FIC: Sophia
Title: Sophia
Word Count: 2293
Spoilers: Canon
Rating: M/NC 17 (heterosexual and lesbian sex strongly implied, so skip it if that's not your thing, or if your mom would think you're too young to read explicit scenes)
Summary: Sophia and Kate get acquainted
Characters/Pairings: Castle, Esposito, Ryan, Beckett/Turner
Disclaimer: Not my characters but, then again, I'm not making any money off them
Notes: Not beta read, so please forgive any errors. Not sure what it says about this season's version of Caskett that one appearance by Jennifer Beals stirs me from my apathy. Oh yeah, and I wrote this the day after “Pandora”, so have no clue whether they'll all be friends after the case. I admit it: I make sh!t up. :)
They were in the Old Haunt. It was late and everything was getting a bit blurry around the edges for Detective Kate Beckett. The bar’s only occupants were the owner and his friends, including Beckett who had long given up any attempt to dislike Sophia Turner for having been Castle’s original muse. For having been more than Castle’s original muse.
The Scotch was helping: Dalwhinnie. Smooth and peaty, curling warmly in her belly and undermining any lingering wish to resist the appeal of Sophia’s wry humor or her laughing brown eyes. The way she’d dropped the attitude as soon as the case had been solved, made Beckett wonder whether it had been a ruse intended to get the detective’s competitive juices flowing and make her work harder as a pawn of the CIA.
“I thought you guys weren’t allowed to tell anyone that you worked for the CIA,” Esposito challenged, his frown resulting more from a concerted effort to focus his eyes, than any real disapproval.
“Believe me, I tried,” Sophia replied with a grin, “but Rick is nothing if not persistent and it got to the point where letting him dig around indiscriminately was more dangerous than just getting authorization to confirm his suspicions.”
“I can believe that,” Beckett muttered.
“And he’s been sub… sobs… obsessed with the CIA ever since,” Ryan slurred.
“Obsessed is such a strong word,” Castle objected. “I think of it more as having had my consciousness raised, so that I see the lingering remnants of their fingerprints in the aftermath of their operations.
Esposito smirked and directed a look at Sophia that might have been a leer if he hadn’t had to concentrate so hard to avoid some slurring of his own. “Or maybe it wasn’t the CIA, so much as the CIA officer,” he corrected in a stage whisper.
“Ok, that’s enough, you, two,” Castle said, looking pointedly at Ryan and Esposito from his position behind the bar. “I called for a car to get you home safely and there’s one more coming that you ladies can share.”
“What about you?” Beckett asked.
“I’m gonna catch a cab, but there’s some paperwork I’ve been putting off since this case started, so I need about half an hour in the office before I can leave. It’s the reason I haven’t been indulging quite as much as some other people.”
“And here I was thinking that you’d turned into one of the grownups,” Sophia teased with a wide smile. Kate felt a twinge of something unpleasant in her chest, but it wasn’t jealousy of what Rick and Sophia had been to one another, it was envy that Sophia could so blatantly show her affection for the man who now dominated the detective’s thoughts.
Castle looked scandalized. “What fun would that be?”
Esposito and Ryan said their good-nights and walked unsteadily to the door. Castle smiled fondly after them and then turned to the two women. “One for the road?” he asked.
Sophia slid her glass across the bar. “Hit me,” she said, dark eyes holding his gaze.
Beckett squirmed. There had been nothing overtly sexual in the brief exchange, but she'd felt like a voyeur.
Castle flashed a crooked smile and poured Scotch into both women’s glasses, after noticing that Beckett’s was also empty. The smile made Kate feel gooey inside and she turned to look at the woman who had inspired it. She could see why Castle found Sophia attractive. It wasn’t just the quick wit or the affectionate smiles. It was the way her soft curls brushed against the smooth skin of her cheek, the way her eyes seemed to smile before the mirth was betrayed by an upward quirk of full lips… Wait. What?
“’Scuse me while I text Alexis to let her know that I’ll be late,” Castle said, oblivious to any undertones in the conversation. “I forgot to do it earlier.” He turned and pulled his phone out of his pocket.
