My hubby blushes from all the love you sent him for letting me write last weekend—then he went and discovered Dexter Season 5 on Amazon VOD and hijacked the computer for the last week…ah, such is life…(or death)? We don't watch TV anymore…just Castle for me, and Dexter, Breaking Bad and whatever the Zombie one is for my husband. (Not sure what it's called, but I'm disturbed that I actually like it…or any of them that he watches!)
Anyway, I've been going long-hand, I've got the next two and a half chapters mostly done, but we'll see what they look like typed up. Until then, here's a happy chapter that I got carried away with because I was having too much fun with…well, you'll see!
Thanks, Elle, for "fic of the day"-ing this! For anyone who hasn't stumbled upon it, Daphne Beauty has a great Castle/Kate Tumblr that I very much enjoy. I recommend googling it since I don't think hyperlinks work well here.
Chapter 35 – Bubble
Castle opened the door to the loft and stepped aside to allow Kate to pass before him. Kate stopped at the table with the collection basket where Castle usually dropped his keys and wallet. She leaned on it while she unzipped her boots, finally freeing her feet from their stilted confines for the first time in thirty-two hours.
Castle took one look at the relief on her face and immediately regretted that she discovered he wasn't feeling well.
"I'm going to go draw you a bath."
"Castle, really that's not necessary. Let's just eat."
"Bath for you. I'll figure out eats."
"You should go rest while I figure out lunch. That's kind of the point of me being here."
"But I actually slept in a bed last night."
"You mean the 'sheetrock covered in a maxi pad'?"
"You slept wadded up in a chair."
"I've done stakeout on a park bench in the rain."
"Always got to one up me, huh? Come on. Bath. It's the least I can do. 'Specially since—"
"Can we not talk about that? Again?"
"Fine…if you take a bath."
"Fine." Kate relented. "Actually a bath sounds nice, but I can get it going myself." Kate stepped onto the first stair. "And you can shower. You're not exactly fresh."
"Not up there. You're going to use my bathtub."
That huge, corner bath with windows for walls all around it that I only caught a glimpse of earlier? "I don't think so, Castle."
"Trust me. You'll love it. The girls always do."
Definitely no, Kate thought, taking another step up the stairs. Castle caught the look on her face through the open stairs and realized what he said.
"I meant the ladies of the house." Kate paused, wondering if he really meant that. "I rarely use it, really. But Mother and Alexis like to hijack it."
Kate hadn't moved from the two stairs she was stopped on. She was considering something, but Castle wasn't sure if was the bath or something else. Castle thought he was close to snagging her. He walked up to the rail and looked up at her.
He grinned. "Allow me to paint you a picture, Detective."
"Really, Castle?"
"Imagine yourself approaching the tub. It's overflowing with a thick cloud of lavender-scented globules. You slip your robe down your shoulders. It falls to the floor with a light 'woosh,' but you don't notice because the surround sound system just began ejecting the first notes of your favorite sonata. You lift your leg, but hover momentarily before sinking your foot in, testing for the perfectly thermal water you know you'll find there." Castle paused, damning his vivid imagination, but unable to stop. He'd been talking with his hands, but that ended when he reached for her hand to draw her back down the stairs. He tugged, and Kate followed with little resistance.
"You lower your lithe little body past the mountain of bubbles." Castle looked down the length of her body appreciatively. "Instantly, you feel water rushing toward you from all angles. You realize it's not just a bathtub, it's a whirlpool."
"I can—"
Castle held a finger up to her lips and shook his head, and scolded her for interrupting his story. "The water feels slick on your skin. You run your hand over your legs—you realize your bubble bath is accented with essential oils. Thyme, if you're not mistaken. You lean back, tensing for a moment when you come up against the cool surface. But you're so hot," he smirks at her, quickly lifting his eyebrows, "it warms immediately."
Kate felt flush. As if his words alone weren't enough, she couldn't help but picture the scene he laid out before her with a particular man responsible for her disrobement. She imagined him settled into her chest, her legs hooked over his thighs.
