Close Encounters 13: Quantum of Solace

for Cartographical

let it be another year of spy

Kate Beckett/Castle/Rodgers - whatever she called herself on any given day - pressed her cheek to her husband's shoulder and closed her eyes in the bright flicker of the fireplace. Sasha yawned at her feet and settled in, her body heavy against Kate's shins. Castle stroked his fingers over her arm and up to her neck, brushing aside her hair.

"Fire's going down," he said into the room. "Want me to go get more wood?"

Everyone groaned at his lame joke; Esposito threw a pillow at him and it bounced off his chest and landed on top of Sasha. Kate sat up straight to get out of the line of fire and yanked the pillow of the dog, thwacked Castle in the stomach with it as he laughed.

The little cabin was crowded with their friends - their family - but they were all booing him for it.

"What?" he said. "Too soon?"

"You ass," she muttered, elbowing his ribs. He grunted and hunched over, and she knew he was faking, that the insertion point for the chest tube was long healed, but she couldn't help pressing her fingers to the place.

"Kidding," he whispered, kissing the side of her face quickly.

"Don't kid about your life," she murmured, kissing back anyway. He was still grinning, and she pushed a smile to her face to ease his mind. "You think you're so funny."

"It's a recent talent I've acquired," he said, looking demure. He even fluttered his lashes and she had to laugh, caught her father chuckling at them past the line of Castle's shoulder.

Her dad, even laughing at them, looked tired. Pushed a little past his limits, anti-social man that he was. Kate brushed off Castle's roving fingers and stood up reluctantly, stretching and nudging the dog off her feet. Carrie stood as well and called to Bo.

"We should get going. Long drive."

"Oh, but you could stay the night," Kate insisted. "It's dark out already. The extra bedroom-"

"Yeah, you shouldn't risk it," Esposito said kindly. Too kindly. Kate shot him a look and he gave her a lay off back.

Oh, really? Espo and Carrie?

Castle might have something to say about that.

He came to stand at her side just then, reached out to grip Carrie's elbow. "Carrie, please stay. Kate and I want you guys to celebrate with us."

"Celebrate not being dead?" she laughed, shaking her head.

"That and the new year," Castle chuckled. "All of us alive for the new year, aren't we?"

"I know. And I've had fun tonight. But you know me. I'm a homebody. I want my own bed."

Kate glanced to her father, saw the way his hands laid over his knees, the way he studied the group heading for the door. She loved their extended family, but she knew these past few days had been a little much for her father.

Carrie and her father were a lot alike, actually. If Carrie wanted to go, then... Kate nudged Castle to keep his mouth shut and he glanced back at her in surprise.

"Let me walk you to your truck," Esposito said. "In fact, I'm going that way. I can drive behind you for most of it, make sure you make it safely."

Esposito. Really? After that blow-up with Lanie, Kate had expected them to work it out eventually. And Carrie while wasn't really that much older, yeah, she knew better than to fall in love with another CIA agent.

Carrie was giving Javier the once-over, and Mitchell came to her rescue, clapping Espo on the back. "Javi, I think Carrie's used to it. She'll make it fine. Mark married a country girl."

Carrie laughed and patted Esposito's shoulder like she was consoling him for the loss. "He's right. I'll be fine. Thank you though. That was... oddly sweet."

"Uh-oh," Castle whispered in Kate's ear. "The last time you said that to me, we ended up having sex on the Ugly Couch."

She elbowed him away, ignoring the flash of lust contained in that memory, and stepped forward to give Carrie a huge hug, kissing her cheek as she squeezed. "Love you, Care. Be safe and don't let Bo try to sit in your lap."

Carrie squeezed back and chuckled. "That some kind of code?"

Kate laughed, a little breathless at the unexpected reference to Espo, and she shook her head. "No. Really, no. I just know that Bo likes hanging his head out the window - that's all."

"Sorry, Carrie. I apologize for my wife - Kate has a dirty mouth," Castle chuckled, shooting her an eyebrow-wriggling look.

Her father choked on something that sounded like laughter, and Kate's cheeks flamed. She shoved his shoulder but he was solid as a rock and barely moved. Kate turned back to Carrie, ignoring her suddenly so funny husband. "Have a good night."

"Night, you guys. Rick, stay away from the lake."

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered, but he hugged her as well, said good-bye. Esposito ended up escorting her outside, Mitchell tagging along like they were in some kind of competition, but Kate knew it was mostly friendly. And Carrie encouraged it in her unsubtle, smiling way.

With those three gone, her father's cabin seemed suddenly bigger, though a little more lonely. Jim stood and locked the door after their friends, reached down to pet Sasha. "I'm going to turn in. Lock up the kitchen door after you've taken out the dog?"

