SPOILER ALERT: There are no actual spoilers here, but if you're super season finale spoiler sensitive, then skip this story for now.

Note: None of these characters belong to me.

Chicken Noodle-O

"Kate, I'm spending the night on your couch, and that's final."

"Castle-"

"No, don't argue with me, Beckett. I promised Lanie I would take care of you while she's on vacation."

"Castle-"

"I know very well you sleep with a gun, Detective. No funny business, I promise."

"Castle-"

"Quit arguing, Kate. The doctors said you should have someone here during these first few weeks of recovery. What if you need something?"

Kate rolled eyes. If he'd just quit interrupting her, she'd happily tell him that she's grateful for the company and he's welcome to share her bed instead of sleeping on the couch. But since she can't get a word in edgewise, it looks like he's stuck with the couch.

"Oh my god, Castle. What is that smell?" Kate grimaced as something very pungent and less than friendly suddenly wafted from the kitchen towards where she was currently curled up on the couch.

"It's the soup of course!" Castle had spent the last hour slaving away in front of Kate's stove, concocting what he referred to as his secret soup surprise.

"What exactly is in this secret soup surprise?" Kate asked warily, well aware of his cooking experiment track record.

"Well, let's see. Chicken. Noodles. Beans. Carrots and Peas. Vegetable broth. And four packets of cherry Jell-O." Castle listed these all off quite matter-of-factly.

"Excuse me?" Kate nearly shouted this, as she twisted around as best she could to look at him (where he stood by the stove in a frilly lace-trimmed apron).

"Well," Castle bounced on the balls of his feet slightly, eager to share his genius, "I figured, soup is good when you're sick, and Jell-O is good when you're sick. So if you combine the two, you'll have the superhero of sick foods. I call it Chicken Noodle-O."

He ended this pronouncement with a flourish of a ladle. He then proceeded to fill a large bowl with the so-called soup.

"Castle, listen to me" Kate said seriously, turning a little to face him as he entered the room, soup in hand. "I appreciate the thought, but there's no way I'm eating that."

"Nonsense. It'll be delicious!"

"Castle, I'm pretty sure that soup will send me back to the hospital in a jiffy. At least there they keep the soup and the Jell-O separate."

"I promised Lanie I would make you eat something healthy. So eat." He sat the soup down on the coffee table and stared at her expectantly.

"I'll make you a deal, Castle. You order us a pizza, and I'll let you sleep on the couch without any argument." She considered this a reasonable offer. Castle did not.

"I'm sleeping on the couch no matter what. That's nonnegotiable. Now eat the soup before it congeals."

"How about this, you order us a pizza, and you can sleep on my bedroom floor."

Beckett saw the indecision in Castle's eyes, caught between wanting to be close to her, and wanting to save himself from the wrath of Lanie.

So she pulled out the big guns: "Just think about it Castle. You'd be just an arm's length away if I needed something in the middle of the night."

She could practically see Castle's mental gears spinning. He'd been stuck to her side since he walked in the door, and she knew he couldn't pass up the opportunity to be the first responder to any night time distress.

"Fine," Castle sighed, "but we're getting a veggie pizza. Lots and lots of veggies." He brandished a finger at her and tried very hard to look like he hadn't just been played.

"Make it a pepperoni pizza, and I'll upgrade you from bedroom floor to the left half of my bed."

Castle stared at her for a second, slightly in shock, before grinning. What Lanie doesn't know, won't hurt her (and can't hurt him).

"Detective, you have yourself a deal."

Thanks for reading!