She took a deep breath. "You paint quite a picture," Kate said. "For a writer."
Kate suddenly realized her hand was still in his. She pulled it out and brought it to her aching neck. "Are you sure you don't mind?" she asked, looking up at him.
Mind? Mind? Naked Kate Beckett in my bathtub? I might start sleeping there.
"Promise. Why don't you go raid Alexis' closet? I'll get everything ready."
When Kate came back downstairs clothes in hand, she saw Castle coming out of his bedroom with rubber gloves and his cleaning caddy. She was sometimes struck by how normal he was. Out in public, he was glitzy, with town cars and glamorous women at his beck and call. Here, he cleaned toilets, folded his mother's laundry and made dinners. Once, when she arrived, she caught him and Alexis Swiffer-ing in the socks Castle had fashioned for them.
"Sorry. I had to scrub it down first. Not the tub. Well, I can clean that, too, if you want. But, ugh, symbolic purging more than anything, you know?"
"I think between me last weekend and you this weekend…" Kate sighed heavily and shook her head. She really did feel bad for him. "We've had enough 'purging' to last us a long while. I'm ready to forget it."
"Come 'ere," Castle lunged at her with the rubber gloves, a sponge and a devious grin. "I'll scrub eet from your miiiind!" He delivered this in his best evil menace voice.
"EEWW!" Kate shrieked and ducked away from him. "Castle, I swear to God! If those things even come close to touching me!"
Kate escaped to Castle's bedroom already smelling the bleach from the cleaner mixed with the lavender bubbles he'd described.
Kate pushed the door to the bathroom shut. Her eyes followed the tiled floor to the bathtub. The shower, the bathtub—or rather its outer walls and the surrounding ledge—were covered in the same half inch tiles that covered the floor. The tiles, in black and white, and various shades of browns, creams and greys, also went half-way up the walls before they met a crisp white molding. The upper half of the walls were painted in a light, but warm grey. The bathroom was very much an extension of the bedroom.
The bathtub was already mounded in bubbles, just as Castle described. In fact, there wasn't much he hadn't touched on. There was music playing. He'd placed a couple of plush towels on a heated towel rack. And, even though it was the middle of the day, Castle had even lit a couple of candles. She smiled at Castle's romantic side. Her smile grew when she saw a copy of Naked Heat sitting there. Typical Castle, she thought.
Kate slipped out of her clothes, feeling like an exhibitionist on display for all of New York City—or at least the people of New York in the buildings across from her. She leaned back in the bathtub. After adjusting the jet that was just too forceful on her sore lower back, she let the water wash over her and completely relaxed.
It felt luxurious to sit there with the water surging against her body, not having to do anything or be anywhere. Kate couldn't bring herself to lift her any part of her body from the water. The book lay beside her forgotten. She lazed there—not accounting for time, not worrying…not really thinking anything at all outside of how oddly relaxed she was.
Kate stirred slightly upon hearing her name and a light tapping.
"Hmm?" Kate murmured her answer, still waking up, surprised that she'd dozed off. It was not loud enough for Castle to hear.
"Kate?" Castle asked, nudging the door open. Kate could see in the mirror that he had his head turned to avoid seeing her.
"It's okay, Castle. I'm completely covered. Honestly, it looks like the Michelin man exploded in here."
"You can never have too many bubbles. The trick is to add a little baking soda."
"You put baking soda in here?"
"Yeah."
"Hmm. I'll have to try that sometime."
"You're trying it now."
"I mean at home."
Castle was looking at Kate through the mirror now, but he still hadn't come in. Kate cocked her eyebrow at him questioning what he wanted, but Castle was lost in a fog. He was thinking Kate looked pretty at home right where she was.
"Did you need something, Castle? Are you feeling ok?"
"Fine, actually. I, uh, do you mind if I grab my shampoo and stuff? Thought I'd take a quick shower, too." Castle looked a little nervous. "I'll be quick, and promise not to peek."
