An Unexpected Return

Much Needed Release

She looked into Castle's eyes so longingly. She was tired from the events of the past few days from Castle unexpectedly returning from his book signing and showing up at her front door to secretly looking for his father's murderer to getting kidnapped by a Russian chemist who is planning to bomb the city. Castle could feel her breath steadily increase. The tension could be cut with a knife. She looked down to his lips then her eyes shot back up to to meet his gaze again. She bit her lip. Stuck in a trance it felt like they were looking into each other's eyes for an eternity.
Kate's phone vibrated in her hand. Dammit Ryan she thought as she looked down at her phone. The spell was instantly broken. "Um," she said with disappointment. "That was Ryan. He's got backup from the local police department and he is just a few hours away."
"That's great," Castle said without enthusiasm. He wanted that moment to have been frozen in time and it could just be the two of them, forever.
A knock echoed from the door. "You decent? I have your breakfast," an unrecognizable voice called out.
"I'm not really hungry," Castle mumbled under his breath as he looked at the floor.
"Eh. Me neither. Oh well." Kate whispered.
The door opened and two men with trays waked in. The men set the trays on a metal shelf with a clank then left. Kate and Castle walked over to the food and looked at it.
"What the hell is this? I mean I expected gross food but this... This is worse than what they give prisoners."
"How would you know what they serve in prison, Castle?" Kate asked with a smile.
"Well you know I wasn't in jail. The first time we met you read my file and you acknowledged the fact that every time I was arrested my charges were dropped. Then you asked me about a small claims lawyer to which I responded most of my claims were on the large side," Castle looked off into the distance, fond of the memories. "Man I miss those days. No, I know what they serve in prison because I was doing research for a book. I went in to observe some of the aspects of prison life. Remind me never to go to prison."
"Okay. Will do," Kate chuckled. Castle swirled his fork around the green and yellow marbled mush, stabbing the few lumps that were hidden in the dense glop of "food." He dropped his fork onto his plate. He walked to the bed and plopped himself down with a sigh. He dropped his head in his hands. A somber mood filled the room. Kate walked over to the bed and knelt down in front of him.
"Hey," she whispered, "what's wrong?"
She reached out and gently removed one of the hands hiding his face. Castle put on a brave face not just to impress Kate, but also to calm himself down. He looked up into her eyes, her protective, concerned, worried eyes. He broke. Tears ran down his face, a stream of pent up emotion. Kate took her thumb and wiped the tears from his cheek. She knew what he was dealing with. His father was murdered, he was chased and almost killed in her apartment, his father's friend betrayed him, they had a lead which only led to their capture, he had no progress on who his father's murderer is, only some abstract idea of what the murder was related to, he was at a dead end. Almost exactly like her mothers case: Johanna Beckett murdered, case went cold, Kate spent her career trying to find the killer, she knew she was getting closer because people were trying to kill her. She knows exactly how Castle feels. Maybe, just maybe, they can catch Castle's dad's killer because Castle is family and she wants at least one of them to get justice for one of their lost parents. Kate was lost in how similar Castle's situation is to hers. She felt a new connection between the two of them. Something that the two of them can relate to that is unique to only them.
She stopped thinking. She threw her arms around Castle and just held him. She readjusted herself to be more comfortable, so she can completely wrap him in her embrace. She lifted one leg, wrapped it behind his back and did the same with the other leg. Their chests were now lined up completely and she was on his lap. Kate didn't care at all that she had given in so deeply into her emotions right now. Castle needed her. Just needed her embrace. Kate's arm began to rub circles on Castle's back. "Thank you, Kate."
"Always," Kate whispered into Castle's ear and kissed him delicately on the cheek. "We'll get through this. Together. I'm not going anywhere. I promise." Kate looked into Castle's eyes. Saw all of the pain, torture, and sadness he has endured. She's only ever seen him like this one other time, when she rejected him in the hospital after he hurled himself on top of her in an effort to take a bullet for her. She knew this was her chance to show him that she really was there for him.
She swallowed any doubt that she had. She removed her hand from his back and brought both hands to cup his cheeks. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she pressed her lips against his. Castle, at first taken back, closed his eyes and kissed Kate back knowing she let all of her walls down and built up a massive amount of courage to show her feelings and emotions this fully. They only broke apart to catch their breaths. Kate opened her eyes to find Castle's blue eyes gazing right back into hers. She noticed the way his eyes glistened and portrayed all of the raw, loving emotion he was unable to express by using his unending arsenal of adjectives, metaphors, imagery, or any other literary device available to a writer; she knew the emotions because she felt the exact same way. "Wow," she smiled.