Standard disclaimer.
Sorry for the late update, uni is kicking my butt...I am really glad you liked Gates in the last chapter. I feel a bit sorry for her - there's so much potential in that character.
Kate was moving. She was still in the early stages, trying so carefully to untangle her legs from his, but it meant she put more of her weight into her arms and torso, pushing herself onto him so he could feel all the muscle groups in her back and abs firing. He only slept through the process when he was tired; a case, late night writing, or her.
He told her all the time, he didn't mind being woken - especially if it meant he could indulge in falling back asleep, but she made the same effort to slip out without disturbing him every time. At first it made him nervous but the insecurity had faded and he couldn't be anything other than touched, and amused on occasion. Neither of his wives had worried about it.
The way she still tried, even when he was pretty sure she knew he was already awake only then to reach over and slap his cheeks or tweak his nose, if he was lucky she's give him a kiss. Life with her was never boring.
"Hey," he greeted her, slowly convincing his body to aid her efforts to untwine.
"Hey," she stretched with a happy intake of air. "I think the boys just left."
"Yeah?"
She let it out on a puff of air, sinking back into the mattress. "Heard the door go. They must have forgotten it was broken and just let it slam."
"It could have been room services," he offered, thinking of the cleaning crew with their trolleys cautiously edging into the room only to find Ryan and Espo curled up on the sofa. Classic. He blinked, trying to open his eyes the full way in the light. "What time is it?"
She rolled onto her elbow and craned over him to see the bedside alarm. He can feel the second she realised because she tensed all over and he twisted his neck awkwardly to see what the problem was.
"It's after 11," she exclaimed, trying to push herself up by bracing herself against his chest. "We slept in for over three hours!"
"So? Kate, you're on holiday."
She looked down at him, adorably flustered. "I know that," she defends herself. "But that probably was the room staff. Check out or renewal was at 10."
"I think they were probably just responding to reports of a broken door. It's a good thing we had the boys as guard dogs last night."
"It's not funny, Castle."
"No. Well actually…" he grinned up at her glare. "I don't hear anyone out there. If it was motel staff they'll ring."
"I guess," she sighed and sat up. She stared out the window, but he could tell she wasn't really seeing anything, caught up on the trail of some thought that pulled her further into her mind. At least this morning seemed to be an absentminded stroll through pleasant enough vistas. He watched until she mentally shook herself and blinked.
"Time to get up?" he suggested.
"Time to get up," she confirmed, rolling easily from her cross legged position on the edge of the bed to her feet. Her footsteps were unconsciously light around the room, her figure blurry around the edges in the light, or because his eyes hadn't yet made the journey with his mind into waking. She quietly opened the door and peaked out into the lounge. "They're not here."
"They probably got bored, or hungry, or both," he pushed himself to his feet. "Before we head to the studio, I'm going to need to head back to the hotel and get some clothes. I think there's a limit to how many days you can wear the same pair of boxers."
"Probably," she agreed, pulling out a pair of jeans.
"But to be fair," he pointed out, smiling at the memories. "I wasn't wearing them most of yesterday."
She pulled her tank off and pushed it into the recesses of her bag, exchanging it for a t-shirt and made no sign that she had even heard him. He couldn't help but grin at her attempts to ignore him; she knew by now that it didn't work, but she still persisted. She probably didn't want to give him any more ammunition.
"What do you want for breakfast?" he relented, moving over to her. "You want to head to the café we went to for lunch or do you want French toast? I picked up eggs when we stopped in at the store yesterday just in case we didn't want to leave the room today," he kissed her neck.
"You wish, Casanova."
"French toast though? That's kind of brunch-like and we might as well use it up before we check out."
"As long as you're not using it as an excuse to spend time in the kitchen instead of heading into the studio," she turned in his arms and pecked him lightly on the corner of his mouth before stepping lightly away into the bathroom with her makeup case.
"I'll go and get started right away," he called after her.
Her voice floated back through the door. "Put some clothes on first."
Yeah…
…
"What kind of underwear was she wearing?" Esposito asked intently, leaning forward over the table with a square of French toast still dangling from his fingertips. Apparently the place they found served a great burger, but no breakfast after 10.30. The sight of the plate stacked high with the golden bread had drawn complaints out of both men before their feet made it anywhere near the tiled kitchenette floor.
The plate was now empty.
"Seriously?" Kate's mouth dropped a margin. What was it with men? Your friend gets assaulted by a woman in underwear and all you can ask is what brand of lingerie she was wearing?
Castle looks from one face to the other more bemused now than embarrassed after recalling his run in with the on screen Nikki Heat.
"So is that why you tied Beckett to a chair?" Ryan asked, still blinking, eyes wide as he tried to get his head around it. Natalie Rhodes in his bed and the guy ran away. Kate wondered if he knew he had jelly on the side of his mouth.
"What?"
"Pretty quick thinking, Castle," he congratulated the writer. "But illegal."
"Thank you?" Castle's head was swivelling between her face and the boys like he was watching a sporting match. She wondered if that explained the glazed, confused light in his eyes.
"I know she has a jealous streak in her," Esposito mumbled around the last mouthful of toast. "But did you really have to tie her to the chair? Just for future reference, not cool bro. If you want to tie each other up in the bedroom that's all up to you, but you try it again and we're going to have to hurt you."
"Espo!" she gasped.
He just shrugged, grinning. "It's illegal unless consensual."
"God." She dropped her head to her hand.
"Why don't you just tell Natalie you're not interested?" Ryan asked.
"I did," Castle protested, mentally reengaging.
"Did you tell her why? Like that you already have a girlfriend who you are completely, under-pain-of-death-and-dismemberment loyal to?" Esposito joined the interrogation, glaring at the writer.
"No."
"What the hell?" "Why not?" they chorused and both she and Castle winced in tandem.
"Because no one knows about that – not even Paula," Castle recovered first. "If I told Natalie, it would be on the front page the next day."
"You should just tell Gates. Get it out in the open instead of worrying about it all the time," Esposito leaned back in his chair again, taking the pressure off.
"Maybe she won't mind," Ryan added with an optimistic lift to his eyebrows. "You're not technically a cop."
"Thanks," Castle muttered.
She reached for his hand on the table and twined her fingers with his for support, even though she knew he wasn't too worried at the statement – he knew the boys didn't mean anything by it. "Enough guys," she interrupted. "We just need to deal with it and get through the week."
"No problem. We'll just be his detail until we fly out," Esposito shrugged. "We've got your back, bro."
"Yeah," Ryan agreed. "And Beckett will have…everywhere else."
…
Enjoy that? Starting to write myself into a corner but I do have the next couple of chapters planned out.
