A/N: Sorry for the delay! Here's a shortish chapter to get back on track. Minimal editing on this, please excuse any errors.
.
.
.
Chapter 5
.
.
.
Beckett woke slowly, blinking blearily against what she assumed was the late morning light. Closing her eyes, she rolled away from the light and bumped into Castle where he was stretched out on his back beside her. She snuggled in to him by feel, nuzzling her nose into his side and draping an arm and a leg over him. Her mouth was dry, a trace of headache in her temples, her muscles stiff. It was a post-adrenaline hangover she'd learned to deal with over the years, but at least this time she had Castle there with her.
As if he knew she was thinking about him, he snuffled in his sleep and stretched. Beckett hid her grin against his shirt and peeked at him with one eye. His toes pointed and flexed under the covers and his chest expanded with a big intake of air. When he exhaled his torso dropped in a way that actually rocked her in the bed, and now Beckett was fully awake and swallowing a laugh.
What a bear.
He had certainly earned his heavy slumber in the shootout the previous day, and she was loath to wake him. Still, she couldn't resist running the flat of her palm over his worn flannel shirt. She could feel his warmth and the pleasure of the soft fabric against her skin. It was a simple pleasure, but one that continued to take her by surprise. She thinks she surprises him, too, with her desire to touch all of the time. But if she woke before him, and didn't have to go to work, Castle usually woke to the sweep of her hands over him.
He was waking up now. The little lift of his lips into a smile was the first tell, and when he leaned into her body a little she knew he was nearly there. Smiling, feeling an unusual rush of euphoria, Beckett rubbed her cheek against his chest and lifted up on one elbow. This feeling was new, a kind of rapture as Castle rumbled awake that pushed even her headache aside. For the first time in a very long time, she was able to share the relief of survival with the person she wanted to. For the first time, she could watch him come awake after a day when she thought he might not make it, and the joy of it was making her giddy.
She was pretty sure he was fully awake now and just enjoying the feel of her so close, so Beckett slid her hand beneath the hem of his shirt and teased her fingernails over the soft skin of his belly. The muscles twitched at her touch and Castle finally opened his eyes with a little laugh.
"Hey," he scraped out, his voice dry and crackling but his eyes twinkling at her.
Beckett only murmured a response and dropped her head to his chest. She felt both exhaustion and giddiness, unwilling to lift her head again but giggling for no reason. Her fingers crept further beneath his shirt, brushing higher on his chest until he was squirming a little.
"What's so funny?" he asked, breathlessly.
Looking up at him again, Beckett shrugged a little helplessly. "Just that we're here. I mean, I'm here in your bed, and we're alive. And seriously, who gets into as many scrapes as we do?"
Castle chuckled in agreement, his chest shifting beneath her wandering fingers and she pressed into the muscles again. This time, Castle moved to stop her by clapping a hand over hers, and he barked in pain, jerking up into a sitting position.
Beckett sat up just as quickly, eyes darting to his chest to see what she might have done, but she quickly realized the problem was his injured hand. "Oh, Castle."
The hand he was suddenly cradling against his chest was visibly swollen, and the black and blue mottling had spread so it showed at either end of his bandage. Beckett reached out and tenderly traced the bruising, her fingertips barely touching his skin, but he cringed and flinched anyway.
"Bad?" she asked, though she knew the answer.
"Not if I don't move it," Castle hedged, but he looked pale. "But, uh, maybe x-rays."
"Definitely," Beckett amended. She looked closely at his face. The pain was subsiding, but he still looked wan and tired. "Are you okay otherwise?"
Castle shrugged, but she flashed him a stern look. "I feel a little sick," he admitted. "Well, not sick really. Just kind of dry."
"Yeah, me too. We need to rehydrate." She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood. "Let me get some water."
"No, hey. I can get it."
"Babe, stay. You saved my life yesterday." She kept a hand pressed to his chest until she was sure he was going to stay put, then brushed a quick smiling kiss across his stubbled cheek. "Hey," she whispered before moving away.
"Hmm?"
"We're alive." She kissed his cheek again, jauntily, and left for the kitchen. Pulling a tray down from a cabinet, she loaded it down with water, orange juice, and Advil. Before heading back to the bedroom, she started a pot of coffee. They'd have to be getting up soon to get that hand checked, and there was no better incentive for the two of them than the promise of a good caffeine kick.
When she carried her tray into the bedroom, she found Castle sitting propped up against the headboard with his hand resting gingerly on a pillow.
"Does it hurt much like that?"
"No, it's alright for now."
