Kimmiesjoy and I don't look for theories...we hunt!
Castle Theory #5
His home and even his office are the same from the last time she saw them, save the addition of a few new photos. She meandered through his office, looking around at his things, skimming her fingers along shelves and various positions. There are more books now, she noticed as she moved along, and she felt a pang of jealousy towards his new muse, the cop with fierce eyes and quick wit clearly inspiring.
She shook the thought from her mind, continuing through the rooms of his loft with focused determination as she sought what she was looking for, what she was told would be here. And when she found it, his study door ajar, she confidently pushed it open, stepping in to the vague familiarity of his work space. The place in which he created these other realities for himself...perhaps to escape. From what, she was still uncertain, or maybe it was him that was unsure of why he wrote such things...
It was right where she thought it would be, large and taking up the focus of the room. The blackness of the silent room was forbidding. And despite what loomed in the depths of his private investigation, the ramifications seemed to have escaped him. He was blinded, she thought, as she took the remote from his desk, flicking on the giant screen.
And like he must have night after night, standing in front of this thing, she found herself lost in the intricate web that had been woven. His brilliant mind had summoned patterns and nuances in detail many would miss. She had always admired him for that. But it was his mind, the things once only planned on paper, that worried her.
This was real life, and he couldn't just insinuate himself into the dangers of someone else's tragedies. Especially when he had no idea what he was getting himself into. No idea of how deep this actually went.
But, from what she could see, tapping at the victims on this web of mystery, the faces milling around, he had gotten quite deep. Her mouth opened in awe at the images blurring and rotating as she flicked through them until one more significant than the rest, caught her attention. Moving forward she clicked the image, enlarging it and making it central.
She stood staring at the face as she seemingly forgot why she was there. But in the back of her mind she knew she hadn't long until she would be interrupted. That he would return from wherever it is he went. Most likely off playing with that woman, his newtoy.
Again she turned her mind away from that woman. At least she tried until she was met with the woman herself.
The image of a ghost.
A face she had seen before, the one who started this whole thing. And now it was staring down at her as if in judgment, watching her as she sought information that did not truly belong to her. She couldn't take the mocking way the intense eyes followed her, and so she tapped at it viciously, reducing it again, wanting it gone from her sight.
But she hadn't long and she'd wasted enough time staring at the woman he seemed so infatuated with and he would back soon, from his rendezvous with her.
She picked up the smart board remote, turning it over in her hand and flipping off the back cover. She removed the batteries and pocketed them, sliding the micro receiver inside. It looked exactly like one of the batteries she replaced, functioned that way as well. She then checked to make sure everything was secure before sliding the cover back in place.
When she heard the key turn in the lock she realized that the board had held her attention longer than it should have. She froze, listening as the door opened and then closed. She quickly moved to the board, clicked it at the screen to check it still worked, and when it did she smiled, turning the board off again.
"Dad?" A young voice called out.
She kept level, moving efficiently at her task calmly as she was trained to do, checking the device she had attached to the back of the monitor. Then the one on his desk, all secure all hidden before she strode into his bedroom and closed the door just as his daughter stepped into his office.
She heard Alexis huff out a breath, mumbling something about hearing things before the study door slammed and not long after the teens feet thumped up the stairs.
She sighed, looking about her now, having escaped through his secret passage to his bedroom.
She had only been in this room once before, a long time ago. In a rush of heat and longing she had soon lost for him...Back when working with him had been a hindrance and something she was compelled to do.
Sneaking into his bedroom had reminded her of the one night they spent together and she grinned as she moved about it. With a perverse sense of pleasure she attached one last device to the bookcase opposite her, before she turned surveying the bed.
This is where she would wait for him.
Three months later
Kate stands at the murder board, clicking through the images on the screen. She has been there a while. Too long really as she stares as the repeated cycle of the same faces, the same clues.
She can hear the ragged and almost terrified breathing of Castle as he waits behind her. Kate hears him move, feels him draw level and watches, though not really because she is still cycling through the images in front of her, as he reaches for the remote in her hand.
"Bec... Kate?" His hand hesitates over hers as if he wants to take the remote away from her but she pulls it back "Can we... can you say something please?" He watches her, like he always does, focused and riveted even as she stands silent and still.
Kate finally meets his eyes "I need..." She closes her eyes, squeezing them shut, knowing she has to ask it of him again, " I need time, Castle."
He opens his mouth, closing it when he realizes there is nothing he can say, no way he can deny her something so simple, and so painful. He nods moving back, leaning against the edge of his desk.
"I just...I need to look...to process." She watches his face, hoping he understands. She needs to stand and stare at the board the way hehas for months on end, she needs the quiet and the calm of...not talking to absorb the enormity of everything he told her.
