Breakfast of Champions
Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone in regards to CSI; the show and its characters belong to a bunch of people who aren't me. I am merely borrowing the characters for my own amusement. Dance puppets, dance.
Author's Note: So I met Nathan Fillion at Denver Comic Con and he is as wonderful and ruggedly handsome as he is on television. I've been swooning ever since and been watching Castle non-stop. I was inspired to write again and this one-shot popped out! Thank you very much to EllipsesBandit, for both the beta and the Comic Con adventures.
Rick woke up with the biggest smile on his face. Not only did he just have his favorite dream of flying the Millennium Falcon as Han Solo with Chewbacca, but he was also living his other dream in real life: waking up with Kate Beckett in his arms. The last two mornings she'd been out of bed before he'd even woken up. Now Kate lay encased in his arms, their legs tangled together, as she slept soundly.
Rick sighed happily at the free weeks they had before them. Martha had taken Alexis to the Hamptons for a week so his daughter could attend a couple of friends' graduation parties before they went to Europe. Rick and Kate had stocked her apartment with groceries after they left the precinct so they could hole up together for her suspension.
And what better way to kick off their time of solitude than with a hearty breakfast. It would also give them energy for more…vigorous activities. As he started to pull away from Kate, she groaned in her sleep, but he pressed his lips to her temple and she settled again.
After extracting himself, Rick snatched his boxers off of the floor and headed to the bathroom. Then he went to the kitchen to start on the most epic breakfast.
Without opening her eyes, Kate turned over to reach for her new bedmate. Her eyes opened widely when she encountered nothing but cool sheets. Sitting upright, Kate had a moment of panic, wondering if Castle had left. But the heavenly aroma of coffee and pancakes brought her back to reality. Either he was probably cooking or her appliances had finally led their own revolt over her non-use of them. Climbing out of bed, she found his clothes still on the floor from the night before. Normally that would be considered further evidence that Castle was still at her place, but in his euphoric state, he might be walking around naked.
She stole his sleep shirt off of the floor and put it on with a pair of her cotton shorts. Kate already loved being draped in Castle's large clothing, surrounded by his scent. When she left the bedroom, she found the table with two place settings, complete with a couple of white wine glasses filled with orange juice and a small vase of daisies. Castle stood at the stove, stirring what appeared to be a pan of scrambled eggs…while wearing just a pair of Iron Man boxers.
When he saw her approaching him, Castle smiled brightly; the kind of happy smile where he showed all of his teeth. "Good morning!"
"Hey," Kate replied, walking toward him. "What's all of this?"
"Breakfast! I'm making pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns. And of course a full pot of coffee."
Wrapping her arms around his waist, Kate grinned. "Are you trying to tell me 'thank you very much for last night?'" She asked, echoing Esposito's words from two years earlier.
"I'm saying thank you for last night, the other night, and hopefully many, many, many, many more nights to come."
"You are very welcome." Pressing a kiss to his chin, Kate lowered her voice like she was sharing a secret. "And thank you."
Castle made his eyebrows dance. "Yeah, I was pretty amazing last night."
Rolling her eyes, Kate smacked his chest. "Not that, jackass…" Although that thing he did with his tongue was pretty damn amazing. "I mean, thank you…for being on board with this…with me."
The corner of Castle's eyebrows crinkled in that way where Kate knew he was elated. He bent down to give her kiss. She hummed happily, running her fingers through the hair at the base of his neck. He tasted of cinnamon and coffee. She could feel the warmth spread from her chest all the way don to her toes.
Dimly, she could smell the eggs starting to burn, but that didn't matter because the heat of Castle's skin was so much more enticing. She was more than willing to ignore everything else in the world but Castle, until she heard someone knocking on her door.
"Katie, are you home?" Jim's voice became increasingly panicked along with more knocking. "Katie? It smells like something is burning!"
Kate pulled away from Rick. "Oh my God!" She herded Rick to other side of the breakfast bar where she pressed him down to his knees. "Hide!"
"You want me to hide behind the counter?!" Rick protested.
"Well I can't exactly let my father see you in your boxers," Kate said through her gritted teeth. "So yes, hide here." At more of Jim's insistent knocking and calling her name, Kate rushed back to open the door.
"Dad!" Kate greeted her father. "Hi!"
