Finding home

Chapter 28 - No kiss and tell

"No problem kiddo, you know how much I love hanging out with her, it reminds me of the time when you were a kid" he said and I could hear a small tone indicating sadness in his voice and I knew exactly why.

We hadn't exactly had those kinds of childish and happy moments since my mom died, well, at least not until I brought in Alexis in our small family. Alexis had brought joy into life again, I had finally found a purpose that didn't involve crimes.

"Jim, are you coming?" Alexis came into the kitchen with her shoes on along with a big smile.

"Yes, let's go!" my dad exclaimed and they said "see you later" to us before they left the kitchen.

Not long after we could hear the door open and close. I bit my lower lip before I turned to the man standing in the room with me. He looked really nervous and I couldn't help but chuckle at his expression as I walked up to him and stood on my toes. I was surprised when he, instead of kissing me, let go of a "woo" and ducked away from me. At first I didn't know what he was doing and I could feel a small pain sting inside of me. I gave him a questioning look, wanting to know why he had dodged me. His face turned ashamed but he stayed away from me with about an arm-length's stretch.

"Your... uhm... we should work" he trembled.

"Castle" I said in a half warning half worried tone.

He let go of a sigh and looked down at the ground.

"What if your dad sees, he'll kill me i-if he sees us doing something else than work" he stammered with shame in his voice.

I couldn't help but burst out in a chuckle as I understood what he was doing. I went closer to him as he backed in the same speed as I walked forward. I managed to back him up against a wall and I couldn't help but smirk as I got close to him.

"Do you really think I'd let my dad kill you, Alex" I teased and he swallowed.

"You know, I'm starting to get the feeling that you're going to be my death" he replied as I took his hands and placed them on my hips before I put mine around his neck.

"You mean like you're going to be mine?" I put my face as close to him as I could without touching him.

He mumbled some incoherent words and I felt my breathing accelerate. I let my nose touch his as I felt myself having a hard time resisting him. Without much warning he pulled my body closer to him and crashed his lips on mine, not being able to keep away for another second. I pushed my body into his, wanting to feel him everywhere as the electricity shot from his lips to mine down through the rest of my body. The kiss got heated and I decided to break off the kiss while we still had the power to stop ourselves.

"As much as I would love to continue this, I do believe my dad wouldn't appreciate seeing us this... intimate" I admitted with a smile on my face.

He swallowed and nodded in agreement. I chuckled and took his hand to drag him with my towards the stairs to the second floor.

"Where are we going?" he asked and I bit my lip as I turned my head to him.

"My old bedroom, figured you'd like to see where I grew up considering your interest in the picture of me in my old costume" I was unsure of how else to say it, and I wasn't sure I wanted him to see everything but then again I knew I had to be able to share things with him without the constant fear of embarrassment.

I saw his face turn into a curious one as he understood what I was going to show him. It looked like he was happily surprised which made a warmth spread in my body. I led him to my old bedroom and saw the door was closed. Probably because my dad kept insisting on letting it be just the way I left it, he had no intentions on ever changing it, at least not without my pushing. I stopped in front of the door, standing between him and my past. I turned to him and took a deep breath before I gave him a small smile.

"Welcome to my childhood" I felt ridiculous but couldn't help myself as I opened the door and backed up to let him inside.

He followed me into the room which walls were a light blue I had chosen at the age of six and never found myself willing to change. My cover on my bed were black with skeletons on them, reminding me of my time as a rebel in school.

"Wow, look at this! You definitely don't look like a cop here!" he exclaimed and I saw him half-run towards a bookshelf where some old photos stood.

I couldn't help but already regret my decision, though at the same time I couldn't help but love his reaction. He continued to look over all the pictures he could find before he moved on to look around in the rest of my room. He turned around when I started laughing at him with an adorable questioning glimpse in his eyes.

"What?" he asked and I shook my head.

"How can all of this seem so interesting to you? It's just old junk that makes absolutely no sense to anyone but me" I said half-amused half-frustrated as he just looked at me with admirable eyes. "What?"

"That's exactly why I find them interesting" he said and when I gave him a confused look he grabbed a baseball I'd had on one of the shelves.

He held it up as he walked closer to me and I had to restrain myself from snatching it from his hands to put it back on its place. I bit my lip and I swear he could see the anxiety in my eyes that he would somehow accidentally destroy the ball.

"This baseball obviously means a lot to you" he said, looking at it before looking at me, "don't even try to deny it, I can see how it itches for you to take it back from me" he added with a small knowing smile. "That makes me wonder what beautiful story it contains that makes it so meaningful to you, and that makes it interesting because everything that has a story with you is something I would love to see and hear about" he ended as he held it out for me to take with that glimpse of curiosity in his eyes, waiting to see what I had to say.

I looked at him, seeing how he silently begged to know more about me, but I could also see that he would respect me if I changed subject and didn't want to tell him some of my most precious stories. I gently took the ball from him and glanced between it and him, deciding on what to do.

"I was eleven" I started and he immediately glowed with with big eyes, "and my dad took me to my very first baseball game, which my mom had just rolled her eyes at when she saw we had the full outfits with the shirts, the hats and even flags of our favorite team," I continued on with telling my memory I never thought I would ever share with anyone else but the ones in my biological family.