What if, after the case, Kate had gone home and got drunk and then called Rick to come over.
Kate had enjoyed her treasure hunt with Rick, it had been fun, but now she was home alone and she wasn't sure how to cope with that right now. Her eyes landed on her liquor cabinet and she made her mind up on how she was going to spend her evening.
A few hours later there was an empty bottle of scotch on the floor at her feet and her phone was in her hand. Her self control had deserted her about four drinks ago, and the four drinks she'd had since then had completely lowered her inhibitions.
She pressed dial on her phone and waited for the person on the other end to pick up.
-/-
Across town, Rick's phone began to ring. He checked the time and seeing how late it was he frowned. He knew why he was up this late, he was writing, but as he saw the caller ID he wasn't sure why Kate was up unless she'd gotten a call about the case.
"Beckett," he said, picking up the phone, "Is there a case?"
"Nope," Kate slurred, "No case, I just fancied talking to you."
"Are you drunk?" Rick asked in surprise.
"I hope so," Kate said, "Otherwise the bottle of scotch I just drank was a complete waste of time."
Rick didn't know what to say to that. "It's late Kate," he then said, "Maybe you should go to sleep."
"Don't wanna," Kate whined, "Come and get drunk with me Castle."
Other than the clear intoxication there was something else in her voice that made Rick pause. "Is something wrong Beckett?" he asked softly.
"Only that I'm alone and I need some help with this second bottle," Kate said, sloshing her second bottle near the mouthpiece of the phone.
"I'll be over in twenty minutes ok Beckett," Rick said, coming to a decision, "Don't start without me ok."
"No promises," Kate said, drawing out the s as she hung up.
Rick had no intention of getting drunk with Kate, there was clearly something bothering her, but he was worried about her being alone in her current state. He left a note for Alexis, in case she woke up while he was dealing with Kate, and headed out of the door. He hailed a cab and gave the driver Kate's address and then sat back and thought about what might have gotten to Kate. He knew it had been a hard case for her, with Royce and everything that had happened with him, but she'd had hard cases before and she'd never called him drunk at one-thirty in the morning. He was worried about her.
He fidgeted in the back of the cab, impatiently waiting to arrive at Kate's. Once they arrived he threw some rolled up bills his way, told him to keep the change, and then headed up to Kate's apartment.
He knocked on the door and winced as he heard something heavy hit the floor and Kate curse softly. The door was then pulled open with so much force he thought it would pop off its hinges and he saw Kate standing in front of him.
Her hair was up in a messy bun and she was wearing the same loose pink top he'd first seen when they'd been chasing the Nikki Heat serial killer, but now it was hanging off her shoulder, exposing far more skin than he'd been expecting to see, and she didn't seem to even notice or care.
"Castle," she greeted both taking a drink from the bottle in her hand, "Come on in."
She stumbled back to the sofa and fell onto it, leaving Rick standing in the doorway completely dumbstruck.
"Come drink with me Ricky boy," Kate instructed.
Her voice snapped him out of his confused trance and he went into the apartment, firmly shutting the door behind him.
Looking around he saw that there was one empty bottle on the floor but that was the only thing that seemed to be out of place he was pleased to see, it seemed that even with Kate being as drunk as she was still a bit of a neat freak.
"So what's up Beckett?" Rick asked, slowly walking towards her and perching on the edge of the couch.
"What makes you think something is up?" Kate asked indignantly, "I'm absolutely fine." She waved her arm through the air and some of the scotch sloshed out and down her arm. "Whoops," she said before licking at the liquid that was running down her arm.
Leaning forward Rick snagged the bottle from her before she spilt any more of it.
"Give it back," Kate ordered, holding her hands out for the bottle.
"I thought you wanted me to drink," Rick said, thinking fast.
"Ok then," Kate said, "Have a drink then." There was a challenge in her voice that Rick hadn't been expecting.
He took a drink and winced as the liquid burnt his mouth and throat. Kate tried to pull the bottle back but Rick held it out of her reach.
"No fair," Kate moaned, "Give it back."
"Not yet," Rick said, "You need to tell me what's wrong first."
"There's nothing wrong," Kate pouted. She then did something that Rick really hadn't been expecting and she crossed her arm over her chest and glared at him.
"Beckett," Rick stated, "You're pissed as a fart, there's something wrong and you're not having your drink back until you tell me what."
"Fine," Kate said. She then got an evil glint in her eye. "But if you want me to tell you anything you need to drink some more."
