Yeah. Ok. I am alive. I know it doesn't seem like it, but hey.
This chapter gave me a few problems: I had the basic ideas of what I wanted in it, then got stuck about half way through. Anyway.
This chapter is for three people:
1. Vicky, for whom I beta, and who got me out of my moping stage to finish this. Go read her fic A Beautiful Mind!
2. Ellie, who I recently discovered (by fluke) watches Castle, NCIS, CSI, L&O etc. Yay!
3. Harry, who is my own Castle. Love you 3
I don't own anything you recognise!
"Beckett!" Castle hammered on the door. "Beckett! Kate!" There was a thud from inside the apartment, and soon the door was opened to reveal a dishevelled Katherine Beckett in her sleep shirt, bedhead and fluffy socks, nursing her left side.
"Castle?" Her low growl of surprise made him grin like an idiot as he stepped into her apartment, flowers in hand.
"Good morning, Detective. I brought you something." He waved the purple lilies at her and gestured to her bedroom. "Captain's given us the whole day to drive. Sooner you get dressed, the sooner we can go!" He beamed at her, bouncing on his toes, clearly expecting her to be as excited as him.
"Wha- Castle! You mean the other days, we didn't have permission to stay out that long?" She was fully awake now, and giving him the full-on Beckett glare.
"Er, well, not exactly…" he mumbled, raising his hands.
"Not exactly? I could have lost my job because of you!"
"But you didn't! So go and get ready!" He gave her a gentle shove in the right direction before pulling out a chair and collapsing on it.
Ten minutes later they were nestled in the car – still decorated red and green – munching bear claws and trying to find somewhere safe to put their coffee cups. In the end they settled with Castle holding both and trying not to spill them – after all, the car had only just been dried out from their last…expedition.
"So where are we going today?" Kate asked, stifling a yawn with her elbow and nearly catching his shoulder, causing him to shuffle quickly out of the way to save her coffee.
"It's a surprise," he said smugly. With a frown, she opened her mouth to protest, but he beat her to it. "I know. You don't like surprises. I promise you'll like this one though." At her doubtful look he gave a sly grin. "So shut up and drive."
"Wouldst thou, o fair maiden, taketh this right turn that loometh before thee?" At his attempted English accent, Kate let out a snort.
"Playing Shakespeare now, Castle?" She felt a wide smile spread over her face.
"And be that a problem, fair lady?" the writer sent back, features schooled into an innocent expression. She giggled.
"No, just – amusing."
"Didst thou just giggle, good detective?"
"Verily, this detective didst giggle," Kate responded with a sideways glance at her companion. Then, in her normal voice, she added curiously: "Did you study Shakespeare at all?"
"Aye, this man didst study the bard himself. And I have a quote that suits you perfectly, Miss Beckett." He too reverted back to his own accent. She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Oh? From what?"
"Macbeth." Her eyebrow went higher. "'Look like th' innocent flower, but be the serpent under it.'"
"So I look nice but am actually evil?" Kate said, disappointed. He could at least have recited a sonnet.
"No, like the other way round, so look like the serpent, but be the flower – no, I didn't mean that-" she smiled again, this time at the adorable (did she really call Richard Castle adorable?) floundering.
"I know. I get it." He exhaled in relief, leaning back once more.
"Good. Ok." And that was that.
"Castle," she moaned, taking another left. "Where are we going? We've been driving for hours."
"Why, Detective – are you getting impatient?" he teased her, eyes twinkling. Her jaw twitched.
"C'mon, Rick. Are we nearly there?" She was getting suspicious. The journey had been relatively quiet until then, and she had half a mind to turn around and go back in the direction they'd come, except for the fact that she would quickly get them lost.
"We're about half way. It'll be worth, it I promise you." He patted her knee patronisingly, making her take her right hand off the wheel to whack him. "Hey! Both hands on the wheel, if you please, Beckett. Don't think I've forgotten what happened last time." She blushed, and he smiled.
"Let's play I-Spy," Castle suggested, bouncing excitedly in his seat. "Please, Beckett? Can we play I-Spy?" The sudden noise in the silent car made her jump. He wanted to play I-Spy – what a child, she thought. She couldn't deny, however, that she was bored, so as long as he was sensible, it couldn't do any harm. Right?
