A/N: This is the sequel to "Under My Skin". You should read that first, but you can probably follow this fairly well for now if you haven't. These characters still all belong to the wonderful people who give us Castle every week over at ABC.
Here we go...
"Daa-aad! We're going to be late if we don't leave in the next five minutes!" Alexis's voice carried surprisingly well through the closed door of Castle's bedroom.
"Okay, honey! I'll be right out!"
She must have learned to project her voice like that from her mother.
He moved to the mirror in front of his dresser to put the finishing touch, a dark purple silk handkerchief, in the front pocket of his suit. It was one of his not-a-Christmas-present gifts from Kate. They had supposedly made a mutual decision to not do the whole gift exchange thing seeing as they had only gotten together a little over 3 weeks before Christmas. Of course Kate had correctly suspected that Castle would not be able to abide by their agreement and so she had caved and gotten him two fairly expensive silk handkerchiefs, one in his favorite color, purple, and the other in dark green, which was hers. The handkerchiefs had been sort of a stand-in gift so he would have something to open since it turned out her main gift was only available for pick-up the day of the event.
Castle brought the soft purple fabric to his nose, closing his eyes as he inhaled deeply. It smelled faintly of her and he felt his heart reflexively beat faster. He couldn't be certain why her scent lingered on the sheer cloth, but he fantasized it was because she had stored the handkerchiefs in with her lingerie before giving them to him. He knew that she kept tiny sachets of a strangely seductive potpourri in her delicates drawer, and he now associated the florally bouquet of jasmine mixed with roses and just a hint of citrus forever with her.
The smell took him back to their gift exchange two short days ago. He and Alexis had just returned from traveling to Los Angeles for the Christmas holiday. Alexis had visited her mother while he had been invited to a wrap party for the new Nikki Heat movie as a special guest of the producers. Truthfully, he would rather have stayed in town with Kate, but she had insisted that he go, saying she would be working anyway. Castle had reluctantly agreed, but only because he knew that 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' and in their case, absence, even for as little as the 5 days they had been apart, would make the sex all the hotter when he returned.
He had gone to the precinct straight from the airport, only stopping to drop off Alexis at the loft on the way. He hadn't been able to text Kate for the last 24 hours of his trip because he had lost his phone charger the day before their return and his phone battery had died. He remembered how he had almost felt like a man in withdrawal as he slung his leather messenger bag across his chest and took the stairs, two at a time, up all five flights to the bullpen, too impatient to wait on the elevator. Of course, he hadn't taken into account how his cardio work outs had been lacking over the holidays, and he arrived to the floor huffing and puffing like an asthmatic in need of a hit of albuterol. For all his efforts, when he arrived at the 6th floor, she was nowhere to be seen.
"Hey, Castle! What are you doing here? Thought you were outta town until after New Year's?" one of the uniform cops said to him as he entered the bullpen. "You alright?" he added, seeing his labored breathing.
"Uh, yea… have you… seen… Detective…Beckett?" Castle wheezed between gasps. "Or Ryan… or Esposito?"
"Nope, think they all headed out already. Kinda slow day," the uniform said to him, heading to the elevator. "Anyway, have a happy New Year!"
"Yea, you too," Castle answered with a frown. He glanced at his watch- only a quarter past six.
Maybe they had gotten called to a case? She almost never left before six thirty or seven. He glanced at her work area. Desk light off, computer screen black, chair pushed in, no jacket hanging off the back. He walked over to the desk and felt the half-filled mug of coffee. It was still slightly warm. His shoulders sagged a little knowing he had probably just missed her. He slipped the messenger bag off placing it on top of the desk, and sat down in her chair, taking a moment to catch his breath. He then picked up the phone, fingers hesitating over the number pads.
"Damn," he said, slamming the phone back down in the cradle.
He couldn't even call her because he didn't know her phone number. It was stored in his dead phone. He supposed he'd just have to wait until he got home and had his spare charger in order to call her.
A loud 'eh-hem' sounded behind him.
He smiled slowly, smelling her perfume before she even spoke.
"Uh, Castle, just because we're sleeping together does NOT mean you get to sit in my chair," Kate said in a low voice, coming around and standing next to him. Her hand was perched on her hip, but a grin tugged on her lips.
Castle stood, sliding closer to hug her, but stopped in mid-stride as he remembered where they were- at work.
"Hey. I thought you'd left." He took a step back, lowering his arms awkwardly. He could see in her face as her heart lurched a little. He knew that she also fought the urge to touch him. She had made it quite clear in her texts that she had missed him too.
"No, we just closed the Kaminski case today, so I figured I'd get caught up on that paperwork."
"Oh, yea? So who was it? The Wicca-practicing neighbor? No, no wait. The NRA card carrying step-daughter?" Castle's eyes twinkled with excitement. She had texted him details of the case while he was gone and he had been feeding her his theories every step of the way.
"Nope. It was the accountant actually," Kate said triumphantly, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Accountant?" Castle said, his expression deflated. "That's so… BORING!"
"Uh, excuse me? This coming from the man who once wrote a librarian as the murderer?" Kate said with an eyebrow raised.
"Uh, librarians aren't boring! They make GREAT killers. Who else has all the time in the world with every kind of book on weapons, poisons, and forensics at their disposal? AND, they don't even have to check out any of the books. So there's no paper trail! Psh- accountant." Castle sat on the desk, moping a bit because he had not even put the accountant on his short list. "Besides, you told me 'Storm Stories' was one of your favorites…" he said referring to his book with the librarian assassin.
Kate bit her lower lip and came around to stand in front of him. He knew she now found him nearly irresistible when he got all pouty on her. She moved closer, nudging his legs apart with her knees so she stood between them. Her voice dropped, even though they were essentially alone in the bullpen.