"I don't want to drink Beckett," Rick told her.
"Then I won't tell you what you want to know," Kate informed him smugly, "And I have more booze I can go and find, you won't be able to take it all off me."
Rick sighed. "Can I at least have a glass please?" he said in resignation.
"Sure thing you great girl," Kate told him, getting to her feet and starting to wobble her way towards the kitchen.
"Sit down Beckett," Rick said, jumping to his feet, "Just tell me where they are and I'll grab one."
"Over there," Kate muttered, waving her hand in the general direction of the kitchen before sinking back into her seat.
Rick rolled his eyes but went into the kitchen and on the second attempt found the cupboard with the glasses in it. He grabbed two, filled one with water, and then headed back towards where Kate was watching him over the back of the sofa.
"Drink," he instructed, handing Kate the glass of water.
"You first."
Rick sighed but poured himself a drink and took a slug, wincing once again. Kate laughed at him and then drank deeply from her glass. She then pulled a face. "This is water," she complained, "I don't want water, I want alcohol."
"Finish that first," Rick bargained, "And then I'll top the glass up with booze ok?"
"Ok," Kate agreed. She downed the rest of the glass and then held it out towards Rick. He took it from her, her hand was moving way too much for him to even attempt filling the glass while she was holding it, and poured some of the scotch into it.
"Don't drink it all at once," he cautioned as he handed it back to her.
"Whatever you say, boss," Kate said, taking a swig and then putting the glass down.
Rick copied her motion and then looked at her expectantly. "So what's up Beckett?"
Kate sighed. "I wasn't lying to Royce on the phone," she admitted, "I really did love him. I wasn't just saying it to keep him on the phone, I meant it."
Rick looked at her in shocked silence and then took another drink. She had played it so cool at the precinct that he'd believed her when she said it had just been a play to get him to stay on the phone.
"I'm sorry Kate," he said, "I knew he meant a lot to you but you really meant it when you said he was breaking your heart didn't you."
Kate nodded sadly and took another swig from her glass.
"He meant so much to me," she confided, "And then he played me like a fiddle and I felt so betrayed. And all for money." The last bit was said in anger and she drained the rest of her glass.
Realising that Kate was hurting Rick refilled her glass without a word. She probably should stop drinking, but she looked so upset and angry that he couldn't help but feel sorry for her, and maybe right now what she needed was a friend to get blackout drunk with.
"Shall I call Lanie?" he asked, "So you've got a friend here who can help you."
"You're my friend Rick," Kate pointed out as she took another drink, "Even after that crap you pulled over the summer, leaving us all behind and going to the Hamptons with your ex-wife."
Rick blinked in surprise at that, he hadn't realised that his leaving with Gina had been such a sore spot for her.
"And then you didn't call when you came back," Kate continued.
Rick wanted to say something but Kate carried on talking, not giving him a chance.
"I loved Royce," she said again, "But obviously he didn't love me." She took another drink and then looked Rick right in the eye. "Like you too clearly."
"What?" Rick chocked out.
"I thought I loved you too Rick," Kate said, "And I thought you did too, I thought that was why you'd invited me up to the Hamptons, but then you went swanning off with your ex-wife and I realised that I'd gotten it wrong."
Rick stared at her in silence, then downed what was left of his drink before pouring himself another one and downing it in one.
Kate also took a drink. "But then again," she said, "It's probably my fault. You thought I was going away with Demming that weekend, so you made other plans. You didn't know I'd dumped him because I'd realised that I didn't want to be with him."
Rick swallowed hard. He really shouldn't be hearing this. All of Kate's normal barriers were down and she was sharing things that sober Kate never would have shared with him.
"I think I should go, Kate," Rick said, getting to his feet, "If you were sober you'd never be telling me these things."
"Don't leave me again Rick," Kate begged, "I don't think I can take it."
Rick's heart broke at her words. He really should go but he didn't want to hurt Kate anymore than he clearly already had.
"Ok," he said, sitting back down, "I'll stay but we need to talk about something else ok. I don't want you to regret all of this in the morning ok."
Kate took another drink. "Ok," she said.
Rick nodded and took another drink. "Why do I fall for people who I can't have?" she then asked and Rick choked on his latest mouthful of drink, so much for changing the subject.
"I mean Royce was my training officer and someone I could never have, and then there was you," she said, "I thought you felt the same way but obviously not."
"Kate," Rick interrupted quickly, "Maybe you want to talk about something else?"
