Castle: Beckett's Security Blanket
Chapter 4: Sleep Tight
A/N: Okay so I wasn't going to update again today, but seeing as its 'Castle Monday' and the entire fandom is freaking out over "47 Seconds" I figured I should give y'all a little something to keep you occupied while you count down the minutes until the new episode airs ;) Now without further adieu, please enjoy...
Beckett had emerged from Castle's private bathroom about a half hour later at half past ten and was ready to head into work. Castle had thankfully had another coffee ready for her; this one in a ceramic tumbler to go so that no more time would be wasted before she got to the precinct. She took the travel mug from his hands and gave him a small smile of gratitude.
"Thank you" she said, nodding her head towards the coffee cup in her hands. "And, thank you, for last night" she spoke quietly and with a hint of awkwardness to her tone.
"Always" he simply smiled at her; instantly making her feel back at ease. "Shall we?" he asked; leading her towards the front door and she followed after him, ready to get the day started.
Both Ryan and Esposito nodded a quick hello when they saw Castle and Beckett step off the elevator into the 12th precinct several minutes later. Under normal circumstances if the boys were to see Castle and Beckett arriving together in the morning it would be an endless array of jokes and innuendo all morning but their lack of calling attention to it was almost unnerving. She realizes now that Castle must have filled them in on just how serious things were, which is why they were saving her their usual locker room antics and she was thankful for that.
"Hey guys" she greeted them as her and Castle finally reached Espo's desk where Ryan was already sitting on the corner of.
"Hey" Esposito greeted in return before his gaze shifted over to Gates' office. Beckett followed his gaze to see Gates sitting at her desk talking on the phone and she turned back to nod at Esposito in understanding.
"What does she know?" Kate asked.
"Nothing. She's been on the phone pretty much all morning, so we haven't told her about your superfan or…" He stopped for a beat. "Or, the um, the break in at your place"
Beckett simply nodded. "Okay well lets have CSU dust my place for prints and find out how this guy got in there, and when Gates is available we're going to have to fill her in on everything that's going down here before she gets wind of it from somewhere else and we're all thrown off the case. Ryan check with I.T. again and see if they have any more information on an IP address that those e-mails are coming from"
"Gotcha" Espo nodded and reached for his desk phone.
"On it" Ryan assured her as he slid off his partners desk and returned to his own to get to work.
Kate headed back over to her own desk while Castle followed closely behind. They both stopped at the murder board to study it further until something popped.
"You know," Castle began a few moments later, tapping his chin and ready to dive into his latest theory while Beckett quietly sipped her coffee. "The message said 'this isn't one of your movies' and the book he left in your bed wasn't even the right book that the movie was based on, which means it's entirely possible he didn't even read the books and his only knowledge of Nikki Heat is based off of the movie"
"Which means?" Beckett prodded further.
"Which means," he began again confidently. "The movie hasn't actually been released to the public yet, the only people who've seen it were the ones at the exclusive premiere. So we've just narrowed our suspect list down from the entire population of New York to about 500 people. I mean, it's not much but, it's a start…" he shrugged.
"No, Castle that's good" she nodded in understanding. "If we can get a list of everyone who was at the premiere and a list of the staff who had access to the film we could weed out the usual suspects, check criminal backgrounds and medical history for any mentally unstable people who would meet our profile"
"To the movies we go then" he announced and she followed after him towards the elevator.
Ten hours later and not even halfway through their list of background checks the team struggled to keep their hopes high of finding anything of use. A couple names had popped but they were all less than likely choices to carry out this kind of mission; at this point they were merely grasping at straws and had yet to come across any slam dunks for their suspect pool. Beckett looked across the bullpen to her fellow detectives who each sat at their desks with stacks of files in front of them; chins resting in their palms as they tried to keep themselves propped up before falling asleep.
She sighed. These guys had been working themselves to the bone all day and hadn't gotten the bonus of sleeping in like she had. And Castle, she had no idea how long he had been awake but he had been up at least before 7a.m. to turn her alarm off and knowing that he could go home at any time but remained at her side meant more to her than she cared to admit right now. He was on at least his fifth cup of espresso in about as many hours and she could see the shakes starting to set in as the caffeine began its attack on his nervous system. Enough was enough she thought, they'd be here until dawn if they tried to get through all these names tonight.
