Title: Relief
Rating: E
Fandom: Castle
Pairing: Castle/Beckett
Summary: The relief at seeing him there, on the floor of the bank’s vault, broke down every defence and she kissed him.
Notes: Martha doesn’t interrupt when Beckett finds them in the vault in 4.7 Cops & Robbers. 3496 words.
Beckett kisses him.
She can’t even deny that she didn’t know what she was doing because she knew exactly what had come over her in that moment. The relief at seeing him there, on the floor of the bank’s vault, broke down every defence and she kissed him.
“Here we go, ready?” she says, cutting the zip tie. Castle smiles at her, and she fingers his rumpled collar and, in that moment, instead of asking how he was, she forgets everything in the past, forgets who she is almost and only really remembers than he loves her.
She could’ve hugged him, hell, she could’ve given him a peck on the cheek but instead she’d gone full tilt into a kiss that he returned, leaning into her and making a soft noise of joy.
It’s only when he goes to cup her face in his hands that she remembers where they are, because his hands are zip-tied together and he pulls away frustrated by the hinderance.
he doesn’t say anything for the first time in what she suspects is ever. She looks at him for a moment longer and then turns to Martha and frees her hands too.
“Are you okay?” she asks the older woman.
“I’m okay, we’re okay,” she says eyes wide and a grin on her face. If Beckett didn’t know better, if she hadn’t just kissed Castle, she would’ve just assumed Martha was really happy to be alive (as she should be), but the look, plus the kiss, just had her blushing harder.
As they walk out of the vault and ask Peterson what happened, she feels Castle’s fingers brush against hers briefly before curling around them and squeezing quickly. He lets go just as quickly as he argues his point with Peterson. She urges him out of the bank, knowing Alexis is waiting, but he and Martha insist on helping the pregnant hostage Simone out of the bank. She spots Alexis and waves her over, and stands and watches as she sees her dad and hugs him. She understands, knows the relief she’s feeling because she feels it too. She felt it and wanted to hug him and gave into the relief and kissed him instead.
Alexis mouths thank you to her as she’s crushed between her father and her grandmother and Beckett smiles and heads over to Esposito and Ryan. She knows they need to talk, but not until the mystery of this not-a-bank-heist is solved.
—
Once it’s done, and they know Tanya and Conner are okay, she thinks she’s either ready to talk about it or brush it off entirely. Castle’s not given much indication either way since they left the bank together, apart from a few looks and a couple of touches that are actually kinda normal for him. Still, the relief, the relief is what she’s holding onto right now. Relief he’s alive, that he’s stuck around, stuck by her, despite her absence over the summer. Relief that he still wants her.
Still loves her.
“So…Old Haunt? I’ll buy you a drink,” she asks.
“No,” he says, and she panics for a second, thinking he’s going to ignore the kiss after all, and wondering why she’s not more relieved at the idea. “I’ll do you one better,” he says. “I know we need to talk, and we will but first, we need to celebrate. Mother is insistent.”
“Sounds great.”
“But we will talk,” he repeats. She nods, thinks about kissing him again, but doesn’t and follows him out of the precinct.
By time they’ve eaten dessert and she’s helped Castle clean up and both Martha and Alexis have gone to bed, she thinks she can handle talking about the kiss.
Except his response to it, is to kiss her again.
Much like before, one of them doesn’t see it coming but she melts into it, letting him press her back against the kitchen counter as she wraps her arms around him like she had wanted to before. He groans when she pulls him closer, fingers playing with his hair and he cups her cheek and presses deeper into her soul. She meets his tongue with a soft moan of her own, tasting wine and him and relief. Though, what relief tastes like is entirely in her head but in the moment, in that moment, it’s heaven.
When they finally break apart, he rests her forehead to hers, breathing hard, his body still pressed against hers in all the right places and she simply holds onto him and breathes him in.
“I thought we were going to talk about it,” she whispers and he laughs then, sweeping her up in another shorter but no less incredible kiss.
“We will.”
“When?”
“In the morning?” he suggests with that wicked glint in his eye that usually means trouble for her.
