Disclaimer: I do not own Bones or Castle. As much as I wish I do, I don't and never will.
If you hate me for the first few paragraphs, that's fine with me. There's a happy ending, just like always.
And You Said I Was Crazy
Castle-Brennan, Castle-Beckett
"Someone's gonna get it, someone's gonna get it..."
"Castle, shut up."
"You're jealous, aren't you?"
Beckett stared in disbelief. "What is there to be jealous of, exactly?"
"You're jealous of the fact that Tempe is still here."
"Who?"
"Dr. Brennan."
Beckett pretended she didn't have a clue. "Oh, she's still here?"
Castle nodded slowly. "You knew that."
"Well, Booth left three days ago. I assumed that she went back to DC with him." She one-shoulder shrugged, acting like she didn't care.
"No. She's here for vacation now. Before it was the book signing. And Comic-con."
Beckett thought guiltily back to her book shelf in her apartment, which recently had become home to all of Temperance Brennan's novels. Seated next to them was all of Castle's books. She had found that reading about Kathy and Andy was better than reading about Nikki and Rook. Or rather, Brennan and Booth, rather than herself and Castle.
"Beckett."
She turned to look at him, and his head was tilted to the left and forward. His eyes were huge, and his chin was down.
Her heart quickened.
"Are you sure you're not jealous?"
She rolled her eyes and sighed, a very theatrical gesture. "Castle, I assure you, I'm not jealous that you finally get to play poker with someone besides James Patterson and Michael Conelly. Okay?"
Castle was taken aback. "Beckett, she's been staying at my place the whole time. I've known her previously."
Heart twang. "Define 'known.'"
"Known."
Dramatic off-key mental-piano note.
How was it that the whole bullpen was completely empty?
She caught a glimpse of a clock. That was why. Saturday night, after 10:30.
She had no company, but he got to go home to a beautiful, albeit pop-culture ignorant, mystery-crime novelist. Who he knew.
Mental sigh.
"Kate?"
His voice was gentle, and brought her back to earth harder than if he had yelled. She stared into his concerned eyes.
"Are you alright?"
"Um, yeah." Beckett rubbed her left eye, for effect. "I'm just really tired."
He smiled warily. "Go get some sound sleep." Then, as if feeling guilty, he kissed her cheek before exiting the room.
Her eyes closed.
Beckett moodily stared at her computer screen. Nothing was coming of the blank zone-out. She ran her hands through her hair while dipping her head towards her cluttered desk. Holding the position, she met eyes with her black, worn keyboard. Slowly her head turned toward his chair.
It was empty.
Coffee plunked down in front of her face. She straightened.
There he was, smiling carefully.
She returned the turned-up-mouth-corner and wrapped a cold hand around the hot coffee.
The someone else rounded the corner.
"Rick?"
Kate's hopes that last night was a dream quickly plummeted. She knew that voice. She would probably never forget that voice.
Dr. Brennan walked over, hand pre-loaded with coffee. "Good morning, Detective Beckett. You look like you woke up on the left side of the bed."
Beckett turned her blank stare to Brennan.
Castle cleared his throat. "Tempe, it's wrong side of the bed. Not left."
Brennan's only response was, "Oh."
There was a very large awkward silence, in which all three took a sip of their respective coffees.
A warmth spread throughout Kate, willing an unexpected moan to escape her lips.
"Beckett?"
"I've been here all night. It gets cold."
Castle frowned. "I thought I said to go home and get some sound sleep?"
"I'm not going to kow-tow to you, Castle." There was an edge of below-zero ice in her voice. "I'm the cop here."
His eyes narrowed slightly, giving way to tiny crinkles in the corners.
Kate's heart jumped.
"Tempe, would you mind for a moment?"
"Not at all." There was the slightest hint of confusion in her voice.
Beckett got up and listlessly followed Castle to the observation room. Once inside, he clicked the lock shut.
"What's the matter?"
"Nothing's the matter." The ice was still there.
"You can learn a lot about a person by spending two years with them." His eyebrows inched upward, and his chin dropped.
Thump.
"Castle, nothing's the matter! I'm fine." Even to her, Kate's voice sounded unconvincing.
"Don't lie, please."
"I'm fine."
He stepped closer. Almost uncomfortably.
