Previously: Jim & Rick's plan to keep Kate from wearing the ring again was successful. Alexis gave Kate a castle-shaped necklace charm to wear instead. Kate took a while to wrap her head around it, but she realized that a future with the Castles might really be what she wants.
Her face broke into a relieved and hopeful grin.
She went to hug and thank her father, giving him an innocent kiss on the cheek. Then she did the same with Rick; but the kiss was much closer to his lips, and the look in her eye much less innocent but every bit as adoring.
Was she really willing to try this? She fell asleep that night wondering if it would be too forward to ask Rick to sleep next to her. Just sleep. So that she could wake up next to him like she had the week before, but without the IV stopping her from snuggling him as closely as she wanted. She really did want that, didn't she?
A voice in her head sounding remarkably like Lanie said that's what she'd always wanted. She wouldn't ask him, of course, but knowing he was sleeping on her couch in her apartment made her smile. Knowing that, if she wanted anything - or wanted him- all she had to do was call out his name. She almost called out. Several times. But she was sure it would happen soon enough - the two of them becoming a "them." They couldn't not; she'd heard him say "I love you" and wanted to hear it again. So she fell asleep with a smile on her lips and his image on her mind. It made for very pleasant dreams.
Castle wasn't so fortunate. The same knowledge that was enough for her and put a smile on her sleeping face… it tormented him. He ached to walk in there and remind himself that she really was alive. That she would get her stitches out in the morning. That she really had accepted his "Lady of the Castle" watch and his daughter's castle charm. He longed to touch her, to hold her, to feel her warmth and her breath and her softness. To whisper into her hair again that he loved her. It was becoming a regular act, and he knew that, at some point, he'd have to say it when she could hear him.
She was just at the end of the hall. He'd kissed the side or top of her head tenderly five different times in the past week. She didn't say anything about it, just accepted that that was how he was acting. She must have thought he was just affirming she was alive or that she had okayed it while she was on morphine or something like that. She almost seemed to like that he was doing it.
She's just at the end of the hall. He couldn't stop thinking that. She didn't even shut her door. He could check on her. Murmur into her hair. Kiss her cheek. He stayed firmly planted on the couch. Because the idea of kissing her in her sleep was affecting him - mind and body - so much that he knew he wouldn't stop with just mumbling I love you and placing a chaste kiss on her cheek with a tender caress. She would definitely wake up. She would definitely hear him say it. She would definitely be kissed beyond any thought or reason.
But there was still a rather large bandage on her chest. He couldn't do any of that tonight. He pulled out his phone and downloaded a book. He didn't get off the couch until the need to pee overwhelmed the other need that his earlier thoughts had created.
Finally he slept.
Rick woke to the smell of coffee brewing. It was morning, but he had only slept three hours. He slept so hard, it seemed like only minutes had passed.
He heard the shower running and swallowed hard, envisioning what was on the other side of that bathroom door. That door that wasn't completely closed. He could see steam coming out of the half-inch crack. That cruel woman. She had to know what she was doing to him. That cruel, gorgeous, extraordinary woman. Was she being a tease on purpose? There was one way to find out.
He opened the door a few inches. He didn't look in, just said, "Mornin', Kate. Sleep well?"
There was no indication of surprise. The answer came smoothly. "Mornin', Rick. Slept great. Is the coffee ready?" There was humor in her voice.
That smirk that always showed when he wanted to get into trouble spread across his lips, happiness crinkling his eyes.
"Almost. Need any help in there?"
"Not this time. Too bad, though. It took a lot of stretching... and was very slow work… to get everything soaped up. If you'd been up earlier… maybe you could have helped."
She had no idea how "up" he'd been earlier.
"You're evil."
She laughed heartily. It was actually difficult to bathe without irritating her stitches. It was especially hard to wash her hair and not get shampoo on them. Knowing this was the last difficult shower made her happy. Happy enough to tease the hell out of Castle. Especially after what her dreams had been all night. And if he got the nerve to take it beyond teasing, she was pretty sure she was okay with that.
He had both of their coffees ready when she came out of the bathroom in a cloud of steam and a terrycloth towel.
"Evil. Just plain evil!"
She laughed again and swayed her hips a little extra as she stepped into her bedroom and closed the door. Mostly closed the door.
Damn that evil woman. What the hell has gotten into her?
His shower was ice cold and very quick.
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They went to the doctor where everything was checked and tested. The stitches came out cleanly. She said it felt like she was having a tracking anklet removed, and she was free. She'd been wearing a smile all morning because of that feeling and the things it made her want to do.
The doctor said the scar should heal straight and smooth, fading over months. Kate was declared well and whole.
She still needed physical therapy to make her body strong again, and psychological therapy to make sure she dealt with everything in a healthy way. But, just to look at her, she was all better. After the doctor's assessment, her only question was, "When can I go back to work?"
"That's up to your boss and the therapists." Kate thought that answer was a cop-out. She thought of another question.
"When can I do lots of physical activity?" From the corner of her eye, she saw Rick's mouth drop open just a little and him gawk at her. She smiled mischievously. "I mean, I usually ran 3 to 5 miles a day."
Evil woman.
"Well, you'll have to work back up to that. Your physical therapist can help with those kinds of questions." He looked from Kate to Rick and back, the unasked question on both of their faces. "From running to sex, the basic advice is, if it hurts, don't do it. But I wouldn't do either without the PT's okay, and you might want the shrink's input about the sex. Go easy on her, big guy." That last part was directed at Rick.
Rick looked down and smirked. Kate blushed bright red.
"Uh, we're not..." It was Rick, not Kate, doing the denying.
"Mmm hmm." The doctor cut him off.
The doctor, who had witnessed Josh and Rick's altercation weeks before, and had treated Kate from the time she came out of surgery, knew that the relationship in front of him was in its infancy. But in his job, you took laughs where you could get them. He chuckled at the couple's embarrassment (oddly proud that he had intentionally caused it) and left them alone to wait for a nurse to bring prescriptions and forms.
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Please review! I'm addicted to them. They're addictive like the smart-aleck thrill of embarrassing your friends by having the wait staff sing Happy Birthday in a crowded restaurant.
