This story was written for the 2012 Castle Fan Awards, category A9-story written for the awards. "Castle & Beckett stuck in an empty room with a radio, a cat, a sharpie and a single cup of coffee"
Awakening to the sound of someone knocking on the door, Kate rolled over with a hiss, pulled a pillow over her head, and hoped that whoever it was would go away when she didn't answer.
"Kate? Kate! I know you are in there." Groaning as the sound of her best friend's voice penetrated through the pillow, Kate slowly pulled herself off the bed. "Kate, if you don't open this door right now—"
"What do you want Lanie?" Opening the door more aggressively than she meant and letting it bounce off the wall, Kate glared at her unwanted guest.
"Is that any way to treat your best friend?" Ignoring the fierce glare, Lanie pushed past Kate before giving her a once over. "Kate, I know this isn't some fancy Broadway production we're going to tonight, but do you think you could try a little harder than sweatpants and a baggy T-shirt? You know, nothing fancy, just jeans and a nice shirt would do."
"Lanie, if it's all the same to you, I don't think I'm going tonight. I'm sure Martha will understand."
"It's not Martha I'm worried about. You need to get out of this apartment. You need to be around the people that love you. I…We won't let you close yourself off again. Not like last summer."
"I'm not going to cut everyone out again. I just need some time to process. I promise, I will come see you guys when I'm ready."
"And when will that be? That's exactly what you said last summer. You said you'd call. You said you weren't going to hide away. You said everything would be okay. See how that turned out?" With a push, Lanie sent Kate towards her bedroom. "You've had your time. It's been three days, now go get dressed. You're coming with me tonight. And I'm not taking no for an answer."
"Fine. I'll come. Not that you're giving me much of a choice." She muttered under her breath while walking the rest of the way to her room. Ducking inside, Kate started searching through her closet, throwing possible tops on the bed before heading to the dresser. "Happy?"
"Ecstatic."
-o-O-o-
Walking through the door of the acting school, Kate smiled as Martha wrapper her arms around her in an enthusiastic hug.
"Oh Kate. Oh darling, thank you for coming. I can't tell you how grateful I am that you're here. Why don't you let me take your coat and purse and you can go get settled before it starts?" Spinning Kate around, Martha quickly divested Kate of her coat and purse before grabbing Lanie's as well. Gliding towards the coat check area, Martha turned slightly as she walked to wave an arm towards the opposite side of the lobby. "The performance will be starting in a couple minutes in the room just down the hall and to your right. Room one-twenty-eight. You can't miss it."
Before Kate really knew what was happening, she found herself being dragged down the hallway by her best friend. Coming to a halt in front of the door indicated by Martha, Kate pushed it open only to be stopped by a hand on her forearm. "Do you mind finding us some seats? I need to use the restroom before the show starts."
"Yeah. Sure. I guess." Walking into the room, Kate was startled by the lack of anything in the room that was supposedly going to house a performance in the next few minutes. Turning around in confusion, Kate's hand immediately fell to her side, reaching for her non-existent gun, as the door slammed shut behind her and she heard a lock engage.
"Lanie?" Pounding on the door, Kate yelled once again for her friend. "Lanie! Let me out right this instant."
"Na uh. Not until you and lover boy in there work things out. I'll be back in an hour. You had better have made some progress by then."
"Lanie! What do you mean? Lanie!" Pounding the door once more in desperation, Kate leaned her head over her hand on the door and let out an exasperated sigh.
"That's not going to do you any good, you know." Starting slightly at the voice, Kate turned to find Castle sitting against the wall across the room, sipping from a travel coffee mug.
"And why not?" Kate growled pounding on the door once more for emphasis. "And is there a reason you didn't warn me before I got locked in here? I mean, clearly you have been sitting in here for some time before I got here. You could have told me and we wouldn't be trapped in here right now. Or, you know, you could've tried to escape when I walked in. Why didn't you? Now that I think about it, the door was unlocked when I got here. Why didn't you just walk out?"
"I kind of wasn't paying attention when you walked in here." Looking abashed, Castle started picking at his nails before looking back at her determinedly. "Besides, have you met my mother and Esposito? I can't imagine anyone they wanted locked up trying to escape while those two were standing guard."
"I guess I will give you that…for now. So, what were you thinking of that would make you forget where you were?"
"iwasthinkingaboutus." Castle quickly mumbled, once again playing with his fingernails.
"What?"
"I was thinking about us. What I want to do, or where I want to take you, for our first official date. Where I see us in the future. Everything." Starting when he felt Kate settle next to him on the floor, Castle slowly looked up from his hands.
With a gentle smile, Kate slowly ran her hand over his cheek before giving him a quick peck. "That's sweet. Not particularly helpful right now, but sweet. Someday, not today or any day this week, you'll have to tell me about these fantasies of yours."
"So, why won't pounding on the door and threatening out family do us any good?" Kate asked after a long moment of comfortable silence.
"They think they're doing us a favor locking us in here—forcing us to work out our 'issues.' They aren't going to let us out until we are speaking again apparently."
"Is that is all they're waiting for? Why don't we just tell them we made up days ago?"
"Would you believe us if you were them? After how I treated you—shutting you out, parading bimbos in front of you, shadowing Slaughter—"
"I get it. You treated me horribly, and I guess I could see why they wouldn't believe us. And Lanie would never believe us after how she found me tonight. She thinks I am shutting everyone out like last summer." Kate said in response to the confused expression on Castle's face. "We haven't exactly shown them anything to suggest we've made up." Reaching out, Kate snagged the mug from Castle's hand and brought it to her mouth. "Ugh! What is this?"
