Storms and Heat
KateC24601
The weather outside the window mimicked Kate's emotions. With each crash of thunder her mood darkened even more. Each strike of lightning added to the stabbing pain in her head, the rolling in her stomach. Her bed was cold and empty with a barely there indent where she was so used to having her husband. However, he wasn't there; in fact, he wasn't even in the state. He was in Philadelphia, the last stop on his book tour.
Kate was suddenly ripped from her thoughts by a quiet sniffling coming from the doorway.
"Jo? Did the storm wake you up?" A small nod came from her daughter, just barely visible in the dim light. Kate sat up, ignoring the protests coming from her head and stomach. She held out her arms and beckoned the child closer.
The tiny figure rushed to climb up the bed and curled into her mother, as the sniffles became sobs. Jo had always hated thunderstorms, but when Kate had checked on her not ten minutes ago, she had been sound asleep. Not that that had surprised Kate at all, that day had been long. They both missed Rick. A lot. This had been his last full day gone and Kate and Jo had found several things to do to distract themselves until his scheduled return the next day. Well, today, Kate thought, glancing at the clock, which now read 3:47. She ran a hand down her daughter's back, humming mindlessly.
Jo's sobbing slowed and her breathing eventually evened out seemingly taking the storm with it. With every slow breath the storm outside became softer. And soon a calm quiet fell over the loft.
Kate lay back down, slowly so as not to wake her sleeping daughter. Jo's hair tickled Kate's nose with the scent of lavender shampoo from her bah earlier. The scent calmed Kate's stomach as the silence soothed her head and the warmth of her two year old cuddled up against her cured her insomnia. Soon Kate drifted off, but before long a soft noise roused Kate from her light sleep.
At first she thought it was just her imagination concocting something in her half-asleep state, but then she heard the sound again - footsteps - and jerked fully awake. Her headache returned full force, but she ignored it as she rushed to her closet safe where she kept her gun ever since Jo had been born.
As she crept past the bed on her way out the door, she checked to make sure Jo was still asleep. Seeing that she was, Kate put both hands on her gun - feeling a slight wave of calm ripple through her at the now familiar click of her wedding band on the cool metal – and snuck silently through Castle's office and into the living room. While Kate was hidden in the shadows, the intruder was not; light from the open refrigerator illuminated his face, revealing his identity.
"Castle?" Kate gasped, the adrenaline slowly dissipated from her system as she ran across the room and wrapped her arms around his neck. He looked shocked at first that anyone was awake in his house at that time of night, but quickly kissed her back when she pressed her lips to his.
As Kate lost herself in this welcome home kiss, she almost didn't register that her headache and stomachache had left her completely and the tension that had plagued her shoulders and neck every waking minute for the past few days flew away.
Once oxygen became a necessity, they parted and Kate rested her head on his shoulder and whispered, "You're home early," as she placed soft kisses along his neck.
"Mmmhmm," he hummed, "I missed you and Jo too much to wait for the morning flight back, so I hopped a jet as soon as the last signing ended and came straight home. I had sort of hoped I would surprise you, just let you wake up with me right next to you, but this is even better than I had imagined," he paused a moment wincing, "sans the gun handle poking my neck."
Kate looked confused for a moment before remembering the reason she came into the kitchen in the first place and that she had her gun in her hand. She quickly jumped off of him mumbling a "sorry" before pecking him on the lips and moving to close the still open refrigerator door.
"Well, you still get your surprise; Jo is asleep in our room," she said turning back to him only to see he had spoken too soon.
"Momma?" came a small, tired voice from the doorway of the office.
Before Castle knew what was happening, he was being shoved by Kate behind the kitchen counter and was gone from his two-year-old's line of sight before he was even seen.
When he looked up he saw the smile on her face that was reserved for their daughter alone.
"Hey Sleepy-Head," she called softly, crossing the room, "Why don't we go back to bed then when we wake up in the morning I'll have a nice surprise for you."
"Surprise?"
Rick could hear in his daughter's voice that she was trying to wake up, to find the surprise. Kate must have heard it too because the next thing she said was, "Yep, but we have to go back to sleep right now, no procrastinating."
"No po-cat-sin . . . po-cas-tin . . . it's too early for big words, Mommy," was Jo's reply, and Castle had to stifle the laughter spilling from his mouth at that comment.
"You're absolutely right, Sweetheart. So let's climb back in bed, OK?"
"OK." Jo said disappearing back into the bedroom closely followed by Kate.
Once Castle received an all-clear text from Kate that Jo was asleep, he made his way quietly back into the bedroom and got ready for bed. He lay down on the bed looking at Kate in the dim light coming from the bathroom. They lay facing each other, their daughter pressed between them.
Father and Mother.
Husband and Wife.
Writer and Muse.
"I'm glad you're home," was the last thing she said before falling asleep. He soon followed suit; he was glad too.