I am overwhelmed by the response to this fic so thank you to all those who reviewed/favourited/followed/read it, I really appreciate it and I hope you enjoy this next chapter.
This is set in season 4 and they're not currently together for those who asked.
Disclaimer: I don't own Castle or the characters.
"Hey," Beckett said as she opened her door to find Castle standing on the other side, coffee and a brown paper bag in his hand.
"Hey," he smiled, stepping into her apartment and handing her the food and drink before he removed his coat, "I got you a chocolate croissant, I hope that's okay?"
"Thanks," she answered, smiling in return, knowing he always gets the best breakfasts for her.
Castle followed Beckett over to her couch and took the seat next to her as she opened the bag to inspect the food he'd brought for her, pulling it out of the bag to take a bite.
"This is delicious," Beckett hummed as the flavours of the croissant exploded in her mouth, he really did know what food she liked.
Castle had to say something to distract himself from Beckett and the sounds she was making, he wondered if she had any idea what she did to him, "do you have any ideas of what you wanted to do today now that I'm here?"
"I thought you might have some ideas for how to spend our day off?" she asked, no longer needing her old plan since he was here.
Castle loved that it was "our" day off now.
He'd thought a lot about it while on the way here, trying to think of things they could do together if she didn't have any ideas and he eventually came up with what he hoped would be the perfect day off if she agreed to it, "Okay then, why don't we do everything that you mentioned you were going to do earlier then?"
"Really?"
"Yeah, we can read for a bit, then go out for lunch, watch a movie at the cinema before going for a walk and then we'll come back here and make dinner together, how does that sound?"
"That sounds perfect," Beckett smiled, that smile that lights up the whole room and always makes it really hard to focus on anything but her.
"Great, what did you want to read then?"
Beckett blushed and Castle was instantly curious why, "I was going to read some Nikki Heat."
He smirked, noticing now that Heat Wave was sitting on the table beside the couch, "good choice."
Castle picked up the book and opened it like he was going to read it even though she'd just said she was going to, "What are you doing?"
"I'm going to read to you," he answered, knowing she would protest, "where are you up to?"
She was not going to let him read to her, "I'm perfectly capable of reading myself. I thought when you said we could read that you meant separately."
"I know you are and you were wrong then, now where are you up to?"
"Castle," she said, dragging out his name, sounding very close to whining it.
"Beckett," he replied, "come on, it'll be fun."
"Fine," she acquiesced, realising he wasn't going to back down and he did come over on what would've been a day off for him too so she opened the book to where she was up to and for the next hour, she sat beside him while he read to her.
And she thoroughly enjoyed. He kept putting on funny voices for the different characters, acting out actions from the book and Beckett could definitely see that Castle had inherited some of his mother's acting talents. He'd had to stop reading several times because she was laughing so much and he was proud to put that happy look on her face because he knew the story wasn't funny, she was laughing all because of him.
"I think that's enough for today," Castle said, grinning over at Beckett as she sat laughing beside him.
"What was next in your plan?" she asked, trying but failing to control the smile that his silly behaviour had brought on.
"Lunch, but you ate not long ago so I thought we could walk around for a bit and then find a café to eat at when we get hungry?"
Castle tried not to think too much about the fact that today was turning into what sounded like a bunch of dates, he wasn't sure he could handle the disappointment if he thought today was one big date and then it turned out she didn't feel the same way. No, today he was here just to entertain his best friend on her day off and nothing more.
"Sounds good," Beckett said, standing and holding out her hand to pull him up beside her. That spark whenever they touched was still as strong as ever but he tried not to think about it as she released his hand and he wondered if she could feel it too.
She quickly went into her room to grab a warm jacket and some shoes, leaving Castle standing in her living room wondering how he'd gone from expecting to be working today to taking Beckett out for lunch.
"Ready?" she asked as she walked back into the room, now wearing her favourite brown jacket and shoes.
"Yeah," he smiled as she led him out of her apartment.
After walking through the streets for a bit, they found a small little café that Castle said had really good food and they sat talking while they enjoyed their lunch.
"Wait until the boys hear about you spending the day with me," Castle laughed before he took a sip of the delicious coffee this place made.
"You can't tell them," she said quickly, and something in her voice made Castle's heart plummet because it sounded like she didn't want anyone to know they were spending the day together.
"Okay," he answered more quietly than before and now Beckett was confused by his reaction so she tried to explain exactly what she'd meant.
"They can't know we spent the day in the city together," Beckett said and the look on Castle's face only got worse as he tried to hide the hurt he was obviously feeling. Realisation struck as Beckett thought over her words again, he thought she was talking about not telling them they spent the day together when she just wanted the boys to think she'd been home sick all day.
Beckett quickly spoke again, hoping to get rid of the hurt look on his face and show Castle that she was okay with Ryan and Esposito knowing they spent the day off together.
"I don't care if you tell them we hung out, just tell them you were looking after me because I was sick, not that we were exploring the city all day."
"What?" Castle's mouth dropped open, so she wouldn't be embarrassed if people knew they'd spent time out of work together?
"I'll never hear the end of it they know I took a sick day without actually being sick, especially after they've told me so often that I should take a day off, they'll be insufferable."
"I can tell the boys we spent the day together?" Castle asked, relief washing through him as new hope bloomed in his chest, wondering if she really had been sick, would she have let him take care of her because it certainly sounded like she would have.
"Yeah, they'd probably think it was strange if you didn't spend the day with me actually," Beckett answered upon further thought, they did spend a lot of time together already outside of work.
Castle just grinned in response as they both finished off their lunch, glad that she wasn't embarrassed by his presence and this day was seeming to bring them just that little bit closer together.
Beckett was glad that she'd put that smile back on his face, it was turning into a really good day and she didn't regret for a minute inviting him to spend it with her.
"There's a cinema just around the corner if you still wanted to see a movie?" Beckett asked as they exited the café after she'd won the argument about who was going to pay for lunch as she'd claimed it was her day to do what she wanted and she'd wanted to pay.
"Sure, only if you let me pay for the popcorn and tickets though." He'd agreed to let her pay once already today and he wasn't going to cave so easily this time if she insisted on paying again.
"I don't want any popcorn," Beckett answered which Castle took as she was agreeing to let him pay.
"Fine, I'll pay for the chocolates you want then," he said, smirking over at her as they started off in the direction of the theatre.
"You know me too well," she grinned, hooking her arm through his which brought her closer to his side as they walked to the cinema together.
"And if you don't want any popcorn, you're not going to go stealing any of mine through the movie." He wouldn't complain if she did but it was still fun to tease her anyway.
"Fine," Beckett told him but she was lying, he really did know her well, she was totally going to steal his popcorn during the movie.
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