A/N: To make up for the tragedy of the last one.
It was a very long two weeks.
Sure, they had phone calls and e-mails and texts and one brief Skype session that was interrupted by a call from the precinct. But it wasn't the same.
And now she's stuck at work, staring at the clock, because his flight is supposed to be coming in soon and she was going to meet him at the loft. But she can't now because some bond trader from the Upper West Side was stabbed to death and she needs to wait on Forensics to come back before she can even think of leaving.
When her phone rings, she grabs it, answering quickly because she's praying that it's that dickhead who should be running the fingerprints on the knife.
"Hey, you."
She nearly drops the phone. "Castle," she whispers, the smile spreading across her face.
"You at work?" he asks.
"Yeah. Won't be able to escape for a while. I can pick up dinner on the way back once I get out."
"That's okay," he says. "I've got it covered."
The shaking of the paper bag is too loud to be coming through the speaker of the phone. She looks up, finds him standing near the elevator, holding up the bag of food.
And this time, she does let the phone clatter to the desk as she pushes out of her chair as quickly as she can, starting over to him. He catches her up, dropping the food to the ground, an arm around her neck as the other settles on her back. It's a little awkward, her stomach pressing into his, but she's smiling into his neck.
"Hi," she murmurs into his warm skin.
"Missed you," he says, lips brushing her hair.
Her fingers curl into his jacket, sighing. "Missed you too." She takes a step back, picking up the abandoned bag of what smells like Chinese even as his hands skim over her stomach. "He's been quiet. I think he knows I'm not in the mood to have him elbowing me every five minutes."
"Day not going well?" he asks, tugging her toward the break room with the comfortable couch he bought for the precinct months ago.
She settles into the couch, letting him hand her the carton of spicy noodles and veggies, a pair of chopsticks before sitting next to her. "Idiots in Forensics are moving slowly," she says as she takes a bite of the Chinese. "But it's okay now."
He blinks, the end of his noodle hitting him in the chin and smearing sauce against the unshaven skin. "Why?"
She reaches out, wiping away the sauce. "Because you're back."