"It's fine, Castle. Like I said, I'm covered."
"Good. In that case…I brought you something." He slinked into his room and was back quickly. He held up a short-stemmed, large-bowled burgundy wine glass. "I almost forgot the crème de la crème: a glass of my vintage Grand Barossa Shiraz. I thought it would pair well with the bath."
Kate smiled. "It'll make me heady. Nothing but bad coffee today, remember?"
Castle walked over and set the glass within her reach. He sat down on the edge of the tub, across from Kate. Her hair was down. He normally imagined her relaxed in her claw-foot tub with her hair pulled up into a loose not. Here, though, her hair hung loose around her shoulders. Small tendrils curled around her face and others clung to her neck. Between the tub's depth, all the bubbles and her hair, he could just barely make out the skin of her shoulder.
"I made up some tuna, so whenever you're ready, we can have tuna boats."
"Tuna boats?"
"That's what we call them. Don't know why. Grilled cheese with tuna. Used to do them open-faced, but not since we got the Panini press."
"Hmm."
"You like tuna." It wasn't really a question. Castle was still staring at her, but his eyes weren't roaming. Kate was feeling warmer. Her cheeks flushed. Castle noticed, and realized he was embarrassing her. She was beautiful, though, and he found it impossible to take his eyes off her. She turned her head from him to look back out the windows.
"There are binoculars," he nodded to the window sill, "if you feel like…birdwatching."
"Can people see in here, Castle?"
"No. One-way. Like at the precinct. Shaded, too."
"This is wonderful. I can't believe you don't take advantage of it more often."
"Not much of a bath man, myself."
"Kate?"
She didn't answer. She knew what was coming and she didn't want to talk about it. She saw him extend his hand and tap a switch on the wall. "You have to turn the jets off before you drain the water."
Kate looked at him and smiled. "Okay. Anything else?"
"I'm sorry you didn't make it at least to the airport. I should have—"
She shouldn't have asked. "Castle, I've told you. It wasn't your fault. I forgot to turn my phone back on."
"But you wouldn't have even had your phone off if you hadn't been at the hospital with me. You missed spending time with him and seeing him off because of me."
Kate leaned her head back and squeezed her eyes shut in frustration. "He's going to be gone for three weeks, Castle. Three weeks. One day doesn't make a difference in the grand scheme of things."
"Still, you should have been with him, not stuck in the hospital with me."
"Castle, I'm well aware of where I was. It was a choice I made. Besides, I saw Josh yesterday."
"But you ended up here, so that couldn't have gone how you planned. It's just—I know you care about Josh, and I just, I feel horrible. I wish—"
"You can stop feeling guilty. The truth is we kind of got into it yesterday, so—"
"Because of me."
Kate looked up at Castle. She didn't know if it was a question or not, but she saw the concern in his eyes. She wouldn't lie to him, but couldn't tell him the truth either.
"I wish there was some way I could make it up to you."
Kate leaned forward, and saw his eyes darken when the move exposed her right shoulder and back. She smiled, knowing the effect her nearness, her nakedness had on him.
"Castle. I'm sitting here, luxuriating in whirlpool tub that's clearly big enough for two." She saw his eyes widen. "I'm not offering to share, Castle." Not yet.
"I'm just saying…it feels like I'm at a resort, more relaxed than I've been in a long while. I have a beautiful view, a glass of wine, a good book…decent company—even if he talks too much. What more could I possibly want? Besides, I'm supposed to be taking care of you, yet you've done all this and have lunch ready to go, so please, stop worrying about this. Doctor's orders, not just mine. Please stop talking about this, and please…go take a shower!"
Kate leaned back again and closed her eyes, waiting for him to leave.
"So, you're not mad at me?" Castle asked after a few moments.
"Getting there." She wasn't really. She didn't have the energy.
Castle pulled his phone from his pocket and readied the camera. "Fast track to Angryville," he said under his breath.
