First 'Castle' fic
Title: Peach, plum, pear
Characters/Pairings: Beckett/Castle
Word Count: 606
Rating: pg
Warnings: none
Spoiler alert: none
Summary: Later, she would try to convince herself that it was his job to remember stupid things about her, and that it wasn’t anything significant. But for that moment, she let herself believe there was a valid reason her heart had seemed to skip a beat or two.
Author's Notes: It took me an hour or two to get this right, and that was at 3/4 in the morning, when I should have been asleep. It's my first time writing for Castle, so it's more than likely that i've got the characters totally wrong, but here it goes, anyway. I just hope it makes sense, tbh. Inspired by the fact KB apparently smells like cherries<3
Peach, plum, pear.
She’d smiled and thanked him sincerely, when, on the way back to precinct this morning; Castle had randomly stopped at a grocer’s and bought her a box of cherries.
Unknown to castle, however, was the fact Kate Beckett had smiled for more than one reason. In recognition of the sweet gesture, of course. But also the fact it meant he remembered simple things about her, like her preference for cherries.
Later, she would try to convince herself that it was his job to remember stupid things about her, and that it wasn’t anything significant. But for that moment, she let herself believe there was a valid reason her heart had seemed to skip a beat or two.
After a few hours of paper work and treating herself to occasional handfuls of the sweet red fruit on her desk, Castle sat down opposite her in the seat that was now unofficially claimed by him. A very common occurrence, though today Kate noticed something different.
Castle was silent. She couldn’t remember the last time he was this quiet with her. They had an easy, playful banter. A flirtatious banter she had grown to expect, and enjoy. Today it had been replaced by something more serious.
“You OK?” She asked brightly, trying to lighten the mood.
“Huh?” He snapped his head up to look at her. “Oh, yeah.” He dismissed the question with a wave of his hand. “Just thinking.”
“A dangerous pass time.” She smiled. Castle knew this was a silent invitation to confide in her, if he wanted. He may normally have declined, but buying the cherries that morning had set a plan of his own design into motion, and he couldn’t back out now, no matter how scared he happened to be.
Instead of replying directly, he picked up a cherry stalk with two of the berries still attached to it. He twirled it slowly in his fingers.
“Have you ever noticed how they look like hearts?”
He saw Beckett shake her head.
“To me they do. Like two hearts attached to each other.” He said quietly.
Beckett sounded almost sad when she replied; “but they can break apart.”
Castle looked her in the eye and shrugged. “Not if you don’t want them to.”
The light conversation she had tried to start had taken a different turn very quickly. It was painfully obvious that they weren’t talking about fruit anymore. That was just a stupid metaphor, for two people who couldn’t find the right words for what they wanted to say. Surprising, considering that one of them was a writer. Both of them supposed that was some kind of testament to how nervous and tongue tied she actually made him.
Castle placed the cherries in the middle of the table.
“You can pull the cherries - the hearts - apart Kate, bury them, but it won’t work. It’ll just grow and grow.”
She shook her head. “Castle, I don’t know if I can do this right now. I don’t even know what this is exactly. I can’t...”
He smiled softly. “You can.”
He plucked a cherry of the stalk and held it out to her. Slowly... very slowly, she did the same and they tentatively exchanged them.
She knew what it was, what it meant. It meant that each had taken the others heart, slowly and silently.
Castle and Beckett smiled widely at each other as she reached over and held his hand, with a renewed sense of bravery. He gave hers a squeeze to reassure her that this was right. She squeezed his hand in agreement.
After that, he bought her cherries everyday.