Castle: Beckett's Security Blanket

Chapter 14: You Can Run, But You Can't Hide

A/N: Thank you so much for all the support I've received recently! It is very greatly appreciated! I'm glad so many of you enjoyed the last chapter and left very positive feedback in your reviews. Now, onward and enjoy...

Kate stood in the middle of Rick's office, completely distracted and forgetting why she was standing there in the first place. The only thing at the front of her mind were images of a half naked Richard Castle, standing so close to her that she could feel his hot breath on her neck with every outtake of air that left his lips.

"Clothes!" She suddenly reminded herself with a smack to her forehead. She came in here to pack her things up but after her awkward little run in with Castle her mind refused to form any type of coherent thought processes.

Damn, why did he have to do that? I wanted to smack that smug smirk off his face. Or kiss it off… Wait, what? Beckett, snap out of it!

Yeah, she definitely needed to get out here, and soon. Tossing her weeks worth of laundry into her duffel she had no regard for organization or sorting of any kind, it was more just a matter of stuffing it in there as quickly as possible so she could forget this week ever happened and get out of there. Spending so much time with Richard Castle was apparently not good for her. It did things to her that she wished it hadn't; things she doesn't think she's ready to handle right now, however badly she might want to handle them.

She took one last look around the large office to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything and once she was satisfied she zipped up the duffel and headed towards the door that would lead her to the main living room. Her hand rested on the brass handle and she looked back to Castle's bedroom where the door was still shut and he remained on the other side. Part of her wanted to run out the door before he had a chance to tag along, the other part knew she owed him an explanation, but as per usual the stubborn part of her prevailed and she threw open the door and hurriedly made her way across the living room.

"Detective Beckett!" Martha's voice called out and it startled Kate as she whipped herself around at the front doorway to see Martha standing in the kitchen, holding a mug in her hand and still dressed in a robe.

"Martha" Beckett acknowledged; slightly startled as she clenched at her chest with her free hand. "I'm sorry, I didn't even see you there"

"Well I should say so, given how fast you were flying out of here" Martha commented. She was never exactly one to hold back.

"Yeah, we just… Crazy case, you know how it goes" Beckett shook her head.

"Ah yes" Martha nodded. "Richard told me that there was a break in at your place. I'm so sorry dear, but I'm glad you know that you can stay here as long as you like. Our home is your home" she told her with a warm and genuine smile that instantly caused Kate to feel a pang of guilt. She's right, Castle's family had opened their doors to her and here she was running out without so much as a word. She can't even blame Castle, as much as she'd like to and say he was out of line, really, what did she expect? He's right, he's a man after all, not an a-sexual robot and she hasn't exactly been sending the right signals these last few months if she didn't eventually want something to happen between them.

When did love become so confusing?

Wait, love?

Beckett gave her head a shake, none of this was helping.

"Hello, earth to Detective Beckett" Martha's voice called out and Beckett's head snapped up to see Martha waving a hand at her. She wondered how long Martha had been speaking and how much of it she hadn't even heard.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I asked if you'd like some coffee" Martha repeated again, already beginning to pour her a mug before Beckett had a chance to refuse.

"Oh, I…" Beckett started to decline the offer but then stopped. "Yes, thank you Martha" she eventually gave in, dropping her bag to the floor and crossing the foyer to meet the elderly woman in the kitchen.

"Richard still getting ready?" Martha asked; head nodding towards Castle's office as she handed her the steaming black ceramic mug with Richard Castle's name etched into it. Apparently there was no escaping the man this morning.

"Yeah" Beckett nodded.

"My son, such a princess" Martha sighed, shaking her head and Beckett couldn't help the smirk that crossed her lips. "Some days I swear he takes longer getting ready than Alexis or I. Heaven forbid a single hair comes out of place, he'll never leave the house" she explains with a slight chuckle and Beckett has to bite on her bottom lip because now she knows exactly how his hair looks when he first gets up in the morning, or when he freshly steps out of the shower, and although it's not perfect to his standards, everything about him is perfect to her.

She needed to get out of here, like now.