"Stop lying." His voice took on a steely tone he reserved for interrogation.
Beckett backed up against the wall, to find that she was already in the corner.
"Castle," she whimpered.
"Tell me what's wrong," he pleaded, gentler this time.
"There's nothing wrong," she whispered, chin dropping to her chest.
There was silence. But it wasn't awkward. It was the kind of silence that's remembered best when nothing breaks it.
Neither one of them broke it for several minutes.
Beckett fought back the tears, and unknown to her, Castle fought back the hug.
Finally Castle spoke. "Tempe's leaving in two days."
Kate nodded.
Castle left the room. She waited, let herself have the one tear, then followed.
Things were frigid in the bullpen. Not only was the thermostat broken again, so it was frigid in terms of temperature, but there was an icy silence between it's occupants. The only ones who spoke were Esposito and Ryan, but it was in undertones so low no one could hear. Every now and then their eyes flicked up to Beckett, Brennan, and Castle.
Brennan was answering what Kate assumed to be worried texts from who she assumed to be Brennan's team back in DC. Castle was playing Pac-Man on his iPhone. And Kate, well, she was pretending to be busy by typing random bits of information into an email that she knew she wouldn't send to anyone.
She drew her jacket tighter around herself. Temperatures were quickly dropping, and so was her patience.
Coffee. She desperately needed warm caffeine. And space from Castle and Brennan.
She walked to the espresso machine. As it was warming up, she place her freezing hands on the top.
Oh, God. That was so good. Warmth.
Unlike what emotions she was picking up from Castle.
Her head dropped as she waited for her coffee.
"Her flight's leaving in an hour, Beckett," Castle said, completely void of emotion.
Blank. Listess. Dank.
Cold.
"Beckett?"
"Yeah. Shouldn't you go see her off?"
"She's leaving in an hour. That's sixty minutes."
Beckett's eyes rose to meet his. She couldn't ask the question with her words, so she used her eyes.
"Already done." His words were icy.
Mental scream.
"Fine. You better help her get her things down to the airport."
She turned her back on him, tears forming.
"Beckett, you alright?"
"Yeah, Ryan. I'm just peachy."
Ryan frowned, pulled a chair to her desk and sat in it backwards.
"The good doctor irk you?" He was quite, using the undertone he usually reserved for gossiping with Esposito.
"It doesn't matter anymore. She's left for DC."
"Do you really think that'll stop her from at least calling Castle?"
Her mouth opened for a snappy response, then closed. Her jaw flexed, giving her the expression of fighting the urge to cry.
"It wasn't really all that much of a secret, Beckett. He was using the stare he saves for you."
He stood, then walked away.
Beckett put her head on her desk, in the cradle of her arms.
Now no one could see her tears.
Beckett exited Montgomery's office with a frown playing on her lips. She wasn't aware that she had fallen into a depressional slump, but it seemed everyone else was.
Back at her desk, she thought about the past three days. Emotional whirlpool.
Oh, God. Depression- Montgomery was right.
She had been crying more than ever before, and it was all over one person.
Castle.
The door of the squad room opened.
She let a chuckle escape her lips. Think of the handsome devil, the handsome devil shall appear.
Wordlessly, he set the coffee down between them.
Wordlessly, she took a sip.
The silence became deafening.
"You're shouting."
"I don't care, Castle!"
They were back in the observation room, door shut, locked.
It was true. She was shouting. Probably enough to be heard through the door.
"Tell me why you're shouting."
"Ryan said you were staring at Dr. Brennan the way you used to stare at me!"
"Since when have you listened to Ryan?"
"Since you started distancing yourself from me." Her voice rose even higher. In octave, in volume.
He brought his up to match hers. "I'm not allowed to see other people?"
"I always thought you- you-" She faltered.
He took a step forward, and once again, she was backed into a corner. "What?"
She slapped both hands onto his chest and pushed him away.
"Beckett!" He wasn't angry, he was desperate.
On her way out she smacked several eavesdroppers with the door.
Mmm. Chinese food. Always the answer to every problem.
Involving Castle.
No. Every problem period.
Most of the time having to do with C-
No. It solved every problem.
No it didn't. Not when the problem was Castle.
She threw down the take-out carton violently. Luckily nothing spilled.
