Prompt: 'The James Bond offer came in around the season 2 finale. Instead of going to the Hamptons, Castle was going to talk to Beckett about the offer. When Demming mentioned the beach house with Beckett, Castle made a snap decision to take the Bond offer.'
He leaves without telling her. He leaves without saying goodbye.
Esposito is the one he explains his disappearance to and it hurts in a sharp, unexpected way to have his absence explained to her by someone else. And the fact that Esposito seems to understand Castle's reason for abandoning her, to condone it, hurts even more.
Had she really screwed up that badly?
"Did he say if he was coming back?" she asks, her voice numb as it releases the question to her colleague that she feels she already knows the answer to. She had been prepared to take him up on his offer to run away to the Hamptons for Memorial Day and now not only was her chance gone, but so is he.
"I don't think so, Beckett," Javi sighs. "He actually mentioned a new book deal that he plans to take."
Her brow furrows and her hands tighten around the mug of cold coffee that's remained cradled and clenched between her hands throughout his conversation.
"For Nikki Heat?"
Esposito shuffles his feet and gives her a slow shake of his head. "For a new character."
"How could he-" Her indignation fizzles out and she scrapes a hand through her hair. "I'll fix this."
"Beckett," Esposito starts to protest when she strides from the break room for her desk, snatching her jacket from the back of her chair, feeling a deep pang in her chest as her eyes graze over his empty seat. "He said he needed time to be-"
"I don't care," she snaps even if it's a lie, ignoring Esposito's frustrated growl while she stalks for the elevator and closes the door on his shaking head.
She considers calling him right then, but that would sacrifice the element of surprise and at this rate, she needs him to be unexpecting of her. So she dials another Castle's number instead.
"Detective Beckett?" Alexis' voice inquires politely but with a hint of concern. "Is everything alright?"
"Hey Alexis, everything's great," she lies, pressing a knuckle against her eye socket until her vision goes white for a second. "But I actually needed your help."
"Oh, okay," Alexis replies uncertainly. "What's up?"
"Have you talked to your dad recently?"
"We talked this morning, but he didn't mention anything unusual," she hedges.
"He probably didn't mention I'd decided to take him up on his offer to accompany him to the Hamptons then?"
She winces at her own lie, hating that she's deceiving his daughter, but the pleasant squeal on the other line soothes the aching of her heart just a little.
"No, he totally failed to mention that! I'm so happy you decided to go, Kate. You're going to love it!"
She smiles sadly to herself as the elevator doors slide open for her.
"Yeah, I don't doubt that," she sighs.
"So, if you're supposed to be with dad, why are you calling me?"
More lies. She's going to hate herself for this.
"Well, we were going to meet there, but it's been a hectic day and he forgot to give me the address. I was going to text him, but I think he's still driving and didn't want to distract him," Kate explains while she hurries across the parking garage to her cruiser. "So I just thought I would ask you, if it's not too much trouble."
"It's no trouble at all," Alexis assures her and she can practically hear the girl's smile across the line. "I'll text it to you, okay?"
"Perfect, Alexis, thank you. So much," Kate replies as she unlocks her vehicle and slides into the driver's seat.
"No problem. But Kate?"
Beckett pauses, her key in the ignition ready to go.
"Yes?"
"Thank you. You might not know this, but you make my dad really happy and I know it means a lot to him to have you there."
Kate drops her head against the steering wheel and squeezes her eyes shut.
"It means a lot to me too," she returns softly, determination flaring like a fierce flame in her chest. "I'll talk to you later, Alexis. Enjoy Princeton."
"Thanks, Kate. Enjoy the Hamptons."
Friday evening traffic slows her down for an extra hour and a half. By the time she finally makes it to the beachy suburbia, the sun has set and darkness is spreading along the sky.
She follows the carefully instructed directions Alexis texted her to navigate through his neighborhood until she finds the magnificent mansion that he uses as a vacation home. Alexis also texted her the code to the gate outside and she's able to drive onto his property with no trouble at all.
Her heart hammers with anxiety and anticipation as she allows herself a moment to absorb the beauty of the house towering before her. The photo he showed her on his phone did it no justice. It's spectacular, a stand out among the other properties she passed on her way here.
Her fingers curl around the door handle, but she hesitate, fearing that maybe she's made a huge mistake in coming here, invading his space when he had left her for a reason, apparently. But it's too late to turn back and with a fleeting burst of courage, she slips out of her car and approaches the front porch.
Her fingers coil into a fist and rise to knock on his front door when she decides to try the door first. She's really pushing boundaries today, lying to his daughter, entering his unlocked mansion uninvited, but she's genuinely afraid that even after she's come all this way to stand on his doorstep, he would still turn her away.
"Castle?" she calls, taking a tentative step inside and instantly marveling over the foyer as her voice echoes through the room.