"Yeah, we will, Dad," Kate answered.

Her father disappeared into the back bedroom and Kate turned to her husband, drew her arms around him. He was smiling at her, his eyes reflecting the light from the fire, a flame blue.

"Hey, there, super spy," she murmured. "Dirty mouth, huh?"

"A dirty, dirty mouth that I absolutely - thoroughly - enjoy." His smile grew wider and he dipped his head to kiss her. Contrary to his words, the kiss was sweet at first, soft, like he expected someone to interrupt them just as they'd been interrupted all weekend. She pressed her fingers into the corded muscles at his back, felt the power in him.

Ever since she'd used up practically all the regimen to save his life, every touch was like this. Starkly powerful. Electric. She'd forgotten what it felt like to be consumed by him, so long had it been since he'd been truly at peak performance.

Oh, this was... definitely peak performance.

His mouth opened and sought hers; she gave in and stroked her tongue across his, let him play. His hands pressed into her hips, slid to her ass and hauled her closer. She groaned at the feel of him, the wide press of his body around hers, against hers, the way he filled her up just with the work of a kiss.

Had she been so bad off after Russia that she'd forgotten what a healthy Rick Castle was capable of doing to her? Was their every encounter so overwhelming to her PTSD-self that she'd been duped into thinking he was everything he should have been?

No, this - this was her super spy.

He broke from her mouth with a groan and pressed his forehead to hers, cradling her face in his hands. "Come outside with me."

"Are you kidding me?" she groaned.

"I want to walk down to the lake."

"You are not funny." She gripped his shirt and pulled herself closer. "I don't know what that regimen does to you - makes you think you're so funny-"

"Not a joke," he whispered, trailing his mouth down her throat and making her groan. She had to keep it under control; her father was just down the hallway.

She swallowed hard and rubbed her cheek against his for the feel of his scruff at her skin. "Why? Why the lake?"

"I want to hold your hand in the moonlight and breathe in the stars."

"You are so melodramatic," she complained, but when she opened her eyes, he was gorgeous. So achingly beautiful. And alive. How could she say no?

"We'll take Sasha outside with us," he gave her.

"Fine. But you better be planning on feeling me up out there or else this so isn't worth it," she muttered.

"Ever practical," he smiled.

She narrowed her eyes at him but she let him push her towards the kitchen door and the stars outside.

Rick held her hand and tugged her along after him, squeezing to keep the blood flowing in her fingertips. She complained of being cold with every step but when he got her down the gently sloping hill to the edge of the lake and they stood on the dock, her breath left her.

And he knew why - it was gorgeous. The stars were over-bright in the thin winter air and the sky was so black that every light was made all the more intense. The water lapped softly at the wood pylons of the dock and reflected the vibrant beaming face of the moon like a pathway straight to the Milky Way.

Kate came up at his back and buried her cheek at his shoulder, tunneling into him, and he turned his head to look at her.

"It's beautiful," she sighed.

"Yeah," he echoed, but he only had eyes for her and the starshine reflected in her face.

"Turn around, you goofball," she grumbled, but her lips were smiling. Still he reached back and gripped her thigh as he did, feeling her shiver at his back. She didn't have on a coat, but neither did he.

"You warm?"

"Enough," she grumbled. "Mostly ticked that you're just standing there, not a bit cold. It's disgusting. It's below freezing out here."

He laughed and glanced back at her again, but she lifted her hand and pressed two fingers to his cheek, turned him back to the sky. Her arms threaded around his, hanging on, and he pressed his thumb into the top of her thigh in response.

She was humming. He liked the sound of it, couldn't remember hearing her ever sing for him before. He stayed still, kept his eyes on the horizon of stars before them, and soon her softly-hummed words threaded between the bright pinpoints of light, slipped in so that he knew the sense of them rather than the sound.

It was beautiful. Everything was knitting back together again, his mind clear once more and his body doing what it should - and that seemed to have given Kate a measure of intensity he hadn't seen in her since... the first year they'd met. When she'd been pouring over her mother's case and drowning in it.

He flinched at the thought. But just because she was intense about him didn't mean she was drowning. They could be intense about each other, right?

She breathed out softly at his back and splayed her palms at his stomach, her nose pressing into his shoulder blade. Castle gave up trying to be good and tugged her around to his chest, drawing her against him and wrapping his arms around her.

"I can't see the lake like this," she complained.

Castle laughed and turned them around, putting his back to it, and she hummed again, tilting her cheek down to his shoulder. He watched the woods past her and saw Sasha come skulking through the trees, slinking low like the wolf. She paused when she saw his eyes on her, and then the wolf shivered off of her, molting, and she came bounding towards them, all joyful dog once more.

