A/N: Thank you all for taking the time to review!
Thank you Anna and Mandy for spending a week discussing this chapter with me.
PREVIOUSLY:
"But you promise –"
"Yes, I promise, no grand gestures."
"Thank you," she told him with a smile as she pulled the car out of the driveway.
Despite his words, Castle was already coming up with 1,000 different ideas in his mind for how he could turn Kate's birthday into something magnificent.
It was going to be epic.
"We're here, Mr. Castle."
In the backseat of the town car, Kate and Rick broke off their languorous kissing session at the sound of the driver's voice, a smile taking up residence on her lips as his hands remained on her body.
"Thank you for the ride," she said before leaning in for a chaste, goodnight kiss. "You sure you don't want to come up?" she asked seductively, but only to tease him as she put on her peacoat and turned around to get out of the car – she had been adamant at the bar that he wouldn't be spending the night at her place. When she looked out the window, though, she paused, confused. "This isn't my building."
"It isn't," he commented with a knowing grin before pulling on his wool coat and cashmere scarf and stepping out of the car.
It wasn't even her neighborhood. They were supposed to be driving to Chelsea, but instead they had ended up at the southern tip of Manhattan.
Battery Park.
Kate was still trying to understand what was going on when her door opened and Rick appeared. "What are we doing here?"
He took her hand and pulled her out of the vehicle. "Celebrating your birthday, Kate."
"We just left my birthday celebration, Castle."
"That was a public celebration, Kate," he said as he intertwined her arm in his and started walking into the park. "The one where you call me 'Castle' and I call you 'Beckett' and we pretend I'm annoying –"
"You are annoying," she cut in with a smile as she stuffed her hands in her coat pockets.
"–and I can't touch you or kiss you."
"Even though that's pretty close to the way you were acting all night long."
"Hey, I was smooth!" he said, affronted.
"Smooth? Oh, please!"
They were sitting next to each other, jammed in between Montgomery and Karpowski and across from Ryan, Esposito and Lanie. A few more officers and detectives attending Kate's birthday celebration crowded around the already full table, while others from the 12th Precinct were mingling at the bar.
Since they'd arrived at Kate's favorite dive bar, Castle had been trying really hard to remain discreet about his relationship with Kate. But every time a male cop would come over to wish her a happy birthday, his hand lingering a little too long on her shoulder, or his smile a little too flirtatious, Rick would call to Kate, trying to engage her in completely meaningless conversations – his very weak attempt to get her away from the vultures.
"Stop it," she warned him when no one was looking at them, after he had acted territorially for the umpteenth time that evening.
"They're hitting on you, Kate," he complained adolescently as he squeezed her thigh under the table.
She glared at him while swatting his hand away. "You sign women's breasts for a living."
"I write books for a living. Signing women's breasts is just a bo–" he cut himself short.
"A bonus?" she finished his sentence, incredulous. "Really?"
"I'll try to cut back on that," he promised sheepishly.
She threw a last glare in his direction before returning her attention to the rest of the patrons at her table. Esposito and Ryan were at that moment retelling the story about Harrison Tisdale's arrest during Castle's first consult with the NYPD. They talked, they gestured and they acted to recount how Beckett had cuffed the writer to the car, and if that hadn't already been enough to entertain the crowd, when they got to the part where Beckett had shoved Castle against a wall, after cuffing Tisdale, for disobeying her orders no one could manage to keep the laughter from bursting out.
"He must have looked like a sulky little boy," Lanie teased, still trying to tone down her laughter.
"Actually, he looked like a kid on a Disney ride," Ryan piped up.
"Mommy, can we do that again? Pleeeease?" Espo jested, in a high-pitched, childlike voice.
Smiling widely at the memory, Castle turned to Beckett. "I wasn't that bad, was I?"
"Are you kidding?" she asked rhetorically, with a much more subdued smile. "The only reason I didn't let that guy shoot you was because it was going to result in too much paperwork for me."
Montgomery's snort rang loud among the crowd's laughter.
Leaning into her so that his face was dangerously close to hers, Rick stated coyly, "Don't worry, Detective, I'll make sure you enjoy having me around this time."
While whistles, catcalls and more laughter erupted at the table, Kate held a staring contest with her lover before flicking his forehead.
"Ouch!" he exclaimed, rubbing the spot as the laughter erupted around them again.
"Alright, who wants more beer?" Beckett asked, standing up from her chair and counting the hands raised.
"I'll help you with that," Castle was quick to say, standing up as well.
