Kate waited for Rick to go behind the curtain before she ran to open the package. True to her word, Martha put in a small bottle of scented body lotion, and bless her, some hair conditioner. There were also several paperbacks, some magazines and two decks of cards? Curious, she opened both, one held a deck of cards but the other held an IPod, obviously for her from Alexis. A note was attached to the small device. "Please take care of him for me. Thank you, A."
Kate took it, one book, a few magazines, the conditioner and lotion to her bed. She rolled her eyes at the name of the lotion, Calgon Perfect Bliss but after an experimental sniff, she did like the smell. Best of all after putting on the lotion, her skin didn't feel so dry and itchy. Settling in bed, trying to get comfortable. Kate used a blanket from another bed and folded it to try to get some cushioning between her butt and the rock hard mattress. Turning on the IPod, Kate smiled to hear one of her favorite tunes from Sarah McLachlan, In the Arms of an Angel.
The song's words spoke to her. Kate Beckett had nearly lost it after her mother had been murdered. With a lot of help, she had finally accepted that the killer might never be found. Kate never told anyone at the precinct about what happened, yet they all seemed to know but never spoke about it. She would never forget her mom or how she died but Kate learned that she had to get past it or go crazy. She also learned that no matter how hard she tried in her job, they would never be able to get justice for everyone. She was still working on that one! Listening to the song, Kate unconsciously reached for her mom's necklace but remembered that she'd lost it and her dad's watch. That still hurt but she had all her memories and those couldn't be destroyed. Too tired to read, she flipped through a few of the magazines and listened to several other songs. After a few minutes, she returned to the first song again and turned up the volume.
"Spend all your time waiting for that second chance, for the break that will make it OK. There is always some reason not to feel good enough and it hard at the end of the day. I need some distraction." The melody of the familiar song slowly lulled her into a deep sleep.
Castle had to wash himself twice to remove any trace of the smell of the decontamination fluids. The soap they had provided was horrible, he missed his Paul Sebastian shower gel. Rick dried off and pulled on a pair of scrub pants. He tossed the wet towel in the hamper, grabbed the scrub top and pushed back the curtain. Pulling on the top as he walked by Beckett's bed. He stopped to watch her sleep for a minute. Sniffing the air and was surprised to smell the lotion that Alexis sometimes used. He liked the smell of cherries on Kate much better. Rick smiled at how peaceful she looked and was about to walk to his bed but heard the muted sound of the music. Puzzled, Rick looked closer and saw his daughter's IPod in Kate's hand.
Castle often went into his daughter's room at night just to watch her sleep. He had lost track of how many nights Alexis had fallen asleep with music from that IPod playing at full blast. He had never understood how anyone could do that but quickly learned how to turn the music off and gently remove the ear buds. He'd also learned to move the fragile unit to the relative safety of the nightstand because like him, Alexis was a very restless sleeper.
Stepping closer to Beckett, Rick debated if he should turn it off. He didn't want Kate to wake suddenly if he turned the sound off and see him hovering over her. However, he just couldn't resist the chance to watch her sleep so closely. The Kate Beckett he saw on the job was pretty but now...she really was Sleeping Beauty. Castle held his breath and gently touched the button that turned the unit off. He waited but she never stirred. With practiced ease he removed the ear buds and placed the unit on the hospital table beside Kate. He very much wanted to kiss her, just as he always kissed Alexis goodnight but decided not to.
Kate helped him out big time today with his daughter. Somehow she knew that he had never been very good at saying no to Alexis...well any woman really. He didn't want to screw up the trust he felt building between them. Why was it so hard to get to know her? He had always had an easy time with most woman but none of his usual moves worked with Kate. He knew she had been hurt by that arrogant ass Sorenson...but there had been someone or something else. When they first met, Rick remembered that she had looked so sad, lost and damaged when he told Kate that she became a cop because she had lost someone close. He had to find out who she lost and how. He wanted to fix it somehow or at least give her some closure.
If he was brutally honest with himself, he started shadowing Beckett because he was attracted to her. She was the first woman in a very long time who seemed indifferent to his charm. Maybe it started as a game to see how long it would take for him to win her over... but now it was so much more. Kate fascinated him. She was beautiful, strong, tough, smart and so very good at what she did. Castle had never met anyone that could go toe to toe with him in a verbal chess match and she even beat him in poker, once or twice. Sometimes lately they finished each other's sentences. He wanted her, hell yeah! Any man with a pulse would but he refused to fall in love with her. Love just never worked out for him. Every woman that ever said that she loved him, had left him. Since his last divorce, he would meet someone who caught his eye, after hello he had a few sweaty sessions under the sheets and then a quick goodbye. This thing with Kate, whatever it was, was new for him. For once in his life Rick Castle had no idea how to proceed, so for now it was baby steps...banter was allowed, she seemed to like that. So if Kate said anything to him about the iPod, he would simply say she was asleep and there was no sense in wasting the batteries.
Pleased with his plan, Castle walked back to the bed that Kate had pointed out to him. He toyed briefly with the idea of moving to the bed right beside her but flopped down on his bed but then got up just as quickly. Pulling back the blanket and sheet, he was expecting to find a slab of metal or stone not an ugly stripped mattress. Curious, he tested the bed next to him but that mattress was also rock hard. How could Kate get any sleep? Then he noticed that she folded the blanket from the bed next to her as padding. Rick copied her actions and found it was now a little more comfortable. He selected one of the books his mother sent and was soon absorbed in the new Grisham story.