So there's probably like a million of these already but I couldn't resist writing yet another one.
His New York Skyline
Her eyes fluttered open as the morning sun split through the curtains in the room. She felt at peace, comfortable in his arms, wrapped in the sheets of his bed. She sighed, her hand softly stroking his which was angled up her body, elbow at her abdomen, hand covering her heart.
He'd paid attention to her scar with both his hands and mouth last night, tasting it as if his breath and tongue could cure it, make it disappear even. She closed her eyes as she thought of everything that had lead up to this present moment – his breathlessness after their first kiss but his reluctance to give in to her until he was sure. She supposed she should have been insulted but on the other hand couldn't blame him. She had jerked him around long enough for him to have earned the right to protect his own heart.
"Thank you," she whispered suddenly, pulling his hand up to place a kiss on his knuckles. He shifted behind her, his nose nuzzling into the back of her neck.
"Mmmm, for what?" he asked groggily, tightening his grip around her and she smiled at that. He'd been the same last night, wrapping her up tight as if to prevent her from escaping.
"For giving me one more chance," she said, pulling from his grasp slightly to turn in his arms and face him. He had a look of pure love on his face. As she settled in his arms again, he tilted his head and kissed her softly.
"Kate…not that I want you to test this theory but, you'll always have one last chance with me," he said pointedly and she frowned, inviting him to explain. He stifled back a yawn and apologised, saying he hadn't had much sleep the night before.
"I wonder whose fault that was…" Beckett smiled and he kissed her again before she pushed him again for an answer to her question. He smirked and ran his hand down her bare arm before speaking.
"Because, honestly, you are my last chance, Kate. My last opportunity for happiness, there's no going back or moving on from you. I love you and, God help me, regardless of last night that would still have been true today and tomorrow and the day after that…" He shook his head, trailing off, not sure if he should or could continue talking when she was looking at him with such love in her eyes. Now all he needed was to hear her say it.
She snuggled closer to him, her nail scratching his chest and she placed a soft kiss over his heart.
"I'm sorry it took so long for me to get here," she said against his skin and he chuckled, tipping her chin up with his finger to face him.
"Stop being sorry," he said simply as he kissed her again¸ shifting to pull her on top of him but her groan, which was clearly of pain rather than anything else, stopped him in his tracks. He raised an eyebrow.
"Are they Castle-inflicted injuries or other?" he asked, realising suddenly that she hadn't even told him what had happened, just that she had almost died and her last thoughts would have been of him. She let her head hit the pillow next to his.
"Other," she said, sighing and he turned onto his side. He ran a bare hand down her body, creeping around to the small of her back, stopping when he saw her flinch. He raised a questioning eyebrow.
"I nearly fell off a roof. In fact I did. I was gone, my second hand had given way and only for Ryan had gone against my orders, I was dead. While I was hanging there I, I heard you…" she added quickly, knowing how ridiculous it sounded. He lifted his head.
"You heard me?" It was only after he said it that he realised how apt it was. She did too. Telling him she'd heard him when she hadn't at all and denying hearing him when she had. She almost laughed at her subconscious' befuddlement.
"Yeah. When it struck me that I was going to fall, I was going to die, all I could think about was you and how I'd let you slip away, how I'd screwed up the best thing in my life. Then I heard your voice calling me. It was Ryan, but all I could hear was you and I just started screaming your name over and over at the top of my voice…" she took a deep breath.
"Are you sure you weren't just practicing for last night?" he joked and she slapped his bare chest, stifling back a laugh. They remained in companionable silence for a moment.
"I resigned Castle," she said finally and he looked at her. She nodded her head and he shifted slightly where he lay, pulling her closer to him, inviting her once again without words to elaborate, knowing that anything he could say either way would just irritate or confuse her more. He knew her well enough to know that when she was offering these kind of insights, it was best to let her and her alone speak.
"Gates suspended us, me and Javi. But as I was handing over the badge I just, I got this blinding flash of sense. I don't want any of it anymore Castle, the force, my mother's killer, nothing. I just want you. I love you," she said finally, shaking her head as if she couldn't believe it herself. In reality, she couldn't believe she had finally swallowed her fear to tell him how she felt. She hadn't yet told him everything he meant to her but telling him this was a start.
The sweetness of the kiss that followed almost made her tear up again. She moved for him as he settled himself between her legs again, as he had done last night. His hands trailed her sides and along her thigh softly. It was tender and featherlike. When she'd arrived at his place last night, she'd been prepared for frantic, passionate sex. She'd been hoping for it almost. But his way had been so much better, so much more meaningful and so much more emotionally driven. He was the same this time and as he pushed into her slowly, her head fell back against the pillow and he kissed her neck, flicking his tongue out to taste her before his mouth found hers in a deep kiss.