Kate lolled her head toward him, saying "What?" as she opened her eyes. Click.
"CASTLE!"
Despite her nakedness, he was actually afraid that she might run after him. He ran out, grabbing his shampoo and scooping up her worn work clothes on the way.
Kate came out of Castle's bedroom, towel drying her hair.
"Castle, where'd you put my br—?"
"Bronte!" Castle yelled. "Uh, Bronte's in the office."
"Bronte?" Kate questioned. She looked up to find him standing at the door, with a very interested Lanie and Javier looking her way. Kate froze, very aware of Alexis' light T-shirt and the way it draped over her slightly damp body.
"I don't know, Castle," Lanie nodded toward her. "I'd say she's looking for her bra." Javier blushed.
"Lanie!" Kate dropped the towel to hang over her shoulders and headed upstairs to find a tank to wear under Alexis' tee.
"W-washer," Castle tried to explain at the same time. "It's in the wash."
"The washer?" Kate cried. "Castle, get your ass up here now! And bring your phone." Kate stepped into Alexis' room and shut the door. She found a body-hugging tank and put it on for some extra coverage under the tee. She opened the door to see Castle standing there. She grabbed his shirt and pulled him into Alexis' room.
Lanie and Javier watched the whole exchange from downstairs. Javier said something about the doghouse, but Lanie shushed him.
"Quiet! I've got to hear this!" Lanie said.
"The washer? God! Castle! You're going to ruin another one of my bras! I just bought that one! You live with two women. How can you keep screwing that up?"
"They aren't as sensitive as you are. And if they get messed up, they just buy new ones. I'll buy you a new one."
"You are not buying me underthings! Just stop doing my laundry!"
"Well, excuse me. I thought you'd like wearing your own clothes home."
"And you couldn't have told me we have company? Now they're going to thing we're sleeping together!"
"They just got here," Castle hissed. "Lanie said she wanted to see for herself how I was doing. I didn't know they were coming. Or that you were going to come out talking about your underthings."
"Well, maybe if you hadn't stolen my clothes, I wouldn't have had to!"
"I didn't steal them. I'm washing them. I was being nice."
"Sure you were. Where's your phone?"
"Nope. Not getting that one back, Detective."
Kate grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back, a maneuver he'd seen her use dozens of times. She slammed him into the door.
Downstairs, Javier wondered if he should go rescue Castle. Lanie hoped they were getting it on.
"Phone." Kate said as she pressed against his backside with her hips, letting her body feel for his phone. She reached around to his chest and felt for his phone in his breast pocket.
"If you wanted to feel me up Detective, you just had to ask." Castle's voice was huskier than it had been. Kate's own heartbeat had sped up in a way it never had when she had a suspect in front of her. Of course, she didn't normally hip check suspects to check for weapons or drug paraphernalia, either.
"Shut up, Castle." Kate shoved him again. She slid her left arm, still wrapped around him, down his torso until she reached the band of his jeans. She patted first the right pocket, then she slid across to the left, letting her hand graze across him. She spread her fingers across his left hip, touching all of his pocket at once. She leaned into him a little heavier.
"Satisfied?" he asked, pushing back on her.
Kate pulled away abruptly. "Not nearly." She said, jerking the door open and heading down the stairs, aware of the slight wobble in her step. Castle did an arousal check, adjusted himself quickly and was right behind her.
"Hey, guys," Castle said cheerily, as if it wasn't at all odd for the two of them to have disappeared upstairs. "Hungry? We were just about to have lunch."
Kate didn't say anything. She was looking for Castle's phone, and avoiding Lanie.
"Little late for lunch, don't you think, Castle?" Lanie asked, eyeing her friends.
"Early dinner then. We haven't eaten yet."
"Too busy stealing Kate's bra, huh?"
"For the record," Javier said looking between the two, "I already think you're sleeping together."
"We're not sleeping together," the two said at the same time.
"I told you," Kate said making a face at Castle.
"Don't gloat. It's unattractive."