Kate oofed when Sasha collided into the back of her knees but Castle kept her standing, laughing in her ear. She pinched his hip and bent down to brush her fingers through the dog's ruff, scratching at her ears, grabbing her collar.

"You both are crazy. It's freezing out here."

"Should've made you get your coat."

"Such a mother hen," she murmured, as if confiding a secret to the dog. She lifted back to him but pressed her palm against his chest. "Ready to go back inside? Made peace with the lake?"

"I have. Have you?"

She shrugged though her eyes were dark, still pools. "Wait till summer. Maybe then it won't make me want to wrap you in blankets and smother you with disproportionate concern."

He chuckled but the truth of it was close to the surface. She still worried, still hung on to that moment and the hospital room and his not breathing. He was working on erasing it though; he was going to make it disappear.

"Let's not. Not go back inside," he said suddenly. "Let's drive down to the nearest open gas station and get ice cream."

"It's freezing."

"You can get hot chocolate," he said. "That gas station on the way up here, the one with the slushee machine, they've got vanilla-something cappuccino. Always smells good."

"Gas station coffee. That's what you're offering me."

"Yes, come on. Let's take the dog and pile in the car and go."

She tilted her head at him, but he could see she was tempted. That the spontaneity was appealing. Just like going for a run in the middle of the night or getting Chinese after he'd had a panic attack, doing something they weren't supposed to do had a thrill to it, a sense of illicit and undercover normalcy.

Normal felt naughty. How pathetic was that?

"Okay," she said finally. Her voice was fast like she didn't want to change her mind. "Take me for gas station coffee."

He grinned and reached down for her hand, snagged her fingers. "Want your coat?"

"You'll just have to keep me warm."

Castle laughed and called for the dog, started hustling her towards the Rover. Gas station coffee and maybe he'd convince her to get a frozen Snickers so he could watch her lips around that slow-melting, hard-shell chocolate, share it maybe, have fun together.

Before she could part ways with him at the front of their car, he leaned over and kissed her loudly on the cheek.

"Love you," she said, her fingers curling at his ear and keeping him there. "I love you, Rick. You know that, right?"

"Of course you do. No one else would accept gas station coffee for me."

She laughed and pushed his head away, and then she got into the car with the dog.

"Sasha. Bark. Bark for me, puppy." Castle teased the treat over her head but all Sasha did was come up on her haunches and open her mouth, tail wagging. He gave up on getting the dog to speak and gave her the little green bone; Sasha's tail went wild and she crunched on it, a wolf-like grin spreading her muzzle.

"She's a quiet wolf, not a barking dog," Kate said, nudging his hand away. She curled her fingers around the back of his neck like she did sometimes to Sasha, like she would pick him up by the scruff. "Leave poor Sasha alone."

Castle tossed another green bone towards the puppy and she showed her teeth - her way of thanking him - before she took her treasure and started back towards the woods bordering the gas station.

"No," Kate called out after her. "Sasha. Here. To me, puppy. Come back."

Sasha paused with one paw raised in the air, her head tilted towards them.

"Sorry, girl," Castle sighed. "In the dark, you look too much like a wolf. Back in the Rover. For your own safety. Come on."

Sasha whined and her tail dropped, but she slinked back to them. Castle opened the car door and the dog jumped up inside, moved towards the very back to eat her bone in peace. Castle shut the door after her and leaned against it, watching Kate sip her gas station coffee.

"Good?"

She nodded. "Actually. Pretty good. Stargazing with you at the Kwik Stop is kinda middle school, but it does it for me."

He laughed and reached out to draw his arm around her neck, drag her against him. She came, holding the cup away from them to keep it from sloshing, and he kissed the side of her mouth.

"Doing it since middle school, huh, Beckett?"

She grunted and elbowed him in the side. "You've got a lecherous mind, you dirty old man."

"It's a conditioned response, really," he murmured, trailing his mouth to her ear. "You bring it out in me. After all these years."

"I'm pretty sure you were a dirty old man before we ever met, baby."

He laughed, felt the way the tickle of his breath made her skin shiver. He sucked lightly at her earlobe, and her free hand came to his hip, fingers tunneling under his shirt. "I was a machine, Beckett - you said it. And a machine can't be a dirty old man."

"Right, because you were a total monk on every single one of those spy missions."

"I didn't say that," he grinned. "But when I think back over my decades of service, you're the only woman that comes to mind. Only one I think about, only one I want."

She hummed something appreciative against his neck and he felt her shift into him, that coffee cup getting pressed against his chest as she moved closer.

"You know all the right words, don't you, super spy?"

"I like to think so," he whispered. She smelled like hot chocolate and vanilla cappuccino; he bet she'd taste like it too. Castle ducked his head and claimed her mouth, stroking his tongue inside to find out.