"Fine, we'll play. What rules do you use?" As he enthusiastically educated her in the Castle version of the familiar game, she suppressed a grin. He was sweet, sometimes. Just sometimes, though. "Ok. You can go first."
"I-Spy, with my little eye, something beginning with V-H-D," he chanted, casting a glance at her.
"What? Er, vehicle hiding DJ?" she blurted the first thing that came into her head. V-H-D? How was she going to guess something like that?"
"Nope!" he sang cheerfully. "Try again!"
"Very happy driver?" No – that couldn't be right.
"Nope! Close," he added mischievously.
"Very happy dolt?" A bubble of laughter burst out at his offended expression.
"Cold. You were closer before."
"Very…happy…" a thought stuck her. "Castle, you didn't bring a dog, did you?!"
"Nope! Try again!"
"Give me a hint?"
"No. No hints in a Castle game, Beckett. Do you give up?" She gritted her teeth. Competitive? Of course not!
"Very hot day?"
"Closer!"
"Very horrifying day?"
"Closer before! D'you give up now?"
"No! Very hot donkey?"
"Do you see a donkey anywhere? Give up yet?"
"Fine. I give up. What was your V-H-D?" His smug look was wasted as she stared viciously out the windscreen.
"Very Hot Detective." She squawked as they veered to the wrong side of the road.
"I told you to keep it clean!"
"That was clean! It's a fact! You could at least be flattered!"
"You are so lucky I can't reach your ear," she muttered under her breath, fighting the blush that once again threatened to take over her face. Damn the writer.
"My go again! I-Spy, with my little eye, something beginning with T-D."
"Talking deviator." He playfully hit her leg. "Talking dog. Talking donkey. Talking Detective?"
"Nope, nope, and nope. What's with the animals? Have you got a secret fetish you haven't told me about, Detective Beckett?"
"Trashy dad. Ok, that wasn't fair," she amended at his cold glare. "Can we stop now?"
"But you haven't guessed it!" he whined. "You have to guess it before I forget it! You can't not play, it's against the rules of a Castle game-" he stopped when she slowly swivelled her head round to give him her favourite glare that was reserved just for him. "Ok, we'll stop."
"And here we are." The car came to a slow stop on the country lane, narrowly avoiding a tree. "Thankfully in one piece." Kate reached over and flicked Castle's ear, unable to hide the affectionate smile that graced her lips. "Come on. I've got something to show you." They clambered out of the vehicle, stretching and shielding their eyes from the sunset. It was low in the sky, the deep red light breaking through the wall of trees and warming their faces in the evening breeze. Taking hold of her elbow, Castle guided her through the frosty forest until they reached a clearing. "There."
Beckett gave a tiny gasp, watching the rays of light hit the centre of the space in front of them. Beneath their feet was a blanket of mossy heather, begging to be sat on. Birds chirruped happily at the squirrels running from branch to branch.
"Come on." Castle had already planted himself in the middle of the patch, grasping her hand and tugging her down. Loath to interrupt the peaceful scene, she resisted, until he succeeded and she plopped down beside him. She sighed in contentment as her body relaxed into the soft bed. They lay down, arms touching, and watched the air around them become quieter. A rabbit hopped up to them, nuzzling Kate's shoulder before darting away at the noise of surprise. As the moment wore on, she felt her eyes get heavy, and began to doze.
Kate woke with a start to find that the temperature had dropped significantly since they'd been lying there.
"It's cold, Castle. Can we go back now?" she shivered, teeth chattering as she wriggled (subconsciously, of course) into his side.
"I'm not warm enough for you?" he joked, rolling to his feet and pulling her after him. "I see how it is." He pouted playfully, grabbing her under the ribs and tickling as he used to do with Alexis. She let out an indignant squeak as she writhed in his grip.
"Castle! Castle, stop! I didn't mean-! Put me down!" She hammered his shins with her heels, and thankfully found herself back on the ground. "I didn't mean I didn't like this," she gestured to the clearing. "Just that I'm cold. I left my jacket in the car, and it's the middle of winter. It's freezing."
"Actually, it's not the middle of winter-" he began, before Kate groaned.
