This story was written for the 2012 Castle Fan Awards. Under the A9 'Story written for the awards' category. Topic: "Castle & Beckett stuck in an empty room with a radio, a cat, a sharpie and a single cup of coffee"
Disclaimer: I own nothing and no one related in any way, shape or form to the show Castle. I just it love it :D
She growled, spinning on her heel, her hair flying out behind her. She narrowed her eyes when she found him across the room, glaring "This is all your fault Castle."
He spun to face her "How is this my...?"
"I asked you to do one thing Castle" she interrupted "One simple thing...Hold the door, but no of course you couldn't do that, you saw something SHINY and got distracted."
"But look." He said running his hand along the top of the old fashioned radio. "It's so cool. I wonder if it still works."
"Castle. Focus." She stormed towards him. "We are trapped in a storage container with no means of escape. This is not the time to be fiddling with knobs..." She pointed at him when his eyes opened widely "And don't look at me like that you know perfectly well what I meant."
"Well ok... it was just the way you said it was..."
"CASTLE!"
"Fine, but I don't understand what the big deal is, someone will find us."
She raised her coffee cup to her lips, taking a deep and satisfying drag of the rapidly cooling liquid before she answered him. "Castle, what happened the last time we were stuck in one of these things?"
She tapped her foot, waiting for his answer, but he was lost in the totally hot school teacher vibe she was giving off. One hand on her hip as she gestured with the cup.
"Well you did this really sexy pose with those long bolt cutter things and..." His voice faded away as he remembered her standing, body slanted to one side, hair catching the light as it fell over her shoulder. And then she held up the tools. She had grinned at him like some sort of superhero mechanic and his heart had started to...
"AND?"
Her impatient voice dragged him back to the moment, and he lifted his eyes sheepishly to find her still staring at him, waiting.
"Oh and we found..." Realisation hit him hard and fast "OHHH and we found the bomb."
"Yes and all hell broke loose. I do not want a repeat performance."
"We need to get out of here." He said turning on the spot, ignoring her as she mumbled 'duh' under her breath.
"Hey why don't you just call Espo and get him to come let us out?" He was moving around the empty room, though she watched with interest as he kept getting drawn back to the old radio. The thing couldn't have broadcast anything since the 1940's but she gave in to the smile she felt when his fingers brushed across the aged metal and wood with reverence.
"I left my phone in the car." She said dropping her hand into her pocket uselessly. "You?"
"Err, I may have left it in...my coat." He walked past her, heading for the door, trying his best to duck out of sight of her narrowed gaze, even though they were both trapped.
"And where exactly is your coat?" She asked suspiciously.
"Waiting for me...in your car." He pretended to ignore her as he spoke nonchalantly testing the edges of the thoroughly locked storage locker door. "Aren't these things supposed to have internal handles for just such a situation?"
"Modern ones yeah, I think this place is about 60 years old. And everything is covered in dust and cobwebs. Ugh." She shuddered.
He smiled "I always forget you're such a neat freak."
"I am not." She barked "I just don't like cobwebs, they get tangled in your hair and..."
"Hates cobwebs..." He muttered as his fingers skimmed the edge of the door again "But no problem with spiders."
"Why would I have a problem with spiders?" She asked confused, continuing the inventory of her pockets. She came up with nothing aside from her gun and the coffee she still held in the other hand.
"Oh I don't know cos they are furry and gross and they bite and they have too many legs and..."
"Castle." She interrupted him again with a sigh. "This is getting us nowhere and I really want to leave soooo..." She held out her hand "Empty your pockets."
"Excuse me?" He said turning around to face her. His hands closed over his pockets protectively as if he expected her to launch herself at him and start rummaging through them.
"You might have something useful Castle, come on." She waggled her fingers flashing her eyes at him in anticipation.
He watched the edge of her lips curl up as she fought to resist the amused smile. "I...don't want to." He said folding his arms across his chest, lifting his chin obstinately.
"Castle whatever you have in there can't be anywhere near as bad as what I'm going to imagine is in there if you don't show me." Kate tilted her head, her fingers still waggling.
"I just think that..."
"CASTLE." She barked "I may not have my phone but I still have my gun."
"Fine." He huffed "Just...don't laugh."
"I promise nothing." She growled.
He dug through the pocket of his pants, swallowing thickly before he pulled something out and placed it in her waiting hand.
A green sharpie.
She stared down at it in confusion. "Castle, what the hell is this?"
"It's a green..."
"Castle I know what it is. I mean... why do you have this?"
"I always carry one with me...just in case I..." He looked up at her and back down at her hand fast, trying not to grin.
