Disclaimer: We do not own Castle.
Warning: To the lactose intolerant, HALT! Good. Now, slowly back away from the cheese. And because I can... YOU SHALL NOT PASS!...
The rest of yous, go on.
THE SOUND OF SILENCE
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
Sounds of Silence,
Simon and Garfunkel
They were walking side by side, on a surprisingly empty sidewalk given that it was early evening in the ever bustling city of New York. The dirt and grime from the day clung to their skin, though they'd tried to wipe it off. Shake it off. But some cases were hard. Some cases stuck.
This one did.
In times like these, Beckett built a bubble around herself. He'd known her long enough to expect it. Because sometimes, getting emotionally caught in the dark side of her job doesn't make her better. He knew that she knew this.
What Castle didn't know, was how to help her with this.
The darkness that engulfed her where her mother's case was concerned? That was a whole different ball game. He'd learnt how to tackle that, she had shown him more and more what she needed from him.
But when a situation like today's had arisen in the past though, usually they'd parted ways, and Kate would close herself off for a couple of days, gather herself together, and meet back at the precinct like it wasn't very hard for her. He knew not to bring it up. He knew that though she tried play it off, cover it up; she couldn't really hide it from him.
So he prayed for a sign, and a sign is what he got. She looked up at him, just as he looked at her. To be fair, he spent a good deal of their walk glancing her way. The look on her face caught his eye, tugged at his heart.
She looked - lost. Like she wanted something, but she didn't know what. Like she didn't know if she should ask him. Like she didn't know what she wanted to ask him, if she could. She gave him a small, sad smile, sighed under her breath, and looked back down to her feet as they wove their way through the familiar path.
He sighed too, and looked away. He didn't know what to say to make it all better. And then he stopped suddenly. Halted in his tracks, and finally reached out to stop her too. She looked back at their joined hands, and then to his eyes, puzzled by the sudden change in the equation. The corners of his eyes crinkled, like they were privy to a secret she didn't yet know, and he shrugged before tugging her along into the coffee shop they were standing in front of.
Fate at work even in the meandering path of their feet.
And he smiled, because maybe he didn't need to say anything to make it better. He could just improve the silence. Make it the good kind of quiet.
He let go of her hand to hold the door for her, and as she got in, she graced him with a close lipped smile, the kind she got when he unwittingly impressed her. The kind that made him feel proud to be the one to put it there.
As they stood in line, she wound her hand in through the crook of his elbow and dragged it along his arm till it rested right over his wrist. She drummed her fingers there to get his attention.
Didn't she know that she always had it?
Well, okay, so he did get distracted easily; but it always came back to her. Right now, it was only her. Just you, Kate.He smiled back, and searched her eyes questioningly. He saw the way she glanced at the large menu behind the counter, and bit her lower lip before looking up at him as though unsure. When he raised his eyebrow in askance, she just shrugged and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.
The study of Kate Beckett had led him to the conclusion that she had a few tells, especially when she wasn't really trying to hide them.
Tucking her hair behind her ear? Either she was giving herself time to come up with something good, or she was nervous. Here, she was nervous. About coffee, though? She knows he's got this. It's their thing. It's always been their thing, right since the first time he ordered her usual.
Ah. Her usual.
She didn't want her usual. And she didn't want to say as much to him. Didn't want to change their pattern. Sometimes she could be so adorably silly.
Kate was staring resolutely ahead, as they made their way slowly to the front of the queue. He lent down and kissed her cheek, lingering for a couple of seconds, his lips at the warmth of her skin, before pulling back, and looked up at the barista to rattle off their order.
A peppermint mocha.
To cheer her up. To show her that things could change, and yet not. That they'd be the same, through anything and everything. On bad days and good days and exceptionally awesome days, they could be whatever they wanted.
When he collected their coffees a minute later, she looked at him, so pleased, and happy. Her face was brimming with adoration, and something that he could only label as love. Love for the man who knew that he could cheer her up by getting her a coffee. Not because of the coffee, so much as because of the meaning behind it.