Kate moaned and fisted her hand in his shirt, their hips bumping, coffee sloshing. She was tasting him now, apparently liking the snickers ice cream bar he'd downed in two bites, because she kept running her tongue around his like she wanted more.

He grunted when she pushed him back against the Land Rover, felt his back hit the door handle and then her body hit him. He gripped her ass with a tight squeezed, flattened out his palms to slip them into the back pockets of her jeans. She moaned and rocked against him, their close encounter flaring hotly into need.

She wasn't playing around any more; neither was he. Ever since he'd nearly died, it went like this for them.

He could taste her desperation on his tongue, under that too-sweet vanilla, and it made him anxious to drive it out of her mind, out of her body, made him want to grind it out of her.

So she would know - always know - he would never leave her.

And then Sasha barked, a short and brisk bark that made them jump apart.

Castle saw the owner of the gas station over Kate's shoulder, watching them curiously with his hands on his hips, keys dangling from his fingers.

The man cleared his throat. "I gotta tell the damn high school kids every Friday night. Didn't think I'd have to come out here and tell you. Katie Beckett - don't think I won't tell your father - no matter how old you are now."

"Shit," Kate moaned, dropping her forehead into Castle's neck.

Castle laughed, tried to appear serious. "Yes, sir. But - uh - you do know we're married. She's my wife. It's okay."

"It's okay to molest your wife in public for all to see?"

"Oh, fuck," Kate gasped, and her grip tightened on him in a good way, so that a hot spike of curiosity went through him.

"No, sir. You're right. I apologize. We'll molest each other in the car now."

"Castle," she hissed.

"You do that, son. Now get on out of here. I'm closing up for the night."

Castle held off his laughter until the proprietor went back inside, and then he chuckled and opened the front door for Kate. She smacked his shoulder and then climbed inside, giving him a warning finger.

"No more molesting, Rick Castle. Drive me home - to my dad's house - and be nice."

"You don't really want me to be nice now, do you, Katie Beckett?" He grinned and got into the Rover with her, shutting the door and starting the ignition.

She slid her hand over his thigh and he figured that was answer enough.

Her body came in close even as he moved to put on his seatbelt, her teeth nipping hard at his jaw. "Don't call me Katie. You, Rick Castle, are not my daddy."

They drove home the next day so they could report to work on Monday morning without trouble. Sasha seemed eager for her own space again, which Kate could understand, and when they finally unlocked the door and came inside with their bag, the place opened up in welcome.

Sasha ran off, heading for the kitchen to check that her food dishes were still there probably, or maybe down to the panic room in the basement. They hadn't been able to break her of that habit, despite getting locked in a few times.

Castle pressed his hand to Kate's back and nudged her forward, and Kate stepped through the entry and dropped her phone on the table by the elephant.

"We have all afternoon, all evening," he said from behind her. She turned and he was dumping their bag on the landing of the stairs, just tossing it right over the railing. She huffed at him and narrowed her eyes.

"Castle. We've been gone for nearly two weeks and before that..."

"What are you saying?" His eyes narrowed back at hers. She could tell he was figuring it out as he spoke. "You're gonna make me clean, aren't you?"

She nodded to their bag. "That's at least one load of laundry. I had to go buy you new clothes, super spy. Your pants were falling off your hips."

"That's embarrassing," he muttered. And she saw that his neck flushed with it.

She chuckled and reached out to squeeze his arm. "Laundry."

"Is that my job?"

"Bathrooms need to be cleaned but I don't want you touching stuff. In case."

"In case?" he asked, head swiveling to her with a frown.

She shrugged. "Germs. I want to get everything wiped down before you use it."

He gave her an exaggerated sigh but she could tell that it bothered him - that her concern needled at him because he didn't want her worried. She knew that. She just didn't know how to explain that this was how it worked - family. She got to be concerned and do for him because he was her husband and she loved him.

"Castle, just start the laundry, okay?"

"Yeah," he sighed. "Fine. I thought we'd do more fun things."

"Give me an hour and we can do all kinds of fun things," she said, lifting on her toes to skim her lips at his temple. Even in her high-heeled boots, he was tall today. He couldn't possibly have grown; he just felt bigger to her, stronger, and she was grateful for it.

"Panic room fun things?" he rumbled, a vein of clever delight running through his voice. His fingers caught in the belt loop of her jeans and she touched her palm to the midnight black of his t-shirt. T-shirt in winter, the crazy super spy.

"Panic room fun," she promised. "An hour to clean and then any way you want me."

"Any way? Holy hell, Beckett," he grumbled. "We're gonna have some fun."

"Get started on the laundry."