AN: It took me a while to figure out what to do with this chapter but once I started, I just kept going where it led me so I'm sorry if this isn't the best chapter. I know nothing about computer hacking or any of that technical stuff so if any of this sounds unrealistic then I apologize. Reviews are great as always!
Disclaimer: Nope, don't own em. Just the ones I created.
Kate was well into her fourth glass of wine as she eyed Castle over the rim of her glass. The writer had barely touched his food as he was too busy watching Kris and Russo like a hawk. Kate polished off the remainder of her food and sat back in her chair.
"Rick, are you going to eat or sit there and look like a creepy stalker all night?" Kate asked as she took another sip of wine.
Castle quickly piled a large bite of pasta onto his fork and shoved it into his mouth without taking his eyes away from the back of the restaurant. Kate just sighed and pulled her phone out.
"Aren't you the least bit concerned here Kate?" Castle said as he finally looked at her for the first time in almost an hour.
"Concerned about what, Rick? She's a grown woman. He's a good guy, you said that yourself. Just because you used to run around with a different bimbo every night doesn't mean every other man does." Kate snapped.
Seeing the hurt look on Castle's face, Kate sighed and finished her wine. "Look Castle, all I'm saying is that she's a big girl. We can't protect her from everything, I know that better than anyone. She's spent all of her adult life terrified to get close to anyone because she's afraid they'll leave. Russo seems like a good guy for her, he makes her smile. I've not even seen her drink in weeks so that alone is a big improvement in my book."
"I just want to see her find the kind of happiness that you have, Kate. The two of you deserve it more than anyone after everything you've been through." Castle replied, giving Kate's hand a kiss.
"She will but she needs to do it on her own. Trust me, trying to force that girl to do something is like reading a Game of Thrones book and expecting no deaths. It's not gonna happen." Kate said with a smirk.
"I guess you're right. Now I can finish my dinner then we'll head home. Sound good?" Castle said as he speared a meatball onto his fork.
"Yep. Besides, this wine is starting to get to me. I think we're gonna need a whole bowl of ice cubes tonight." Kate grinned at the answering sound of Castle choking on his meatball then calling for the check.
"So, how did you end up working for the NYPD anyway? I mean, surely doing computer work for a police station wasn't your dream job growing up." Russo said as he took a sip of water.
"Ha, well that's a funny story actually." Kris said with a laugh. "When Kate started out as a uniform in the precinct, I was still in high school and I started hacking into the police database to see if I could find anything on our mom's case, ya know something somebody may have missed or whatever. I never got caught once. I mean their security could have been designed by a three year old as easy as it was to hack. Of course, I never found anything." Kris replied before taking a sip of her own water. "After I started college, I really had no clue at the time what I wanted to do with my life. I mean, Kate was out saving the world as a cop and all I knew how to do was work computers. I worked part-time at an electronics store off campus my freshman year and one of the guys there was in a few of my classes. He eventually talked me into running a side business with him selling test answers. I hacked the campus system, printed the tests and he sold them. I got half of whatever he made. That was the only time I almost got caught."
Russo just laughed. "What happened?"
"I was home one weekend and I was in my room printing off tests for the next week and Kate caught me. She figured it out and made me tell her what I was caught up in. She threatened to turn me into the Dean if I didn't stop. You think she's scary when she's interrogating someone? Well she's about ten times worse when it comes to me." Kris replied with a smirk.
"So, how did that set you on the path to become a badass tech manager for the NYPD?" Russo said as the waiter finally appeared with the check.
"It didn't, not at first anyway. After the semester ended I still had no clue what I wanted to major in. I spent my freshman year just taking general courses. I knew there was only one thing I was really good at so I figured I'd come up with a way to apply that to a career that wasn't illegal. I spent some time with Kate that summer when she didn't have cases going on and that's pretty much how I figured my life out. She had a massive virus on her desktop one day and when I went in to fix it, I found that the virus not only affected her computer but the whole precinct system. It took me all day but I finally managed to debug the system and update the firewalls." Kris replied.
"You fixed the whole twelfth precincts computer system in a day?" Russo said, shock evident in his voice.
Kris just laughed. "It doesn't take that long if you know what you're doing. I run updates at the precinct every week. As strong as my encryptions are now, if somebody hacks that system then I deserve to lose my job."
"So a computer virus is to be thanked for how you ended up where you are now?" Russo said with a smile.
"Well after seeing how much the precinct relied on the computer system to get things done, I figured that if my sister was going to put her life on the line every day for this city then the least I could do was try to make her and everyone else in the precincts job a little easier. So voila, here I am now the head of technology." Kris replied with a wave of her hand.