Just when he slipped the coffee sleeve up around the second cup, he let out a yelp because she just grabbed his neck, launched herself up onto her toes, and kissed him; with his hands holding their coffees between them.
She nipped at his lower lip, and left another kiss at the corner of his mouth before she backed off, and sipped at her coffee. And when did she even take it from him? How had his cup not fallen to the ground?
Her soft laugh helped him to stop staring at his cup like it held the answers to all of his burning questions about life, and love and Kate. She was already close to the exit when he finally got his feet working.
They were walking side by side, on a surprisingly empty sidewalk given that it was early evening in the ever bustling New York city; sipping on their cups of sweet, hot coffee, when Kate reached out, and wove her hand through his.
He tugged her closer, so their hands bumped their hips, dancing between them, making her laugh every so often, and keeping them connected.
The noises of the city filled the air, but the silence between them remained. And that was okay, he knew. Because it was the good kind. The kind of quiet that spoke only what needed to be spoken.
They attempted to part at the door, seeking out the warmth of the bookstore now their coffee had been drunk and the cups discarded. Kate laughed and gave him a soft shake of her head when he pushed her away but refused to let go of her fingers.
He tugged her gently back into his side again, his eyes bright with warmth and love, silliness. Her hand landed on his shoulder, the soft pad of her thumb tracing his jaw. She touched at the broad sweep of his smile, her fingers curling at the back of his neck until they met in the middle.
Forehead to forehead, they blocked the doorway.
Kate felt his eyes drift shut, lashes soft against her cheeks and she lifted her head, grazing her lips against his briefly in retaliation. When his eyes stayed closed, the smile sweeping wider, the feel of his fingers more intense on her arms, Kate tried again.
Her tongue spilled across the heated path where their lips met, the swell of desire that lingered in the waiting kiss calling her closer. Kate opened against him, breathing heat and fire across his lips as she took him in. She sucked the smile from his mouth, pulled the joy of him into her and held on tight.
She felt his response in the strong swirl of his tongue against her own, the steady flames that started to lick at her skin, everywhere he touched, and everywhere she wanted him to.
She let him pull her under, pull her in, dominate the kiss more and more, his hand slipping inside her coat to tug her in by the waist. Kate sighed into the heated cavern of his mouth and she let him pull away, feeling his reluctance.
They slipped apart in silence, his thumb sweeping across the back of her hand before their hands separated and Castle smiled back. He pointed over his shoulder, telling her he was off to roam the aisles and shelves of the bookstore.
He could be a while. He scrunched in on himself, his face apologetic.
She rolled her eyes and pointed off in the opposite direction. Was the man insane? As if she couldn't while away the hours just as easily in stacks upon stacks of literary wonder.
Kate laughed and took off without another shake of her head.
Castle waited until she drifted out of sight, then doubled back and followed her. He walked quickly with as much stealth as he could muster, his back to the books when he met the corners of each aisle. He ducked his face out of sight, checking with a quick dart of his head before he rounded each one and took off after Kate.
He followed the alphabetical guide through G's and F's, stumbled at the E's when she stopped and he had to throw himself backwards out of view. She almost skipped the D's making him move faster than he was ready and he almost lost her. Almost.
His heart sped up when she came to the C's and surely, surely she wouldn't stop at his books? Not with him in the store. And she didn't.
He sighed forlornly when Kate headed to the B's, following her anyway, whatever books she read, whatever spines her fingertips trip trailed along, it was all another piece of the puzzle, a segment of the mystery.
Castle watched in confusion when she reached the end of the B's and turned on the spot.
The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end when he noticed her stance, the way she dropped onto the balls of her feet, preparing for an attack, to move fast, for danger. Like she was scanning the place. Waiting, and timing her strike precisely. Castle opened his mouth, closed it again; if there was danger, yelling at her would do no good. He didn't want to give away her position when she was -
She giggled.
