Based on the anonymous prompt from the castlefanficprompts tumblr: "Castle piggybacks a drunk Beckett home".
A 2x05 post ep.
Might be a little bit OOC, but let's be honest, aren't we all a bit out of character when we're drunk? #deep
"So, Detective," She heard Castle's voice droll out from behind her desk as he wandered over to designated chair, sitting down without taking his eyes off her, "You in for a celebratory drink?"
She glanced up from her paperwork, "Celebratory? For what?"
"For the fact that I'm going to be here for the duration it takes to write another three books." He explained innocently with a grin.
"I think I should be drowning my sorrows for that one, Castle. Not celebrating." Beckett quipped, but he remained unresponsive to her insult as he continued.
"Which you can do at a bar, so my offer still stands." He replied, raising one eyebrow, as if he was daring her.
And who was she to back down from a dare?
"Fine. Let me just finish this stack," She tapped the black pen on the side of the small pile, about three pages high, "And then we'll go."
As she bowed her head down to focus her attention back on the words printed in front of her, Castle's mouth opened slightly, shocked that she had accepted his invitation. He never failed to surprise her.
And now that he had the chance to continue shadowing her for three more books, he was ecstatic to have the chance to figure her out.
They walked around for around the busy evening streets for a while, Castle insisting that he wanted to find a good and new bar to visit, whereas Kate trudged behind him whining that they should just enter any place as long as they served decent alcohol.
Castle abruptly stopped outside of a building that had a blue and white sign hanging above the door labelled 'The Press Box'. Kate scrunched her eyebrows trying to understand why Castle had chosen this particular establishment and why he now had a smirk plastered across his features.
He already had a firm grip on her forearm and was ushering her inside when she saw the poster advertising that it was karaoke night.
As the duo walked in, they could immediately see that the place was quite busy for 6pm on a weekday, making Castle surmise that he had made a good choice, which made Beckett scoff as he told her so with a proud undertone in his voice.
Rick spotted a vacant, small round wooden table with a white lamp situated on the top, and placed a gentle hand to Kate's lower back, helping her weave through the people who were all looking forward, seemingly entranced by the middle aged man who was belting out 'Working For the Weekend' over the recorded bassline and guitar sounds, basking in the blue and red lighting of the stage.
Once Kate had shimmied out of her leather coat and hung it over the back of her seat, and he had done the same with his blue jacket, the two walked back over to the bar and ordered their drinks, the Detective trying to blank him out as he sang along to the karaoke in a deep voice, whether he was doing it consciously or not.
It was going to be a long night.
Once they had returned to the table, they chatted freely about topics such as the possible ideas for his next three Nikki Heat books (each one making Kate's eyes roll in exasperation), their recent closed cases and his ever interesting Mother and daughter. Once they had come to a natural end of that, he took a swig from his beer then spoke.
"How about we make this night more interesting?" He offered, making Kate immediately squint her eyes at him.
"How so?" She asked, waiting for an inappropriate remark to fall from his lips.
"I propose a drinking game."
She chuckled, "What are we, Castle? In college and watching awful 80's shows?"
He shook his head with a smile, taking out a pen from the inside pocket of his jacket and writing down on the unused napkin in front of him.
Kate craned her neck to read his scribbles, "'#1, Drink every time someone sings a song off-key'? Castle, we'll be blackout drunk in about an hour!" She exclaimed, glancing over at the group of young women who were attempting to sing along to 'Call Me Maybe'.
"Exactly the point, my dear Detective." He replied with a smirk.
She shook her head as she bit her lip, "Fine. But one condition."
"And what would that be?" He asked, tilting his head in intrigue.
"I choose the drinking rules for you, and vice versa." She proposed, leaning forward to seem intimidating.
"You're on."
So Kate had definitely gotten the worse end of the deal. In all honesty, he had written more rules than her, his writer's imagination getting the better of him, and he was quick to point out flaws in her rules.
