A Time to Heal
Chapter 7
Popcorn
AS they sat on the couch watching the movie, Castle was debating with himself about whether or not to ask her about her scar. The first thing he had noticed when she came out of the bathroom was how cute she looked in his shirt. The second thing was that she had it buttoned all the way up to her neck. It made him think about what Alexis had said about her being self-conscious about her scar. He figured this was the perfect opportunity to address it. He also figured that to ask was to risk her shutting him out again. In the end, he decided that he wasn't willing to ruin a great night. Reluctantly, he sat back and just tried to enjoy the movie.
After about a half an hour, Kate suddenly sat up. Lying in the dark watching the t.v. was making her sleepy. "I think we need some popcorn, Castle."
"Sounds good. I'll be right back." He started to get up, but she pulled him back down.
"Sit. I'll get it." She smacked him playfully when she saw the look on his face. "Don't worry. Microwave popcorn is my specialty."
She went into the kitchen and found the popcorn. Putting it in the microwave, she went to the refrigerator to get the butter. After the popcorn was popped, she put a small cup of butter in the microwave to melt. When it was done she put the popcorn and butter in a large bowl and added an obscene amount of salt. The result was a buttery mess that tasted remarkably like the popcorn from a movie theater. Balancing a handful of napkins, a couple of cold sodas, and the bowl of popcorn, she went back into the living room and sat down.
Castle took a bite and groaned. "This is amazing!"
She smiled and took a bite. "See, aren't you sorry you doubted me?"
She pressed play, and they settled back on the couch to continue watching the movie. Several minutes passed while they watched, happily munching on the popcorn. Although the movie was one that he normally would enjoy, Castle was having a hard time concentrating on it with Kate snuggled up to his side. He gave up even pretending to watch when he looked over and caught her licking butter off of her fingers. The next time she took a bite of the popcorn, she glanced over at him and saw him watching her.
"What?" she asked. 'Please tell me he is not watching me eat again,' she thought.
Instead of answering her, he took her hand and without breaking eye contact, brought her finger up to his lips. Before she knew what he was about to do, he slowly sucked her finger into his mouth, licking the butter off of it. She didn't even have time to react before he leaned over and kissed her on her mouth.
He tasted like butter, salt and… Castle. The combination was intoxicating. She felt his fingers tangle in her hair and allowed hers to do the same, letting her fingers slide through his hair before resting on his shoulders.
Several minutes later, she reluctantly pulled away. "Hey," she said breathlessly. "I hate to state the obvious here, but your mom is right upstairs and your daughter could come in the door any minute."
"My mom is in bed for the night, and Alexis calls before she leaves for home. But you're right. This isn't the time or the place." He smiled sheepishly. "Guess I got a little carried away."
She smiled and kissed him briefly. "I guess I forgive you."
This time as they sat back to watch the movie, he forced himself to keep his eyes on the television screen and focus on the movie. When he inevitably gave in to the temptation to look at her, he was surprised and mildly amused to find that she had fallen asleep with her head on his shoulder. Careful not to wake her, he gently turned sideways and moved her over so that she was resting with her head on his chest. Almost afraid to breath for fear of waking her, he sat there watching her sleep.
He had just started dozing off himself, when felt her start moving around and heard her cry out. He looked down at her, concerned. Although she was still asleep, she was becoming more and more agitated, apparently having a nightmare.
He gently shook her. "Kate. Kate, wake up."
She suddenly jerked awake, looking confused. "Castle?"
"Yeah, it's me." He could feel her trembling and pulled her close. "Shh, it's okay. You're okay."
She let herself be comforted for just a minute until she became fully awake, then she pushed herself out of his arms. "What time is it?"
He looked at his watch. "A little after 11:00." He pushed her hair out of her eyes. "That must have been some dream."
She quickly stood up. "It's getting late. I better go."
"Not so fast. I can tell that that dream really shook you up. Talk to me." 'Please talk to me,' he thought to himself.
"It was just a dream. I'm fine." He didn't look convinced. "Really. It's no big deal. I'm used to it."
"You're used to it? You have bad dreams a lot?" The fact that she suffered from nightmares bothered him, although after all she had been through he shouldn't be surprised.
"Forget it. Listen, I really do have to go."
