February 14, 1986
Katie Beckett was excited. Today was one of her favourite days of the year; Valentine's Day. Every year she had woken up and watched her parents, so clearly and deeply in love with one another, exchange gifts, kisses and warm looks across the span of the day. She admired the strong relationship her parents had, but deep down, was a little jealous of it.
Hauling the blankets off of herself, she bolted out the door of her bedroom, downstairs and into the kitchen. Rounding the corner, she was greeted with the sight of a fresh bunch of deep red roses standing in a vase of water, placed in the centre of their kitchen table, presumably from her dad to her mom; she was in absolute awe of a dozen flowers.
Katie's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps and a soft "oof" emanating from her dad, stuck in the doorway while trying to bring an oversized stuffed teddy bear into the kitchen.
She rushed over to help him turn the bear on an angle and squeeze it through the door before sitting the huge brown bear upright in the chair and adjusting the bright red bow tied around its neck.
"Do you think mom will like him?" asked Jim, stroking the bear's head.
"I think she will like them just as much as the other two you bought her," replied Katie confidently, in reference to the bears Jim had bought Johanna the previous year and the one before that.
"Well, that's good, she loved the other two!" exclaimed Jim, feeling rather pleased with the presents he'd purchased.
The pair became motionless in anticipation as they heard Johanna's signature sound of heels clicking against the floor and keys jangling in her hand growing louder with each step she took toward the kitchen.
"Jim?" called Johanna as she entered the room, taking in the sight of the massive teddy bear casually seated at the kitchen table and the immaculate red roses placed neatly in the centre of the surface, a smile slowly, but surely spreading across her face.
"Another life size teddy bear, really?"asked Johanna, unable to control her infectious laugh, filling the air of their kitchen.
"Many more if you want them, too," replied Jim smoothly, taking precise, fluent steps toward his wife until he stood before her. "Happy Valentine's Day, Jo," he whispered, leaning in to softly kiss the love of his life.
February 14, 2012
Twenty six years later, Kate Beckett didn't care that much for Valentine's Day; she'd long disposed of the illusion of being pampered with various gifts and long winded declarations of love, a result of years of being let down by whichever boyfriend she was with at the time or because she'd spent the holiday working. No, today was just another normal day, another Tuesday she spent at work doing her job.
She couldn't help but feel guilty about Ryan having to be at work today, though. But apparently, that didn't stop Jenny's plans from going ahead. Kate had watched on as chocolates, flowers and even a teddy bear had been brought in by a delivery man in search of a certain Kevin Ryan; it was definitely sweet of her to do so.
Out of the people who had actually came into work today, most of them had disappeared off to lunch; she knew Ryan had gone with Jenny, but had a sneaking suspicion that Esposito was off with Lanie somewhere. Thumbing through the remainder of her paperwork, she frowned at the density of the stack of paper as her stomach made an audible complaint about the lack of food.
As if somehow prompted by the universe, the elevator dinged loudly, signalling its arrival and none other than her partner turned boyfriend, Richard Castle, emerged from its depths, armed with Chinese food, and was that a stuffed giraffe? tucked under his arm.
"M'lady Katherine," Castle greeted, placing the rainbow coloured giraffe on Kate's desk, then leaning over the wooden barrier to steal a kiss from her before unpacking the bags of food and dividing it up equally between them.
"What's all this for?" enquired Kate, accepting a pair of chopsticks from Castle.
"What? What do you mean, 'What's all this for?', it's Valentine's Day, Kate!" he gaped at her, receiving an eye roll in response.
"I know that much, but the giraffe and the Chinese food? Okay, I'm sorry, that came out wrong," she apologised, taking a breath before continuing. "I'm not any good at this. What you've done is so incredibly sweet and I absolutely love it, thank you, but I don't—I'm—Nobody's ever done this for me," she finished, pleading with her eyes for him to understand.
"Kate," he said, covering her smaller hand with his larger one "That doesn't matter. You're here with me, eating Chinese food and not laughing at me because I gave you a multi-coloured giraffe. That's all that matters, okay?" he said reassuringly, dashing any lingering doubts.
Feeling somewhat stunned by his confession, and as a result, at a loss of words, Kate broke their intensely locked gaze to continue eating her lunch. The silence passed them by as they ate together, not awkward or uncomfortable in the slightest way.
"Oh, Kate, I have something for you," said Castle, placing his chopsticks onto her desk, reaching into his front right pants pocket to pull out the oh-so-familiar white Pandora pouch.
"Close your eyes and hold out your hand," he whispered.
Kate frowned, but obliged anyway, shutting her eyes and extending her hand to him, palm up. He tipped the bag upside down above her hand, the contents spilling onto the even surface of her palm.
Opening her eyes, she noticed the charm; a small silver hoop with a heart dangling from there.
"Our first Valentine's Day," she murmured, undoing the clasp of her bracelet so she could add the latest charm to her collection.
"Not just that. Your insecurities, your flaws and whatever you think might be holding you back don't matter; I don't want you to feel like you have to hide them from me. I love all of you, the good and the bad. I just need you to remember that, Kate, I love you and that's all there is to it," he told her sincerely.
Something inside her snapped. This man, this incredibly sweet, honest and loving man had defencelessly told her how much he loved her time and time again, had no intention of ever leaving her and he was all hers.
Pushing her chair away from her desk, she stood up and made a beeline for Castle, yanking him out of the chair that had become his over the duration of their partnership and entering his personal space, all but pressing herself up against him.
"And I love you, Rick Castle," she spoke confidently, before leaning up and claiming his lips. She took his bottom lip between her teeth, grazing lightly, releasing it in favour of sweeping her tongue across it, begging for entrance.
He groaned deeply, digging his fingertips into soft flesh near her hips, pulling her impossibly closer. This only spurred her on, threading the fingers of one hand through his short hair, skimming the shell of his ear with the other, before settling it on his neck and tugging him down further.
In her apparent efforts to morph them into one person, she shoved him up against the side of her desk, the wood of it digging into the back of his thighs painfully. He spun them, taking care not to let the wood press into her too hard.
Castle swept all the papers off her desk in one fluid motion, hitting the floor with a solid 'thud', hardly caring about what Kate would say later, although, it could hardly be said she was protesting as she left a trail of hot, open mouthed kisses from his jaw down to his neck.
He hoisted her up onto her cleared desk, chest flushed and heaving as a result of their eagerness. She lay across the surface, trying to control her breathing while biting her bottom lip, waiting for Castle to make the next move.
The predatory look he so often had made an appearance in his eyes yet again as he loomed over her, stroking a hand up her side starting from her waist, over her shoulder and resting on the desk beside her head. He joined her on top of the desk, his knees bracketing her thighs as he kissed her languidly, less frenzied than before.
"Oh, gross, we shouldn't have gone to lunch after all, man," came the disgusted, yet slightly amused voice of Esposito, barely even meters from where they were having... fun.
Castle squeaked and Beckett let out a scream, her limbs flying uncontrollably in all directions at such a great force that resulted in them toppling off the desk and onto the bullpen floor, falling in front of the feet of the other half of their team in a tangle of arms and legs.
"I second that, bro," agreed Ryan, presenting his hand to initiate his and Esposito's secret handshake.
"So does this mean you're together?" asked Ryan smugly, pretending to mull over the evidence he just witnessed.
Beckett hid her face in Castle's shoulder. She did not just get caught making out on her desk with Castle by Ryan and Esposito, this was not happening.