Hi! It should be writing an article, but I wanted to write this chapter instead. Thank you all so much for the amazing response I got for my last chapter, you all are the best! Seriously.
So here's the new chapter, not much to say about it, just read it.
Enjoy!
She missed him already. It had been one night and she felt ridiculous for it, but she missed him. Her bed felt cold and big without him next to her when she woke up. It was her first day back at work and she was still wondering how she would react to him when he walked up to her with a fresh cup of coffee in his hand. She hoped to keep her cool, but she feared the worst. Her feelings for him would probably be written all over her face. The fact that she already missed him didn't help either.
She hadn't gotten a call this morning, which meant that there hadn't been a murder yet. It also meant that she couldn't call Castle and that she'd have to wait for him to come to the precinct himself. Of course, she could call him. Just to check in. There was nothing wrong with that, right?
She groaned and dragged herself out of bed and into the shower. There was no need to call him. She'd see him in a few hours. They could talk then. She should let him sleep a while longer.
She quickly washed her hair and tugged on a shirt of his that had sneaked its way into her suitcase. Honestly, she shouldn't blame the shirt, she'd sneaked it into her suitcase herself when he'd been in the bathroom to grab some last things. She had been the one to insist on staying at her own place. Mostly because she'd been afraid that she'd get scared when she was with him and his family. That it would suddenly feel too real. He'd taken it in stride. It wouldn't surprise her if he'd expected it. Now she regretted her choice.
She went into the kitchen to grab some breakfast, one of the good influences Castle had had on her these last two weeks. Her stomach actually demanded breakfast now.
While she munched on a piece of toast, she thought about her amazing vacation. She should thank Roy for those two weeks off one day. She had the feeling that they wouldn't be able to keep their change in relationship hidden from her captain for long. He'd probably figure it out sooner than the boys. Thinking about it made her stomach flutter with nerves. She didn't know if she was ready for everyone to know yet. Everyone telling her 'told you so'. She'd liked these past two weeks in isolation with Castle so much that she wouldn't mind staying like that for a while longer.
Of course, Lanie, Alexis, and Martha already knew. She was glad that they had all been very sweet about it and hadn't teased them too much. Mostly, they'd just been really excited. Castle had called her last night to let her know that he told his mother and that she was over the moon for them. She was relieved to know that his mother approved of their relationship, it took away some of the insecurity.
With the last bite of toast, she checked her watch out of habit. She was running late, so she quickly cleared the kitchen and downed the last bit of lukewarm coffee. She rushed back into the bathroom to dry her hair and do her make-up. Then she quickly got dressed, shedding Castle's shirt with regret.
"Morning, Boss," Esposito said when she walked into the bullpen.
"Morning boys!" she replied as she walked past them to her own desk.
"You look good," Ryan observed. "Had fun on your vacation?"
Beckett turned and gave him a look, wondering if he knew. The smirk she'd imagined on his face before she had looked at him wasn't there. No, he couldn't know. She trusted that Lanie hadn't told anyone. "Yes, I had," she smiled.
"Good," Espo said. "What did you do?"
"Went to my dad's cabin. You know, breathe in some fresh air."
"Glad you did," Espo said with a smile, then he said, "You missed a real Beckett-flavoured case, though."
"Oh?" she asked, not really listening. She had reached her desk and was taking out the little elephant Castle had bought her and placed him among the others on her desk.
"Found an addition to your little family?" Espo's voice sounded from beside her, making her jump. He was closer to her desk than she had expected him to be.
"Yeah, found him on a flea market," she said, not explaining any further. She didn't like the smug smile on his face, so she asked, "What was that case I missed?"
"Oh, yeah. This guy was ripped apart, everything from above the waist was hanging from the back of one truck and his junk and legs were hanging from the other truck."
"That's not Beckett-flavoured, Esposito. That's just sick," Beckett told him as she scrunched up her nose in disgust. "Did you catch the killer?"
"Of course we did. This crazy truck driver didn't like the way our victim had parked his own truck, so he drugged the guy in his sleep, hung him between the two trucks and drove off."
"You're not making this up, are you? Because I think I once saw a movie where someone was killed like that, only then it was this crazy hitchhiking serial killer who killed him."
"He's not making it up," Ryan said from his desk, "I can send you the photo's if you don't believe him."
"No that's okay, thanks," Beckett said and Espo wandered back to his desk. She shook her head. She had missed her partners, she realized as she watched Esposito whack Ryan on the head.
With a sigh, she focussed on the huge amount of e-mails that had accumulated on her computer. She was anxious for a cup of coffee, but she hadn't communicated a time with Castle and she didn't want to get one from the break room. She'd rather wait for Castle. So the focussed on reading her e-mails, answering the ones that needed to be answered and deleting the ones that were irrelevant or expired.
