44. Law And Murder & Slice Of Death

Greetings from my new home, and thanks to everyone who wished me a safe journey! I made it in one piece and I'm even settled in enough to have time to write! That being said, when school starts in a week life is going to get hectic. I'm writing as far ahead as I can now because I never like to leave you guys hanging, but it's pretty clear that I'm not going to make it through season 4 by the premier, which was my original goal.

Law and Murder & Slice of Death

"Where is it?"

Castle lifted his head, whirled around to find Kate peering into the drawer of the nightstand, rooting through the assortment of items it contained.

"Where is what?"

"The journal."

"The... oh," he breathed as realization dawned. Their journal. "It's not there?"

She shook her head, forced herself to calm down because it had to be somewhere close by and there was no reason to get all worked up over it. Except, there was because she may have owned every single one of his novels but this journal, full of his hand-written words meant only for her, was one of her most prized possessions.

As Kate talked herself down, took a calming breath, Castle joined her in the search, digging through the other night stand, searching beneath the pillows and comforter.

Come to think of it, he hadn't seen it in a few days either. Not since they...

Oh.

He crossed to the office, eyes immediately settling on a corner of the leather cover protruding from beneath a stack of papers containing various versions of the cover art for Radiant Heat, all with such minor differences that his eyes had gone buggy just looking at them and he'd wound up tossing them aside haphazardly and giving up for the day.

Or, as it turned out, the better part of three days. He made a mental note to finalize his decision tomorrow.

"Found it," he called out, extending his arm above his head so that Kate could see the journal.

She breathed a sigh of relief, straightened and pushed the drawer back into place. "Oh, good."

"Hey," Castle cooed as he approached her, lifted his free hand to rest on her hip. "It's okay."

Kate shook her head, forced away the unexpected wave of emotion that had washed over her. "I know, I just..."

He bent to kiss her, whispered words of comfort against her lips. "It means a lot to me, too."

They settled into bed then, Castle crawling in first and welcoming Kate into the cave of his body. She came willingly, feeling the stress of the day rolling off of her as she found herself surrounded by him and their bed.

"I take it you wanna read?"

She snuggled in so her back was flush with his chest, nodded against the hollow of his neck. He feathered his lips over the sensitive spot behind her ear, felt the shiver trail down her body as he gracelessly fumbled his way to the next letter. He loved reading these, talking about them, as much as she did but he only had so much ability to focus when the planes of her body were deliciously aligned with his.

Kate reached a hand out to help him, held the page in place as he settled in with his chin on her shoulder so they could read it together.

Dear Kate,

I confess; I've seen Forbidden Planet. Probably ten or fifteen times.

"Castle!" Kate scolded instantly, rolling out of his embrace and onto her other side so she could glare at him, though there wasn't much in the way of disapproval in her voice.

"What?" he asked innocently, feigning confusion and not feeling even the least bit guilty, because Kate Beckett had taken him out on a date and he'd only fudged the truth a little bit to make it happen.

"You..." she spluttered. "You're such a liar!"

"And yet it didn't seem like you minded all that much. If I recall, Detective, you quite enjoyed yourself that evening."

"Not the point," Kate shot back, but the smile she couldn't quite hide gave her away.

"You just don't want to admit it."

"Admit what?"

"That you took me on a date to the movies. And that you enjoyed my company that evening."

She snorted. "Right."

"You can deny it all you want but you're not as subtle as you think you are."

Oh, she was quite aware of that. Castle was so attuned to her that he picked up on everything, things most people wouldn't even notice. But not so with him.

Rather than protest, she simply rolled her eyes in response.

"You're not."

Kate was struck with the extremely childish desire to stick her tongue out at him, both for being a smart ass and for being able to see through her so easily. Instead she reached up with one hand to physically turn his head back to the journal.

"Just read."

He smirked but did as directed and, after shooting a warning look in his direction, Kate re-situated and did the same.

I absolutely love that movie, and the fact that you like it too makes me love you even a little more. I never knew that brilliant and a little bit geeky could be so sexy.

Nevertheless, thank you for taking me out on a date (yes, it was one, even though I know you'd deny it), for buying me food, and for making last night the most fun I've had in a long time. Even if I did have to spend the entire time forcing myself to watch the movie rather than you and making sure you didn't catch me quoting every scene.