"Castle, rule #3 is 'drink every time some hiccups or burps in the middle of the song'. You need to drink!"
"Well, technically, she burped near the end of the song, which is not in the middle. So no drink for me."
And maybe he had lied whenever he searched on his phone to check whether a song had actually debuted in the nineties, making her take a drink for most songs that were from the late eighties and early 2000's.
As he watched Kate stumble over to the bathroom, he quickly scurried over to the bar, requesting a glass of water for his companion, not needing one himself since he was only on beer, whereas Beckett had decided to go boldly and down multiple vodka sodas, raising a daring eyebrow at him whenever she did.
He was tapping his fingers on the dark brown wooden surface as he watched the bartender pour some water for her when he heard the static from the stage microphone.
"Mister Richard Castle!"
His head whipped around, greeted with the sight of his drunk partner clutching onto the mic stand, running one hand through her hair.
"Oh, no." He whispered, scratching the back of his neck.
"Come on down!" She shouted, most of the attendees of the bar chuckling under their breaths at the acts of Kate's behaviour, "Or, up?" She paused for a moment, and he could see her face wrinkle up in thought, "Whatever. Just come here, with me!" Her arms outstretched in front of her, but she slumped as he shook his head, beckoning her to come down from the stage.
"Come on!" She whined, but a devilish grin soon made its way onto her face. "Castle, Castle, Castle…" Beckett began to chant.
The audience caught on soon enough, cheering his name and clapping. Realising he had no choice, he jogged over to the stage, smiling politely at the seated people as he weaved between them on his way to the back of the bar.
He grinned at Kate when as he sauntered up the stairs and grabbed the microphone next to her, the grin on her face now full of pure joy, making him chuckle.
"You sure you want to do this?" He teased in a light-hearted voice, but also wanted to make sure of a clear answer before she began.
"Yeah!" She replied instantly, as if the answer was plainly obvious, "We're going to bring this place down." She whispered as she leaned over to him, clapping a hand on his shoulder for reassurance, and possibly for balance too.
Kate pointed a finger at the worker in charge of the music station. Castle almost cringed when he heard the beginning notes of 'Summer Nights' from Grease blast through the speakers as most of the guests bobbed their heads and Kate clicked her fingers offbeat.
"Summer lovin', had me a blast!" Kate began, though she was more shouting than singing, Castle clamping his lips together to stop from laughing at the antics of his inebriated partner, "Summer lovin', happened so fast!"
Laughs erupted through the crowd, though they seemed non-malicious as they continued to clap along with more fervour, clearly enjoying the show as Kate swung her hips haphazardly.
Rick shook his head, then followed with his line, "I met a girl, crazy for me." When he looked back over at Kate, her eyebrows were scrunched together in confusion with wide eyes, almost looking like a puppy, but she didn't hesitate to power through the song.
Rick's laughter finally escaped from his throat as Kate thrust along to the beginning of the chorus, adding extra emphasis on the 'uh!'
Once the song was finished (and Kate had ceased from bowing, teetering on her heels as she did so), Castle wrapped a sturdy arm around her middle and guided her down the couple of stairs and back to the bar with the intent of finally giving her a glass of water.
When they arrived, she wriggled out of his grasp, placing her hands on her hips as she confronted him, "You can write best-selling novels and you can sing!?" She exclaimed, making Rick laugh heartily, "What can't you do?" She questioned as she leaned forward, grabbing a glass of clear liquid from the countertop and taking a large swig of it.
"Stop you from drinking, apparently." He mused, chuckling when he saw Kate's face grimace as she placed down the glass.
"I'm not even sure that was mine." She stated, smacking her lips together repeatedly.
Rick ordered another glass of water, but before it could make it to Kate, she turned to him with a frown.
"Castle," She said with a wavering voice, "I feel sick."
The glare that the bartender gave the two of them made it obvious that it was their time to leave, lest she vomit in their establishment.