Sophia seemed completely relaxed, despite Kate’s scrutiny. “Have you noticed that he has a type?” she asked, in a voice pitched too low for Castle to hear as his attention remained on his phone, probably catching up on the evening’s messages.
Kate frowned, trying to find some common physical characteristics between Kyra, Meredith, Gina and Sophia. Not to mention the flings that she knew about.
“Kyra, me, you. The women who threw him off his game. The rest of them… they were his game.”
Hiding her surprise that Sophia even knew about Kyra, she objected. “Kyra was his lover, you were his lover, I’m just his partner.”
“And his muse.”
Beckett shrugged and took a gulp that did a disservice to the quality of the Scotch. “Kyra aside, how are the two of us even a ‘type’?”
“Tall, dark hair, driven, challenging to him… intellectually.” The last word was drawled, as that small, maddening smile caused the telltale twitch of her lips.
Then her eyes flickered briefly over Kate’s body, so briefly that Kate immediately decided that she’d imagined it. “And we both know what we want.” The words were softly articulated, as though the woman who spoke them was savoring their texture on her tongue. This time there was no doubt that her dark eyes lingered on Kate’s mouth as she spoke.
“I’d better hit the ladies’ room before the car gets here,” Sophia added in a casual tone before slipping off the bar stool and heading towards the back of the room.
Kate let out a shaky breath that she didn’t know she’d been holding and wondered at the fine trembling of her hand as she reached once again for her glass. She told herself that it was an unhappy coincidence that she also needed to use the ladies’ room. Well, technically, she didn't need to go just then, but she'd been drinking and it was better to be safe than sorry before starting the journey home. She was sure that she believed the story as she told it to herself.
She waved to Castle and gestured towards the toilets, getting a quick smile of acknowledgement before he put his phone to his ear to listen to his voicemail.
+++++
The stall at the far end of the ladies room was occupied when Beckett entered the closest one, decided it was stupid to try to force herself to pee, flushed anyway to cover up her stupidity, and then went to wash her hands.
As she watched the bubbles swirling down the drain and the warm water continued to cascade over hands that had long been rinsed clean, she wondered what she was doing there.
I’m just curious, she silently excused. She slept with him; she knows what it’s like to be with him that way…
“I understand what he sees in you.”
She stiffened as the same thought she'd had earlier in the bar echoed back to her in a voice that was laced with fascination. She could feel Sophia watching her. She raised her eyes to the mirror and met the dark brown gaze of the CIA officer. She couldn’t explain the flush that stole up her neck, increasing in intensity at the knowing, almost mocking way Sophia’s eyes seemed to be drawn to it.
Kate stepped back from the sink just as Sophia walked up to it, ignoring the other two perfectly serviceable sinks in the recently renovated washroom. Kate inhaled sharply and fumbled for the neatly stacked paper towels on the shelf above the sink. She was determined to stand her ground; women had flirted with her before and she refused to back away from Castle’s ex-girlfriend like some unnerved virgin.
Sophia washed her hands and calmly turned to face Kate. She didn’t say anything, merely holding the detective’s gaze, as though making note of the wide, startled eyes and the warm blush that softly suffused her skin. She took the crumpled towel from Kate’s nerveless fingers and tossed it, along with her own, into the wastebasket.
“Wh-what?” Kate asked. Hating herself for the stutter.
“You. You're confident and assertive, but very sensitive… very responsive. You probably like to be on top the first time.”
Kate’s lips parted and she inhaled a shaky breath. She caught a whisper of the fragrance of Sophia's perfume, or maybe it was her shampoo. Beckett's eyes drifted closed as she was assailed by a sudden, indelible image in her mind of Sophia and Castle. Castle on his back and Sophia straddling him, cafe-au-lait skin covered in a sheen of sweat and triceps tensed as she pushed him back down, defying his attempts to strain up to meet her as her hips thrust against his; dusky nipples beaded and hair in soft disarray.
Kate opened her eyes and looked straight into Sophia's. She'd been expecting to see more amusement, even mockery; instead the CIA officer was staring at her with unconcealed want. Her eyes were hot and her expression almost hungry.
