64. Chapter 64

AU After When the Bough Breaks

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Yup. Here's some more Castle I don't own. Rating: M Time: In an alternate universe of When the Bough Breaks. I usually try to keep the After…series as close to canon as possible, but not now.

"Are you coming, Castle, or what?" Beckett said, then turned and walked out of the hotel. Castle hurried after her, trying to explain that following her around for another three Nikki Heat books was not his idea. Beckett was not buying any of it.

"Castle, you do this just to infuriate me. I know that. Now just get in the damned car and let's go."

Castle tried to talk to Beckett on the way to the crime scene, but was frozen out.

The case was solved by the time Beckett and Castle arrived at the scene. George Brenner had shot his long-time girlfriend in a fit of jealous rage and had chosen to do so in a neighborhood bar where they were both well known, in front of fifty witnesses. Although the crime had been solved, the detectives still needed to take witness statements from all of the many witnesses. Normally, Castle would have skipped this boring police drudgery, but he very badly wanted to talk to Beckett.

"Are you still here?" She asked coldly when they were done.

"I always dance with who brung me."

"Really? Quoting Bear Bryant?" She shot back.

"So, could I get a ride home?" He asked as politely as he could.

She looked at him long and hard, then nodded imperceptibly.

"Thanks." He said with a smile, leaving with her and getting into the passenger side of her Crown Vic. She pulled out into traffic, still not looking at Castle or saying a word. "You're mad at me."

"There you go again, Castle. Leaping to unfounded conclusions." She said sharply.

"You're not mad at me?" He asked, puzzled.

"Of course I'm mad at you! How dense are you?"

"Pretty dense, I guess. Will you at least tell me what I did wrong this time?"

"What you did? You want me to tell you what you did? Is that what you want, Castle? Is that it?"

Castle nodded. This was not going as well as he had hoped.

"Do you know what you did? You did nothing! Absolutely nothing. Not one god damned thing. Okay?"

Castle considered her answer. He still didn't understand what he had done. "What do you mean, nothing? What kind of an answer is that? I need a better answer that that if I'm…"

"That's it!" Beckett yelled. She swerved, slammed on the brakes and pulled to the curb. "Get out of the car, Castle. I've had all of you that I can take for one day. Out! Out!"

Castle got out of the car, but Beckett sat there in her car, staring straight ahead. Castle waited for a few seconds, then began to walk. He walked to the end of the block, then turned and was lost in the night. Beckett waited for him to come back, but after five minutes, he hadn't come back. "Damn that man! I can tell him a thousand times to do something and he ignores me. This one time he decides to do what I told him to do."

She pulled out into traffic and turned the corner. She drove several blocks but didn't see Castle. He took a cab. She thought to herself. She headed for Castle's loft, using her lights and siren to get through traffic. She pulled up just behind a cab that Castle was getting out of. She rolled down her driver's side window. "Castle! Get in the car."

Castle turned and looked at her. "Why? So I can not do something else to get you mad at me? No thanks!"

"Castle, get in the damned car!" She yelled at him.

As he turned to walk away, she jumped out of the car and ran after him. She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him towards her car.

"Mr. Castle? Are you in trouble?" Eduardo, the doorman called. "Do you want me to call 911?"

Kate whipped out her badge and showed it to Eduardo. "This is police business."

Castle smiled at his doorman. "No problem, I get hauled off by the cops all the time."

Kate pushed him into the passenger seat. Then she noticed that Eduardo was standing right there, where he could see and hear everything. She started the car and drove down the street until she found a nice pool of darkness where a street light was out. She parked.

"Do you want to know what you did?" She said angrily.

Castle nodded.

"I read your damned book. In fact I read it twice. As far as I'm concerned, it's the best thing you ever wrote. Bur did you want to write more? No, you wanted to write about some damned spy whose original creator has been dead for fifty years."

"But I did agree to write three more…" he began.

"Because there was more damned money in it. That's the only reason you chose to write more of Nikki Heat. And you didn't even ask me how I'd feel about still having you around. You never did. Paula, your agent, called the mayor about that. You couldn't have cared less about me. You spent this whole damned day telling me that you staying with me wasn't your fault. You had nothing to do with it."

"Beckett. I thought you'd be…"

Kate ignored him and kept on talking. "I thought you liked being my partner and solving murders with me. I thought we were…friends. I thought you liked me, even if just a little bit. But you don't. You don't care about me at all."

Tears started to stream down Kate's face, which made her angrier, and the anger caused her to cry more. As soon as he saw the tears, Castle pulled out a handkerchief and began gently wiping her tears away. "Don't cry, Kate. Please don't cry, Honey."

Kate's head snapped around to face Castle. "What did you just call me?"

"I just…All I meant…What I said…I had to…" Castle took a deep breath. "I called you Honey. I called you Honey, Kate."

"What does that mean?" She said, quietly.

"It's a term of endearment used to describe someone you care about deeply."

"You care about me?"

"Of course I do. I care about you a lot. More than you know." He stepped for a second and then added, "Obviously."

"You have a funny way of showing it."

"Kate, you are amazing, remarkable, fascinating and complex. You are also the most frustrating, difficult and maddening person I've ever met. From the first day I met you, I've had no idea where I stood with you. But, I do want to solve more murders with you. I want to write more Nikki Heat. And I want to be your friend. I want to be whatever you'll let me be. Because I do care for you a lot. I really don't know where we're going, but I want to find out more than anything. "

Castle pulled Kate into a hug. She allowed herself to snuggle against him. "I'm sorry." She whispered. "Ever since my mom died, I've had this wall inside to keep people out. I don't know how, but you've gone through it like it wasn't even there. I'm so sorry, Castle, for the way I've been."

