Castle walked into the precinct and stepped into the elevator. He watched as the doors close in front of him and waited as the elevator went up. He was holding his usual "morning routine" coffee for himself and Beckett. A sugar and a creamer on top of each, in a coffee holder. He was wearing a black jacket over a light blue button up shirt-leaving two buttons undone at the top, and dark denim jeans. The doors opened and he stepped out and headed towards his usual destination: Beckett's desk. He set down the coffee's and looked around for his partner.
"Yo, Castle, Beckett's upstairs hitting up the gym." Esposito hollered from his desk. Castle spun around to face Esposito ask he spoke.
A grin came to Castle's face, he set down the coffee's and he turned towards the stairs that led up to the gym. He had a look on his face as if he was up to something.
"Hey man, Beckett is pretty hardcore up there boxing. Don't forget you signed a contract that if you get hurt…" Esposito yelled, as Castle walked away.
"I can't sue." Castle yelled back, as he wandered up the stairs.
Meanwhile upstairs in the gym, Beckett was blowing off some steam and hitting a punching-bag. She had on black pants, a black-sports top, and her brown-auburn hair was clipped up, leaving her bangs to lay across her forehead and side of her face. Grunting and making small sounds as she hit the bag with each clenched fist, inside her gloves. She stopped for a moment, took her left glove off, and drank some water. She was breathing in and out heavily. She was hot, and sweaty- which meant it was a good work-out.
She looked up at the clock and decided to be done with her work-out for the day. I think this punching-bag has had enough, she thought. Beckett took off her other glove and tossed it on the ground. She set down her water bottle and started to walk away, but decided to give the punching-bag one last piece of her. She turned quickly and raised her long leg into a hard kick, but the bag was moved by someone, which made her miss the bag and lose her balance. Her leg went right past the bag and she felt herself falling backwards towards the floor, until something caught her.
"Whoa! Gotcha!" The voice yelled.
She looked up, startled, and it was Castle. He was holding her with his left arm around her back, and his left hand gripping her side. Beckett tried to say something, but only small sounds came from her mouth.
"What, no good looking trainer, that you have a 'friends with benefits,' up here to spar with?" Castle asked, as he stared her down quickly before she could notice. He was referring to his novel Heat Wave, where Nikki Heat has a relationship with her trainer at the gym.
"Only in your novels Castle." Beckett replied.
"Spoken like a true fan." Castle smiled, as he kept his eyes locked on hers. Ever since he found out she was a fan of his novels, when he first met her, he knew he would always have that on her.
Beckett blushed and had her eyes locked into his gaze-which was lit up. Beckett then quickly realized she was still being supported by Castle, and she quickly jumped up onto her feet again before anyone could see what just happened.
"Castle… what're you doing up here?" Beckett said, as she tried to catch her breath. She reached down and picked up her water bottle and closed her eyes as she drank- trying to hide the embarrassment of falling into Castle's arms.
"You know you could've seriously injured my perfectly good-looking face with that whole 'Elektra' move you just pulled." Castle said, totally avoiding her question, as he hit the red punching bag with his clenched fist.
"Yeah, too bad I missed." Beckett replied sarcastically with a grin.
Castle smiled and replied, "So you admit I'm perfectly good-looking."
Beckett rolled her eyes and grabbed a towel to wipe off the sweat on her forward.
"So, what's in store for us today?" Castle asked, hoping that there was some kind of murder to be solved.
"Paperwork. There's two boxes with files in them on my desk, if you wanted to take a look. I need a quick shower, I'll be down in a few." Beckett spoke, as she unraveled the boxing tape from her hands.
"Well I'm not much help when it comes to boring paperwork, but a shower on the other hand…I can be very helpful." Castle grinned, with an eyebrow raised.
"No thanks, Castle, I think I can manage." Beckett replied, as she walked by him and patted his shoulder.
Castle turned around and followed her lead, as usual, and he started towards the stairs.
"Fine. I'll just go…downstairs…to my chair…while you're up here…showering…" Castle went on as he went down the stairs back to Beckett's desk. Kate smiled and shook her head as she walked into the locker room.
Beckett took a shower and then got dressed. She wore a long sleeve button-up top that had dark red stripes, dark dress pants, and of course heels. She touched up her make-up and kept her hair up. She grabbed her gym-bag and headed out to go downstairs to join her partner, who she hoped had a cup of coffee waiting for her.
As Beckett approached her desk she didn't see Castle anywhere, which was odd. She put her bag into a desk drawer and then slid into her chair- letting it roll gracefully towards her desk. She let out a sigh and started typing. She was almost halfway done with her report from a previous case until she was interrupted by the familiar smell of fresh espresso, being placed on her desk.
"I was wondering where you ran off too, couldn't stay away huh?" Beckett asked, sarcastically. She loved when he would bring her coffee, something she had grown so use to that she always expected that the cup of coffee in his hand was always for her- which it was.
"From you Beckett?" he continued, "I've just been waiting for you to get out of the shower and join me…that sounded a lot less dirty in my mind." Castle furrowed his brow as he spoke.
"Beckett, can I see you in here?" Captain Montgomery hollered, from his doorway.
Beckett nodded and got up from her desk. She wondered what the captain had in store for her today.
"What's up, sir?" Beckett asked, curiously.
"Nothing, today. Which is why I want you to take the day off, Detective."
"Sir, I don't need a..." Beckett went. She always tried to back herself up and make a case as to why she didn't need to be home or off a case.
"I'm telling you, as your captain, to take the day off. You need time to yourself, ecspecially after these past few weeks. It's an order, Beckett." Montgomery interrupted, as he gave a look of concern. His look also meant 'you're going home.'
Beckett nodded.
"Thank you sir," she replied. It was an order, and he was right- she could really use the day off.
"I'll call you if anything major comes up, but Ryan and Esposito are here, so take time today to relax." Montgomery spoke.
Beckett walked out of Montgomery's office and went towards her desk. She looked up at Castle who was looking at the files on her desk. She had forgotten he was out there.
"Montgomery have a case for us?" Castle asked eagerly.
"No, um...he gave me the day off. So I'm gonna go home." Beckett replied. She grabbed her dark charcoal jacket off her chair and started to put it on.
"I have a better idea."
Beckett had a shocked look on her face.
"What?" Castle asked, as he looked behind each shoulder to see what shocked her.
"You have an idea? That's shocking." Beckett replied, with a sarcastic grin.
"We should go out and enjoy our day off." Castle said, with hope in his voice that she'd agree.
"Our day off? I didn't know that opening your mouth and speaking your mind was considered work, Castle." Becket spoke with humor in her voice, and a smile onher lips. Castle looked at her and nodded his head as he squinted his eyes, accepting her joke.
"It's harder than it looks." Castle replied.
Beckett started towards the elevator, and Castle followed her.
"Come on. There's got to be something you want to do that you haven't done in awhile, I open to anything." He raised an eyebrow. Castle's begging turned into another one of his dirty comments.
Beckett stood in front of the elevator doors, as they opened, she pondered for a moment.
"What's a matter Beckett, afraid of a little fun?" Castle asked, raising an eyebrow.
Beckett looked up at Castle and then stepped inside the elevator. She faced Castle, who was still standing outside the open doors. She smiled and let out a breath, "let's go Castle."