"I hadn't heard from you since yesterday, and when I called you today it went straight to voicemail, so I didn't know if your flight was delayed or something…" Kate said softly, his hands tentatively stroking the back of her legs just behind her knees. He felt her shifting her weight anxiously from one leg to the other.
"Oh, yea, sorry. My stupid phone died and I couldn't find my charger…" Castle looked up and his breath caught as he watched her hair fall slightly in her face as she gazed down at him longingly. "God, Kate, can we please get out of here? Otherwise, I'm not going to be able to behave myself for much longer."
"Hmm…I really need to finish up here. Oh, and, I almost forgot… I have something to give you…" She leaned over his leg, most certainly shifting against his inner thigh deliberately in such a way that had him biting the inside of his cheek to keep from groping her backside. She opened a desk drawer and pulled out a flat square gold box with a dark green velvet ribbon tied in a bow.
"Merry Christmas, Rick," she said handing him the package and stepping back a bit.
"I thought we said no presents," he said eyeing the package.
"But in that case…" He reached behind his back to his bag on the desk, pulling out a flat rectangular object folded in worn brown paper with a gold cord around it.
"See! I knew you wouldn't follow our agreement…" Kate said grinning at him and shaking her head as she accepted the package.
"You first. Be careful, though… it's kinda old…" Castle said mysteriously.
"Old?" Kate removed the cord and carefully unfolded the paper to reveal a book inside a clear plastic covering. She nearly dropped it as she pulled one hand to her mouth.
"Oh, Rick! This is not…" Kate gasped.
"Signed first edition."
"How did you… where?" She ran her hands over the author's name reverently. Castle smiled as he saw the look of utter shock on her face.
"Well, I don't know that I've ever told you, but I dabble in rare books and comics myself and, well, I know this guy in LA that deals with collectibles. I happened to have a few items that he wanted, so we made a trade. I definitely got the better end of the deal if you ask me…" he said taking the book from her hands and removing it from the plastic carefully. He opened the cover and handed it back to her.
She traced her fingers over the author's signature. "Margaret Mitchell" stood out boldly from the surprisingly white page in a cursive lettering so perfect that it almost didn't look real.
"I remember you saying that it was your 'absolute favorite'...which I must say, as an author, hurt a little to hear… but I guess since it won the Pulitzer and all…"
"But... I don't even have a place to keep something like this! It should be in a safe or something…" Kate said, mouth still gaping.
"Nonsense! You can put it on your bookshelf… in the protective cover of course. It'll go great next to Heat Wave. 'Scarlett meet Nikki. Nikki, Scarlett'," he said turning his head from side to side as he spoke as if the two fictional women were sitting beside him. "They're both strong female characters, but I think they'll get along just fine," Castle joked.
"You are absolutely crazy, you know that, right?" Kate said shaking her head at him in disbelief as she gingerly slid the book back in its protective covering.
He stood up, unable to hold back any longer.
"Can I at least get a thank you hug?" Castle cocked his head and held out his arms towards her.
Kate pushed him back to a sitting position on the desk, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulled him close in a suffocating hug.
"Thank you," she whispered in his ear before kissing him softly on the cheek.
"You're very welcome." Castle pulled her closer, appreciating the fact that she would show such affection to him in the precinct.
"My gift is kind of lame compared to that."
"I told you I didn't need a gift. And, besides, I would love anything you give to me, no matter..." Castle reluctantly released her.
"They're silk handkerchiefs," Kate said flatly, cutting him off.
"Kate, god! That is totally not fair. You're not allowed to tell me! Now I've missed out on that feeling of anticipation and surprise of opening the package!" He stared at her genuinely disappointed that he had been cheated out of the gift reveal.
"Well, honestly this isn't even the real gift anyway. Turns out the true gift isn't yet available, and you also apparently have to pick them up when you get there… "
He looked at her, puzzled.
"It's passes to that 'Comic Con'-thing you said you went to a few years ago and wanted to go back to…"
"Are you serious! But they had that whole website fiasco this year… not even my ticket broker can get them… how did YOU manage…?" Castle stared at her almost as stunned as she had been with her gift.
"Uh, well, you're not the only one who 'knows a guy'. My favorite cousin is assistant to some big wig geek that's apparently pretty high up in organizing it," Kate said, looking almost embarrassed by the expression of sheer joy coming from his face. He looked as if he might cry.
"You. Are. The. BEST… And you're coming too, right?"
"Ooooh no, no, no. I got you two passes: one for you, and one for Alexis."
"Oh, come on! It'll be FUN… just think of the costume possibilities…" Castle's eyes glossed over as he saw images of Kate dressed as Wonder Woman.
"Absolutely not, Castle. I've seen your pictures and I don't do costumes except on Halloween."
"You're no fun. Just 'cause I like a little role playing..." he murmured under his breath with a forced frown to his face.
"Oh, stop sulking." Kate rolled her eyes and slapped her hand on his chest. "Let's go, I'm tired."
She lowered her head as he stood, switching on the sex in her voice.
"And for the record, you don't need to get me at some crazy convention to get me to do some role playing…"
She shrugged her shoulder slightly. "Just ask…"
A/N: Well, this is the sequel to 'Under My Skin' and in that spirit, they will be going to a party, this time, you guessed it- New Years (I like parties). And there will be some more info into Alexis and the rest of the crew and how/if they find out about their relationship. I also have ideas for some possible angst- not quite sure yet... can't have it all be hunky dory. And there will be an M rating to come, but I couldn't just give it up right away- where's the fun in that! ;)
Oh, and if you haven't yet, please read Gone with the Wind, for the love of Pete! Margaret Mitchell- so wonderful!
Thanks for reading! -KB