Disclaimer: I don't own these wonderful characters. Andrew Milmar does. Do I want them? No. Why? I would drive them into the ground.
Anyways... this idea came to me a few days ago. I finally had time to write it.
Tonight you're mine completely. You give your love so sweetly. Tonight the light of love is in your eyes. But will you love me tomorrow?
She told him. She revealed her lie and she braced herself for the worst. She expected him to yell, argue, accuse, and yet he sat there with his hands holding the carton of Chinese.
They were arguing about the day's case. The lover of the victim had informed them that he professed his love hours before the woman died. It was that that they were arguing over. Castle couldn't understand why the man hadn't said it before. Why he didn't find the time to inform the woman that he loved her.
And Kate put her foot in her mouth and claimed it was better to tell it while the person on the receiving end was actually alive to hear it and not dying for a bullet wound. It shut him up. It shut her up and that's where they sat. In silence.
"Why didn't you tell me that you heard me?" Castle asked, setting aside his carton, pushing it away from him. He leaned forward on his knees. "You lied to me."
"I lied to myself. I lied to my shrink too." Kate laughed lightly, her eyes sparkling with something. She looked up and smiled a genuine smile at him. "A girl doesn't forget when someone tells them they're loved."
"You lied to me Kate," he repeated. "I agonized over it for three months. Then all of a sudden you show up at my book signing and expect me to be okay with you? I forgave you. I forgave you for the disappearance. This? I don't think I can."
"Castle-"She attempted, reaching out to touch his hand. He jerked it away.
"I watched you die. I watched the life drain out of your body." Castle began. "I was relieved when I heard you were fine and out of surgery. When you told me you'd call me in a few days, I slept with the phone next to me every night for weeks. One night I didn't even notice it was gone and it was then that I gave up ever hearing from you again."
"Rick-"
"I'm in love you with Katherine Beckett. I have been in love with you for a really long time. Years. The coffees I bring you every day. It's my way of saying Good Morning, I love you. You've pushed me aside every chance you get. You hide behind the wall. And you hearing me telling you I love you, it hurts. Because of the agonizing pain I put myself through."
"Rick, please," She begged, her voice wavering.
"I'm going to go home. I'm going to make sure Alexis is in bed and my mother is home from her school. Then I'll start thinking about whether or not I want to talk to you again."
He stood up in a swift movement, grabbing his coat off the back of the couch and making his way to the door. Kate stopped him, a firm grasp on his wrist. She looked him in the eyes and saw the love and devotion that was slowly being replaced with anger and betrayal.
"Will you still love me tomorrow?"
"I don't know, Kate," Castle said before leaving her standing helpless in the foyer of her apartment.
Is this a lasting treasure? Or just a moment's pleasure? Can I believe the magic of your sighs? Will you still love me tomorrow?
It had been a hard year. Kate didn't have her usual partner. The boys had moved up and out of the precinct, doing bigger and better things.
That had been a month after she told him she heard him. Eleven months later she found herself automatically driving to Castle's Hampton home upon invitation. Alexis had invited her. She couldn't say no to Alexis.
She pulled up to the home and noticed the line of cars already parked. Pulling her small car up alongside another, she put it in park and sat in her car for a moment. A year was a lot longer than a few months. It was a lot longer than they had been apart. And whether he agonized over it or not she lost sleep. And she didn't plan on losing any more.
The party had been in full swing when Kate finally decided to go in. The house was a live with music, with chatter and out on the back patio she saw him. The back of him, but it was the same frame and the same stance. He turned and she smiled. He still looked the same. She didn't know why she thought he would, but she was glad he didn't.
"Kate!" She heard called. Turning in the direction of the voice she smiled as Alexis rushed towards her and threw her arms around her. "I'm so glad you're here."
"Thanks for the invite." Kate smiled.
"Come on," Alexis said quickly, grabbing Kate's hand and pulling her through the room and outside. "Wait here,"
Kate nodded her head and waited. She watched as Alexis bounded over to Castle, pulling him away from the couple he was talking to. When she realized he was being pulled towards her, she turned away. He had seen her. There was no doubt about it now.
"Talk," Alexis demanded. "Whatever happened you need to work it out now. I don't like having a bear for a father."
With that Alexis was gone.
"How you doing, Castle?" Kate asked, staring the conversation.
"You cut your hair," he pointed out. It was short; shorter than the time he brought in the models to shoot for the press of Nikki Heat. Straighter too. "I like it."
She nodded her head. "Gorgeous place."
"Thanks," He said offhandedly. He set down his champagne glass and took her hand quickly, pulling her away from the crowd and into a small room.
He pressed her against the nearest wall, trapped her in between his body and it. He kissed her quickly, swiftly, grabbing her bottom lip in between his death. His hands were buried in her short locks and his knee in between her legs. This was ten times better than the alley way.
The broke away and she gasped, her lungs dying for air. He rested his forehead against hers, trying to catch his own breath, trying to slow down the pace of his heart. She placed her hands on his waist, inside of his sports coat.
"Will you still-"She began to ask only to be silenced with another kiss.
Tonight with words unspoken. You say that I'm the only one. But will my heart be broken. When the night meets the morning sun?
She lies in bed with him, the sheet the only barrier between them. His fingers are drawing patterns on her arm as he goes on rattling their first case together.
"You were going to kill him with your shoe!" Kate said. "Castle, the guy had a gun and you had a shoe,"
"Yeah, but you saved me," He reminded. "You liked me even then."
"I just didn't want to explain to Alexis why her father was so stupid and behind bars." Kate informed him. "Again."
She laughed when he pinched her arm. "What time is it?"
"Almost three," she said after raising her head and taking a look at the alarm clock on his side of the bed. They had flipped sides throughout the night. "I have to be at work in a few hours."
"You should sleep,"
"But I'm awake," she said. "Hey, I found a remote when I was cleaning the living room the other day. It's doesn't belong to anything in the entertainment set,"
"Oh it's a remote for one of my toys," Castle said quietly. "It's no big deal. Where did you put it?"
"In your office."
He turned out of the embrace, rolled out of bed and slid on his sweats that he had tossed haphazardly earlier in the night. "Come with me."
"What?"
"Get dressed and come with me." He instructed.
She slipped his shirt over her head and let it fall past her knees. She took his hand and followed him down the hallway and into his office.
"Where did you put the remote?" Castle asked.
"Right here," she said lifting it. "Castle what is going on?"
"Press a button any button and then touch the board."
She complied and her fingers barely grazed the board when it came to life, her own picture smiling back at her. She gasped and spun around to look at him.
His head was bent. Shameful. Guilty.
"Castle," she tried, her voice betraying her.
I'd like to know that your love. Is love I can be sure of? So tell me now, and I won't ask again. Will you still love me tomorrow?
He found her at the cemetery the next afternoon. She had packed her things, changed into her regular clothes and fled the apartment, slamming the front door on the way out for good measure. From the outfit she was wearing he had come to the conclusion that she had gone straight there and had been sitting at her mother's gravestone for hours.
"Kate," he said, reaching out to touch her shoulder. "Kate, come home."
"You were trying to solve my mother's case without me, Castle. I can't just come home with you," Kate cried. "It's not that simple."
"Go home. Look at the murder board. Delete it for good. Delete everything off of there. I don't care. Just-"
"Go home," Kate sighed.
"Yeah."
"Castle, I need to know something. Tomorrow. When we wake up again, if I delete the murder board, will you-"
"Yes." He said quickly. "I will still love you tomorrow."
Will you still love me tomorrow?
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