"And I couldn't be more grateful." Russo replied with a wink.
After paying the bill, Russo shrugged back into his suit jacket and reached his hand out to Kris. Kris smiled as she accepted his outstretched hand and then followed him out of the restaurant. They stood on the sidewalk for a few minutes in silence before either of them spoke.
"So, what else would you like to do tonight?" Russo said, finally breaking the silence.
"Hmm, doesn't really matter to me." Kris replied with a shrug.
"I picked dinner, so it's up to you. I'm up for pretty much anything." Russo answered with a smile.
"Well, do you like 80's music? It's 80's night at Purge tonight." Kris said hesitantly.
"Are you kidding? I love me some Bon Jovi!" Russo replied as he hailed a cab then climbed in behind Kris.
When the cab pulled up outside the club, the line was wrapped around the block with people waiting to get in. Kris took Russo's hand and made her way to the bouncer outside, smiling when he let down the rope and let them in. When they entered the club, the sounds of Madonna were blasting from the overhead speakers and the dance floor was packed. They made their way to the bar and Kris was surprised to see Camille at the end of the bar, talking to Jack. The two women exchanged waves as Russo gave a head nod to his partner.
"What do you want to drink?" Russo asked as he turned to face Kris.
"Perrier, please." Kris replied with a smile.
"Wow, you weren't kidding when you said you didn't have a craving for alcohol." Russo said with a hint of shock.
"Let's just say that these days, I have more important things to focus on than alcohol." Kris gave him a wink as the bartender came their way.
Russo placed their order, Perrier for Kris and a beer for himself then turned back to face her. Kris was now sitting on a barstool beside him looking out onto the dance floor. Many of the patrons were dressed in 80's attire, getting the full experience the club offered. After sipping their drinks for a while, Bon Jovi's Runaway came on and Kris smiled as she took Russo's hand. She lead him out onto the dance floor, finding a spot among the mass of people. She put his hands on her hips when he was hesitant to touch her.
"You can touch me, ya know?" Kris said as she began to move her body to the music.
"I don't want to rush you. I want us to take our time." Russo replied, his voice catching at the sudden closeness of his body to hers.
"I think we've taken enough time tonight." Kris said as she stepped closer and put her arms around his neck, bring his mouth down to hers.
Russo dropped Kris off at her apartment a little after midnight. After a gentle, yet too quick kiss goodnight, he promised to call her the next day and left. After locking the door behind her, she made her way into the bathroom to start the shower. After plugging her phone up to charge, and grabbing an over sized Yoda shirt she made her way back into the bathroom.
Kris emerged from the bathroom forty-five minutes later and upon grabbing her phone, saw she had a few missed texts from Kate checking up on her. Kris made her way out into the kitchen and grabbed a Monster from the fridge then crashed on her couch with a blanket. She decided to call Kate since she knew she would still be up since she had the next day off.
"Hello?" Came a rushed voice gasping for breath.
"Kate? That you?" Kris asked, looking at her phone to make sure she had dialed the right number.
"Huh? Oh, yeah it's me." Kate replied, still gasping for air. "Shh!"
"What are you shushing me for?" Kris asked, clearly confused at her sisters odd behavior.
"Oh, I wasn't talking to you. Anyway, what's up?" Kate asked, finally sounding more like herself.
"Just got out of the shower. I saw where you texted so I figured I'd just call you. Why do you sound like you've been running a marathon?" Kris replied as she turned the TV on.
"Trust me, you don't wanna know." Kate blurted. "Castle, stop!"
Realization dawned on Kris as she figured out what was going on. "Oh God! You answered the phone when you were in the middle of that?"
"Well I wanted to make sure you were okay, especially when you didn't reply to my texts almost an hour ago." Kate replied.
"Oh yeah, you must have been really worried about me if you started banging writer monkey. I can tell you were real tore up there Kate." Kris deadpanned.
"Hey! Now how many times have you been indisposed when I've called you?" Kate shot back.
"Hello? You're talking to the chick with no sex life!" Kris snapped.
"Good point." Kate quickly replied.
"Anyway. As you can see, I'm not dead or kidnapped so you can go back to... Whatever you were doing. Call me tomorrow and we'll get together." Kris replied as she turned the TV to a Friends rerun.
"Okay. Night. Love you!" Kate said in a rush just as Castle's voice came across the line with "Night Cricket!"
Kris ended the call and tossed her phone onto the coffee table with a wrinkle of her nose. Of all the ways for her to end an awesome night, hearing her sister in the middle of sex with Castle was not on the top of her list.