Chapter Three
Thanksgiving
Season Three AU
"Katherine, I'm so glad you're here!"
Kate leans into the hug Martha greets her with, then shrugs off her coat when she's released. "Me too. I'm glad I could find someone to change shifts with," she added, following the older woman towards the kitchen.
Castle's head appears from behind the island, and Kate presses her fingers against her mouth to stifle a grin. He looks, for lack of a better word, frazzled. He has stubble on his cheeks - which she certainly doesn't mind - and either his hair has changed color overnight, or there's flour in it.
"Hey, you made it!" he exclaims, a wide grin overtaking the stress lining his face. "I meant to be done, but, well…"
Kate shrugs and peeks over the island. He appears to be cleaning flour off the floor, which explains his hair, and he jumps when the oven starts to beep. "Can I help with anything?"
"And that's my cue," Martha interjects with a wink. "I'll be upstairs."
Castle takes something out of the oven - apple pie, if her nose is right - and places it on the counter, then goes back to wiping the floor. "Nope, that's the last of the cooking. I'll just get changed, then we can eat when Alexis gets home." When Kate raises a brow, he answers her unspoken question. "She's at a friend's house."
"A friend?" Kate prods with a smirk.
Castle lifts a shoulder. "A friend who's a boy."
"I see." Kate holds out the grocery tote she's brought. "Good thing I brought more than one bottle."
Castle takes the bag from her and looks inside, his face lighting up at the wine. "Excellent. Thank you."
"It's the least I could do since you forbade me from contributing any food."
"Great. Go ahead and pop one open." He hands her a corkscrew, then retreats to his room.
Kate pours them both a glass, a very generous one for him, and makes herself comfortable on the couch. She leans against the arm and curls her feet up under her, glances towards Castle's closed bedroom door as she sips her wine.
He emerges after just a few minutes, wearing jeans and a blue sweater and his hair flour-less, and Kate smiles to herself when she notices that he didn't shave. She hands him his glass and he groans when he joins her on the couch.
"Thanks, Beckett," he says, tilting the glass towards hers before taking a long drink. "Oh, this is really good."
They're silent for a few minutes as they drink, Kate enjoying the variety of smells that surround them. Potatoes, turkey, apple and pumpkin pie. Smells of Thanksgiving.
"Who'd you switch with?" Castle eventually asks, breaking the silence, reaching for the bottle and refilling Kate's empty glass.
"Karpowski. Her girlfriend's parents are in town, and I guess they don't get along. She almost hugged me in relief." She chuckles as she remembers the grateful look on Karpowski's face when they'd traded shifts. It means that Kate has to work the next day, but in her experience working on Black Friday, it should be relatively slow. Not many homicides over the latest video game console.
Castle fixes his gaze on Kate. "I'm really glad you're here," he says, his voice quiet.
She feels her cheeks flush and she looks down at her lap. "Thank you for inviting me."
He looks like he's about to say something, his eyes soft and his body leaning forward just the slightest bit. She wonders if he's thinking about the same thing she is: how she'd recently woken with her head on his shoulder after their brief abduction by government agents, the way he'd gazed in her eyes, like she was the only woman in the world.
The same way he's looking at her now.
He jerks back when the front door opens and Alexis's voice rings through the loft.
"Dad, I'm home! Is Detective Beckett here yet?"
Castle gives Kate an apologetic look as he stands to greet his daughter. "Yeah, she got here a bit ago." He drapes his arm around her shoulder and tugs her to his side. "How was your first dinner?"
"It was good." Alexis smiles when Kate joins them in the dining room. "Hi."
"Hey, Alexis." Kate plays with the stem of her empty glass, unsure of what to do with her hands. What she wants to do is loop her arm through Castle's, to curl her hand around his bicep or thread her fingers through his. She wants to stay with him after dinner, overnight, wants to know what his bed feels like.
What he feels like.
Instead she and Martha serve the food, and she eats way too much, and the four of them play a few rounds of poker - Martha acting as the dealer - before their stomachs settle enough for dessert.
Although Castle tries to persuade her to stay in the guest room she doesn't, instead allows him to have his car service take her home. When she sends him a text letting him know she got home safely, and to thank him again for having her over, he responds with what she thinks might be a slip of his thumb.
The "Always a pleasure, Detective" response is expected.
The heart emoji is not.
That one keystroke keeps her up all night, wondering. Hoping that he'll mention it, that he'll confess feelings that she knows mirror hers. That he'll make a move.
He doesn't make a move. And she's too scared to make it for them.
A/N: I switched prompts 3 and 26 from the list so I could post this one on Thanksgiving. And, for the purpose of this chapter, Kate is single in season 3.