The next few days passed similarly - the pair spent their time fishing, collecting coconuts, and exploring the island. Unfortunately, there remained a distinct lack of boats or planes on the horizon. While they were doing their best to stay positive, the disappointment was steadily building as time went on.
Five days after The Great Lizard Debacle (as it had been dubbed by Castle), he and Kate were seated in the entrance of their shelter. It had begun to rain as the sun had dipped towards the horizon, and after stoking the campfire with as much dry wood and coconut husk as they could, they decided to wait the weather out under cover. From their current position they still had a clear view of the empty horizon, and it comforted them that they'd be able to see any potential rescue, if it ever arrived.
The rain itself wasn't too heavy, but being so close to nightfall the temperature had dropped significantly. Coupling that with getting damp when caught in the rain meant that both Castle and Beckett were beginning to shiver.
"Oh, c'mere." Castle muttered eventually, quickly growing tired of both their suffering. He swept one arm under Kate's knees, and the other around her back and repositioned her into his lap.
Kate considered grumbling at the manhandling - for the sake of posturing, of course - but soon realised that sitting in Castle's embrace was much, much more comfortable.
And warm.
Castle had repositioned their life-jacket-pillows and reclined against them, and Kate wrapped her arms around his neck, cuddling into his chest as she sat sideways across his lap.
It was interesting to consider how much their relationship had changed over the past weeks. They had quickly grown accustomed to touching each other constantly - mostly innocently, nothing strayed into too-heated territory - but enough that it felt as if it had been normal for years.
"How's it feel?" Castle asked as he tucked her in against him, and it took Kate a second to realise that he was asking about the surgical scar on her ribcage. It had just started to pull quite uncomfortably in the cold, but apparently Castle's movements had had a purpose, because it was now warming nicely as it was pressed up against his torso.
"Mm, good." She hummed, fiddling with his opposite earlobe with her fingertips, relishing in the feeling of his arms comfortably splayed around her waist and back.
"I don't think I'll take central heating for granted ever again," Castle said, only half-joking.
"Me either." Kate sighed, quickly pushing away any thoughts suggesting that they may be unable to experience it once more if they were never rescued.
She pulled back to take in Castle's face in the dimming light, using her fingertips to map out all the lines and planes of his features. They danced across the almost-healed scar on his temple - one that was mirrored on herself - and traced over and down the raised pink line that skimmed his eyebrow. She held his gaze, eyes soft in the half light.
"What is it?" He asked quietly when Kate didn't look away, and she felt the movement of his jaw as she framed his face with her hands.
"I just," Kate self-consciously tucked a loose lock of hair behind her ear, "We've been through a lot together, you and I, even just in this last year alone. Do you ever wonder why it took us so long to get to this?"
Kate watched as his head tilted to one side as he considered her question.
"You were healing." He replied simply.
Kate bit her lip.
"I know, and logically I get that, but… I just feel like we've wasted so much time. We're not going to get those four years we spent dancing around each other back."
"Kate," Castle shifted to grasp her firmly by the shoulders and looked her directly in the eye, "I wouldn't trade those four years for anything if I meant that I get to be with you now. Whether our future includes going home to New York or not." He kissed away the moisture pooling just below her eye.
"But what if-"
Castle cuts her off with a look.
"If we had gotten together during that first year we wouldn't have what we have now," He told her, "Yeah, it would have been fun for a while, but we wouldn't have lasted. We were both different people back then. I have no regrets, okay?"
There was silence as Kate really considered his words. Eventually she nodded and relaxed into his arms once more.
"Good." Castle muttered as he pulled her in close, kissing her hair as her head rested below his chin.
"So you think we're gonna last?" She asked as a smile teased her lips.
"Oh I know we are." He said confidently, "You?"
"I think so too."
They elapsed into a comfortable silence.
"Have you ever thought about what would have happened if we'd gotten together like this back in New York?" Kate hummed, and Castle could hear the smile in her voice.
"Have I ever?" Castle scoffed, sending her a wry smile when she looked up at him from her place curled in his lap, "I dreamed of it, Kate."
She pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw, wrapping her arms around him even more firmly. Castle stifled a chuckle as he mentally compared her to one of the limpets attached to the rocks on the beach.
"I did too," She cheesed, "I just never thought it would happen. Apparently all we needed was to be marooned on a desert island and a kick up the ass."
They laughed.
"I wonder what Ryan and Esposito would say." Kate mused, "Do you think we would have told them?" She shivered as a breeze carried a spray of rainwater into the shelter, and Castle tugged her in even closer.
"Maybe not at first. It would have been fun to have it our little secret for a while. I mean, I guess it still is a secret now."
Kate grinned, showing off her pearly whites.
"Ha, that's true." She hummed, "I can hear my dad in my head saying, 'I told you so, Katie.'"
She immediately felt Castle tense up and pull away to look her in the eye.