She receives no answer and ventures deeper into his home, forcing her jaw to refrain from dropping the farther she wanders. She knows he's rich, but this place isn't just extravagant. It's warm and welcoming in it's elegance, a place she could picture herself existing in with contentment, and she's briefly glad she's come even if all she gets to do is gaze at the gorgeous living room and awe over a kitchen she could only dream of having.
She explores the entire first floor in search of him to no avail, but she doesn't allow herself to go up the staircase. The house is empty - it even feels uninhabited - and she wonders if maybe he was never here at all.
Her bottom lip quivers at the possibility, but she refuses to cry. Not yet. There's still one more place to look.
The french double doors off the kitchen lead to a patio that descends onto the sand. Footprints mar the smooth, white surface and her heart jumps at the sight of an actual clue, hope flaring in her chest at the chance that he might still be within reach after all.
Meandering down the beach with heels on isn't her best idea, but she manages to make it to the edge of the ocean without taking any tumbles. The footprints continue down the shoreline and she follows them until a lone figure at last comes into sight.
She resists the urge to run to him, because she already knows without having to see his face that it's him, and continues on her trail, cracking seashells underneath her pumps until she finally ditches the footwear. The water inches closer with every step, eventually sweeping over her toes and drenching her pantlegs. By the time she reaches him in the moonlit darkness, she's up to her ankles in high tide.
"Castle."
He jerks so harshly that she has to grab his arm to keep him from toppling into the water.
"Beckett?" he states in disbelief, his brow furrowed deeper than she thought possible. "What are you… how did you-"
"I called your daughter, asked her for the address," she explains, realizing her hand is still on his forearm and quickly pulling it back to her side. "I thought you weren't leaving until later. You didn't even…" She swallows, watching his face slowly begin to harden, shutting her out. "You didn't say goodbye."
Castle shoves his hands in the pockets of his jeans and shrugs.
"I figured it wouldn't make a difference. Aren't you supposed to be at a beach house in Asbury?"
He stalks past her, trudging from the water's edge, back towards the house.
"Castle, wait."
"Does Demming know you're here?" he calls over his shoulder, picking up his pace, forcing her to jog through the sand to keep up with him.
"Demming isn't - I broke up with him."
That stops him.
She inhales a steady breath and makes her way to his side, standing next to him on the edge of his patio.
"Why?"
She doesn't know what exactly she expected when she came here, but this cold, closed off shell of the man she knew wasn't it.
"Why did you take that other book deal?" she counters, hoping she isn't doing Esposito too great of a disservice by revealing knowledge only he had known. "A book deal that will apparently end Nikki Heat?"
Castle sighs and starts for the double doors, wiping the sand from his feet on the welcome mat.
"There's nothing left to say about Nikki Heat," he mumbles and she stumbles at the words, at the sharp pain that lances through her chest, an ache that's becoming all too familiar.
"So you're ditching me for a better deal?"
"What the hell are you doing here, Kate?" he snaps, surprising her with the intensity of his anger as he turns from the door to face her. "I thought you'd be rejoicing over the fact that I'm finally going to be out of your life, so why are you here?"
She feels like a child being punished, her words getting stuck in her throat as she's asked to explain what she's done wrong.
Castle shakes her head when she fails to do more than stare helplessly at him.
"Fine, I don't care. You can stay for the night if you want to, I'll set you up in one of the guest bedrooms," he mutters, the anger gone, replaced with a tired resignation that grates at her heart.
Not much preparation had gone into this impromptu visit. She hadn't thought far past what she would do once she found him, she hadn't prepared herself for the backlash, and she hadn't prepared that telling him the truth, the whole truth, would be the only thing that stands a chance at getting through to him.
"I broke up with him because I wanted to come here with you," she confesses, curling her arms around herself as he glances back to her in confusion.
"Come here with me?"
"You invited me, you said you were serious, didn't you?" she reminds him, shuffling her bare feet on the smooth white wood of the deck. "I know I turned you down, but I - I changed my mind. The boys were throwing you a surprise party and I was going to tell you afterwards, but then you didn't show."
He isn't smiling, but the look of bitter despair has cleared from the storm clouds of his eyes, something tentative and hopeful brewing there instead.
"But you've already closed the book on us it seems," she surmises with a frown, her eyes threatening to sting at the conclusion that he may truly be done before they've even had the chance to begin. This is all her fault.
"I haven't accepted the offer," he murmurs and she reluctantly lifts her eyes to his once more. "Paula called a couple nights ago, explained the details and everything, and I'd wanted to talk to you about it, but when Demming… I thought I already knew your answer."
"You didn't," she whispers, shaking her head. It's ridiculous, how horrible they are at the simple act of communication. "I don't want you to stop writing Nikki, I don't want you to stop…" she exhales unsteadily and takes a careful step closer to him, still standing hesitant in the entrance to his home, relief blooming in her chest when he doesn't flinch or move away. "I don't want you to stop being my partner."
His lips twitch. "You've never called me your partner before."