Mr. Smith. The phone calls, and the late night meetings. The danger and the conflict.
The game.
All of it.
"I need to think." She says honestly, glad when he meets her gaze at last and nods again.
"I.. sure yes. Thinking space.. and time I'll just..." Castle shrugs not knowing what to do with himself, how far to push and invade when he has already overstepped in ways she never imagined.
But it wasn't really overstepping, and she can see that. All those years ago when she asked him to be here for exactly this.
"Coffee?" Kate asks suddenly, something normal, something tangible and them. They lost their rhythm with the everyday and mundane things she took for granted and with everything that has happened, all the events that will lead from this revelation... she just really wants him to bring her a cup of coffee like he used to.
She raises her head and Castle is stunned by the hope in her eyes, the worry he might turn down her request so he smiles "Coffee I can do."
He brushes past her as he leaves the office, his hand closing over hers to squeeze as he goes, fast and completely innocent and wonderful in its reassurance. She hears the soft click of the door behind her, waits until the waters starts running in his kitchen, and then lets out a sigh.
It's not of grief or anger, or frustration. But perhaps an 'I told you so.' to herself. Looking back at this intricate web of information, some she already knew, crafted herself, the rest a whole heap of detail, truth and conjecture that Castle has spent months gathering on her behalf.
Looking at all this now.. she cannot be surprised. He's done it before, in the very beginning, but this time he did it for other reasons.
He did it out of love. To protect her. And she can't be angry at him for it. Thinking back on it now, she had given him permission. She said so herself that she wanted him to be here for her when she finished this once and for all.
What do you want to do?Kate hears in her head. Thinking of her therapy session.
What Kate really wants to do is get over being hurt.
She can feel him behind her then, smell the coffee rising from the steamy cups, and she breathes in the scent of it, along with him. He's at her back, close enough to feel his body heat without him actually touching her.
Kate turns around slowly, eyes looking down at the cups of coffee in his hands. They travel, slowly up, jumping around his body until they rest in his eyes. Not dropping her gaze, she smooths her hand over his, taking one mug at a time and setting them onto the desk beside them. Once his hands are free, she guides one of them to her waist.
"What are you doing, Kate?" He asks as she pushes him back a little, hand moving up his chest until it cups the back of his neck.
"Shh." She breaths low as her eyes dart to his lips.
He visibly gulps, watching her free arm rise up holding the remote, and suddenly the smartboard clicks off, the room falling into darkness. The light flowing in from the rest of the loft casting over her face with gentle illumination, and he sees as she lets the remote slip from her hand. Castle vaguely registers the sound of the plastic hitting the floor before her warm lips are on him.
She pours her new found confidence in them into the kiss, her mouth moulding over his until she feels him respond. His hand snakes its way slowly from her hip to the small of her back, pulling her in more firmly, whilst the other moves to capture her face, her cheek, before finding its home in her hair.
There is no stopping this once it starts. She knows that, on some level she has always known that and clinging on tight she opens her mouth with a moan as his fingers find their way beneath her shirt.
They are so close to his bedroom and his fingers are splayed over the naked skin of her back. Goosebumps rising under his touch and she shivers as the heat envelopes her.
"This," she answers when his mouth finally leaves her, panting heavily to move to her neck "I'm doing this, we're...we..." His mouth closes over hers again drowning out the words and she nips at the edge of lip in frustration.
If he won't let her tell him, she'll show him.
Her fingers drop from his neck, linking over the buttons of his shirt as she presses into him. forcing him backwards and undoing his shirt as she goes, moving him towards the bedroom.
She can feel the falter in his step, the hesitation that they might be rushing and she ignores it, pushing ahead. She did everything she could to be more and now she wants more. And she wants it all, everything, with him.
She's manic with it. The need that crashes over and she thrusts his shirt aside allowing her fingers to skim over his chest. Each muscle ripples under her caress, his breath hot and fast in her mouth with every step backwards.
When they collide with his bedroom door her fingers drop to his waist, catching at the belt buckle and his hands close over her wrists. He pulls her out of the kiss, heaving panting and lips red raw from his devotion. Her eyes are heavy, she can feel it, the lust weighing her down, dragging at her with the need to be closer to him than she ever has been before.
"We don't need to rush this Kate..." He says his mouth opening to launch into some great and noble speech.
She stops it all with one word, silencing him as it leaves her lips.
"Always." She moves then... closer still her hand over his heart, another at his jaw as she sweeps aside any latent doubt, any worry or fear he can have in her. It's the simplest thing in the world to soothe his face as she whispers again "Always Castle."
The glorifying smile that breaks across his face is rapidly replaced by an animalistic look of hunger. Keeping tight hold on her wrists he swaps their positions, growling into her neck as he kisses the skin, teeth scratching at her pulse making her arch into him.