"Why would I want to talk about something else?" Kate asked, "Royce just broke my heart, and then you broke it all over again over the summer." She held up her glass. "And this is helping fix both."
"Is there anything I can do?" Rick asked.
Kate shrugged, the movement pulling her off balance slightly. Once she righted herself she stared hard at Rick. "You can get drunk with me Rick."
"No Kate," Rick said softly, "Is there anything else I can do to help?"
"Go back in time and tell me not to break up with Demming," Kate said, "Or do break up with Demming but don't get the courage up to try and tell you about my feelings for you to then waltz off into the sunset with your ex-wife."
"I'm really sorry Kate," Rick said, "I thought you were happy with Demming so I used Gina and the book as an excuse to bow out gracefully." The drinks he'd had had obviously gone to his head more than he realised because his filter had gone. "I couldn't be around to two of you so I left. Was it cowardly? Yes. But did I have to do it? Also yes," he sighed. "Screw it," he muttered to himself as he downed his glass and poured himself another one.
"Wooo," Kate cheered as she raised and drained her own glass, "Let's get drunk Castle."
She held her glass out for a refill but Rick shook his head. He placed his glass on the table and then grabbed Kate's and put it beside it. He then took hold of Kate's wrist and held it tight so she couldn't grab either his full glass or the bottle to refill hers.
She tried to struggle but in her addled state, all she managed to do was pull her shirt even further down her shoulders. Rick took a deep breath and quickly pulled the sleeves back up, trying to cover at least some of her skin.
He knew that if he had done this if she'd been sober he'd be in a heap on the floor right now in considerable amounts of pain.
"I need you to talk to me Kate," he said, his voice clear, "I need to know what's going on in that head of yours. Other than the fact you've had so much to drink that your eyeballs are floating right now."
"Are not," Kate retorted. She then crossed her eyes as if to check that they were both still there and not floating.
Rick had to shake his head to try and keep his thoughts on track, the alcohol was beginning to affect him, but watching Kate trying to check that her eyes were still there made him start the laugh.
"What's so funny?" Kate demanded, her eyes now facing front but still very unfocused.
"You," Rick said honestly.
"Huh," Kate replied.
She reached for the booze again and Rick slapped her hand away.
"Hey," she cried indignantly.
"No," Rick said firmly, "Not until we talk about this."
"One more shot each," Kate bargained.
Feeling the need for a bit of liquid courage Rick nodded in agreement. He poured some more liquid into Kate's glass and handed it to her. He then picked his glass up.
"Cheers," Kate said, holding her glass out in her unsteady hand towards Rick. He touched his glass against hers and then they both threw their heads back and drank, slamming down their glasses on the table at the same time.
"I didn't know," Rick said, "That you broke up with Demming, so I tried to move on."
"Of course you didn't know," Kate said, "I never told you. I was going to tell you but then Gina appeared and I never got the chance."
"And what were you going to tell me?" Rick asked.
Kate sighed. "I was going to ask if the offer to go to the Hamptons was still on the table and if I could come with you," she said, "I was going to tell you that I'd broken up with Demming and that I wanted to come with you for the weekend."
"And then I screwed it up," Rick finished for her, "When Gina appeared and we went away to the Hamptons together."
"And then, even though you said you'd see me in the fall you never even called when you got back into town," Kate continued, "And god I hated you for that." She sighed again and Rick was horrified to see tears appearing in her eyes. "And then you turned up and you didn't even mention it. You just expected it to be business as normal. It made me so angry, you waltzed into my life, turned it upside down, got into my head, and then you just walked away from me."
There were still tears in Kate's eyes but she refused to let them fall, instead, she rubbed them away angrily.
"I thought you'd already walked away from me," Rick retorted, "I couldn't deal with you parading around with Demming so I ran."
"I didn't parade him around," Kate said quickly. She then sighed. "No you're right, it wasn't fair on you. I should have told you about me and him as soon as it happened, and I should have told you when we broke up."
"What can we do to fix this?" Rick then asked her.
"More drink?" Kate suggested.
"I think you've had more than enough detective," Rick told her.
Kate thought for a moment before she nodded. "Yeah," she said, "You're probably right." She looked at the empty bottle on the floor and the nearly empty bottle on the table. "Boy am I going to feel this in the morning."
"Yeah," Rick agreed, "I wouldn't want to be you in the morning."
"At least I'm not working," Kate said.
She then sighed. "Thank you for coming over Rick," she said. She looked at the bottles again. "Why did it take a bottle and a half of booze to get us to talk about this Rick?"