She scoffed in disgust as she caught on "OH this is in case some rabid fangirl asks you to sign her chest isn't it." She held the pen out in front of her between two fingers as if it was dirty, contaminated. She shuddered again and threw it back at him, rolling her eyes as he caught it deftly and slid it back into his pocket with a smirk.
They stared at each other for a few seconds before he slid his hand slowly back into his pocket. He took a measured, calculated step towards her, never breaking eye contact as he spoke. "I also have...this." He said, closing the distance between them and setting something small and soft in her hand. He kept his hand curled over hers, keeping her from seeing what it was as their fingers tangled. She looked back at him in confusion, watching the tender sparkle ignite behind his eyes as he finally closed her fingers over the object.
He leant in close, his lips settling over her ear before he whispered. "It's my lucky charm." He pulled away with a smile, stepping back and reluctantly letting go of her hand.
She closed her eyes briefly, her fingers squeezing around the soft object before she opened her palm and looked down.
She barked a laugh when she saw what he had placed there "A tiger Castle really? How is this your lucky charm? One of these tried to eat us." She looked up at him, her thumb tracing over the soft fur of the teeny tiny key chain cat.
"Tried being the operative word Beckett. Tried but didn't succeed." He slipped his hands into his pockets, twisting on the spot like an eager kid, waiting for approval.
She smiled at his adorable, if slightly insane, argument. Her fingers still tracing the tigers head as she watched him.
"And I kept my promise." She said softly, picking up the small toy and dancing it along her palm. Because the next time, there really had been no tiger, just them alone. They hadn't even needed her handcuffs to keep them tethered to each other.
He nodded, youthful boy falling away to be replaced by heated longing, all man, her man. "Oh I remember."
She reached behind her, setting down the coffee cup, before she turned back and levelled him with a burning, leading gaze.
"I have an idea." She said striding towards him. She tilted her head to one side, smiling slowly as she drew closer.
"You...do?" He couldn't help backing away just slightly at the predatory look that washed over her face. He loved every naughty bit of it, but it still took him by surprise.
She pressed her body close to his, sliding the tiny tiger into his breast pocket, patting lightly over his heart as the toy slid down into the darkness.
"Mmmhmmm...kiss me." She wriggled closer, her fingers sliding up the front of his jacket to tug tight on his lapels, pulling him forwards.
His eyes widened a little in surprise, "Wait...what...why?"
She rolled her eyes, one slow heavy rotation, purely because she knew how much he loved it. "Because Castle, we've been together what? A week." She let her fingers tickle past the edge of his shirt, running the tip of her index finger along his jaw. "What happens every time we do this at the precinct? Hmm?"
He let one arm fall to circle her waist, the other slipping through her hair as he leant in closer, smirking "Ryan usually walks in."
She smiled back "Or Esposito appears with a folder."
He nodded, leaning in to the slow caress of her breath across his lips. "Or Gates decides we need to go somewhere urgently."
"So see? Logic dictates..." She rocked onto her tiptoes, her heels giving her an added advantage, setting her just a little higher than he was used to.
"Well if its all about logic." He said pulling her in tightly, feeling her gasp.
"Yes," She agreed, laughing breathlessly "So just, kiss me and someone will interrupt, we will get rescued and Castle you shouldn't need this much convincing, will you just ki..."
His mouth closed over hers gently, balanced as she was on the tip of her shoes he almost lifted her off her feet, the arm around her waist tight and teasing. He held her trapped against him, his fingers gliding smoothly through her hair until he cupped the back of her head angling her mouth so that he could savour each slow sweeping caress of her lips.
A week was not long enough for either of them to get used to this feeling. A month, a year...an eternity could pass and all they would ever be was two sparks of lightning meeting in the moment. Crashing together, tension building fast and bright, until it crackled in all the places they touched.
She didn't realise she was pressed into the door until it started moving behind her. She was too concerned with the feel of his soft lips roaming over hers, the way his fingers tangled gently in her hair. But someone on the other side of the door was panting and shoving at it to get it open.
She pushed Castle back a step, then another, not leaving his arms as she did and the door opened with a creak behind her.
Ryan poked his head around the gap "Oh hey, I found you guys but..." He looked up, his mouth falling open when he saw how they were wrapped around each other" Oh god...oh sorry."
He was probably blushing, she could tell by the tone of his voice, embarrassed but smiley. He would tease them about this even though he would be the pink-cheeked one in the conversation.
Not that she cared.
They had taken their sweet time, and now so would she.
Bracing her heel against the door she pushed it back slowly, closing it in Ryan's face, her eyes locked on Castles lips. "Five more minutes." She called before the door closed with a loud click.