Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: I can't even call this a story. A drabble to be sure but it's all I have right now. I hope you like what little of it there is. I apologize for the mistakes it hasn't been beta'd.
Spoilers for Head Case. Set just after Alexis calls Castle after hearing from Stanford.
"Try not to look so happy about it."
He says that and he should know that she's not. She's not happy about him not being by her side. Not walking with her, theorizing with her, or solving this crime with her. She doesn't want to be anywhere he's not and that's something she isn't ready to accept; but she knows one day soon, she'll tell him. She likes going home at the end of the day with the smell of him on her. Clinging to her until she washes him off when the day has drawn to a close.
He walks past her... away from her. She reaches out to him as he's walking away. Has to take a few steps to reach him, grabs the sleeve of his jacket. He stops, glances down to the fabric that's pinched between her thumb and forefinger and turns back to her.
She can't look him in the eye, can't let him see her need for him. The her from three years ago still lives inside of her after all.
"Not happy...never happy, Castle." The words spoken almost in a whisper. A secret she's letting him in on but not acknowledging it at the same time.
He thinks his chest might explode. She hasn't given him this much of herself since that day on the swings. He doesn't breathe in fear of shattering whatever this moment may mean to her, to him.
"I'm happier...with you with me...out there."
He's quiet for fear of scaring her off...more than she's scares herself by revealing this to him.
She finally gets the nerve to raise her eyes to meet his, her cheeks warming under his gaze. She's given him something he's going to hold onto she knows. She's giving him another reason to wait for her...wait for how much longer neither one knows.
But it helps.
Any piece of herself that she gives him is the best gift that anyone's ever given him.
He loves her.
And she's happy with him...with her.
It's not enough.
It's not enough but it's enough for now.