As he followed Kate to the bar, Rick let his hand fall to her lower back in a chivalrous manner, but he quickly removed it with an apologetic smile when she threw him a warning glare.
Everyone was already lost in conversation, so no one noticed. No one but Lanie.
Finally able to have a few moments with her away from her friends and colleagues, Rick leaned the side of his body against the counter as they reached the bar, casually asking, "Bet this isn't as bad as you thought it would be, right?"
Body still facing forwards, Kate turned her head sideways to look at him. "I like hanging out with them, Rick."
"Of course. What you don't like is celebrating your birthday."
She took his remark for what it was – just teasing – and looked down, trying to hide her smirk. The bartender briefly interrupted them as he placed the four buckets of beer bottles she'd ordered in front of them. Kate quickly picked up two of the buckets, mischievously asking Castle, "Are you going to help me with the beer or are you here just to psychoanalyze me?"
He leaned into her, pretending it was only so he could reach the other two buckets, and whispered in her ear, "I love the way you smell like cherries."
Kate felt the flush heating up her body at the same time Esposito's voice came from behind the couple. "Dude, are you… smelling her hair?"
"I covered for that," Castle said defensively, as he and Kate wandered through the Bosque – one of Kate's favorite gardens in the city.
"Covered? You told Esposito he was interrupting your hitting on me!"
"I also told him that he had completely ruined my mojo, showing up unannounced like that. I'll tell you now, the way you walked away all annoyed made it easier for him to believe that my advances were unwelcomed. So, yeah, I completely covered for that."
Kate rolled her eyes and leaned into his body as they kept walking, fishing for her gloves in her pockets and putting them on. "Why are we here, Rick?" she asked as she laid her head on his shoulder. "It's really cold."
"I told you, Kate. To celebrate your birthday," he replied as they reached the park's waterfront.
"Standing by the shoreline in the middle of a cold night in November? Jeez, you shouldn't have."
"Well, I wanted to give you your present."
"I thought I told you no gifts."
"And I didn't buy you any gifts." She raised her eyebrows at his reply and he smirked. "My gift is just this private celebration."
"At a very public location," she retorted, eyebrows still raised at him.
"It's 2am on a Tuesday, Kate. It's secluded enough."
"Secluded enough?" she repeated in question, lifting her head from his shoulder. "What exactly do you have in mind, Mr. Castle?"
Grinning, he stopped their stroll and turned her body towards his. "Why, are you having dirty thoughts, Detective Beckett?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"I'm merely interpreting your words."
"Jumping to conclusions again, I see."
"Again?"
"Just like this morning."
Castle walked into the precinct that Tuesday morning purposefully.
Once they'd left Lanie in the morgue the day before, he and Beckett had returned to the precinct, where they'd spent the rest of the day following up on dead-end leads and dodging the subject of her birthday – every time it had come up, it had ended with Kate threatening, "If you buy me any gifts at all, I'll shoot you."
Monday had also involved a lot of coffee that tasted like sewer water.
Yeah. He was determined not to have Tuesday go as badly as Monday had.
"Good morning, Detective Beckett."
The brunette turned around in her chair to look at him, ready to warn him that he'd better not sing her 'Happy Birthday' or something equally embarrassing, when she noticed he was being followed by a delivery boy carrying a large wrapped box.
"Castle!" she hissed as she stood up. "I said no gifts!"
"You did. Repeatedly."
"Is this your idea of no gifts?"
"What 'this'?" he asked, confused, and she stared daggers at him.
"This 'this'!" she indicated the very large box in the arms of the delivery boy.
"Ohhhh…" He smirked in understanding. "This?"
"Castle!"
"Yeah, this is not for you," he said dryly. He was definitely enjoying himself.
"What?" she asked, struggling to mask the hurt surprise in her voice.
"This is something I got for no one in particular. It's a collective gift!"
"A collective gift?"
"Yes. Born out of my own selfishness, but... still. It's for the precinct." He turned to the delivery boy. "This way," he instructed, making his way to the break room.
"Castle, what are you doing?" Kate asked as she stepped out from behind her chair to follow him to the break room, where she knew Esposito and Ryan were.
"You've all been very kind to me since I joined the NYPD as a consultant –" Castle was already saying inside the room.
"It's been a day, bro," Esposito remarked snarkily as he leaned against the sink.
"– and I thought you deserved something to convey my appreciation for the warm welcome I've received thus far. So, I got you this."
"What's this exactly?" Kate asked from the door.