"Because you're a closed book and I hide behind my playboy persona when anything gets too serious," Rick said matter of factly.
"You're probably right," Kate said with a hiccup.
She and Rick looked at each other and then the two of them started laughing. Kate hiccuped again and the laughing got harder until Rick suddenly also hiccuped. They both froze and then the laughter started again, even harder this time.
"I think it's time for you to go to bed," Rick then told Kate.
"Not yet," Kate said.
Rick looked at her in confusion. "I'm not letting you drink anymore Kate," he told her.
"That what wasn't what I had in mind," Kate said, her voice suddenly soft. She hiccuped again and frowned angrily.
"Okaaaaay," Rick said, stretching out the second syllable.
"Close your eyes," Kate told him.
"If I hear that bottle move Kate I won't be pleased."
"Close your eyes, Rick," Kate instructed again.
Rick did as he was told.
"Don't move," Kate then instructed.
Rick froze, he had no idea where this was going, but he did as he was told and didn't move a muscle.
He could hear Kate moving around and was tempted to peak, to make sure she wasn't going for another drink, but she had asked him to keep his eyes shut so he did. Normally she was quiet when she moved, but drunk Kate didn't quite have the same ability to be sneaky. She was moving closer to him and then he felt as she stopped. She was so close he could feel her breath on his skin and the slight touch of the fabric of her shirt against his skin.
"Don't move," Kate instructed again, but this time her voice was barely louder than a whisper.
Rick swallowed hard but otherwise didn't move. He was worried about where this was going to go, but he dared not move.
He stopped breathing as he felt the ghost of a touch on his lips. The touch then disappeared and Rick began to open his eyes. "No," Kate said, "Keep them shut."
His barely opened eyes snapped shut again and he kept his breathing shallow. He could still feel Kate's breath on his face, and now he was breathing again he could smell her. The alcohol was the strongest smell but there was an undertone of the familiar cherry scent he'd smelt for the first time so long ago.
His heart skipped a beat as he felt Kate's lips press firmly against his. She moved so that she was straddling him and her hands came up to cup his face.
"Kate," Rick muttered, gently pushing her away from him and opening his eyes, "We can't do this."
He saw her face drop and she moved to get off his lap. He reached out and grabbed her waist to stop her though. "Kate," he said, their faces so close he was whispering, "Don't get me wrong I would love to do this with you but right now you're about two drinks away from being passed out on the floor."
"I'm not that drunk," Kate muttered.
Rick ignored her and continued. "And I don't want you to look back on this and regret it, or feel like I took advantage of you."
He let go of Kate and she slid off his lap and sat down on the sofa beside him. "Since when have you been such a gentleman?" she asked, "I thought you jumped at the chance of getting into bed with anyone."
Rick just smiled softly at her.
"Let's get you into bed," he then, getting to his feet. He wobbled slightly but stayed upright.
"I take it back," Kate said, "You're not a gentleman."
Rick shook his head and offered Kate his hand. "You're going to be alone," Rick told her, "Don't worry."
Kate took her hand and Rick pulled her up, and then caught her as she stumbled. She started giggling and lent heavily against Rick's side. He supported her the best he could as he half walked, half dragged her to her room.
"Go to sleep," he told her, sitting her down on her bed.
"Sure thing boss man," Kate said. Standing had clearly made the alcohol go back to her head, the sobriety she'd been showing briefly earlier had now completely vanished.
Rick shook his head but smiled. That he would remember, and at some point, he was definitely going to rub her face in it.
He walked out of her bedroom and into the kitchen. He grabbed two clean glasses from the cabinet and filled both of them. He drank some from his glass and then headed back into Kate's room carrying the other. He paused in the doorway and smiled, she was passed out, half under the duvet and half out of the bed. He put the glass on the bedside table and then gently moved the duvet, rolled Kate into bed, and then tucked her in. She muttered something in her sleep but Rick couldn't understand it, it just sounded like drunk talk to him.
He then headed back into the sitting room and drank the rest of his water. He looked at his watch and saw that it was now four am. It took him such a long time to actually read his watch which made him realise that he was in no state to be doing anything. He also wanted to stick around to make sure that Kate was ok and didn't fall out of bed or choke on her own vomit or something.
He drained the rest of his water, refilled the glass, drained it again, and then refilled it again before going to the sofa and lying down. He took one last glance at Kae's bedroom door before he shut his eyes and went to sleep.