"Maybe you should look into soundproofing."
"Maybe you should be quieter." Castle cocked his eyebrows at her. Kate glowered at him.
"Yeah, right. You two aren't sleeping together." Esposito shook his head. He didn't really think they were sleeping together before; he knew Beckett better than that. But she kicked Josh to the curb, so they could be. They should be.
"It's true, Esposito." Castle said, digging out bread. "You guys eating?"
"Sure," Esposito said. "Let's look at the facts. Beckett stayed here last night."
"Not true."
"She stayed with you," Lanie said. "And you're staying again tonight, right?"
"Probably not," Kate lied.
"You both have wet hair."
"I took a bath." Kate said sitting in the stool beside Esposito. She spotted Castle's phone on the counter and reached across for it.
"In Castle's bathroom?" Lanie asked. She was sitting on the far end of the bar where she could observe both Castle and Kate.
"Yes."
"With Castle?"
"No, I showered, upstairs,' Castle said, buttering bread. Esposito still looked disbelieving. "Go look. Shower's wet."
Castle saw Kate messing with his phone. "It's password protected, you know." Kate looked at him with perfect aplomb. She held his phone to show him she was already in. He attempted to pluck it from her hands, but she leaned back out of his reach.
Kate was scrolling through his pictures. He had a lot of them. Some were of crime scenes—not that it really surprised her. Some were of random buildings with unique structures and architectures he'd stopped to admire. Many were of Alexis, but what surprised her most was that many were of her—sometimes with Alexis or the boys or Lanie, but often of just her: reading in his office, at Remy's, at the Old Haunt, at her desk, when they walked through the park.
Kate actually smiled at the one of her in the bathtub. At least it was a nice picture of her; she looked attractive and at ease. He must have snapped it at just the right moment. She decided to let him have that one. Instead, she deleted a couple of others—one where she had a weird grimace on her face and one where she was leaned over Ryan and Esposito's desk. It was all ass, leg and heels.
"Beckett? Plates? Drinks, if you please."
Kate walked around the bar to pull out everything they needed. She pulled a bag of chips from the cupboard, and asked everyone what they wanted to drink. She opened the refrigerator and pulled out carrot sticks and stuff to drink. She also pulled out a jar of pickles.
She shook the jar in front of Castle's face. She knew Castle hated pickles. So did Martha and Alexis.
"Found those, huh?"
"Dinner last night." She stood beside him, closer than friends do, but not closer than normal.
"Disgusting."
She bumped him lightly with her hip, sure he'd know it as her "thanks."
He smiled at her and made a face. "Just don't open them around me or, you know, breathe near me. Might have a repeat of last night."
At that Lanie, launched into her own interrogation of Castle and how he was feeling, what the doctor said, what meds they'd put him on and all that. Castle filled them in on some of the less embarrassing details and provided full detail on the endoscopy that they'd spent half the day waiting on. His throat was still sore from the endoscopy and he was crampy from everything else.
Halfway through their meal, Lanie turned to Kate. "So just how many has he ruined, Kate? And how?"
"Only two," Castle said.
"Four," Kate challenged him. "Two when I was staying here, one at my place, and the one in the washer."
"Man, talk about holding a grudge. Besides, you told me you didn't put your unmentionables in the hamper when I did the load at your place."
"I didn't."
"And there's nothing saying the one in the washer is ruined."
"It's a hand-wash only, French lace padded underwire from Frederick's. And it's in the washer with my slide-closure, zip front pants and pill-prone shirt. Trust me, Castle. It's ruined."
"Frederick's, huh?"
"So, dead guy in the park? Why'd you ask about her underwear if you already knew?"
"The bras ended up in there accidently, Lanie. I wash my bras and underwear separately—even at home. Not that Castle here had an aversion to letting me wash his."
"You already knew. I told you. And you insisted on helping out around here."
"I didn't ask."
"So her panties are still a mystery?" Lanie asked.