“I mean, I’m here right now,” she says, “seems silly to traipse all the way back here from my place,” she continues with a grin, sliding one leg up and around his hip to pull him even closer. He nuzzles at her neck, pressing his lips to her pulse point and she sighs.
“Maybe we could talk over at breakfast,” he says, pushing his hips into hers and slipping his arm around her waist.
“At Remys?” she asks, all fake innocence that has him laughing out loud.
“Stay,” he tells her, kissing her again. “How can I convince you to stay?”
She’s pretty much already convinced, the relief she felt in finding him in the vault, the love she feels for him and from him, spending the evening with his family. As part of his family. She doesn’t need much convincing. She’s not ready for everything she feels, she knows that, so many walls are still in place, higher than ever but she kisses him back anyway because she is ready for everything he feels.
“This isn’t ‘you were a hostage and could’ve died and need to feel alive sex‘ is it?” she asks, needing to be sure of how he feels, because despite the way he looks at her, the little touches, the moments when she can tell he cares, it’s been months since she was shot and confessed his love for her.
“Not at all,” he tells her. “You mean more to me than that, I-” he says, pausing. She tries to kiss the confession out of him, but he doesn’t budge, doesn’t say any more, simply kisses her back, hard enough to make her groan and forget about feelings.
“Tell me,” she breathes. “Tell me what you said to me when I was shot.”
He looks at her, still, face unreadable and she wonders if she actually did imagine it after all. Then he hugs her, wraps his arms around her and holds her tight for a long moment.
“I love you Kate,” he says. “Stay,” he adds, kissing the top of her head, her forehead, her nose, her lips, dotting kisses down her neck. He flicks open a button on her shirt and drops a kiss to her chest; she pulls him back up to kiss him
“I’ll stay,” she breathes into his ear, nipping it and leaning back against the counter. “Seeing as you asked so nicely.”
He steps back from her, taking her hand and leading her through his office to his bedroom. Once the door is closed, he kisses her again, hands going back to her shirt to open the rest of the buttons as he backs her up towards the bed. When her legs hit the bed, she stumbles, dropping down on the mattress with a giggle and he follows, dropping to his knees in front of her.
The way he looks up her at, worshipful almost, takes her breath away.
“Castle.”
He smiles at her, kissing her knee, then pulling the stupidly high heels off her feet and discarding them behind him. She lets him, sits and watches as he runs his hands up her calves, over her legs and to her hips. She wants to move, lie back and pull him on top of her but she also wants to watch him worship her.
He flicks open her slacks, pulls them open and down; Beckett lifting her hips up to aid him. She shrugs off her open shirt as he pulls her legs free and adds the slacks to the pile behind him. Then he sits back on his heels and looks over her from head to toe. She flushes at the intensity, tries to urge him up so she can kiss him, distract him from his perusal but he remains on his knees. She pulls her to the very edge of the mattress, spreads her legs wider and then leans up to kiss between her breasts where the red pucker of skin that is her bullet hole sits. She gasps and he pulls back to look at her, check on her, before continuing a trail down her abdomen.
His fingers trail over the lace’s edges of her underwear, round to her hips before he tugs at them insistently. She shifts, gives him better access to pull them from her legs. She reaches behind her to unfasten her bra, and he reaches up to stop it from falling from her breasts so he can reveal them himself. It slides from her arms and he discards it like everything else, eyes travelling up and down again as he leans back to appreciate her.
And she certainly feels appreciated.
“Kate,” he moans, “beautiful,” he murmurs into the skin of her chest, kissing up this time, dotting a kiss to her neck, her chin, then her lips. “You’re beautiful,” he tells her and she flushes at the compliment, kisses him back, sliding her fingers into his soft hair. She groans when he pulls away again until he cups a breast in his hand, thumb brushing over her nipples. She moans softly at first, then cries out when she feels his lips around her other nipple, throwing her head back as she gives into the sensation of his mouth.
“Good?” he asks, still pressing his lips to her breasts.
“Uh huh.”
