Hampton's Hiatus

03 Saturday Lunch

Alex's viewpoint

We'd headed out for some sight-seeing and window shopping and were now enjoying some fresh, hand-made panini's and coffee for lunch, the sun had come out and the streets and shops were full. Needless to say the teasing and stories hadn't stopped just because we were out.

Rick had just teased Kate about her coffee order, pointing out that if Kate went above point 05 blood in her caffeine stream she got tetchy. She'd quickly countered that she did not, only to have Rick lay out three recent examples where she'd done just that. Liv had shaken her head and smiled, then looked over at Kate and spoke.

"How DO you keep him in line?" At Liv's question Kate just smirked wickedly.

"There are ways and ways. In public, well, let's just say Rick here has very tender, very sensitive ears, just perfect for tweaking" Liv's smile turned into a matching smirk, reflected in her voice.

"And when you're not in public?" Kate's eyebrow raced skyward as her smirk deepened.

"Then there are other portions of his anatomy that are equally as sensitive that I can grab for" I snickered at the imagery her words painted and looked over at Rick before speaking.

"Better be good Rick, avoid any nasty entanglements" His smile was tender, quite obviously he didn't care too much about Kate's teasing.

"Oh, I waited years to be entangled with Kate, so I'm not complaining, well not too much" His smile changed to a smirk. "Besides, when it comes to entanglements, well Kate here is a detective, so she does have the cuffs" I chuckled.

"Don't use the standard issue ones, they leave horrible red marks on the wrists if you twist too much with them on" I looked over at Liv and saw her blush slightly as Rick chuckled softly.

"Yeah, we found that out a long time ago, good for holding suspects, not so much for…other uses" I smiled, getting to tease Liv while ostensibly chatting with Rick was naughty fun.

"You can get special cuffs, they do the job without the marks" I shrugged. "Friends of ours gave us a set of fur-lined leather cuffs that buckle on, they do the job just fine without leaving any hard-to-explain marks" Kate looked up, enquiry in her eyes.

"Was that Jane and Maura?" I shook my head.

"No, their friends Nat and Ana gave them to us as a present, we've got plenty of use out of them since" I turned to Liv, enjoying the flush the topic was bringing to her cheeks and teasing her a bit more. "Haven't we Tiger?" Liv just mumbled something and sipped her coffee as I let a wicked smile out; Rick of course couldn't leave that alone, kicking that particular can down the road a bit more.

"Interesting, maybe we can find out where they came from, if they're that good and they come with a personal recommendation…" I nodded over the cup of coffee I was cradling and replied.

"Oh yes, Liv and I have no complaints whatsoever, I'll get Nat to send me the details and I'll pass them on" At Rick's broad smile Kate spoke softly.

"Castle…" Kate's voice was low in mock warning, Rick though just laughed, before looking across at Kate.

"Eu te amo" I frowned, automatically translating the long-familiar words, 'you love me'. It'd been a long time since I last heard those words; I still remember the endearingly teasing smile that had accompanied them. Looking over at him I raised an eyebrow and spoke.

"I didn't know you spoke Portuguese?" Rick shrugged.

"A bit, I dated this Brazilian model, not serious, we'd catch up when she was in New York" He turned to look at Kate as he continued. "That was way back before I met you" He shrugged. "Lila was nice but she was never more than a passing fling, she was way too wild to ever settle down" I nodded slowly as buried memories rapidly disinterred themselves, all sparkling eyes, pouty mouth, razor cheekbones and endless tanned legs, all going by the name of…

"That's Lila Arroya, right?" Rick looked my way and nodded once as he replied.

"Yeah, that's her" I smiled at the recollection, despite the years it was still a wonderful memory, something my voice must have carried.

"You're not wrong, she was never going to settle down" Kate looked over at me, her eyes widening in surprise.

"You know her too?" I nodded slowly before I became aware that Liv was staring at me, eyes wide. I looked over at her and made a 'what' gesture. Finally she spoke.