Rick hurried her outside just in time, holding back her short wisps of hair and rubbing calming circles on her back.
Once she was finished, Castle reached into his pant pocket and handed her a tissue to wipe her mouth with, which she accepted with a shaking hand.
"Can I go home now?" She asked wearily, still hunched over.
"Of course," He wrapped an arm around her and walked her over to the nearest cab. He was about to open the back door for her, when the front window rolled down.
"Nu-uh," The driver spoke in a gruff voice as he leaned out, "I just saw your chick throwing up chunks all over the sidewalk, I'm not taking her in my cab."
Castle nodded reluctantly, knowing that he wasn't going to change the man's mind if the frown he had on his face was any indication, but Kate seemed to have opposite ideas.
"Hey!" She exclaimed, "I am a Detec- Detective. And by the power vested in me by the NYPD, I order you-"
Rick cut her off abruptly, noting how the driver's face seemed to get angrier by the second. He murmured a quick apology before shuffling his companion to a nearby bottle green bench, which she flopped down onto with a huff.
"Sorry, Beckett," He began, "Looks like we're going to have to walk home."
Kate whined loudly, throwing her head back, "I can't walk home, Castle!" She said melodramatically. "These," she waggled her feet in front of her, "Are evil shoes."
"I see," He replied, trying to keep a straight face, "And why might they be evil shoes, Beckett?"
"Because," She began with a pout, "when I walk, it feels like there are little porcupines in there going 'blip, blip, blip'" She accentuated each noise with a pointed finger, poking at the air, then hunched forward and unceremoniously unzipped the boots, flicking her legs so they flew across the sidewalk.
"So why not return them?" He asked, but it was kind of a moot point now since they were lying in the middle of the road.
"Lanie was with me and she saw me buy them and she was like," She adopted a high pitched voice, "'Ooh, you won't be able to walk in those, let alone run, ooh'", Castle unsuccessfully attempted to hold back a suppressed chuckle from his pressed lips, which made Kate frown, but nonetheless she continued, "And so I went to the morgue more times than necessary today so she could see me in them and know that she was wrong but now…"
Kate curled her finger at Castle, motioning for him to lean in, which he did, and when she deemed than he was close enough, she whispered, "I think my feet are going to fall off."
His loud laugh broke the silence of the night, but Kate pouted and crossed her arms, making Rick sigh.
"Okay," He said, leaning down at gently placing a hand on each of her shoulders, "Being the gentleman that I am, I can't let you go on in such agonising pain, especially when there's the risk of sudden foot amputation."
He paused, expecting a chuckle, but Kate only stared at him with wide eyes, nodding with understanding as if it were a real threat, so he continued, "So I shall be your noble steed and piggyback you home."
Her lips upturned at his offer, and she reached out her hands as he crouched down in front of the bench, waiting for her to jump on, but she hesitated.
"What's the problem?" Rick asked, turning around, but he saw that she had a smile on her face.
"Do I have to be naked like you were when you rode a horse?" She joked, poking his ribs.
He's pretty sure the surprised laugh he let out was heard for multiple blocks.
After a few minutes of walking with Kate on his back, he felt her breathing get heavier as it hit the nape of his neck, hoping that she wouldn't notice his hairs standing up on end at the sensation.
"You going to throw up again, Beckett?" He asked, wondering about why her breathing pattern had fluctuated, "Because I'm going to have to ask you to aim away from my hot body."
She snorted in what he assumed was an attempt at laughter, "No! I just can smell takeout food and it smells really gross."
"Hm, so you're not a 'pig out on awful food' whilst drunk kind of girl?" He inquired, trying to distract her.
He felt her shake her head, "Nope. One time in college, I woke up from being drunk the night before and all my chip packets and chocolates were in the bin. My room-mate said I had a 3am ramble about my new healthy diet because I had already drank four jagerbombs before my friend said that she heard on the news that a girl had three heart attacks after drinking jagerbombs."
