Hey guys, how's your weekend going so far? I hope it's good, and fun.
I'm back with another chapter, this one was supposed to be posted a while ago because I wrote most of it a day after the last update, but then the week fell on me and everything was so rushed. Anyway, I hope you guys like it.
Again: thanks for the comments, I look forward to them and read each one. It means a lot.
good read!
leticia.
Rick is bored.
He's been squeezing a pen for the last ten minutes, and that's fine, it started with him scribbling on paper and the pen's ink failing, but now he just doesn't want to draw Esposito and Ryan dressed up as The Incredibles anymore, he just wants something really interesting to focus on.
When he woke up, about two hours ago, he texted Kate asking for an address, but she only responded with one: we're after a suspect, it's dangerous, wait for me at the precinth.
He tried to argue, but she didn't respond anymore. So here he is. he coffee he brought her is cold, and he's starting to get really worried about how long it's taking them all to get there, and really frustrated that Kate won't let him go with them. He's already looked at the board of the murder, so he knows that the person who died was a guy called Graham Eliot, who was a marketing consultant, and the cause of death was trauma to the head caused by something heavy like an iron bar or something like that.
Either way, it's not as much fun to theorize without an audience to dispel your very unlikely ideas. He decides he's going to go down to the morgue to find out more from Lanie, or at least have some company, since the captain also refuses to give him an address.
"Dr. Parish" he says, loudly and falsely excited to announce his presence. "Great to see you here."
The brunette figure that appears to be analyzing something on some body, and has its back to him, doesn't even move.
"Where else would you expect to see me, Castle?"
"Good point," Rick admits, and sighs. "I'm just looking for some pleasant human interaction since I was left behind. What are you doing?"
"My work." Lanie responds, as if it wasn't obvious. "Why did Kate leave you behind? What did you do?" She asks, finally turning around, taking the gloves off her hand and giving him a look.
He raises his hands in a sign of performance.
"Hey hey hey, I didn't do anything, okay?" Despite how offended he sounds, Lanie doesn't change the look on her face. "I'm serious. She kind of left and said she would text me later when I woke up so–"
Rick stops. Realizing what you are doing.
"What do you mean she left and said she would text you when you woke up?" Lanie Parish has an arch in her eyebrow and Rick panics. "Did she leave your house? Wait! Are you sleeping together?"
"What?" He scoffs, deciding to go that route. He and Kate haven't talked about it, and he's not the kiss-and-tell type. "As if! Beckett and me?"
Lanie crosses her arms. "So what?"
"She helped Alexis pick out an outfit for a date last night, so I invited her over for dinner while I waited for Alexis." He counts. "A completely friendly dinner between co-workers. Then Alexis arrived and told her everything, it seems like they are bonding or something. Anyway, before she left, Kate said she was on call and if a case came up she would text me the address later."
"Right. And what else?"
"Well, when I woke up I asked her if there was a case and the address, and she said they were after a suspect and it was dangerous and told me to wait here. That is all. I didn't do anything, okay?"
Squinting her eyes, Lanie appears to be deciding whether she believes him. When she relaxes her arms, Rick lets out a breath he didn't even know he was holding.
"I see, so you came to disturb me to pass the time, didn't you?"
"Well, when you put it like that…"
"Get out of my morgue, Castle."
"Yes ma'am."
Rick has discovered that although Dr. Parish is a completely sweet human being at times, she can be very threatening when interrupted doing her job. Among other situations.
Anyway, as he takes the elevator back upstairs, he notices that Kate is already back, leaning over her desk and looking for something in her drawer.
Ryan and Sito are nowhere to be seen.
"Castle, hey" She says when she sees him. The ghost of a smile hovering on her lips.
"Kate, hello" He's not so discreet with his smile. Not even can he resist taking a good look at her. Her light brown hair is tied back in a ponytail, and she's wearing a white button-down shirt and cream slacks. The eyeliner that highlights her eyes is also there. Well, and no hickeys in sight on her neck. Concealer really is powerful stuff, apparently...
Anyway, my God, how can she get more beautiful every time he sees her?
"Beckett" She corrects him, quietly, when he comes closer. "Beckett in here, okay?"
"Right. I'm sorry." She sits in her chair and he follows her example, settling in his chair next to her desk. "And the suspect?"
"Ah, he resisted arrest, there was an exchange of gunfire, Ryan was hit but the bullet lodged in his vest. He is fine. Espo is with him. They went to the hospital to see if the suspect's case is serious. They should send uniforms there."
