PROMPT: "That's really all I need. Some time with just you."
Dinner
It had been a long five days, bunkered down in his office trying to finish the final chapters of the next Heat novel.
He'd ordered no distractions, none at all, not even from his favourite detective. But, he wouldn't lie, he had hoped she would at least try to disobey that order.
Five days was the longest they had been apart in the months that they had been together. He wouldn't admit it to anyone else, but they had grown just a little codependent in that time. Or, at least, he had.
They'd agreed his lockdown would end tonight and that their reunion would come in the form of a home cooked, candlelit dinner at Kate's apartment - her gift to him, in lieu of material items.
At seven pm - on the dot - his knuckles made first contact with her front door, the rapid knocks imitating the anticipatory flutter of his heart.
God, he missed her.
She opened the door after several seconds, smiling wide with bright eyes, genuinely happy to see him, but surprised.
Realisation came, hit her like an 18 wheeler, when he held up the bottle of champagne he had picked out especially for tonight's celebrations.
"Castle, I am so sorry," she started apologising profusely, guilt replacing that smile he loved so much.
"You forgot about dinner," he assumed, correctly.
She sighed, took a step to the side, silently inviting him inside.
"I got caught up in the case, it slipped my mind."
He stepped inside - desperately trying to mask his disappointment - and placed the champagne bottle on her kitchen counter.
After a short deliberation, he figured this could go one of two ways: he could mention his upset and risk the potential fallout, or he could make some wisecrack about her making it up to him in other ways.
The knowledge the latter of those two options would more than likely catapult this night to exactly where he had hoped it would end had seemingly made his decision for him.
He turned back to face her, charming smile at the ready, but when he saw the guilt in her eyes had been replaced with something more akin to overexertion, devastation, any and all jokes scattered from his brain.
"Hey, hey." He stepped forward, cupping her face and drawing her focus. "It's fine. We don't need some fancy dinner: I have your favourite champagne and I'm willing to bet you have leftovers of some sort, right?"
She shook her head slowly, frowned in defeat.
"My last few meals have been at the precinct, I don't even have any crappy leftovers. Sadly, all I can offer you is my company."
He smiled, softly. "That's really all I need."
He brushed his lips against hers, delicately intimate.
"Some time with just you," he finished with a smile.
She wrapped her hand around the back of his neck, pulling him in for a long, intoxicatingly slow kiss.
"We can order in," she hummed as she pulled away.
"Mmhmm, later." He shamelessly chased her lips, suddenly hungry for only one thing. Her.