Tell Me a Story
Disclaimer: I still don't own it, and they're way more evil than me
AN: this will be a series of disconnected one shots, based on prompts that I receive through tumblr. Because I wanted them to have a home here.
For everyone kind enough to ask. Past, present, and future
Prompt: A birthday themed fic on what Castle would do for Beckett's birthday. Preferably a fluffy fic - (Anon)
When he first tells her that he's negotiated with Gates to get her the following Monday and Tuesday off beyond a customary weekend, something she doesn't always take off anyway, she's only slightly put out. She thinks they're headed for the Hamptons for the weekend. Some sort of lavish last minute birthday event he's cooked up. Retaliation, she's sure, for last spring. She loves him for it, but her head already hurts with the thought of having to put up with all of those people in any environment where she still feels of place. But, he's her fiancé and she has a feeling she better get used to it.
It's only after they make the first few unexpected turns on their Friday night drive that she realizes they're headed not to his estate in the Hamptons, but upstate.
"Castle," she asks curiously, "where on earth are you kidnapping me to?" She knows only that he had told her to pack bag for a long weekend, and to be sure it included a swimsuit. Thus, she had assumed the Hamptons. Apparently, she had assumed incorrectly.
"Beckett," he says, half annoyed, half whining, but all too entirely pleased with himself, "you kept my birthday surprise a secret for weeks, give me a couple of hours, would you?"
She sighs in annoyance at his non-answer, but goes with it anyway. She's drowsy, and a little bit half-asleep when they pull up to the unassuming little inn with a view of the mountains.
"Castle, this is..." she says, suddenly at a loss.
"Ours for the long weekend," he replies pulling the bags from the back of the car.
She turns to him, gaping. "You rented out the whole place?"
He gives her a little shrug. "Yeah, but it's only four rooms. The boys will be here with Lanie & Jenny, but they'll have to go back on Sunday night. I did ask Alexis, she said she'd see what she could do, but she has classes on Monday as well. When the boys head back, my mother and your father will come down for the next couple of days."
She relaxes. Just family, then. For the whole trip. It's dark out, but the place already feels like beautiful seclusion. She loves it already.
"Castle, it's perfect," she says softly leaning her head on his shoulder.
"I kept trying to come up with these massive plans, these elaborate things. Something worthy of what you gave me for my last birthday. But then I realized, what made that so amazing was how much you had made it about me, and what I loved. And then I realized, I had to make this about you."
Oh she loves this man.
Alexis does come to fill the fourth room in the tiny inn for the weekend. She's alone, much to Castle's relief, Kate knows. It means that their entire family can have dinner together on Sunday night at the restaurant near the inn on Kate's birthday, before half the party departs for the week ahead, but after their parents arrive.
At first she thought it was ridiculous that he suggested a swimsuit in November. But, there is a hot tub and heated pool on the premises, and they go from the water, to bed, to the recreation room at the inn, enjoying the company of friends and time with a good book.
Castle gives her his first birthday gift to her on Saturday morning. "It's useful, Beckett," he insists when she pointed out that it was not yet her birthday.
He's fairly bouncing on the balls of his feet, and he is cute, she acknowledges to herself, but not to him, she thinks with a little laugh. If she tells him, he'll be wired up all day long.
And so she opens the relatively small box, cutting him a look when she unwrape the e-reader he had apparently chosen for her. They had talked about this, his love of all things technology, but also their shared love for the solid feel of real books.
"I thought we agreed I didn't need one," she says, not ungrateful, but a bit put out that he has apparently disregarded the conversation they had a few months back.
"Okay," he says hurriedly, and she suspects he's been planning this for a while. She smiles a bit to herself, but says nothing as she hears him out. "I know that you said that, and I know where you're coming from. I mean, I agree with you, you know that," he says, looking at her, but not really waiting for approval before he continues on. "But, I thought it would be good for travel, for times like this. Because you can take anything with you that you want, your whole library, Kate! Plus it's easy to read in daylight, but it has a light so you don't have to sneak a flashlight under the covers."
He's grinning at her now and it makes her chuckle, because, really, she suspects that might be an image from his own childhood as much as it was her own. She sighs, a little defeated, and kisses his cheek. "So practical," she murmurs, disbelief coloring her voice. But it's sweet. "Thank you, Castle."
She knows that he's pleased with himself every time he spots her curled up in a corner of the cozy little bed-and-breakfast, getting used to the thing. The innkeepers are lovely people, and provide the best homemade cookies Kate thinks she has ever tasted, each afternoon.
It's on their advice that, late Monday afternoon, just before early evening, the two of them bundle up for a walk around the beautiful grounds of the inn, taking in the mountains. It turns out to be one of Kate's favorite experiences of their beautiful long weekend. As they take in the beauty of the mountains, Castle suddenly offers a hushed "Oh, Kate look," and she follows his line of sight.
A female deer stands with two babies, not far off, clearly seeking out an evening snack in late fall air.
"Oh," she breathes out. They stand watching for several minutes until the little group moves on. Then, she turns in his arms, and he wraps his coat around them both, as she rises up on her toes to close the distance in their height that is apparent in the low heeled boots she is wearing. He has given her exactly what she didn't know she needed. Peace and quiet, and family, and beauty.
She brushes a kiss on his lips. "Best birthday ever," she says with a smile.