I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who reviewed, my inner writer is extremely happy! Now go forth and read.
She had absolutely no idea Castle could cook anything that didn't come from a box, but dinner had been amazing. She would definitely have to spend more time at his house around meal times. Oh god, what was she thinking? She had only agreed to come for the weekend because he wasn't supposed to be here and after only a few hours she was seriously considering spending more time with the man outside of work. Her resolve was beginning to crack already, and that was not good. But he had been so wonderful today, especially at dinner. She knew she hadn't exactly been very social since she arrived but he had done everything he could to make her feel comfortable and relaxed. Teasing her and starting up that playful banter she had missed so much but then quickly changing to show his sweet and serious side in a heartbeat. She had to say she loved this Castle; it was one she rarely saw but treasured her moments with.
She was brought back to the present when the captain walked up to her. She flashed him a small smile and stood up to talk to him.
"I have to say Beckett," he began as the corners of his lips pulled his mouth into a smile to match hers, "I didn't think you would come."
"Yeah well, I didn't think I would at first either. But you know Lanie, the woman just doesn't give up." She feigned annoyance but anyone could tell she was happy she had come. In fact, she was thrilled she had come. She thought it would be awkward with Castle now but it was just the opposite. And as she looked around the pool area at all of her friends she decided this was much better than spending the weekend in her house watching old movies like she had planned.
"Well, I'm glad you came. It really wouldn't have been the same without you, and I don't think Castle would have been very happy if you didn't show up. Anybody can see just how much the guy missed you." The smile was still there but his eyes had a seriousness to them she hadn't seen in a while. She had no idea how to respond to that, what was she supposed to say? I missed him too, no that was out of the question. Yeah I know, but that wasn't true at all, she hadn't even realized that Castle had missed her. She could go for something witty or sarcastic, but that didn't seem appropriate given the captain's serious tone. Fortunately for her she didn't have to reply. However the interruption wasn't exactly one she welcomed.
She was still staring at Montgomery attempting to find something to say to him when two very muscular arms wrapped around her shoulders and knees to pick her up bridal style. She didn't even have to look at his face to know who it was who interrupted them; only one person had the guts to do this.
"Castle!" she tried to ignore the butterflies building in her stomach, "put me down now!" She glared at him while he just smirked at her. Damn, why didn't her glares ever work on him? Probably because he knew it was just for show.
"Now detective," he was starting to laugh now, "I'm pretty sure you'd rather stay nestled in my strong arms than be put down at the moment." He gestured down towards the ground with his eyes since his arms were somewhat occupied at the moment. She stopped glaring at him for a moment to glance below her, only to find that instead of solid ground the pool was beneath her.
"Castle, I swear if you drop me I will kill you. Now put me down on the ground!" She hissed at him in her voice she usually reserved for interrogations as she resumed her glaring. He only raised an eyebrow, how the hell was he completely unfazed? Anybody else would be cowering before her, but he was amused.
"But this is just so much more fun." He replied and began to loosen his hold on her. Immediately she sprang into action, there was no way in hell she was going to just sit back and let him drop her into the water. She wrapped her arms around his neck and positioned her legs so they were circling his waist, his arms were at his sides but she wasn't going anywhere.
She was desperately trying to ignore how the one or two butterflies had just turned into a whole swarm. She was completely dazed as she just stared into his eyes. The feel of his bare chest pressed against hers was completely intoxicating, and knowing that the only barriers between them were two bathing suits made her breathing grow heavier. She couldn't deny just how intimate this particular position was, and the way Castle was looking at her wasn't helping. After a few moments of complete silence she noticed that nobody else was talking. Averting her eyes away from his and glancing around the deck she confirmed that everyone was staring at them and waiting.
"Castle," she whispered threateningly, "don't you dare." He tore his eyes away from hers and looked behind her at the pool. She couldn't tell what he was thinking but she could see the mischievous glint in his eyes. Whatever he was going to do, it wasn't going to be good.
Suddenly he wrapped his arms around he waist, pulling her even closer to him, and winked at her. She had no idea what he was doing, but she didn't have to wait long to find out. Not a second later he launched both of their bodies into the air, bursting out laughing as they made contact with the water. They sank to the bottom still holding onto one another, she didn't really want to let go. The warmth of his body was such a nice contrast to the pool's cool temperature. But she separated from him anyway, swimming back up to the surface to breathe. When she resurfaced everyone was still silent, staring down at the spot they had landed. As he came up for air behind her she whirled around and narrowed her eyes at him.
"Whoa, whoa," he put his hands up in defense, "it was only a joke. Come on Beckett, I was just having a little fun."
"Now it's my turn to have a little fun Castle." She said in mock sweetness, advancing towards him as he backed away. When his back was against the pool wall and he had nowhere else to go she struck. Jutting her arm out, grabbing a hold of his nose and squeezing.
