—–

She was halfway out of the bed when he snagged her by the shirt and then manhandled her back in. "Kate," he said, still laughing, breathless. He wrestled her halfway into his lap once more before she managed to hook her calf at the side of the mattress and hold herself off. "Kate, no, come on."

"You're laughing at me."

"No. I'm not. I'm - okay, I'm laughing - but that's because you said, you said that the most important thing was - oh God, Kate, stop trying to get away. You're right. We misunderstand, mistake each other. Just - sit, woman. Let me explain."

She hadn't really been struggling that hard, but she stopped now. All of the fight went out of her; she was just so damn tired of not getting the point. Of missing it.

"Hey," he said quietly. His hand opened, releasing her. But not. An offering instead. "Kate?"

She put her hand in his and he squeezed, a sharp breath in his chest that she realized meant he was less sure than his laughter had made her think.

"Okay," he said. A nod. "You were brave, and you spoke up, when I really expected to keep going like this for… ever. For longer than I could hope to wait."

"What?" She lifted her head and stared at him, her frustration bleeding into desperation. "Longer than you could wait?"

He didn't back down; his eyes were steady. "I was afraid, yes." His fingers curled around hers, stroked at her knuckles. "I know me. I don't have the best track record with relationships, let alone… whatever this is, Kate."

"Not… a relationship you mean," she said, the answer sticking in her throat.

"It's something though."

She nodded, swallowing hard, staring down at their hands. Their hands. When she'd sat up and straddled his body and he'd… laughed.

"Kate. Stop. Look at me."

She blew out a breath and lifted her head. His hand caught her cheek and held her there, and she closed her eyes, wanting to curl in on herself, wanting to curl into him.

"Come here," he husked. He didn't even wait for assent, he simply caught the back of her neck and pulled her against him.

She crashed, pressing her face to his neck to stop the threat of tears. She had been brave, she had tried, but they were still… this.

"I laughed because to me the most important part? You kinda blew right by it. Twice now. Makes me think I must be hearing things. Especially when you say you want me? You want to crawl inside me, I think the words were-"

She smacked his arm for that, but a ripple of laughter went through her. "What are you talking about. That is the most important part. It means - it means all this stupid talking and messing things up doesn't-"

"It's not," he said. His palm curved to the back of her head, warm and heavy. Drugging. "It's not the most important. Because, damn Kate-" He was growling, and it made her shiver. "-I've wanted to crawl inside you since I laid eyes on you. Since you arrested me. Since you walked away from that first case-"

"Yeah?" she said, lifting her head. She'd known that. She did know that. But-

"Wanting is nothing," he said. "Well. Okay, it's a lot. It's driven me to distraction, that's for sure. But the other part? That's what we can make something out of. Something more."

"Oh." The other- "Oh!"

"Yeah. Oh."

She grinned, sliding her arms around his neck, and she shifted into his lap, all-in this time. His cheeks were red in the darkness; she could feel the heat at his ears where her arms pressed against him. Her courage had returned, flushing through her with that same heat.

Kate leaned in and softly touched her lips to the line of his jaw. "The part where I said I'm in love with you? Was that it?"

He shivered, his arms tightening around her reflexively. "Yeah, that - that part." He still had a hand at her nape, the back of her skull, as if to direct her.

She kissed the rough scratch of bristles on his throat. "Castle."

"I'm in love with you, Kate," he blurted out. "Oh God, that's not smooth or romantic at all, but I-"

"Shut up, Rick." And now it was her turn to silence him with her mouth.

—–