"Oh" Rick says, absorbing what was said to him. "Are you well?"
"I am. I'm starving. Any chance you could make me a coffee? Preferably a hot one?" Kate gives him a look that he finds very sweet. And apparently she must have tasted the coffee on her table, which at this point is really cold.
"It'll be out in a minute."
He goes to the break room so quickly she barely has time to register. Rick texts a coffee shop around the corner from the police station that delivers and orders some donuts and bear claws.
When he returns, two coffee mugs in hand with latte art of a heart, and hands it to her, she gives him a smile.
"Thanks, Rick."
"Anytime" He replies, taking her place. "So, what are you doing?"
"Advancing the report on the shooting thing. I'm glad you weren't there."
He disagrees a little with that. "Why? I have my own writer's vest, have you forgotten?"
She rolls her eyes. "It doesn't matter, you have no police training and no gun."
"But I'm your partner and it's–"
"Rick, you can say whatever you want, it doesn't change the fact that it's dangerous and I don't want you accompanying me in situations like this. I never wanted to and you know it."
"You can't forbid me from coming along. He signed all the paperwork, remember?"
"Who said I care about paperwork?"
"Kate, you can't do this."
"Who can't do what?" Esposito, with Ryan by his side as always, appears.
"No one." Kate responds. "And then?"
"The bullet was lodged in the collarbone. He went into surgery, uniforms have already been sent there." Ryan responds.
"Right. And you, are you okay?"
"Yes. Just a little sore."
That's when the delivery man comes out of the elevator carrying two boxes, Rick gets up to receive and sign. "Thanks."
He hands the box of bear claws to Kate and the box of donuts to the boys, which is enough for them to leave the two alone again.
"Thanks, Rick" She murmurs, biting the first bear claw so hard that he wants to smile, despite the tension about whether or not to go to places she deems dangerous.
He just nods. "Kate, we uh- need to talk, right? About Us?"
She looks at him, and also nods. "Yes of course. We need. Just not here, okay?"
He agrees with this.
"Later." He says.
"Later." She confirms.
All clues point to the suspect in the hospital, and although they try to check in other somewhat unlikely directions, they are unsuccessful. The only option is to wait for the suspect to regain consciousness after surgery once the anesthesia wears off.
Kate is still organizing some paperwork that he's not sure what it is, and he's playing on his cell phone. That is, until a message arrives that he opens immediately, and he smiles at it too.
"Laughing to your cell phone, Castle?" She asks, without even taking her eyes off the computer. "If I didn't know your age, I'd say that you was a teenager."
"Haha, funny Beckett. But no, it's just that Paula sent me a date for the release of Wilder's penultimate book. It comes out in two and a half weeks, and in three weeks there's the launch party."
"Oh" Kate absorbs the information, looking away from the screen, but not meeting his eyes yet. "Wow, how long has it been since the last one? Looks like it was yesterday."
"Four months and three weeks."
What neither of them says, but they both think, is that this is the exact amount of time since they've known each other in person and it's strange and incredible because it feels like it's so much longer than that and at the same time it feels like it was just a few hours ago.
"About the same amount of time you decided to stalk me at work." Her tone is skeptical and teasing, but he knows better than that. He knows she enjoys his company, if nothing else.
"You know you like me to be your shadow, Beckett. Even if you refuse to admit it." Rick arches his eyebrows, as if he wants to say he's proving a point.
"Your argument would be hollow and worthless in a court of law, Castle. It wouldn't even be circumstantial, merely speculative and that's it.
He growls, lightly. "When you say words like that, it's almost impossible for me to behave."
The way her eyes widen shows how surprised she is by the change in direction and what he addressed. Then she slides her tongue across her lower lip and a red color paints her cheeks and he knows she understands.
"What?" He thinks he's going to die, because the tone of voice she used implies that she decided to flirt back and he's not sure he can handle that now that he knows what it's like to have her on top of him, and under him, and that he you know her taste. "Worthless? Or court of law? Ah, circumstantial, isn't it?
Rick makes a small sound in the back of his throat. "All of them. But speculative too. And it's not even the meaning of the words, it's how you said them. Do you have any idea how sexy you are, Beckett?
She gives him a smile full of confidence that tells him yes, she knows exactly how hot she is.
"Seriously, you should hear me say words like Affidavit or Amicus curiae."
"Uh– Beckett… I didn't even kiss you today. And you're saying that on purpose, which makes me really want to pin your against a wall right now."