She looked up at him, their faces only inches apart. They never were able to decide who initiated their first kiss, but they did kiss. Hesitantly at first, but then more passionately. They opened their mouths and allowed each other's tongues access. Both Kate and Rick felt the first signs of arousal.

Kate broke the kiss and took Castle's hand. She put it under her sweater. "Unhook my bra, Castle." She said softly.

He reached behind her and undid the bra, then he cupped her boob, tweaking her nipple between his thumb and forefinger. She reached for his belt and started to loosen it. She giggled. "I haven't made out in a car since I was a teenager."

"Wait a minute." He said, slipping his hand from under her sweater.

"Wait a minute! What the hell do you mean, wait a minute, Castle?" She said sharply. "Don't tell me to wait a minute! Not when…"

"Kate, Kate, Honey. I just think we should go to my loft. I want this to be perfect for us. I want it to be perfect for you. Okay?"

She leaned against him. "Okay, but what is your doorman going to think?"

"Drive to the underground garage. He'll never see us. And hurry."

"Hurrying." She said, starting the car.

In minutes, they were at his front door.

"Alexis and Martha aren't here, are they?" She asked.

"No." He replied, putting his arms around her.

"You're sure? They didn't come home and you don't know about it?"

He put his arm around her waist and led her up the stairs. "I'll show you."

Kate wasn't surprised that Alexis' room looked like it had been staged for a magazine shoot, it was so neat and orderly. Martha's room looked like an explosion in a psychedelic clothing factory. "What's over there?" She asked Castle, pointing to another door.

"The guest bedroom."

She stared at him.

"It's just the guest bedroom. Are you afraid I have a back-up babe hidden away in there?" He said, opening the door fully.

"Castle! You do have someone in there!" She said accusingly, seeing a darkened form on the bed.

He quickly flipped the light on. "No, it's just Teddy." He said quickly.

Kate had to laugh when she saw that the large teddy bear lying on the bed. "Alexis keeps one of her teddy bears in the guest bedroom?"

Castle shook his head. "No, Teddy is mine. I met him at a toy store about a year and a half ago. He asked me to take him home. I speak fluent Teddy Bear, you know."

Kate leaned up and kissed him softly. "I'm sure you do. But is Teddy going to join us?"

Castle shook his head vigorously. "Teddy is a very polite teddy bear. He wouldn't dream of intruding."

"Then show me your bedroom." She whispered, lust thickening her voice.

They entered his bedroom and she stood by the bed, then turned to face him. "Undress me, Castle."

He removed her leather jacket and began to lay it carefully over the back of a chair. She grabbed the jacket and threw in on the floor. "Neatness does not count right now."

Her took off her sweater and then slid her still unfastened bra off. They both went on the floor.

"You are so beautiful." He said, gently stroking her boobs.

She pushed his hands away and sat on the bed. "The rest of my clothes. Hurry."

"Hurrying." He knelt to remove her shoes, then he undid her slacks and slid his hands under both the slacks and her panties. She lifted her butt up and he slid them both off, leaving her with just knee-high hose on. He quickly slid those off as well.

"A little help, Beckett?" He said, unbuttoning his shirt while kicking off his shoes. She went quickly to work on his belt, then pulled his pants and boxers down with one quick move. He lifted one leg and then the next, getting rid of his socks.

She reached out and took his erection in her hand. "There's a lot more to you than meets the eye." She said with a smile. Before he could reply, she pulled him gently onto the bed. He began to kiss her boobs, moving from one to the next.

"No!" She said. "It's been so long, Castle. I want you now. I want you inside of me this instant." She pulled him toward her.

"Honey, are you sure you're ready?" He was answered when he slid easily into her. "You're wet. You're very wet." He pushed all the way into her.

"I told you it'd been a long time. Too long." She put her arms around him and then wrapped her long legs around him. "Castle! I'm almost there just from having you inside me. Fuck me hard! As hard as you can."

Castle obliged by pushing into and out of his beautiful lover as fast as he could. To his surprise, she was orgasming in only a minute or so. "Yes! Yes, Castle. Oh, it's so fucking good. You're so fucking good! Thank you. Oh God!"

Castle continued to make love to her and came inside of her soon after.

He rolled off of her and pulled her close. She was breathing heavily, then she kissed him. "That was so good."

She snuggled against him as he ran his finger around the perimeter of her boobs, then cupped her perfect ass and finally ran his hand down to stroke the curly hair between her thighs. "Kate, I don't know where we're going, but I want us to be a couple, okay? You and me, not just solving murders, but together. You're an amazing person and you mean the world to me."

She nodded. "NYPD regs don't allow colleagues to date, but I don't think that'll be a problem. You don't work for the NYPD. And I'm sure Captain Montgomery will approve. But there could be some problems."

"Problems? How?"

"Other precinct captains are jealous of the 12th having you with us."

"Why?" He couldn't understand why anyone would be upset.

"For instance, you got yourself into a poker game in Chinatown and used $20,000 of your own money to play. No other precinct could have gotten anyone into that game and as far as the City of New York coming up with $20,000…Well, forget it. There are people out there who are jealous."

"Okay, so we'll keep it quiet. No problem. Is there anything else we should do?"

She reached between his legs and began stroking him. "Why, now that you mention it, there is."

Author's note: This is from a different alternate universe that the previous AU After Flowers for your Grave. Rick and Kate have not slept with each other previously in thus AU.