"You're a great partner, Castle," she murmurs, eradicating another step of distance between them until she's close enough to lift her hand to his face. He stares down at her, wide eyed and silent as her fingers trail along his jaw and her palm settles against his cheek. "And it scares me, but I think after this past year working with you, you've become more than a partner."
The awe that consumes his face sends butterflies through her bloodstream and gives her the opportunity she needs to rise on her toes, ghosting her mouth over his in invitation.
"Kate," he whispers, his arm slithering around her waist, drawing her up against him, a perfect fit that causes the butterflies to shrivel under the flares of heat.
His hands span across her back, branding her skin through the thin material of her white button down, and she cants forward, begs for more without saying a word.
The first touch of his lips almost makes her moan, the effortless movement of his mouth over hers driving her forward, sucking his upper lip into her mouth, laving her tongue over the soft flesh and grinning when he groans and jerks her closer, as close as they can get.
But just as quickly as the connection between them formed, he's breaking it, cradling her cheeks when he pulls away.
"You want this?" he husks, disbelief tinting the tentative question, and she shakes her head.
"I want you," she corrects, pressing her lips to his jaw.
She drops back to the soles of her bare feet, staring up at him, waiting for a response. He's always been the one chasing her, she's always been the one with the choice to make when it comes to them, but this time it's his decision. She hurt him, that much is clear, but she can fix it if he'll let her.
"Do you have to go back to the city tonight?" he murmurs, his fingers trailing along the bones of her face, up her cheek and into her hair. Her eyes flutter closed at the gentle comb of his fingers, the reverent brush of his thumb along the shell of her ear.
"No, I took the weekend off."
"Did you - would you want to stay?"
Her eyes slip open at the hesitance of his question.
"You think I drove all this way just to say hi?" she teases, relief spreading through her bones as he smiles, his eyes bright like the sparkling water of the pool shimmering behind them. And oh, the pool… she could make that work. "Actually, Castle, what if we took a quick swim?"
His brow creases for a brief moment when she takes a step back, towards the shimmering blue of the pool, but shoots upward the second he notices her fingers on the buttons of her blouse.
"Kate…" She likes her name in his mouth. She's so used to Beckett, but when he says her first name, it's always so much softer, deeper. "You don't have to-"
"You don't want to?" she quips, pausing at the final button of the shirt. His eyes have remained glued to her face, but at her words, they do a quick sweep of the skin exposed to him, the lace of her bra peeking from between the white edges of the blouse.
She bites her lip when he finally steps forward, the wonder consuming his eyes darkened with lust she's seen aimed towards her before. But now… now, he's finally going to act on it.
Kate unhooks the last button, shrugs the shirt from her shoulders and tosses it onto one of the lounge chairs surrounding the pool, adds her slacks to create a small pile before she can think better of it. She assumes it's beautiful out here during the day, bathed in sunlight, but it's magical at night, ethereal.
He's apprehensive once he finally reaches her, his hands unsteady as they skim along her arms, up to the curved bones of her shoulders. She represses the shudder his touch evokes, but can't hide the goosebumps that arise beneath his fingertips.
She shifts her focus to the shirt he still wears, unbuttoning it with dexterous fingers even as his hands continue their maddening exploration of her skin. But when he's down to nothing but his boxers, she sees his eyes flash with something other than delicious anticipation, familiar mischief sparking to life in the brilliant blues, and she barely has the time to scream before he's pushing her into the deep end of the pool.
Kate feels his body penetrate the water a second later, before she can even breach the surface, and she rises from the water with a gasping breath, splashing him when he swims towards her.
"Jerk, the whole point of skinny dipping is getting naked first," she huffs, even as she allows his arms to encircle her waist.
He laughs and leans forward to kiss her, light and with a smile, and it feels like them again. Playful and teasing, no longer so apprehensive and serious, and she uses her buoyancy in the water to coil her legs around his waist.
"We can still get naked," he promises her, brushing the wet strands of hair from her face with one hand, smoothing the other along her thigh. "But…"
She arches an eyebrow, trying her best to ignore the nerves that flutter to life in her stomach.
"This isn't just a weekend thing, right? We'll still - I don't just want - I want more than a weekend. With you."
Her lips quirk and her heart swells.
"It's not just a one time thing. Not for me," she murmurs, watching the simple reassurance brighten his eyes.
"For me either," he grins. "I can't believe you're here. We're going to have so much fun. All kinds of fun."
Beckett rolls her eyes, but her returning smile grows as he captures her lips once more, pulls her closer.
Her hips press tightly against his, her pounding heart meeting his for every frantic beat, and she wraps her arms around his neck, winds her fingers through his wet hair as his tongue slips past the seam of her lips. He tastes of chlorine and coffee, of dedication and promise, and she steals one of his hands, guides it behind her and moans in appreciation when he finally unclasps her bra.
Sleeping with Castle has always felt practically inevitable, especially throughout the last couple of months. Loving him though… that had never been fathomable. Not until now.