"Are you sure this is the right place?" Castle asks for the thousandth time, "Because you know you can stay with me for as long as you want. You are one hundred percent welcome to our guest room until you find the perfect apartment."
"Castle," she snaps, putting her hand over his mouth. "For the eighth time, I'm sure. I appreciate everything you and your family have done for me, and I know that if I needed to I could stay there, but I really like this apartment. It is the perfect one." As perfect as it can ever get, anyway. Besides, she can't let herself get any more used to living with Castle. If she does, she'll never leave. "I'm going to be very happy here," she whispers, standing in what is about to become her new living room.
"All right," he sighs, clapping his hands together. "Let's go sign some paperwork."
"Castle, I'm a big girl," she rolls her eyes, hiding a smile. "I think I can handle signing my lease; you don't have to come."
"Course I do," he tells her, ushering her out. "Gotta make sure you don't get ripped off, don't I?"
"I carry a gun, do you really think he's going to try and pull something on me?"
"You're a woman so yes, I do." And there goes the smile.
"That is so-"
"Honorable? Gallant? Chivalrous?" he offers excitedly.
"Unbelievably Sexist. Chauvinistic," she lists instead.
He gapes at her. "But I-"
"Thank you," she interrupts with a laugh, preventing him from blabbering on. "It's… sweet. Let's go," she hooks her arm through his, allowing him to accompany her to the landlord's office.
Castle has to stop himself from bouncing down the hall. Kate Beckett, Beckett, is hanging, okay, holding, onto his arm, walking as close to his side as she's ever been. This never happens; he needs to savor it. He knows that once she's settled into her new place all of what he's been interpreting as flirtation will cease to exist.
Kate knocks on the landlord's door, greeting him with a smile. The two exchange general pleasantries while Castle would have chatted the man up for hours if she'd let him. Despite his friendliness with the man, Castle remains surprisingly quiet as she goes over the rent agreement, signing all of the paperwork the landlord passes her way and writing him a check for her first and last months rent. Once he's looked everything over he hands her the mail key and the second key to the unit, shaking her hand and thanking her for choosing his building.
The duo makes their way out of the office and into the lobby of the building. "I'm impressed Castle," she turns to him. "I think that's the first time you've ever gone more than a minute without talking. You didn't have anything to say? You sure he didn't just take me for all that I'm worth?" she teases sarcastically.
Trust me, Kate. You are worth so much more than that. "Just wondering what I'm going to do without you, but I think you're good," he assures her instead, taking in the lobby. "Nice place," he comments, eying the doorman and the man behind the front desk, a bell sat next to a vase of wildflowers, just like a hotel. "Good choice."
She's shocked by his first statement but chooses to ignore it. "Glad you approve," she mutters, heading towards the elevator.
"Wait a sec, where're you going?" he asks, scrambling after her. There's no reason to go back up, is there? She's got nothing to go home to yet.
"To call the movers." She levels him with her best obviously look.
"Don't give me that look," he says nervously, taking a step back. "What do you need movers for?"
"Oh, I don't know," she pretends to think about it, bringing a hand to her mouth as she taps her foot. "Maybe to move everything from the storage unit into my home?"
"I'll do it," he levels her back with her own look. He's appalled that she didn't see that as a viable option in the first place and, besides, she's not getting rid of him that easily.
"Please, Castle. You've done enough for me already. Far more than you needed to." She really can't ask him for anymore; she's already forever in his debt.
"Ah, c'mon Beckett. You really want to go pay a bunch of sweaty men to handle your things when I'm right here, almost freshly showered, willing to do it for free?"
"Even if you were ripped you wouldn't be able to haul my furniture up here by yourself. I haveto hire a bunch of sweaty men to do it."
"I'll pretend you didn't just imply that I'm not already ripped," he says petulantly. "But I can still help. You wouldn't let me help at all when you packed up what you could at you last apartment. You wouldn't even let me be there. Let me help this time," he begs.
"That's because it wasn't necessary," she reminds him, "and neither is this."
"C'mon Beckett," he whines. "If I help it'll go faster and the sweaty men will go away faster and you won't have to pay them as much cause it won't take as long and I can help you put all your stuff away and-"
"Okay!" she interrupts, tugging on her hair in frustration. "You can help! But I swear to God Castle, if you open any of my boxes or poke around in any of my containers I will kill you."
"Deal," he promises, eyes wide and hands held up in surrender.
xxx
"All right, Castle. All of the boxes and tubs are labeled. Just set them down in the room they belong in and leave it at that. I meant what I said before: Don't. Open. Anything."
"What's the matter, Beckett?" he grins, raising an eyebrow. "Scared I'll discover your kinky past?"
"Something like that," she growls, narrowing her eyes.
His mouth drops. "Oh, come on. Now I have to open the boxes."
"Don't you dare," she grits her teeth, grabbing his wrist as he tries to walk away with the box in hand. "Castle, I mean it. Do not open anything. Please." No more threats. Just a simple request.
"Okay," he acquiesces. "I won't open anything."
"Thank you," she breathes, relaxing.
