Because It's Now
It'd only been three days, but, for Rick, this time, it'd felt like an eternity. When he'd wrapped his arms around Kate's body and kissed her goodbye seventy-two hours ago, he had no idea he'd end up there, looking up at her, waiting and hoping.
They'd played a frustrating game of phone tag the previous day, but had never been able to connect, her double homicide case and his back-to-back-to-back seminars equally to blame, and each missed opportunity seemed to eat further away at him. He was long past the point of being able to stomach an entire day absent some sort of contact with her. That's what love had done.
He arrived at JFK from O'Hare without much time to work with. In his haste to rush back to New York early, he'd neglected to arrange for a car to pick him up at the airport, so he had to settle for a taxi, offering the driver an extra $50.00 if he could get him to Fifth Avenue and 57th Street by 6:00pm. He really had no idea what he doing, no idea why it had to be now, but what he did know was that one more minute felt positively unimaginable.
His driver earned every penny of his tip, delivering Rick to his desired destination as requested and in one piece, and what he found sufficient time to be wooed by there, like her, he truly loved. He caught another cab out front to take him to Kate, wherever she happened to be - that, he didn't yet know, his trip home both unplanned and unannounced.
Her phone rang three times before she finally answered with a soft salutation, and he knew that voice, treasured that voice. It was the voice of Kate, not of Beckett, and it was just for him. "How are you? How are the seminars going?" she said, entirely unaware that they were, at present, actually in the same city.
"Everything's going really well," Rick told her, playing along for just a moment of fun. "Long days, but it's been surprisingly fun. I'm sorry about yesterday, about not being able to talk. I really hated that."
"Turning into an old softy, Castle?" Kate teased, as she so often did before letting him in on the secret. "Well, I suppose I missed hearing your voice, too."
"Yeah?"
"Don't go blabbing that around, though, because I'll firmly deny it," she said with an audible smile. "So, what are you doing tonight? The girls coming up to your room or are you meeting them out?"
"Yes, that's very funny, Detective, but you know the only girl I'd like to do tonight is you," Rick quipped, suddenly most thankful for the partition separating him from the taxi driver. "I'm actually in a cab on my way back to…" he said with a pause, realizing he still didn't know where he needed to go, "the hotel. Where are you?" he dropped casually. "What are you up to?"
"Oh, I just got home from the precinct," Kate said. "We're waiting on a warrant and it won't come through until Monday, so it was an early night for me for a change." As she was talking, Rick muted the phone and gave the driver her address, and with that, he could feel it start to course through his veins, the adrenaline and the excitement. "I'll probably just take a bath, make something to eat and go to bed. It's been a rough few days."
"Yeah," Rick agreed, sounding sympathetic, "I can only imagine how difficult it's been for you without me around. Also, um, will there be bubbles in this bath?"
"Thanks for your touching concern, Castle," she grumbled, swallowing a grin. "Anyway, you didn't tell me what you're gonna be doing tonight. Meet any cute coeds who want their body parts signed?"
"Now, now, Detective, my pen is reserved for your body parts and your body parts alone." The taxi pulled up to her building as they talked, and he paid the driver before making his way inside. "Hey, I-I just got back to the hotel, so I'm going to let you go and do your thing. Call me before you go to sleep?"
"I will, yeah. I'll talk to you in a bit. Have fun, whatever you decide to do tonight, but, Castle, not too much fun, got it?"
"Wouldn't dream of it, gorgeous. And have I mentioned how much it turns me on when you get possessive?" The elevator opened at her floor and he made his way down the short hallway to her door, knocking quietly as butterflies danced deliciously in his stomach.
"Hey, someone's at my door, Castle, I have to go. I'll talk to you later, okay?"
"Okay," he said, waiting anxiously on the other side. "I love you."
"I love you t-" Kate replied as she opened her door to find him looking back at her, down on one knee, diamond ring in hand. She couldn't even find the strength of mind to move the phone from her ear, managing only a gentle smile born of pure surprise.
"I couldn't wait one more minute. I just couldn't," he confessed with an endearing desperation. "Will you be my wife, Katherine Beckett? Will you marry me?" He studied her face in the silence and he knew. She would be his, always.