He smiles at her, then moves his lips back down, pressing a kiss at the top of her mons, waiting for something.
“This okay?” he asks, pressing his fingers into her thighs. She nods enthusiastically.
“Yes, very,” she breathes and then his lips are on her clit with no warning, tongue swirling around it, urging it out and she falls back to the bed, a hand pulling at his hair then pushing him down. He follows her lead, his tongue licking down her wet slit and she can feel him groan, the vibrations of it travelling through her.
He presses her tongue into her body, lapping at her, before moving back to her clit. She doesn’t even register his hand letting go of her thigh until his fingers are sliding through the wetness, and she’d be embarrassed by how wet she is already but my god she’s thought about this enough times that it doesn’t take much to bring her to the edge. He presses a finger into her, slowly, too slowly and she hitches her hips up to take it deeper.
“Castle,” she moans. “More.”
He does as she asks, demands, sliding a second finger into her body, sucking harder on her clit, digging his fingers a little deeper into her leg as she follows the movements, follows the pleasure he’s pulling from her body. He thrusts his fingers quickly into her and she tightens his hand in his hair, holding him in place as she climbs higher and higher.
Her orgasm hits with a wave of relief and she cries out something; maybe his name, maybe a swear word. The pleasure rushes through her, she goes tight and soft all at once, the world dimming to his mouth.
He doesn’t let up, keeps moving his fingers, keeps sucking at her clit, even as she pushes him away from her. He continues to lap up everything her body has to give and she whimpers as he does so, feels the way he loves her as he tastes her. He finally pulls his fingers free, and moves up to kiss her on the lips. She pulls him to lie on top of her, kissing him hard, tasting herself and he groans.
“God Kate, that was amazing,” he tells her, pulling back and standing up. “You are amazing.”
She looks at him, realising she’s had her eyes closed. She smiles at him, eyes raking over his body and down to the bulge in his trousers. She manages to get enough control of her body to sit up and start on the buttons of his shirt.
“That was amazing,” she agrees, smiling at him as she opens his shirt and pushes it off his shoulders and letting it fall to the floor. She runs his hands down his chest to his belt and tugs to pull him a little closer. She brushes her fingers over his erection to make him moan, delighting in the way he says her name.
She pulls open his belt, working on the button and fly of his trousers. He helps her push them down his legs, stepping out of them and pulling his socks off and kicking them away. She pushes his boxers down and wraps her hand around his cock before they’re even past his knees. Castle groans as she explores him, wobbling slightly on his feet. She lets go and moves back onto the bed. He’s still, eyes closed and breathing hard and she smiles.
“Rick,” she says and he looks at her and smiles back.
“I like that,” he tells her, moving to cover her body with his. He’s well built, more solid than she expected and she’s surprised to find she loves the feel of him on top of her, surrounding her.
“Like what?” she asks, spreading her legs to accommodate him, feeling him push his hips into hers and his cock slide along her wet centre.
“You calling me Rick,” he says. “I like it.”
She smiles at that, because she likes saying it but she knows she’ll end up calling him Castle all the time anyway, but calling him Rick does feel more intimate. The same as hearing him call her Kate. He kisses her and she manages to roll them over with a grin, before sitting astride him.
“Do you always have to drive?” he asks, his hands settling on her hips.
“Not always,” she says, fingers stroking over his chest.
“But most of the time?” he says and she laughs.
“No, only some of the time, I promise,” she tells him, reaching between them and grabbing his erection. He fumbles in the drawer by his bed, pulling out a box and handing it to her, groaning and thrusting his hips up towards her as he does so. She lets go and shifts forward a little, so that she can feel the length of him along her slit, covering him and he jerks into the warmth. She watches him carefully as she pulls out a condom, then spots the date.
“Rick, these are out of date,” she tells him, moving her hips minutely against him.
“Oh, really,” he says, haphazardly reaching for the box with one hand, his other on her hip, following her movements. “I might have another box.”
“Dry spell?” she asks, trying to keep it light. “Or just too busy solving murders with me.”
