Beckett couldn't remember the last time she'd been so distracted. She was trying to type up a report for the case she'd worked on Saturday, but she'd managed to write exactly one sentence. Her glance kept shifting from the clock to the doorway to the phone. And then back to the clock. It was almost ten a.m. Where was he? When she'd left his apartment the evening before, he'd said on no uncertain terms that he'd see her tomorrow. It was tomorrow. Why wasn't he here yet?
She'd enjoyed spending time with his family the day before, but she had needed some time alone to think things over. So she'd stayed for dinner (why not? She ate alone most nights and was enjoying the change of pace) but then went home immediately afterward. And after hours of careful consideration, she'd come to a decision.
This weekend, they'd both proven how far they were willing to go for the other. She no longer had any doubt that, whatever he might say or do, at the end of the day, he'd be there for her. She was ready to trust him. She was ready for Richard Castle.
But until he showed up, this realization meant nothing, and apparently she wouldn't be able to fully concentrate on anything until he did. Although she wasn't sure how much of this was because she was anxious and how much of it was because she'd been putting off getting her second cup of coffee, waiting for him to bring it to her.
She'd just made the decision to give in to the second part and get her own coffee from the break room when a Starbucks cup slid across her desk, coming to a stop right in front of her.
She smiled at him. She'd been watching for him all morning. Of course he'd manage to show up in the five seconds that she wasn't paying attention. "Starbucks, huh?" was all she said. "Fancy."
"Oh yeah, I pulled out all the stops."
"How's Alexis?"
"She's good. She's at school."
"Good, good. You were a little late this morning, so I thought maybe…"
"Oh. No. She's good. My mother got home this morning."
"Ah. That's good. How did her audition go?"
"She got the part," he said with a little smile. "But now we're dealing with a very self-satisfied diva."
She laughed. "That's great." As they ran out of small-talk, she felt her heart rate accelerate. She couldn't put this off forever. "Hey, can I talk to you for a second?"
"Yeah, absolutely."
She led him to a nearby interview room, pulling the door closed behind him and sitting down on the table in the center. He sat down beside her, turning so that he could face her. "So, ah, this weekend," she said, trying to figure out where to begin.
"Interesting by all accounts." He was word playing, his way of showing he was listening without stepping on whatever it was that she was trying to say.
Unfortunately, he was also not helping her to get to her point. "I… enjoyed it."
"Yeah, you told me that yesterday. I'm glad." He smiled. Like he was getting some kind of perverse pleasure from watching her squirm.
She sighed, making the decision that she was done giving him that kind of pleasure. This wasn't her, anyway. Squirm she would not. "I'm ready, Castle," she told him, exuding a kind of confidence she wished she actually felt.
"You're ready," he repeated.
She nodded. He knew what she was talking about… didn't he?
"For?" he asked. Apparently he didn't. Or he did, and he was just trying to torture her.
"You," she blurted. Oh God. Did I really just say that? She felt her face heat up. "Uh, us." Crap.
She wished he looked less amused. But that was the only word she could think of to describe the look on his face. Amused. "Would you like to go to dinner tonight?" he asked. "After work?"
She internally cursed. Why did he have to be so suave when she was such a spaz? Not that she was normally a spaz. But for some reason, he, or the whole situation, brought out some kind of internal awkwardness that had been in remission since she was a teenager. But she smiled at the invitation anyway. "I'd love to." Although the issue that had bothered her over the weekend still wouldn't leave her mind. "But what about Gina?"
He shook his head. "No longer a concern." He didn't look upset as he said it, but he didn't smile either.
She nodded. "When?"
He shrugged. "Yesterday. What difference does it make?"
She remembered Alexis's theory and couldn't help smiling a little. "When we were in the kitchen and you ran off to your office… is that what you were doing?"
"What difference does it make?" he repeated, but she could see it on his face. That was exactly what he'd been doing.
"I told you not to do that," she said, but she found that she couldn't really be angry with him for this. First of all, it was a little flattering that he'd been so interested in her that he'd felt the need to literally drop what he was doing and go break up with Gina. And besides that, she'd never much liked Gina. However the method, she couldn't help but be glad that Rick was no longer with her.
"Yeah, but I couldn't work out why," he told her with a shrug. "So I did it anyway. And you don't look terribly upset."
She shook her head, smiling. "I'm sure I'm just as upset as you were when I told you Josh and I broke up."
"I think less. You were upset then. And I don't much like it when you're upset." She was positive that he was closer to her now than he had been when they'd sat down, but she wasn't sure how it had happened. She remembered neither moving toward him nor seeing him move toward her. So how was his face now only inches from hers?