Castle froze. A hand ran through her hair and Kate spun backwards, convinced she was alone and unobserved, she made her way back. Through the B's once again and into the C's.
Stopping at one author in particular.
Castle watched as Kate lifted Heat Wave from the shelf, her fingers running along the title almost reverently before she turned it over. His face stared back at her from the backcover; and his lips fell open in shock, as the walking and talking; or the slightly creepy-stalking version of Castle watched on while Kate mumbled something, too far away to hear but with her gentle fingers over the image of him in her hands made his heart leap.
She flipped back to the front after a few seconds. Opened the book and he knew she was reading the dedication, that it was all a part of her ritual with his books. Front cover, back cover, dedication.
He knew these things.
But what she did next made him give up his stealthy position and sneak closer still. He watched as Kate gathered up a handful of the 'Heat Wave's, loading her arms with all she could carry, her body curling over them protectively.
In the silence of the bookstore, surrounded by an abundance of words, his words, their story splashed across the pages at her fingertips, Kate felt an insane urge to ... share!
She wanted to invite people into the wonderful world he created, yet keep the truth and meaning to herself. She was proud of him, of the way he saw them, the real them and the fictional version. She was proud of the way he looked at life, with hope and love and romanticism, optimism. And no, maybe she wasn't quite ready to tell him to his face, to breathe the words across his skin, but maybe she could get other people to see how amazing he was. What he meant to her.
Castle watched as Kate removed every copy of Nikki Heat from the shelves, turning them so their covers faced outwards. Working from top to bottom she lined the shelves with their story, leaving the messages of invitation for anyone who happened past.
She made a wall of Castle and he smiled as the heat stormed its way through him. It thundered through his heart, leapt through his chest and exploded outwards. Fireworks of fire and realization.
His knuckles were white from their grip on the wooden stack that he peered around, refusing to interrupt her, fascinated by the movement of her body, the smiles on her face, each one different to the one before.
And it was only when she came to a stop, her hands landing on her hips as she surveyed her creation that he was finally able to throw himself forwards.
He was speechless. And graceless.
He stumbled around the shelves to her left and Kate turned, her cheeks flushing bright red when she saw him.
She didn't know what he would say, she wasn't sure she wanted to know, but his eyes danced from the top stack, across every single book she had moved, trailing until he stopped on the last one and he sighed.
Castle shook his head, he would never ever understand the pull of Katherine Beckett. The magic she could weave without even knowing, without trying and he stepped into her.
She was afraid he would speak and dispel the wonder that had settled between them, and he stood scared that she had stolen his words forever.
She could have them.
He wound his arms around her waist and pulled her into him, her back to his chest, kissing her cheek as they looked on in silence.
A/N:
kimmiesjoy: Because my mother always taught me, never bow to peer pressure, unless you want to! Doc(ninja)nerd has powers!
Docnerd89: I do has powers! … BUUUT, it wasn't that hard to convince you :P
kimmiesjoy: ... I'm just gonna be really cliche and roll my eyes, and then glare at you!
Docnerd89: Just so ya'll know, we had multiple mushies in the conversation box on our google doc. And this started out as something, and ended up something completely different.
kimmiesjoy: nice and vague hehe and yes mushies, it's nearly Christmas and Caskett are mush making and adorable. we like that, that is just who we are :D
Docnerd89: Indeedy! All the mush, fluff, cheese, corn and sap...? It's healthy. Trust me, I'm a doctor.
kimmiesjoy: *YELLS* AND SMOOCHIES!
Docnerd89: There are studies (for real), which say smoochies are healthy in many ways. (Not quite in those words. And with due exceptions) Anyway... Hugs to Kim, because she's awesome in so many ways that some of you might not know. She rules. Just sayin.
kimmiesjoy: Jeeeze sweet and mushy ok I'm gonna hug you and go over there
Docnerd89: And with that, we bid you goodbye. (I'm gonna use my ninja skills to go stalk her. Over there ) ;)