MOMENTS SO DEAR
HALLOWEEN

POST-DEMONS AU


"Beckett? Are you here?"

Rick pokes his head through the door, sweeps his gaze across the room to try and see inside. It's dark, though, so dark that even with the flashlight on his phone, he can only see a few feet in front of him. He checks his texts, making sure that he hasn't missed any follow up from his partner.

Her invitation to a warehouse Halloween party had taken him by surprise. She's attended his parties the last two years, even though, in her words, she doesn't really "do holidays." He's made it his mission to change that, to bring out the fun-loving person he knows is in there, to get more than the brief glimpses of festivity that he gets today.

He'll go to every party in the city if it means spending time with her.

"Kate?" he calls out when the silence continues. He feels the hairs on the back of his neck tingle, and he wonders briefly if he's been lured here. Maybe someone spoofed Beckett's number, and he's walking into some kind of trap.

He decides to call her, taps the icon by her name, and he sighs in relief when she answers on the first ring.

"Beckett."

"It's me," he says, putting her on speaker so he can still use the flashlight. "I'm here, but this place is empty. Am I in the wrong warehouse?"

"No, the party's in the back. It's like a secret, need-to-know-the-password kind of place."

Almost on cue, Rick notices a sliver of light coming from the back of the warehouse, and he starts towards it. "What's the password?"

He can hear the smile in her voice when she answers. "Apples." She chuckles. "What a coincidence, right?"

He almost trips over his own feet. He vaguely recalls joking about his safe word shortly after they first met, and he can't believe she remembered. He'd said it almost in passing.

He just laughs. "Yeah. Okay, well, I think I finally found it. I'll see you in a minute."

He hangs up and slips his phone back into his pocket when he reaches the sliver of light. It's behind a closed door, and he takes a deep breath before raising his fist and knocking. When there's no response - no door opening, no intimidating bodyguard - he knocks again and calls out.

"Apples?"

There's a click, and he reaches out a hand, tentatively pushes open the door. It opens with an ominous creak, and he takes a cautious step through the opening. He pokes his head through first, looks around the bright room.

It's empty.

He notices another door on the opposite side, with large letters that simply say "Enter here" in something red that looks suspiciously like blood. He hesitates, then shrugs and walks towards it.

Well…Beckett would never steer him wrong.


"Surprise!"

He almost stumbles backward at the exclamation, and he blinks several times, his brain trying to catch up to what he sees.

The first thing he notices is his mother and daughter in front of him, wide grins on their faces, both clad in costumes. His eyes sweep across the room, taking in the elaborate decorations that he can't help but wonder if he can take home, and he barely registers any of the other people there before he finds her.

Kate is standing to the side, wearing a simple witch costume, a pink tint on her cheeks that is either makeup or that cute flush she gets when she does something sweet and kinda flirty. When he turns towards her and the pink darkens, he decides it's the latter.

He grins and takes a step, intending to tease her about her obvious involvement in this trick, when his mother and daughter step in front of him.

"What is this?" he asks, draping his arm around Alexis's Wonder Woman-caped shoulders.

"Beckett's idea," Alexis explains. "She said you were sad about that ghost hunter dying, and she wanted to do something. So we found this warehouse and threw it together."

Martha claps her hands in front of her. "She wanted it to be a surprise," she adds, "hence the mystery." She glances over Rick's shoulder and pulls Alexis aside. "Speaking of."

Rick turns to find the woman in question, holding a cup of something green out towards him and a nervous smile tugging at her lips. He takes the cup and sips, looks at it in surprise when he tastes his own punch. "How'd you make this?" he blurts. When Kate just raises her eyebrows, he feels his ears get hot. "I mean, I keep the recipe secret."

Kate takes a sip of her own drink. "I think you mean 'Wow, this is awesome; I can't believe you surprised me like that,'" she teases.

"This is amazing," he admits, shifting his weight to his other foot. "You had me going there with the empty room. I thought I was walking into a trap."