"Well" Beckett finally spoke as she let a breath escape her. "I've got get to the precinct, lots going on today". It was an outright lie, she knew she didn't have much to do today but sit around and twiddle her thumbs until their suspect showed up at his apartment but Martha didn't know that. She was halfway to the door, halfway to freedom when Martha's voice caused her to stop in her tracks. Again.

"Aren't you going to wait for Richard?" she asked, slightly confused but still light in her tone.

Crap.

"Yeah" Beckett replied with a forced smile as she spun around to face Martha again. "Knew I was forgetting something"

Not.

"Mother" Castle called out in surprise as he opened the door from his office and headed through the living room. "Beckett?" he asked; equally surprised that she was still there and hadn't left him to fend for himself like he assumed she would have.

"Why on earth do you seem so surprised to see either of us?" Martha asked of her son. "I live here and well, so does Detective Beckett, temporarily of course" she amended with a wave of her hand.

"Well Mother, I'm always surprised to see you awake before noon" he quickly recovered with a cheeky smirk and Martha simply glared at him with her hands on her hips, though she couldn't argue, this was early for her.

"If you must know I've been asked to assist in teaching an acting class later this morning"

"Oh" Castle acknowledged, a hint of surprise in his tone. "You've got a job? Mother that's great"

"Oh don't be ridiculous Darling" she quickly waved off his assumption. "It's a couple of days. Unpaid, might I add. But having the joy of sharing your talent with others and watching it blossom within them is payment enough for me"

"Hmmm" Castle nodded. "Explain that to your credit card company that keeps calling the house then. Maybe you can pay your gold card off with breathing excercises and melodramatic monologues" he smirked and she rolled her eyes.

Just another morning in the Castle household.

The car ride to the precinct was spent mostly in uncomfortable silence. Beckett focused all of her attention on the road in front of her, the traffic around her, anywhere but the man sitting next to her. Castle tried in vain to concentrate his nervous energy on doing something productive like e-mailing or taking notes with his phone but he kept losing focus and would end up tapping his foot incessantly against the floor or drumming his fingers along his knee to a song apparently only he could hear in his head. He wanted to turn to her and talk to her, joke with her, scream at her, anything would be better than the heavy silence that occupied the space between them.

"Look, Beckett" he finally got the courage to speak her name when the cruiser came to an abrupt halt.

"We're here" she mentioned before stepping out of the car and quickly closing the door, leaving him behind as she hurried up the steps to the twelfth.

"Already?" Castle mumbled to himself apparently as Beckett was practically out of sight already and he stumbled as he hurried his way out of the car and sprinted up the steps after her, finally catching up with her at the elevator.

"I uh, didn't think… I thought you would've left, you know, this morning" Castle rambled nervously as his gaze remained focused only on the elevator wall in front of him.

"Yeah well your mother kind of side lined me" Beckett shrugged, arms folded across her chest. "I didn't want to give her the impression that anything was out of the ordinary"

"Thank you" he nodded. "You know it doesn't have to…" he began to say, but then stopped as he considered what he was trying to say. "You could… I won't…" he continued to search for the right words when suddenly the ding of the elevator caught his attention.

"Can we talk about it later" Beckett mentioned; more of a statement then a question and not leaving any time for Castle to answer her as she stepped off the elevator and headed straight towards her desk.

"Yeah" Castle sighed into the empty elevator. "Later is good"

Beckett spent the first part of her morning in Gates' office going over the latest updates so Castle decided to use the down time wisely and headed back out into the streets to the local coffee bar only a few minutes up the street from the precinct. He returned about twenty minutes later to find Beckett back at her desk, seemingly staring off into space and he had to wonder how long she'd been completely zoned out for.

"Here" he offered her one of the cups as he reached her desk and it seemed to startle her slightly as she jumped in her seat.

"Oh, thank you"

"No problem" he smiled at her as he sat on the edge of her desk, merely inches from where she sat in her chair.

He brought his cup up to his lips and the odd look she gave him as he did so didn't go unnoticed.

"What?" he asked her; feigning innocence.

"What's on your cup?"

