"Fuck you, Castle! Open up!! Give me back that damn album!" she pounded on the bathroom door, the same bathroom door he'd locked and now hid behind as she could hear him looking through the photos by the sound of pages turning.
"But you are so cute," his voice rumbled from the other side of the door. "Seriously Kate, I had no idea you were a model."
She groaned. "It was a summer. One stupid summer, ok?" She growled as she rested her back against the door and slowly slid down.
"One amazing summer, you mean," his voice was muffled through the door and being down at butt-level she suddenly realized he was sitting down as well.
She groaned again, bumping her head back into the door.
"Kate?"
"Yeah..?"
"Are you annoyed with me?"
She sighed. "Am I not always annoyed with you?"
His chuckle had her lips pull up even though she knew she shouldn't feel the least bit happy about him looking at the pictures taken of her in various clothes and poses. Urgh. Without any warning the door suddenly opened and she fell backwards to the floor.
"Ouch!" she curved into a ball at the sudden pull on her scar.
"Oh my god! I'm so sorry! Are you hurt?" He quickly changed his choice of words. "Stupid question, can I help?"
She just shook her head, biting her lip as she tried to take calming breath against the small pain. His hands were carefully touching her shoulder, probably in a try to comfort her and, she didn't know why or how, but his touch actually helped.
"I'm sorry, I didn't think you were actually leaning on the door," his voice was gentle and filled with regret.
"Is okay," she told on an exhale.
She was carefully starting to get up but didn't get far before his arms went underneath hers in order to lift her up. The second she was on her feet he moved his arms but kept one around her to keep her steady. She couldn't resist thanking him by kissing his cheek.
"You're still cute though," he smirked and she rolled her eyes.
"And you're still annoying."
He stuck his tongue out and she gave him a look, but after his lips came crashing on hers without hesitation she couldn't stop the smile his kiss left behind once he pulled apart. He let go of her for enough time to pick up the album he'd let land on the floor the second she'd fallen inside the bathroom. She was quick to snatch the photo album back into her arms and sighed when he gave her those blue puppy eyes he had every time she tried to close him off from a case.
"I thought modeling would give me more money than waitressing." She gave her story while setting her pace towards the couch.
He obediently followed her like the shadow he had started out to be and sat down beside her, his arms open in invitation. She didn't even hesitate this time, just leaned into him with her back to his chest and felt comfortable when his arms went around her. She opened the photo album on page one and started telling him about all the different jobs she'd done that summer. Where she'd been, what she'd been posing as and why. She surprised herself by telling him the not so fancy lifestyle of a model as well, or at least the parts she'd experienced. She also told him Mathilda King had been shocked when she'd said no to continue her modeling career, no one had ever said no to Mathilda. Castle sat amused, listened to the softened version of the homicide detective. Right there, in his arms, she was more Kate than he'd really ever seen her. And he couldn't help but fall in love with her all over again.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Castle had to go home again a couple days later, much to both of their misery, and Kate didn't let him go before giving him a kiss goodbye. A kiss that might've turned into a make-out session with his body covering hers against the wall of the house. It might also have been her scar, that damn scar, that had them pulling apart. The first thing she did when she couldn't see his car anymore was call her dad, telling him the writer had left due to needing to get home again. Her dad did, of course, offer to come back but she insisted she would be able to take care of herself. Besides, she'd promised Castle she'd talk to him at least once a day, and he'd said that if she needed anything at all he'd be there in a couple hours. They decided to talk every night, that way the last thing they heard would be each other's voices, obviously his idea. But honestly she could swear she was sleeping better and, even though she would deny if asked, she had a feeling it was because she always fell asleep with his voice or breathing in her ear. He had even started reading the latest Nikki Heat for her, the one that hadn't come out yet, and she'd been excited when he suggested it. Too excited for her own good according to herself but she could definitely hear he was as excited as she was.
"'She rolled Rook over the back of the sofa and landed on top of him. He reached behind her, drawing her by the small of her back to him. She pressed forward, going with him. Then Nikki rose onto her knees and began to unbuckle his belt. And then it was all about breathlessness again.' You know, it's kind of... embarrassing reading this out loud," he said one night and she could almost hear the blush that was painting his cheeks.
Kate felt the same blush on her cheeks because she could so well picture it, the two of them nabbing only to kiss and make up due to the lust they felt for each other, and yeah, it was embarrassing. Especially so that he was reading it for her in person, and not through an audio book she might own. She had bought the first book he recorded himself and the second after that. Of course she also owned that Nikki Heat audio book he'd recorded, she'd had to hear how he would read the first Heat book with his own voice. It had become so sultry when he came to page 105 and she had felt things she'd nev...
