AN: This fic is dedicated to Jennifer who gave me the harmless prompt of "Story with a focus around a single color" that I turned into this.

This fic will be 7 chapters, one for every color of the rainbow and for each chakra from root to crown. The chapters are inspired by the lesson of the chakra that the color represents and the events of the chapter strive to balance that chakra. This isn't Beckett and Castle finding spirituality however; the characters aren't modeling their actions toward that goal, that's what I'm writing them towards.

Come with me on this journey, won't you?


Red - Muladhara


Running always helped her think. She would put in ear buds, start a playlist full of bouncy pop music, and let it all melt away as she ran. With every stretch of muscle, every bead of sweat, every satisfying strike of sneaker on concrete, her thoughts became less frantic, more grounded. She had learned in college that a good run after a study session connected all the information in her brain into a cohesive set of knowledge that she could then withdraw at will. It was a trick she took with her as she made it to detective and countless cases had been solved in the middle of a path in the park.

She wasn't running to solve a case right now though. And she wasn't running from anything either. No, really, she wasn't. She wasn't, right?

Damn it.

Kate stopped mid-stride causing glares from some of the other runners as they side-stepped around her. Not that she noticed, deep in thought as she was.

She was running away.

She had started the run hoping that it would clear her thoughts but at some point, her fight-or-flight response had flipped to flight. She tugged the cord to her ear buds, popping them from her ears as she pulled the cord free from the phone and stuffed them in her jacket pocket. She swiped at the screen to unlock the phone, pausing her playlist, she opened her text messages, the message that had encouraged the run shining up at her.

Come over for dinner?

Four little, innocent words that shouldn't elicit panic, especially when they were coming from her wonderful partner. But she knew. It wasn't just dinner. He was hoping for an answer.

And she had one. One that she was terrified of. But wasn't she better than this now? Didn't she want to be better than this? Didn't she work her ass off in therapy to not do this anymore? Her damn ingrained habits had horrible timing. But she knew that they weren't who she was now.

Almost done with a run. I'll shower and be over soon. She tapped the answer in confidently, pressed send with no hesitation.

The reply came as she was reattaching the ear buds. Looking forward to it. A grin stole across her face of its own volition.

It was time to stop running from; the rest of this journey was running to.


She used her key to enter the loft, only the third time she had done so and the first time that he was home when she did. It always felt like an intrusion to her, even with the open invitation that had been extended on multiple occasions.

Castle looked up in surprise from behind the kitchen island as she entered but that surprise was quickly replaced with a smile that lit up his entire being. It crinkled around his eyes, the blue luminous in the map of his face. She couldn't help but reciprocate as she set her duffel bag down in the entry with a heavy thud. He placed the lid back on the pot on the stove and wiped his hands on a towel before he made his way to her.

"You used your key," he stated as he wound an arm around her waist, pulled her against him.

"I did," she replied, pressing her lips into his smiling mouth, reveling the feeling of his warm lips embracing hers. She sighed into him, wrapped her arms around his neck and nudged her tongue between his willing lips. He tightened his arms around her back, aligning the angles of their bodies together.

"I could get used to that kind of welcome," she breathed when they parted. He raised an eyebrow at her in question but she was already extracting herself from his arms and lifting her duffle. He reached for the handle of the bag but she deftly kept it out of his reach. "I got it, you finish dinner."

She settled the strap over her shoulder and headed for the bedroom. By the lack of retreating footsteps behind her, she knew that he was watching her go and so she threw a little more sway into her hips before rounding the corner. His laughter bounced off the walls, the move clearly had not gone unnoticed.

He was back at the stove when she entered the kitchen, ladling their dinner into bowls. She came around the counter to stand next to him and leaned a hip on the counter.

"Beef stew," he supplied when she leaned over to peer at the pot's contents. "That okay?"

"Smells fantastic."

