Chapter 3
"I'm thinking ladies vs. gents," Jenny suggested as Kevin set up the Cornhole boards at opposite sides of the campsite.
They had some lunch when they got back from the lake, and the cold beer was still being passed around and enjoyed. A light afternoon breeze had kicked up and clouds had rolled in, but neither had served to diminish the humidity, and that wasn't scheduled to break for several more days.
"I'm in," Kate announced from her perch on a log nearby. "But we should set up some terms. What does the winner get?"
Kevin immediately looked at Javi and couldn't manage to hold back his laughter, their pre-weekend bet over Gates' decision as yet unrevealed to the rest of the group. "Better not lose this one, too, partner," he teased.
"Oh, yeah," Rick said, "what was that all about? You never told me what you bet."
"This should be good. I can't wait to hear this," Lanie added, perking up.
Javi tilted back his beer can and chugged. "Well, Detective Esposito didn't think Castle could convince Gates to give all three of us today off, so we made a little wager." Kate smiled softly, having been let in on what Rick's efforts actually cost him. "He won't be able to use the, um, facilities with the rest of us this weekend. No, when nature calls, so to speak, he'll be answering up close and very personal. Guess you'll have to watch out for the poison ivy, too, huh, buddy?"
The group's snickers were stifled, but unmistakable. "Yeah, and don't let that pubescent ranger catch you, Espo. You're already on his list," Rick joked.
Javi tossed him a look and Rick swiftly ate his grin. "Whatever, are we going to play or not?"
"How about stakes a bit less crude this time, boys. The losers have to cook dinner for everyone tonight," Jenny proposed, and all agreed.
Almost an hour later, they were just into their fourth game of a predetermined five, with the ladies up two games to one. Javi was beyond his pouting, and the trash talk from both sides had long since begun, exacerbated, unsurprisingly, by the beer they all continued to consume.
"Hey, Castle, how many of those things have you had? You know you're trying to get the bag into the hole, right?" Kate blew him a kiss and then turned to initiate a boastful can-tap with her teammates.
"Be more like Kev, Rick," Jenny cooed, clearly feeling the effects of the alcohol on her tiny frame. "He's gotten all the things into the thing." He hadn't, actually, but she was in no position to understand otherwise.
"Thanks, honey," Kevin called out, and she smiled goofily. "Love you."
"You guys are gross, all lovey-dovey like that all the time," Javi sneered. "You aren't past that yet?"
"I think it's sweet," Rick said.
"You would. You write poetry for a living, bro."
Rick stepped into him, for a change, attempting to assert himself with bravado. "Hey, don't get pissy with me just because you have to piss in the woods, Esposito."
"Ha!" Kevin yipped. "Good one, Castle."
"Javier Esposito, cool your jets," Lanie said. "Don't make me come over there. And throw the damn bag, Castle. Let's get this over with. The girls and I want to sit on our butts and enjoy a victory beer while you losers prepare our feast."
"Do you see what you started?" Rick asked Kate, who shrugged, playing innocent.
"Throw it," she mouthed playfully, and he did, missing the board entirely, again.
xxxx
"I know I did most of the work for you at home, ladies, but that was delicious. Best chicken and veggies over a campfire I've ever had," Rick said, swallowing his final bite. "Tell me, how did that premature gloating appetizer taste?"
"You just couldn't leave it alone, Castle, could you?" Lanie snapped.
"No, no I couldn't, Dr. Parish. The victory of gents, a victory born of dogged conviction and heart, was far too sweet."
"Poetry," Javi pushed out in a bogus cough.
"You're welcome, Esposito. Let's not forget who carried your ass that last game, this poet."
"I'm still stuck on the part where you did most of the work, Castle," Kate chimed in with a quizzical brow.
He took one look at her face and quickly caved. "Okay, fine, Alexis prepared all the bundles, but I was the one who put them into the cooler with the ice so they'd still be edible for tonight." Kate nodded with a smirk. "Packing the food properly is important."
"Of course it is, Castle," she replied patronizingly.
"Is everybody ready for s'mores?" Jenny asked, gathering up the trash from the table. "The fire's still going pretty good."
Rick slid off the bench and tapped Kate once on the shoulder. "I'm in. I'll go grab the stuff from the trunk."
"Um, I'll come help you," Kate said, catching his hint, and the two walked off for the car while everyone else stayed behind.
"They're so going to make out," Kevin asserted to an unequivocal hum of agreement.
"Oh yeah," Lanie said. "Those two are about as subtle as a shuttle launch."
Rick reached into his pocket and pressed the button on his key fob to pop the trunk, and the second he had it open and extended, he pulled Kate into him and his mouth was on hers, their position hidden from the view of the others. He kissed her until he couldn't kiss her anymore, until the point his body might no longer be able to hide the power hers held over him.
"What was that for?" she asked, thumbing the moisture from her lip.
"I can't help it. Do you have any idea how sexy you are when you mock me?"
"I just hope Espo doesn't get the same treatment," she said.
He drew his fingertip down the line of her neck. "No, he gets much less tongue," he shot back. "Come on, grab this bag or they'll think we only came over here to make out."
"Congrats on fooling no one, you guys," Javi said when they returned.
Rick set his bag on the table. "That's it, no tongue at all for you, Esposito," Rick replied, eliciting a giggle from Kate.
"Whatever, bro, hand over the marshmallows."
They unpacked the necessary components and passed them around, all of them gathered around the fire. The night was dark around them and filled with ambient sounds of the forest, the heat lightning flashing in the distance offering a beautiful distraction to the still, muggy air.