The delivery boy finished unwrapping the big box just then, exposing a full-size, fancy Italian espresso machine.
"An espresso machine!" Ryan exclaimed excitedly. "Thanks, bro!"
"Hey, don't mention it. After all, I'm going to be spending a lot of time in here and I deserve better than that horrendous sludge you try to pass for coffee. We all do."
The boys chuckled and Beckett took a step into the break room, watching as the delivery boy started assembling the coffee machine. Castle sneaked his way closer to her and commented in a low voice, "Thought it was a birthday gift to you, didn't you? My oh my, Detective Beckett, you're so vain!"
Rick was still smirking at her, so Kate playfully smacked him on his chest. "If you're not fishing for sex in a public park, why are we here, Rick?"
"I have a surprise," he told her, pulling out his phone and typing something.
"A surprise?" she tried to take a peek, but he quickly turned around to hide what he was doing – clearly, sending a text to someone. "What's going on?"
He put his phone back in his coat pocket and pulled on his gloves as he gestured towards the river in front of them. "This."
As if on cue, an impressive explosion of bright lights and colors took over the sky.
Kate's jaw dropped and her eyes shone in awe of the spectacle she was witnessing.
This silly, cheesy man got her fireworks for her birthday.
"How did you do this?" she asked, her gaze moving back and forth between the fireworks and Castle's face after a few minutes of silence.
"I know a guy," he told her coyly, shrugging his shoulders and grinning, as his heart filled with joy and pride at having clearly impressed her.
With a smile of wonder on her lips, she shook her head lightly. "I can't believe you did this on such short notice."
Sparks of red, yellow, green, purple and silver all reflected in Kate's gleaming eyes, leaving Rick mesmerized. He pulled her into his arms, fully enjoying the feel of her back perfectly molded against his chest before placing a tender kiss on the top of her head. "Just imagine what I could have pulled off if I had more time," he told her quietly, half teasing half serious.
She kissed his left forearm as she chuckled. "I don't even want to think about it. I'm still dealing with the fact that you arranged for this fireworks show," she joked.
He held her closer and watched as the lights flaring up in the sky intensified, all colors coming together to create an unique grand finale. All for Kate.
"This okay, though?"
"Yes," she answered immediately, turning her head to capture his lips in a slow, languid kiss. "This is perfect. It's… intimate."
"Intimate?" He sounded offended. "I was going for big here."
She smiled at him before explaining, "Well, it might be big, Rick, but it's just us here – that also makes it intimate."
"Well, it's just us here because you won't let me tell anyone that we're involved."
She turned around in his arms and pulled his face down for another kiss. "Do you really think it's a good idea for everyone to know that you're following your detective girlfriend around at her work and then basing a book on her? It's almost nepotistic."
"Did you just say nepotistic?"
"Yes."
"You have no idea how hot it is when you use big words."
She wound her arms around his neck, before murmuring, "If you think big words are hot, wait until you see me in a négligée."
Rick groaned and pulled her hips to his body, grinding into her. "Are you trying to kill me here?"
She kissed his jawline and whispered in his ear, "It seems as though I'm bringing you to life."
There was nothing languorous about their second kissing session in the town car that night.
Castle had barely had time to give the driver directions for Kate's apartment before her lips landed on his, insistent, intense, as if she wanted to taste him and thank him at the same time, as if these ardent, wet kisses were the only way she could think of to show him her gratitude for what he'd done tonight. Rick accepted her kisses enthusiastically, letting her passion, need, and appreciation run through his body until he was the one taking control, his lips scorching hers with desire while his hands roamed her body and subtly pushed her back, until he was half lying on top of her in the backseat.
There was no way more than a minute had passed since they'd gotten in the car, but clearly their driver seemed to exist in some form of parallel universe in which they had already reached their first destination.
"We're here, Mr. Castle."
Definitely not as excited to hear these words as he had been an hour before, Rick groaned into Kate's mouth as he let his lips trace hers more slowly, softly, until their kiss came to a natural end. Pulling her to sit up, he rested his forehead against hers and continued to run his hands up and down each side of her waist. "Until tomorrow, Kate."
She immediately lifted her head in surprise. "You're not staying?" she asked, still a little breathless from his kisses.
"I thought you'd told me at the bar there was no way I was going home with you tonight?"
"Well…" she breathed seductively, "I changed my mind."
He smiled sweetly and whiffed her hair before whispering in her ear, "Well, I can't stay tonight."
She pulled away, shocked. "Are you kidding me?"
"Unfortunately, no."