Bath. That would put the problem out of her mind for a few moments.
Letting her clothes slip to the floor, she stepped into the now-full bath tub. She left her phone sitting on the floor next to her clothing. She didn't trust herself to put it on the edge of the tub.
She allowed herself to sink to chin level. Her nose brushed the mountain of bubbles.
Sneeze. Bubbles flew everywhere.
Her toes regained feeling. They had been frozen from a long day at the station.
She moaned. Having feeling in relatively important appendages, such as her legs, was a nice feeling.
Being stared for hours also had had a nice feeling.
She mind-slapped herself. She was not one of Castle's rabid fangirls.
No, Castle was her fangirl. He followed her around, was comforting when needed, helpful when needed, and annoying when not. He was her biggest fan, and all he was doing was writing bestselling fan fictions about her.
In which Nikki Heat was infatuated with Jameson Rook, having been his ex-lover.
She would have screamed her frustration, if not for the fact she would have gotten a mouthful of bubbles.
Her phone buzzed.
She quickly dried off her hand, then picked it up.
The display was disheartening.
"What do you want?" She put in on speaker, so she wouldn't get it wet by putting it up to her ear.
"Can we talk?"
"Not over the phone."
"Then I"m coming over."
"No!"
"Yes."
The line disconnected.
She threw her phone on top of her jeans. She sat up farther in the tub.
If he was at his apartment, it would take him about twenty minutes to get to her apartment.
She still had quality bath time.
There was water on her face.
Her eyes flew open, as well as her mouth. She got a mouthful of tub water. There was almost no bubbles, but the water still didn't taste too great.
She sat forward, coughing and sputtering. She had fallen asleep in the tub!
Her door clicked open.
"Beckett?"
Oh, no. Please don't let this be happening, she thought desperately.
The bathroom door clicked.
"Don't look!" She managed to choke out.
His voice quickly became panicked. "What's the matter?"
"Nothing," she coughed. "I just fell asleep."
He backed into the room.
"In the tub?"
"I've had a very stressful few days, thanks to you!"
"So you haven't been sleeping?"
"No! Hand me a towel!"
He checked the rack, and Kate quickly folded herself into a fetal position.
"There is none."
"What?" She should've checked before getting in the tub. "What about the bathrobe?"
"Also absent."
She swore. "Go wait outside."
He left the room.
Letting the water drain and standing up, Beckett added, "And close your eyes!"
She peeked out the door. He was standing in the middle of the room, hands clapped over his face. Almost comical.
She sprinted, completely naked, to the laundry room. Hunting savagely through the basket of clothing, she tried to find a towel.
"Can I uncover now?"
"No!" She continued pawing through clothes.
Ha! A towel!
She quickly wrapped it around her body, then padded back out to the apartment.
"You can uncover."
Before he did she hitched the towel farther up around her chest, and pulled it down on the bottom.
His hands dropped, and so did his jaw.
"Shut your mouth, Castle," she said testily.
There was a solid snap! as his teeth met again.
"What do you want?"
"Simply, to talk." He used his hands dramatically.
"Save the crap."
He blinked. "No theatrics?"
"Straight to the point."
"You were so jealous."
It was Beckett's jaw's turn to drop.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me. You were jealous of Tempe."
"Was not!" Kindergarten arguing.
"Were too! I saw the looks you kept giving her! You do realize she didn't understand why you didn't like her, right?"
Kate snorted. "She really doesn't have a clue, does she?"
Castle's brow furrowed, his stare became a glare. "No, she doesn't. She's completely immersed herself in science. She has no idea who Brad Pitt, Britney Spears or Kate Goslin are. She's never watched The Hangover."
"So how do you, the ever aware man you are, know her in the first place?"
"I went to college with her. The dorms were coed, and I lived next door. My roommate totally had the hots for her, but she hated him. When I asked her out for him, she said no, but then asked if I was available."
Beckett's eye twitched.
"Did your eye just twitch?"
"I'm irritated."
He stepped closer.
"What's with the invasion of my personal space bubble lately?" Beckett tried to sound angry, but she didn't step back. At least she wasn't in a corner.
