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A one time thing
Chapter Nine - Again
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If it only takes a moment for your life to change forever, can a 'one time thing' right the wrong? An AU Caskett meeting.
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"I'm not interrupting you two, am I?"
Montgomery's question slices through her fantasizing, and she jumps in the seat, her body jerking with the intrusion as Castle tears himself away from her ear. The gap that's forming between them cools the molten lava pooling in her abdomen, but her mind is slower to catch up to the change.
"Uh..."
Words, Kate. Form words.
"I was just seeing if Beckett was in need of a refill. This round's on me." Explaining away their closeness, Rick smiles charmingly as he starts to exit the booth, his body moving further away from hers as he prepares to leave her alone with their captain.
Not that there would normally be an issue; Roy's been her mentor for so many years she's stopped counting, but that's exactly why – as his eyes dart pointedly between her and Castle – she can see the 'something' in his expression. There's an intensity that is ringing all sorts of alarm bells and her hand curls into a fist.
She will not reach for her deserting partner and drag his ass back to her side. Will not make him stay with her regardless of how uneasy she is to be facing Montgomery's firing squad by herself. She does, however, throw Castle a glare that should singe the edges of his cocky grin; not that it works as he wiggles both eyebrows in response.
Bastard.
"I'll get one for you too, Sir?"
Not waiting for an answer, Castle is already half way across the room, and she settles her gaze on the older man before her.
She may as well get this over with. Whatever this is.
"You and Castle seem to be a good fit."
Her jaw slackens as she stares straight ahead. Surely, she didn't hear him correctly. Because he can't mean…
"The two of you. You work well together. From what I've seen."
Montgomery remains focused on her face, and he stays still as the hand on her watch travels around, before he eventually raises an eyebrow in question. She searches for some way to indicate she is listening - forces herself to nod.
"Beckett?"
Damn, she needs to drop the stunned puppy routine or he is really going to start suspecting something's wrong.
"Yes, Sir?"
He leans forward, crossing his arms loosely, before resting them on the table, and she squares her shoulders. Something is very off with this conversation, but she's a homicide detective for Pete's sake - she should be able to handle a chat with her boss over a beer! She needs to get a grip!
"Have you had a chance to get to know each? Everything appears to be clicking… as if... I thought…"
Breaking eye contact with her, he glances toward Castle at the bar before shifting his attention back, and her heart lodges itself high in her throat. What in the world is he trying to say? Or worse, what in the world does he know?
"We're good, Sir. We work well as a team, with Ryan and Espo. The four of us. We all work well as a team." Her head bobs up and down as if pulled on by strings, and even to her own ears she sounds thoroughly unconvincing.
He nods once, the continued quiet calm about him only adding to the panic that is seizing her. This is how you become Captain - you learn how to make the detectives under you squirm. Make them prepared to throw themselves in front of a bus, just to avoid a 'chat'.
She could really do with a bus right about now.
"And you, Sir? How are you?"
Pulling away from the table, Montgomery relaxes into the seat while smiling broadly at her.
"Good, Beckett. Everything is good. Although I'm curious where the next round got to."
Sliding out of the booth, she returns the grin, shaky as it may be, and standing tall, she points with her thumb in the direction of her partner.
"I'm just gonna chase that up for you."
And while she is over there, she's going to find something stiffer than a beer, because she's sure there was more to that conversation than what was said.
Ryan tucks the phone back into his pocket and Rick tries not to laugh as Esposito makes a whip cracking noise. It is funny though, how it only takes one text from Jenny and Ryan is suddenly ready to call it a night.
"Hey, if you had a wonderful wife waiting for you at home, you'd be outta here too!" Ryan defends as he gets up, before his eyes widen. Twisting he looks at Montgomery and hastily corrects, "You have a wonderful wife, Sir. I just meant…" Snapping his attention to Beckett, he digs himself further into the hole, "You could have a wonderful husband, Beckett. Or a wife, if you-"
Holding up her palm, she silences Ryan, thankfully, and Rick brings his nearly empting glass to his lips, covering the grin that is pulling his mouth wide.
"Go home, Ryan." Beckett smiles graciously, letting him off the hook, and the younger man nods his thanks, before raising his hand in farewell and heading toward the door.
"For all his blundering, he is right. I do have a wonderful wife at home and I should be going." Montgomery's expression brightens as he stands to follow Ryan out the door, but the words hit Rick suddenly, a knife in the hole that should be his heart.
He bites the jealousy back; just because he can't have that life doesn't mean they don't deserve the amazing lives that they have.
"Is Lanie waiting for you?" Stretching into the free space that's been created, Beckett looks at Espo with a mischievous glint in her eye. Her fingers come close to brushing the sleeve of Rick's shirt as she speaks, and it all combines; the joy in her as she teases Esposito, and the way her almost touch sparks at his skin. It washes away the sadness, makes it hard for him to concentrate on anything but her; the way her nose scrunches adorably, how the corner of her lips push high as she waits for a reply, a curl falling across her cheek as she dips her head for a moment.
His fingers flex, patter up and down on his jeans as he commits to memory her every move, every aspect, every part that is her. He wants to write it all down - bring her to life on paper.
He jerks in his seat, and, Beckett and Esposito glance his way with matching expressions, curiosity pushing their eyebrows high, and he waves them off.
It's just that if there were a keyboard in front of him, he could type. In fact, he actually itches to type, and it shocks him - it's been a long time dormant, and yet, the fluttering of his fingers has been occurring more and more lately.
Because of her.
"Castle?"
Bringing himself back to the table, he scans their booth only to see that they are the only two left; evidently Esposito went home and he's managed to miss his departure. Well, that's awkward.
