A/N: Have I mentioned how awesome you guys are?
Disclaimer: Do not own Castle
Touch
Chapter 12
When they leave the pub, it's already past 1am. Kate is a little surprised to see that Lanie and Esposito are leaving together. He claims he is only giving her a ride home, but she knows better; she has been watching them exchange those looks all night. Not that she and Rick have been any different, but she likes to think that they were at least a bit more discreet than their friends. Earlier, when they came back to their table after making out like teenagers in the alley behind the pub, they behaved like absolutely nothing had happened. Sure, his hair was a bit disheveled and her lips were swollen from the intense kissing, but she counted on the dimly lit room to cover any evidence of their previous activities.
After Lanie and Esposito have left, Ryan offers to give Rick a ride, but he declines, saying that Kate has already offered to give him a ride home. The young detective shrugs and waves goodbye at them, walking away to find his car. Kate turns to him, eyebrow raised.
"Who said anything about a ride home, Castle?" she smirks at him and he takes her hand, leading her to her car.
"Please?" he looks at her with that puppy dog look that he knows full well works like a charm on her.
She rolls her eyes and fishes her keys out of her coat pocket.
"Fine, whatever." She unlocks the car and walks over to the driver's side. "No touching, though." She warns him when she sees him reaching out to her, after they're settled in the car.
He touches her, anyway.
"This is completely innocent touching, detective. I promise it will stay that way." He grins at her, his eyes sparkling with mischief. She smiles to herself, but doesn't say anything. "See, I knew you wanted it too." He caresses the back of her neck and she sighs contently.
"Shut up." She says with a laugh. They stay silent for a while, just enjoying each other's company. "We're terrible at this staying apart thing, aren't we?" she comments when they're turning the corner on his street.
He laughs and takes her hand in his after she has parked in front of his building.
"Yeah, well, I can't really complain." He brings her hand up to his lips and gives it a soft kiss. "I don't want to stay away from you. I don't know how we managed to stay away from each other for almost three years, to be honest."
She smiles and reaches out to brush his hair away from his forehead, her hand lingering on his cheek. "Me either." She says quietly and traces his bottom lip with her thumb. "Can you believe it's only been two days?" she asks and he kisses her thumb.
"Since you attacked me in the break room?" he says with a smirk and she slaps his arm.
"I did no such thing. You were the one teasing me with those infuriating little touches and kisses. What did you expect?" she accuses and he pulls her to him, effectively silencing her with a kiss.
"I'm very glad you did." He tells her when they break the kiss and she smiles. "Do you want to come up for a bit?" he asks, tucking her hair behind her ear.
"Very tempting, but I should go home." She bites on her bottom lip for a beat. "I don't trust us alone anymore. Not until this is all sorted out."
He chuckles and nods, agreeing with her, but presses on anyway. "You sure?"
"Yes, stop tempting me!" She exclaims with a laugh. "I don't think we will be able to stop like we did earlier tonight. I won't want to stop." She admits and he smiles at her.
"Okay. I don't like it, but I get it." He says, leaning in to kiss her again. "I'll see you tomorrow?" she nods and he gives her one last kiss. "Goodnight, love." He whispers in her ear and unbuckles his seat belt.
She grabs the front of his shirt and pulls him back to her, kissing him thoroughly. Sucking on his bottom lip, she finally releases him with a grin playing on her lips. "Night, Castle." She whispers and he grins at her wickedly.
"Are you sure you don't want to come up for a minute?" he insists and she shakes her head, laughing.
"Yes, I'm sure. Go. Sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."
"You're no fun." He mumbles, pouting like a little boy. She pulls him back to her and gives him a quick kiss.
"Trust me, it'll be worth it." She whispers in his ear and smiles, pleased, when his skin breaks out in goose bumps.
"Oh, detective, you're playing with fire here." He teases her and she laughs.
"Don't I know it." She says with a sigh. "Bye, Rick." He just keeps smiling at her and she rolls her eyes. "Out." She laughs when he pouts at her again. Leaning in, she places a kiss on his cheek and opens his door. "Go. Now."
He gets out of the car and walks around the vehicle, stopping by her window. She lowers the glass and raises an eyebrow at him.
