This is my first attempt at writing so please be nice!
Kate sat at her desk, lost in thoughts.
That day had been quite uneventful. In the morning Castle had brought her coffee and a bearclaw as usual. He stayed next to her all day even if there was no dead body. No case. Just paperwork. But still he stayed.
Sure he made a big show of complaining and pouting at her for the lack of action, but she could see the playful glint in his eyes.
And he stayed.
He played Angry Birds on his phone, tried to annoy her in every possible way he could think of, he even helped her a little bit with paperwork.
All of this with a smile, like watching her doing paperwork was the best thing that could happen to him. Staring all day at her like she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.
Now he was in the break room making her coffee. Again.
She suddenly realized she didn't want to go home alone, she wasn't ready to leave his company. The way he was looking at her was sending butterflies down in her stomach, a feeling of happiness in her, and she wasn't ready to give it up. Not today.
She was still processing her thoughts when he sat back next to her.
"So Castle, you wanna grab some dinner?" She blurted out without thinking.
Castle saw a hint of insecurity and anticipation in her eyes. Like he could ever say no to her.
"Why Detective, I thought you'd never ask!"
Then she smiled. And as a goofy grin set on his lips, all he could think of was how utterly beautiful she was.
As they were leaving the precinct Castle asked "So, Remy's?"
"Actually I was thinking about my place, I could make something" She said "I mean, if that's ok with you"
Castle was stunned. This was the first time she was offering to cook dinner for him. He managed to stutter an "Ehm, sure" in response.
Kate was a bit worried about the sudden disappearance of her wall tonight. Sure she's been working on it with her therapist, but she wasn't sure she was ready to take that step forward in their relationship. But seeing that look on his face, his happy grin, she realized she was done fighting. She didn't have the strength to hold back anymore. She wanted this. She wanted to be happy. With him.
They hailed down a cab and went to her place in comfortable silence. Both lost in their thoughts.
"Castle why don't you set the table while I cook dinner?" She said taking the ingredients out of her fridge.
"Wow Beckett I didn't know you actually had real food in that fridge!"
"Just shut up before I change my mind" She said aiming for a threatening look. But Castle could see the amused look in her eyes. Damn, he knew her so well!
As soon as he was done with the table, he poured them two glasses of wine and went to stand next to her.
"Castle stop it" She said as soon as she realized he was staring at her.
"What? I'm not doing anything!" He said giving her his best innocent expression.
"Stop staring at me! Don't you have something else to do?"
"Not really. Besides I'm really enjoying watching you cooking. It's a side of you I've never seen before"
A blush started creeping on Kate's cheeks. So she turned her back at him to hide it and concentrated on her task.
Soon dinner was ready. Kate was watching Castle with the corner of her eye, checking his reaction.
"Wow Beckett! This is really good! When did you learn cooking?"
"Thanks Castle" She said blushing. Again. Seriously what was wrong with her tonight? She couldn't remember blushing this much in a long time.
"I used to help my mum cook dinner every evening. We used to chat about our days while she was showing me all her tricks. I like cooking, I always feel like she's standing next to me giving me instructions" she said, a sad smile on her face.
Castle went to cover her hand on the table with his. "I'm glad to know this about you. Thank you for telling me" he said looking her in the eyes. He could see how hard was for her to talk about her mother and he was grateful to her for sharing these memories with him.
"She would have really liked you, you know?" She said, not dropping her eyes.
"Of course she would! You can't deny I am ruggedly handsome and a lot of fun!"
Kate snorted, but couldn't help the amused grin that set on her lips.
Trust Castle to lighten the mood in situations like this. Still she could see in his eyes a deep emotion. She could see he understood. She knew he joked just to make her feel better. To rescue her from the emotions that were threatening to take her under. And she felt all her love for this man. She couldn't hide it anymore. But she didn't know how to tell him. She kept hiding all her feelings for so long that now she didn't know how to handle them. So she decided to take it slow and let action take the lead.
"Up for a movie marathon?" Castle asked. Kate was very quite while washing the dishes, deep in thoughts, and he was afraid she could back away from him again. He had sensed a change in her behavior during the past two hours. She was more open and light. He was scared she would panic and ran away from them if he did something rush. But he really did want to spend as much time as he could with her so he decided for something easy, that wouldn't scare her off.
"Sure Castle! You pick the first and I'll choose the next one" She said, willing to let him take the lead, because she sure as hell didn't know how to behave now that she made her decision not to fight these feelings anymore. She hated feeling so unsecure and vulnerable. But she trusted him. She loved him. And just like that she realized she didn't mind that much to let him lead.
She snuggled on the couch while he set the dvr. "What movie are we watching?"
"Just wait for it to start. You don't want to ruin the surprise!" he said with a playful smirk.
She rolled her eyes the way he loved. And he beamed at her.
Castle went to sit next to her on the couch as the movie started. As soon as the opening credits of SpiderMan started she laughed. Trust Castle to choose something like that.
She glanced at him and saw him smiling, clearly very pleased with his choice. So she decided not to tease him about it and just enjoy the movie, so she snuggled a little closer to him relaxing on the cushions.
He was startled by her sudden proximity. Couldn't believe she was actually leaning into him willingly. But he wasn't going to complain. So he decided to push his luck a little more and moved an arm around her shoulders. When she didn't complain, but instead smiled shyly at him, he finally relaxed completely, with a huge grin on his lips.
They were so happy and warm next to each other that they soon fell asleep.
Thank you so much for reading! Next chapter will be up very soon and I promise there will be plenty of fluff and smut!
Reviews will be very much appreciated!