"Ow, ow," he pleaded, "I'm sorry Beckett! Okay? I'm sorry!"
"Now Castle, it's not a very good idea to forget your safe word." She replied disapprovingly while rolling her eyes in a trademark Beckett style.
"Fine," he conceded, "apples! Ouch, this really hurts! Apples!" She promptly let go of him and lightly smacked his chest.
"That was fun." With that she turned and made her way to the other side of the pool to sit down on one of the seats near the edge.
Hours later everyone else had eventually joined them, well everyone except for the twins and Theresa. Alexis and Marina had returned from the beach with the twins just in time to witness Castle's attempt at dropping her in the pool. Shortly after that Theresa had put two very tired kids to bed and stayed up there to watch them. Honestly, it felt like the group of friends had never been apart. Conversation was flowing easily and laughter was a popular theme with everyone. Stories ranging from Castle's antics as he grew up to unusual cases the precinct had gotten before he showed up were told as the time flew by. When she finished telling the story of a case where they found a woman on a school auditorium's stage dressed in a tutu and positioned in an arabesque with a knife in her back she discovered that she was freezing. She wanted to get out of the pool but didn't want to leave the company of her friends; she found her solution as she looked around the porch. The hot tub, of course!
"Hey, anybody want to go in the hot tub? It's getting pretty cold in here." Alexis turned towards her smiling brightly and she thought the young teen was going to join her. Castle looked like he had been trying to persuade her to do something but she kept refusing, although now she was completely ignoring him in favor of excitedly looking at her.
"There you go Dad," the redhead beamed, "now you have someone to go in the hot tub with that isn't me!" Oh god, what had she gotten herself into? Her and Castle all alone in a hot tub was not a good idea. She already had a moment of weakness earlier today, she didn't know if she could hold herself back if they were alone.
"Alright Beckett I'll go with you," he feigned annoyance, "but only if you promise to be extra naughty."
"Oh Castle," she just couldn't resist, "I don't think you can handle my naughty side." With that she got up and walked towards the hot tub, adding some extra sway to her hips' movements, leaving a stunned Castle in her wake.
Just like the rest of the day, she was surprised to find that being alone with Castle after what had happened wasn't awkward at all. In fact, their relationship seemed to be better than the weeks before he'd left. It was as if all their problems were gone and now nothing was straining their relationship. Since they had started talking everyone else had cleared out of the pool and went to bed one by one, so now they were completely alone. They talked about everything and anything they could think of, their summers, family, Naked Heat and even their childhoods.
"Actually," she said as she finished telling him about what she'd been up to in the last month, "my summer's been pretty boring so far." Something in her statement seemed to spark his interest, because the twinkle in his eyes went from humorous to serious curiosity in an instance.
"Really? I thought you'd be having a lot of fun with Demming, especially on that trip you guys were planning." She swore he said her ex's name with disdain, much like the way she had asked about Gina, but she disregarded it. She had completely forgotten about Tom over the last month, she had "other things" to focus on that were much more important to her.
"Oh," she timidly answered, "we broke up a while ago." She couldn't just tell him that she had broken up with Tom for him. No, the more vague she could be the better.
"Are you okay? When did this happen? And I know you can take care of yourself but do I need to go beat him up?" The concern in his voice almost undid her; it was of those moments where she caught a glimpse of just how much he cared for her. And that scared the hell out of her. She couldn't even begin to contemplate how terrified that made her.
"No Castle," she couldn't even make herself look him in the eyes, "I'm fine. I broke up with him the day you left, right before your going away party in fact. He just wasn't the one I wanted." So much for being as vague as possible. She began looking around her in an attempt to look at anything but him. She noticed that since they had gotten into the warm water they had scooted closer and closer to each other, now they were so close that their knees were constantly pushed up against each other.
When she finally looked back into his eyes she was surprised at what she found, the concern for her was still there but it was pushed back now. In its place was something she couldn't identify, something unfamiliar. She had seen it in his eyes before, but only briefly and very few times. The look on his face suggested he had just figured something out, put together the pieces of an extremely difficult puzzle. And when he spoke the emotion in his eyes carried over into his voice.
"Kate," the use of her first name made her heart flip, "I didn't leave for the Hamptons this summer solely to finish Naked Heat. I needed to figure some stuff out, and I needed some time to do it. I'm sorry if I hurt you when I left, but I just couldn't stand to watch you with Demming anymore. I know it was cowardly to just run away like that but I didn't see what else I could do. You seemed happy with him, and who was I to take that away from you? So I came out here to figure out where we stood, and to figure out my feelings for you. I knew before I left that my feelings for you went much deeper than simple sexual attraction. But in my time here I was able to reflect and realize that before I had no clue just how deep they went. At first, that scared me. I tried to move on, but while trying to do that I realized just how permanent my feelings for you are. It only took a short time before I knew exactly how I felt about you, and exactly how much I need you in my life. Kate, I love you and this summer I have realized just how much I want to be with you."
