Normally, when your family decides that they're going to ditch you on a national holiday in favor of spending the day with their respective friends, one would feel a sense of abandonment and exclusion. Especially when you're the cool dad, the epitome of fun when it comes to festivities on the 4th of July. Barbecues, setting off fireworks (illegally but shhhh) and scoping out the best viewpoints for New York City's spectacular shows in the night sky? Yeah. That's his job; his forte. Has been since, well, forever. And yet, his fiery redheads have staged a mutiny against his annual holiday plans and have left him to his own devices.
"Oh, stop moping. You'll be fine," they said.
"Maybe you can call Beckett, tag along with her today instead," they said.
Yes. One can understand how a man would feel a little downhearted at this sudden revolt in his annual holiday plans, but for Richard Castle, those feelings were nowhere to be found.
Not this holiday. Not today.
No, all was going perfectly according to plan now. Just as he had intended it to, because he's a crafty little bastard when he wants to be and reverse psychology goes a long way.
As soon as his mother and daughter revealed that they were planning to spend Independence Day independently from him, he could not contain his excitement. Play the role he did, of the dejected puppy being deserted by his family, but mopey he was not. Not when the most gorgeous woman on the planet was now his partner in every sense of the word. Not when said partner was currently two blocks from his building, probably impatiently waiting for him to give her the all-clear and come on up. Which he was just about to send to her as the ladies exited his loft but, as it sometimes happens, he just couldn't help himself. He's far too giddy about tonight. About spending tonight with her.
Their first holiday together. Their first summer together. And they're spending it together together.
But because he's so utterly happy and wants to share it with the world in some way, instead of calling or texting her the OK, he hurriedly pulls up his Twitter app and types out a quick tweet.
Alexis and Mother are spending the 4th with friends. House to myself. Maybe I'll invite someone over for some, uh... fireworks.
That's not too obvious, right? Simple enough to let his fans across the globe know that he's not a loser spending the holiday all alone, and vague enough to not let anyone suspect that he and his muse have been conducting a clandestine love affair since a fateful, stormy night in early May.
How could anyone suspect it, anyway? As far as the world and the people in their lives were concerned, they'd only seen one another a handful of times since she turned in her badge and quit her job. The fact of the matter, however, was a much different story. In actuality, until recently they had rarely spent a day apart, utilizing what he was beginning to pride himself on as the stealth of ninja assassins; blending in, surreptitious, undetected by the world around them.
Richard Castle and Kate Beckett are madly in love, finally consummating that love, and not a soul on Earth has any inkling about it.
It hasn't been easy, though, keeping the secret.
Because she resigned from the 12th and he can't bring her her morning coffee at work anymore, some mornings he brings it to her in Central Park, the place where she's taken to for exercise at sunrise. Sometimes he gets there early, sending her off on her run with a good-morning kiss and a promise of coffee once she's finished. Other times, he surprises her at the end point of her trek, coffee in-hand and a beaming smile that matches her own. Then there's the times when one or both of them is feeling particularly clingy and she nixes the run altogether. They go for a long, leisurely walk around Belvedere Castle instead, holding hands and stealing kisses only when absolutely certain that no one around recognizes them and could give them away.
Movie theaters have become another rendezvous point for the pair after she jokingly called for a rain check that night on his Woo-ing her with a John Woo double feature (a request that led to him kissing her hotly for the amazing pun.) At first they'd gone on a movie date to make up for the original one the had planned. Now, they run off to the movies if only for the excuse to sneak away and the relative anonymity the dark cinema provides for them in public. Between other films, they've seen The Avengers about five times now, but now when the cinema is empty enough, their attention is anywhere but on the big screen. Especially after Kate made an off-hand comment about liking Iron Man the best, leading Castle to make several comparisons between himself and Tony Stark, including a few innuendos that made her flush several crimson colors. He has since dubbed her blushes in shades of Iron Man armor red: starting with MK III's original red and moving on up from there.