"And the case." He groans, his mouth wet against her neck, when her fingers trail across his abdomen. He pulls one of her trapped hands away from his stomach, pinning it above her head as he starts to open the buttons of her shirt. She stifles a laugh when his fingers trail over her sides, but it cuts off abruptly when he reaches her bra.
He moves from her neck, to her jaw to her lips before he feeds from her mouth one greedy kiss at a time, drawing moans and shivers from her with each sweeping passing of his thumb across the black cotton.
"Together." She finally manages to groan, pushing him away, but pulling him tightly against her as they stumble into the sanctuary of his bedroom. She kicks the door shut after them, molding her body around his "We finish it together Castle."
Her mouth closes over his again as they stumble towards the bed.
C.I.A surveillance unit.
He adjusts the headset, shifting uncomfortably in the seat as the backs of his legs start to go numb. Four hours of talking he has been listening to and it's all starting to get a bit tedious.
He hears the woman speaking again, her voice is kind of hot and he pays attention when she talks, listening to the pitch and quaver of her bedroom voice. He groans when she asks for coffee, he could really go for a cup right about now too. Or Something...
Silence looms through the headset, shuffling feet and he drums his fingers on the desk. There are some seriously boring aspects to this job and he can't wait until he moves away from this desk and...
"What are you doing, Kate?"
The man's voice is...different than normal, no anger no frustration, and he sits up in his chair pulling the mic closer to his ear.
"Shh."He then hears, drawn out in her sexy inviting moan and he wishes he was in that room right now.
"What's going on?" His partner asks, coming up behind him and taking a seat.
"Shut up, it's just about to get good." He replies waving a hand at the man now seated excitedly beside him.
A clatter, and then the sound of heavy breathing, a moan and both men look at each other like they just hit the jackpot. "Who are these people again?" The other guy interrupts the sounds of heavy kissing, small moans and probably wandering hands.
"That lady cop, Beckett, and the author Richard Castle."
"The ones who were here a few months ago?"
"Yea them, Shh. will ya! She's talking again."
"I'm doing this, we're...we..."
"They're what?"
The man's hand moves to cover his mouth "They're going at it." He hisses in shock to his colleague.
The other man's eyes open widely as he leans in to listen "Really?"
"About freaking time." He grumbles as he leans back. "I've been listening to theories and talking...and that writer whining to his mother for months. Finally it's getting good."
There's a loud thud. The sound of ragged heaving breath fills the small room where both men stand listening to the couple. "Dude, I think they just crashed into something, in his office right?"
"Yea, yea." He says hurriedly, waving his other hand for the man to be quiet just as Castle speaks.
"We don't need to rush this Kate..." Castle pants out.
Both men's eyes meet, one snickering and pulling faces at the desperation and want in the writer's voice. "yeah you do..." He whispers "ow!" He bites out suddenly as a fist collides with his shoulder. He looks over to find his friend's attention focused.
"SHHHH!"
"Always Castle."
Scuffling noises fill the room, more heavy breathing and the sounds of the woman moaning. Whatever he is doing she clearly likes.
He swallows thickly as he listens to the heavy pants and moans, the shuffling of cloth as one or other of them starts to strip. He hopes it's her, with the sexy voice, but his imaginings are interrupted but the author.
"And the case."the writer groans..
The man holds up his hand before his friend even dares to speak. This is it, what he has waited months and months to hear.
"Together." She says.
"What.. what did she say?" He looks to his colleague for confirmation, but he gets it from another source instead,
"We finish it together."
Wrong. Answer.
There is a beat, no longer than that of a thudding pulse, and the room is filled with the deafening sound of static. It echoes down the line, the connection severed now. Permanently, and he yanks the mic from his head. The crackle and hiss is so loud that it nearly deafens them both.
"What do we do?" The second guy asks. Looking at the mic in confusion, rubbing his head.
"It's...already been done." He replies, his eyes wide staring at their fallen mics.
Her eyes come into focus, slowly as she opens them. The smell of seared flesh and smoke filling her lungs. The room is thick with it, and she struggles to sit up, pushing aside books and what remains of the shelves that housed them. Part of the bed has fallen across her, managing to shield her from the blast.
Blast... it hits her then, as she finally makes it to her feet. Castle's Loft blew up.
Where the hell is he?
"Castle!" Kate yells out, surrounded by unbearable heat, fire licking at every corner of what's left of his office, the whole loft. "Castle!" She calls again, choking on the smoke as she tries to get up.
He does not answer.
His hand was in hers, mere seconds before everything turned to hell. She scans the room frantically coughing and calling through the heavy smoke. She covers her mouth, pulling her shirt more firmly around her as she yells.
