Chapter 3
A/N- So this chapter continues on the relationship front, further defining the start of their romantic journey. The roller coaster for the case will begin next chapter which is ¾'s written and should be up by Friday.
True to her word, she and Castle had gone back to the loft. It was getting late, but still early by their weird schedules. Regardless both felt exhausted, emotionally more than physically and Kate knew that they both need to get a good night's sleep in order to deal with the changes that were going to be happening tomorrow, especially at the precinct.
He took her coat off as they stepped in, and glancing around surmised that Martha was not home yet.
"What about your mom and Alexis?" she asked.
"Mother isn't home right now, and as for Alexis, lets see." He walked over to the stairs can called up "Alexis!"
They both heard a door open and a few seconds later Alexis came bounding down the stairs.
"Hi Dad, Kate" the redhead replied.
"Hi Pumpkin how was your day?"
"Not bad, Lanie gave me this really interesting paper to read on using GC-Mass Spectrometry to detect minute quantities of synthetic heroine in blood and body tissue.
"You wild and crazy girl you."
"Well I did go and see a movie this afternoon with JD." Alexis continued, earning a glare from her father.
"A movie date, and I was not informed." He huffed.
"Chill Dad, it's not like I snuck him back to the loft and am currently hiding him up in my room." Alexis replied, keeping a perfectly innocent look on her face. "Besides, it looks like I am not the one that might have company sleeping over."
Castle looked shocked, but realized that that as Alexis had been talking that he had unconsciously drifted over to Kate, and had put his arm around her shoulder.
Kate also looked like a deer in headlights, realizing that she had snuggled closer to Castle when he had put his arm around her shoulder.
"Umm, yeah Pumpkin, Kate and I had a really good talk and I think we are making some progress."
"Progress, frankly if hugging is where you guys are at, everyone at the precinct is going to be retired before they can collect on the pool about you guys getting together." Alexis smirked.
"You know about that, I'm going to kill Lanie." Kate said.
"Relax Kate, I am glad for both of you, and honestly even if you are taking it slow I am glad that you both opened your eyes and realized what everyone has been seeing for some time now."
"Dad, don't screw this up ok." Alexis continued, focusing on her father.
"I am going to try my best not too," Castle replied.
"And you too Kate, please don't shut us out like you did last summer, we care for you and once your part of the family it's for both good and bad times."
"I appreciate that Alexis, and I am going to do my best to be better about letting the people that care about me, that I care about, help me when I need it and be there for me, just like I want to be there for them."
"Well I am going to head back upstairs, JD might be getting lonely."
"Alexis" Castle raised his voice genuinely worried for a second.
"Joking Dad, joking, but seriously I would like for you to meet him soon."
"Sure Pumpkin, let me find where I left the severed head."
"Dad."
"Or better yet, Kate can you be here, and bring your gun, maybe let me borrow a shotgun?"
"Castle." Kate smacked his chest and rose up to give Alexis a hug.
Leaning in Kate whispered "Thank you for understanding."
"Always" Alexis replied. Breaking the hug she turned, kissed her dad on the cheek and went upstairs leaving Rick and Kate alone.
Castle went into the kitchen and proceeded to open the fridge "Would you like anything, water, tea, coffee, wine?"
"A glass of wine would be great, and then we can sit down and talk some more, I like this new found openness."
Pouring two glasses Castle joined her on the couch. Tipping their glasses together they silently took a few sips.
"So Kate what do you want to talk about, I know you wanted to wait on seeing what I have on your case and your mom's but I can show it to you now if you want."
"No, I meant it when I said I wanted to wait, I have lived with it for so long, I just want to try and live my life for a bit. How about you tell me when you realized you loved me?"
"Honestly I am not sure I could pinpoint an exact time. I knew I was jealous of Demming, but I think that was me just being territorial, I liked you, but it was still too physical at that point. Gina came by and even though I knew deep down that it was a mistake I wanted to feel wanted again, and not hurt."
"I think it dawned on me when I pulled the wires on that dirty bomb, that if I had to die, there was no one I wanted by my side more at the end than you. It just grew from there until the night Montgomery died, I knew that I would do anything to protect you, and even though we had fought, I was always going to be there for you. Plus around that time, the songs all started to make sense to me."
"Funny, I guess in some ways my feelings mirrored yours, we have always been in synch in a lot of ways, just terrible about letting the other person know. I dumped Demming that same day and right before Gina showed up I was ready to go to the Hamptons with you Rick. When you left I was angry and hurt, and I tried to move on. Josh was just another guy I met at first, but he was nice, smart, and was not always around, like you had been. I think it gave me a false sense of security about the type of relationship I wanted. The dirty bomb was kind of the same for me, I just felt so grateful that at the end you were there holding my hand and that you were going to be the last thing I saw and felt. But my shooting changed so much."
"There were a lot of reasons I didn't call during those 3 months. Some of it was physical, I was in so much pain and my rehab was consuming so much of my time. Part of it was emotional, Montgomery, my mentor, was not only dead, but involved in the same plot that had led to my mom's death, and to my near death. You saying you loved me was just so frightening, since I knew deep down what that meant. I know the type of person you are, and the lengths that you will go to for the people that you love are tremendous. Part of me knew I needed to get stronger and be able to heal physically and emotionally so that I could love you back, or else I was not going to be able to be the same Beckett, the same Kate that you fell in love with. "
Kate's voice began to tremble at the end, and Castle reached around and embraced her. "You are the same extraordinary woman that I fell in love with, your scars, physical and emotional are a part of you, and the fact that you survived, that you have gotten better than before makes me love you even more."
"Thank you Rick." Kate whispered into his ear.
They sat there in each others arms for a while, silently reflecting on the night. Kate leaned back into him and felt at peace for the first time in a long time.
"You want to head to bed; tomorrow is going to be an interesting day at the station" Castle asked.
"Yeah, I am tired, but please can we keep this quiet at the office for a while. I will tell Lanie soon on my own terms, and honestly I am sure Espo and Ryan, being trained detectives will pick up on it sooner or later. I am worried about Gates, and I would at least like to have some time being in a relationship and productive at work so she doesn't think we will get too distracted."
"Sure Kate, I will keep the groping and kissing to a minimum, wouldn't want to get caught acting out that interrogation room fantasy that I have now would we."
"Castle." She growled.
"Kidding, but seriously I will be on my best behavior, at least for me. Really when you think about it, except for the kissing, hugging, and hopefully other stuff later, it's not like our actual feelings about each other, for each other, are different tomorrow than they were today. We have both played the game for so long I think we can keep up the façade at work at least for a little while. And in all seriousness Kate, I would never do anything to jeopardize your job, or my ability to be your partner, at least knowingly."
"I appreciate that, and I promise that while we are on our best behavior there are still plenty of opportunities and ways during the day to show you how much I do love you, and who knows maybe one day we can get the interrogation room to ourselves.
A/N Thanks for all the story and author alerts, and for the few reviews I have received, an extra big thank you. Now for an extra incentive to review, a chance to choose two story elements for the next chapter, so please review and let me know your choices:
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