Chapter 10
Kate Beckett: December 2010
Kate knew that Christmas with Castle would be an experience; she just didn't expect it to leave her so emotionally drained.
Early in December their first conversation about holiday plans revealed that Alexis would be with her mom over Christmas break, so the family would decorate and do gifts the same night that school got out, almost a week before the actual holiday. Rick invited Kate, just in case she didn't realize she had a standing invitation, which she accepted. Then he asked if she had plans with her dad or anyone else.
She told him she and her dad would go out to eat on the twenty-third because she had to work Christmas and Christmas Eve, but then had a week off, which led to conversations about gifts and trips and New Years Eve. By the time they went to bed, Rick had convinced her that instead of doing gifts for each other, that they should just take a vacation.
So after tossing around an entire globe of suggestions they agreed that they didn't want to waste their entire week traveling, or being tourists. And as tempting as suntans and tropical beaches sounded, it wasn't very Christmasy.
That was how they ended up flying in a private jet to upstate Vermont where they stayed at a secluded cabin owned by one of Rick's friends.
The first night Rick spent so much time quoting White Christmas, that they ended up watching the classic while snuggled up in bed.
The next day it snowed, and they found themselves playing like children in the wonderland of white. They each made a snow fort complete with snow men to stand as sentries in front of the crisp white ramparts. Then with an arsenal of snowballs, they battled until they were sore from laughter and the icy chill creeping up their fingers.
That evening, while making a dinner of chili and cornbread, the heat that turned up in the kitchen had nothing to do with the stove. It was only a minor miracle that none of the food burned while it was forgotten.
By the last day, Kate and Rick had spent many hours laughing, dancing, loving and playing, but they'd also had serious talks, shed a stray tear or two and comforted each other when the mood turned heavier.
When they'd finished packing to return to the city, Rick looked at his watch and decided that they had plenty of time before they needed to drive back to the small airport an hour away.
"Its snowing again. Do you want to take a walk and enjoy the beauty one last time?"
Kate happily agreed and fetched her coat.
Hand in hand, the couple walked through the woods, skirting the large lake that backed onto the property.
When they discovered a small waterfall that was entirely frozen over, they stopped to admire the view.
"I've never seen anything so beautiful in my life." Kate breathed.
"Me either."
Rick's whisper was close enough so that his breath warmed her ear. With only a slight turn of her head, she knew he wasn't looking at the view in front of them.
Butterflies danced in her belly.
Rick came a bit closer and wrapped his arms around her so that he could press the front of his body against the back of hers.
They'd been in many romantic situations before, but for some reason this one seamed different. She wasn't sure why, but she was so curious and excited, she almost forgot to breathe.
"Is it just me or has this week been... magical?"
"It has, hasn't it?" she sighed.
Rick tipped his face forward a bit so that he could maybe see her face. "Did Katherine Beckett just admit to believing in magic?"
Kate leaned her head against his. "I didn't say that. Magic is all about trickery and illusion. Its fun, but still a deception. I do think that something can feel magical though, when its the right combination of whimsical fun and unexpected delight."
"So you're saying you didn't think you'd have fun with me?" Rick teased.
"Yes, that's exactly what I meant," Kate retorted full of sarcasm.
"Well at least you weren't disappointed... I mean with such low expectations and all!."
Kate turned in his arms so that they stood nose to nose. "Shut up and kiss me Rick."
Never being one to argue with a pretty lady, he complied, and with such vigor that they were both a little breathless when they parted.
Rick reached up and tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear, and then tugged her red knit hat down to keep it in place. Then his eyes met hers and locked.
Again the butterflies in her gut awoke.
"Kate, I... I love..." He paused and her eyes widened. Her world rocked a little as she anxiously waited for him to finish his statement. "... I love being with you so much. Thank you for coming up here with me."
Kate stuttered. That wasn't what she expected him to say, but she wasn't sure if she was relieved or disappointed.
"Um... I love being with you too Rick. Thank you for inviting me."
Still reeling from the shock of something that didn't even happen, Kate missed the fact that Rick removed one hand from her hips and dug it into his coat pocket.
"I know we agreed not to buy each other any gifts for Christmas, but its not Christmas anymore, and I just had to get you something special, so I hope you'll except this."
Rick withdrew a long Tiffany-blue box tied with white ribbon. It was clearly too big to be a ring box, but between the emotional jolt of Rick's misleading confession and the realization that he was surprising her with jewelry, it took her a moment to digest that fact.
