Company - Chapter 11
Buried somewhere under a case file or three is her phone. She knows this because it hasn't stopped ringing for more than a couple of seconds in the last ten minutes. Unfortunately, she's also been a little bit busy with said files, working at breakneck speed to make a connection she can't quite put her finger on, and unable to dig the damn thing out to shut it up.
She makes an exception when it starts to ring again, lifting two of the folders and snatching her phone as it starts to slide. It would be just her luck if the damn thing went tumbling to the ground.
Flipping the phone open, she presses it to her ear without bothering to look at the display.
"Beckett," she clips, already going back to flipping through the case file at the top of the stack.
"Did you know that your cop voice is extraordinarily hot?" Rick's voice drifts through the speaker.
Any other time and she might laugh, might even flirt back, but she can't right now. "What is it, Rick? I've got a lot going on right now."
He's quiet on the other end, which helps her concentrate on the pages in front of her, but is enough of a clue that something isn't quite right.
"What?" she repeats, checking the phone to be sure that the call hasn't dropped.
"Never mind," he says after another beat of silence. "I'm calling at a bad time. We'll talk when you're not busy."
He hangs up before she has the chance to respond, to agree or argue, leaving her staring at a blank display with the distinct feeling like she's missed something important. Something she just doesn't have time to contemplate right now.
She needs something more than circumstantial evidence connecting her prime suspect to these cases before Judge Allen goes to bed that night. She already has Ryan and Esposito out interviewing neighbors again, talking to as many people who might know something or have remembered details about the murders as they can find, but there's no telling how much progress they're making, or how much cooperation they're getting. If she can just find something in the CSU and forensics reports…
At close to midnight she shuts down her computer and begins packing her things. Although she's satisfied with the breakthrough they'd made, she's not altogether convinced that waiting until morning is going to work in their favor. Airports, trains, and bus terminals have been alerted to detain their suspect if they spot their guy, but until the warrant comes through, their hands are otherwise tied. If she didn't think Montgomery would protest, she would sleep on the couch in the break room, but he tends to give her The Look when she does. So instead she'll go home and get a few hours of sleep, and the earlier she gets back here to stay on top of things, the better.
As her back hits the wall of the elevator, Beckett fishes her phone from her jacket pocket, intent on checking to make sure there's nothing else to be done before she leaves the building. Instead she finds herself staring at six texts from earlier in the evening, all but one of them from Rick.
She scrolls through them with a sure hand, only to feel her stomach drop. Shit.
Her head falls back, bouncing off the wall of the elevator with a muted thud. It's no wonder he'd sounded so strange when they spoke earlier, why he'd been calling so much. She'd screwed up - badly.
She's no stranger to waiting for someone who doesn't show, to worrying if they're all right, to finding out that they aren't, and she'd done that to him tonight. She had left him sitting at a restaurant wondering where she was and if she was okay. And then she'd blown him off once they'd finally made contact, snapped that she was too busy to deal with him.
Her finger hovers over the option to reply to his last text, but she doesn't type out a message. Will he even look at her apology after what happened earlier? After she'd stood him up and made it sound like she just didn't want to talk? No, he probably won't. Which leaves her the choice of waiting until tomorrow after work to smooth this over, taking the risk of everything festering overnight, or hoping he's still awake and going to him now.
Dragging her teeth over her lip, she checks the time on her phone again. Alexis will be asleep, she knows, but Rick will likely still be up. Writing, or reading, or just plain stewing, he's probably still awake.
Decision made, Kate nods to herself and steps from the elevator.
He might not let her in, but she has to try.
"I'm sorry," she breathes as soon as the door opens to his pensive face. "I was so focused on my case, I lost track of time… I'm sorry."
He blinks, but doesn't respond beyond stepping back and beckoning her inside. The door closes behind her with a quiet snick, and she takes it as a good sign that he flips the lock, too. He wouldn't lock it if he's just going to turn her away, right?
"I shouldn't have snapped at you - I didn't even realize I had until after you hung up," she adds, linking her hands in front of her to keep from reaching for him.
"Almost two hours, Kate," he says, crossing his arms over his chest. "That's how long I waited for you at the restaurant tonight."
Swallowing hard, she nods. "You were worried, I know. I promise you, I know how that feels."
"At first I wasn't. At first I thought you'd just been held up, that you'd call. Then I got worried."
Just like her mom. Only in this case he didn't have to come home to an apathetic detective bearing bad news. He doesn't have to live the rest of his life with a gaping hole where someone he cares about should be. He doesn't need to start and end each day wondering why.
"I know what that worry feels like. I'm sorry," she apologizes again, forcing the lump from her throat. "I was chest deep in a case, trying to keep my main suspect in three murders from walking. Missing dinner, yelling at you the way I did… I messed up and I'm sorry. I will make it up to you, I promise."
Licking her lips, she gestures to the door. "I'll go ahead and go, let you get some sleep, have some space to think. But I didn't… I didn't want to leave it until tomorrow."
He's silent still, watching her, but his posture has softened. Gone is the hardened curve of his jaw, the tense cross of his arms.
"Did you get the guy?" he asks as she turns to leave. "Your suspect, did you get him?"
"Yeah." She nods. "We found the connection between cases, got the judge to sign off on a warrant we'll serve in the morning."
"Good." Rick nods in return. "In all of that, did you eat dinner?"
She shakes her head. "Baked potato at lunch was the last thing I had."
His fingers curl around hers, tugging her hand away from the door. "Then come on, have a midnight snack with me."
She gives him a nod, wondering if that's that, and this is how Rick Castle handles making up after a fight.
"Wait," she says, stopping him before he can lead her into the kitchen. "I- um."
Her arm slips around his waist, drawing him into a hug. Rick doesn't pull away, doesn't even stiffen, just pulls her in tighter, pressing their joined hands to his chest, letting her feel the stumble of his heart.
"Just wanted to do that," she murmurs into his t-shirt after a minute. "I'm sorry."
Her boyfriend nods into her hair. "I know. You came over, didn't you?"
She exhales, giving him a nod of confirmation, despite the question being largely rhetorical.
"If you weren't," he continues, "you would've gone home and we would've gone about our business like nothing had happened."
Oh, he's - he's right. He's exactly right about that; her usual MO is to pretend nothing is wrong.
Her hand slides up his back. "I'll call next time, I promise. Or text. Something."
Rick kisses her temple. "Thank you."
Relief trickles through her limbs, sinking her deeper into his body. Kate tilts her head, brushing her lips across his jawline, humming in appreciation when he twists to intercept her lips with his. Forgiveness tastes sweet on his tongue.
"You want to get that midnight snack now?" she asks after he releases her mouth, smiling against his lips.
Castle nods, thumbing her knuckles. "Yes. Yes, I do. And then we should get to bed, so you're rested enough to kick ass in the morning."
She laughs, pressing her hips to his. "Oh, I'll kick ass even if I don't sleep," she promises, watching his eyes darken with lust and something she's not sure she wants to put a name on just yet.
"In that case, we definitely need to eat first."
A/N: Thank you all! Until next chapter.