It's here! It's the kiss. And a little bit of angst. The story has been pretty light so far, so it's time for a fight, though it's only small.
After this chapter, there should only be 3 more: It's Over, One Writer Girl, and I Love You.
Disclaimer: I don't own Castle or any of the characters.
Chapter 13 - The Kiss
After a good nights sleep, this time on her own, Kate pretty much spent the whole of the day lounging around watching movies with Little Castle, who helped her tease Big Castle endlessly. Day well spent.
Later that night, Alexis went out for her date with Ashley to the movies, Martha was going to a party all night and Castle had been summoned by Paula to go over some details with Heat Rises, which meant she would've had the apartment to herself, but she decided to call Lanie for a little girl talk. She arrived at about seven just before Castle left.
She sat on the sofa next to Kate and relaxed, but was confused with her best friend and the mountain of blankets surrounding her.
"What's with all the blankets? It's really hot in here."
Kate snuggled further into the sofa before answering. "I remembered the freezer and ever since then, I keep getting shivers all the time, so Castle let me keep them so I could stay warm."
Lanie grimaced at her confession. "Ah. Sorry you had to remember. I was so terrified when I heard what had happened from Javier the day after. He told me about the dirty bomb, but he didn't go into detail. I can't imagine how bad that would have been. But at least you lived to fight another day."
"Yeah. I've been doing that a lot lately, which is good news."
They heard Castle whistling in the kitchen and turned to see him approaching them with two glasses of wine. He gave them to the ladies and explained it to them. "Seeing as I'm going out, I thought you two would like some girl time." He directed the next statement to Kate. "And you're only allowed the one glass with your medication, which means you'll be coherent enough to record a drunk Lanie with your phone and I don't want to miss that."
He disappeared into the kitchen once again, missing Kate's eye roll, returning only moments later with some food for them. We have potato chips, pretzels and even some ice cream, but it's in the freezer so you have to get up for it." Kate started to speak. "And don't worry, it's your favorite flavor. Chocolate Fudge Brownie, but leave some for me. Can't resist a bit of Ben & Jerry's."
"Are you quite finished speaking?"
"Uhh... Lemme see. No wild parties, hands off my whiskey and ring me when you're about to start the pillow fight." He went to the table and picked up his phone, wallet and put on his jacket. "I'll be back in about an hour or two, and don't forget to talk about me." He went over to Kate and leaned into her face.
"I'm open to dumb ideas here." She was desperate. Normally, Beckett wasn't short of ideas, but her mind was blank. She was investigating her mother's murder and two of her friends had been kidnapped.
"Good. 'Cos I got one." Castle knew he was taking a risk, but Ryan and Esposito needed them. And soon.
Getting out of the car a few minutes later, Beckett stumbled over to Castle and joined him at his side. She let out a slight laugh which was met by a chuckle from Castle. Her hand grasped his shirt just below his chest and they walked for a few yards as the guard started to steadily move towards them. Castle was getting a touch nervous. An armed guard was walking in his direction. Who wouldn't be nervous? He started to grab at something at his coat. It didn't take a genius to know that he was reaching for his gun. He wasn't the only one who noticed.
"He's not buying it, Castle," she said, breathlessly, trying to stay in character. Not that it was going to make the guard any less suspiscious. The guy was getting pretty close now and Beckett couldn't help but think that now was her chance to get him out of the way. Giggling again, she turned to Castle, and reached out for her Glock, only to be stopped by a warm hand, and she was spun round to face her partner, who was placed his right hand on her jaw, his fingers lightly tangling with the hair by her ear. She'd stopped laughing, a shocked expression overcoming her features. Before any words could leave her mouth, his lips were on hers.
To say this was unexpected was an understatement. She froze, unable to react, feeling his hand brushing her back slightly. She pulled away and looked into his stunning blue eyes, transfixed by what she saw. Did that just happen? Sensing movement to her left, she saw only one option. Well, she saw several options, involving a gun and some kick ass moves, but this one appealed to her most of all. Fighting the urge to turn away, she leaned into him, flicking her eyes towards the man watching intently, before focussing on her goal. Kissing Castle. Again.
The first kiss was short and sweet. The second was a whole other story. The moment their lips touched was the moment she felt her control start to slip away from her. This time, her hands weren't idle and hanging by her sides. She brought them up to his shoulder, as if holding him in place. Before she knew it, her lips had parted under his, his tongue was roaming her mouth and she was biting down on his lip. There was absolutely no stopping the contented moan that escaped her and it only fueled Castle on. His hands moved from her waist to her hair, threading his fingers through her chestnut locks, just to make sure she was real and that he was really kissing Detective Katherine Beckett at long last. Before long, her breathing sped up and her right hand was combing itself through his hair, holding his mouth in place against her own.