"I don't care, Rick. I just want to go get warm." Noticing how her lips (no, he wasn't purposefully staring) were starting to turn an alarming shade of blue, he stopped his pedantic ranting about 'actually, the middle of winter is January' and handed her his coat. She sat up and gratefully accepted it, noticing how he shoved his hands into his pockets to compensate for the lack of layers. How could she have worked with this guy for five years and not seen those arms? She shivered again, this time not from the cold, as she imagined running her hands down those accentuated-but-not-too-accentuated biceps as he cradled her to his chest-
"Beckett? Anyone in?" She gave a start as her fantasy was interrupted by his fingers waggling in her face. "Let's go. Particularly if we don't want the boys to put out a missing persons alert on us."
"It's that late already?" She muttered, trying to draw the sleeves of his coat over her wrist to look at her watch, but failing miserably. Nodding, he spun around, and took off in the general direction of the car.
"Race you!" With a shout, she was up, tearing after him, shivering forgotten as she got nearer and nearer to him, then drew level, then overtook him as she reached into his jacket pocket and blipped the car key. Within seconds they skidded to halt by the car, crashing into each other as they flopped over the bonnet.
"I won."
"No you didn't! I touched it first!"
"It's not an 'it', she's a she!"
"She's a car!"
"And I won!"
"I won, Castle!"
"Clearly it was me. You can't have made that handprint in the ice." He pointed to a patch of clear metal that was devoid of any frost, unlike the rest of the car.
"That was me! I just slid, and it smudged. I obviously won!" Glaring at him, she shrugged his coat off her shoulders and slung it on the roof. "Thanks for the coat. How does it feel to be beaten by someone wearing your own clothes?" She poked her tongue out as she dropped into the driver's seat.
"I don't know, because I won!" He dove in the other side, slamming the door shut to keep what little warm air there was in. "So there."
"Whatever. Can I have the keys please?" There was a pause while she bent over the seat to grab her own jacket, the car being oddly quiet. Peering over her shoulder, she found Castle gawking at the part of her that was next to his face. "Castle! Eyes up!" As he blushed and fumbled around in his pants pocket for the keys she folded back into her seat and rubbed her hands furiously. "Keys? Preferably today?" He was searching frantically now, emptying his pockets and handing her his phone, his wallet, his loose change – "Castle, you still carry beef jerky? And – is that Superman?"
"No! I mean, yes, but he's my lucky – never mind," he clamped his mouth shut as she began to laugh. "Shut up! I don't take him everywhere, sometimes it's Batman-" He groaned as her chortles went ultra-sonic. "I can't find the damn keys! Where did you put them after opening the car?"
"Your pocket. In your jacket. Which I gave to you..." she sat up straight, panic in her eyes. "Castle. Did you take it off the roof?" He raised his hands defensively.
"I didn't see you put it on the roof. When did you put it on the roof? Why did you put it on the roof?"
"To give it back to you. Because I didn't need it anymore." Kate rested her forehead on the steering wheel.
"Ooh, wait. We can use the inside-unlocking-buttony-thing." He jabbed the button next to the radio that in any normal car would have opened the doors (that had just let out a horrifyingly loud click as they locked themselves). However, this was not a normal car. In the last week it had been subjected to early festive decorating in addition to a swimming lesson, and as such, was on strike. Not that its passengers knew. "Work, you stupid thing. Work!" he growled through gritted teeth, furiously pressing the piece of plastic. In response to his prodding, the windscreen wipers turned on with a squeal causing both inhabitants of the car to look up, colliding heads. Rubbing it furiously, Castle dived over the seat to the middle of the car, tapping the windows and searching under the seats.
"I'm gonna call Espo and have them find us." She took out her cell and punched in the speed dial, waiting impatiently for him to pick up. "Espo? Yeah, it's me. Listen, we're stuck in a car – yes, Castle and me – and the keys are on the roof. Think you can come and get us out? Wait a sec, I'll ask him. No, I don't know where we are." She turned in his direction. "Rick? Where are we?" Her jaw dropped. "What are you doing?" she asked, leaning forward to watch him curiously.
"I'm checking to see if I've left a key under here," he grunted, yanking his arm out from between the cushions. "And to see if the windows will open." Perching on top of the seat to try the windows again, he vanished in a puff of dust.
"Just trace it – yeah, thanks. Bye." Kate waved her hand in front of her face to clear her vision and looked around when she couldn't see her partner anywhere.
"Castle? Castle – where have you gone?" She too clambered into the back to try and determine where he was. A pair of feet appeared at the gap between the head rests, kicking awkwardly. Kate bit back a laugh. "What are you doing down there?"
