Season 5 finale in 90 minutes...just a bit of a fic to pass the time.
Chapter 47: 2x23, Overkill
It's like Sex and the City...only with boys.
Tom stuffs his hands in his pockets. Well. Good close. Case wrapped. And the homicide cops are good people - he's already seen the first report drafts, and they went out of their way to credit him fairly for his input. He appreciates it.
He mostly appreciates Kate.
Kate's - wonderful. Beautiful. Clever. She's amazing, and it's surprising she's not already with someone.
With the case over, he's going to ask her to dinner. He's pretty certain that she's into him. He definitely enjoyed that little impromptu wrestling match they got into a few weeks ago. She was all hot against him, flush and sweaty and teasing, and he's not an idiot. He knows an opportunity when he sees one. Or pins one to the mat.
He turns the corner, and there she is, in the stairwell door. He's about to open his mouth when -
- oh.
Oh.
She's smiling. She's leaning forward. And she's kissing Richard Castle.
Oh.
It's so not her. At least, not what he thought.
He stares, unable to move, watching helplessly as she kisses Castle again, soft and teasing, smiling into his mouth as he whispers something that makes her blush.
Tom lets out a long breath and shoves his hands in his pockets. Well. Time to leave.
Maybe not so much with the dinner invitation.
He sneaks a last glance back, as though maybe it's going to change, but this time, they're not kissing. They're almost kissing. Their foreheads are pressed together, close enough to share a breath, and as Castle catches her hand in his, she turns her face into his cheek in the soft, unconscious gesture of a pair of quiet lovers.
It's worse somehow.
Tom's stomach turns in an unpleasant flip. He turns away and starts down the empty hallway to the stairs before they can turn around and catch him.
He would have had a chance.
Too bad Richard Castle met her first.
a/n: This scene still hurts to watch. I thought I'd make it hurt less.