"If that's your worst story, I got you beat." He heard a questioning hum from over his shoulder so he continued, "When I was drunk in college, I kept hearing noises from outside my dorm and was certain that zombies were chasing me, so I headed out and proceeded to barricade myself in the recycling closet. I was found by the campus janitor the next morning, wrapped in a garbage bag for warmth. Needless to say-"
Castle instantly stopped his story as he felt Kate's head nuzzle into his neck, her lips a whisper on his skin.
"Wh-What?" He spat out, but she didn't move a muscle.
"Can't smell it now. Can only smell you. Like lime and woodsy smoke and you." She mumbled into the crevice of his neck with a satisfied exhale.
He didn't say another word since he knew his voice would be shaky if he attempted to speak.
About fifteen minutes later, both of them were still mainly silent with the exception of her humming 'Summer Nights', swaying her feet along to her own rhythm.
Suddenly she gasped loudly, "Stop! Stop!"
"I'm sorry, do you need a break?" He huffed with exasperation, though he was secretly content with being so close to Kate, enjoying the smell of her cherry scented locks of hair and the firm feel of her thighs under his palms.
"There are my boots in tan!" She exclaimed happily, waggling her finger at the display that was presented in the shop window.
He sighed, "What do you need a new pair of excruciatingly painful boots to replace your old ones?" He meant for the sentence to tease her, but she gasped once again, this time somehow sounding more sorrowful.
"Replace them? You don't have them?" She asked in a small voice.
He rolled his eyes at her hurt expression that he could see from the window's reflection, "No, I thought since you said that you proved Lanie wrong, you were never going to wear them again."
"Not that." She replied, "I just never got to say goodbye."
Though Castle's natural reaction was to laugh at his partner, he could hear that she sounded genuinely upset at the loss of her footwear, her over-exaggerated emotions obviously from a side effect of the alcohol, so he played along.
"Well, you can say goodbye to the tan ones." He answered with a sincere voice, as if he were comforting a child.
She agreed, tightening her arms around Castle's shoulders in an attempt at a hug for his understanding as he began to walk again, "Bye-bye, boots." She muttered, lifting one hand to wave at the shop window, "Wait!"
He paused again, "What?"
"The tan ones are half off!" She said happily, her hand now making a grabbing gesture.
He sprinted away before she could say another word.
Rick finally lowered her back down onto the ground when they were standing outside of her apartment door and watched Kate fumble in her jacket pocket for her keys.
"You need me to come in?" He offered, but the woman shook her head, scrunching her face up at the headache the motion had caused.
"I can take it from here." She said confidently, waving him off.
Reluctantly, he strode back down her corridor and pressed the elevator button. As he waited for it to arrive, he glanced backwards and saw that his partner was still trying to get her key in the lock, muttering out unintelligible words to herself.
With a small exhale, he wandered back to her, making her head snap up from the lock as he placed his hand over her two and grasped the key, immediately opening the door, "Come on, Kate."
She walked in first, immediately taking off her jacket and throwing it to the side. She strode over to her bedroom and Rick decided to give her privacy, instead walking over to her kitchen, opening multiple cupboards before he found the cups, choosing a small plastic one to eliminate the potential risk of her smashing glass everywhere. He turned on the tap and filled the cup about three quarters of the way, but stopped promptly as he heard Kate's voice from the side.
"Castle! Need help!" She shouted.
He hurried into her bedroom worriedly, met with the sight of her with her light brown sweater lifted above her head, though it seemed that both her arms were trapped as she struggled, little huffs falling from her mouth.
He stood in the doorway silently, trying not to ogle her as she shifted around aimlessly, but it seemed to be an impossible task and did she always wear black lacy bras to work?
"Castle?" She asked, the fabric still covering her vision.
"Yeah, help, okay." He mumbled, stepping forward and gently lifting the sweater, letting her arms finally fall through the holes.