"I don't mean to burst your bubble, but the invasion happens every time a case is solved. Ever noticed that? With every sentence, we lean closer. I happen to know that Ryan, Esposito, Lanie and Montgomery have a bet going that we're eventually going to meet in the middle."
"Which side are you on?" Beckett spat bitterly.
"I'm opting for Lanie and Ryan's side."
"Lanie's side. Let me guess-"
"Yep."
Kate's heart was pounding, blood roaring in her ears. "Do you plan to help them out?"
He leaned in, and his voice was a bare whisper. "Well, we would have to wait for a case, wouldn't we?"
She had no answer, so she said instead, "Let me go get dressed."
Using evasive manuevers to get around Castle, she headed back to the laundry room, shut the door, and looted around in the basket for something appropriate for pajamas.
"Now what?"
Castle's question stopped her in her tracks.
"I... I don't know."
He sat down on the couch, and patted the coushin next to him.
Hesitantly, she went over.
"Discussion time. Topic."
She knew this game. She gave him something to talk about when there was an awkward silence, and they made a conversation out of it.
"The past few days."
"Facts please, ma'am."
"Six days ago. Dr. Temperance Brennan and Special Agent Seeley Booth arrive in New York City from Washington DC for a book signing of Dr. Brennan's novels. Simultaneously, Comic-con is going on."
"Where Brennan and Castle both have booths, which happen to be right next to each other."
"Presumably, Castle invites Brennan to stay with him in his apartment, having known each other previously." Steely edge. "While Booth is left to stay in a hotel."
"Completely true. The facts from here on out are fuzzy."
"Yeah, warm and fuzzy."
"Tasteful." One corner of Castle's mouth turned up quickly.
"I try."
Castle continued. "Comic-con ends. Booth heads back to DC alone, whilst Brennan stays with Castle for three more days, using her vacation days."
"Castle tells Beckett."
"Beckett falls into depression."
Kate opened her mouth to protest, but a look from Castle silenced her. Her eyes tightened.
"Brennan leaves. Ryan talks to Beckett. Montgomery talks to Beckett."
"Montgomery talked to you?"
"Yes. Can I continue?"
"Feel free."
"Beckett and Castle have a shouting match in observation room. Whole station hears."
"Maybe not the whole station."
Eyebrow shot up towards ceiling. "On the way out of observation room, Beckett hits several people with the door."
Castle snorted. "Beckett comes home, orders Chinese food. Then she gets into the bath."
"Where she is called by Castle, who plans on coming over. Soon after, Beckett falls asleep in tub."
"At which point Castle arrives to hear Beckett coughing, because she let her head get submersed. He heads into the bathroom. All the bubbles are gone."
Beckett's eyes widened. "Did you see anything?"
"Um, would it make you feel better if I said no?"
Beckett groaned. "Oh my God."
"Continuing. The bathroom is void of any towels or the bathrobe, so Beckett tells Castle to go out and close his eyes. You're going to have to finish from here."
Her cheeks flared red. "Beckett runs across apartment to get towel. Once she finds one, she returns to Castle. they argue. Beckett goes back to laundry room and gets dressed."
"We are now both caught up to speed."
"And there's now nothing to talk about."
"Oh yes there is." He wiggled his eyebrows.
"What?" She was wary.
"The bet."
"Oh, no. You have a snowflake's chance in hell for that." She yawned.
Suddenly he stood. "I'll be right back," he said before bolting out the door.
She was almost asleep by the time he returned. He had a manuscript in his hand.
"What is that?"
"The new novel."
She stifled a groan. "How many chapters?"
"So far, eight." He sat beside her.
"What's it called?"
"Love Heat."
"What?"
He smiled mischeviously.
"Don't smile like that."
Wider smile.
She hit him in the face with a couch pillow. "Basic plot."
"Vegas. Drunk."
She was horrified. "You didn't."
"Oh, but I did."
"Are you actually going to give that to your publisher?"
"No. This is a fantasy book."
"Like vampires and wizards?"
"No. This is like the other Nikki Heat ones. Based in fact. If I publish this, it would be farther down the road."
"Don't publish that at all!"
"You haven't even read it yet."
"I don't need to," she said through a yawn.
He adjusted himself on the couch, and pulled her against his chest. He put an arm around her and held the manuscript in front of her.
"Castle-"
"I'm going to read it to you. It's better when you can see the words."
