Title: Partners
Disclaimer: It doesn't snow, rain, and shine in the span of an hour in LA.
Summary: Walls fall down; that's the nature of the beast. And no matter how Kate looks at it, she's staring at piles of rubble. And from rubble, where do they go next? Slight spoilers for 4x11 and beyond.
Chapter 13:
They sat side by side and stared as the door slammed, rattling the cheap picture of a sailboat by the edge of the retractable curtain. Rick's hair was a mess, and hers was no better. His shirt was still askew on his chest and it was with a tired hand that he reached down and straightened it, leaning his head back against the wall with a long-suffering sigh.
"Man, I haven't been reamed like that in a while."
Kate huffed out a laugh. "I think I'm insulted."
"Oh, you're plenty scary, and vicious when you want to be," he corrected, cracking an eye to give her a look. It seemed a bit ridiculous that they were joking about a fight they'd been having not twenty minutes earlier. But really, how else could they react? "But you don't have the power to eject me from this room, or sedate yourself."
"I can't believe she even suggested it."
He laughed, nudging her leg with his. "I mean, we were kind of breaking protocol."
"Says the man who routinely jumps out of my police cruiser even when told to stay put," she argued, hiding her smile as his fingers wound through hers.
"Hey, I haven't blindly run into danger on the job in a while."
"No, you haven't," she conceded. "Not on the job," popped out without her consent and he deflated next to her. "Sorry."
He shook his head and squeezed her hand, regarding her with tired eyes. "No more tonight?"
"Okay," she whispered, inhaling him as she let her head fall to rest on his shoulder, letting his scent fill her up, in place of the sterile room that left her nerves on edge. "You think they'll kick you out?"
"Beckett, when have I been kicked out of anywhere? Even you can't get rid of me."
She let out a slow breath against his shoulder and he turned and kissed her forehead. They sucked at letting things go, both of them. Their fight proved that. But they were there, together, so she'd let it slide, Beckett and all.
"Gonna exercise your charm?"
"Worked on Gates," he said, grinning into her hair.
"Gates didn't catch you ravishing a patient."
He laughed, full and bright and she finally relaxed. His lips fluttered over her forehead and his fingers trailed along her left shoulder, warm against her chilled skin. Long-sleeved hospital gowns would be nice, for once. She was constantly cold over the summer, and the reminder of those long weeks didn't help her nerves.
"I don't know that I consider what we got to ravishing," he decided, his voice soft against her temple. "If you'd gotten my shirt off, maybe."
"Yeah, because finding you half-naked would have really sold our case." It wasn't an unappealing image though, and she found herself biting her lip and closing her eyes against the desire to resume the very activities that had gotten them into trouble.
"You never know. Maybe she would have appreciated my physique," he argued.
"The only person appreciating your physique is me," she said immediately, sighing as she felt his grin widen. "Don't be smug."
"Oh, come on!"
"I like a man with a little grace."
He laughed and nuzzled against her until he found her lips with his, dragging her into a soothing kiss. She marveled at his control. She wanted to change it, to clamber over him, straddle him, let their bodies work out the wearing adrenaline that still coursed around them. She wanted to get rid of the fight and the worry, bury it in his body and his breath.
"I suppose, since you're in a hospital bed, I can be graceful," he decided as they pulled apart and he shifted, sliding around her to cradle her back against his chest, between his legs.
He wasn't as comfortable as the pillows, but he was a source of warmth, and the hands he soothed over her stomach, gently supporting her arm, were infinitely better than the scratch of the rough cotton sheets.
She hummed, suddenly exhausted, her eyelids drooping even as she blinked them awake. She didn't want to fall asleep. Hospital nightmares were the worst, and she knew that she'd manage to hit the absolute bottom of one just before they had to wake her up to check her.
He ran a gentle hand down her right arm and leaned his head over her shoulder. "Tired?"
She shook her head. "No."
"Liar," he mumbled as he kissed her cheek. "You should sleep. It's, man," he paused and craned around, finally spotting the clock along the far wall. "It's nearly six am, and you know they'll keep you here into the afternoon."
"Any way you can finagle us a laptop with netflix?" she asked, leaning back into him, giving in to the exhaustion and pervasive ache that seemed to spread all over her body.
"Are you asking me to misuse my wealth?" he gasped with a grin she could feel against her cheek.
"Maybe," she whispered, finally losing the battle with her eyes as they slipped shut.
He laughed quietly against her cheek and she felt him settling back behind her, tugging her closer to snuggle her up against him. "When Alexis wakes up, I'll call her to see if she or mother can bring us stuff to do."
She nodded sluggishly against him, the throb at her temple protesting every single movement. She felt his breath as it ghosted over her cheek, his soft, "I love you," tickling her ear as sleep pulled her under.
(…)
"Ever thought that she might want other people to sign that?"
Kate blinked, squinting in the bright light that assaulted her eyes as she struggled to sit up. Rick was still behind her, his chest rumbling as he laughed at something his daughter said. She could just make out Alexis' hazy outline.
"Shouldn' you be…school?" she managed out, her mouth heavy and fuzzy with cotton as she fought with the light and sudden rush of sound.
Alexis smiled and took a step closer, bringing herself into focus. "I don't have class today," she said. "Heard you took a spill?"
Kate nodded and then groaned. "Head?" Rick asked, rubbing her arm.
"Yeah."
"Want me to get a nurse? I think Dad has a few more lines to go there," Alexis suggested.