Kate was stunned to say the least and made no effort to accept the gift.
"Please?"
Pulling her senses back together, she nodded and removed her gloves so that she could open the box.
Inside was a beautiful white gold chain holding two round diamonds that nestled a round emerald between them.
"Rick, I can't take this."
"Yes you can, its a gift. You'll wound me deeply if you don't."
"But its too much."
"No its not. I knew you'd say that, though, which is why I didn't get the one that I originally picked. It had a couple more stones on it."
"You shouldn't have."
"Yes I should. You deserve to be spoiled once in a while."
Kate just stood there staring at the beautiful jewelry.
"May I?" he asked, even as he removed the necklace from its soft nest.
A few moments later Kate's jacket was open and she was wearing the piece.
"It brings out the green in your eyes, just like the candles do when we make love."
Heat rose to her cheeks. She was utterly overwhelmed. "Thank you Rick. I love it."
"I'm so glad, because it really suits you."
They kissed for so long that when they pulled apart, snow had begun to collect on their hats and shoulders.
"We should probably get going." Kate said with a hint of disappointment. She really didn't want to let the moment, or the week for that matter, end.
The entire trip back to New York, Kate pondered what she would have done if Rick really had given her a ring or even said those three little words. She knew she wasn't ready for marriage, but at the same time she didn't know if she could reject him either. Would he have accepted that she needed more time? Kate was pretty sure he would. But what if it wasn't that bold of a step? What if he'd told her he loved her... like she suspected that he almost had? Could she have honestly said it in return? She knew she cared for Rick, and loved being with him? But was there more?
Kate Beckett: May 2012
After getting Rick settled in bed, Kate headed to the one local store she knew would be open on Sunday morning. She'd be able to pick up some food, fill Rick's prescriptions and maybe even find some clothes to wear, since she was pretty sure that her other clothes never dried before they lost power. And since she'd be around for a few more days, she definitely needed a few things.
When she'd called into work claiming a family matter that required her, Gates had told her to take whatever personal time she needed, as long as she was back the following week. Kate knew she had the time to use, but was a little surprised by the Captain's generosity in letting her take so much on such short notice.
Now she just needed to text her dad and Lanie each a cryptic message so that they didn't worry about her, but also didn't suspect where she was. But that could wait until she got back to the house.
While she drove and even while she shopped, Kate couldn't stop thinking about Rick, his health, and all that had happened, but mostly about his confession of love. Even with her own realization, she couldn't quite wrap her mind around it all. In less than three days they'd gone from embittered ex-lovers, to friends, to...? What were they? Friends aren't in love with each other, but could they get past the last year and just dive back into a relationship?
A part of Kate wanted to tell Rick that she felt the same way he did, especially after the scare of him getting injured. But she knew that if she was honest, the floodgates would open and she didn't know if she was ready for that.
She was no clearer in her thoughts, even when she left the store an hour later with two bags of groceries, some soft ice packs, a small pharmaceutical bag of medication and another bag containing a pair of shorts, a sundress, two tops, a bra, and some panties. She wouldn't be making any New York City best dressed list, but at least she'd be clean and comfortable.
When she arrived back at the house, she found Rick awake, sitting up in bed and on the phone with Alexis.
"Yes honey, I'm fine. No please don't cancel your internship and come home. I'm fine. I arranged to have a friend stay with me for a couple days until I'm back on my feet."
Kate leaned against the door frame, openly listening to the conversation while she waited to speak to Rick.
"Um, who?" Rick questioned Kate with his eyes. They hadn't talked about what they were going to tell people.
Kate shrugged and then nodded. Even if their relationship... or whatever it was wasn't public knowledge, Alexis deserved to know.
"Its uh, Kate."
Silent seconds ticked by while Rick listened to his daughter.
"Yeah, we're trying the friendship thing again."
Pause.
"Yes, I understand, thank you. I appreciate your concern, but I'm the parent here. I think I can handle my own affairs."
Another long silence. Kate grew uncomfortable and turned to leave the room, but not before she heard Rick say, "No, Lex, you did do the right thing. I'm glad you asked her to find me."
Kate trotted down the stairs to the kitchen to prepare some food. Apparently Alexis was now questioning the wisdom of asking her to help find Rick, but could she blame her? Kate knew what kind of pain they'd been through this last year, and by all rights, she was the cause of it.
