Episode insert for 7x23 Hollanders Woods. I posted this on Tumblr a while ago, so if you feel like you've read this before, you probably have. Enjoy!
The moment Castle finishes his speech, Paula herds him off the stage and leads him behind the oversized cardboard prints of his head lined along the back of it. He follows her reluctantly, itching to go back to his table instead, eager to get back to the celebrations. He does remember that Paula's promised that this part of the night should take no more than a few minutes so he tamps down his desperation and readies himself as he steps into a sea of flashing bulbs and reporters shoving microphones in his face.
He flashes the photographers the biggest grin he can muster and straightens his tuxedo. It's not that bad, he admits after a while. It's been a long time since he's truly enjoyed this kind of media attention. The last few times he's done this have been to boost his sales numbers and he found them painfully dull and monotonous, but this time it's for him; people are here to celebrate him and his achievements and his family is here with him this time instead of the usual industry big wigs.
Speaking of-
He spins around, ignoring the clamoring of the public for a moment and ducks out from behind one of the large portraits of himself, waving wildly to catch his wife's eye. She's talking animatedly to Esposito sitting next to her, but he's counting on their weird mental telepathy thing for her to take notice of him. Sure enough, it only takes a few seconds before Beckett swivels in her seat, and he watches in awe as her eyes roam the room until they land on him. It's been seven years and yet their connection remains unwavering.
She cocks an eyebrow at him from across the room and he tilts his head, fingers curling to indicate that she should make her way to him. She excuses herself from the table and slinks towards him - because seriously, it's the only word that can accurately describe the way she's moving tonight.
The red dress clings to her curves perfectly, flaring at her hips, the lacy material falling loosely down her thighs, accentuating her legs that seem to on forever, oh he's captivated. Even more so when he thinks about how the dress is going to slide down her body tonight, probably will pool at her feet as he-
"Stop it, stud," her voice glides into his ear, soothing and arousing at the same time and he wonders if he'll ever not be amazed that he's actually married to this stunning woman.
"Stop what?" he asks, feigning innocence as he runs a finger down her arm. He snags her fingers and threads them with his own, tugging her back to the wall of photographers waiting for them.
"Thinking about me without my dress on," she says with that knowing glint in her eye. "We'll have time for that later. What do you need me for?"
Anything. Everything.
"Um, they want pictures of the both of us," he tells her, tilting his head towards the waiting media personnel. He's about to lead them both into the centre of it all but pauses momentarily when he feels Beckett's fingers tighten around his. He glances at her and notices that she looks apprehensive, chewing on her bottom lip, eyebrows furrowed in contemplation. Sometimes he forgets that she's not used to this kind of attention and suddenly he's not sure if it's the best idea to spring this on her so suddenly. He should have run this by her before, she's so media shy usually. Oh, god, he should have thought of this.
He's an idiot.
Castle turns to face her, his mass shielding her from the blinding lights and incessant pleading for them to 'look pretty'. He's about to call it all off, the words almost spilling from his lips to tell her it's okay if she wants to head back to the table but she silences him with a pointed look. Beckett smiles, lips curling sweetly upwards, toothy and not at all like one of the forced ones that she has to put on when she's made to hold a press conference on a high profile case. It's the one she gives him when she's truly happy and he breathes a sigh of relief.
Beckett licks her lips and nudges him, turning him back towards the cameras. "Okay, c'mon babe. New York's next power couple right?"
It must have only been a few minutes, twenty at most, but it feels like she's been smiling for hours. Her cheeks hurt and she's seeing stars from all the flashes that have gone off in front of her tonight. Thankfully, they've managed to cleverly sidestep the questions about the future of both their careers and keep the focus of most of the questions about the Poe's Pen.
Despite all that, she has to admit that she's having fun. Castle's a solid presence at her side, and it keeps her from panicking about the fact that she's probably going to be in papers and various articles in the near future. His fingers are laced with hers and every few seconds he pulls her into some form of a pose for whatever reporter's calling out to them. He embraces her, kisses her cheek - he's completely in his element and Beckett's happy to just follow his lead and let him do his thing.
"Okay, we're done here! Last photos please!"
Beckett startles at the interruption, scans the crowd and sees Paula gesturing at them from the sidelines. Castle nods and poses for photos one last time before they step back into the relative darkness away from the photographers. She watches the group of them file out the back door closely behind Paula and they're finally left alone.
"That wasn't too bad, was it?" Castle grins at her, leaning against the back of the stage. He looks pleased with himself, as he should be. She's so proud of him.
"No, it wasn't," Beckett murmurs as she takes the time to properly drink in the sight of her husband. Castle looks positively delectable. He's so damned handsome tonight in his tux and his bowtie and it's most definitely doing it for her. It doesn't help that she's now well acquainted with the body beneath the clothes, knows intimately what he feels like and what he likes and it's also probably the champagne she's had tonight but all she wants to do right now is to touch him. Everywhere.
They're not completely secluded from the rest of the party and she can hear the clinking of glasses and the faint murmuring of the voices from the other side of the stage. She's thrumming with energy and want, feeling a little tipsy and reckless and all she wants to do is to show him how happy she is for him. Of them, together.
She advances upon him, throwing caution to the wind. No one can really see them anyway, and she kisses him, gently at first. He responds eagerly, arms coming around her, palms splayed wide across her back. "I'm so proud of you, Castle," she whispers.
She doesn't give him a chance to respond before she closes in on him again, nipping his lips playfully. Their kiss deepens naturally and she's soon lost in the sensations he never fails to elicit from her.
"Kate," he groans as she moves to suck on his earlobe. He grips her hips tightly, pressing their bodies sinfully together. "Kate - oh, so good."
Her hands glide up the front of his tux, tries to put some space between them lest they get carried away as they're prone to do. She reminds herself that they're still sort of in public, still meant to be celebrating with their friends who are right there behind the flimsy partition. But god, he's so debonair tonight, not a single hair out of place - so delicious.
"I wanna eat you up," she mumbles against his lips, tracing the lapels of his tuxedo all the way up to the bowtie she'd helped him do up earlier in the evening. She unties the bowtie expertly, pulling on one end and letting the other fall down the other side of his collar. She undoes the top button of his shirt and she scratches his neck lightly as she pulls back her fingers, resulting in another desperate groan from him. She swallows his protests, lips pressing, sucking hungrily as she takes from him.
"Kate…I - we have to stop."
Ugh, damn him. She knows he's right, they cannot be doing this right now, making out like teenagers while their friends and his family are waiting to come back out. She steps away from him reluctantly and nods. "Fine. But later, we are not stopping for anything."
He laughs easily at her at her scowl and leaves smacking kiss on her cheek. "C'mon, we'll get back out there, play nice for a few more minutes and then head home, okay?"
He takes her hand again - wow, they're really going all out with the hand holding tonight - and she follows him back out to the tables. She thanks Castle as he pulls her chair out for, meeting Lanie's eyes across the table as she settles in her chair. Her friend winks at her, a mischievous glint in her eye. Beckett sends her a questioning look and Lanie's only response is the slight tilt of her head towards Castle as she waggles her eyebrows.
Confused, Beckett turns to her husband next to her and – oh, right.
She's left his bowtie undone and it's blindingly obvious that he's recently been thoroughly ravished. She sneaks a glance back at Lanie and shrugs nonchalantly at her friend.
Oh well.
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Twitter: estheryam