"Alright boys, I think it's time we called it a night" she called out to them. Ryan's eyes had already closed and he jolted awake upon hearing her voice and quickly shook his head as if to pretend he hadn't just nodded off.
"No, we're okay" he tried to assure her but she simply shook her head.
"Ryan, everyone's going home. That's an order" she spoke firmly but with a small smile playing on her lips to get the point across that she wasn't angry, but grateful for their 'go get em' attitude.
"Yes ma'am" Ryan and Esposito echoed each other as they stood from their desks and began gathering their things.
Beckett looked over to Castle who was watching her carefully. The look he gave her was one of uncertainty. He wouldn't put it past here to want to stay here herself all night and if that was the case then well warm up that espresso machine because he wasn't leaving her side.
"You can put the coffee down Castle" she smiled at him. "We're leaving too"
"Oh thank God, I think I was almost at the point where I was sleeping with my eyes open" he sighed with relief and she let out a small laugh.
"No sleeping in tomorrow though" she pointed her index finger at him as she spoke firmly. "We're back here, first thing. Promise?"
"Promise" he nodded in agreement before grabbing his blazer off the back of the chair and putting it on.
They headed out of the precinct and hopped into the nearest taxi; Castle giving the driver his address as their final destination.
Once the cabbie had been graciously tipped as he deposited them in front of Castle's loft he and Beckett stepped out into the street and headed inside where a good nights rest was desperately calling to them.
They entered the quiet apartment and similar to the previous night, the rest of the Castle clan was already in bed for the evenning. He offered Beckett a drink or something to eat but she politely declined both; of which he was thankful for. Of course if she was hungry he would gladly make her something but he wasn't sure how much longer he would last on his feet so was grateful when she assured him she was still full from the Thai take-out that they had ordered at the precinct earlier.
They stood there in the living room for a moment and Castle wasn't exactly sure what to do now. Would she sleep in his office again? Or maybe with him again? What does he say now? Wish her a goodnight, or just walk to his bedroom and see if she follows?
Before he had a chance to overthink it too much Beckett's voice snapped him back to the moment as she told him she was going to use his bathroom to get ready for bed if that was alright.
"Yes, of course" he eventually nodded. "Your toothbrush and everything is there for you. I'll wait until you're finished"
"Thanks" she nodded and then headed through his office and disappeared into the bedroom.
About five minutes later Beckett padded out of the bathroom, now changed into her sleep clothes but she stopped dead in her tracks when her gaze fell upon Castle standing next to his bed wearing only his pyjama bottoms; a t-shirt hung lazily over his shoulder as he removed his watch from his wrist.
"Oh, I'm sorry" Beckett gasped; putting a hand over her eyes. "I should've knocked before I… I'm sorry"
"Oh, Beckett" Castle was equally surprised and he quickly shoved his t-shirt over his head and pulled it on. "It's alright, I'm sorry. It's just you weren't in there very long and I figured I had more time. Sorry. I'm uh, decent now"
She lowered her hand and saw that his chest was now covered by a thin white t-shirt and she couldn't help but let out a small laugh at the awkwardness of it all. Castle chuckled as well as he shook his head. "Well, could've been worse" he shrugged. "Could've been me walking in on you half naked"
She laughed at that and shook her head, glad that he didn't let it get too awkward. "Guess neither of us are used to having roommates" she commented and he nodded. "Guess not" he agreed.
"Well, goodnight Castle" she told him as she headed out of his bedroom and into the office; the question in his head from earlier now answered.
"Night Beckett" he called back as the door separating them closed and he crawled into his bed.
It didn't take Castle long to drift off to sleep; in fact he can't even remember his head hitting the pillow before he was whisked into the darkened realm of sleep. What he also couldn't remember is when or how the beautiful woman got to be in his arms when he awoke in the middle of the night. He lifted his head slightly to look over her shoulder to see the alarm clock. It was barely 2a.m. which meant he had been asleep for a little less than two hours and he had no idea just how long ago Beckett had joined him in his bed. Not that he was complaining mind you. The feeling of her pressed up against him with her back to his chest and his arms holding her safely to him felt incredible. He loved her and having her so near filled a craving he felt in his heart for a long time.
His arms would always be here to hold her; he thought to himself as he began drifting back to sleep. Always.
A/N: Hope you guys are still enjoying this story! Stay tuned, because cuddly Castle won't be around for too much longer before things start to heat up for him. And leave a review before you go? xoxo