"But it's my birthday!"
He smirked. "I thought you didn't like making a big deal out of your birthday?"
She narrowed her eyes playfully and then let out a "Jackass!" with a laugh. Letting her grin turn into a softer smile, she added in a half-pleading tone, "Don't make me beg, Rick."
He briefly entertained the thought of doing just that, but it wasn't fair if he wouldn't – couldn't – change his mind. "Believe me, there's nothing more I'd like to do than spend the night with you," he told her as he not so subtly glanced at his lap in indication, "but I have to be home when Alexis wakes up tomorrow."
"I guess coming up for about an hour or so and then leaving is out of the question…?" She let the comment hang in the air as she placed one of her hands on his thigh, dangerously close to his groin.
His breath hitched and his eyes darkened. "If I were to come up, I'd never be able to leave in an hour," he admitted. "And I can't really act on a whim when I have a 14 year-old daughter at home."
Her only attempt to persuade him to stay came in the form of a firm squeeze of his arousal.
"Mmmm," he moaned as his eyes slipped shut and he moved his hand to hold hers – stop hers. "Don't you want to come over to the loft instead?" he asked, feeling his control slip.
Fighting his hold so her palm massaged his member, she took great pleasure in hearing him groan, against his better judgment, before she questioned, "And have to go through another early morning of sneaking out before we get caught? No, thank you."
"You could stay for breakfast," he countered, eyes still closed, hands giving in and moving to cup her breasts.
Kate let her head fall back before replying, "Yeah, I think it's best if they actually know we're involved before I simply come out of your bedroom for breakfast one morning."
He moved his hands under her shirt. "Probably."
"Do you think we should tell them soon?" she asked as she leaned into him to nibble at his jawline and pulse point.
"Mother knows already," Rick admitted unintentionally, his brain completely focused on the sensations he was feeling and causing in Beckett.
"What do you mean she knows?" Kate asked in a moan, the words not fully sinking in.
Having the words repeated back to him cut through the hazy state of his mind. The result was simple – he froze.
It wasn't the fact that he hadn't replied to her question so much as that his hands had left her body, that brought Kate back to reality. "Rick?" she asked, eyeing him.
He took a deep breath, preparing to reiterate the confession that would most likely lead to Kate feeling uncomfortable. "Mother knows about us." He paused. "But Alexis doesn't yet," he added as if trying to defend himself.
Was he… nervous?
"Is that a problem?" she asked.
"What?" he was shocked. She was okay with this?
"Your mother knowing. I mean, I thought she liked me."
"She loved you, Kate. Which is a first for me, since Mother usually is very judgmental about the women in my life. But in your case… she's probably already taking your side in arguments we haven't even had yet."
She laughed lightly before asking, "Do you think Alexis will take it well? Us being together?"
"I think so. She's never really reacted badly about my romantic life, but then again she's never really interacted with any of the women I've been involved with either. Well, aside from my second ex-wife, of course. In general, Alexis knew of their existence, but I'd usually have them over when she was out, or maybe take them away for a little…" he paused. "You don't need to know this."
"No, please, do continue to bewilder me with stories of your past sexual relationships."
She smiled openly as she teased him and he felt like taking her in his arms and never letting her go. She wasn't running; in fact she was taking it all much better than he had anticipated. Okay, so maybe he hadn't known her for long but he could read people, and he was sure she would be at least a little bit peeved by his mother's knowledge of their relationship, or maybe by the mention of previous women. He couldn't be happier about being wrong.
She belongs here, he thought. Well, not in the car, but…
Huh.
This driver is really patient and discreet. Wow.
Kate's lips on his stopped his overactive mind from wandering any further. "Goodnight, Rick," she said as her hand moved to the door handle.
"Wait," he told her, already jumping out of the car and going around to her side to open the door for her. "The least I can do is walk you to your door."
"Oh wow," she said as she got out of the car with his helping hand, "such a gentleman. You do know I'd prefer it if you were being a bad boy right now, though, right?" she whispered the last part, biting her lower lip with a seductive smile.
"You're making it really hard to resist going up with you," he admitted with a whimper.
"That's the point."
Yeah, she definitely belonged with him.
"Kate?" He looked into her eyes.
I'm in love with you.
"Happy birthday."
She gave him a million-watt smile and kissed him on the cheek before stepping into her building.
A happy birthday it was.
TBC
(All characters and even some of the quotes in this fanfic don't belong to me. This is made available for entertainment only and not for profit. No copyright infringement is intended.)