"Thank you for everything, Kate." He says seriously and she is surprised by the sudden mood change. He leans down and kisses her jaw, tenderly. "I mean it."
"You don't have to thank me. You know I'm here for you, no matter what." She says quietly and he nods. "Night, Rick." She gives him a small smile.
"Night." He whispers and walks into his building.
Kate wakes up with a gasp. She blinks furiously at the sunlight streaming through the open curtains, feeling a little disoriented. Her breathing is shallow and her heart is racing, but she can't remember why she is feeling like this. She was dreaming. Someone was shot, she thinks. Whatever it was, it must have been pretty scary, judging by her reaction, and she is glad she can't remember.
She sits up with a yawn, stretching her arms above her head. It's a little after seven and she needs to be at the precinct by 8 o'clock. Great. She walks into the bathroom, rubbing at her eyes sleepily. She really needs a day off to catch up on sleep. At the rate she is going, she will end up collapsing from exhaustion. She looks at her reflection in the mirror with bleary eyes while she is brushing her teeth and freezes when she notices something different. What the hell is that on her neck? Oh, she is going to kill him!
Marching back to her bedroom, she finds her cell phone and hits his speed dial number, tapping her foot impatiently. After the fifth ring, he answers.
"Hello?" he mumbles into the phone sleepily and she smiles.
"Morning." She says cheerfully.
"Kate, hi." He says, still groggy. "Everything okay? Do we have a body?" She can tell he is probably sitting up in bed, getting ready to leave in case she needs him.
"Nope." She says, ending it with a popping sound.
"What's wrong, then? It's too early." He croaks out and yawns.
"You left me a little present last night, Mr. Castle." She accuses him.
"Present? What are you talking about?" He is so adorable when he is all confused, she thinks with a smile.
"On my neck, Castle." She almost growled into the phone. He is silent for a moment, probably trying to understand what she has just said.
"Oh." He finally says as it all becomes clear to him. "Oops?" he offers and she can almost picture him flinching as if she is about to strike him with something.
"You're lucky it's cold enough out there to wear a turtleneck." She tells him threateningly.
"I'm sorry, Kate." He says seriously and she decides to let him off the hook.
"Don't worry about it. As long as I can hide it, we're good. Let's just be careful next time, okay?" she says softly.
"Yes, ma'am." He says, yawning again. "Still no bodies?"
"Nope."
"Can I go back to sleep, then?" he mumbles and she can picture him getting comfortable under the covers again.
"Yeah, sleepyhead." She chuckles when he yawns yet again.
"Mmkay."
"Hey, Rick?"
"Yeah?" he replies sleepily.
"Did you sleep okay?" she asks, concerned.
"Like a baby." He says and she smiles, relieved. "Wish you were here, though."
"Me too." She says quietly. "I'll see you later."
"Mmkay. Bye, Kate."
After taking a quick shower, she gets ready for work as fast as she can. The fact that she is a little hung over only makes her life harder this morning. She leaves without drinking her first cup of coffee and when she arrives at the precinct, the caffeine headache is starting to set in. She leaves her purse and coat at her desk and makes her way to the break room to get a cup of coffee. When she is taking the first sip – which honestly feels like a slice of heaven in her decaffeinated state of mind – her phone rings and she is surprised to see it's Lanie.
The medical examiner asks her to come down to the morgue for a minute and Kate finds it weird because they don't have any cases. Unless Lanie wants to talk about her sordid affair with Esposito, which Kate is dying to hear. That was something she really didn't see coming, she thinks as she takes the elevator.
With a smile, she enters the morgue to find her friend sitting on one of the tables, drinking coffee.
"Hey, Lanie." She greets her, hopping up on the table facing her friend.
"Morning, detective." She says with a knowing smile and Kate's smile falters. What is she up to?
"So what's up?" Kate takes a sip of her coffee apprehensively.
"Not much, just thought we could have some coffee, catch up. It's been so slow these past few days, right?" Lanie comments nonchalantly.
"Tell me about it." She sighs. "I'm about to die from boredom."
"Yeah… so did you have fun last night?" her friend asks and Kate tries to determine what exactly she is fishing for here.
