The sun is already setting when Kate Beckett wakes, a soft light cast across her closed lids as remnants of consciousness slowly trickle in. She lets out a contented sigh as she slowly stretches her limbs, reveling in the pleasant soreness. She burrows deeper into the pillows and the sinfully soft mattress and inhales deeply, breathing in the scent of her husband, of them. It brings her a sense of peace mixed with arousal as she remembers said man and his hands and his lips, and what they were doing to her just a few hours ago. It sends a shiver up her spine.
Hm, Castle.
She had been apprehensive at first when he had suggested that they come out to their Hamptons home for Valentine's Day weekend, worried that it would be too suspicious and that it would risk blowing their cover. But he had assured her that they would be safe as long as they left separately, telling the boys she was going on a trip with the new guy she was seeing while he told his family that he just wanted space for the weekend,
In the end she was grateful for the getaway. It gave them space so they could be together unrestrained. Make up for lost time.
She knows how hard it is on him to keep up the act, knows the disappointment of having to go home alone most nights. But she is so grateful for his patience and understanding, for his forgiveness. God knows, it's hard for her too. She loves him so much for it.
Speaking of Castle...
She reaches out her hand, searching for him, her eyes popping open when her hands hit empty sheets. Judging by the coolness of the material, he has been up for a couple hours.
Slipping out of bed, she throws some fresh clothes on and pads softly down stairs, the glorious smell of a roast wafting in the air. She follows the scent into the kitchen, where she spots Cas standing at the stove, his back to her. He's humming away as he cooks, completely oblivious to her presence as she leans against the doorframe watching.
She's missed this. Lazy mornings where they just get to be with each other living their lives, and it sends a pang of regret to her heart. She is not ready to have to go back to fake fights and secret hookups. She knows Castle isn't either and it makes her chest tighten with guilt.
But those thoughts are wiped away the second her husband turns around and sees her standing there, a soft grin spreading across his face as he steps around the island to get to her.
"Good morning, Mrs. Castle," he murmurs into her cheek as he wraps his arms around her waist, pulling her into the warmth of his chest, the tight knot releases immediately as she sinks into his embrace
"S'not morning," she mumbles, bumping her head against his playfully.
"Hmm, no, but you did pass out for a good couple of hours. I must have worn you out," he teases.
"That you did, Mr. Castle."
They finally pull back and she ignores his cheeky smile as she pushes past him to see what Castle is preparing, but he reaches out and snags her before she can get too close.
"Nuh-uh, no helping with the surprise Valentine's Day dinner."
"Castle, this entire was a trip was a surprise. You don't need to cook for me"
He deflates at that, and she chastises herself for it, remembering that this is the first chance he's had to do this for her in months. "Okay Castle, I'll let you have your surprise dinner. I'll go find a book to read in the meantime."
Castle grins, his whole face lighting up with it and it takes her breath away, how letting him do these simple things for her brings him so much joy. She can't help but lift up to taste his happiness before turning to head into his office to let him have his fun.
Kate is curled up on the couch, deeply immersed into In a Hail of Bullets when Castle comes to tell her that dinner is ready, and she catches his knowing smirk as he leads them out onto the back porch, where he has set up a small table. It's covered with a crisp white table cloth, two simple candles and a bouquet of flowers accompanying a bottle of her favorite type of wine.
Its simple but it's perfect.
Dinner is delicious. A beautifully roasted pork, almond crusted green beans, and some homemade rolls. It isn't what one would typically imagine for a Valentine's Day meal, but it's wonderful all the same.
However, Castle seems fidgety all throughout the meal. He fiddles with the tablecloth as they talk, and his knee bounces under the table. She ignores it at first, writing it off as his usual restless energy, but it's when she notices the shiftiness of his eyes and the hesitant smiles he keeps throwing her way that it hits her that he's nervous about something. And it only gets worse throughout dinner.
She waits him out, and when they have finished their meal and he hasn't brought up what was on his mind, she decides to broach the subject herself.
"Castle, are you alright? You've been distracted all night," she asks, concerned.
"What? Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm fine," he rushes, flashing her another nervous smile.
"Then why are you acting so weird?" she demands, narrowing her eyes at him.
He huffs out a breath, averting his eyes again.
"I have um...one more...uh, surprise for you tonight. Something that I want to show you," he murmurs, a soft hope shining in his eyes
Oh. Her heart clenches in a strange combination of relief and affection.
"RIck, you've already done so much. This weekend was already a wonderful surprise."
His smile falters slightly. "I know, but you know how I like to go all out."
"Yeah, I do," she says, a soft smile on her lips.
He breaks into a wide grin, a real one this time. "Okay, then how about I clean this up while you go find a flashlight and meet me by the car? We're gonna take a short drive."
They have only been in the car for about five minutes when Castle slows to a stop, handing her a flashlight with another nervous grin before he steps out of the car, motioning for her to follow.
She doesn't miss the small white envelope he slips into his jacket pocket before he shuts the door and the interior lights flick off.
As soon as she exits the car she knows where they are, knows by the sound of waves lapping gently against the rocks. They're at a small cliffside, a tall canyon of carved stone overlooking a small alcove. It's a spot she and Castle visit often. It's peaceful and quiet and beautiful - the perfect place for them to come and just… be.
She does not, however, know what they are doing here now.