"Sorry. Got lost for a minute."
Her fingers glide over his wrist, nails raking through the hairs on his arm, and his eyes close as the base of his spine tightens. It is a never-ending fight to control the urge to touch, to kiss, to bury himself deep within her.
"Do you want to head home, Castle? I mean-"
"We could split a cab? I'm staying at the Plaza at the moment." He stops the rest of her sentence with his question, clueing her in on his newest address - even if her place is in the opposite direction - he's not ready for tonight to be over just yet.
Rick slides into the cab beside her, sitting a little too close for her liking. Well that's what the innocent part of her whispers. The devil on her shoulder jumps for joy before it reaches down and knocks her knee into his thigh.
Smirking, he nudges her with his leg, returning her actions while eradicating the small space that was between them. The heat of him burns through her pants where her skin aches to be next to his. The material scratches as she wriggles, trying to get more comfortable.
The growing ache that's been building throughout the night has her moving again, and his hand traps the fidgeting muscle of one thigh, holds her steady for moment, before he drifts down.
His fingers descend until he reaches the seat between her legs, the back of his knuckles ghosting across her other thigh and she pierces her bottom lip with her teeth.
She will not moan - loudly, or otherwise - in the back of a taxi.
"Hey, you two. I need an address."
She gazes down at the position of his hand, listens to the flutter of her heart, and despite her common sense, how professionally wrong it is, the answer escapes her mouth before her head catches up to it. "The Plaza. You can take us to The Plaza."
It's just that the lie she tells herself every day as his partner, that she can keep the wall between them, has developed some structural issues tonight.
Watching the others go home, knowing that everyone has someone, hurt in a way that has never happened before.
Before meeting him.
His arm tightens around her, his fingers curling into the sheets as he tugs, cocoons them inside the comforter and he cuddles into the smooth curve of her back. Using his nose, he brushes the loose strands of her hair out of his way, creating a clearer path to the long arch of Kate's neck and he rests his mouth upon her skin.
The taste of sweat still clings, the inferno of last night lingering, and, poking his tongue out further, he licks until he reaches her ear.
"If you're hungry, go get breakfast."
He tries not to laugh at the irritation in her tone, the shake of her shoulder as she knocks herself into him, but it spills out, startling them both. Kate twists in the sheets, sits up with a hand clutching the material to her chest, and as she looks at him, he drops onto his back.
This is what it is to be happy, and, the emotion, bursting like butterflies out of his stomach, catches him by surprise. It's been a long time coming.
"I could eat."
Wriggling a hand beneath the sheets while he speaks, he inches toward her hip, crosses further until he finds exactly what he is searching for, and she flops down onto the mattress. The huff that escapes her mouth leaves him chuckling again at her antics, and she angles her head, silently observing him.
"I was going to say that's not what I meant by breakfast, but…"
"You can't refuse me?"
Kate laughs at that, her shoulders shaking, before the movement transforms into a shudder that rocks her hard against his hand, and he presses down with a little more effort, attempts to get her trembling for the right reasons.
"I…"
Her teeth trap her bottom lip as he swaps hands, leans closer, gains a better angle and the rest of her sentence is lost in the moan that squeezes its way through her closed mouth.
"Sorry, Kate. I didn't quite catch that."
"You're an ass."
Pulling his hand reluctantly higher and out of her body, he situates himself chest to chest with her, his elbows and knees bearing the majority of his weight and looking down, he commits to memory what it is to see her in the early morning light. How the highlights in her hair capture the sun, the soft glow that shines through her still sleepy features.
There's no rush out of his bed for the first time, and it fills him with such a sense of wonder. The possibilities endless.
Yet…
"I should get going, Rick?" Placing her hand to his cheek, he swears there is a question to her words, a reluctance to her tone. Maybe he's not the only one who can see the potential of today.
"Or, since it's our day off, we could…"
He won't push, won't drag her across the line that is normally between them, but damn, his breath and his hopes are well and truly lodged in his throat.
"We could…?" Her gaze lingers on her fingers, avoids his eyes but as her legs widen beneath him, her hips swaying forward, she hardly needs to finish her sentence.
"We could…" He pushes down for a moment, before returning to his position above her. "And maybe after- I owe you pancakes."
The silence adds to the yearning in his blood, and it increases the beat of his heart until he is sure that it's going to explode under the stress. He's crossed the line, asked for something that he can't have, shouldn't have, but she's under his skin, in his veins, and how is he supposed to get her out?
"That would be nice, Rick. And maybe…" Her eyes, a perfect green glimmer, meet his, and he becomes a statue as it all dances within his reach. "We could catch a movie or-"
"Good idea. We can do that. Spend some time getting to know each other."
"It's important. If we have to rely on each other. That we trust each other. Have a solid bond."
"Exactly, Kate. And I'm sure Ryan and Espo catch up outside of work all the time."
Bringing both hands over her face, their flimsy exchange of excuses come to a halt. She groans and he dots a kiss onto each of her fingers until she reveals the bright red flush of her face.
"Rick?"
"Kate?"
"Don't ever mention the guys in bed again!"
His arms collapse, his body dropping heavily on top of her as she giggles and squirms underneath, and he should be sorry, would be sorry, except his mind is caught in circles, as he replays the highlight of her admonishment over and over.
Again. She said again.
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Okay so we are all out of Easter eggs in this house, but I will smother you all with hugs and kisses instead xoxo
Thank you for being so amazing
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Thank you to Jo and Jamie for their constant support and beta work xoxo
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Thank you for reading xoxo