Any concerned daughter would be wary of her father stumbling back into the same pain again. We're supposed to learn from our mistakes, not repeat them. Now she just needed to figure out what her mistake was... dating Rick or breaking up with him?
Instinctively she knew it was the latter, but now that it was done could they... should they try to correct it?
"Kaaaaate!" Rick called from upstairs.
"Just a second!" she replied as she grabbed the bagels, cream cheese and orange juice she'd laid out on a tray on the counter.
When she arrived in the bedroom, Rick had swung his feet to the floor but had one hand on his head, the other bracing the night stand, and his eyes squeezed shut.
Quickly she put the tray down and rushed to his side. "You OK?"
"I think so, just dizzy. I have to pee, but when I stood up, the whole room spun and I had to sit again."
"Here put your arm around my shoulders, and we'll take it in little steps."
Together, they slowly shuffled toward the bathroom. At times Kate supported almost all of Rick's entire weight as he swayed.
She waited just outside the door, listening carefully in case he needed her quickly. When he emerged, his stomach growled a greeting.
"Good thing I brought some food up." Kate said, mainly to distract herself from the pleasant tingles dancing up and down her side where Rick's body leaned into hers.
"You think we could eat out on the patio?"
"Don't see why not. Let's get you settled then I'll grab the tray."
Kate cleared away the fallen shutter, so that they wouldn't have to see it, then retrieved the food. She and Rick sat on the lounge chairs, nibbling on their light breakfast while watching the waves crash.
"Look at the size of those whitecaps!" she breathed.
"Tomorrow, if I'm a little more steady, we should go down and see what they've washed in. I'm sure after that storm, we'll be able to find all sorts of interesting things."
"What's the most interesting thing you've ever found after a storm here."
"Me personally? A relatively small but very dead swordfish."
"Eeeeeew." she answered, wrinkling her nose. Despite working with the dead every day, it didn't make it any less disgusting.
"Yeah."
"You said, you personally, so you must know someone with a better story."
"Two actually. When Alexis was about nine, we went out walking the shore after a storm and we found a glass bottle complete with cork and note."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah. As part of a school project, a girl in Connecticut tossed five sealed bottles into the ocean, each with a note asking whoever found it to take a picture with the bottle, and send it to her along with the finders name, age and location. Alexis wrote back, and before long, they became pen pals. She and Gretchen even met up a few times."
"Do you know if any of the other bottles were found?"
"I heard that one washed up in Greenland. I don't know about the others."
"OK, that's pretty cool."
"I thought so."
"So who's the other person who found something weird?"
"It wasn't here, but my buddy Mitchell Himes. He was one of my college roommates. His family's home was on the Jersey shore, and one weekend a bunch of us went home with him for a party. We were setting up his back yard and the beach just beyond it, and Mitch literally trips over a body. It had been stormy for a couple days with really strong winds. The corpse was almost completely covered by sand.
"Who was it?"
"A man who's boat capsized during the storm. The other passengers had life vests on and were rescued. He was lost for three days before Mitch fell over his foot."
"Wow."
"I know right. Scared the crap out of Mitch. After the cops and medics left, he canceled the party, packed his car and headed back to school without ever looking back at the beach."
Kate tried to stifle a yawn.
"I'm sorry Kate, you must be exhausted. Have you gotten any sleep?"
"Not really, but that's fine."
"No you need your sleep. If you can help me back to bed, I'm sure I'll be out soon, and you can finally get some rest."
Kate pulled out her phone and set the alarm so that she could wake Rick in a couple hours, then shoved it back into the pocket of the scrub pants she was still wearing.
"Come on, Castle. Let's get you back to bed before we both pass out."
When Rick didn't comment about her getting him to bed, she realized just how exhausted he must be.
With tired, measured steps, the pair slowly made the journey from the porch to the bed. When Rick sat on the bed, Kate slumped down next to him and rested her head against his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her and eased back so that they were both laying across the king size bed.
"Mmmmmm, I can't lay down here. I need to go to bed," Kate said with her eyes closed.
"I know." Rick replied, already half asleep.
Kate rolled to her side so that she could push herself up to sitting, but never got to the second step. Within seconds both Kate and Rick were sound asleep.
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A/N: There you go, four chapters in four days. Hope you enjoyed them!
Have a great weekend, I'll see you again on Monday!
Happy Reading!
DeBo81