She could see him moving closer now, and she wanted to let him. She could still remember the feeling of his lips on hers, and she wanted to feel it again. But she was painfully aware of the big plate glass windows that gave the entire bullpen a clear view of the two of them, and knew that Ryan and Esposito, as well as several other curious detectives, were watching their every move. "Don't," she simply whispered, nodding to the windows.
"Oh, come on. Why? They're detectives. They're going to figure it out anyway. Why hide it?" He brushed his lips against her cheek as he whispered, "I don't want to hide it."
He had a point. Lanie and Esposito hadn't been able to hide their relationship, and they weren't even together at work most of the time. If she and Castle were going to make the leap, which it certainly looked like they were… was there even any point in trying to hide it? She bit her bottom lip as the smile spread across her face.
Sometimes it took her a little while to warm up to new ideas, but once she had she was all in, for better or for worse. She'd managed to convince herself that giving it a try with Castle was worth the risk, and the whole situation, being with him, was sounding better by the minute. True, if her colleagues knew, she'd never hear the end of it. But really, at this point, did she care?
"Let's just go over a few ground rules," she told him.
He frowned, not sure where she was going with this, but nodded. "Okay…"
"No PDA when we're at work."
He picked up his iPhone and looked at it sadly.
She raised her eyebrows. "That's not what I mean and you know it. No kissing, no hugging, no holding hands. No touching anything that you wouldn't normally. No flirting or making inappropriate comments at crime scenes." She wasn't fooling herself that most of this was going to work. He'd done some of it even before today, when there really hadn't been anything more than friendship between them. "I can't have you distracting me, Castle," she told him soberly. "If this is going to be a problem, we're either going to have to go back to the way it was before, or you're going to have to stop shadowing me."
He nodded, his face serious. "I'll be good, I promise."
"Good." But then she dropped her businesslike front entirely, a mischievous spark glinting in her eyes. "But I will make one exception."
Castle's face lit up. He liked exceptions. "What?"
She shrugged. "You're right. They're going to be talking about us anyway. What do you say we really give them something to talk about?"
"I like where this is going."
She scooted off the table and nodded for him to follow, and with her hand on his shoulder, guided him to a position in front of the pane of glass that would give any observers an unobstructed view. Then she centered herself in front of him and leaned forward. He took her lead and their lips met.
This kiss was even better than their first. There was less restraint, more passion. She let down all her barriers and fully let him in: into her life, her heart, and her mouth. And it wasn't scary. It wasn't embarrassing. It was just fun.
She let her lips linger on his for a long moment, not pulling away until it felt right. When the moment finally did end, she looked out the window and into the precinct. They had an audience, alright. Ryan and Esposito both gaped, open-mouthed, from the desk that belonged to neither of them where they'd been pretending to work as they spied—her desk, she realized with a twinge of annoyance. And they weren't the only ones. It seemed like all the detectives who could see the window from where they stood were looking, with expressions that ranged from shock to confusion to joy. She smiled, and Castle actually took a bow.
She took his hand and they walked back out into the bullpen together, meeting actual applause from the detectives who'd been watching. She rolled her eyes, but even if she'd tried she wouldn't have been able to wipe the smile from her face. This had been a long time coming, and they all knew it.
Even Captain Montgomery, noticing that something was going on, had appeared at his office's doorway shaking his head, but smiling. "Okay, can we all get back to work now?" he asked as the applause died down.
"Sorry, sir," Beckett said. But she wasn't. Not really. She knew all too well how hard the detectives at the twelfth's homicide unit worked on a daily basis. A little distraction every once in awhile was a welcome event. Plus she was in much too good a mood to actually be sorry. "Show's over," she announced, sitting down at her desk. Castle took his usual seat beside it.
The captain went back into his office and the detectives dispersed, resuming their various activities. Except Ryan and Esposito. They gathered in front of her desk, Ryan's jaw still slack, Esposito's eyes darting from her to him and back, uncomprehending.
"Guys," she said after a moment of stunned silence, "if you're not going to say anything, why don't you get back to work?"
"You guys… finally…" Ryan stuttered.
"Congratulations," Esposito managed with a smile before clapping his partner on the shoulder and leading him back to his own desk.
I actually managed to get this chapter finished pretty quickly. So that's exciting, I guess. My classes start again tomorrow, so I'm trying to get as much as possible done before that. I thought I was going to close the story with this chapter, and I could... but with the way I ended it (not much of an ending, really...) I think I'm going to write one more. Just to kind of close things up. And then that'll be it! For right now, I hope you liked it! Reviews, please? And thanks!