A/N: A little bit of hurt/comfort/fluff before we see Castle read Kate's last entry. Only one chapter and the epilogue left.
Disclaimer: I do not own Castle or the characters used in this story.
Castle welcomes Monday evening after a trying day at the precinct nearly landed him in a holding cell.
The case they caught that morning had Ryan and Espo bringing in a burly, hateful suspect who looked at Kate like she was a piece of meat.
Unable to work the field and help bring him in, Kate insisted on doing the interrogation. From the moment she sat down across from the man, he was rude, distasteful and arrogant. He deflected each of Kate's questions by making inappropriate comments towards her.
Ever the straight faced detective, she did well to ignore the comments, but that only spurred the man on.
Castle bit his lip, gritted his teeth and glared at the man, knowing that an outburst from him would do little to help Kate break the man. But when the comments became too much, and the suspect, whose hands were cuffed to the table, used his legs for leverage to try and touch Kate, those things combined sent Castle into a frenzy of rage that ended with the man being knocked to the floor and Castle's hands around his throat.
Kate hadn't been able to pull him off and it had taken both Ryan and Espo to get Castle to his feet and away from the asshole sprawled on the floor.
Though the man deserved every bit of it for saying the things he had, Kate rounded on Castle the minute they were out of the room, backing him into the hallway for some privacy. But it was clear the moment the reprimand left her mouth that it was the wrong way to react, the physical falling of her husband's face enough to weigh heavy on her heart.
She'd talked to Gates, and together the two women had convinced the lawyers that it was self-defense on Castle's part. It helped that Ryan found the evidence needed to convict the man which landed him in prison for the rest of his life. Kate had sent Castle home after that, told him to cool off and promised she'd be there after she finished her paperwork.
Kate finds him in his office, nursing a glass of scotch when she finally trudges through the door of the loft. His face is sullen, defeated and her heart clenches tightly in her chest, hating to see him like that, hating that she's partially to blame for it.
"Hey, Babe," she whispers, coming to stand right in front of her husband.
"Hey," he replies, voice soft and hurt, the look in his eyes conveying all she needs to know.
She pushes herself forward, dropping her weight softly into his lap. He's stiff at first, but sets his half-empty glass onto the desk and lets his hands settle on her legs.
"Castle, I'm sorry about earlier. I know that you were just trying to protect me and I appreciate that, but you can't react like that at the precinct. What if Gates and I hadn't been able to get the charges against you dropped?"
He sighs; a mournful, pitiful sound as his hands fidget in her lap and she reaches for one of them, wraps her fingers tightly around his own.
"I know, Kate. I'm sorry. I just couldn't listen to him talk to you like that any longer and when he tried to touch you I just lost it. I know you can protect yourself, but you're carrying our child and if anything happened to you or our baby…"
He trails off; unable to finish his sentence and Kate surges forward, presses a bruising kiss against his lips that lingers when he returns it with passion and want.
Kate lets her lips continue brushing against his when she pulls away for air. "You can't think like that, Babe. Nothing is going to happen to any of us. I think after everything we've been through, the universe owes us a break."
She gets a real smile for that, the bright cerulean returning to her husband's eyes as his hands slide around her waist.
"I love you," he breathes against her lips, pressing a chaste kiss there.
"I love you, too. Can I thank you for being my sexy, protective husband?"
His eyes flash with a spark of arousal as he picks up on her tone.
"And how might you do that?" he asks, eyes widening when she shifts to straddle his lap.
"I've always been better at showing than telling," she hums, fingers working the buttons of his shirt until it falls open, exposing his chest to her wicked hands.
He'd planned to read her last entry before bed, but after a hard day, he's not sure he could handle the final heartbreaking words she wrote before she found him. The last bit of hope she held on to before they were reunited and the evidence came crashing down around her. He'll save that for another day. Right now, the welcome weight of his wife is a hopeful, pleasant reminder that together, they continue to beat the odds.
Would love to hear your thoughts! xo