"Can we stop talking about my underwear?"
"I kind of like this topic."
Kate picked the pickle spear off her plate and held it before her mouth, knowing she'd get Castle's attention. She wasn't looking at him, but she knew when she had his eyes. She sucked the juice from it and then crunched it violently. He swallowed hard. Kate smirked and turned to look at him. She leaned forward, jaw lowered and huffed a whiff of warm pickle breath at him.
"So, how 'bout the weather? Warm out today, huh?" Apparently, warm pickle breath inspired lameness.
"Yup. Looks like Memorial Day weekends going to be nice, too. Which reminds me, Castle, you coming to the barbeque, or not?"
"I don't know man. I'll make it if I can."
"Got a better offer, Castle?" Lanie asked.
"No. Mini press tour this weekend. Not sure when I'll be done."
"Castle's introducing the Mayor at the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument before the sea and air demonstrations. Then he'll actually be putting his color commentary to use for people who want to hear it."
"Hmm?"
"I'm cohosting the commentary for the broadcast on a cable network. You know, like a man on the street thing?"
"Is that why you're not going to the Hamptons?"
"Alexis is going with Ashley to Connecticut—some sort of family reunion slash birthday celebration, so I figured I'd might as well do some of the press stuff Paula's been bugging me about. So now I'm on the Fleet Week media junket."
"What's that mean, really?" Lanie asked.
"Well, that's really all I have going on Monday. I have an interview with a cable network on Saturday, a public book signing and a two-hour shift as a celebrity server at the Village Pourhouse. You should come down. Plus, uniforms drink free, Javi, and Lanie loves a man in uniform, right?"
"True, Baby. We can go right?"
"Free beer? I'm in." Esposito said. "Beckett?"
"Watch Castle do actual work? Sure."
"Funny. I do 'actual work' all the time. Anyway, Sunday, I have two book signings, one public, one private…for military members. Then, Sunday night, I have the Fleet Week Gala at the Intrepid Museum. That's not strictly work related, but it's one of those things."
Not strictly work-related? Kate wondered. He'd left that bit about the gala out before. Kate's stomach constricted when she realized he probably wouldn't be going alone. She hung her head, realizing she hardly had room to impeach Castle. In her self-censure, guilt was most prominent, but there was also envy. The thought of some busty, faceless woman on his arm made her feel nauseous, but she pushed it away. She was here, with him, making plans for the weekend.
"Sounds rough. I'd be happy to trade you one scalpel, rib cutters and a dead body for one gala."
"I'd take it. Fleet Week Gala's stuffy—not at all like what we have planned for the Jamboree."
And plans for beyond the weekend. Kate smiled to herself, as Castle spoke about the impending event, sharing details that she was sure only Lanie could appreciate. She and Esposito took up a side conversation about the Yankees and the 12th's upcoming softball tournament.
As much as she'd enjoyed spending time with their friends, Kate was glad when they left. Neither of them had slept well the night before. Somehow, sitting in the hospital had exhausted them more than days on end with little sleep when working a case at the precinct. Castle was still recovering, of course, but Kate was dealing new, strong emotions and decisions gone wrong. They both headed off to bed, Castle to his room, Kate to the guest room.
So, whatchya think? A few smiles, I hope? You've shared 475 reviews thus far, and I love you all for each and every one of them! Keep 'em coming! (I do try to respond to each one…so if I missed one in the past, my apologies!)
Now, let's get down to some other business! All these finale fics and I haven't read either of the two that keep plaguing me. The first is in my profile, but also below:
1. The crew at Kate's funeral (fake or not) and everyone telling Castle how sorry they are for his loss. No one really even knowing Josh or that he's the boyfriend. Josh's realization that he wasn't part of her life at all.
2. Kate's been shot, people! Does no one wonder if it ever crosses her mind that she may never be able to have Castle babies?
I would love to read either of these, but, of course, I don't want to take my attention away from FTR. One-shots would be lovely! I need resolution! Any takers? Please?