Title: What Pales in Comparison

Disclaimer: To my chagrin, I do not now, nor will I ever, own the Castle cast, characters, or anything related to the show.

Summary: Rick Castle, who kept her from freezing to death and held her hand in front of a bomb, prepared to die with her, wasn't who she was going home with. Kate's night after the end of Countdown.

Author's note: This is a short, yet rather important chapter. It was more difficult to write than the others have been. I hope you like it.

Emma

Chapter 10:

"You know, maybe I should try operant conditioning on you," Kate said as the credits rolled after their third episode.

Rick raised an eyebrow. "What do I get if I'm a good boy?" he asked, his face splitting into a leer.

Kate looked up at him. She was nestled against his side, one of his arms around her shoulder, his fingers playing with her hair. She'd wrapped an arm around his stomach and he'd covered their legs with one of the light throws.

"I wasn't talking about sexual favors," she deadpanned.

His face fell for a second before an excited grin reappeared. "Would I get chocolate? Oh, no. My own cuffs? Points toward a puppy?"

Kate laughed. "You are nine, aren't you?"

"Come on! Tell me what my prize is," he whined.

"I take it back," she sighed, putting her head back down.

"That's not fair," he pouted.

"Of course it is. I'm in control of the reward, and I've decided that you don't deserve it."

"How ever will you control me if you don't have a system?"

Kate reached up and pinched his ear very lightly, laughing as he squirmed and tried to get away. "I have my methods."

"I'm always open to methods that don't include bodily harm, you know," he groused as she let her hand fall down to wind into his shirt.

"I'll keep that in mind," she yawned.

"Getting sleepy?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah," she mumbled, hardly caring that she was just about falling asleep on him. He was comfortable.

"Do you want to stay over?"

The question brought her back out of her haze. Did she? Could she? They weren't a something…at the moment, they were just very cuddly friends. Friends could be cuddly. The voice at the back of her head reminded her that she'd never had a 'cuddly' friend before. Anyone who started that way quickly became a boyfriend, or a stand. Rick wasn't a one-night stand, or even a two-night stand.

"I…" she stammered, unwilling to raise her head just yet.

"You can," he told her, a hand rubbing over her shoulder and neck. "We have a guest room too, if you'd be more comfortable with that."

Kate Beckett didn't hide. Kate Beckett didn't shy away from things. She was a Detective, damnit, and a good one at that. She could handle an awkward conversation, could she not?

"I'll be honest with you," he continued, bringing her out of her internal standoff. "I don't really want you to go."

Kate felt her breath catch. Were they? Was he? His hands pulled her up so that they were sitting face to face. They stared at each other, her hand finding his, their fingers winding together.

"I don't want to go either," she admitted quietly, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth.

He smiled. "Bed?"

Kate nodded and they stood. Rick led her to his room by the tips of his fingers. Like the previous night, Kate stood and looked at the room while he closed the door and turned on the lights. He then came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her stomach, resting his head against hers.

"What's going on in that head of yours?" he asked, pressing a kiss to the side of her face.

Kate smiled and let her hands fall to rest on his arms. "I'm…I'm happy," she sighed. He squeezed her tighter and she felt him smiling against her cheek. "We're…you've been…I…" she let her head fall back against his shoulder. "I'm usually more eloquent than this."

He chuckled softly. "Words can't be easy all the time."

"Says the bestselling author."

"You do remember that I started following you partly because you broke me out of my longest bout of writer's block, right?"

She laughed. "Right."

"But really, Kate, whatever you need to say, I'm here to listen."

The very last of her resolve crumbled and she felt her body fully relax into his. "I want to stay here, Rick," she whispered. "I want to wake up tomorrow and see you and…and dive into it together."

Arms were turning her before she'd even finished speaking and she suddenly found herself face to face with him. They stood there for a moment, lost in each other's eyes.

"Kate, are you sure?" he murmured as he ran a hand over her cheek.

She raised a hand and covered his with it, a small, nervous, excited smile making its way onto her face. "I am."

There was a second's pause before his other hand came to cup her cheek and then he was leaning toward her. Their lips met tentatively, in a way that was completely unlike their undercover kiss. This kiss was light and testing, yet full of promise and aching with the restrained hint of passion. Her heart fluttered. Her knees quaked. Her body tingled.

Her arms found their way around his neck and one of his dropped to pull her closer by her waist. His fingers tangled in her hair and his hand rubbed patterns on her hip while their lips explored. She felt a moan rise in her throat and was thrown into a brief déjà vu, remembering the last time he'd elicited that sound from her. When his tongue nipped out to brush against her bottom lip in response, she decided that this kiss far outdid their last.

Air eventually became necessary and they pulled apart, their foreheads resting together as they fought to regain their breath.

"That was…" he stammered.

"Amazing," she finished.

He grinned. "Yeah."

Kate leaned up and pressed their lips together again for a brief moment before she tugged him closer and buried her face into his neck, smiling as he wound his arms tightly around her body, holding her close. He was…they were…it was incredible, how right it felt. How right they felt.

"We should go to sleep," he murmured after a few minutes.

Kate nodded against his neck and they gently disengaged, only to stand looking at each other, neither quite able to keep the smiles from their faces. Kate blushed as he stared at her, the expression on his face causing her stomach to flip. He looked at her like he'd never seen a single other woman before—like she was the earth and sky. It made her slightly uncomfortable, but also made her feel more cared for that she could ever remember feeling.

"Do you, uh, want the bathroom first?" he asked.

"Sure," she whispered.

They were being so quiet, so cautious. He grabbed the clothes she'd worn the previous night and handed them to her. They smiled at each other until Kate closed the door to the bathroom.

She leaned against the door for a moment, the clothes held up to her chest while an enormous grin spread across her face. It remained while she brushed her teeth, used the bathroom and got dressed. She looked in the mirror at her beaming reflection, her mind reeling. There was no fear, or worry or regret waiting in the dark recesses of her mind. She was sure about this. She was sure about him.

He was sitting on the edge of the bed when she opened the door. He'd dimmed the lights, turned down the covers, and changed into a tee shirt and boxers. He stood and they passed each other, smiling almost goofily. As the door closed Kate found herself face down on the bed again, her cheeks flushed scarlet. It wouldn't do for her to end up a blushing mess every time they passed each other to use the bathroom.

She rolled over and looked out the window, staring at the blinking lights that filtered up the sides of the buildings. It was the same as last night had been, except wholly different. They'd crossed the line. It was gone. It was so far gone that she needed a map to find it. And once they'd taken this…thing…this relationship…all the way, well, a map probably couldn't even help her anymore.

She heard the bathroom door open and watched as Rick climbed into bed beside her, his body blocking her view out the window. She found that she didn't mind.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," she whispered.

There was a small pause before they moved toward each other, drawn by the force of their own desire to feel. He wrapped his arms around her and she laid her head on his chest.

"I'm glad you decided to stay," he said after a few minutes.

Kate lifted her head and smiled as he leaned down and kissed her. "I'm glad I did too," she replied as they broke apart. "Your bed is so comfortable."

He laughed. "Oh, I see. You're using me for my bed."

"And your kid."

"Oh, right. I should probably be more bothered by that than I am," he mumbled as their lips met again.

"Nah, don't worry. I might like you, just a little," she told him a minute later.

"Just a little?" he pouted.

Kate smiled, the playfulness ebbing away. "I might like you a lot," she admitted.

"I might like you a lot too, Kate. I might like you more than a lot," he told her, a hand coming up to rub across her cheek. He liked to touch her. She liked to be touched.

"I might like you more than a lot too, Rick."