"I love you," he mumbled against her lips as he began to move inside her, soft and slow at first before he became a little faster and harder, never straying into bed rattling though. Slowly, carefully and patiently he wound her up to her inevitable climax, capturing her mouth in a deep kiss as she writhed beneath him, strangled whimpers and moans escaping her mouth as she came. The feel of her tightening around him brought him off with her and they kissed through both of their climaxes.
Castle was vaguely aware of whispering a few sweet nothings in her ear before sleep overtook him again.
CASTLE CASTLE CASTLE
When he woke, the bed was cold next to him and the room was fully bright. Sitting up, he saw her, standing naked, uncaring in front of his window. He smiled. No one would see her up this high other than the birds. He wondered if she was looking down, developing her own fear of heights after her near death experience the day before.
"The New York skyline has never, ever looked this good before," he quipped, grinning when she turned around to face him. She smiled.
"Think I should become a permanent fixture in it?" she asked as she reached down to pick up his shirt off the ground, putting it on despite his groan of protest. He moved down the bed to help her button it up, sheets gathered around his waist, kissing her neck as he did, pulling her down to sit on the edge of the bed.
"No, because then everyone would see you, and I'm the only one who's allowed," he said sulkily, like a child making rules about who can play with his toys. She smiled, nodding her head against his. His teeth found her shoulder and nipped playfully at her, sucking at the skin, marking her but she didn't seem to care.
"So, what Castle? You're saying no one else is allowed to look at me?" she bit her lip and he leaned forward to nip the protruding lip between his.
"Not exactly. What I meant was I don't want your naked self becoming a permanent fixture in the New York skyline, even though I'd rather stare at you than the Chrysler any day of the week…" he kissed the juncture where her neck joined with her spine, opening his mouth to taste her with his tongue. His other hand swept down the front of her shirt to her lap, sliding his hand between her legs, causing her to gasp under his lips. He grinned.
"Of course, if you don't have a problem with every guy in the city having a hard-on the size of the Chrysler then I guess it's your choice…" he nipped at her ear lobe and slipped one finger between her folds, making her arch her back forward. He smirked.
"I'm only interested in your Chrysler, Castle," she said breathlessly, letting her head fall sideways onto his shoulder as he slipped another finger into her, his thumb resting on her clitoris. He didn't move it, just left it placed right there on her while he moved his fingers inside her.
"Oh God, Castle…" she whimpered, lifting her hips to meet his movements. He chuckled and told her to have patience. She twisted her neck and kissed him hard on the mouth, just as they heard the front door slam. They broke apart immediately. She shot him a look.
"Alexis," he said quietly before stepping from the bed and quickly pulling on a nearby sweatpants and t-shirt. He fished a second pair from his drawer and passed them to her to go with the too big shirt she already wore.
"I'll go talk to her. Give me ten, fifteen minutes?" he said, leaning down over her body. She nodded her head and kissed him before he left the room, with the single thought that this woman would kill him, as he did.
CASTLE CASTLE CASTLE
Alexis was in the kitchen, looting the fridge when he emerged from the study. He stood by the doorway and watched as she pulled frozen food stuffs from the fridge, leaving them alongside her.
"Not even gone yet and you're already raiding the freezer. You are already a university student and you haven't even left yet," he chuckled when she jumped, dropping a bag of frozen waffles on the floor.
"God dad! You scared the hell out of me, I thought you were out."
He smirked, moving to catch his daughter in a headlock, pulling her in for a hug.
"How was your night?" he asked, taking a brief sniff as he pulled her close. No smell of alcohol. That didn't surprise him one bit.
"Great, it's only really beginning. We stayed up all night at the party, it was amazing. We're going for lunch now, then back to Paige's house for a movie night so I'm bringing over some food, ok?"
Castle raised his eyebrows, listening but catching only half of what she was saying.
"It's lunchtime?" he said finally and Alexis frowned.
"Eh, yeah. Did you console yourself in a bottle of scotch last night Father?" she asked in a joking yet worried tone. She knew he had cut loose from the NYPD and knew that it would affect him more than he let on. As much as she was annoyed at Beckett for how she lead him on, she also knew her dad would take forever to get over letting her go.
