Thank you so very much to shannoncharliie for all the Beta Reading, ideas and Castle-isms! The fic wouldn't be here without you!
This was mainly shannoncharliie's idea which I brought to life, I have an idea of where it's going but not entirely. I was initially going to post the first section as the first chapter but as it was far too short I now have to write more chapters! I hope you enjoy it, I definitely enjoyed writing it!
Disclaimer: as expected I own nothing.
"Talk about a cold case."
"Castle!"
There seemed to be something odd about Kate's reply to their regular banter. No lecture about crime scene etiquette. No witty retort, she seemed to just cut him off at the first hurdle and he didn't even fight it. Maybe it was just the surprising lack of coffee, the Detective was rarely seen in the morning without her author-supplied caffeine fix.
"COD anytime soon?"
She was snappy too, now this wasn't just down to Kate's caffeine levels. Something else was up.
"We won't be able to tell until we get her back to the morgue. These abrasions aren't enough to be the cause but she definitely took a beating. Who found her anyway? The snow must have covered her by at least an inch." Distracted by her dead woman's fingernails Lanie didn't get the chance to further analyse her friend.
"Someone's dog did. Early this morning." Kate said showing signs of being rather distracted. "Where's Castle got to now?" Looking round, an unconscious smile springing to her face when she saw him helping to push a snowball inversely proportional to the children rolling it. "Castle!" She hollered, distracting him from his task only enough to turn his head in the Detectives direction. "Come on! We gotta' get another coffee!"
When did they get time to have a first coffee? Lanie mused as she packed up the body and drove back to autopsy.
- 7 hours earlier -
The murder board started neat and lifeless. It was getting late, Beckett could tell Ryan wanted to get home to Jenny and Esposito to Lanie, so she sent them home. Detective Beckett and Richard Castle were now alone in the precinct and planned their next assault at the decidedly dull case. As Rick made his famous coffee he watched Katherine as she unconsciously fiddled with the board, moving a suspects picture closer to another, writing a new post-it, redrawing a line.
The machine bubbled away and he was lost in his thoughts, he knew it would never work. He just couldn't help but wonder...
Rick bought the coffees through, and gave one to his detective, now resting against the desk, studying the case file which was pressed to her abdomen.
As they sipped their coffee, inspiration struck them simultaneously. The board was alive with fresh perspectives, new leads and ultimately, what they'd wanted. A murderer.
Calling it a day, they rode the lift in contented silence. Beckett took a left and turned off the lights for the entire building (they were often the last to leave, even the janitors had earlier nights than them) whilst Castle opened the door into the bitterly cold midnight air.
"Beeeeeeecks!" the familiar cry sounded more worried than usual.
"What IS it Castle? Afraid of the dark?" he could hear the smirk in her voice and she rounded the corner to be met with the sight of 4 foot snow tumbling around her favourite - and also coldest - consultant. His awkward smile made her heart melt and a laugh shook her shoulders violently.
After ineffectually shovelling snow for the best part of an hour there was a unanimous decision to stay the night. Leaving the lights off they rode the lift up, this silence was anything but contented.
They both knew the only comfortable sleeping apparatus was the couch in the break room.
The silence was broken by both.
"You can have the couch."
"No, I insist. It's only fair." Castles chivalrous comment surprised Kate such that she stared open mouthed at her consultant. She'd expected a childish 'dibbs' or back complaint, rendering her on the floor for the night.
"Thank you Rick." Her voice portraying her surprise as the right side of her mouth curled to a smile. Now on their way to the break room she couldn't hold back a yawn, which Richard had to stifle a reply to.
The blanket on the back of the couch was donated to Rick, who shuffled uncomfortably and folded his jacket as a makeshift pillow. Kate spread out on the luxury of the cold leather couch, her top riding just a little too far up. Making Castle hitch a breath.
"Night Castle."
"Night Beckett."
The darkness was enough to eliminate any thought of the rest of the precinct, but not enough to stop Richard see Kate fight the shivers that were clearly affecting her. Curling to a foetus she looked so small and helpless.
"Have the blanket Kate, you look freezing."
"I couldn't. I've already sentenced you to weeks of back pain, I don't want to add hypothermia to the mix." Her voice was determined even through the very tempting offer.
"Come on. I can't see you like this!" Rick moved the few metres to the couch and pulled the blanket over the small Detective.
"But you can't sleep on the floor, with nothing at all. Come'ere." She mumbled and moved closer to the back of the couch, tugged on his arm and pulled him feebly alongside her. The blanket was already warm and along with Rick's body heat Beckett was quickly an amiable temperature. The two of them managed to lay comfortably, only arms touching. Not as intimate as they'd have liked, but as intimate as Beckett's wall would allow. They stared into the black abyss above them, there was nothing to say. There was nothing funny about this.
As much as they might have ached for each other, they nodded off easily. Each time either of them woke up, and found themselves closer to the other, they merely fell asleep again. Not quite having the heart to wake the other, and move themselves to more respectable positions. Or at least that's what they told themselves.