The way she smiles, pleased and amused and half-tempted, makes him feel warm all over.
"Calm down, writer man, everything has its right moment." She keeps doing it, because she clicks her tongue at the exact moment she says writer, and it's really affecting him.
"Kate, I'm serious."
"Me too." He gives her a look. "Ok. sorry. I'll stop."
"Thanks." Rick thanks him. "I, uh, I know we haven't talked about it yet, and we don't have anything set in stone, but I… want to know if, uh–"
"Rick, I don't bite, you know, right?"
"I'm not so sure" He says, specifically remembering a moment where she closed her mouth on his shoulders to keep from moaning loudly after Alexis was already home. She smiles delightfully embarrassed at this. "Anyway, I was wondering if you would come to my book launch party with me? As in, uh- my date?"
Kate's eyes widen again. Looking genuinely surprised. He wanted to know what she is thinking right now.
He really wants her, but he doesn't want to pressure her into this life of an artist and public figure, because he has the feeling that she isn't very comfortable with public appearances. But the truth is, if they're going to have something really serious and committed like she made it seem like they will, he doesn't want to appear single at events like that, especially since there are a lot of women throwing themselves at him who don't even read his books.
"I… are you sure?"
"I do." Rick responds immediately.
Then Kate smiles, simple and sweet.
"Then I would love to, Castle."
The doctor only releases the patient for visits the next day, and since he hasn't even woken up yet, there is nothing else they can do that day. They leave the precinct before dinner time, together, and decide to stop for a milkshake.
Kate parks the car, and they walk down the sidewalk. The sun is setting and that bubbling feeling in her stomach, an uncomfortable and at the same time wonderful butterflies in her stomach, is being quite persistent in her now. Apparently, it's her body that's acting like a high school teenager.
It's ridiculous. She rolls her eyes at herself.
"What's on your mind?"
"That's insane."
He frowns, and the way his forehead wrinkles is funny and adorable. "What it's insane?"
"We? Here? How long have we known each other? Last night? All of it."
The way he looks at her is a bit enigmatic.
"Is it insane in a positive sense or are you freaking out?"
She does not know.
"I am not sure." Admit it to him, they arrive in front of the cafeteria. "Come on, let's get our milkshake."
He follows her, as he always does. And when about twenty minutes later they are back on the sidewalk, walking side by side in a green space in Central Park, she with a vanilla oreo milkshake and caffeine, Rick with a chocolate one, fries and something else that she not sure.
"You know, I'm not sure I want to kiss you if you're going to taste like chocolate and chips in your mouth."
He laughs, like a boy. "No judgment until you prove it, Beckett."
"Well, I don't want to prove it, thank you very much."
"But you'll have to. Because I really want to kiss you."
She's not sure what to say, so she says nothing, but her body continues to react like a teenager. So she's walking ahead to try to keep him from noticing, but he reaches out and grabs her arm and pulls her back to him.
Her heart is just beating so fast and it's ridiculous and stupid, but she doesn't care because she also really wants to kiss him and when he leans in to take her mouth, she holds his neck with the hand that isn't holding a milkshake and dives into his kiss like she've been waiting all day to do this. And she kind of waited.
He explores her mouth without any rush and much appreciation, and he's so good at it, and the taste of his shake is surprisingly good. She smiles against his lips, and he smiles too, but neither of them pulls away yet. "I've wanted to do this all day." Rick confesses to her.
Kate bites her bottom lip, green eyes into blue ones. "Me too." Then she turns away and sucks her milkshake through a straw to escape the intensity of his eyes.
They walk some more. Slow and easy, as it starts to get dark, and it's beautiful to watch.
When Kate eventually decides to sit on a children's swing they find, Rick takes her place next to her. Night falls little by little, gradually. They watch people passing by. They point out funny visual facts and laugh among themselves. A kind of attempt to calm the anxiety in my stomach and the tension that this type of conversation generates.
"Kate," Rick says, eventually. "Me and you… Us, you're ready, right?"
His eyes are lifted toward her, his brow furrowed and expectation shining across his expression.
"I like to think so. But to be completely fair and clear, what do you expect me to be ready for? What do you want us to be, Rick?" This question makes her blush, so she looks at the people walking on the sidewalk, minding their own business.
It takes him a while to respond. She's not sure if it's because the question took him by surprise or if it's because he's not sure what he wants.
It turns her stomach.
