Chapter Thirty
Lanterns
Season Seven
"Um, Rick?" Kate calls when she almost trips over his duffel bag sitting at the door. "Are you going somewhere?"
Rick pokes his head out from his office. "What? Oh, hi. No. Well, yeah. Hang on a sec, I'll be right there to explain," he calls out.
Kate just steps around it and unzips her boots. Whatever her fiancé - no, he's her husband now, a thought that makes her more than a little excited - has planned, she hopes it involves her sitting down. It's been a long day. She doesn't have to work overnight, and she just wants to curl up on the couch and ring in the new year with him and a couple bottles of wine.
She's almost to their bedroom when he finally emerges, and he grabs her hand and tugs her back towards the door. "Castle, no," she whines, "I want to change."
"Trust me," Rick assures her, stepping in front of her and cupping her face in his hands. "You'll be out of those clothes soon enough."
Kate lifts her eyebrows and loops her arms around his neck. "Is that so?" she teases, lifting herself to her toes so she can kiss him.
Rick chuckles when they pull away. "I meant you'll be in your leggings and one of my hoodies, but sure, naked works too," he jokes with a wink.
She kisses him again. "Seriously though, what's with the duffel bag? And why is it just yours?"
"Because you and I are going away for the night, so we only need one."
Kate narrows her eyes. "Um...okay. Where are we going?"
Rick takes her hand and laces their fingers together as he leads them back towards the door. "I have booked us a hotel room for the night, for a little staycation," he explains, taking their coats from the closet.
"Oh." Kate pauses when he opens the door and steps aside to let her through. She knows he means well, and getting a room in the city probably cost a fortune, but she was looking forward to being in the comfort of her own home, especially with both Martha and Alexis away for the week.
Rick seems to notice her hesitation and he shuts the door. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I just…" Kate sighs and shifts her gaze over his shoulder. "We have the loft to ourselves. I know it's probably too late to cancel the reservation, but-"
"You want to stay home." Rick lets out a short chuckle. "Of course."
"I'm sor-"
"No, don't apologize," he interrupts, pulling his phone from his pocket. "We'll do this another night. Maybe when Mother and Alexis are underfoot and driving us crazy and we just need to get away."
"Apparently they're not dropping confetti this year," Kate calls out so Rick can hear her from the kitchen. "Something about not wanting so much cleanup tomorrow."
Rick hands her a large glass of wine and joins her on the couch, pulls her socked feet onto his lap. "Huh. Did you ever have to work Times Square?" he asks, pressing his thumb against her arch.
Kate lets out a quiet moan as his fingers go to work. "Yeah, my first few years on the force," she explains. "And my first year in Homicide. Now I have seniority so I can assign it to someone else if I want to."
Rick flashes her a grin. "So you can spend it with your ruggedly handsome husband."
"Whatever you say, babe," she teases, nudging his thigh with her toes. She falls silent, her thoughts straying to another important day in January, just a few short days away.
After a few minutes, Rick pauses his movements and trails his hand up her calf. "Hey," he prods quietly, "what's up? Where'd you go just now?"
Kate offers him a small smile. "Just thinking," she admits, shifting so she can lean against his side.
"About?"
"What to do next week. The ninth," she explains when he lifts his brow. "Dad will still be at his cabin. But I'd like to do something with you, if you don't mind."
Rick leans back and brushes a lock of hair off her forehead. "Of course I don't mind. I would love to spend the day with you, be a support for you. Or a shoulder to cry on. Or a source of bad jokes to distract you," he teases. When she chuckles, he leans forward to kiss her. "Whatever you need."
They watch the television broadcast in silence for a few minutes, Kate curled up against her husband, his arm around her, hand stroking her arm. When the TV shows a clip of a floating lantern ceremony being held somewhere in the South Pacific, she reaches for the remote and hits the mute button.
"Let's do that." Rick just shifts his gaze to her and she continues. "I went to grief counseling a few years after Mom died," she explains. "For one of my sessions, we actually went to Central Park and I released a lantern in the lake. He got special permission, of course."
"Of course. Did it help?"
Kate thinks back to that day in the park. At that time, she thought it was weird, but she'd played along. Just the action of letting go of the lantern had felt freeing at the time, and although letting go of her grief hadn't prevented her from going down the rabbit hole that was the murder investigation, it had helped her finish college and get into the Academy.
She explains all this to Rick, who just tightens his embrace. "So, yeah," she concludes, "I want to do it again. With you."
Rick smiles and kisses her. "Okay. We'll find someplace to do it." He shifts his gaze to the TV and turns the volume back on. "It's almost midnight. Ready for the new year?"
Kate tucks her feet under her and curls her hand around his knee. "First year as your wife?" She turns her head so she can smudge a kiss to his jaw, smiling against his five o'clock shadow. "I can't wait."
-FIN-
A/N: That concludes this one shot collection. Thank you for all the faves, follows, and reviews. Until next time.