"Checking the trunk," came the muffled reply. "I just decided to do it a bit too quickly, is all. The car wasn't prepared for my stealth."
"Sure, sure," she smiled. Castle's head emerged, winking at her and coughing.
"Give me a hand up?" She grabbed his outstretched hand and pulled him back over the seats. As she did, she lost her footing, and they tumbled to the floor of the car in a tangle of limbs, Castle jammed on top of Kate and both of them winded. "Castle, get off me," she grunted, pushing against his chest.
"I – can't," he muttered. "My shoulder's stuck. I can't get my arm free!" He collapsed back onto her and was suddenly aware of their proximity. "Well hello, Detective Beckett," he smirked. She glared at him.
"Castle. Get off."
"I can't!"
"Well, try harder."
"I have no problem with-"
"Mind out of the gutter, Castle! Look, can you move the chair?" They both pressed their shoulders into the back of the passenger seat, trying to move it forward for a bit of extra space.
"Whoops." Castle's arm gave out and he landed heavily on her chest, head pushing her chin up. "Ooh, comfy."
"Castle!"
"Sorry, sorry." He wriggled a bit, finally settling with his head propped on his forearm that was stretched behind her head. She watched him with trepidation, not wanting to admit what it was doing to her having him this close, and in this position. "So, Detective. Do you come here often?"
A while later, there was a click as the car was unlocked, to both occupants' relief.
"Well, what have we here? Getting cosy, Beckett? Castle?" Castle looked over his shoulder to see Ryan smirking at him. "The car's unlocked. You can get off her now."
"Finally!" Beckett sighed in relief as he slithered off her backwards, her body tingling at the loss of heat. "Hey – why couldn't you have done that – Castle! You mean you just stayed there?" He gulped as she struggled up from the floor and shoved him against the car. "You mean you stayed on top of me for an hour for no reason at all?" Esposito and Ryan winced as she leant close to him. Ryan held Espo back when the other man made to step forward.
"Better let Mom and Dad sort it out, bro," he murmured. The two retreated to their own car where they watched the scene, barely holding back the laughter at Castle's terrified expression.
"Not cool, guys," Castle grumped on the way back to the precinct. "Why couldn't you have helped me out there?"
"You dig the hole, you can get yourself out of it, bro," Espo smiled at him, patting his shoulder and sending a grin towards Ryan. "And no one ever, ever interferes with Beckett when she's in a mood. She's scarier than a momma bear protecting her cub!"
"What about 'all for one and one for all'?" he whined. Ryan snorted.
"We're hardly the Three Musketeers, Castle. And it was your problem. You're a big boy; you can fix it yourself. Just be thankful she's not here right now to hear your complaining." In a bid to keep the peace, Ryan had sent Beckett off in her car while he and Esposito took Castle with them. 'For more practice', he'd said, really just wanting to separate the two so they could get somewhere warm.
Later that evening, as they walked out the precinct together, Castle couldn't stop the bounce in his step.
"Did you enjoy your day, Kate?" he asked, linking his arm with hers and pulling her into the elevator.
"Well," she pretended to think, stroking an imaginary beard. "Aside from the really bad games, and the cold, and getting stuck in the car with a nine-year-old-on-a-sugar-rush, yeah. I think I did. Shame it's all over now."
"What?" he spun to face her, eyes comically wide.
"Didn't I tell you?" she gazed at him nonchalantly. "Captain Gates said that I passed. Apparently Esposito and Ryan vouched for my skills on the drive back home. No more driving lessons for this detective." She smirked at his crestfallen face. "Good night, Castle."
"Until tomorrow, Kate," he called after her, hand finding her car key in his pocket. Let's see her try and get home without him…
Tada! It's all over now. Hope you enjoyed it, and sorry for the slightly weird middle. Parts of this were written
a) after consuming several mugs of coffee and a Jaffa cake
b) while procrastinating for my GCSEs - tomorrow!
c) tired and bored on the run to Youth Opera...
Kudos if
- you can guess which song I was listening to for the first three paragraphs
- you can guess Castle's T-D in I-Spy
- you laughed at any time during the three chapters
Jaffa cakes if
- you reviewed
- you followed
- you favourited
- you read (so yeah, you get a Jaffa cake. Enjoy!)
See you around,
~wolfergirl
always be yourself - everyone else is taken
love many
trust few
always paddle your own canoe