Disclaimer: Sadly Castle is not mine. I am just borrowing the characters for a few minutes of entertainment while we wait the two weeks for the next episode (and really who could blame me?)
A/N: Please forgive any inaccuracies :)
A new addition had arrived at the loft. It sat unassumingly in the middle of the of the living room between the sofa and coffee table, right where the delivery man had carried it in that morning despite Kate's numerous protests that she could do it herself. The brown cardboard exterior was smooth and still smelled faintly of warehouses and chemicals, marking it as new, the black letters printed across the front the only clue to its origins: IKEA.
That should have been the first sign of trouble but Detective Kate Beckett was never one to back down from a challenge. Sure she had heard the horror stories, grizzly details of how hard their flat packs were to assemble but she was a detective for goodness sakes, she could put a damn bookshelf together.
Bookshelf. The thought made her smile. Upon moving into the loft it had become apparent that between Castle and herself they had far too many books to fit on his shelves so with a shrug and cheeky smile (which she found absolutely adorable) he suggested that, rather than cut down their collection she simply buy a new shelf. Despite the impracticality of it, after all they now had several duplicates she had agreed. His writing, his books is what brought them together and somewhere along the line it became...theirs.
She shook her head, inspecting the box one more. It was bigger than she expected, almost as tall as her but relatively thin. Tape covered a break in the cardboard on the top and without a second thought she sliced clean through with a rather large kitchen knife. It might not have been strictly necessary but it was oddly satisfying. Castle must have been rubbing off on her, she thought. His name brought another smile to her face. It must have looked strange, her standing in the middle of the loft smiling at a cardboard box but it was her home-their home-and she couldn't bring herself to care.
Even though they had made several changes when she first moved in a week ago this was the first thing they had chosen together, it was kind of special. Unfortunately he was away on a book signing and wasn't there to help her put it together but she supposed it was a good thing. The two of them tended to get distracted easily, which led to far more enjoyable (but less productive) activities. Warmth ran through her with the memories and she had to shove it back down, focusing on the task at hand.
Getting all the pieces out of the box was relatively easy but unfortunately they were wrapped in some sort of plastic-foam hybrid material that stuck to her hands every time she touched it. Grunting in annoyance she shook her hands, letting it fall to the floor. Rather than unwrap each of the pieces she simply took the knife and sliced through, delighting in the tearing sound it made. Yep, he was definitely rubbing off on her. The shelves were fairly easy to unwrap (and she made a rather large mess in the process) but someone had decided that it was a good idea tape the absurd material directly onto the sides. She dug her nail under a corner, carefully peeling up one of the sticky edges. She cursed when it tore, leaving a sticky residue on the surface and her nail. It took a while to remove and even longer to get rid of its friends and she found her mind wondering back to Castle.
It wasn't quite lunchtime yet so he was probably still signing books. As much as he liked being the centre of attention ( he could deny it all he wanted she knew he loved it) he had a tendency to get bored during such events, man-child that he was. She smiled to herself as a an idea began to form.
Abandoning the task at hand she got up to retrieve her phone, quickly typing out a text and hitting send.
Left all alone, what's a girl to do except entertain herself?
That should keep him busy for a while she thought, returning to the tedious task of pulling sticky off the shelf (seriously she could have put the thing together by now.) Just as she was on the last piece of the obnoxious substance her phone buzzed. It was a welcome distraction and she eagerly dug underneath the pile of plastic, pulling the device free. She shook a wayward piece off her hand as she unlocked the screen.
Well Detective, I can think of several options ;)
She shook her head, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth.
Oh, like what?
She sent back, already knowing exactly what he had in mind. Already anticipating his next message Kate set the phone down where it hopefully wouldn't get lost, determined to put the shelf together as fast as humanly possible. Stalking into the kitchen she rooted around under the sink, returning moments later with her prize. Shaking the garbage bad out she shoved the mess of sticky and plastic wrap into it, tying it off securely. Now that was finally out of the way she dug through the remaining mess until she found the small zip-lock bag of screws. Where were the damn instructions? She cast a nervous glance at the garbage bag but shook her head. She would have noticed if the piece of paper had gotten mixed up in it.
It took another ten minutes to find the elusive instructions which were, of course at the bottom of the box. Her phone beeped with another message, her smile lighting up along with the screen. It was perfect timing.
Well now, let me think...There's the gift I gave you Valentine's Day morning in the bedside drawer
Involuntarily she glanced in the direction of the bedroom before she could stop herself. She remembered that particular gift quite well, especially since he had woken her up with it and she had been quite fond of it since then. Shaking her head she willed her body under control. Sometimes the effect he had on her even through a simple text message was intoxicating. It was time to even the score. With a sexy little smile she replied, imagining the look on his face when he read her message.
You wouldn't want me using it alone now would you? But don't worry, I'll think of you
Pulling herself back together proved futile so she put the messages out of her mind, returning to the instructions. Her brow furrowed as she tried to make sense of them.
Slide slot A into space between D & E.
Huh?
There were no slots, everything just screwed together. How did that work? Upon further inspection she found that the parts on the instructions were labelled with letters whereas the pieces themselves had numbers on them. So maybe each letter corresponded to a number but that would mean...
Nope that didn't work. So then how did it go together? It's a bookshelf she reminded herself, laying all the pieces out in a logical arrangement.
Only the numbers didn't match up either. Great. Who wrote these plans anyway? Letting out an annoyed huff she re-arranged everything again, trying to make sense of it.
Three hours, two cabs and a ton of congested traffic later Castle finally made it back to the loft. Despite the relatively short amount of time they had been apart he had found himself missing Kate terribly and after her texts well...he couldn't help himself. Cancelling the rest of the signings had been a nightmare but if her words were anything to go by it was worth it. He almost dropped the keys in his rush to unlock the door. Pausing to collect himself he swung it open.
The first thing he noticed was the living room. It was a mess, materials of all kinds strewn everywhere, a piece of paper that looked like it had been scrunched up numerous times had been tossed aside and in the middle of it all Kate, glaring intensely at a pile of what he was assuming was meant to be the new shelf. He struggled to keep the smile from his face, it would surely get him into trouble if she spotted it. She was one of the most organised people he knew, it was just so unlike her.
She didn't acknowledge his presence , eyes firmly locked onto what he imagined had become her latest nemesis. The thought amused him and he found himself getting lost in how adorable she looked.
"Hey" he said as he stood next to her, least he surprise her and well...he didn't want a repeat of last time. When she spoke her voice was as hard as steel, her eyes holding a determination he had seen many times when she was interviewing suspects (and when she was angry with him.)
"Seven years as a detective, over a hundred cases solved only to be defeated by a damn bookshelf"
"It happens to the best of us" he replied, wrapping his arms around her. She was tense but she returned the embrace, burrowing into his chest. She had missed him and only now was it registering that he was meant to be away. As much as she wanted to ask him about it the kisses he was placing along her jaw were distracting and she tilted her head to the side, giving him better access.
In the end it was Alexis who put the shelf together after returning home from class to find it lying on the floor and a trail of clothes (which she really did not want to think about) leading to the bedroom.