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AU scene insert for 'Cops and Robbers', based on a prompt found on Castlefanficprompts - prompt quoted at the end.
"Castle!"
She wants to just run, storm through the rubble and debris, fear urging her on, has to make a conscious effort to remember her training, to take careful steps, keep her guard up, her weapon cocked; fully alert as she guides the team through the destroyed interior of the bank.
Her stomach clenches, her heart a rushed, forceful thing in her chest, thrumming so hard that nausea pushes up her throat. She can't believe- She just saw him, feeling an almost physical pain as she had to leave him behind as she stepped out of the bank building. She felt his eyes on her, could practically sense his trust, his belief in her as the doors closed and were blocked behind her and if that was the last time-
"Castle!" She calls his name again, trains her ears to listen to any sound making it past the crunching foot steps of the SWAT team surrounding her as they clear the space. Dust settles around them, particles sticking to her lips, gritty in her eyes as she tries to see through the hazy aftermath of the explosion.
"Beckett!"
Her heart leaps, the relief a tangible flavor in her mouth, a rush in her ears - he's alive, he's alive!
"They're here!" She calls out, her voice raw with relief, rushes forward to where she can see him- his smile peeking through the steel bars as he seeks her out, the tentative wave of his hand, his eyes shining with joy and pride and - love.
She hurries for him, no stopping now; drawn to the warmth of his smile she sinks to her knees before him, her breath rushing out with mundane words as she clips his restraints.
"How are you?" Not at all what she wants to say, needs to say but it's all she has right now, just her racing heart and the joy welling through her, the ever-present need for him that lives just beneath the surface of her skin, carefully censored and held at bay but he could've died today, he could be dead and it's all spilling out, on display across her face, her smile stretching her cheeks wide. She wants to leap into his arms and just cling to him, aches for the strength of his embrace, wants to feel his heart still beating and his breath gliding in and out of his lungs, feel his body unmarred in her embrace - a miracle - but instead she tugs on his collar, so careful, always careful, with herself, with him; fumbles with the starched, expensive fabric because they don't do this, she doesn't do this even though she wants-
He's all she wants.
He is - so beautiful, eyes so blue and the skin crinkled at the corners, a testament to the years of his laughter, the joy he lives and shares. His smile is warm and just for her - she knows this look is hers alone, has long since claimed it, waiting silently, tentatively for that elusive right time but now she's yearning for him, raw and open and aching, her need an electric thing sparking between them as she inexorably leans closer, helpless to the draw of his scent, so familiar despite the clouds of chalky dusk that flint and flitter around them, to his smile, his warmth-
"Oh for heaven's sake, Katherine, just kiss the man!"
His head thunks back against the wall, eyes squeezed tightly shut - oh Mother. Heat rushes to his face, flushing his cheeks with embarrassment because it's what he wants, it's all he wants, and he thought maybe, just maybe- He yearns to feel her lips against his, warm and pliant and vividly familiar, the phantom memory of their long-ago kiss his reminder, his daily hope. When she came rushing through the grey, dust-clouded space toward him he felt like the sun had come out after a dark, icy winter, his heart thundering rapidly against his ribcage, his ears deafened by the rush of his blood pounding through his veins. He wants to tug her into his arms and not let go again, smell the cherry-scent of her hair, feel the soft skin of her wrist beneath the stroke of his thumb, the soft weight of her breasts pressed against his chest, lifting and falling with each warm breath.
But he needs to be careful with her, can't push her when he's promised her patience in carefully veiled words. He tightens his hands into fists, nails digging crescent marks into the flesh of his palms so as not to reach for her but then her mouth is on his, warm and pliable, her almost inaudible moan tangible against his lips. His eyes fly open, barely able to grasp the reality but her fingers are gripping each side of his collar, tugging him forward into the so-soft touch of her lips.
"Kate," he murmurs, barely comprehending and she takes her opportunity, slides her tongue across his bottom lip, curling into his mouth and then he's gripping her to him, his palm sliding around her neck and the other tight across her lower back, can't help but drag her into his lap, needing her closer, closer. He sinks into the kiss, can't get enough, her breath warm and her lips tender, almost tentative, but her kiss deepened with ache, with almost desperate need, still flavored with the remnants of fear.
"I'd thought I'd lost you," she husks into his mouth, her fingers gliding to his jaw, his ear, the short hairs at the back of his neck in tender caresses.
"No, never, never," he promises, kissing her again, and again, and again, because he can't ever be without this woman again, doesn't want to; she's part of him, she's his conscience, his heart.
She's everything.
Prompt submitted by 'remuslovestonks': cops & robbers AU where instead of saying "you know he's not the only one here", Martha tells Kate to kiss Castle (like Gates did in 'Still')