She bit her lip. This would most likely end badly.
"Relax. You're too tense."
"Hmm. I wonder why." Her tone was dripping sarcasm.
He ignored her. "Chapter one. Nikki Heat opened her eyes to the worst hangover she'd ever had. The light hurt. She turned in the bed, to discover Jameson Rook's sleeping face not inches from hers..."
She opened her eyes. Today she felt better, even though she knew she hadn't been sleeping on the bed. No, she was on the couch. Turning her head, she was surprised to see Castle, his mouth slightly opened.
Just like Nikki.
Where had that thought come from?
Last night.
What? She looked at the floor. There, white and black, lay the manuscript for Love Heat. He had read that to her last night, but she had fallen asleep somewhere in chapter seven.
She felt around her body. Castle was beneath her.
Wide eyes, thumping heart.
Castle groggy voice came from beside her head. "Watch what you're touching, there, Beckett."
Kate sat up.
"No, you were warm," Castle muttered, pulling her back down and wrapping his arms around her.
Thump-thump-thump-thump. It was getting faster. It was getting louder.
"Castle!" Beckett struggled against his vice-like grip around her torso.
"What?"
"Let me go!"
"But I don't wanna..."
Her heart felt like it was going to explode. She relaxed, trying to slow her heart down.
Then suddenly, Castle tensed. He let go.
"Thank you." Beckett righted herself, so she was sitting up.
"Beckett." Castle's tone was dead serious.
Now that she could really see him well, she noticed his hair was a complete mess and he was missing his shirt and belt.
"Do you remember last night at all?"
"Yeah. You read me eight chapters of Love Heat, but I fell asleep somewhere in chapter seven."
"No, you didn't."
"What do you mean, no I didn't? What did I do?"
"By then you'd had about five beers."
Synapses fired in Beckett's brain, sending her into horror. "I was drunk, and we..."
"If I remember correctly."
"But I don't remember!"
"Drinking blackout."
"Oh my God. Oh my God. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no-"
"Kate!"
"What?" She moaned.
"You're fine."
"Oh hell no, I'm not! I don't even remember anything!"
"Do you want a recap?"
"No!"
"Would you rather roleplay it?"
"Castle, this is serious!"
"Why? It was perfectly safe."
Her eyebrows shot up.
"I'm serious. There's no chance you're going to get pregnant." He covered a smile with his hand.
And got a pillow to his face for his trouble.
"And you said I was crazy." He frowned. "Are you sure you don't want an encore?"
She sighed and let her head fall into her hands.
"You're a repeat offender," Kate whispered in his ear.
"Ooh, handcuff me to the bed."
"And here I was thinking you liked the table better." She grinned mischeviously.
"I'm not picky."
"Obviously."
"I don't know. Today was really muggy, and I think I might need a shower." His hand ruffled through his hair.
"You don't need help, do you?" Her grin grew.
"I don't know. Do you think I'm capable?"
She grabbed his hand and pulled him throught the apartment. "No way. You're too childish."
"I'm so glad you're over your aversion to me."
She laughed and dumped a cup of water over his head.
He started coughing. "It went up my nose!"
She laughed harder.
He stole the cup, filled it up, and emtied it over her head.
"We're not getting to far in terms of cleanliness," Castle noted.
Beckett grabbed the washcloth and handed it to Castle. Then she grabbed the shampoo.
"Hope you don't mind smelling like cherries," she laughed as she squeezed some of it into his hair.
"No problem whatsoever," he said happily.
"Did you call Brennan back?"
"No."
"Why?"
"I'm waiting for her to call. Actually, it's more like dreading."
"Why?"
"Because of you, genius."
"I'm gonna ask why again, and this time you're going to give me a whole answer."
"I don't want to tell her about you and me, because when Tempe gets jealous people end up hurt."
Kate's eyes widened.
"I know. It's very scary."
"I believe you."
"But then again, this snowflake already survived hell once, so I might make it again."
Beckett began to laugh.
"She IMed me."
"Ooh, what'd she say?"
"She's fine with it. She was actually IMing me to tell me that she and Booth are together."
"Wonders never cease."
"Who's crazy now?"
[fin]
I hope you enjoyed my first story. Keep this in mind, though- I love me some reviews!