Once he had done this, he stepped back, but she frowned, "Can you help with the pants too? They're too tight to sleep in."
He held his breath, but he knew he couldn't argue with her in this state, her eyes glancing at him as she tilted her head with a curious smile.
"Yeah, sure. Uh, sit on the bed." He brought her over and sat her down on the mattress, pretty sure he had heard her whisper something about him being 'Mr. Bossy' under her breath.
He slowly peeled the dark fabric from her legs, trying not to think of how badly this could go (he handled the area around her crotch with extra caution to make sure he didn't accidentally remove anything else) and hoped that she wouldn't remember this in the morning. He couldn't write three more Nikki Heat books if he was murdered.
Her voice cut through his thoughts, "The shirt and shorts I usually sleep in are in that drawer." She pointed out. He stood up from being crouched down in front of her and shuffled over to the designated drawer, lifting out a pair of black sleep shorts and an oversized Mets shirt, which was obviously well worn since the blue colour had faded significantly.
Beckett managed to slip the shirt on without much difficulty, but to be on the safe side he held onto her forearms as she stood up and wiggled into the shorts.
"Y'know, just in the last few hours, you've saved me from my evil boots and that evil sweater. You're kinda like a hero." She mumbled with a smile.
He chuckled at her ramblings, "Come on, into bed you go."
As she walked over to the right side of the bed, her eyes squinted at him, "Did you sneak a peek? At my goods?"
He chortled, "Wouldn't be much of a hero if I did that."
She continued to talk as she lay down, Castle placing the covers over her as she wriggled around in an attempt to get comfortable, "But it's okay if you peeked a little. You deserve a peek for putting up with me and saving my life sometimes."
"Drink lots of water." He ordered, knowing she must be incredibly drunk with the words she was spitting out, though he definitely appreciated them.
"Thank you for tonight." She mumbled, half her face pressed into her pillow, but she then sat up slightly with widened eyes, "I sang." She remarked with dramatic horror.
He chuckled as she fell back down, "See you tomorrow. Possibly."
Rick stood up and turned to walk out of her room, but her timid voice stopped him, "Castle?"
"Yeah?"
"Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?" She whispered.
In that moment, she suddenly reverted back into the person he had seen when he told her about the lead he had found with her Mother's killer; vulnerable and fearful. She bit her lip as soon as the words were out, looking like she had suddenly sobered up and regretted asking.
She opened her mouth once more, but he beat her to the chase.
"Yeah, of course." He spoke in a soft voice.
Kate's lips upturned slightly as he perched on the end of her bed.
She fell into a slumber to the feel of his thumb stroking her thigh over the covers.
The next morning, as the precinct elevator door opened on the Homicide floor, she cast a wary look around before taking off her sunglasses and stepping out.
"Morning, Detective." A smug voice from her left greeted.
"Oh God, so loud." She groaned, rubbing her hand over her forehead, scrunching her eyelids closed.
Castle let out a small chuckle, taking in her appearance; a large navy turtleneck with a grey scarf wrapped around her shoulders, loose black slacks covering her legs and flat leather boots instead of her usual heels.
"Sorry," He said in a quieter voice, though his tone of voice made her doubt his sincerity, "I've got a coffee for you if that puts me back in your good books."
He held out the paper cup as a peace offering, which she gladly took, "You were never in them to begin with, but I appreciate the thought."
They slowly meander over to her desk in silence, until Castle started singing.
"Summer lovin'…" He murmured under his breath with a teasing glint in his eyes.
She used all the force she had to smack him in the arm.
Some of the dialogue was taken from 'The Flash', because that's what I thought of as soon as I read the prompt. And the boots thing was from Friends. And Castle's story was taken from Reddit. But throwing away all the junk food in her dorm whilst drunk? An actual thing my roommate did. I would've been pissed if I wasn't laughing so hard.
Anyway, thanks for reading! Hope I did this prompt justice :)
Lou xo