"Oh, that" he let out a puff of laughter. "Barista gave me her phone number I guess. I didn't notice it until I was half way back here" he nodded towards the cup which most definitely had a phone number written across the side in black permanent marker. He studied her reaction; she seemed to be just caught off guard more than anything until she finally gave her head a shake and went back to her own coffee.

Peeling the lid off her cup to let some of the steam escape Beckett's brow furrowed as she looked inside the cup.

"Castle" she groaned slightly. "They put whip cream in my coffee"

"Oh, I'm sorry" he sighed. "They must have made a mistake, I didn't ask for any whip. Here, do you want to take mine?" he asked, offering his cup to her.

"No" she groaned with a roll of her eyes. "It's fine, I'll drink it. There's caffeine in there and that's about all that matters right now"

She took her first sip and Castle quickly brought his own cup up to his lips to hide the smirk that was growing as she brought her cup back down and her lips and end of her nose were covered with the whipped topping.

"You um, got a little…" Castle began, clearing his throat and then motioning to his own face with his index finger.

"Ugh" Beckett groaned, wiping her top lip and nose off with her hand; completely missing her bottom lip though.

"Missed a spot" Castle mentioned. "Here" he began and before she had a chance to protest he had reached for her and gently brushed his thumb across her bottom lip. His closeness startled her slightly and her eyes quickly searched the bullpen to make sure nobody was watching them because she knew well enough that they'd never let this go. Fortunately it was still pretty early and the homicide floor was pretty well deserted except for Gates in her office and a few others who were busying themselves with paperwork. Her gaze went back to Castle just as his thumb left her lips and he brought it up to his own mouth to suck it clean.

"Mmmm" he smiled at her. "Sure you don't want to trade?"

She rolled her eyes. She was pretty sure he was enjoying this.

"I have work to do" she finally huffed at him; uncomfortable with how easily he was getting under her skin right now.

"What work?" he scoffed at her excuse. "Aren't we kind of dead in the water until our guy makes a move?"

Damn it Castle. Give a girl a break.

"I… have paperwork to catch up on" she finally managed with a quick shake of her head.

"Kay" he shrugged before rising up from the desk to sit in his chair. He rested his elbows on her desk and his chin in his hands, as stared across the desk at her in silence.

"What?" she asked; rolling her eyes at him and dropping her pen onto a small stack of papers.

"Nothing"

"Why are you staring at me?"

"You're prettier than Peterson…" he shrugged; head gesturing over to the portly middle aged detective sitting a few desks over from them.

"Castle" she sighed in frustration.

"What?"

"Don't… do that"

"Do what?"

"Don't… tell me I'm pretty" she grumbled at him.

"What, all I said was that you're prettier than Peterson, whom, might I add is not only a male and in his late fifties with a drastically receding hairline, but is currently eating a cheeseburger for breakfast. The competition isn't all that stiff" he explained with a small smirk on his lips that only irritated her further.

"Are you being especially annoying on purpose today?" she asked; her gaze narrowed at him but it didn't seem to phase him in the slightest.

"I don't think so" he quickly shrugged. "I think you're exceptionally irritable today though. Is something frustrating you today Detective?" He asked; his voice low as he leaned closer to her across the desk.

"I need to go… See Lanie about something" Beckett finally managed after a few moments; trying not to concentrate on the severe lack of distance that was suddenly between them. She swiftly pushed her chair back from the desk and stood from it; giving her head a slight shake before grabbing for her coffee cup and turning and heading to the elevator where she finally disappeared into the elevator.

Castle settled back into his seat and took a long sip from his coffee as she walked away from him. Sure it may have been a bit childish of him to order her coffee improperly on purpose, and it certainly wasn't a shining moment for him when he wrote a fake phone number on his own cup in an effort to spark some jealousy from her. But, regardless of that, Castle still smiled to himself as he watched leave her in a huff of frustration; taking an odd comfort in knowing that he was the cause of it.

Castle Two, Beckett Zero.

**Thanks for reading the update everyone, and always stay tuned for more! Next chapter we'll get some girl-talk with Beckett and Lanie and make some headway in the case as well! Feedback is always greatly appreciated so feel free to drop me a line**