My very first Castle fic! Enjoy...

"Please stop looking at me like this is all my fault, you were driving."

"It is your car that broke down in the middle of nowhere," Kate complained, wrapping her jacket a little tighter around her. She should have known that this couldn't end well. They had followed a lead to a hotel in the middle of nowhere, but on their way back a deer had jumped infront of their car. The animal had gotten away with a shock, but Castle's Range Rover hadn't been as lucky. Long story short they were stranded in the woods with a broken axle and poor cell reception.

"But I'm not the one who drove it off the road..." Rick mumbled, taking another look at the damage, there was no way they would get back to the city in this car.

"Hey it was your idea to..." Kate started but was interrupted by the buzzing sound of her phone. "Thank god," She said hoping to get good news, but her face turned into a frown as soon as she read the text from Ryan.

"What does it say?" Rick asked, already dreading the answer.

"It's from Ryan, they'll send someone in the morning, looks like we'll have to spend the night in the car. Or we could walk back to the hotel, which would probably take hours..."

"There's a third option," Rick cut in.

"Please tell me you have your own helicopter that can be here in ten minutes," Kate joked.

"Much better," With that Rick opened the trunk of the broken car, revealing what looked a lot like high end camping equipment.

"Did you plan this?" Kate gave him an irritated look. If this was one of his little plots to get her alone he had gone too far.

"Yes, of course I hired that cute little animal to jump infront of our car, putting us both in danger and destroying my car in the process. All just so that we could spend a romantic night in the woods..."

"I'm sorry," Kate said realizing that her accusation had been a little irrational. "So what is all this?" She asked gesturing towards the equipment.

"When Alexis was younger we often went on little camping trips, and I still have all the equipment ready for spontaneous adventures. So what do you say, do you want to sleep in the car or in this comfortable and very cozy tent? We could set it up over there, and build a little camp fire, oh come on this will be so much fun!"

"Well..." Kate hesitated, thinking that Castle was awfully excited about this, but she had to admit that he did have a point. The tent would be more comfortable than the backseat...

"Let's set it up then."

"You're not gonna regret this," Rick replied, before he started to unpack everything.

XXXX

"Are you sure that you don´t need any help?" Almost an hour had passed and Rick was still fighting with the tent.

"I got this, just sit back and relax," he was still set on impressing Kate with his camping skills, and failed to realize that that ship was long gone.

"Castle, let me hep you. It's late and it's not gonna get any warmer... "

"Don´t worry we can cuddle later," Rick interrupted her.

"Or I' gonna sleep in the car and you can have this all to yourself..." Kate had enough and went back to the range Rover, but when she tried to open the drivers door it didn't open.

"Why did you lock the car?" She complained.

"I didn't. The doors close automatically, it is an expensive car we wouldn't want anyone to steal it now, would we?"

"If you know any car thieves that can get this wreck back to the city, I'd be happy to assist them. Now give me the keys..."

"I don't have them," Rick replied.

"Of course you don't..." Kate looked around trying to find the key until she saw it lying on the drivers seat.

"Looks like we're back to the original plan..." Castle said after joining her at the car. "And don't blame me, you put them there," he added with a smug grin.

"Great..." she complained, fighting the urge to pick up the next best rock to break the window, but since she already felt bad enough for wrecking Castle's car in the first place she dismissed the idea.

"Come on, it could be a lot worse," Rick tried to cheer her up.

"Really? I don't see..." Kate couldn't even finish the sentence before she was interrupted by the crashing thunder and the heavy rain that followed within a split second.

"There's your answer," Rick replied, before he rushed back to the halfway finished tent.

XXXX

With Kate's help he managed to set it up fast enough to give them at least a little shelter. luckily the sleeping bags and most of the other equipment had been in waterproof bags, but at this point he and Kate were both so soaked from the rain that it didn't make a difference.

"What the hell are you doing?" As soon as they had gotten settled into the tent Rick took of his jacket and started to unbutton his shirt.

"Trying not to catch pneumonia, and maybe you should do the same," he explained dryly.

"You'd love that, wouldn't you?" She replied rolling her eyes.

"You not getting sick? Yes I would," Rick said with a sweet smile, that was expressing genuine concern. "Besides I've seen you in less," he added ruining the sweet moment.