A pleased smile broke across his face. "Oh, there's bread, too!" he exclaimed, turned towards the oven, grabbed the oven mitt off the counter and pulled out a sheet with a loaf of crusty bread on it. He slid it into a waiting basket and turned back to find his girlfriend smiling at him, a closed lipped thing that implied that she was suppressing most of her mirth. "What?"

She shook her head, the smile slipping off her face. "Nothing. Just…" she hesitated, dropped her eyes. "Just nothing." She grabbed the bowls of stew off the counter and headed for the dining table.

He followed her, bread in hand. "Kate?" he questioned softly as he came up behind her. She set the bowls on table and settled herself in a chair. At a loss, he put the bread down and took a chair himself. She was fiddling a spoon in her bowl, eyes still cast downward. Her other hand was balled in a fist on the table. He reached across and flipped her hand over, wiggled his fingers in her palm to loosen hers and then entwined their hands, giving her an encouraging squeeze.

She smiled at their joined hands on the table before lifting her eyes to him. "You just looked so domestic."

"Well, it is my domicile," he quipped, glad for the eye roll that he earned in response.

"Okay, so, I wanted this to be a surprise, wanted you to figure it out in your time own but c'mon." She stood, continuing the hold on his hand.

He gladly complied, rising to follow her. "I like surprises."

She hummed a laugh. "I know. I think you'll be a fan of this one." She knew the moment that he figured out she was leading him to the bedroom because suddenly he was crowding her back, his warmth suffusing through her shirt. At the doorway, he dropped her hand and wound his arms around her stomach, dipped his head to nip at her earlobe.

"Is this a sexy surprise?" His voice was low and rough in her ear and made the want in her belly flare to life. She did her best to suppress a shiver but wasn't entirely successful, she could feel him smirking against her neck.

She shoved his hands off her (it was impossible to think and form words when his fingers were running under her shirt like that) and moved into the room, perched herself on the edge of the bed. "Not this time. Ask closer to your birthday though." His eyes darkened with lust even further and he started stalking towards her; she held up a hand to halt his progress. "Not why we're here right now."

His brow furrowed in confusion. "Why are we here then?"

"Use your detective skills. Explore the scene, figure it out." She motioned around the room, his eyes following her hands as though she was pointing at specific things. "Prove that you've followed me around for years for research and not," her eyes ran a trip down his body, "other reasons."


He could do this. Prove that he'd learned more than her coffee order and what spots on her body made her squirm with delicious pleasure. He stood up a little straighter, crossed his arms over his chest and fixed her with a studious look. "You're on, detective."

One of her indescribable smiles shone back at him, this one had amusement and…pride maybe? At herself or him, he wasn't sure.

He tried his best to ignore the beautiful woman sitting on his bed and swept his eyes around the room. Nothing immediately jumped out at him but he was looking too big picture. Take it space by space, work the grid. The closet was at his right and seemed as good a place as any to start. What was he looking for anyway?

"Um, what am I looking for?" he vocalized.

"Clues," was all she would offer. He narrowed his eyes at her and she giggled at him. Kate Beckett giggled at him from his own bed. And he was supposed to be looking for clues and not kissing her right now, why? "Weren't you gonna check the closet?" she asked and he realized that he'd just been staring at her. She smirked at him.

"Damn infuriating woman," he muttered as he turned into the closet in question. She giggled in his wake and the sound had joy licking up his spine. He would gladly play her game to hear that sound from her.

He glanced around inside the closet and a few things stood out. A dress of hers hung up, a few blazers and work shirts. In fact, the rung that he had cleared off for her had more clothes on it than it ever had in the past. The spaces beneath held a good selection of her shoes as well. Not everything, but…

"Staying for a while?" he asked upon reentering the room.

She shrugged non-committally. "Never know what I might need."

"Do I get to know now?" he asked eagerly.

"You have enough clues to form a theory?" He opened his mouth but she rushed to add, "One that doesn't involve a shadowy governmental body or fantasy creatures?"

He closed his mouth on a huff. "Ruining all my fun," he grumbled as he headed towards the bathroom.

