When Castle approaches Kate sitting at her desk the atmosphere is bittersweet. The day shift is over and the bullpen is slowly emptying, but the detective is curled in her desk chair and appears smaller than her usual Beckett demeanor. Her nose is deep in a case file - Montgomery's post-incident evaluation of the death of Dick Coonan, which had taken place only hours ago.
The incident had shaken them all, happening in their own backyard, but no one was more affected than Kate. Kate, who had just discovered the identity of her mother's killer only to have the rug swept out from under her once more.
Castle had contemplated bringing her some dinner to share at her desk, but decided against it, figuring that it would do her some good to get away from the precinct. When she had sobbed beside Dick Coonan's body he resolved to do something to help. Not just to assuage his guilt - though he did feel a sense of responsibility for the whole debacle - but he simply couldn't witness her crumbling without doing anything about it.
When she'd visited his loft only the night before, his mother had tugged Kate into a hug and he'd watched the detective cling gratefully to her. In Castle's eyes, for Kate to openly welcome comfort of that sort had said far more about her state of mind than she'd ever admit out loud. Of course, it made sense. She was missing her mother more than ever, so to find solace in the arms of a maternal figure such as Martha Rogers was understandable.
Castle feels a strong tug on his heartstrings as he watches her sit at her desk, curled in on herself, and knows there's nothing he can do to heal her figurative wounds, though there's something that might help take her mind off of them.
"Come join us for dinner tonight," he says out of the blue. When a surprised Kate blinks up at him he realises that she hadn't even noticed him nearby, being so deep in thought.
"Hm?" Kate's brow furrows.
"Dinner," Castle reiterates. "It's pizza night. Homemade. Would you care to join us?"
There's a slight pause as Kate's brain takes a moment to catch up with the conversation. Castle is inviting her to eat dinner with his family.
Part of her would love to accept. She doesn't want to head home to her empty apartment and wallow in self pity for the rest of the night… But does he really want her there? She isn't sure she can muster the energy to put up a friendly facade for his family, and doesn't wish to appear an ungrateful guest.
"Oh no, Castle. Thank you, but I couldn't impose." She dips her head as she puts the report away and begins to gather her belongings.
He sits quietly in his chair.
"You're not an imposition. It's just dinner, no pressure." He looks her carefully in the eye. "I don't want to overstep, but I don't think anybody would want to go home alone after a day like today."
Kate can see the sincerity in his eyes, and feels it melt her resolve. She glances across to Montgomery's office and can see the Captain's gaze on her through the slits of the blinds. Between the looks she's getting at the precinct and her empty apartment waiting for her, dinner at Castle's is certainly the most appealing option.
Kate tilts her head.
"If it helps, I have a lovely bottle of red waiting," he adds.
She laughs. "You sure you want me there? I don't think I'm the best company right now."
Kate's teeth tug on her lower lip as she watches Castle stand and gather her coat, holding it out for her to slide her arms into.
"C'mon, Beckett. The pizza dough won't knead itself."
She stifles a smile and allows him to guide her towards the elevator, a hint of warmth beginning to pool in her chest.
.
The Kate that enters the loft is different to the one from her previous visits. Other times - on official NYPD business - it had been all systems go and she was a force to be reckoned with. Now she follows him tentatively inside, eyes low to the ground. It's almost a relief to Castle when his mother bustles over, pulling Kate into another hug while simultaneously removing Kate's purse from her grasp and handing it to Castle without another glance in his direction.
"Put this away, will you Richard?" Martha says, already steering a subdued Kate towards the kitchen.
Castle blinks, remembers himself, and does just that. By the time he's made his own way to the kitchen counter Kate has been roped into helping Alexis with gathering ingredients for the pizza dough, holding the recipe in one hand and a generously filled wine glass with the other.
Kate catches his eye and smiles as his daughter chatters on, and he sees the familiar glint beginning to return to her eyes. She raises her glass in his direction and waits for him to lift his own before taking a sip.