"This, my dear detective, is my coffee." Thrusting his arm out, Castle grabbed back the travel mug. "If I had known you were coming I would have bought one for you. But, since I didn't know, I didn't. So keep your paws off my coffee."
"Really, Castle?" laughing at the absurdity of his statement, Kate leaned slightly away from him and stared as he sipped at his coffee once more. "You want to quibble over coffee right now when we could be doing something else; something much more interesting, perhaps?" Licking her lips, Kate smiled as she watched Castle's focus narrow onto her mouth as he subconsciously mimicked her action. Running a finger over his chest, she slowly popped his top two shirt buttons. Grinning seductively, Kate leaned into him, placing her palm flat against his chest—right over his heart. Feeling the rapid beating of his heart beneath her hand, Kate's smile grew bigger before she abruptly pushed against his chest with her hand and stood up. Without so much as a backwards glance, Kate walked to the door once again. "Something like trying to find a way out of this room our friends and family so sweetly locked us in."
"Not fair, Kate. So not fair." Rebuttoning his shirt, Castle looked up to see Kate once again standing across the room from him.
Leaning back against the door, Kate watched with amusement as Castle tried to regain his composure. "So, writer man, it looks like we have an hour to kill. What exactly is there to do in this room anyways?"
"Make out?" Castle innocently asked as he sat up straighter and placed the now empty mug on the floor.
"Really, Rick? We are locked in an empty room in your mother's acting school and you want to make out?"
"I did. But did you have to bring up my mother?" Castle whined before fussing with the cap on a Sharpie he pulled from his pocket. "Way to kill the mood."
"What mood Castle?
"What mood? Really? After that stunt you just pulled you are questioning the presence of a mood?"
"Fine. So there was a mood, but no way am I making out with you here. There has got to be something else to do." Eyes scanning the room, Kate's eyes alit on a radio in the corner for just a second before her attention was diverted.
"Catch!" Not prepared for the object hurtling at her, Kate just missed catching the projectile as it bounced off her stomach and onto the ground. Leaning down, Kate started laughing as she picked up the stuffed tiger.
"I guess we should consider ourselves lucky that at least we're not cuffed together this time."
"I don't know. I have some pretty fond memories of that day, minus the almost being eaten alive by a tiger thing."
"Minus the almost being eaten alive by a tiger thing? Wow, Castle. Way to downplay an event. So, what are these fond memories you have?"
"Just being with you is enough to elicit fond memories." Castle said with a cheesy grin before rolling his eyes up and smiling wistfully. "But, I will always remember waking up with you hissing at me to wake up and falsely accusing me of cuffing us together. It's the little things, you know?"
"Could you be any more of a sap?" With a laugh, Kate tossed the stuffed tiger back at Castle before rejoining him next to the wall. Bumping his shoulder with her knee, Kate looked down expectantly at Castle. "Okay, so, now that we've established that making out is not an option and you drank all the coffee, what else is there?"
"I could…sign your chest…or any other body part you wish." Castle said with a large grin as he held up the Sharpie he had been fussing with.
"Or not. We could dance?"
"Dance? Is there some music playing that I'm just not hearing?"
"Not at the moment. But, there is a radio over there in the corner. If it works, maybe we could get some music from that?" Grabbing the hand Kate held out for him, Castle swiftly yanked, pulling her off her feet and down onto his lap.
"Are you sure we have to get up?" Smiling, Castle lightly kissed the side of her mouth before snuggling her against him. "I'm quite comfortable like this."
Pushing against his chest, Kate managed to extract herself from his arms and stood up. "Dancing is a little difficult sitting down, don't you think?" Bending down next to the radio, Kate started fiddling with the dials, hoping to stumble across some music to dance to.
Walking up behind her, Castle wrapped Kate in a hug from behind. "Looks like a prop."
"What?"
"The radio. It looks like a prop. I don't think it is going to be playing any music anytime soon."
"Then what do you suggest we do?"
"We don't need music to dance you know." Pulling Kate up and spinning her around to face him, Castle grabbed her hand and placed it over his heart. Moving in time to the beat of his heart, Castle started spinning them around in a slow dance. Placing her head on his shoulder with a light kiss to the side of his neck, Kate let a smile overtake her face.
"I guess you could be."
"Could be what?" Castle hummed contentedly into her ear.
"More of a sap."
-o-O-o-
"What are you guys doing?" Alexis asked as she walked into the lobby of the acting school to find three grown adults sitting about as if waiting for something to happen.
Startling at the sudden appearance, Lanie, Javi and Martha quickly stood up from their respective chairs.
"What are you doing here?" Martha asked before walking over to her granddaughter.
"When I got home from Paige's house and I saw the invitation to the performance tonight and a note from dad saying I should try and make it if I could to, and I quote, save him from the boredom. Seeing you guys out here, though, has me questioning if dad was off on the type of saving he'd need. Where is he anyways?
Watching the adults squirm, Alexis narrowed her gaze on Martha. "Grams? Where's dad?"
Breaking eye contacts with her granddaughter, Martha shared looks with the other people in the room. Realizing she wouldn't be getting any help from them, she turned back to Alexis. "He and Detective Beckett are locked in the room down the hall. We couldn't stand the idea of another summer like the last. We had to do something. I was not going to stand by and watch my sonwallow and try to drink away his sorrows again. If locking the two of them in a room, forcing them to deal with their issues, is what it would take, than, so help me, that's what I was going to do."
Stopping at the amused expression on Alexis' face, Martha just stared as the girl suddenly burst out laughing, bringing herself to tears in the process.
Once the laughter had subsided, Alexis looked up and at the stunned expressions on the adults faces nearly broke out laughing again. Taking a deep breath, she managed to shock them all even more.
"You guys, they made up last weekend."