Chapter 13

He woke up feeling like he had been hit by a truck. His back was sore, and his legs were stiff from sleeping on the couch sitting up.

He looked down where she was still curled up, sound asleep, with her head in his lap. She had barely made it through the opening scene of the second movie, when he had looked down and found her sound asleep with her head on his thigh. Not wanting to wake her up and have to deal with the sharing a bed awkwardness again, he opted to just let her sleep.

He slowly scooted over, replacing his leg with one of the throw pillows from the couch, as not to disturb her. Seeing that she was definitely still sound asleep, he headed to the bathroom and checked his morning texts.

He had quite a few from various cast and crew members who had been watching, praising him on his performance. Including a ribbing one from the dynamic duo telling him, "this is better than a Castle marathon. Acting is better too! ;)" Another was from craft services telling him breakfast was ready, and thankfully what was in it this time. The last one was his favorite. "Detective Esposito will be relieving you today. Go get some rest. Great work! -AWM"

Not that he didn't enjoy spending time with her, but staying in character, with so much riding on it, was stressful. A break would be nice. He knew he was still expected to stay with her at night, but honestly, sleeping Kate was far easier to deal with than awake Kate. As long as he didn't wake her up, he was safe at night to let his guard down a bit.

He went out and moved some things around in the kitchen and dirtied up some pans, so it at least looked like he'd cooked breakfast. He actually did make a pot of coffee, as he figured they could probably both use a cup, and as he'd hoped, the smell woke up his little sleeping beauty.

"Good morning, sunshine."

"Morning, Castle. Mmm, is that coffee I smell?"

"It sure is! Here, I even added the vanilla I know you like," he said, handing her a cup.

"Mmm, thanks, Castle." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and headed for the bathroom.

While she was gone, there was a knock at the door. Castle ran and opened it to a smiling "Detective Esposito" complete with badge and gun.

"Wow, complete costume today, huh?"

"Gotta be believable, bro. So you got the text? I'm here to give you the day off. You've been amazing with her. You earned a little break."

"Thanks. It hasn't been that bad. A bit awkward at times..."

"No kidding! I don't know how you did it, bro. Resisting her without hurting her. It was pretty amazing to watch."

"Yeah, well, luckily for me, the universe came too my rescue."

"Eww, yeah. I heard. Don't need details. Anyway, the story is that Paula called and you have meetings at Black Pawn all day. Something about emergency press control because you were spotted at the hospital."

"Hey, Espo!" Kate smiled as she greeted the detective.

"Hey, Beckett. How ya feeling? Writer-boy been taking good care of you?"

"Yeah, he's been really great actually. So, what brings you by?"

"I called him," Castle said, trying to figure out if that was the right answer. Espo nodded, so he kept going. "Gates had said the doctor didn't want you left alone, and I got a text from Paula saying that I'm needed at Black Pawn right away, so I called Espo to come hang out with you today. Is that ok?"

"I guess, but don't you have to work, Javi? I really don't need a babysitter. I'm fine."

"Nope, Gates gave me the day off to come spend some time with you, chica. I'm not gonna complain. Jenny has Ryan doing that damn cleanse thing again and some time apart might save his life."

"Time apart from Jenny?"

"No, time apart from me. Cuz I'm about to strangle his ass!"

"Well, at least wait until we're back, Beckett would love to work that case, I'm sure."

Kate shook her head and smiled. She had missed the boys. "Don't you have a meeting to get to, Writer-boy?"

"Oh, right! Gotta run. Thanks Espo. I'll see you tonight, Kate." And with a quick kiss to the top of her head, he was out the door.