You know, there are a whole bunch of new movies coming out soon that I'm thinking about going to. Want to come along, make it a date again? I'll even pay this time. And buy you dinner afterwards. It could become a tradition.

Or maybe that's asking too much too soon. Maybe we should just stick with tonight for now. I know with certainty that it'll stick with me. For a long time. I can't recall the last time I had so much fun on a date, especially one where the only physical contact was you punching me in the arm for something I said (which I can't remember at the moment, but your barely-suppressed smile kind of gave away the amusement that you tried so desperately to hide).

I have no idea what you're up to now, if you're home in bed or at the hospital waiting for Josh's shift to end or maybe just relaxing on your own. But I want you to know that there's someone across town who's thinking of you right now with a giant smile on his face.

Have a good night, Kate.

Love,

Rick

"We should go to a movie," he suggested offhandedly.

Kate lifted her eyes to his. "We could."

"You don't want to?"

"No, no." She shook her head. "I don't not want to. I just... hadn't thought about it."

"So we can?"

Kate smiled at the sight of his wide, hopeful eyes, the childlike excitement in his features that still shone through every time she agreed to a date with him, even if they had been together for more than two years.

She leaned in to press their lips together, soft and sweet, a promise. "Yes."

"Tomorrow night?"

Her grin widened, unable to contain herself because Castle's enthusiasm was so contagious.

"It's a date."

This time, it was Castle who initiated the kiss, allowing it to deepen but still keeping things relatively chaste. He could tell Kate wanted to continue reading, sensed that something from work must be bothering her and she needed to take her mind off of it.

He'd had to step out for a couple hours this afternoon for a brief interview for the Ledger, during which time the rest of the team had been up to their necks in witness interviews. An entire neighborhood of people who'd heard the gunshots in the middle of the night, but by the time they'd made it to either the scene or the nearest window, the suspect was gone without a trace and the victim was already dead.

So it was Castle who pulled away first, leaving a lingering peck on her lips before settling back into bed, into her.

"Another?"

She smiled warmly, eyes already drastically softer than they were when they'd arrived home this evening.

"Yeah, keep going."

She resumed her previous position and Castle flipped the page, began to read aloud this time, breath washing over her skin, gentle and soothing, as he spoke.

Dear Kate,

Do you ever look back and wonder how you survived your teenage years? I certainly do, especially after this nightmare with Alexis's friend. I'm not sure I ever told you exactly what happened in the end, but one of her friends was jealous of the time Alexis was spending with Ashley so she kiss-ambushed him at a party and posted the pictures online. Naturally, Alexis was devastated.

Girls that age are just so catty, it's ridiculous. I'm glad I never had to deal with that type of drama. It's like the high school version of the Pizza Wars.

Then again, I was kind of an outsider. No one kiss ambushed my girlfriend because I didn't have one. I've already told you at least one story about boarding school, and it certainly isn't the only one of the sort. I had a lonely few years dealing with some pretty mean teenagers. I suppose I got my revenge, in a way, by being able to metaphorically shove my novels in the faces of everyone who told me I'd never amount to anything.

I just don't understand why people are so horrible to one another. Is it really worth it to kiss someone else's boyfriend in front of a whole bunch of people or have decades long feuds over pizza or stick a body in someone's oven?

But I digress.

What I really want to say is thank you for helping me out today. It's always hard to see your kid hurting and not want to step in and take care of it yourself... you know, by punching the offender or something of the sort (though I have a feeling neither you nor Alexis would have approved of that course of action). Had it not been for you, I probably would have stepped in and ended up making things worse. It was good to receive advice from a female's perspective... especially one who seems to have been quite the wild party girl back in the day.

(By the way, you can kiss-ambush me any time.)

In all seriousness though, thank you. I really appreciate that you care enough to help me out. It means a lot, Kate. Truly.

Love,

Rick

"I didn't... it's not a big deal, Rick," Kate assured him softly. "I just what partners do, right? Help each other out."

He shrugged. "It is, on the job. But you had no obligation to help me with a personal issue. I mean, we weren't dating or anything and you knew her, but not that well."

"Castle." She lifted a finger to his lips to silence him. "You can come to me for anything, remember? Absolutely anything."

Her eyes were stern, more of an intense green in the faint light, drilling their point across. His features relaxed, softened in understanding. He would do the same for her, after all.

"Partners," he affirmed.

Kate smiled, feathered her lips across his cheek. "Partners."

Thoughts?