-/-
The next morning Kate rolled over in her bed and groaned, her head felt like a samba band was leading a parade around it. Squinting her eyes against the blinding light she saw a glass of water on the bedside table and reached for it. She drained it and then attempted to sit up.
It took her a few attempts but when she managed it last night came flooding back to her. "Oh crap," she muttered, "What the hell did I do?" She couldn't believe that not only had she drunk dialled Rick and talked him into coming over, she'd also spilled her heart to him and then to top it all off she'd straddled him and tried to make a move on him.
She groaned and dropped her head into her hands, and then winced as that sent a lance of pain through her skull. "I am never drinking again," she vowed.
She slowly got to her feet, she had to go to the toilet, and then she'd go and refill her water and find some painkillers. She shuffled her way to the bathroom and did her business before she shuffled her way to the kitchen. On the way, she froze when she saw Rick passed out on her sofa.
After thinking about it she was touched that he had stayed but mortified about what had happened the night before. She also realised that he had been the one to tuck her into bed and leave her with a glass of water on the nightstand. "Damn it," she muttered to herself.
She continued her slow shuffle to the kitchen and refilled her glass before searching through one of the kitchen draws until she found some aspirin. She took some herself with a swig of water and then shuffled her way over to where Rick was lying on the sofa.
"Castle," she said, nudging his knee with her own.
He groaned but opened his eyes and looked at her.
"Here," she said, offering him the bottle of aspirin.
"Ugh," he said as he took it from him. He sat up and held his head with one hand while grabbing his water with the other. He had a drink and then opened the pill bottle and swallowed a few.
"How you feeling this morning?" he asked Kate.
"Ugh," she replied. She nudged his knees with hers until he got the message and moved so his feet were on the floor and she sat down heavily beside him.
"What are you still doing here?" she asked him in a whisper, anything louder would have set her head off.
"Once I put you to bed I realised I was in no state to be going home so I crashed on the sofa," he explained, also in a whisper, "Is that ok?"
"Yeah," Kate said, "Seems only fair after I called you across town in the middle of the night."
"I was awake anyway," Rick assured her, "I was writing." He removed his head from his hands and looked at Kate. "Plus, it was worth it. We obviously needed to have a conversation and I don't think we would have had it sober."
"You're probably right," Kate accepted. "I'm sorry by the way," she then said, her voice now even quieter again.
"For what?" Rick asked.
"For coming onto you last night," Kate said, feeling the heat in her cheeks as she spoke, "But I also want to say thank you for stopping it before it went too far."
"It's ok," Rick assured her, "I didn't want to take advantage of you in your altered mental state."
Kate giggled and then winced and clutched at her head again. "I hate alcohol."
Rick nodded in agreement. "You seemed to be enjoying it last night," he teased.
Kate just turned her head in her hands and stared at him. He smiled at her and winked.
"So about last night," Rick said, his voice suddenly serious, "Do you want to talk about it?"
"Any part in particular?" Kate asked, putting her head back in her hands and looking down at the floor. She wanted nothing more than to run away right now but she owed it to Rick, and to herself to sit here and talk about it. Also, there was a pretty good chance that if she tried to move anywhere too fast she'd fall on her ass.
"Any of it, all of it, none of it," Rick said, "Up to you, this is your show."
"How about we start with what we both said last night," Kate suggested.
"Everything I said was true," Rick told her, "And I'm sorry that I hurt you, I never meant to."
"And I'm sorry I hurt you," Kate told him.
They both looked sideways at each other. "And about the other thing," Kate continued, "The booze made me do it."
"I guessed as much," Rick replied, his voice guarded.
"But it is something I think about doing when I'm sober," Kate admitted, "I just never act on those feelings. The scotch took away my self-control last night so I just did what I've always wanted to do." She paused for a second before continuing. "I'm glad in a way," she said, "Because it made me realise something. You came back and you started to fix what had been broken, and I didn't make it easy for you." She pulled her head out of her hands and sat up. Rick copied her motion and the two of them looked each other fully in the face. "Once we've both gotten over our hangovers we need to sit and have a serious chat about a few things," Kate said, her voice leaving no room for argument, "But until then I just want to do this."
She moved slowly, but it was as fast as she was capable of in her current state, and pulled his head towards hers. She kissed him, her lips pressing against his softly, just for a few seconds, before she pulled back and rested her forehead against his.
"I'd like to see where this goes," she admitted, "Maybe, if that's what you want."
Rick brought his hand up and placed it on her cheek.
"I'd like that Kate, I really would."
