her finally admitting that she felt awful, saying that she wanted me to pick her up and that I was right, which is usually great to hear as a parent, but not so much when it's at the cost of your child."
Kate nodded with a smile, feeling slightly enamoured by how the man's face had lit up when he began talking about his daughter, though she frowned with him as soon as he mentioned Alexis' illness.
"Well," She began, making the corners of his lips turn upwards again, as he looked into her hazel eyes, "If you walk up this street until the left turn," She explained, pointing her finger in the direction, "Usually cabs lurk around that corner. On the off chance that there aren't any there, keep walking left until you reach Madison Street, there's a cab bay there."
He smiled appreciatively, nodding his head to show that he'd interpreted the information, "Thanks a lot."
She nodded back, patting his forearm twice before heading back into the precinct. At the same time she pulled on the silver bar of the door, his voice resonated behind her.
"Oh, and it was a pleasure meeting you!" He shouted over the sound of pellets of rain hitting the ground.
Kate merely waved back, then turned back to head inside, grinning from ear to ear despite her efforts not to as she pressed the coppery elevator button once more.
The next day, she had to press her lips together to keep the laughter from bubbling up as she saw the same green umbrella approaching her at the bus stop.
"Before you accuse me of stalking, I'm going to the pharmacy to get some aspirin for my daughter," He instantly said, raising one hand innocently, "Wouldn't try anything now I know you work at a police precinct."
She smiled at the familiar man, accepting his reasoning with a nod of her head.
They engaged in small talk about his daughter until they head the engine of the bus approaching. This time, she patted the cushion of the seat next to her as he walked by, trying to ignore the fluttering in her stomach at the grin he threw her way as he perched down onto the chair.
In a matter of minutes, they had reached Kate's stop once again. He turned to say farewell to her, but she spoke up first.
"Instead of losing yourself in the city and paying for a bus then a cab to talk to me, how about we just meet for dinner?" She offered, her cold fingers brushing over his hand as she handed him a small rectangle of white paper.
He almost got off at the wrong stop again, but this time, it's because he was too preoccupied staring down at the string of digits written on Officer Kate Beckett's business card.
After writing this story, I'm really hoping that this happens to me tomorrow whilst I wait at the bus stop after work tomorrow. But just in case it doesn't, a review would make me feel better about that ;)
Lou xo