Soon she's elbow deep in flour and side by side with Castle, both kneading their own portion of the pliable dough. She chuckles as she lifts her hands and the sticky concoction spreads between her fingers.
"I still can't believe you've never made your own pizza before." Castle marvels, watching her with delight as he expertly forms his mound into a neat ball and covers it with cling wrap to prove.
Kate shrugs.
"Takeout is easier," she says, thinking about the pizza joint two blocks from her apartment building. "Why? Do you make it often?" she asks, though the answer is obvious by how confidently both he and Alexis carry themselves in the kitchen. Martha seems to have more of a supervisory role - rather, sipping her wine and observing the hard work.
"When we can," he replies cryptically. "I didn't cook at all until Alexis came along. Then it became something we could do together and I really learned to enjoy it."
Kate hums.
"That sounds nice." She smiles briefly before it drops from her face and she looks away, taking a deep breath as if steeling herself. "My mom used to bake all the time - we'd do it together. She taught me everything, and she'd always make us brunch on a Sunday." Her voice almost breaks at the end of the sentence, but she holds herself together, scraping her hand on the bowl to get rid of excess dough so she can pick up her glass and take a sip.
"I'm sorry," Castle says, and Kate shakes her head.
"It's okay, it's not your fault," she says honestly. "After she died my dad closed off completely, and nobody else really understood so… I didn't have anybody to talk about this stuff and remember her with." Kate finally meets his eye and hers are shining. "I miss her."
Castle breathes out a word that sounds suspiciously like her name and Kate feels herself being gently tugged into his chest and cradled in a tender hug. She thinks this should feel weird, but it's not. It's… nice. She tucks perfectly under his chin without her heels on.
Kate chuckles briefly as their hug is all wrists, both attempting to keep their flour-covered hands from marring the other's shirt.
"You okay?" he asks quietly. She nods, thinking that she could get used to hugging Richard Castle.
"Getting there," she replies, pulling back to meet his eyes. "Thank you."
.
Kate is quickly learning that it's next to impossible to be sad around the Castle's. The family has an energy that radiates to those around them, and she feels herself being sucked into their orbit like it's infectious.
They're all gathered around the kitchen counter, each decorating their individual pizzas with toppings and snacking on the various bowls and plates as they go. Alexis is currently regalling them with tales of Castle's failed culinary past, and Kate finds herself laughing harder than she has done in a long while.
She sprinkles her pizza with a handful of red onion, corn, and mushroom, all the while eyeing Castle as he absolutely covers the cheesy surface of his with far more than should be legally allowed atop a pizza. Spotting Kate's grimace, Martha leans over and whispers in her ear conspiratorially.
"This is why we started making our own, darling."
Kate chuckles and glances at her partner, who squints back suspiciously. He doesn't have time to inquire as the countertop pizza oven finishes preheating and Alexis announces that their pizzas are ready for cooking. Kate drops him a teasing smile and follows the redhead's lead, and soon their dinner is sizzling away and ready to be eaten.
Both Alexis and Martha prove a force to be reckoned with, suitably distracting Kate from her downtured thoughts. It isn't until the pair retire upstairs for the evening and Castle busies himself with the dishes that she has a moment to think. Castle finds Kate sitting on the couch ten minutes later, absentmindedly twirling her wine glass by its stem.
He studies her as she sits in her own little world, realising that this is the first time she has visited the loft for a personal call. While he wishes it had happened before now, he's glad that she allowed him and his family to be there for her today and cheer her up, if only marginally.
Kate glances up when he sits beside her.
"How're you doing?" he asks.
"Better," she replies, then takes a quick glance at her watch. "Shoot, it's getting late, I should really get out of your hair."
Kate moves to stand but he stills her with a hand on the forearm.
"Hey, no it's okay. I'm not quite in the mood to go to bed any time soon, so if you'd like to stay and keep me company it'd be welcome." He taps her wine glass with his own.
"I'd like that," she replies after a brief moment of thought. "Maybe I'll stay a little while longer."