She was just about done when Captain Montgomery called her into his office. "Welcome back, Detective," he said as soon as she shut the door behind her. "You look good."
"Thank you, sir," she said.
"I take it you had a good time?" he asked with a little smile.
She bit her lip, trying not to blush as she thought back to her experiences with Castle in the Hamptons. "Yes, sir."
"Good," he said and he stood from behind his desk and moved to stand right in front of her. "I want you to know I did this because I care about you. I don't want you to end up burned out."
"No, sir. I understand," she said, then she smiled at him. "I actually wanted to thank you for giving me the time off. Turns out I needed it after all." She decided to let him make his own assumptions as to why she had needed her time off, but she reckoned he'd think she was still referring to work instead of Castle. Because why would she be referring to Castle, as far as Montgomery knew, there was nothing going on between the two of them.
"I'm glad you see it that way, Detective. I take it you're ready to get back in the field again?" he asked.
"Yes, sir," she answered. He nodded and let her out of his office.
When she got back to her desk, she noticed a cup on her desk. Her heart sped up. A cup on her desk meant that Castle was here. But where? She scanned the bullpen, but he was nowhere to be found. She did notice that Ryan and Esposito were missing too. And that the door to the break room was closed and the blinds were drawn. With a sigh, she picked up her coffee and made her way to the break room.
What she saw when she opened the door made her freeze in shock for a moment. Castle was trapped against the counter, both Ryan and Esposito dangerously close to him. "And then you just show up like everything's fine?" she heard Ryan say in a low voice.
"I… I was…" Castle tried, but the two cops didn't even listen to him.
"Do you know how much pain you've caused her?" Espo growled and Castle flinched away from him. She decided this was the time to save her partner.
"Okay, boys," she said and Ryan and Esposito immediately took a step back. "I'll take care of this."
"You sure?" Esposito asked. "Because we can kick him out, you know."
"I can handle this, Espo," she said firmly. Esposito nodded and he and Ryan left the room.
"Thanks," Castle said gratefully as soon as they closed the door behind them. "A minute longer and they probably would've kicked my ass."
"Sure, Castle," she said with a smile. She moved to lean against the back of the couch so she was facing him. "You okay?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said and he straightened his shirt. "I am now." He smiled at her and moved closer.
"Thanks for the coffee," Kate said, and she held up the cup in her hand.
"Sure, it's the least I could do after I had to miss you for so long," he winked. She sighed in relief. So she hadn't been the only one.
"I missed you too," she muttered with a slight blush.
"What was that?" he asked with a grin.
"I know it's stupid, because we only said goodbye last night, but I did," she laughed. This was so stupid, she wanted to kiss him, or at least hug him, but she couldn't and she felt so stupid and awkward.
"Hey," he said softly, "come here." He took her wrist and pulled her into him. "It's not stupid," he murmured into her ear.
"Castle," she whispered. "We're at the precinct. We can't do this." But she didn't move back. She liked it right where she was.
"Kate," he said, "the blinds are closed. No one is going to see us." He moved back a bit and rested his forehead against hers. "No one is going to find out," he reassured her.
She breathed him in and gave him a quick kiss. "But we shouldn't take any risks," she said and took a full step back, putting a suitable distance between them.
(…)
She was fidgeting in her chair. She kept glancing around, her eyes lingering on him a little too long. "Beckett," he said quietly. "Calm down. No one knows. Not even Ryan and Esposito. But if you keep fidgeting, they'll think that something's up."
"Yeah, sorry," she murmured and she stopped moving for a minute. Then she looked back up at him and smiled. "I'm glad you're back, though. It's boring here without you."
"Katherine Beckett!" he mocked her. "Getting sentimental?"
"Shut up," she murmured and focused back on her paperwork. He liked it when she was flustered. She got a bit shy and he'd never pegged her for shy. Of course, these past two weeks he'd seen all kinds of sides to her. He'd found out that she could be shy, and childish, and so very happy. Somewhere in his chest a monster roared proudly for all he'd achieved with her these past few weeks.
He noticed the new addition to her desk and picked it up. "I see you've already given him a home," he smiled.
"He was lonely on his own at my place," she said and he wondered if she meant anything else by that. From the way she looked at him and her earlier comment about missing him, he liked to think so.
"Well, his new family seems to like to have him here with them," he remarked with a small smile. He hoped that she could hear his underlying message. Judging by the look she gave him, she did. He wanted to say something else, but her phone started to ring at that moment.
"Beckett," she answered curtly. The person at the other side said something and she wrote down an address. "Got it." She hung up and said, "We got a fresh one, boys." She handed the post-it note with the address to Ryan and moved towards the elevator with Castle on her heels.
Thoughts?