"Your dad would have said that? You talk about me to your dad?" His eyes were wide in a hilarious mix of excitement and poorly concealed horror.
Kate grinned again.
"From time to time," She joked, before sobering somewhat, "He just wants me to be happy. Ever since I got shot he's been pushing me to do more with my life than just work. It really made the both of us realise how little we had been living for ourselves since Mom died." She held eye contact with Castle. "He's kinda been one of your biggest cheerleaders, actually," Kate carried on, chuckling dryly, "The entire time we were upstate at the cabin he was egging me on to call you. I almost did."
"Really?" Castle asked. Little did they know how close it had been.
"Yeah, but I felt awful." She rolled her eyes, "I was barely sleeping through the night and jumping at every noise and shadow, and I could hardly walk it hurt so bad. I didn't want you to see me like that." She admitted truthfully, shaking her head at her past actions and looking away.
"Hey," Castle tilted her chin to force her gaze back on him, "You know that it wouldn't have mattered to me, right?" He implored, and she could feel the truth in his words.
"I do. It was definitely more of a me problem than a you problem," She sighed, "I just wanted to feel like myself and be whole again before I could even think about letting anyone else in too."
"I know, I know." Castle hugged her in again, "And it's okay. We got here eventually, right?"
Kate laughed fully this time.
"Yeah, wherever 'here' is." She glanced at the space around them in the dimming light, before settling down once more.
"So," Kate spoke again after a few minutes of silence other than the gentle trickle of rain, "In those dreams of yours where we got together, how did it happen?"
He shrugged.
"It was different every time. Sometimes it was after something awful - the freezer, the bank robbery, the time with the tiger… Other times I'd ask you in the break room, or while bringing you coffee, or I'd show up at your apartment after a rough case with takeout and a movie." Castle's eyes lit up with warmth, and Kate felt her cheeks blush at the obvious love in his wistful tone.
"And?" She asked eventually.
"And what?" His lips quirked with a smile, noting her raised eyebrows and the familiar glint in her green eyes.
"Which one would it be? If you'd asked me out in New York?"
He could feel little puffs of air on his cheek as she breathed, her lips ghosting his two-week stubble.
"You know, I'm not sure, actually." Castle pondered, lips pursed, "It could have been any of them. I think I was just waiting for the right time, but I think that if all of this has taught me anything it's that there is no right time."
Kate breathed through a smile. She hadn't considered that Richard Castle, Most Eligible Bachelor Number 5 and renowned ladies man wasn't sure how to act on his feelings for her. It was cute.
"I do know what we would have done on our first date, though." He says a minute later, and Kate pulls back to look at him again with a wry smile.
"Oh really? What?"
"Well," Castle sighed, gently taking one of her hands in his, kneading and caressing the back with his thumbs, "I would take you on the most perfect first date that you, Katherine Beckett, deserve. First, I'd show up at your apartment with flowers. A bouquet that's understated, but beautiful. You won't have had time to put your heels on yet, and when you hug me to say thank you your head would tuck perfectly under my chin."
Kate ducked her eyes, feeling flattered and a little bashful at the picture he's painting.
"You'd look absolutely stunning in your dress - a deep purple one that brings out the green in your eyes - and once you're all ready I would escort you to the car outside - a town car that's tasteful but not too flashy. Then we'd go to the restaurant, somewhere that's classy but understated like the bouquet, and I'd pull your chair out for you like the perfect gentleman."
Kate's eyes were drawn to his as he preened, and she silently yearned for the date that never was.
"We'd skip dessert and opt to walk to the bar after dinner, and grab an ice cream cone on the way."
She grinned and could almost taste the creamy goodness on her tongue.
"Then we'd go dancing, and not a single person in the room would be able to take their eyes off of us, wondering how I landed someone like you."
Castle wrapped his arms around her waist and Kate placed her arms around his neck, mimicking the way they would have danced together.
"We'd be the last people left on that dance floor by the end of the night, because I'd be the happiest man in the room and wouldn't want it to end."
He leaned in and pressed a kiss to her cheekbone, and she shut her eyes, relishing in the feeling, before shifting and brushing a series of soft kisses on his lips and across his jaw.
"That sounds lovely, Castle." She hummed, smiling softly up at him once he pulled away, "I can promise you I would have loved it."
"So what do you say?" He asked in reply, "Would you like to go on a date with me?"
Kate's eyes are shining in the darkness; the sun has completely dropped below the horizon now. She laughs.
"I'd love to, Castle, but it might be a long while before we're back in New York."
Castle clears his throat.
"How about tomorrow - here? I still want to take you on the perfect date back in New York, and I will, but for now we'll make do." He pressed his lips to her forehead and her eyes slipped closed again, "And then when we're finally home I'll take you on the date you deserve. What do you say?"
Kate leant up, finally pressing her lips to his, and pulled away when it began to grow heated.
"I'd love to, Rick."
…
Sorry if there's any mistakes, I have another migraine but did my best!