"Castle!"
Everywhere is fire and falling debris. Papers alight with flames fluttering down in every direction, as if falling from the night sky that stares down at her.
Something blew a hole clean through the ceiling.
She gets to her feet, looking around for him. "Castle! oh, god please..." She trails off, stumbling over his bookcase and crumbling to her knees in the ashes by his bedroom door.
She ignores the bite of second degree burns on her hands, the ache all over her body as she grips at the door, heaving it up. She groans, biting back a hiss as the heat of the wood seers at her flesh before she releases it onto the ground beside her.
"Rick!" She falls to her knees at the sight of him. Flat on his stomach his eyes closed and his mouth open, a trickle of blood oozing from the corner of his lips. "Rick?" She sobs her hand falling to his neck to check for a pulse.
She stares at the angry, red raw burns across his back, skin mingled with the burnt material of his shirt and she is stupidly grateful that she never got as far as removing it completely. At least this way it offered him some meager protection.
She finds his pulse then, thready under her fingertips. It's hot and the fire is everywhere, drawing closer. She needs to move him, but his back is a mess of burns and cracked flesh, god his chest must be worse...she unbuttoned his shirt.
She hears the sob break past her lips as she drops closer, pressing her mouth over his ear, rising onto her knees.
"Castle, I have to move you..." Her voice cracks and breaks again "I'm sorry 'cos it's going to hurt."
Kate slips her hands under his shoulders preparing to hoist him up but as she moves him his eyes flutter open. The smoke is laying heavier over them now and she knows she's running out of time.
"Castle...oh god." Her thumb sweeps over his face, smearing blood across his lips as he coughs. "We have to get out of here Castle."
His lips move, but the crackle of the fire and sirens in the distance drown it out, she falls closer, determined to hear the words that could be his las...
His voice is shallow, pathetically quiet amongst the catastrophic noise of devastation that surrounds them, a broken whisper in the heat of the room. "Al...ways..."
His eyes fall shut and his head slumps back against the floor.
Kate gets out of her car, walking up the cobblestone drive. The grounds are vast, perfect green lawn, trimmed hedges along the root until she's standing there in front of his door. She can hear the sound of the ocean the waves crashing along the shoreline, almost inaudibly to the loud beating of her own heart.
She adjusts the two coffees in her hands, wincing as she tries to maneuver them in such a way, so she can ring the doorbell. Sighing, she blows a stray strip of hair from her face, blown playfully by the ocean breeze, and uses her elbow to press in the small button.
The door opens immediately revealing the young red head. "Kate." The girl greets, smile spread wide across her face. She goes to embrace her, stopping when she sees Kate's bandaged hands clutching at the coffee cups.
Kate shrugs her shoulders sheepishly. "How is he?" She asks when the girl relieves her of one of the cups, and ushers her inside.
"He's out on the deck." She replies vaguely. But Kate realizes there is no hint of anxiety still lingering in the teens voice. "How was the drive?" She then asks looking down at the heavily wrapped hands of the older woman.
"It was..." Kate brings the cup to her mouth raising an eyebrow. "Interesting...if not slightly painful." She replies following Alexis farther into the large house. She spots Castle through some glass double doors, the back of his head and his bare arms as he sits in a beach chair. "But who am I to complain..."
Alexis follows her gaze, letting a small smile crease her lips before it vanishes and she hands Kate the other coffee again. "He's been waiting for you." Alexis says with a wink, before skipping off into another room.
Kate walks to the door, sliding through the gap with a twist and a flick of her hair as the strong breeze from the sea meets her. She crosses the distance to his chair quickly, leaning over the back of it to press her mouth to his cheek.
"Hi." She says quietly, her lip dropping between her teeth and she smiles at the look of surprise that greets her.
"Kate?" He smiles shifting uncomfortably in the chair as he tries to sit up and greet her properly. He tips forwards, the burns covered in thick bandages that do little to protect him when he rocks against the hardback of the lounger. He hisses and watches as Kate winces at the sound.
"Don't make me restrain you, Castle." She grumbles, as she sets one of the cups down next to him and pushes him back into the seat.
"I don't think I'm quite up to handcuffs just yet Beckett." He says with a laugh as she rolls her eyes. He looks quickly towards the cup still in her hand before she can reprimand him. "Number?"
She smiles, always pleased when he remembers "Sixteen." She hands him the cup "Eighty-four to go." She grins at him when he looks affronted before moving and sitting the other side of the table, staring out across the deck and into the ocean. It rolls and pitches, rhythmically soothing as she breathes in time to the waves.
When she looks back she finds him watching her and she smiles again "So, picking up from yesterday?"
He nods smiling back. "Yeah, cards are on the table Kate."