"You still there?" his voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts. "Don't tell me I failed that scene so badly you actually fell asleep." His voice was a mix between a groan and a mumble.
"Huh, no! No, I didn't fall asleep! I just... tried to... not make it a. Big. Deal," she paused between the three last words, not really sure what to say.
Truth was she'd tried her best to control her breathing, tried not to think too much of how badly she wanted him to be there, with her, like Rook was there with Nikki.
"Ah, then maybe I shouldn't have said something," he grumbled with a light, panicked chuckle.
"No, ah, I agree. It's a little... awkward," she confessed. Suddenly she thought about what Natalie Rhodes had said, how Castle by writing those scenes was verbally masturbating. God, that sounded weird.
"Verbally masturbating?!" his squeaky voice had her snapping back to the present and shit, did she say that out loud? "Natalie Rhodes said that? Why would she say that?"
He kept rambling things similar to the first question, panic evident in his voice and she cursed herself in her mind for opening her mouth about it.
"Chill Castle! Don't worry about it, I mean it's not like I didn't think about us when I read the book."
It slipped out way before she could stop herself. She hadn't meant to tell him that. He shouldn't know that. But now he did. Damnit!
"You..." he gulped, "imagine us?"
"Fuck," she breathed out before answering, "Yes, yes, I imagine us, Castle. It's not like you didn't, they're obviously based on us. Everyone who knows us probably see them as us. I know Lanie interrogated me for the details that weren't there."
"Oh, that's true." He sighed on the other end. "Espo and Ryan came at me too, especially after the Nikki-case."
She wrinkled her forehead in thought. "Which Nikki-case?"
"When I slept on your couch, apparently, according to them, pancakes are a way of saying 'thank you so much for last night' and not the breakfast I was just intending to make you." He tried imitating Espo and she would've chuckled at the failed attempt if it hadn't been for the topic. "They, just like Lanie, wanted me to give them details. Said I, as a witness, refused to cooperate since I said there wasn't any." He grumbled the last part and she had to sit up in her bed in order to calm her breathing.
"I will kill them," she hissed, tried to keep the anger at bay.
"Don't tell them I told you," he whined and she peaked at that.
"Why?"
"They will mock me for being a tattletale until I die."
She thought about it for a moment. Killing them would make it impossible for them to actually live to mock him, but she knew she wouldn't actually kill them so she guessed he was right.
"Fine, I won't."
There was a silence for a moment. None of them really knowing how to move on after that kind of talk. What had they even talked about? They had pretty much both admitted to seeing themselves as Rook and Nikki, even in the intimate moments. They hadn't actually said it but Kate knew she wanted those same moments to be real, and she wondered if he felt the same. Most probably he did or else he probably wouldn't have written them, or kissed her when he had stayed over. She opened her mouth at that thought, but didn't exactly bring up the intimate topic again.
"When do you want to come visit again?"
He immediately jumped at the new topic with a relieved tone in his voice. "I would love to come out tomorrow! I mean, I need to do some writing but really, I can write from anywhere as long as I bring my laptop."
She smiled at that. He was willing to leave his loft and his office to come visit her even though he would need to spend some of that time working. He wanted her company as much as she wanted his no matter what they would end up doing.
"That'd be great, and you can stay for as long as you like," she added quickly.
If it were up to her she'd have him stay the rest of the summer, but she knew it was up to him. And she still wasn't sure how he could forgive her so easily. After all, she did lie to him and therefore hurt him by leaving him for two whole months.
"Though, I understand if you can only stay a day or two," she whispered, afraid to put it out there but at the same time needing to get it out. She wanted to be prepared in case he would only stay for a short while.
"Oh, don't worry about that, I'll stay till you kick me out," he said, most likely with a smug grin on his face.
"Good," she whispered, a smile of her own sneaking itself onto her lips.
There was a small pause in their talk and Kate laid down again, shuffled around till the covers were around her and she felt comfortable.
"I so wish I could kiss you right now," he whispered and for a second she wondered if he'd really meant to say that out loud. Didn't matter, she wished that too.
"Then kiss me tomorrow." Her voice was small, but the words were confident. She meant it. She wanted him to kiss her again, wanted to feel his tongue dance with hers. A yawn escaped her mouth before she had even known it was coming and she excused herself.
He only chuckled at that. "Perhaps we should hang up, you're tired."