"You're welcome," he nods, heading into the building with box number one. He sets it in the master bathroom, heading back down to retrieve another one. This one goes to the master bathroom as well, and the next two to the spare room. They aren't marked fragile and they aren't heavy, so he drops them to the ground. The second one lands on its side, causing the lid to fall.
Castle crouches, tipping it right side up and covering it again, but not before he catches a glimpse of a purple blanket with frogs on it. He smiles, thinking of the blanket that Alexis used to have, that one green with pigs on it, as he stacks the boxes against a wall and goes to get another one.
This next one is marked office, which he leaves in the living room seeing as there is an alcove there and no specific room to turn into an office. He repeats the process, so on and so forth, leaving the big-ticket items to the big sweaty men.
It takes the lot of them just over two hours to get everything inside and set into the right spot. Kate releases the movers, tipping them as they go. She shuts the door behind them, collapsing against it. She never imagined doing this alone and while she'd prepared herself for it, she found that she wasn't handling it very well.
"I ordered Chinese," Castle's voice, laced with concern, startles her.
"That's very presumptuous," she sighs, grateful for all that he's done but wanting nothing more than to be alone.
"Yes well I'm starving and you just let the big sweaty men go before they put together your bed frame so, unless you want to sleep on the floor tonight, we need to do it and I need food before that happens."
She nods in agreement. "I'd much rather sleep in my bed, Castle. Thank you."
"It'll be here in about fifteen minutes."
"Sounds good." She turns around to face him, leaning back into the door.
"Do you have any idea where you want your bedroom furniture?" he questions. "I can push it into place now so that after we eat we can get right to the bed."
"Let's go figure it out."
xxx
"You don't even have any kitchen boxes for me not to go through…" he attempts to joke, looking at her sad, empty kitchen. "What are we supposed to eat with?"
"Should've thought about that before you ordered Chinese," she smirks, handing him the chopsticks that came with his meal. "My living room and kitchen were almost totally destroyed. "The only things I kept belonged to my mom."
"I know a guy if anything needs to be restored," he offers.
"Thanks, Castle," she smiles genuinely for the first time in a few hours. "I'll let you know. Here," she hands him his carton of fried rice and his dinner order. "Good luck."
"I'm gonna need it," he says seriously, removing the lid and attempting to grab anything at all with the chopsticks.
"Forget this," he gives up after a few minutes of not capturing anything. "Chinese is a finger food, right?" He picks up a piece of broccoli and tosses it into his mouth, almost dropping it to the floor in the process.
"I guess it is now," she shrugs, joining in on his childishness.
They eat in silence for a few minutes before Castle just can't take it anymore. "First thing tomorrow we are getting you a TV and a radio," he groans, shaking his head. "This silence is unbearable."
"I didn't have either of those things at my last place – what makes you think I want them here?"
"Seriously? They're a necessity. It's too quiet without them!"
"I like the quiet."
"That's insane."
"It's really not," she snaps. "I used to have them, but then…. Things happened and they brought back memories that were… best left unremembered," she tells him. "I have an iPod and my laptop. That's more than enough."
"Fine," he grumbles, letting it go despite his obvious curiosity. He thinks he's finally learned when and when not to push. "But we're getting a couch and some stools for the island. Eating on the floor sucks."
"Obviously. What am I, a caveman?
He finishes chewing his last bite and opens his mouth.
"Don't answer that," she orders quickly.
"You're loss," he shrugs, getting up with an over exaggerated stretch. "Oh, and a trash can. Definitely need to get one of those." He leaves the empty containers on the island and meanders down to Beckett's bedroom, taking in the dismantled bed.
It doesn't look too hard. The wrought-iron head and footboards are leaning against the wall already, the bars that connect them on the floor before them. A Ziploc baggie with a collection of screws, washers and nuts completes the supplies.
Castle gets to work just as Beckett joins him, moving the footboard out of the way. He takes the first connector, slipping it into place on the headboard and sliding a screw through the first hole, slipping a washer on the backside and securing it with a nut.
"I don't know what you were so worried about," Castle remarks, moving onto the next one. "This is easy!"
"Whatever was I thinking?" She sits near him, starting on the other bar. Once the main frame is put together Castle puts the crossbars on, attaching them the same way.
Beckett helps him get the box spring and mattress on top and he launches himself onto it before she can sit down, making sure the bed is secure.
"Feels good," he sighs contentedly, rolling over and putting his hands underneath his head.
"I know," she smirks, pushing him off the edge and taking his place as he crashes onto the ground.
"Rude," he grumbles, standing up and dusting himself off. "Do you want help with the guest bed?" he offers.
"I've got it," she shakes her head quickly. "But thank you for the offer. And thank you for your help today."
"You are very welcome, my dear detective. Thank you for letting me help."
She nods, almost shyly. Kate Beckett, shy? he thinks. Never thought I'd see the day.
"Is there anything else you'd like me to do before I head out?"
"I think that's it," she says. "But again, thanks."
"Of course."
"See you tomorrow?" he asks hopefully.
"Until then," she smiles softly, walking him to the door.