The pair chat amongst themselves for the next hour or two, regalling over past cases both pre and post the commencement of their partnership. Kate finally feels herself unwind and relax under the guise of wine and Castle's presence, and is dismayed to look at the time a while later. Now it is certainly quite late, and she's determined to leave Castle to the peace and quiet of his loft, knowing that she'll be up early for work tomorrow.
Hopefully Castle comes by the precinct, even if they don't have a case.
It isn't until after she says goodbye and heads outside to hail a taxi that she realises she's hardly thought about Dick Coonan all evening, and it's all thanks to Castle.
.
At 10am the next morning Kate stifles a grin when a coffee cup is lowered into her field of vision and deftly placed amongst her paperwork.
"Good morning Detective," Castle greets, and Kate tips her head.
"Morning, Castle. To what do we owe the pleasure today?"
They don't have an active case. It seems as if Captain Montgomery decided to give them a rest after the day before, and the morning's early body drop had been assigned to Karpowski's team.
"Oh you know, just in the neighborhood," Castle replies, tone blase and wholly unconvincing.
Kate knows he's checking in on her after last night, but decides not to call him on it. It's sweet, and she appreciates his concern. She feels better about the situation after a night spent in good company and getting a solid night's sleep.
She woke up with big plans to thank him for his thoughtfulness, but faced by Castle in the flesh she has a rare case of stage fright. It ends up taking her all morning to work up to it, but just as the clock strikes midday Kate puts her pen down and turns to him.
He gives her his full attention.
"Castle," she begins, knowingly stalling. He's the one that's good with words, not her, but she resolves to do her best. "I wanted to thank you for yesterday. Can I take you to lunch?"
Castle blinks.
"Lunch?" he asks.
"Yeah, you know that meal between breakfast and dinner?" she teases shyly.
"Seriously, you don't need to thank me. You'd do the same for me."
It isn't until Castle says that out loud that Kate realizes that's true. He's come to mean far more to her than she had realized in such a short time.
"All the same, I'd like to." Kate smiles. "So, Remy's?"
.
There's a contemplative silence as they eat their meals, both having gone for a cheeseburger and shake. Kate hums as she mindlessly swirls a fry in her ketchup.
"Everything okay?" Castle asks with a hint of concern. She seems to be doing better than she had the day before, but she's not quite back to normal. "Because if it's not, you know you can talk to me, right?"
He catches Kate's eye and she smiles softly as she considers his words.
"I know." Her lips curl at the corners. "I-"
She breaks eye contact and continues to swirl the well-coated fry. Castle waits patiently, knowing she's gathering her thoughts.
"I don't know if you've noticed," Kate starts slowly, tentatively catching his gaze. "But I'm not very good at making friends. I can't even remember the last time I spent the evening with someone other than the boys, Lanie or my dad."
Her voice is low, and the quiet pain in her tone tugs at Castle's heartstrings. He's a people person at heart, and so can't imagine not having the support network around him that he does; not coming home to the presence of his mother or Alexis after a trying day.
"Despite all that happened yesterday," she continues. "I enjoyed last night. I finally felt a part of something." She huffs a self-deprecating laugh. "It was nice."
There's a moment of silence as Castle mulls over her words and Kate begins to squirm in her seat, no doubt worrying that she had overstepped or shared too much.
"You know," Castle draws out, quirking a brow. "Being in the public eye makes it very difficult to know who your real friends are. I think I could count on one hand the number of true friends I've had since college until you crashed my book launch party."
Kate's eyes dart back up to his.
"And I have to say," he continues, toying with his napkin. "I've enjoyed it too. You guys don't treat me differently because I have money, or because you want something from me… You rag on me just like any other of New York's finest."
Kate laughs, eyes crinkling as Castle grins back.
"Sounds like you could use a friend yourself, Castle." Kate offers a tender expression on her face that he can't quite discern.
"It does, doesn't it?" he hums. "So, what do you say, Beckett? Friends?"
He holds his hand out across the table and Kate takes it with a smile, shaking it firmly.
"Friends."
.
So... This has been in my drafts for over a year. Hope you enjoy