the blue around the morning moon, color of your eyes. castle/beckett. she closes her eyes only when his lips touch hers. set after little girl lost, 1x09 and goes AU from there. title from eddie reader's bell, book and candle.
The corridor is dimly lit, indicating that it is well beyond bedtime for the small occupants of the rooms lined on either side of him. The bright pink scrubs the nurse is wearing appear dull underneath the equally dull lights and everything seems too quiet in here. He's always hated hospitals.
Walking down the corridor of the children's hospital and knowing that beyond those closed doors are sick, innocent little human beings, he hates it even more.
The nurse stops with a smile and he looks to his right to see Kate Beckett huddled in an armchair with a small infant in her arms, all alone in a room occupied by several armchairs, a sofa and boxes full of toys. "She comes here two to three times a week and spends a few hours taking care of the little ones who have been abandoned. She volunteered a couple of months ago," the nurse explains. Billie, her nametag reads.
He knows why, remembers how the case has hit all of them - a baby found in a dumpster, killed by its father, it turned out. He's spent the following weeks smothering Alexis, telling her he loved her every chance he got, all the while being unable to comprehend how someone could do something this horrible to their child - to their own flesh.
He nodds to the nurse - he knows the concept, heard of it. People spending moments with unwanted or orphan babies, how important it is for these little ones to feel cared for, loved.
He watches her smile at the too small baby, index finger to its nose and extraordinary doesn't even begin to describe the feeling that sight evokes in him.
"I'll leave the two of you alone," the nurse says after a moment.
"Thank you," he smiles. His gaze goes back to studying his muse, the way she sits cross-legged and holds the baby with expertise, in all the right places and it leaves him wondering how, why she seems so good at this.
She doesn't look up when he pushes the door open, just keeps on cooing softly with a wide smile on her face. It reminds him of finding little abducted Angela and seeing a whole new side of Kate Beckett as she held the two-year-old in her arms.
He crouches in front of her, winces when he sees the marks on her throat, finger-shaped bruises - a close-call from the case they just wrapped up earlier that night. "Hey," he says softly.
A frown begins to form on her face but then she realizes it's just him. "Hi," she whispers. Her voice is already turning raspy and he figures it's going to be much worse in the morning. "What are you doing here?"
"Making sure you were okay."
She rolls her eyes. "You were there when the EMT told me I could go home. In fact, you pretty much insisted until you were completely sure I was going to be okay. Which I am."
"I was concerned. It's not every day I find you unconscious and barely breathing."
He knows she's tempted to roll her eyes again but instead she holds his gaze. "I know. Thanks for not listening to me, this time."
The trademark Castle smirk is instantly on his lips. "You see? I'm a valuable asset."
Careful of the sleeping baby between them, she shushes him. "Right. Only this time. Should I remind you of the ringing phone incident?"
He brings a hand over his heart, wincing. "You wound my heart."
She smiles softly, shaking her head at the amused and especially mischievous expression on his face. After a moment during which she studies the tiny person cradled in her arms while he's watching her, Beckett suddenly feels self-conscious. Only him, she thinks.
"How did you know I was here?"
His smile is smug but there's no mockery behind it. "I have my sources." He scoots closer, one of her knee coming into contact with his chest, and his hands grip the armrests. He's invading her comfort zone and he knows it.
His gaze drops to the baby between them, questions in his eyes.
"She doesn't have a name yet. She's up for adoption."
He strokes the smooth and warm cheek of the baby with his fingertip. "What happened to her parents? Family?"
He watches as her face turns somber and it's like watching the sun being hidden by a passing cloud. "She's been found under a bench in the park. Her junkie mother left her there," she says. "As for the rest of the family, they don't want anything to do with their daughter, let alone their granddaughter. They don't care."
She feels the anger rising so she takes a deep breath to calm down. Castle doesn't press for more because what she told him is more than enough.
She chuckles self-deprecatingly as a thought suddenly strikes her. "Will your Nikki Heat have a fondness for abandoned babies and spend time with some of them at the hospital?"
"No." The answer is simple, without hesitation - he's already taken so much from her life to write into a book. For some reason, he doesn't need to tell her that he won't invade her privacy and this particular side of her life and she's grateful for that.
"Thank you."
He knows she's not just thanking him for right now. "Anytime."
His closeness to her feels a little too much and she decides to break the spell. He's getting under her skin, and not in the annoying kind of way – it's getting too dangerous now, too personal and she's afraid that she'll just get burnt if she plays with fire.
"You scared me, you know," he says and she sinks back into the armchair. "Just for a second, I thought--" He doesn't finish.
As a matter of fact, they don't speak at all. He raises himself just enough so he can lower his face to hers, arms braced on the armrests, trapping her. Her eyes search his for endless seconds and it's too tempting to give in, like reaching out to feel if fire is really that hot, if you're really going to get your hand burnt.
She closes her eyes only when his lips touch hers and, with one arm supporting the baby's weight, she goes to twine her fingers with his.
The kiss is long and delicate - a slow exploration of each other's mouths, unhurried as if they had all the time in the world.
A small wail catch their attention and they tear their mouths apart, both gazing down at the suddenly unhappy baby. Castle's pleased when he sees the blush rises on Beckett's face. "I think she's jealous," she says.
He wants to laugh, but all he can manage is an uncertain smile. Only her, he thinks. "Should she be?"
She bites her lower lip - one of the few things she does that drives him crazy. "I think she should."
He smiles widely, as if a huge weight has been taken off his shoulders. "Lemme take you home."
They walk back to the nurse station in silence and Kate hands the baby back to Billie. "Have a good night, Kate," the nurse says with a warm smile.
"Thanks. Take care."
They walk side by side, shoulders touching, to the bank of elevators until he stops and threads his fingers through hers, pulling her back to him.
He frowns as he runs his fingertips along the bruises on her throat, a hurt expression crossing his features. She watches him and it's like she's back earlier that night, sitting in the back of an ambulance with him until he bolts out of it and straight to the guy the police has just caught. It's her trying to call his name as he struggles against Ryan and Esposito, yelling that he'll pay for all he's done.
"Don't, okay? Don't go there. Just-- just kiss me."
He obeys, because it's Kate Beckett telling him to kiss her and it's something he's wanted to do for a long time now, straight from day one. But that was different then and it is different now, a need much more powerful and it seems like there are not enough words - or maybe not the word - to describe how he feels right here, right now.
He holds her tight in the middle of a dimly-lit corridor in the children's hospital, and he never intends to let go.