Back to Where We Have Never Been

A/N: So this chapter kind of came out of nowhere, so let me know what you think. :)

Thank you as always for your continuing support and readership (if that's a word). You all are awesome! :)

Chapter 23

Castle's fingers paused over the keys of his laptop as he momentarily got caught up watching her lying on the leather loveseat in his office. She was staring up at the ceiling, her head resting on one arm of the small sofa and her feet propped up on the other, ankles crossed. She lobbed the hacky sack straight up into the air one more time and held up a hand to catch it as it fell back down towards her. She let out a small sigh as she tossed it back and forth between her hands for a moment before throwing it up in the air again.

Kate had been quiet ever since she had pulled out of the hug earlier and had softly told him to go write with a small pat to his chest and a kiss to his neck. She was okay. She was going to be fine. She would just stay for a little while.

That had been three hours before.

There was a bottle of water on the floor beside her, within arms reach and her shoes has been kicked off somewhere near the loft's door. Castle pressed a combination of buttons on his laptop and the printer whirred to life, adding to the beat of the radio playing softly in the background. She had been alone in her own head for long enough. It was time for a distraction from the torrent of thoughts that were bound to be found in there. After a couple of minutes he pulled the stack of papers out of the tray, silently priding himself on the decision to get a laser printer. It was so much faster.

He padded his way across the office, his bare feet sinking into the plush carpet. He reached down he approached the loveseat and gently lifted her feet from the arm, sliding under them. He wiggled his butt a little from side to side to get comfortable in the coot leather seat. He squeezed her foot gently in greeting and found her staring at him with a small questioning smile on her face when he looked over at her.

"Hey," he started softly as she stared up at him, one of her hands curled up by her head, playing with a couple strands of her hair, rolling them between her fingers. She tilted her head and sighed into her knuckles.

"Hey," she replied finally, looking back towards him, matching his tone.

"I have something for you." He tilted the stack of papers towards her. "You want to read it?"

Her lips lifted slightly as she raised her head off of the cushioned arm and bit into the side of her bottom lip. Intrigued, questioning Kate look number one. He let out a small chuckle at her look of hesitation paired with the curious glint in her eyes.

"Oh, come on, Beckett," he chided teasingly. "You know you want to."

He shifted in his seat, pulling his feet up. He swung one leg across her hips so that he was straddling her belly; leaning back on his heals to support himself. "It's a rough draft of the next Jade Knight book, Re-U-Knighted. You can mark all over it if you want. I even have a red pen."

He held the pages up before of her, tilting them from side to side, making them dance in front of her face.

Her stomach shook slightly and a hand came up to cover her mouth as she let out a small laugh. "You're not seriously calling it that."

He stopped still, his face falling as he stared down at her. "You don't like it? But Rook and Knight are back together again after being torn apart for a year. Their lives and their love tattered and torn. Their hearts are in shambles until they are brought back together again by chance. Reunited and healed by the sheer force of their eternal and boundless love for each other."

Kate's face started to turn red as she clasped the hand tighter over her mouth and her brow creased as the quivering of her stomach strengthened. Finally, she gave in and let out a bark of laughter, slapping her hand down on the cushion beside her.

"That…" she gasped in between laughs, "Is the biggest load of bullshit I have ever heard."

Castle let out an indignant huff and pushed back, attempting to swing his leg off of the couch when her arms shot out and grabbed his butt, pulling him off balance and making him fall forward on top of her.

"Kate!" He yelped as he landed with his arms braced on either side of her face and his nose inches from hers.

Her laughter subsided and she lifted her head and brushed her lips against the skin of his neck, her whispered words melting into his skin. He felt his heart swell.

"Thank you."

"For what?" He whispered back into her hair.

"For being here, with me."

"Always." He nodded down at her. "So, what's going to happen now?"

It was the question that had been on his mind since she had arrived. The one he had been putting off until the initial storm blew over.

She let out a sigh as she brought a hand up to wipe over her face. "Now, my classes tomorrow are cancelled and once Monday rolls around I will have a faculty shadow in all of my classes. They will write the exams and I won't be able to see them, give them out or grade them. Once grades come out I will either be dismissed from my position or cleared, given a "heartfelt apology" and those girls will be up in front of the disciplinary committee. The question is always going to be there, though. That seed of doubt is planted and my suitability for tenure is going to questioned."

She tilted her head back to look, upside down, out of the large window, gazing at the building across the street. Her chest rose and fell with a sigh and she pulled her head up to look at him. Her eyes focused on his, a hand coming up to run down the side of his face. The day-old stubble scratched her fingers.

Slowly, her arms came up to wrap around him and he lowered himself gently to rest on top of her, as she snuggled her face into his neck and brought up a knee to rest against his hip. He relaxed into her as he listened to her breath into him, her warm breath caressing his skin. There was no hitch, no hint of tears; just strong, steady breathes.

"I love you," she whispered.

Kate has been crying. And my daughter doesn't cry. She gets angry, she gets silent, she throws a fit but she rarely cries.

Castle could feel an ache in his chest swell.

"I love you, too. I'm sorry I made you cry," he whispered back, his lips pressed against her temple.