"We should play a game or something," Jenny said, sounding like a young girl off at summer camp.
"Yeah, like Truth or Dare," Kevin followed enthusiastically, provoking a smack on the arm from Javi. "Ow. What was that for?"
"What are you, fourteen? We're not playing that."
"How about ghost stories," Rick said, earning a resounding veto from Lanie.
"So, what if we just do the truth part?" Jenny said. "We can go around and reveal something to our partner that they don't already know about us."
Rick straightened up, obviously hooked. "Ooo, and we can call it Campfire Confessions." Kate ran a soft hand across his back, simply because she found him so wonderfully him.
"This should be good," Lanie said.
Since it was her idea, Jenny offered to go first. "Okay, um, Kev, do you remember that wine you made for me last year with that at-home kit?"
"Sure, yeah, but you dropped the box on the floor and the bottles broke, so we had to throw it all out. That was really good wine."
"Well, I didn't drop the box. I only told you I did. I actually poured it all out because it was absolutely disgusting."
"This game's kind of fun," Javi chuckled, while a disappointed Kevin shoved a bite of a s'more into his mouth and said nothing. "What've you got, Castle?"
Rick cleared his throat and Kate leaned in attentively. "Just off the top of my head, I guess," he began, turning to her, "there was that time I rescued you from your burning apartment. You know, when you jumped into your bathtub and you didn't have any clothes on."
"Hello!" Lanie blurted.
"And?" Kate asked, waiting for the rest.
"And I told you I didn't look, but I did." He wiped his brow exaggeratedly. "I still don't think I've recovered, to be honest."
"Awww," Jenny said.
"Really nice, Castle," Kate grumbled.
"Real gentlemanly, bro."
"Oh, like you wouldn't have done the same thing?" Rick protested.
"Hell no, dude, she's my partner."
"Thanks, Espo," Kate said.
Kevin turned to Jenny. "I can't believe you thought that wine was disgusting. Well, then, in the spirit of the game, I hate that tie you gave me for our two-week anniversary, the one you always make me wear. Those polka dots are awful."
"Guess Kevin's going next," Lanie cracked.
"Isn't this fun?" Rick said in an attempt to cool things down. "Anyone want another s'more? Anyone? Okay then, Espo, I think you're up."
"Yeah, sure, I've got one. I denied it when she asked, but I actually kept some of my girl's lingerie from way back."
"You did?" Lanie asked, sounding far less than angry about it.
"Do you still wear it, Jav?" Kate said in jest.
"No, I don't wear it, thank you. It still smells like her and I like that." Lanie tugged on his arm and pulled him towards her for a kiss. "Let's see if you can beat that, Beckett."
"Beat the creepy lingerie thing? Tough, Espo, tough." She really hadn't thought about it in wait of her inevitable turn, and though she found strange the first thing that came to mind when put on the spot, she decided to go with it. "Okay, I actually may have told you this already, Castle, but there was that case, that first case after you came back from your summer away in the Hamptons." She paused for a short moment, remembering how difficult that time was for her and how long ago it felt. "We decided that if I figured out how the dots were connected before you did, you'd leave for good, and if you figured it out first, I had to take you back as my partner."
"Yeah, I remember that. Except for the part where my friend was involved, that was that really cool case with the counterfeit money. And, of course, as so often happens, I did figure it out first."
"Sorry to burst your bubble but, that time, you didn't, actually, and 'often' is really pushing it, Castle."
"Wait, what? I didn't? But, you said-"
"I know what I said. I just, I didn't want you to leave, so I lied."
Kevin clapped. "That definitely beats you, buddy," he said taunting Javi.
"That's so romantic," Jenny said.
Rick cupped Kate's cheek and she nuzzled his palm. "Thank you for telling me that. I never-"
"So obvious," Javi interrupted, and Lanie flicked his bicep in punishment.
"You're the last one, Lanie," Rick said, his eyes still on Kate.
"But certainly not the least," she replied with a snap of her fingers. "So, Javier, you definitely don't know this, but I actually have a very special nickname for you."
"I'm liking the sound of this, already," he beamed.
"And you're the only one who's going to hear it," she said.
"What?" Rick groaned. "Why?"
"Because it's none of your business, that's why." She leaned over and whispered something in Javi's ear, all eyes on the pair, and he immediately jumped from his spot on the log and tugged her right along with him. "Yeah, we're going to bed. See you guys in the morning."
"Night guys," Lanie said wickedly, and the two fled into the darkness towards their tent.
"I'd ask if it was something we said, but I think it's pretty clear it was something Lanie said," Rick noted. "I still don't get why we couldn't hear."
"Maybe it's better we didn't, Castle," Kate said. "We do have to see him every day."
"That's the fun of it," Rick and Kevin replied in unison, both feeling robbed of potentially prime mockery material for the future. Thunder suddenly began to rumble and worry quickly set in. "Shit, I was afraid of that," Rick said. "The forecast said there was a chance for storms tonight with the humidity."
"For added fun," Kate muttered under her breath.
Kevin ran for the two large jugs of water beside the picnic table and he and Rick each poured one over the fire to extinguish it. They sent Kate and Jenny to their respective tents at opposite ends of the circle and tended to the embers that remained. "I just want you to know, I don't know about anyone else, Castle, but I'm really glad you planned this weekend. I think Jenny's having fun, too." Lightning flashed above them and lit up the grounds. "And I think things are about to get interesting."