Stubborn she shook her head, only to realize her eyes were closed, and the fact that he couldn't see her entered her mind. "No, I want you." Her voice was only a mumble now, how did she get tired so fast? To her small surprise, or as surprised she could get in the tired state, he started reading again and it didn't take long before she was pulled into sleep.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Waking up the next day Kate was surprised to see the time was 11:30am. She'd slept for ten straight hours?! Or at least that was what she supposed she had. Castle and her had talked from around 9pm and she knew the last time she checked the clock it had been around 12am. A knock on her door had her sitting straight up, wide awake in a second, and it took her another two seconds before she had jumped out of the bed, reaching for the knife she'd hidden in her night table. Carefully she tiptoed out of her bedroom, knife in a firm grip.
"Kate? It's just me," a voice went through her door and she immediately relaxed.
She went to the door and unlocked it before she tugged it open with the knife held high.
"You shouldn't sneak up on me like that," she accused and he looked at her with an amused expression.
"Sorry, couldn't sleep much longer and figured calling you would only wake you up," he shrugged his shoulders. She rolled her eyes, put down the knife on a nearby bureau, but was indeed thankful he's thought of her. "That's an adorable pj by the way," he smirked and she looked down. "You didn't wear that one last I was here."
"Fuck," she hissed as she turned around to escape back to her bedroom. Before she could take many steps though, his arm sneaked around her waist and pulled her back to him. His mouth landed right behind her ear, his lips nudging her.
"No, don't run, I haven't even kissed you yet," he nibbled at her ear and she felt a shiver go down her spine.
The tingles going down her veins had her forgetting about the oversized, purple unicorn shirt she had on. She relaxed in his arms and didn't hesitate when he moved his hands to turn her around to him. His lips brushed her cheek before they claimed hers in a passioned kiss. She hadn't realized how much his words had gotten to her the night before as she melted into the way his tongue stroked hers. When she pushed herself closer to him he started grinning, which had their lips pulling apart.
"What?" she groaned, not wanting to stop.
"I just love how unguarded you are, I can kiss you without getting shot," he said and winced at the poor choice of words the minute he saw the small pull downwards of her mouth. "Sorry."
"No, it's... it's fine," she shook her head. She was carefully pulling away from him, moving towards her bedroom and was surprised when she got there and turned to close the door but found him right on her track.
"Don't close up again, please," his voice was low, smooth, pleading, and she clenched her eyes shut. Again.
"I wasn't... I need to change," she searched his eyes and saw them flick quickly down to her pj-shirt.
"Oh."
Shaking her head she stood on her toes to kiss him again. "No, I'm sorry. I might've... tried to escape a little. I don't mean to, I swear I don't mean to." Her voice was carefully breaking as she couldn't stop but think back to those months she'd avoided him, she'd closed herself off from him, hurt him. "It's habit, to close myself off, to don't let people in." She took a deep breath. "Sorry."
His hand cupped her chin carefully, thumb smoothing over her cheek as he leaned closer to kiss her lips again. God, she couldn't get enough of those lips. "I won't let you kick me out," he said with a determined voice and she smiled small with a grateful glimpse in her eyes. "But I will let you change," he added and let go of her to turn away.
Just like he'd stopped her before she stopped him now, though she decided to reach for his hand rather than his waist. He gave her a questioning look and she bit her lower lip at the need to keep him close.
"You can stay, sit on my bed," she suggested and he got a puzzled look before he eventually nodded and followed her to the bed.
He sat down and automatically put his hands over his eyes, to show her quite literally that he wasn't looking. Sweet man. She bent down to quickly graze her lips to his cheek before she pulled away to select the clothes she was planning on wearing that day. She plucked out the white shirt and the ripped jeans but suddenly hesitated. A thought rippled through her head and she was covering her smirk with her hand as she glanced back to make sure he wasn't peeking. The second she was sure of it she crossed her room to pick up the clothe she'd hung over her chair only a couple days before. It didn't take long for her to change out of her pj completely, considering she'd only had that shirt and panties on before, and picked up her towel to wrap it around her body, being thorough to cover her scar. She tugged one of the ends under the towel so it could stay up without her having to hold it with her hands.
"You know, I forgot to tell you to get a pair of swimming trunks but if you feel uncomfortable in your boxers my dad has some, newly washed, trunks in his third drawer in his room." Her voice, or perhaps more her words, had his hands fall down and his eyes opening with shock. The shock only increased by the sight of her in her in only a towel.
"Huh?" was his only response and she fought the chuckle, settled with a smile.
"Swimming trunks, third drawer in my dad's room, that way." She pointed towards where he'd find the bedroom. "You're welcome to borrow or just use your own underwear. I'll be out, in the lake." And so she turned and strolled out of her bedroom, hoping he wouldn't get too caught up with what she was doing.