"We're talking Victoria's Secret, Sport's Illustrated Lila Arroya?" I shrugged; it wasn't as big a deal as Liv thought.

"Years ago, back before she became famous, we met at a party, I was miserable because a certain detective was unattainable, Lila was happy and gorgeous and sexy and we had some fun" I looked over at Rick and smiled. "Like you it was never serious, on and off for months whenever she was in New York; it helped scratch the itch when she was in town but she was never going to settle down in one place, always on the move to the next assignment" I tipped my head towards Liv as I continued. "Besides, she wasn't the one I wanted" Liv was staring at me like I'd suddenly grown a second head, Kate wasn't much better, her eyes flicking between Rick and I before she finally spoke, her voice low, slow and wondering.

"Both of you dated a supermodel, a Brazilian supermodel, the same Brazilian supermodel?" I felt my cheeks burn a little, when you put it that way… Rick stepped in to divert some of the attention away.

"I was recently divorced from my second wife Gina, my first wife Meredith was living in Hollywood, all wrapped up in her career rather than Alexis, life was pretty miserable and Lila was a happy diversion at a low point in my life, but not settling down material" He suddenly realised Kate was staring at him, her mouth open and smiled a little sheepishly before continuing. "Time spent with Lila was interesting and plenty of fun, but Lila wasn't what either of us wanted it seems" He glanced my way and nodded once. "We both wanted something we couldn't have" I nodded in reply as he shrugged and smiled at Kate before continuing "I wanted something amazing with someone real, Alex wanted the same with Liv, once I met you, well I'd found what I wanted and what I wanted was you"

Taking in Kate's soft, happy smile I turned to Liv, seeing the slightly stunned, wondering look on her face and hastily spoke, I understood her insecurity and needed her to understand.

"Lila was nice, I had a lot of fun times with her, but she was never you" I smiled at a happy memory as I pressed on. "She knew all about you, I mean how couldn't she? God knows I talked about you enough, how she neither got sick of it or jealous I'll never know" I grinned at the memory of one of her replies and shared it. "Lila asked me once should she get her hair cropped and wear a police uniform if it would help" I looked at Liv and smiled, happy to let her know once again just how much she meant to me. "The only reason I didn't get mad was she had offered several times to turn up at the precinct and tell you to your face to ask me out"

The look on Liv's face was priceless, she looked like she'd been hit with the proverbial animated baseball bat; the only thing missing was the cartoon canaries circling her head. Finally she pulled herself together enough to speak, her voice low and wondering.

"A Victoria's Secret supermodel walking into the squad room to give me lesbian dating advice, oh my god, can you imagine it; the guys in the squad would never let me hear the end of it" We all laughed together before Liv spoke again, her voice low and soft, her warm brown eyes turning to me. "Maybe if she had we wouldn't have wasted so much time" I slid my hand into hers and squeezed it tightly as I spoke.

"Hey, no regrets, we got together eventually" Kate looked up, curious.

"Yeah, how did that happen exactly?" I grinned happily at the memory as I replied.

"We were out shopping for clothes and ran into a homicide cop and her best friend, a medical examiner; that was Jane and Maura" Rick and Kate both nodded, remembering them both vividly from the New York Mayor's Charity Ball and the unforgettable night that followed. "During the course of that day Maura and I became aware of exactly how Liv and Jane felt about us" I glanced at Liv and smiled, seeing her soft smile as well as I continued. "We'd both been clueless before, thinking it wasn't reciprocated, but we each saw it clear as day in the other couple. We decided right then and there that we were going to get what we both desperately wanted" I shrugged, playing it down a little though in truth that had been one of the most important days of my life. "We gave each other enough courage to try and make them aware of how we felt. We practically forced Jane and Liv here into little black dresses and heels, went out to dinner together where we teased them silly then dragged them kicking and screaming into a lesbian nightclub and the rest is history" Kate sniggered a little.

"Liv here screaming, No, never" Liv just smiled before replying, her voice full of satisfaction.