The chuckle from the guard, who had now turned away, caught her attention and she managed to hold on to the tiniest bit of control and composure she had left. Turning herself to face him slowly, she broke from the warmth of Castle's lips and spun her body around, striking her flashlight against the assailant's skull, causing him to fall to the ground, rendering him unconscious. Regaining her breath, she turned to find Castle slighly behind her doing the same.
"That was amazing." Beckett gave him a stunned look, causing him to rethink his words.
"The... the way you knocked him out, I mean, was..." Castle nodded to the guard, pleased with himself for the quick save.
"Let's go. Yeah..." Heading towards the building, making sure to step over the motionless body by her feet, she heard Castle quickly following. Opening the door to the building, she...
"And absolutely no sneaking a look at my manuscript for Heat Rises, Katherine Beckett."
He leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek before walking out the door, leaving her bright red and wide eyed. He'd been doing that a lot lately. After a few seconds, she realised that Lanie was trying to speak to her.
"So what do you want to talk about?"
She was silent for a few more seconds, not really thinking about Lanie's words.
"He kissed me."
Lanie grinned at her friend. She was looking like a teenager who had just seen her crush smiling at her. "Yes, Kate, he did. On the cheek. And I didn't even get one."
"No, he kissed me."
Lanie was confused now. Kate was stuck in a trance which was highly unusual for the normally composed detective. She watched as Kate raised her fingers not to her cheek, but to her lips and touched them lightly before turning to face the ME.
"Katherine Beckett, tell me everything you know." Silence. "NOW." It hadn't taken long for her to catch on to Kate's hidden meaning. Why hadn't she known in the first place? What had happened? When had it happened? So many questions!
"He kissed me, Lanie."
"You know, Girl, I figured that out already," she said sarcastically. "It was a memory just then wasn't it? I've seen you like that often enough over the past few days to know exactly what just went through your mind. Start speaking now. What happened"
"He kissed me."
Lanie smacked her palm into her forehead. "I know that. But when and why?"
Kate started to become more wary and looked around and met her friends eyes.
"I need a drink. And ice cream. Lots of ice cream."
She got up off the sofa and made her way to the freezer much faster than she was supposed to move in her condition. Lanie had to get up quickly to grab her and steer her back to sit down and then fetched the ice cream and two spoons from the kitchen. Judging by Kate's current state, she'd need it more than she would, but who was she to refuse a few bites. She opened it and placed the tub on the seat between them and started to eat.
"S'good. Now, why did he kiss you? Did he confess his undying love for you at last?"
"Undying love? What? No. We were undercover I think. Saving your man and his partner from getting killed. There was a guard on duty and we pretended to be a drunk couple to get close enough to knock him out. But the guard got suspiscious and went for his gun, so naturally I went for mine too." She took a spoonful of ice cream and finished the sentence with a mouthful of chocolate fudge. "He grabbed 'n' kisshed me. Mmmm. S'really good."
"It was that good, huh?"
"I meant the ice cream. Not had Ben & Jerry's in a while."
"So the kiss was terrible."
"It was... unexpected. One minute I'm trying to shoot a guard and the next, Castle's tongue is in my mouth."
Lanie choked on her ice cream at the tongue comment and started to cough. She took a long drink of her wine to compose herself and ask, "Wha-a?"
Kate gave a questioning look in her direction, confused as to her comment.
"Richard Castle, had his tongue, in your mouth? Why didn't you tell me?"
"It's no big deal. It was a kiss." She started to stare into the distance. "A really good kiss."
"Did you tell him that?"
"I don't know. I can't remember. Amnesia, duh." The tub was half empty already. Comfort food is amazing. She'd have to thank Castle later. For the ice cream of course, not the kiss. "I hate this pain medication. Makes me say things I wouldn't normally. Any other time and you wouldn't know about it."
"In that case, I love pain medication. I have an idea, actually. We should totally give some to you and Castle and stick you in a room together and see how long it takes to get an interesting conversation started.
"Can we talk about something else now? I need all the dish on Esposito."
Lanie grinned. They spent the next hour speaking about Esposito, the new captain who nice but strict and general things like movies and books. They also decided to go for lunch together more often once she was well enough to leave the apartment by herself. After finishing the ice cream, they both felt rather bloated and relaxed. Alexis returned from her date and went upstairs after saying goodnight to the two women as she had to study. Martha, expectedly, didn't come home until the next morning, but Castle arrived only ten minutes after his daughter.
"Hey, ladies. Have fun without me?" He took off his jacket and sat inbetween them on the sofa making them all squashed together. He stole a blanket from Kate and wrapped it around himself and leaned back into the couch.
"Oh, yeah. By the way, Writerboy, you need more ice cream." She pointed to the tub on the table.
"Shame. And how many times, Dr. Parish? It's WriterMan." He was very interested by her reply.