Castle was frozen. What the hell just happened? It took him about three minutes before he realized she would be waiting for him. In the lake. With only a bathing suit. He jumped up from her bed and immediately went into her father's room, he wasn't planning on borrowing the man's swimming trunks but he figured it was a good space to undress. He decided his own boxers would do just fine, he'd been lucky enough to choose one of those he had which he'd actually swum in before in the Hamptons. He did, however, pick up a towel he found which would suit for after they'd gotten out of the water. Getting out on the porch he froze again. Kate Beckett, the woman he'd shadowed and fallen in love with over the past three and a half years, was in the lake. Standing with her face up to the sun, her hair was wet and her back to him, he could see the water was up to her shoulders. Smiling he slowly set his steps to the beautiful lake and the woman in it.
Kate was fighting with herself in her mind. One part of her was telling her how incredibly stupid this was, that she shouldn't expose herself the way she was about to, scars and all. Another part was telling her to woman up, to show him another part of herself that she was reluctant to. The way the sun was warming her face and she had closed her eyes to soak it all in, tripping the line between regret and determination. The part of her that wanted to retreat was piling up reasons for her to turn around and try to hide from the man she loved, the man who loved her, but before those reasons could open her eyes and take her away from there, she heard the triple of the water breaking behind her. No turning back. Taking a deep breath she chose not to open her eyes just yet.
"Took you long enough," she said as she felt the waves from his moving body coming closer.
He stopped moving and so she took another deep breath before she opened her eyes and turned around to look at him. To her surprise he looked insecure, unsure of what to do and, if she read his blues right, how close he was allowed. She let her tongue run over her lower lip as she tried gathering courage. She was actually glad the lake's water was a dark color and therefore not see-through, which meant her scar was not in sight. With a small shaky breath she reached out her hand above the water with her palm up, waiting for him to take a hold of it before she tugged him closer. Slowly he walked closer but stopped before their bodies could touch.
"I was thinking," she revealed when he didn't say anything. "I know it's not going to be easy, there's going to be days when I just... I just want to crawl inside myself and hide." She took a breath. "It's been this way since I lost mom, I never wanted to hurt like that again and I-ah, figured that if I didn't let anyone close enough they wouldn't hurt me."
"But, thinking like that, you would never find love either," he muttered and she hummed.
"I'd never find the magic I read about in books, I know," she clenched her lips, biting her inner cheek as she tried to hold back the tears. "I want..." she sighed. "I want you to not give up on me, but I also don't want you anywhere close... what if they come back? What if they... kill you," she took a shuddering breath. "Like they killed my mom? Killed Montgomery."
"Hey, shhh," he let his hand, the one not tangling with her fingers, reach up to lightly stroke her cheek. "I know there's no promising they won't. But I will not leave you. I won't let you push me away. I love you, Kate, and I promise to stay with you no matter what." His blue eyes were boring into hers with determination.
She felt a tear leave her eye as she flickered her eyes down before they looked up into his eyes again. "I don't deserve you."
She could see he fought not to roll his eyes at her statement. "Yes, you do. You're extraordinary, if anything I'm the one not deserving you." Before she could open her mouth to protest he took the opportunity into his own hands to lean down and press his lips on hers, pushing his tongue into her mouth. The protest on the tip of her tongue was wiped away with the stroke of his, the immediate dizziness that took over her mind when his taste was all she could sense. Once they broke of her breath was shuddering, trying to regain her calm.
"God, I love you, Rick," she panted. "I love you."
"I love you too."
Kate smiled at that, kissed him again before she quite carefully moved their tangled hands towards the scar in her chest, letting him see and touch the scar. Of course he insisted on kissing it, telling her she's so beautiful, that she's incredibly strong and shouldn't feel the need to hide it, shouldn't be ashamed of it. He told her how glad he was it had become a scar and not been the end of her life. She again told him she was sorry for lying to him, sorry for causing him pain. He told her it was okay now. He told her she would have her whole life to make it up to him, and he would have his whole life to make sure she knew exactly how much he loved her back. They'd make it. They'd go through the summer together, heal together and, once they were back to New York City, they would solve crime together. They would be partners in crime, and in life. Till death made them part.
––––––––––––––––––––––
THE END
–––––––––––––––––––––
A/N: Thank you all for reading and I hope you're not too unsatisfied with how I ended it, felt like I snaked away from the prompt a little but couldn't find it in myself to delete some parts, so this is the outcome. Anyway, hope you enjoyed and thank you for all your reviews/likes/follows/etc. Love you all! Till next time xxx