He smiles at her, reaching over to feel for another box. He pulls a smaller one out, checks the dates and hands it to her, all the while moving his hips to slide his cock against her.
“Too busy being in love with you,” he tells her and it’s like he knows exactly how to dig his way into her, biding him time, chipping away at the exterior of Kate Beckett so he can completely ruin her for anyone else. Forgoing the box, she leans down to kiss him hard and doesn’t even resist when he rolls than back over and settles on top of her, lips still meeting the entire time and she can tell he’s smiling as he kisses her.
“I lo-,” she starts when he pulls away to look down at her, before interrupting her with another kiss.
“You don’t have to say it, if you’re not ready,” he says, kissing her again and it heals her every time he does.
“I want to,” she says, cupping his cheek and smiling. “I love you. Whether I’m ready or not doesn’t change it.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
They stare at each other for moment before kissing again, the urgency back, and he fumbles around for the condoms and manages to grab one. Distracted as he is, she flips them again and sits up grinning down at him and takes the package, tears it open and slides it down his cock.
“You sure don’t always need to drive?” he asks and she laughs.
“Just trying to set the tone for the relationship.”
Any reply he has is lost as she sinks down onto him.
“Oh fuck,” he groans, grabbing her hips and holding her in place. He’s big, bigger than she’s had for a while and she takes the moment to adjust, to feel him deep inside her. She spreads her legs a little more, taking him a little deeper.
“Kate,” he breathes out and he she leans forward and rests her hands on his chest, stealing a quick kiss before she does so.
When she starts to move the relief floods through her. Relief that he’s there, alive, loves her. Relief that she is able to love him, say the words, feel it. With his hands on her hips guiding her they start up a quick rhythm of thrusts, meeting each other perfectly and she’s already on a knife-edge but wants more, wants this to last as long as they can take.
They’re not quiet as they move, each push of his cock into her body has her making little ‘uh‘ noises she has no control over. He moans every time he pulls out of her, the drag over her body around his is divine she thinks.
“Really, really,” he mumbles and she hiccups out a laugh. “Good,” he manages to add and she giggles.
“Yeah,” she agrees on an exhale, and starts to move a little faster on top of him, hips undulating on his. He grips her hips tighter and starts to thrust up harder and oh god he’s been holding back, she realises. He could fuck her into oblivion and she would love every second of it.
With him holding her, she reaches up to play with her nipples, pulling and pinching, her other hand sliding down to where they’re joined. She watches his eyes go a little wide as she does so, running her index finger back and forth over her clit, gasping at the sensation. She teeters on the edge of something and feels him pick up the pace beneath her.
“Close?” he grunts and she nods with a moan.
“Don’t stop.”
“Nuh-huh,” he agrees and she feels another hiccup of laughter bubbling up in her but it’s lost on another moan as he shifts slightly, digs his fingers in even harder, oh god, and she meets his frantic thrusts with her own body. Her fingers are rough and uncoordinated on her clit and she’s simply holding onto her left breast but it’s enough, it’s all enough because he is enough.
She yells Rick as she comes, hard, body tensing above him for a long moment before she breaks and the pleasure rushes over her, through her and into him and she’s half aware of him crying out Kate as she shakes.
“Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god,” she repeats it over and over, body clenching and pulsing and he rears up to kiss her as he comes, messy and wet and perfect.
He collapses back on the bed and she follows, falling on top of him. She feels him shift one arm, slipping it beneath her exhausted body to pull off the condom and she complains when he reaches over to drop it in the bin by his bed.
He relaxes and so does she, sliding to the side of him and wrapping herself around him once more.
“Hey, you okay?” He asks, cupping a cheek and running a thumb beneath her eye. “You’re crying, or you cried.”
“I’m okay, really, really okay.”
She kisses him once more and then closes her eyes. She’s already half asleep when she feels Castle move to pull a quilt over them.
“We still need to talk,” she mumbles.
“What else is there left to say?” he asks. “I love you. Everything else we’ll figure out.”
“Love you too,” she manages to get out fairly coherently she thinks before she falls asleep.