"No, I'm okay," Kate decided. As long as she didn't jar her head, she should be fine. Her arm no longer hurt, at any rate. "What time is it?"
She squinted at the clock and the hands came into view just as Alexis said, "Ten."
"Did you wake me?" Kate asked, tapping Rick's fingers with the exposed ones from her left arm.
"Of course," he huffed, affronted. "The doc even came in and had you follow the light again. But you passed out pretty quick both times."
"Concussions suck," she admitted, watching as Alexis smiled at them.
"I brought the Ipad and some cards, but the doctors say you'll probably want to stick to watching stuff for a few days."
"Work," Kate protested, trying vainly to get herself together.
"Not for the next week. Gates doesn't want you back until your arm's out of the cast anyway, and the doctor says you shouldn't be doing any heavy cognitive stuff for a few days."
"What?" She felt dumb, silly, confused, and somewhere beneath it, she was peeved, but she couldn't quite reach for it.
"The more you tax your brain, the longer it'll take to get over the concussion," Alexis supplied. "I have to go meet Paige to work on a project, but I'll see you at home."
"Thanks, Pumpkin," Rick said easily, as Kate raised her right hand in a small wave. "See you tonight. I'll make something good."
"Okay," Alexis said, smiling. "Feel better, Kate."
"Thanks," she mumbled, watching as the girl left in a blur of red hair. "No work? But I'm fine," she argued, shifting up against his chest.
"She might let you back to do paperwork at the end of the weekend, but until then, you're not going to want to do anything," he said softly, smoothly, like he could just erase her irritation.
"That's not true," she asserted as she glanced around the room. "What did you do to my arm?"
The once-white cast was now awash with silver in neat lines. She squinted, bringing the arm up to her eyes. Words. Her cast was covered with words. Hundreds of them. A page's worth at least flowed over the fiberglass in Rick's tidy scrawl.
"I got bored," he replied, his chin resting on her shoulder.
"So you wrote," she paused and peered at the words, making out 'Nikki,' and 'Rook,' even as her eyes and head protested. "You wrote a chapter of Nikki Heat on my cast?"
He nodded, his chin bumping her shoulder. "Want me to read it to you?"
"I can read it," she said defensively, forcing her brain to work through the words for a few minutes before she realized she didn't remember a single line of what she'd read. The throbbing at her temple was more persistent and she felt herself give a small noise of displeasure.
"Here," he said gently, scooting out from behind her.
She had to fight to stay silent as words of protest tried to slip from her lips. She liked being curled up against him. Though, the way he moved, so he was beside her, an arm over her shoulders and a leg over hers wasn't unpleasant.
He shifted her arm into his lap and then bent forward, throwing her a smile before he opened his mouth and began to read the chapter he'd written on her cast. She listened, smiling as Nikki and Rook ended up in an eerily similar situation to the one they sat in. Except in his version, Rook was the one with the busted arm, and Nikki was the one who climbed into his bed.
"Richard Castle, you did not write porn on my cast," she exclaimed as he reached, And then Nikki slid her shirt from her shoulders, leaning down to press her chest to Rook's, smiling a devious smile as she whispered, "Let's see if we can get that heart monitor going."
Rick glanced over at her, sheepish and amused at once. "I might have?"
"How much more is there?" she demanded.
"Alexis came in before I could get any further," he said, pouting.
"Good," she grumbled. "And you're covering this up when we get out. I'm not walking into work with Nookie on my arm."
She realized her mistake a moment too late. "You know about Nookie?"
"No," she said immediately. His eyes were far too wide and excited for her liking.
"You know about the shipper name for Nikki and Rook? Oh my God, Beckett, do you read Nookie smut?"
Concussed and injured, she still managed to get her right hand up to his ear with enough force have him calling, "Apples!"
"First off, I do not now, nor have I ever, read Nookie smut. I'm a little horrified that you know it exists."
"You do," he mumbled, shying away as she reached for his ear again.
"I keep tabs on you for work," she defended. "I need to be on top of your sprawling career so I can refute claims made by assholes in the box."
And if she'd found a few fan sites and did some rather unnecessary follow up after discovering 'Nookie,' and the world it entailed, well, he didn't need to know about it.
"Whatever you say," he said, suppressing what she was sure would have been a shit eating grin.
"Shut up," she groused.
"No, I'm flattered," he continued. "You like my work."
She turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow. Oh, bad move. That hurt. "You knew that."
"Yes, but reading my book in the tub is different from searching the fan sites," he said, smug and cocky even as he gently smoothed his hand over her neck, releasing tension she hadn't realized she was holding in her shoulders. "You're a fangirl."
"I will sign myself out and leave you here," she threatened.
He simply smiled and leaned down to press his lips to her cheek. "Fine. Keep your secret."
She blinked and felt him draw in a breath against her skin. "Sometime, remind me to tell you about the first time we actually met," she said softly, closing her eyes as his hand tightened around her shoulders. She just wanted to forget the past 24 hours had even happened.
He paused for a moment, collecting himself, she figured, and then she felt his lips curving upward. "I'm sorry. Could you repeat that? Have you been holding out on me?"
Kate laughed and turned to meet his eyes. "If you're really nice to me, and stop Becketting me while I'm in a hospital bed with a concussion and I can't even read, maybe I'll tell you."
"Becketting you?" he asked, glee all over his face.
"No, no, teasing. I meant teasing."
"I'm so using that!"
She glared at him. "No you're not."
"Oh, I so am."