Material Witness-Prologue: A Series of Linked Castle One-Shots
Title: Material Witness-Prologue
Spoilers: Set at the end of Secret Santa (5 x 09)
A/N: So this happens to be berkielynn's fault, primarily. It's KIND of Muppet47's fault, as the idea came from the epilogue to "Silent Night, Ferret Night," which was inspired by the "Waiting Game."
Astute readers will note that this prologue is, in fact, a very slightly modified version of the epilogue to "Silent Night, Ferret Night," so by all means skip ahead to Material Witness-Serious About the Pony if you just recently read that.
The diabolical berkielynn, in reviewing that epilogue, casually said, "Though now I find myself wondering what all these things are that he's bought for her over the years . . ."
So the idea is that this open-ended series will explore the contents of Castle's closet. The chapters will, hopefully, stand more or less on their own as (usually) episode-related one shots.
Kate smiled quietly and sipped her cooling cocoa as Castle traded jibes with Martha and Alexis. She nudged him with her knee and nodded to his daughter, whose eyelids were drooping. Castle nodded back and smoothed a palm over her calf.
He reached his other hand out to tug on a lock of red hair. "Tired, pumpkin?"
"Mmm." Alexis shifted to rest her head on his shoulder. "Yeah, but Kate has to . . . " Her mouth dropped open in an O and she blushed to the roots of her hair.
"Oh, I . . ." Kate stammered.
Castle wrapped an arm around each of them and squeezed. "Right. Kate definitely has to."
He pushed up from the couch and retrieved a plain white box, a little wider than his palm and several inches high, intricately wrapped with a silver ribbon.
Kate took the box and looked up at him with narrowed eyes. "What happened to 'I didn't get you anything'?"
Castle just shrugged and tapped the box.
She alternated between tugging at the knots and shooting him suspicious looks. She was annoyed. And pleased. He was pretty sure about that. And annoyed at being pleased. She was altogether delicious. Castle made quick revisions to Operation Snatch and Barricade. Most of her consonants were back and he had high hopes for a speedy tongue recovery.
The thought did away with the last of his patience. Castle grabbed the box from her and pulled hard enough to snap the ribbon. He dropped it back in her palm with an innocent look and accepted a well-deserved jab from her and a scandalized "Dad!" from Alexis.
Kate eased the lid off and peered inside. It was . . . hideous. A tiny vinyl horse with a shock of magenta hair. Its tail was streaks of the same color mixed with deep purple. The left half of the horse was also deep purple, peppered with threats in word balloons, lightning, and purple flames-a super villain. The right side was mostly neon green, the "costume" a simpler, cleaner design with a single comic book hero promise reading: "I'll save you!"
Kate's mouth opened and closed. "A . . . My Little Pony?"
"A collector's My Little Pony," Castle corrected. "I told you I was serious about the pony."
Alexis leaned in curiously. "I thought I was getting a pony," she pouted.
"Don't be greedy, Monster Feet." Castle kissed her cheek.
He turned back to Kate and blinked. Something about the way she was looking at him made his heart pound. He wasn't sure if it was in a good way or not.
"Kate?"
She made him wait. One beat, then two. He didn't know which way that was edging him.
"Thank you, Castle." She slid her fingers behind his neck and pressed her lips to his cheek. "Thank you."
"You're . . . welcome?" Castle's voice climbed without his permission.
Kate's smile took a decided turn for the satisfied.
"You didn't get me anything."
Castle jumped and whirled around. He hadn't heard the bathroom door open and he would have sworn she hadn't cast a reflection in the mirror.
"Kate! It might be a while before it's a good idea to sneak up on me. Still having ferret issues. And Esposito issues," he added, wincing at the dark streaks creeping into the bruise on her jaw.
"You didn't get me anything," she repeated.
"But I did," he said nervously. He gestured into the low light of the bedroom. "Pony!"
She eased herself up on to the counter, her long, bare legs dangling from under the hem of one of his t-shirts. She suddenly seemed to find the floor fascinating. "How long have you had it?"
He thought about playing dumb. He thought about hedging. But even without the glögg disadvantage, what would be the point? She'd break him. She'd always break him.
"Three-ish years?" It wasn't quite a smile, though it was trying to be. His heart was still pounding and the jury was still out on whether that was good or bad.
"And it . . ." She nodded her head like she'd just decided something. She had. She'd decided to fix him with the world's most piercing stare. "It was for me. You got it for me."
"I got it for you. It's from Comicon. You were still so . . . . you were mad at me. And I missed you. And I didn't know how to make . . ." He ground his teeth. "I didn't want to admit that it was my fault or do the work to make it right. Or accept that maybe I could never make it right. So . . . pony."
"But you never gave it to me."
"I never gave it to you," he repeated faintly. He reached out and hooked his pinky around hers. "Kate . . . I have . . . half a closet full of things I never gave you. A couple of drawers. I think maybe one of the storage lockers downstairs. Full of things I never gave you."
"Why?" She was not letting up on the piercing stare. The needle on the heart-pounding gauge swung wildly back and forth.
"I have . . . more storage space than a metrosexual, a teenager, and an actress could possibly need?" He tried out a lopsided grin, half-bracing for a jab.
"Castle . . ." Her eyes dropped again and the needle lurched into "bad" territory.
"Kate, they're not . . . most of them are silly. And small things, mostly. Some are from when I hurt you. Or I wanted to help and I couldn't." He stepped closer and let go of her pinky to slide his hand up to her shoulder. "But most of them are just things I thought you'd like or things I wanted to know if you'd like. So I bought them, because I could, and because I like to. And because I hoped."
"Hoped?" She turned her head to kiss the heel of his hand.
"I hoped there'd be a right time to give them to you. And now there is." He leaned his forehead against hers.
"Now there is," she breathed and touched her lips to his. "But you still didn't get me anything for Christmas."
Castle froze.
Oh, nefarious, Beckett, he thought. Nefarious.
He laughed and tugged at her hands, pulling her down from the counter and backwards into the bedroom. She laughed, too, and came willingly. They stumbled together, a tangle of clumsy limbs and sloppy, careless kisses.
Castle's calves hit the edge of the bed and he let himself fall backwards, taking her with him. Kate yelped when he pushed at her shoulder and pulled at her waist and suddenly she was on her back and the kisses were a little less careless, a little less sloppy
"I still didn't get you anything for Christmas," Castle murmured against her ribs. He nipped at her skin, then pushed himself upright. He braced himself over her and gave her a wicked smile. "I didn't get you anything or Christmas, and you love me anyway."
Kate grinned. She wound her arms around his neck and pulled him to her. Another laughed filled his mouth, and then her words.
"I do, Castle. I do love you anyway."