"Yeah, I guess we all needed that bit of distraction, really. Especially Castle. He's taken it pretty hard, this triple killer case."
"And you've been helping him?" Lanie asks interestedly.
"Sure, I mean…" she trails off, her mind going back to when he called in the middle of the night, terrified because of a nightmare. She wishes she could do more to help him. "There isn't much I can do, really." She says with a sigh, looking down at her empty cup of coffee. "He'll be okay eventually. I hope. Why do you ask?"
"Well…" she drawls out. "I saw something pretty interesting last night." She smirks, her eyes full of humor.
"Yeah? I saw something pretty interesting last night as well." Kate smirks back. Two can play this game.
"Really? Care to share?" Lanie raises an eyebrow at her and she grins.
"You and Esposito looked awfully cozy."
Lanie opens her mouth to retort, but nothing comes out.
"I knew it." Kate laughs and Lanie throws a napkin at her, blushing.
"We're not talking about me here, detective. We're talking about you and Castle."
"Oh, I thought we were talking about something interesting you saw last night." Kate comments with a grin.
"Oh, I did see something very, very interesting. I was on my way to the ladies room and saw that the back door of the pub was open. Since it was making that particular hall really chilly, I decided to close it. That was when I heard voices. Familiar voices. Very familiar voices." Her grin grows exponentially as Kate looks at her, surprised. "So I thought to myself, what are these two doing out there in the cold? So I opened the door just a tiny little bit and, boy, was it enough to understand exactly what you two were doing out there!" She finishes with a laugh as Kate looks at her, horrified.
She opens her mouth once, twice, but nothing comes out. She can feel the heat spreading from her neck up and she knows she is blushing furiously. God, how could they have been so careless? It's all his fault, really. He was the one who dragged her out there. She is going to kill him! As if the hickey wasn't enough, she thinks, touching her neck unconsciously.
When she doesn't say anything after a couple of minutes, Lanie hops down from her table and walks over to her.
"Honey, it's okay." She squeezes Kate's hand reassuringly. "Hey, I was just teasing. I'm not judging you here. In fact, I'm beyond thrilled that you two finally got your acts together and did something about it." She smiles at her and Kate manages to give her a small smile.
"This whole thing is a mess, Lanie." She sighs and looks down at her hands.
"You like him, though, don't you?" she asks gently and Kate nods.
"So much it's starting to scare me." She says quietly. "I think… I think I'm falling for him and I'm not sure I'm ready for that."
"We're never ready, Kate, and that's what's so great about falling in love, isn't it?" Lanie tells her and she shrugs. "How long has this been going on? I want all the juicy details!" she says excitedly and Kate can't help but laugh.
"Not long, really. It kind of started after the Triple Killer. That same night, actually." She confides and Lanie grins.
"Girl, you've been holding out on me!"
"Not really. The first time we kissed was only three days ago." She says and Lanie frowns. "It feels like much longer…" she says, more to herself than to her friend. "So much has happened in these past three days, you have no idea."
"Do tell!" Lanie says and sits on the table next to her.
"He broke up with Gina already." She says quietly, biting on her bottom lip.
"Honey, he's crazy about you. I'd be surprised if he hadn't." Lanie points out and Kate smiles.
"Yeah. I'm talking to Josh later today. It's been killing me that we've been sneaking around. I hate that. You know I don't do cheating." She says and Lanie nods, urging her to go on. "But with Rick… I can't even explain. It's like it's stronger than me. Stronger than us." She sighs and Lanie touches her hand encouragingly.
"Kate, you know I'm with you whatever you decide to do. But I have to say I'm really happy for you guys. I would be happier if you guys had gotten together two weeks ago because I would have made some sweet cash off those stupid detectives up there." She says and Kate laughs. "But, honestly, girl, took you guys long enough!" she exclaims and Kate smiles.
"This can't get out, though." She warns her friend. "We want to keep it between us for now."
"My lips are sealed." Lanie promises and Kate nods.
"So… you and Esposito, huh? Do I have to go and have that talk with him?" she teases and listens closely to Lanie's story.
It feels like half the world has been lifted from her shoulders.
Thoughts?