She shook her head slightly, an acknowledgement and a dismissal of his words. She didn't speak as they laid there on the too small loveseat, his head resting in the crook of her neck, her fingers winding through his hair, twisting the short strands around her fingers.

"What's the book about?" She finally asked as her hands ran down the sides of his neck and pushed him up gently, so she could look at his face.

He braced himself back on his arms so that he could brush his lips gently over hers. A ghost of a kiss. Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips and she pulled the bottom one in between her teeth as she smiled up at him. The problems of the outside world temporarily forgotten as they sat in their own little bubble of a world they had built.

He leaned down to nibble on her ear. "An illegal, exotic pet trade."

Her grin grew against his cheek. "Seriously?"

"Mm hmm."

"Okay," she patted his back with a hand. "Get up. I have reading to do."

He pushed himself off of the couch as she rolled over to grab the pages, which had fallen to the floor beside her when she had pulled Castle down.

"I see how it is," he huffed as he straightened his shirt. "You only love me for my writing."

"That's exactly it," She agreed as she rolled back over on her back, scooting herself up so that she was propped up against the arm. The same position she had favored more than a year before. "Geez, how much have you written?"

She held up the stack of papers and he glance down with a shrug. "I don't know, about a hundred fifty pages or so."

"In six days?" She exclaimed, her jaw hanging open as she stared up at him.

"What can I say," he replied as he leaned down for a kiss, bracing himself on the leather arm behind he her back for leverage. "You inspire me whether we are fighting or not."

Her mouth curved up into a wide smile and she wrapped a hand around his neck, tugging him down for a deeper kiss, her tongue licking gently at the seam of his lips. His lips parted and he moaned as he leaned back over her, lowering himself back down to lay on tops of her as her hands wove themselves back through his hair, the half finished rough draft sandwiched between them.

The front door of the apartment slammed and Castle let out a groan as Kate laughed against his lips.

"Dad, I'm home," Alexis called and Castle buried his head in Kate's shoulder.

"I knew it was a bad idea for her not to go to the dorms," he grumbled as he pushed himself up for the second time in five minutes, only to leverage himself down in a push-up to brush another kiss over her lips.

She brushed up a hand to swipe at his shoulder. "Oh, don't even. You know she would have been in her own place in a flash if you hadn't begged her to stay. Now go before we're caught like this. Again."

He let out a growl as he swung his feet to the floor and ran a hand through his hair. Walking towards the door he paused. "But make-up sex later, right?"

She pinned him with a slight leer, her tongue pushed up against the back of her teeth as she smiled up at him and he scampered out of the office with a gulp and a whimper.

"Dad!" Alexis greeted as he made his way across the living room towards the kitchen where Alexis was pulling left over pizza out of the fridge. Andrew was perched on one of the stools around the island. "We heard about Dr. Beckett. We were called into the Dean's office today. They questioned each of us for like an hour. Have you heard from her? What happened? Is she okay?"

Castle nodded as he rounded the island and snaked an arm around his daughter for a quick hug, sending a nod in Andrew's direction. "She's fine. Upset but fine. She's in the office."

Alexis pulled back to look up at him. "So you two made up?"

He nodded his confirmation and Alexis let out a sigh of relief. "Good. For two smart people you sure can be idiots some times."

Castle let out a chuckle and mussed her ponytail as she made her way back to one of the stools, two napkins of cold pizza and two glasses of water.

Castle jumped slightly when he felt a hand brush against his back and he turned to see Kate heading towards the door.

"Where you going?" He called after her.

She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear as she glanced over at him, one foot stepping into an impossibly high heel. "I'm going to head home."

Her eyes flickered over to Alexis and Andrew momentarily before she turned her attention back to him, an apologetic smile flickering across her face.

He turned to look at his daughter before turning back to her, the question evident in his eyes. "Alexis doesn't mind that you're here, I promise."

"Oh, no," she countered as she used a finger to pry on her other shoe and squatted down to pick up her briefcase. "It's not that. It's just that with the review, I have been advised to stay away from students without another member of faculty present. So, I am going to head out."

She glanced up to look at all three faces, a tight lip smile on her face, before ducking her head back down and turning towards the door.

She made her way into the hall and her hand was reaching towards the elevator button when he caught her by the elbow.

"Kate, wait. You're next class isn't until Monday, right?"

She nodded, turning to lean back against the wall beside the elevator doors, her arms crossed loosely over her chest as she shrugged; the weight of the day's events starting to settle back over her. "Yeah, why?"

"Come away with me."

She let out a startled laugh and he took a step closer to her, a child-like grin crossing his face. "What?"

"You like to travel. I haven't been out of the city in, only God knows, how long, except for book tours. Let's just go. Three days, get away from it all. I'll have you back in time for class on Monday." He took another step closer to her, his hands braced on the wall behind her.

She tilted her head back to rest against the wall, her eyes studying his as they twinkled back at her.

"Okay, yes, fine. Where are we going?"

Castle stopped for a second, his eyes narrow as he focused on a spot on the wall beside her head, his lips parted slightly. "I have no idea."