"You know, it might help to talk about it."
"I don't want to talk about it, Castle," she said sounding irritated.
"Really?" he asked sounding irritated himself. "You don't want to talk about it? Why doesn't that surprise me?"
When she didn't say anything, he gave up. It was late and he didn't want to fight. "You know what, just forget I said anything. Go home and get some rest."
She walked over to the door then turned around and smiled. "I had a really great time tonight. Thank you for inviting me." She waited for a second, wishing he would come over and kiss her goodbye. When he didn't she walked out.
After shutting the door, she leaned against it briefly before heading towards her car. She was feeling very disappointed. She really had enjoyed her dinner and a movie with Castle and wished it hadn't ended the way it did. She decided to put it out of her head for tonight so she could try and do as Castle had said, go home and get some sleep. Her father was coming over in the morning and that had her a little on edge.
She hadn't told Castle because she had a feeling that if he knew he would want to come over and meet him. Having him meet her father seemed so serious and she just wasn't ready for that.
THE next day, Kate and her father were eating lunch when there was a knock at the door. She opened it and was surprised to see Castle standing there.
"Hey, can I come in?"
She looked over her shoulder at her father. "Now's not a good time. Can I call you later?"
He didn't miss her glance back and wondered who was there that she didn't want him to see. Josh immediately came to mind.
"I just wanted to check and make sure you were okay. I was worried about you after last night. But I can see you're busy, so…"
"Hey Rick," her father said, walking up behind Kate so that Castle could see him.
He smiled, relieved that she was entertaining her father and not Josh. "Jim! Hi. Kate didn't tell me you were in town. How are you?" They shook hands as Castle walked into the room.
Kate looked back and forth between Castle and her father, confused. Looking at Castle, she said, "You know my father? How do you know my father?" He thought back to when Jim had come to see him when he was so worried about his daughter. So much had happened since then that he hadn't thought to mention their meeting and obviously Jim hadn't either.
Before either of them could answer, she turned to him and said, "Castle, I think it's best if you go now. I would like to talk to my father alone." He could tell that she was furious and was confused. He understood why she would be upset that neither of them had mentioned their meeting, but her reaction was way over the top.
He was shocked when she went off on him. "I can't believe you would go behind my back and go see my father! If I wanted you to be involved with that part of my life, I would have invited you. You invaded my personal life, Castle and I don't appreciate it!" When he didn't immediately move, she stormed over to the door and forcefully pulled it open. "I need you to leave. Now."
Castle was so angry that he left without even trying to set the record straight, shutting the door loudly behind him.
When the door shut, Kate spun around to confront her father who was also confused about her over-reaction to the situation.
"You want to tell me what that was all about?"
"What that was about is Castle over stepping his bounds. He always does that. If I draw a line, he just has to cross it. And you…why didn't you tell me that he came to see you? Didn't you think that something I would want to know?"
He let her finish her rant, knowing from years of experience that trying to interrupt her would only make things worse.
"Are you done?" he asked when she finally stopped. She nodded. "Well, first of all, Rick didn't come to see me, I went to see him."
"What? Why?"
He went and sat down on the couch and she joined him. "It was when you were trying to hunt down Lockwood. You were so determined and I was so scared. I figured he was the only one who might have a chance to get you to drop it, so I went to his loft to talk to him. After everything that happened... well I just didn't think about it again. I wasn't trying to hide it, and I'm sure Rick wasn't either."
She buried her face in her hands for a moment as she realized the mistake she had made by accusing Castle.
"Don't worry," he said knowing what she was thinking. "He'll forgive you. He's crazy about you, you know."
She looked at him curiously. "Why him? What in the world made you think that he could stop me?"
He shook his head, smiling. "Maybe because every time I talked to you I heard 'Castle said this, Castle did that.' I had never heard you talk about anyone else like you did about him. I could tell that he was someone you might listen to and I thought it was worth a shot."
She was very surprised and a little embarrassed to learn that she had talked about Castle that much.
"So tell me, Katie, how are things with you and Castle?"
She bit her lip, trying to decide what to tell her father. As a rule, she didn't have really personal conversations with him, but she was feeling so conflicted about her feelings for Castle and she did feel the need to talk to someone. Since she couldn't talk to Lanie, she decided to give her father a try.