"I have a failed marriage history and this whole reputation portrayed in the media, and I know this sounds like a red flag, but Kate, I want you." The answer arrives, after all. "I want to be with you, in a committed, monogamous relationship, and I want to be your partner for more than just work. And I want us to figure out the rest together, you know, where we're going."
She likes that answer. She really likes this answer. A wave of relief fills her insides and blows around her, and the ghost of a smile appears on her lips. But she pulls her bottom lip between her teeth before the smile materializes.
"This is so weird and scary, and we haven't even been on our first date and we're already talking about a long-term relationship and that's so unlike me." Kate ends up saying, her eyes glaring at him now.
"I can say that."
She arches her eyebrows. "Say what? That is unlike me? How could you say that? You've known me for four months, Rick."
"That is true. But I'm a writer, Kate. Details are my thing. I had enough time to observe you."
"Yes, and you did a terrible job of being discreet about it, by the way." She points out. "Being creepy and all."
He smiled. "I wasn't trying to hide my fascination with you."
The way he says fascination plays over and over in her mind.
"I could say that." She says back, and sucks down the last of her milkshake.
"So," Rick begins, looking nervous and unsure. "Lets do this?"
"I want what you said too" Her admission leaves him almost glowing. "But Rick, could we at least have our date first and keep everything extremely discreet at the precinth for the sake of my credibility and then we can make it official? I feel like we're moving too fast and it feels good, but it also feels like…"
"Out of control?" He offers.
Yes. It feels totally out of control.
She nods. "And I'm a bit of a controlling person."
"You? No! I hadn't even noticed." He's ironic, and she slaps him on the shoulder, but laughs.
He laughs too.
"We can do whatever you want, Kate." Rick states, "You can define our timeline. I just want to be with you."
With a smile shining at the edges, she nods. "OK."
"OK." He repeats, sounding accomplished.
"Okay" She says again. "Don't you need to go home? Dinner with Alexis or something?"
He shakes his head. "No. She's at a friend's house studying, or talking about James, who knows."
Kate laughs at how grumpy the idea makes him.
"You're pretty adorable being an old-fashioned jealous dad."
"Excuse me?" He is offended. "I'm not old-fashioned. I'm a cool dad."
"Whatever you say to yourself, Rick."
They remain silent for long seconds. Absorbing everything around and everything that has been happening.
"I'm going to have lunch with my dad tomorrow." Kate decides to share it with him.
"Oh?"
"YeahI think I've avoided him a little since the cabin thing."
"You never really told me what happened."
Kate thinks about it. She really didn't. She's not the type to go around offering information. Rick is. She decides she wants someone to know how apprehensive she is about lunch and what motivates her.
So she tells him. She talks about some of her memories from the time of her father's endless alcoholism, how she lost hope, how it haunts her. And when it's getting a little late and cold, and they're walking back to the car, he holds her hand until they get there.
And he kisses her hand as they get into the car, and he drives her to an address she's not sure of until she sees the building's facade. He buys tubs and tubs of ice cream and goes back to the car, insisting that all she needs is a night of comfort with everything she wants and ice cream is essential.
And it is… different.
Having someone make an effort to see you well. It's been a long time since Kate has had anyone like that in her life.
He asks if it's okay to go into her bathroom and then surprises her with a bath with salts and bubbles, and candles and a glass of wine and she just thinks it's divine. She asks if he will join her, and he says not this time, but promises to be there when she gets out of the shower.
And when about 35 minutes in, she comes out, dressed in yoga pants and a tank top, he is, in fact, there. Rick cooked for her, and they ate and wined watching Temptation Lane because she said she used to watch it when she wanted to feel better.
And massage, he massaged her feet which were a little sore. And she was almost asleep when she asked him to just hug her. Rick did that too.
She wakes up in the middle of the night, in her bed, cozy and covered, and wonders where he is.
The cell phone is next to the bed, and it has a message from him.
Hey, I had to go home, you know, the good-looking, responsible dad thing, but Kate, if you have a bad dream or anything, call me, okay? no matter the time. Sleep well, honey.
She smiles, and then goes back to sleep.
When Rick steps out of the elevator in the morning, holding two coffees and a bag of something delicious, she can't help but smile.
Big and gaping, but she lowers her eyes so that the people around her think she is laughing at something she has seen elsewhere or the recurrence of some memory. And when she looks up at him again, he's already sitting in the chair next to her.
"Beckett," he begins, the lines around his eyes crinkling at the smile he offers her. And gives him the coffee and the bag of food too. "Good morning."
"Hello, Rick." She greets back. And she gets her breakfast. "Thanks."
