Welcome!
This is my first Castle story (just a one-shot, sorry). Hope you guys like it!
Disclaimer: I own neither the characters, nor the show itself.
Castle loved to people watch.
A detective herself, Beckett could understand Castle's fascination. Although it wasn't something she herself would do on a regular basis, he seemed to enjoy sitting in the back corner of the coffee shop, watching people come and go. She supposed it was the writer in him – always on the lookout for inspiration.
Nursing a cup of coffee, Castle sat with his back to the wall, intently watching the people at the counter.
Every so often, he would make polite assumptions about the people in the shop. "She's late for work… Maybe a lawyer, with the way she's dressed," or, "He's an artist… look at the charcoal stains on his sleeves. He must be a pretty good one, too, those shoes aren't cheap."
Of course, there was always an undercover CIA agent, too. But then, Beckett didn't really expect anything else from him.
This morning was different though. He was quiet, deep in thought as he stared towards the door, his eyes tracking from the door to the counter of the café.
Until then, he had never fully understood what people meant when they said a pregnant woman 'glowed.' He'd always been under the impression that it was just a cliché, overused literary device (which, he had to admit, he had used himself a few times in his writing career). Even when Meredith had been pregnant with Alexis, she had simply been grouchy and irritable, blaming Castle for the unexpected pregnancy. But this woman, standing at the counter of the coffee shop, fairly radiated joy, and Castle found it hard to tear his eyes away from her.
On any other given morning, he would have been trying to figure out more. Did she have a husband? Another kid? What was her life like, and what did she do? But today, all he could do was stare, almost entranced.
This didn't go unnoticed by Kate, who looked over at the counter. When her eyes lighted on the woman standing there, she looked back at Castle's face, and chuckled.
Castle didn't even take his eyes off of the woman. "What?" he asked quietly.
"You're more of a sap than you let on, you know that?"
He tore his eyes away from the counter. "Alexis and mother have been telling me that for years."
"They're right," she said, smiling at him, and placing a hand over his, which was resting on the table-top.
He lips twitched slightly upward in return as he turned his attention back to the woman at the counter.
"Castle," Kate said after a moment, calling his attention back towards her.
"Hmm?" He asked, pulling his eyes away again as the woman left the shop with her bag in hand.
She looked him in the eye, her thumb making small circles on the back of his hand. The corners of her mouth drifted upwards in a small smile. "One day, Castle. Soon."
Thanks for reading! Reviews? Comments? Suggestions?