"Uh no, not exactly. I want to talk to you before you take off again…" he said, finding his sense of decisiveness return. She nodded her head and stepped back from the fridge, pushing all of her pilfered belongings together in a pile next to it.
He took a deep breath, leaning back against the counter. He bit his bottom lip between his teeth before realising that it was what the woman currently in his bed did whenever she was nervous.
"Kate's here," he said finally. Alexis nodded. He continued, slowly, as if he was explaining his actions to an angry parent or teacher, "She came over last night and we talked," (Lie, he thought to himself), "and sorted out our feelings," (and our lust). He took a step away from the counter.
"She's still here, just getting changed and…I want to know that you're ok with this Alexis, that you…"
"Dad, why would I not be ok with this?" she cut him off, "How could I possibly be against this when you clearly love her so much and she makes you so happy? Even when you guys were fighting and you were angry at her, it was still so obvious. If things between you two are finally what you want them to be, why would I have a problem with that?" she said, smiling at the look on his face. She'd been angry earlier this year when he'd decided to keep pursuing Beckett, because she feared for his life and feared that he would lose it while getting nothing in return from her. She knew how her dad felt about Kate Beckett and she had a pretty good idea of how she felt about him. Obviously, she had been right.
"You see, this is why you are the best daughter in the world. Ever," Castle said, pulling her into a bear hug, planting a kiss on the top of her head.
CASTLE CASTLE CASTLE
Beckett had heard the last few minutes of their conversation from the study but couldn't bring herself to walk out and ruin the moment. When she heard the silence, she decided to make a move, heading for the living area rather than the kitchen. She was headed off by Castle who at that moment emerged from the kitchen, grinning happily.
His arm wrapped around her waist and he kissed her cheek as he pulled her to him.
"Where do you think you're going?" he whispered, as he turned her in his arms to face him.
"I take it your chat with Alexis went well," she replied, grazing his lips with her own before stepping back from him. The last thing she needed to do was scar his daughter on her first morning after in their house.
Alexis rounded the corner just as Beckett released his hand from hers and smiled.
"Hey Detective Beckett," she said chirpily and Kate smiled back at her.
"It's just Kate, Alexis. Just Kate." She didn't delve any further into that statement. She'd allow Castle to fill the girl in on that one, once they'd processed it. She knew she needed to contact Esposito and apologise to him, she knew she needed to call Ryan and thank him for saving her life, regardless of the consequences. They were irrelevant. She was still here; she was alive because he disobeyed her. And she was standing, being enveloped in Castle's embrace because of it. Yeah, she owed Ryan a serious thank you, she thought.
Alexis was packing bags of frozen food into a bag, with gusto.
"You're either trying to keep a body part on ice or you're going to a party," she said pointedly to the young graduate. Alexis smiled.
"Party first, as for the body part I really can't say," she grinned before adding, "I guess I could use them for pain relief when I get my Columbia tattoo…" she trailed off, waiting for her father's reaction.
"Yeah and when you're done with that you could enter a witness protection programme," he replied quickly with a smirk and she nodded her head, knowing he had smelt her wind-up well in advance. He pulled his wallet from his pocket and took a couple of notes from it.
"Here, splash out on some food for you and your friends. Call me later to let me know you're ok though, yeah?" he said, handing her the money and she agreed.
"I'll see you two later?" she said as she turned the door handle and the pair nodded before she exited. As the door closed, Castle felt Beckett's hand at the small of his back, felt the whisper of his breath behind her ear.
"And what exactly, Mr. Castle, is wrong with tattoos?" she purred and his eyes closed.
"She's not old enough for one," he said, gasping as she caught his ear lobe between her teeth. He turned to face her, his hands finding her hips.
"It does remind me though, I need to find yours," he said as his hands found the hem of her shirt and were about to pull it up when she stopped him. He looked up, into her eyes.
"There's a few things I need to do today Castle," she started and he nodded his head.
"Anything you need," he said, kissing her forward, "Anything you want," he added. She glanced down at the ground.
"I need to visit my mom. Will you come with me?" she said hesitantly and he nodded immediately.
"Of course."
"I need to meet Ryan and Esposito, I need to thank and apologise to them," she said and he nodded again, his hands clasping behind her back, pulling her tight to him, his way of again reassuring her that he was right there with and for her. She smiled and reached up to kiss him.
"And after that, I just want you," she repeated her comment from the previous night and he grinned.
"I think all of that can be arranged," he said before leading her back to his room, one he hoped, would someday become 'their' room. For now though, he was happy to spend time convincing her that she was his and he was hers. Always.