"Is that why you called me?" She chuckles. "I've never shut up a room full of drunk people that fast in my life."

He laughs, and as they both sip their drinks, he remembers what his mother told him. "Did you really pull this off after Jack Sinclair died? We just solved it yesterday."

Kate shrugs. "Well, you were bummed about him. I wanted to cheer you up."

"This-" Rick sweeps his arm across the full, loud room. "This did it." He pauses, then reaches a tentative hand out and touches her shoulder. "Thanks, Kate."

She flushes again and glances down, then looks back up at him, and covers his hand with hers. "You're welcome," she says in a low voice, barely audible above the music.

The room fades away at the touch of their skin, and Rick takes a very long breath before turning his hand so their fingers tangle. He takes a step closer, his eyes locked on hers, impossible to miss the way her pupils darken at his proximity.

"Can-" His voice cracks and he clears his throat before trying again. "Can we talk for a minute?"

She nods, and they set their drinks down before he leads her back through the door he'd entered, ignoring the whispers that follow when people notice them leaving. When the door to the party shuts, they're encased in silence, nothing but his racing heart in his ears.

"I-"

He doesn't have a chance to say anything else, because Kate's mouth is on his, interrupting his thought and stealing his breath. Her hands cup his face, her thumbs stroking his skin as softly as her lips moves against his. He drops his hands to her waist - God, he wants to go lower, to slide his palms over her ass, tug her into him - but he just holds her, hears a whimper when their tongues touch.

She slides her arms around his neck and pulls her body flush against his, their kiss becoming more heated, more passionate with every moment.

He tightens his grip on her waist and turns, pinning her against the wall, never breaking the kiss.

He never wants this to end. He could kiss her forever and it wouldn't be enough.

No, he decides when Kate runs her fingers through his hair and arches into him, I'll never get enough of this.

He slides his hands around her back, wishing they were in private, at his place or hers, and he could lay her down, worship her the way she deserves, that he's ached for over the years.

Kate trails her fingers down his neck and grips the collar of his shirt, and she pulls away, breaking their kiss with a sigh. She brushes her mouth across his once more, and she traces her thumb along his jaw, leans back against the wall, lifts her lips in a shy smile. "Sorry," she husks, "I just-"

"Don't apologize," he interrupts. He smirks. "Never apologize for kissing me. In fact, you can do it any time you want."

She chuckles and drops her forehead to his shoulder. Her fingers travel down his arms until they tangle with his, and he just lets her take his hands, enjoying this newly discovered physical side of her.

He clears his throat, and she lifts her head, meets his gaze with hers. "As much as I liked it, can I ask why?"

She smirks. "I don't know, can you?" she teases. She tugs at his hands. "I just…" She trails off, then shrugs. "I wanted to. I don't want to wait anymore, Rick."

His heart leaps in his chest. He's pretty sure he knows what she's talking about: the conversation they had on the swings just a few short weeks ago, that he's been replaying on a loop, where she told him she was working towards something more. He'd assumed she was talking about them, about a relationship, but there's always been a sliver of doubt.

But now…does he dare to hope?

She squeezes his hands and steps closer, so they're almost touching, and he can almost feel her heart beating against his. "So, what do you say we give you and me a shot?"

He can't contain the wide grin that overtakes his face. "You threw me an elaborate Halloween party in like a day, because I was sad," he points out. "I can't exactly say no after that, can I?" When her face falls just slightly, he forces himself to let go of one of her hands so he can cup her jaw. "Kate, I've been waiting for you to say that for years," he admits.

Her smile lights up the room, and she leans up to kiss him again, but before he can give into the temptation to trap her against the wall and deepen it, she steps away and tugs at his hand. "Later," she promises.

He starts to pull his hand away when she opens the door, unsure of what kind of level of PDA she'll be comfortable with, but she tightens her grip and gives him a reassuring smile. They get several knowing looks when they re-enter the party, even some good-natured teasing. Much to his surprise, she stays at his side all night, and even before they finally leave and go back to her place, he knows there's nowhere else he'd rather be.