Beckett wasn't sure she believed him, but she'd get him checked out within the hour. For now, she rested the tray on his lap so he could support it with his good hand and clambered into bed beside him, pulling the comforter up over their legs. She curled into his side and took a sip of juice. That sat quietly for a few minutes, Beckett pressing a strange smile into his shoulder between sips of water and juice.
"So domestic," Beckett intoned quietly, and they both chuckled, a little bit of the survivor's glow creeping into Castle, too. When the laughter died down he kissed her forehead and squeezed her knee with his good hand, even though it meant he had to balance the tray with his bad hand.
"Not domestic, Kate. Romantic. You brought me breakfast in bed."
"It's not really breakfast. But I can make toast if you want some." She was teasing, but then reconsidered. "Do you want some food?"
Castle shook his head, drinking. "Don't think so. So, when you said we should do something fun today, you totally meant going to the ER, right?"
"Sure, Castle."
"I know you so well."
"You always think of everything."
They lapsed into silence after that, latent fatigue building as some of the morning giddiness wore off. They'd been sitting in quiet for minutes when Beckett nudged Castle. "You ready to get up?"
"Yeah," Castle sighed. They got up sluggishly, their progress through the daily routine slowed by Castle's injury, but Beckett soothed his growing frustration with a hand between his shoulder blades and a soft word. She left him to finish getting dressed while she made their coffee, reheating it in the microwave and listening to his soft curses and grumbles floating across the room.
Castle stomped out of the bedroom in a flustered state, holding his arm stiffly beside him, his shirt only half buttoned. "Kate, can you...? I can't quite get these..." he gestured and sighed loudly.
Beckett smiled to diffuse his annoyance, sliding a warm mug into his good hand, and quickly finished the job. For her own amusement she left the top few unbuttoned, flicking her fingers against the skin and the light dusting of hair there. She kissed the spot lightly, she couldn't seem to stop that this morning, and looked up at him with her head cocked to one side.
"Done," she murmured, her hands resting on his chest. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm just-" but Castle interrupted himself with another big sigh and rolled his shoulders. "I guess it hurts more than I realized."
"Yeah." Beckett gingerly pulled his hand up to eye level and winced sympathetically. "Better go see if you broke this thing."
.
.
.
"I can't believe I got a clean bill of health!" Castle stated jubilantly, taking Beckett's hand with his good one and swinging their arms like you might with a child. Beckett raised an eyebrow at him as they strode across the hospital parking lot toward her cruiser and shook her head.
"That's because you didn't."
"It's not broken," Castle argued, looking around like he was ready to take on the world.
"'Severe sprain, lucky it's not broken, probably hurts just as much as if it was, right?'" Beckett parroted the doctor's words back at him. "And you've got that big brace on it."
"Meh," Castle dismissed it with a grin across the roof of the car at her as they opened their respective doors. "That's nothing. So what are we going to do on our day off?"
Beckett shook her head in amusement. "Maybe we should wait and see how you feel when the pain meds fade out."
"I've got replacements," he whispers conspiratorially as they settle in and he awkwardly buckles his seat belt with his good hand. At her look, he amends, "Alright, so let's not go bowling or do any arm wrestling today. But it's beautiful out for January, we should picnic."
Beckett wrinkled her nose. "A little cold for that, still."
"A walk then. Let's walk through the park. And we can go see a show, have a late dinner. If you're worried about being cold, Kate," he leaned over the console to stroke a hand down her thigh and nip lightly at her earlobe, "I'm sure I can keep you warm."
Beckett laughed and squirmed away from him. "Alright, Casanova. Let's get some lunch and a walk before we see what you can do with just one hand."
Castle grinned and mumbled into her hair exactly what he could do with just one hand until she was blushing and laughing, pushing him away.
"Lunch first, Castle. Feed me."
Castle settled back into his seat with a cocky grin. Her stern words weren't fooling him, not when he could see the flush on her cheeks and hear the breathlessness in her voice. The smugness faded into something softer as he watched her, and a warmth he hadn't known he was missing suffused through him. Beckett glanced over at him as she pulled out of the parking lot and smiled, a little confusion in the furrow of her brow.
"What is it?"
"We're going to be fine, aren't we? Even though things seem so hard, sometimes. We'll be alright."
Beckett met his gaze warmly. She couldn't take his hand, because it was the bad one closest to her, so she curled her fingers over his knee and nodded. "I can't imagine anything that could overcome this... this, what we have. This love." She shook her head in a little self deprecation at the corniness of her words, but Castle beamed.
He looked like she'd just handed him the moon, so she grinned back. Laughing a little at how in love they were, how silly it made them, she drew her attention back to the road, and getting some food in their bellies. They were going to be alright.
.
.
.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think. :)