"As I recall, you were the screamer darling" I saw Rick's eyebrows leap up into his hairline as mine did the same, 'what the hell, had they been that close…?' Kate however was unfazed as she replied.

"Depends on the reason and the person, honeybuns" They smiled happily at each other before Rick spoke up, his voice tentative.

"Uh…Beckett?" Kate just looked at him then me before bursting into raucous laughter, something Liv happily joined in on, before they finally subsided enough for Kate to speak, glancing at me then back to Rick as she did.

"Relax, both of you, we're referring to a drag queen we busted for soliciting a couple of times, the first time we grabbed him he screamed like a porn star on overtime, when we teased him about it, that's what he said" Liv nodded.

"Yeah, every time we arrested him from then on we kept teasing him about being a screamer and he kept giving us the same reply" Kate chuckled.

"Well that and…" Her voiced had turned all breathless in mimicry. "A girl's gotta make a living doncha know" She smiled as her voice returned to normal. "Have to say though, he had the tightest ass and the best legs I've ever seen, your friend Lila would be jealous, plus he could run faster than anyone I ever saw in heels" As Liv nodded in agreement Rick looked at her in surprise.

"This from the undefeated holder of the record for the 100 metre perp-catching dash in four inch heels, really?" Kate was dismissive.

"I can run in boot heels Castle, but he could out-sprint me while wearing five inch stilettoes" She shrugged. "He had killer legs and bomb moves, could probably out strut your supermodel girlfriend too" Castle nodded slowly as Liv's voice came to me.

"I'm still having a hard time imagining you and Lila" At her words I tilted my head to look at her, even as she hurried on to amend what she'd said. "Not you and her, hell, you're gorgeous and I can see you together, but that you wanted me when you could have had her" I smiled as I shook my head, happy to set Liv straight.

"Like I said, Lila wasn't interested in settling down and I was hung up on this female cop I couldn't have" Feeling the need to reassure her I leaned over and gave her a long slow kiss, losing myself for a moment as I recalled exactly why I'd choose Olivia over Lila anytime... As our tongues tangled I couldn't help a little moan of sheer pleasure, hopefully not loud enough for the others to hear. Finally we broke away, noting that both Rick and Kate had wide smiles on their faces; they'd heard us, again, oh well. I smiled and finished answering her. "Good things come to those who wait" Kate and Rick smiled at us for a moment longer before Kate turned to Rick, her voice low and teasing.

"So Castle, still got a taste for Brazilian?" He gave a quiet chuckle.

"You mean besides the wax, I do appreciate that on a woman..." Kate swatted him gently before he continued. "I don't need a Latin supermodel to make me happy, I have a home grown one right here" He reached out and took her hand, lifting it to his lips, placing a soft kiss to the back of her hand, getting the patented Beckett eye-roll in return, though we didn't miss the soft look in her eyes before Kate smiled slyly and spoke, her voice teasing.

"Sure, that's what you say now…" Rick shrugged, obviously unconcerned by her gentle insinuation as he replied.

"Last time I saw her, a couple of month's back, we chatted for a bit, but that was all" Kate looked across at him, one eyebrow rising in surprise as she spoke.

"You've seen her, recently?" Rick nodded off-handedly.

"Yeah, one of those charity things you couldn't come to because of work; Lila knew I was seeing you; it was after the papers broke the news. Her comment was if you made me happy then she was happy. She also noted that my taste in women had improved" Kate gave him a gentle elbow to the ribs.

"Can't argue with that" Rick barked out a laugh before continuing.

"She also said if the three of us ever wanted to have some 'fun' together" He put it in air quotes, making the inference quite plain. "…we should give her a call" Kate's jaw dropped; before she pulled it shut and shot him a hard look.

"And…" Rick shrugged, obviously amused by a jealous Beckett.

"I told her that given my gorgeous but somewhat jealous girlfriend carries a gun, that mightn't be the wisest move" I nodded; I couldn't help the grin that broke out as I spoke up, looking Liv right in the eye.

"Smart move, if she'd asked me I'd have told her the same"