He scooted closer to her so that now not only were their knees pressed up against each other, their legs were too. He took her small hands in his big ones and just stared into her eyes. She couldn't make herself speak, she tried to but her mouth just wouldn't work. In fact, she was pretty sure it was just hanging open in surprise. Now that he had said it she could identify the emotion that was swirling around in his eyes. It was love, love for her. After a few moments of just sitting in silence with him her terror subsided and she couldn't deny it anymore. The walls she had been building since her mother's death were strong and steady. But he had picked and picked at it since they met and somehow he had managed to create a gaping hole in the stone without her noticing. And now he was standing with her on the side of the wall no one had ever seen, nobody but him that is. And she was going to let him stay there with her, now if only her body would let her tell him. Finally she tried again to speak, to tell him exactly how much she needed him too, when he spoke.
"Sleep on it Kate," he brushed the back of his hand against her cheek, "I'll wait." He leant forward and planted a quick kiss on her forehead, got up and walked back towards the house. She wanted to call out, to stop him, but now the shock that had subsided some time ago was back and she couldn't move.
She sat there for what felt like forever and when she finally removed herself from the bubbling water she resembled that of a giant prune, without the purple coloring of course. The shock and fear were gone now; she'd cleared them away with the doubts. She was completely ready to take this jump a month ago so what was she afraid of now? Well he left her before, just left her. Oh god, who cares? Now all of their problems are out in the open, everything that made that day so horrible has been cleared up. She's not with Tom and he's not with Gina, so there is absolutely no reason why she shouldn't be with Castle.
She'd made her decision, now it was time to act on it before the fears came running back into her head. Before she even realized what she was doing she was walking down the hallway to his room. Relief flooded her body when she saw the sliver of light peering out from under his door. He was awake; she could talk to him now. As she reached his door and stood in front of it she felt a wave of disbelief crash over her. Two years ago if someone had told her she would consider Richard Castle a good friend someday she would have laughed her ass off. Two months ago if anybody had told her she was going to barge into Richard Castle's bedroom and tell him she wanted to be with him she would have had him or her committed. But here she was. She wrapped her fingers around the cool metal of the doorknob and began to slowly turn it, the whole experience felt unreal.
"Hello!" She gasped and jumped back from the door. Oh god, someone had caught her.
Slowly she turned around and faced a grinning Esposito. Shit, he had probably seen everything he needed to. She had to think of something to say fast, but how was she going to defend herself for sneaking into Castle's bedroom in the middle of the night?
"I…um well…err…umm…" She could feel her cheeks warming instantly as she realized she had absolutely nothing. There was no way to justify this without letting him know something was up.
"What's up Christy?" He basically screamed in her face. Christy? What the hell? God, he was certainly energetic at one in the morning.
"What the hell Esposito?" she held one finger up to her lips in an attempt to get him to quiet down before she continued, "Be quiet. Do you want to wake everyone up? Just stop bouncing off the walls." Was he trying to reference something this situation reminded him off? She could see no other reason for calling her Christy.
"Do you know where the bathroom is? I really love Easter." Then it hit her; he was sleepwalking. This used to happen to her dad a lot when she was little, she'd just go along with whatever he was dreaming and go back to bed. The good thing was Esposito wouldn't remember anything he did when he woke up in the morning, so the fact that she was walking into Castle's bedroom late at night would remain a secret.
"Come on Esposito," she said as she turned him towards his room, "you have a bathroom in your room. Just go in there and head back to bed. Okay?" As he closed the door to his room she heard muffled sounds of agreement. Well, that brought back memories. She turned around to find that the sliver of light that had been escaping from his door was gone and she found darkness in its place. Castle had apparently gone to bed, though she was surprised he hadn't heard Esposito screaming right outside his door. He probably did and just didn't care; she couldn't find any other explanation because Esposito had been quite loud. She didn't want to wake him up so she decided she would talk to him in the morning. So she shuffled back towards her door trying to be as quiet as possible, suddenly she wasn't so thankful her room was one of the farthest from Castle's. A quick look back at his door and she entered her room. Yes, she would talk to him in the morning.
First of all I know that at least some of you were expecting some smut when Castle's bedroom was brought up. But I am fifteen, I will not be writing a sex scene. Sorry, but I'm gonna preserve the little bit of innocence I have left.
So what did you think? I know you have an opinion, so why not tell me? Seriously, the more reviews I get the faster you guys get the next chapter. It takes about 30 seconds and makes a certain writer very happy!