Two weeks ago, they had their first close call. Kate was expecting the delivery boy with their Chinese take-out, but instead found best friend Lanie Parish rapping on the other side of her door, the medical examiner dropping by Kate's apartment unexpectedly for an impromptu girls night due to recent relationship woes with Esposito. Finding the former detective and her writer looking quite disheveled and sweaty in appearance, she just had to ask.
"Bought some new furniture." True. A single, medium-sized bookcase.
"Kate needed help with the heavy lifting." False. She carried it home from IKEA all by herself. The only thing he'd been carrying all day was her and a bottle of red.
"I wasn't sure where to put it, so we rearranged a few things." A few? Several. The couch and coffee table. Books on her staircase. Her desk. The dining room table. Her bed—twice.
Lanie, luckily enough, was preoccupied with whatever Javier-related drama she was in at that moment, that she was thoroughly convinced by the story. Needless to say, they've been much more careful since then, especially around his home. The last thing they want is his mother and daughter to find out inadvertently, even if it means one of them needing to make a few walks of shame now and then in the morning.
He's not ashamed of being with her, and Kate has made it implicitly clear on multiple occasions that she isn't ashamed to be with him either. She wants him, only him, and she's in this with him now, come what may. It still sends a shiver up his spine just thinking about it. Honestly, the change should be expected amongst their friends and family. After all, everyone close to them saw their relationship blossoming long before even they themselves did.
It's just...this new dynamic, the openness to love and be loved, the physicality and no longer keeping words or touches reserved...it's still too fresh to share. Still fragile. They're still savoring it, working on it, every single day, trying to get it all right. Having prying eyes and teasing jabs was not something either of them was looking forward to, especially early on.
And, okay, sneaking around and brushing up on his stealth skills is such a turn on for both of them.
But here they are, nearly two months in and still as unabashedly smitten and in love with each other as they ever have been, and all the people around them none the wiser. For now.
Tweet now sent off for the whole world to see, he swipes his thumb over Kate's name in his recent call list, listens as it rings and then—
"Finally," she answers breathlessly. "It's about time, Castle. I'm hot in here."
He laughs. "You're always hot. Where's 'here'?"
"Your stairwell."
"You're in the stairwell?"
"Was. Got tired of waiting. Come get the door."
The line clicks off then and with a smile plastered on his face, Castle makes his way to the foyer, swings the door open. She's on him immediately, hands fisted in his tight-fitting t-shirt, lips crashing, teeth clashing, tongues darting out to soothe. He frames her face with his palms as he gives back to her as good as he gets, her skin heated and glistening with perspiration against his fingers.
"Wow. You weren't kidding. You really are hot," he says, breaking away from her.
"Even hotter for you," she husks, voice brimming with desire. "It's been three days, Castle. Three."
He and Alexis had been spending a lot of time together in recent days marking items off their Summer Blowout List, which was severely cutting into time that was normally spent sneaking off together. The last time she'd seen him, had been when they "bumped into" each other at Central Park, Castle and his daughter on Segways, Kate seated on a park bench, perusing a new book. She gets it, father and daughter wanting to spend time together before she moves into her dorm and starts school at Columbia. She won't be resentful of his daughter, or of Castle for wanting to spend this last summer with his little girl before she's college bound, but still...the more she has of him, the more she wants him these days.
And not having him lately was driving her absolutely crazy.
"I know," he breathes against her lips, then feathers a kiss to the corner of her mouth. "It was killing me, seeing you there but not being able to kiss you. To touch you."
She hums in agreement, nuzzling her nose into his as she cants further toward him.
"Have the house all to ourselves now, Castle." She grasps his hand and pulls it down to her chest, his palm resting gently over her rapidly beating heart. "So touch me."
His hands slide down to her hips then and he hoists her up, her legs hooking around his mid-section as her arms fall along his shoulders. She peppers light kisses along his neck as he kicks the door shut with his heel and carries her off to his bedroom.
Who said fireworks needed to wait until nightfall?