"So I've heard, Castle. We spent most of the night talking about you." He turned to look at Kate with raised eyebrows. She had turned to look at something invisible on the wall and had red cheeks and neck.
"Oh, really, now? What about? My boyish charm? Ruggedly handsome looks? Or my amazingly written books, sex scenes included?" He moved his eyebrows suggestively.
Lanie stood up preparing to leave. She decided to tease him, although she knew Kate wouldn't appreciate it.
"Just about a cold night in January outside a warehouse. Apparently your mouth saved the day." She turned to walk to the door leaving them both stunned on the sofa. "Later, guys." She was gone.
They sat there in silence avoiding eye contact before Castle got up to clear up the wine glasses and put the ice cream tub in trash. He was wandering around the kitchen when he heard Kate move about. He left the kitchen to see her trudging towards to bedroom, blankets and all.
"Where are you going?"
"To bed, Castle. I'm tired."
She started to walk again but was stopped by his voice.
"We need to talk about it, Kate. We never talk about it." She could hear the desperation in his voice and sighed.
"I said I'm tired." She entered the bedroom but was followed by Castle.
"Stop running from me, Kate. We're doing so well right now." His voice was quiet as though he was scared by her response.
She turned and closed the door in his face before saying, "Go away. I'm going to sleep."
She turned and leant against the door and brushed her hand through her hair.
"Do you know what I thought when I first met you?" They were sat on the sofa in a hotel suite in L.A. whilst trying to find Mike Royce's killer. They'd been doing fairly well so far but after a day of travelling and following leads, she was exhausted, but she was still listening intently to him, watching his eyes focussing on hers.
He sat up slightly before daring to speak.
"That you were a mystery I was never going to solve. Even now, after spending all this time with you I'm... I'm still amazed. At the depths of your strength. And your heart."
She let out a small appreciative smile and dropped her head to avoid feeling uncomfortable.
"And your hotness."
She couldn't help but look up at him and grin before returning a compliment. "You're not so bad yourself, Castle."
That's when the atmosphere changed. The humour faded and the significance of the convesation shone through. Her grin slowly faded, revealing a more serious expression, all the while never breaking eye contact with him. His head turned slightly and his lips parted. This was Castle she was sat with, being serious and staring at each other intently. Something that Lanie called eye-sex, which seemed to be happening a lot more as of late. Josh was still in the picture, but these fleeting moments with Castle never failed to ignite the tiny spark in the bottom of her stomach, the one that Josh had started to dim. If I don't move soon enough, I don't trust him to prevent doing something stupid. Who am I kidding, I trust him with my life. It's myself I don't trust. Before he could do anything, she sighed whilst breaking eye contact, removing the arm that was propping her head up against the sofa.
"I should go. It's late. G'night." She watched as his face contorted after realising that he'd one again missed the perfect opportunity to tell her exactly how he felt about her. He sat up, bowing his head to look at the floor, mentally hitting himself for being so damn stupid. She made it to the corner of the sofa, just outside her bedroom door before he plucked up the courage to say something before she disappeared for the night.
"Kate..."
Letting out a breath, she turned to face him slowly, getting ready to close the door.
"Goodnight, Castle." She gave him a small smile before looking down and closing the door completely, losing sight of that puppy-dog face of his.
What the hell had she been thinking? She has a boyfriend. He's gorgeous, smart. Hell, he's a god damn heart surgeon! She's everything a girl could dream of but he missed something. A few things, actually. He didn't bring her coffee and a bearclaw every morning. He doesn't make her laugh without even trying. He doesn't come up with wild CIA alien thories. He doesn't set up scholarships for her mother and he doesn't know that Temptation Lane is her guilty pleasure. But she knew something with all those things, who was sitting outside, silently begging her to give in to him. What was stopping her? After combing her fingers through her hair, she took just a moment to answer that question. Right now, nothing is stopping me.
With her hand on the handle, she took a slow breath. Hesitating slightly, she pushed down, swinging the door open to reveal the room outside. The wine glasses on the table. The fluffy bathrobe on the chair. The empty sofa and the closing door across from her, Castle's back slipping from view.
First Castle missed his chance and now she had just missed hers.
So typical of them and to be honest, she wouldn't expect anything less of them.
Did she really do that? She had her hand over her mouth in shock and tears started to roll down her face. What would she have done if Castle had been on the other side of the door in LA? Would they have talked? Kissed? Spent the night together? Knowing her fragile mind after Royce's death, she could only guess all three.
Realising she was in the exact same position as she had been then, she put her hand on the handle of the door, but she didn't turn it like she did last time. She sighed and walked over to the bed and went to sleep.
If she had taken the plunge and exited the room, she would've seen Castle sat against the wall with head in his hands, furious with himself. He fell asleep outside the door.