The early morning light filtered in through gauzy curtains, causing shadows to dance playfully over the walls. If anyone had entered the loft then and there, they would have thought it empty, for the silence was stifling. Usually, the hustle and bustle of New York would permeate the walls…but not today. Today, there was a fresh blanket of snow insulating the cozy inside from the harsh outside. It was a whole other world behind those four walls.

Kate Beckett cracked an eye open and tried to get a bleary look at the bedside clock. 8 AM. It was her day off, and she had zero intentions of getting out of bed any time soon. She snuggled further under the covers and reached out to the other side of the bed, grasping for the warmth she was so sure was going to be there.

Her eyes popped open when her fingers clutched open air and nothing more. Reluctantly, she peeked her head over the edge of the covers.

"Castle?" There was no response. She tried again, raising her voice. Still, nothing. She was just about to start wondering if Castle was pulling a practical joke on her when she noticed the note sitting on Castle's pillow. She reached across the bed and picked it up, smiling slightly at Castle's messy scrawl.

"Beckett,

8 AM meeting with my slave driver (oops, did I write that?) Gina. Who does this stuff during a snow storm? Be home around 10. Keep the bed warm for me?

Castle"

She suppressed a chuckle and placed the note back on the night table. Sure, she could keep the bed warm…that was her plan, anyway, until her stomach protested loudly. She wrestled with herself momentarily, buried up to her nose under the soft downy comforter, but her stomach won. She sighed, threw the covers back, slipped on Castle's Scooby Doo slippers (dear God, if the precinct saw her now...) and shuffled into the kitchen.

Ten minutes later, she had a bowl of Rice Krispies and a mug of coffee in her hands. Kate settled into the corner of the couch, tucking her legs up underneath her, bowl balanced in her lap, mug settled on a coaster. The t shirt she had on just skimmed her hips and the sleep "shorts" she had on barely classified as shorts, but she wasn't the least bit chilly (even after coming out of her cocoon of blankets). She silently thanked Martha, who hated to be cold so much she demanded that the loft be at least 77 degrees at all time.

Kate grabbed the remote and flipped the TV on. She was more excited than she cared to admit: empty loft, remote to herself, no Castle to complain if she turned on something stupid and mindless like The Big Bang Theory or How I Met Your Mother? She closed her eyes briefly and savored the feeling – this must be what heaven feels like.

Moments later, however, she had nearly dumped Rice Krispies all over her lap. Instead of the soft sounds of Saturday morning TV, she was accosted with loud strums of a guitar. Castle obviously had gotten distracted during one of his marathon Guitar Hero binges and had shut it off mid-play, leaving it open on the screen where you choose your song. The background music was not at all what Beckett was expecting.

"What the hell, Castle," she growled, setting the bowl of cereal down on the coffee table. Not only was the sudden barrage of guitar noises startling, but now she had to figure out how to switch the damn thing from the gaming console back to cable.

Kate stared at the remote, irritated at the noises currently damaging her calm. There was nothing clearly marked "press this for cable". She was not a stupid woman, by any stretch of the imagination, and Kate has always prided herself on being able to figure out technology relatively quickly…but Castle's intricate setup of gaming consoles, DVD players, TVs and God only knows what else had her stumped. It wouldn't, she thought with annoyance, if Castle would actually teach me how to use this stupid system. She stabbed at a few buttons hopefully, but to no avail. She sighed, and slid onto the floor in front of the TV. Maybe something there would jump out at her.

Instead, as she sat down in front of the TV, a song title caught her eye. She did a double take and paused her quest for cable TV.

"Really?" she queried out loud, her eyebrows lifted in surprise "The Runaways?" Nostalgia overcame her and brought back memories of high school. She and her friends idolized Joan Jett when everyone else was obsessed with boy bands and hip hop artists. She couldn't bite back a smile at the memories of her mother politely asking her to turn down the music...at least the first time, anyway. The next twenty times weren't so polite.

Kate threw a look at the door and eyed it like it was going to spring open any moment. The clock read 8:30. Castle wasn't due back for another hour and a half. What could it hurt? No one was here and it was one song. It's not like Castle had cameras set up in the loft.

She picked up the guitar and noted with amusement that the toy was easier to navigate than Castle's TV set up. It didn't take all that long for her to get the hang of which finger went where, and when, exactly, to hit the buttons. Kate tossed her hair over her shoulder and shimmied her hips a bit with the beat. Begrudgingly, she decided that she understood why Castle had so much fun with this...it was very easy to lose yourself and pretend, at least for a little while, that nothing else mattered except those buttons and the music.

Richard Castle, laden down with a tray of coffee and a bag with two bear claws in it, fumbled unsuccessfully for his keys. Cursing, he grasped the bag between his teeth and fussed with his keychain until the right key was stuffed into the lock. The lock clicked open, and he pressed the handle down. He hadn't even nudged the door aside an inch when he stopped dead, his breath catching in his throat. Was that...was he hearing that correctly?

Gently as he possibly could, Castle stuck his foot into the inch wide opening. He didn't want to spook the creature he was sure he was going to find on the other side. First his foot, then a leg, then the left side of his body...he paused as the twirling, laughing Beckett nearly turned around...then the right side of his body. He eased the door shut so quietly that the sound was barely above a whisper. She didn't notice at all.

Kate's hair was an unruly mess of chocolate waves, pooling around her face as she strummed the controls on the guitar. She was dancing, her hips were moving in time to the beat (was that The Runaways?), her eyes trained on the TV screen. Even better, she was singing along, belting out the lyrics like she really was on stage at a rock show.

It was, quite possibly, the most adorable thing Castle had ever seen Kate do before.

The song lifted into the crescendo, and Kate threw herself into the part, tossing her head and closing her eyes. Her tiny (oh, so tiny) tshirt lifted up around her midsection as she lifted the controller up, while leaning backwards in the tell tale "rocker" guitar pose. Castle bit his lip and decided right then and there, that he wasn't even going to attempt to interrupt her.

He was just going to wait.

The music crashed to an end, and Kate let out an exuberant whoop. She lifted the strap over her head and raised the guitar into the air playfully, spinning on the spot. That was fun. Almost fun enough to suggest playing with Castle, if she could stand to listen to his "I told you so" about how fun video games could be. Just as this thought crossed her mind, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye.

Castle.

Shit.

"How long have you been there?" she bit out at him, standing the guitar in front of her defensively. He grinned that mischievous grin that was equal parts infuriating and endearing.

"Oh, long enough." He had a tray of coffee in one hand, and a bag of what was probably donuts in the other. Shit, shit, shit. He wasn't supposed to be home for another twenty minutes.

"You're early. You could have said something."

"What, and miss the show?" Castle scoffed, placed the coffee and donuts on the coffee table. Before she could react, he had pulled her, guitar and all, into his arms. Kate smiled into his chest, letting the guitar fall to the floor so she could wrap her arms around his waist.

"So, you liked it?" The question was only half serious. Self consciousness flooded her stomach, but just for a minute. Castle chuckled, pressing a kiss into her hair.

"It was something else, that's for sure. What would the boys say?" he teased. She rolled her eyes and said nothing, taking comfort in his playful response.

"But...you know, I bet I can do it better...and seeing as you did a rather terrible job at keeping the bed warm, I think you owe me a Guitar Hero showdown." His voice dripped with the challenge he was offering her. She pulled away from his chest, eyes snapping competitively.

"You're on, writer boy. Best two out of three..." she stood on her tiptoes to plant on kiss on his lips and whisper into his ear. "And if you win, I'll do that thing with ice cubes you love so much." Castle laughter resonated in her chest.

"Then prepare to lose, detective."