She takes a small sip of coffee and takes a look at the bag of sweets, giving another smile. Kate sets them both down on the table and stands up, immediately drawing his attention to it.
"Come with me." Murmuring softly towards him, just to make sure no one else heard, and starts walking.
The walk to the supply closet really isn't that long, but today it feels especially longer to get there. Rick enters right behind her, and after he slams the door, she moves forward to take his mouth.
Kate isn't sure she knows how to explain this behavior of hers. She is the rational type and 100% professional at work, even when she was dating Will, she didn't allow these escapades, and the times they did happen, she was never the one who started them.
But here she is, with a guy she met at a party almost five months ago, who follows her everywhere and who she's never had a date with, and she's got her tongue in his mouth in a supply closet at the police station. It should feel wrong and old-fashioned, but it doesn't. It feels so right.
The way he cradles her face in his hands, being sweet and tender and being so happy about it, and the way he slides his tongue into her mouth, probing and losing himself in the warm velvety that is her mouth. Kate smiles against his mouth, and tries to suck in air when the oxygen runs out of her. He smiles against her mouth too. "I missed you" Rick tells her, and she can't help it, her smile becomes much bigger and more apparent. "Our first date? He is today. I'll pick you up at 8pm at your house. Brings a change of clothes, because you are spending the night with me."
She arches her eyebrows, her arms wrapping around the back of his head. "Is that so?? Who said I have sex on the first date?"
With his strong arms around her waist, and his hands now palming her hips, Rick smiles.
"Who talked about sex? Katherine Beckett, get your mind out of the gutter!"
She laughs. "All is well then. Just a date. No sex."
He grimaces. "Date nd sex." Rick corrects.
"I can think about it."
"Right. And can I…" His hand, strong and warm and very skilled —believe me, Kate knows— starts to slide toward the cradle of her legs. "Give you some extra motivation?"
Her initial reaction is to close her eyes. Close her eyes and muster all your self-control, and your rationality to push it away and say how this is not the time or place. But then, she discovers that with her eyes closed all she is doing is readily surrendering to the delicious promise that his fingers promise infiltrating the inside of her thighs covered by the gray tailored pants she chose to wear today.
At the sign of the first brush of his thumb, even over fabrics, she lets out a sigh appealing for him to do so. "We shouldn't" her mouth says for contrast.
"How could we not, Kate?" He whispers against the crook of her neck, his tongue darting out to circle that spot behind her ear that he's discovered to be sensitive. "You need to remember how good I can make for you," he adds, moving his fingers up to reach the button on her pants. "How can I make you explode with desire, and scream too." Rick kisses her neck, and shit, he does it so well. She leans into him, completely lost in the haze of desire, lust and the feel of his hands and mouth, and it feels like there's no turning back. "You're so vocal in bed, Kate. Who would say? The point is, I love it when you scream."
"I, uh— Castle!" The whisper she intended dies on her lips as an unpermitted scream erupts from her mouth. It's at the exact moment that he sticks his fingers inside her pants and rubs her clitoris through her underwear. It's maddening. Is so good. She can't breathe and everything is too much. "You, I… please."
"Shh" Rick murmurs, still against her ears. "I love it when you scream, of course I do, but not here, love. You said to keep this between us for now. It won't be a secret at the precinct if they hear you screaming my name in that needy voice."
The next thing she registers is that his thick, long fingers are filling her and God, her eyes can't stay open at all. He touches her the same way he kisses her, cautious, exploratory, appreciating the wet, satiny fabric that squeezes him, and suddenly he's the one moaning in her ears. "You're so wet, Kate." His fingers curl inside her, and she sinks her teeth into his shoulder to keep from screaming, he stimulates her and fucks her so good and she can't wait for their first date.
"That's… you feel so good. Please, please, Rick. I'm so close."
"Yeah? You will come?"
"Yes… just, faster."
He does what she asks. He intensifies the pressure and the speed with which his fingers slide inside, and he insists on stimulating her clitoris too, and she starts riding his fingers and suddenly everything is too much and she comes, and she must be screaming again for he advances to her mouth and kisses her as if he wants to swallow all the sounds she is making.
"Good job, honey." Rick kisses her hair and holds her until she comes back to the earth. Then he takes his hand out of her pants and buttons them. She blinks, and he has the fingers that were inside her now in his mouth. "Now, if my fingers were good, think about how spectacular it will be when my mouth and cock have their turn."
It kind of worked.
She's thinking exactly that.