Rick finds himself dozing a bit. It's been a long week.
He blinks awake to find a family of otters on the screen and Kate Beckett sleeping on his shoulder.
He holds his breath, tensing up for the inevitable moment she wakes and realizes she's - well, for lack of a better word, snuggling him and pulls away and maybe decides to punish him for it. But nothing happens; she doesn't wake, and he just sits there, very still, staring down at the one of the most complicated persons in his life.
He's known something's going on since - since - honestly, since the first moment she glared at him with that adorable little scowl.
He knew it was serious even before he broke into the burning wreckage of her apartment, adrenaline fueling his frantic attempt to break down the door.
So now she's sleeping on his shoulder, all soft and relaxed, and he really never thought he'd ever see Kate Beckett vulnerable. Most of the clothing she salvaged from the explosion is still at the cleaners, so tonight she's in a pair of his old sweatpants and a sweatshirt Alexis lent her. Her bare feet are tucked up under her, and all drowned in the too-big clothes, she looks so very, very young.
It catches him off-guard. That was sharper than he realized.
"Beckett?" he murmurs. She doesn't move.
The sick boom from her apartment flits across his mind, and irrational, stupid panic seizes his chest.
She's not moving.
"Beckett. Beckett." Panic is dry in his mouth, metallic on his tongue. "Kate."
She slowly sucks in a long breath, one of her hands flexing, bunching into a fist against his thigh as she wakes up. She sits up slowly. Her eyes are dazed, and he watches them slowly focus -
- on his mouth.
Oh.
The flare of heat that flickers across her face is brief but unmistakable. And then she looks up, meets his eyes, and he's lost.
She swallows, and he's fixed on the long line of her throat, pale and elegant, so very close, the graceful sweep up to the line of her jaw, the tantalizing pink flush of her lips.
The wave of pure want that rushes through his body is instant and hot and swamps him, drowning any chance of resisting when she's so close and so soft and warm and perfect. They're already so close that it takes only a second, a few inches, nothing but a breath, and he's not sure who started it but suddenly her mouth is on his.