He takes her hand and he leads her up the cliff, and he's quiet as they take the short trip. Near the top, she finds that she can just make out the silhouette of a small long object resting on top of a stand. As they get closer she realizes it's a telescope. And it's actually quite huge. Ift must have cost a fortune.
Her heart fills with adoration for her geeky husband. Of course things are simple with him.
"Stargazing," she asks, raising an eyebrow at him that he can't see.
He hums in response as he fiddles with the telescope, distracted, or maybe just stalling.
"Castle, this looks expensive, even for you. How did you even set this up? You know I'm perfectly happy to just sit out here under the stars with you." He doesn't have to impress her. He knows that, right?
"I know a guy," he says with a shrug as he turns around to face her. "And I know that you don't need big fancy things, but that's not why this is here. There is something specific I want you to
see."
He steps up behind her, her chest pressed against his back. "Look just over there way out on the horizon. You see that small smudge of light, just under Orion's Belt."
She follows the dark line of his arm to the tip of his finger to the exact point that he is referencing and she can just make out the small cloud of light.
"I - yeah, I can just make it out…" she answers finally, confused at what he is getting at. "Why?" she asks, intrigued.
He pulls away and she turns to look at him, but it's too dark to make out his features as he picks up their flashlight that he had deposited upon their arrival and shines it at the telescope. "C'mere," he beckons, softly, reaching for her hand and pulling her towards the scope. He steps back and to her side and she can feel the nervous energy that's still radiating off of him.
She carefully peeks through the eyepiece and she gasps as she realizes that the tiny point of light is actually a small group of very bright stars. "Oh wow, Castle, they're beautiful," she breathes.
"It's called the Orion constellation, a star cluster, made up of thousands of stars," he says. "And somewhere in that constellation there are two very bright stars resting right next to each other. A pair. Would you… like to know their names?" His voice is quiet and timid. Almost shy.
She steps back from the telescope and turns to face him and he steps forward, his hands reaching out to bracket her hips, pulling her into him, his cheek brushing hers as he brings his lips to her ear.
"Katherine Houghton and Richard Alexander - our own personal North Stars."
She's speechless, at a loss for words as she pushes back and simply stares at her husband, mouth agape. "I - What?"
"It's...they're our - our stars."
"Our -" is all she manages to get out. She can't think straight past the rapid fluttering of her heart.
Luckily, Castle speaks for her, rushing to explain.
He pulls out the white envelope from before and pushes it into one hand, and the flashlight into the other. She stares at the two items for a moment before she carefully slides the pieces of paper out of the envelope.
The top page is a certificate. At the top, in a elegant cursive script are the words Star Naming Certificate. Just below it, in the same script, it reads This star has been dedicated to Katherine Houghton. It is followed by a date and the name of the constellation and a long string of numbers and letters of the designated star. Wordlessly, she flips to the second page, finds the same type of certificate in Castle's name.
It shows a small star chart, a blown up image of the same portion of sky. There are arrows that points to the two stars. Their names are inscribed above them.
Kate's mind is a torrent of thoughts as she stands there staring at the pages in her hands.
Holy shit, Castle named stars after us.
"Kate?" Castle's soft voice pulls her out of her thoughts and she meets his searching eyes, slowly focusing on him as her eyes readjust to the darkness.
"Castle - I can't even -how?" she stammers.
"It's...really not too difficult, there's a national registration website...but I just thought… these
past couple of years have been kind of hard on us. I mean, there have been some wonderful things too, but with my… disappearance and now with LokSat and this fake separation that we should have something, a touchstone of sorts," he trails off then, looking at her expectantly, but her stupid mouth still won't connect with her brain
Castle lets out a nervous sigh. "They're our North Stars, you know? So this way, whenever one of us is gone whether it's because something happened, or if it's just that I'm away on a book tour, or you, at some kind of work conference, we'll have something to hold onto. We can look up into the sky at our stars and know that the other is with us. And before you ask, I used one of my old names so it wouldn't be traced back to me -"
He is cut off abruptly as Kate crashes into him, snapping out of her spell. Her arms wrap around his neck, her mouth fusing to his in a rough, desperate kiss. He stumbles backwards with the force of it, laughing mirthfully into her mouth as his arms come up to wrap around her shoulders, holding her to him.
They break apart, resting their foreheads together, trying to catch their breath.
"Castle, this is amazing. This means...God, so much to me. Thank you." She reaches up and cups his face in her hands, bringing him in for a chaste kiss, whispering into his lips.
"I'm sorry that I haven't got anything for you. This came together so quickly-"
Castle silences her with a shake of his head, bringing her into him again. "It's a gift enough to have you here."
"I love you so much, Rick," she sighs.
"I love you, too," he whispers in reply.
They remain like that for a long time, holding each other, swaying under the stars to the sound of the waves below.
Tomorrow they will drive back to the city, go back to their pretense of separation. But this gift, their stars, it's a way for her to hold onto themselves. And even though they won't be visible in the bright lights of the city, they will always know that they are out there, burning brightly.
Their little pieces of heaven.
I actually got this inspiration sitting in astronomy lab one night. However, my knowledge of the subject is limited, so I apologize for any inaccuracies.
And I want to give a huge thank you so much to rach (jerrytysons) and Alex (ivyandtwines) for betaing this story