"I was worried about you and I wanted…" His words trailed off as he peered inside. "Katie, what's going on? It looks like something is smoking in your kitchen."
"Shoot! I forgot about the eggs." She rushed back to the stove to remove the burned pan and turn off the burner. "I was just cooking breakfast and got distracted."
Jim followed her into the kitchen and raised his eyebrow at her attire. "Nice shirt."
Shit. She'd completely forgotten about what she was wearing. Kate could feel herself doing a fantastic impression of a fish, with her mouth opening and closing without any sound coming out. Finally she managed a broken string of words. "Dad…this is…I was…this shirt is…I…what are you doing here?"
"I'm sorry to barge in so early, but I just wanted to check in on you after we talked yesterday."
After leaving the precinct, Castle had gone back to the loft to check on Alexis while Kate went back to her apartment. Before Castle arrived to meet her at her home, she'd called her father to tell him about finding Cole Maddox. She left out the part about Bracken as she didn't want Jim to know the man behind Johanna's murder was still free, but she was happy to tell him Cole Maddox wouldn't be able to hurt her again.
She shrugged. "I'm…I'm okay, Dad. I wish we could have questioned Maddox more before his death, but I'm just happy to start putting this all behind me, and move on."
The corner of Jim's mouth lifted. "It's been a whirlwind couple of days."
You have no idea, Kate thought. Between finding the person responsible for her mother's death and confessing her feelings to Castle, Kate felt like she'd run an ultra-marathon. Truthfully, her suspension came at a great time for her to rest.
Jim wrapped his arms around his daughter, giving her a tight hug. "I'm glad you're okay…and that you didn't burn your apartment down."
Kate chuckled. "Thanks, Dad."
When they parted, Jim asked, "Do you want to come over for dinner tonight?"
A pang went through Kate as she thought about the dinner she was supposed to have with Castle, but there was no way she could turn down Jim's invitation. "Sure, that sounds great."
"Well, I better be off to work." Jim started to head back to the door as he added, "Tell Rick he's invited too."
That threw Kate for a loop. She laughed nervously. "Dad, what are you talking about? Why would I invite Castle?"
"Because he's hiding behind the counter."
Turning, Kate saw Castle's eyes peer over the counter before he raised his head. "Hi, Jim."
Jim gave him an amused grin. "Hello, Rick. How are you?"
"I'm just wearing my boxers."
Kate slapped her hand over her eyes while Jim just nodded. "Ah. I apologize for interrupting you two."
When Jim turned back to her, Kate asked, "Dad, how did you even know Castle was here?"
"Katie, there are two place settings for breakfast with flowers on the table. And you're obviously wearing a men's shirt. I only know of one man in your life that would have a shirt that says, I was always told to dress for the job you want. So now I'm sitting in HR dressed as Boba Fett."
Jim's smile widened even more. "You may have moved out and have a career, but you are still incredibly lousy at hiding your boyfriends from me."
Kate blew a strand of hair out of her face. "Okay, Dad. Castle is my boyfriend. Are you happy?"
"Actually yes. I've known how you've felt about him for a long time and I'm glad you didn't let this go." Jim went to the front door and put his hand on the knob. "So I'll see you both for dinner tonight?"
She nodded. "Yes, Dad."
"Bye, Katie." Jim kissed his daughter's cheek. "Bye, Rick."
"Bye, Jim!" Rick waved his arm over the counter.
Once Jim was gone, Rick emerged from his hiding spot. "Before you blame me, I stayed back here the whole time."
"I know. The one time you actually listen to me, and my dad figures everything out in about thirty seconds." She bit her bottom lip. "I know you said you wanted to keep this between us for a while. Are you mad my dad knows?"
Castle scoffed. "Mad? Are you kidding me? You told your dad I was your boyfriend."
Kate rolled her eyes. "My dad catches us half naked and you're more concerned with the fact I called you my 'boyfriend.'"
Castle stalked her back to the kitchen. "I'm your boooyfriend. You liiiiike me 'cause I'm your booooyfriend."
"You won't be for long if you keep that up."
Castle shook his head triumphantly. "Nope, 'cause even if we're dating in secret, I'm still your boyfriend."
She tried to tell him to shut up, but he pressed his laughing mouth to hers. And yes, even she, Kate Beckett, was thrilled to call Richard Castle her boyfriend-no matter how juvenile it sounded.