"That T-shirt stays on," Kate ordered before she took off her own coat.

A few minutes later they had gotten a little more comfortable in their tent. Rick was down to his T-shirt and boxers, and much to his surprise Kate had followed his example was lying next to him in almost nothing but her white dress shirt ...of course she had also stopped talking to him, so he figured that this was just another way of torturing him.

"Do you wanna play a game?" He asked but the sound of the rain pouring down on the tent was the only response he got.

"Or I could tell you a ghost story, some people might say I have a talent for storytelling…" Again no answer.

"...So nice weather, huh?" That one finally got him a reaction, even if it was just a deathly glare.

"Okay, I've had it..." He said sitting up, "Why are you so mad at me, none of this is my fault! If anyone has the right to be mad it's..."

"Exactly..." Kate mumbled, interrupting his rant.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"How are you not mad at me?" She burst out accompanied by another wave of thunder.

"What?" Rick gave her a confused look.

"I wrecked your car, it's my fault that we are stuck in this wet tent, and on top of it I'm treating you like dirt, even though you've been a perfect gentleman..."

"Kate, you just gotta look at it from my perspective, it's really not that bad," Rick explained.

"Actually that makes it look even worse."

"Not from where I´m sitting..." In a week moment he let his eyes wander over her bare legs.

"And I'm taking the gentleman thing back..."

"Sorry," he cleared his throat "Here's how I see it, I can finally show of my impressive camping skills and get to spend the night with a beautiful woman in a cozy tent, and she even saved a little deer's life..." The last part made Kate smile. "Before she wrecked my car," Rick added trying to turn that smile into a laugh.

"Well luck was on the deer's side," Kate replied.

"And on ours."

"Shut up Castle," she said rolling her eyes, but the smile on her lips told Rick that she agreed at least a little.

"'Let's call it a night," with that he opened his sleeping bag, and spread it out over the both of them.

"I've got my own," Kate said, but she didn't protest in any other way.

"I know," Rick replied.

"Do you hear that?" he suddenly asked.

"What?"

"The rain stopped," He replied with a smile.

"Great so I won't feel so bad if I have to kick you out later," with that she turned her back to him and closed her eyes. "Night Castle."

"Hey, don't I get a good night kiss? You owe me!" He waited a few seconds but when Kate didn't answer he accepted his defeat and lay down again, but he didn't hesitate to put his arm around Kate.

"Castle?"

"I don't want you to get cold, I thought we've established that,"he immediately defended his actions.

"Of course," She replied, glad that Rick couldn't see the smile on her face, maybe it really wasn't that bad.

XXXX

"Dude, this looks like we walked right into a disney movie," Ryan commented, he and Esposito didn't quite believe what they were seeing. Between Castle's Range Rover and the small tent a deer family of three was enjoying their breakfast of wildflowers.

"And we felt bad about not driving out here last night, where does the tent come from?" Esposito asked, but Ryan was too fascinated by the deer to care.

"It looks like our little culprit returned to scene of the crime," Ryan pointed at the deer family before he waved at them, which earned him an annoyed glance from his partner.

"Really dude?"

"What? They are adorable! Do you think Castle and Beckett are still asleep?"

"Well if Bambie and his parents would step away for a minute, we can find out." As soon as Esposito approached the tent , the deer family disappeared into the woods.

"Dude, wait!" Ryan hissed following him "What if they...you know?"

"Yeah right," Esposito laughed it off and carefully opened the flap to peak inside.

"Dude you gotta see this," he whispered.

"What is it?" Ryan bent down to see what his partner was so amused about.

"Aww..." Rick and Kate were both fast asleep and had smiles on their faces. Kate was resting her head on Rick's chest while he had his arms wrapped tightly around her.

"Shouldn't we wake them?" Ryan asked as Esposito closed the tent again.

"Naw, the tow truck will take care of that when it gets here."

"Beckett is gonna kill us."

"Don't worry Castle's got a good grip on her," Esposito joked, before they went back to their car, silently agreeing that not rescuing Beckett and Castle sooner was definitely nothing to feel bad about.

XXXXXX

Woo! I hope you enjoyed my first (finished) Castle fic. Reviews are very welcome, they always make my day :)

Peace, Love and Sunshine

Laura