She laughed again as she leaned up to give him a chaste kiss on the lips. "Well then we better get going. Go pack a bag. Pick me up at my apartment in an hour."

He smiled down at her as he bent down for another, longer kiss. "This is going to be epic. We should do a tour of tacky tourist towns, no hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurants. Wait, no: salsa, onions. Bad idea. Oh, I know. We can pretend to be German tourists or…"

"Or," she chimed in, her lips pressed up against his ear. "We can tour a single room in a bed and breakfast."

He swallowed hard as she chuckled against his ear, her warm breath blowing across his skin.

"Yeah," he forced out as he pushed back from the wall, putting a couple feet worth of space between them before they ended up scarring his daughter for life by doing it in the hall outside of their apartment. "We could definitely do that. I, um, I'm going to go pack now. I will see you in an hour."

Her laugh could be heard, ringing through the hall as his door slammed shut and he leaned up against the inside wall of his apartment, his hands covering his face.

"Dad? What's wrong?"

Castle peaked through the space between two of his fingers to look at his daughter and her friend staring back at him curiously.

"Nothing," he muttered as he pushed himself off of the wall and made his way towards the bedroom. "Just that that woman is going to be the death of me."

Kate leaned back against the cool metal wall of the elevator as it descended towards the lobby. The calm, light-hearted feeling sinking from her belly as she moved farther and farther from the bubble of Castle's loft. It was like there was an alternative dimension in his office, a space that was theirs alone; one that they had created while spitting ideas back and forth for Checkmate. It was a place where he hadn't had to be bothered with deadlines, or worry about his daughter leaving for college. It was where her engagement hadn't been falling apart. Now, she was leaving it again, heading back out to the streets of the city, where everything else waited: the lies and questioning glances. She sighed.

It would be over soon.

She nodded to the doorman as she crossed the lobby and held up her hand for a taxi. She was too tired, too emotionally drained to worry about the subway, or walking to her place. The car pulled up and she sank back into the worn, sticky, slightly smell seat. It would be nice to get out of the city for a little while, too.

She whirled through her apartment, articles of clothing strewn around her as she flipped through shirts, pants, the occasional dress, and other, more intimate, garments. She shoved her chosen articles into her bag before stripping off her own clothing and stepping into the steaming shower.

She stepped back out to a chirp of her cell phone and a text message advising her to dress in comfortable clothing. She quirked an eyebrow at the screen before shrugging and wrapping a towel around her hair. She wouldn't have time to style it before Castle got there. Instead she shimmied into a pair of skinny jeans and threw a t-shirt over her head. She was just tying up the laces on her second Chuck when he knocked on the door.

She swung it open with a feeling of déjà vu and a small smile on her face as her hand came up in a wave.

"Hey, Castle."

He glanced over her, eying her t-shirt a second too long.

"That's hot," he said as he bent down to kiss her on the cheek. A smile tugged at her lips as she glanced down at the Wonder Woman tee.

"Like that, do ya?" She turned to saunter back towards the bedroom, her hips swaying a little bit harder and her hands reaching up to wrap her damp hair up in knot. "Just wait until you see the matching underwear."

She quirked an eyebrow at him, her head tilted slightly, as he held open the backseat door to the town car and motioned for her to get in.

"We're having a driver take us on our weekend trip?"

"No," he rebuked. "We are not. We are having a driver take us to the airport."

Her head whipped around to look at him, eyes narrow. "Airport?"

"Yep."

"Where are we going?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out."

She let out a soft hum. "Uh huh. So, what did Alexis say when you told her that you were just picking up and leaving town for the weekend."

"She said to have fun, be safe and to stay away from police horses. She promised no crazy parties. Just said that she and her friend Andrew would be studying for most of it," Castle raised his shoulders in a slight shrug.

Kate pressed her lips into a line, suppressing a laugh. "Studying, sure."

It was Castle's turn to whip his head around to face her. "What? Why do you say that?"

Kate dropped her chin so that she could look up at him. A you've got to be kidding me, right?look painted on her face. "You do know that they are dating, right?"

Castle's eyes grew wide as he stared back at her, the panic clearly rising inside of him.

"They're what?" He exclaimed.

She turned to settle back in her seat and patted a hand on his thigh, squeezing it gently. "Don't worry. I'm sure they'll be fine."

Castle nodded as he stared straight ahead.

"She is an adult now, you know," Kate continued softly. "You have to let her grow up sometime."

"Yeah," he forced out. "But she doesn't have to do it in my apartment."

She sighed again and leaned against his arm, her head resting on his shoulder as he continued to stare forward. "She's an amazing young woman, Rick, and Andrew is a good guy. She took the break-up with Ashley hard, let her have this and don't even think about going after that poor young man with a shot gun."

He turned his head towards her slightly, opening his mouth to say something before snapping it shut again at her next words.

"Or a fencing sword."

"How did you know about that?" He asked, turning his body to look at her.

"Your mother and I talk, too."

He settled back in his seat letting out a small humph with his arms crossed over his chest. Kate sat back in her seat beside him. They were approaching JFK.

"Now, where are we going?"

"Well, I hear there is this place with, and I quote, "the best coffee ever", I thought I might want to try it."