"Oh, I don't know, I'm having plenty of fun."

He tried his best to glare at her but from the laugh the look elicited, he was sure it was a failure. He turned his back and entered the bathroom. At first sweep, things seemed to be mostly in order. And they were orderly but there were more of them. He noticed a few bottles of bubble bath on the edge of the tub that he knew were from her place, including her favorite bottle of sandalwood oil. Her electric toothbrush was on the counter by the sink; a quick check showed that the manual one he'd given her to use here was in the trash can. He pulled open the drawer that he had cleared for her and found make-up organized in trays and little baskets. All of her make-up by the look of it.

Something like hope bloomed in his chest, warm and happy. But he had to be sure, had to have solid evidence before he presented it to her.

He looked in the shower and found full sized bottles of her products had replaced the travel sized ones she'd brought over a few weeks into their relationship claiming that his "boy shampoo" just wasn't cutting it. A closer inspection showed that they weren't new bottles either; it was like she had brought them from her place.

When he backed out of the shower and turned around, she was standing at the doorway, leaning against the frame. The fingers of one hand were trying to hide a smile but it was a futile effort because there was nothing to be done about the sparkling in her eyes.

He opened his mouth, thought better of it, closed it again. She raised an eyebrow at him and that almost encouraged him to speak but then he remembered one other thing, the piece of evidence that would prove this for him. He held up his index finger at her and rushed past her back into the bedroom.


He moved so quickly that she didn't have time to react and scrambled to push herself off the doorframe to follow. She found him exactly where she expected.

He was standing at the dresser, reverently running his fingers along the edges of the wooden box; the happy faces of her parents smiled up at him. His eyes flicked to hers and he asked, "May I?" She nodded. He lifted to lid to see the tools of her trade. They were all there; the gun and badge, of course, but the necklace that she only occasionally wore now was also lying in wait as was the watch that he didn't even notice wasn't on her wrist this evening. He lowered the lid and turned to her.

"So this is, um, here because…?" His voice was rough, she could see the moisture gathering in his eyes and it caused an immediate lump in own throat that she had to swallow down before she could answer.

"So that when I come home, I have somewhere to put my things."

"Home," he parroted. She nodded, lifted the corners of her mouth encouragingly. "So, all this is a yes?"

Her smile broke free, joy limning the parentheses of her mouth, leaking out of the corners of her eyes. "Case solved," she replied, the words barely out of her mouth before his arms were around her, his mouth hot on hers, claiming her affirmation. He broke off, leaned his forehead on hers, breath hitching in his chest.

She ran a hand through his hair, scratching lightly at his scalp before cupping the back of his head. Her other hand ran soothingly up and down his bicep. "I can assume this is all okay?"

He breathed out a laugh, warm air caressing her face. "That would be a safe assumption."

"It's obviously just a start, I couldn't fit too much into that duffel and I didn't want to tip you off-" He stopped her words with a hard kiss.

"Kate, I don't care how your things get here. I'll hire movers, we can beg the boys and pay them in pizza and beer if you'd rather. How your things get here isn't the important part. I want you here."

"I'm here, I'm right here." She buried her face in his neck, wound her arms around his shoulders to anchor herself there. His hands splayed wide on her back, holding them together.

She felt it deep in herself, at her core and knew; this is where she would ground her roots, shape the rest of her life, create their home.


Root or Base Chakra

Colour Association: Red

Sanskrit Name: Muladhara

Location: Base of spine, coccyx

Lesson: Survival–The right to exist. Deals with tasks related to the material and physical world. Ability to stand up for oneself and security issues.

Imbalances: Anemia, fatigue, lower back pain, sciatica, depression. Frequent colds or cold hands and cold feet.

Root Stimulants: Physical exercise and restful sleeps, gardening, pottery and clay. Red food & drink. Red gemstones, red clothing, bathing in red, etc. Using red oils such as ylang ylang or sandalwood essential oils.

(From www . chakraenergy . com)