“I don't...” Kate's voice trailed off as she forgot what it was she didn't do. Feel sexually attracted to other women? Want to know what Sophia knew about Castle's taste in women and what turned him on? Feel the same heat between them that she could see registered on Sophia's face? Every possible way she could think of to complete the sentence was belied by the warmth pooling low in her belly and the heaviness she felt in her breasts. As though to confirm that, Sophia's gaze traveled over the pulse beating wildly in the detective’s throat and then moved to the clear outline of her nipples against her sweater.
Kate fought back a gasp at the effect of that look. She didn't think she could have felt it more keenly if Sophia had physically touched her. “This is crazy,” she finally said, eliciting an unguarded and utterly disarming smile from Sophia.
“Chemistry is like that,” Sophia said in a tone that indicated agreement. Neither of them had moved and they were standing inches apart, with the water still running in the sink. Kate could feel the gentle brush of Sophia's breath against her own mouth and her lips parted to absorb it into herself.
The detective thought she may have dipped her head forward almost imperceptibly, but then a soft hand cupped her face, lifting her head so that their eyes met. Sophia would not allow her to hide from the moment. “Do you feel the chemistry, Kate?” Her voice was raspy and Beckett's only reply was a quiet moan before she leaned forward for her first taste of the woman who had been tying her in knots for all kinds of reasons from their very first encounter.
The knock on the door startled them and they pulled apart. They were breathing in soft gasps, Sophia's blouse was unbuttoned and hanging out of the waistband of her trousers and Kate's sweater was bunched up over her breasts. Sophia didn't immediately remove the hand that had been cupping Kate's breast and her thumb stroked firmly against Kate's distended nipple through the soft fabric of her bra, making the detective 's breath hitch and causing her hips to move in an involuntary, almost undetectable thrusting motion that made Sophia moan in response.
Castle's voice came through the closed door. “Ladies, your car is out front.”
“Be right there,” Sophia said in a voice that sounded almost normal. Kate was just grateful that she hadn't been required to reply.
They heard his retreating footsteps, even though they'd been too wrapped up in each other to hear his approach.
“You ok?” Sophia asked quietly, placing a tender kiss on Kate's temple.
Kate laughed. “Mm I think I will be, if I can get my legs to work. You?” She lifted her head to smile into Sophia's eyes and was rewarded by another flick of the thumb that made her gasp.
“Let's see... I'm making out with one of the most beautiful,” the thumb brushed more lightly against Kate and the detective found herself arching her back to achieve better contact, “responsive, soft,” she nuzzled Kate's ear and Kate wrapped her hand into Sophia's thick curls and then scraped her teeth against the sensitized skin of the CIA officer's neck, causing a reciprocal shudder, “strong, women that I have ever met.” She flattened her hands against Kate's back and pressed their bodies together. “Yeah, I think I'm ok.”
Kate brushed kisses along Sophia's jawline before capturing her mouth again in a deep, breath-stealing kiss. When it ended she whispered, “We should get going.”
“Think Rick knows what we're doing in here?” Sophia asked, and the question intensified Kate's arousal for reasons she didn't really want to examine.
“No,” she replied on a moan as her hands cupped Sophia's ass and pulled their hips more tightly together.
Sophia gave her an enigmatic smile and nodded. “Probably not.”
By silent agreement, they stepped apart and began to re-arrange their clothing.
“Come home with me,” Kate said suddenly, surprising them both.
Sophia searched her face for several silent seconds before nodding. “I'd like that,” she replied with a soft smile that made the detective bite her own lip and stare.
++++
Kate knew she was avoiding eye contact with Castle as she and Sophia grabbed their coats and bags and headed out to the waiting car, but she hoped he'd put it down to the alcohol.
He didn't say much, but as they said good-night and Sophia preceded her out of the bar, he called out softly, “Kate?”
She stopped and then turned to him expectantly, staring at a spot on his forehead in an attempt at nonchalance.
He waited until Sophia was out of earshot and then, leaning close enough that his lips brushed against the shell of her ear sending soft shudders down her spine, he said, “The tip of your tongue, lightly... against the underside of her clit. She won't last thirty seconds.”