Chapter 98: 98. Chapter 98
Castle loads the sheets into the dryer and listens to his mother hold court in the living room. She's offered to take Dash's bed so that Kelly and Jim can sleep in the master bedroom; Castle saw Kate's face as she processed that, but instead of the stunned silence he expected, she got up and yanked the sheets off the beds.
Good idea. Theirs especially. He - ug - honestly, Castle doesn't want to think about it.
Cranking the dial, he starts the dryer and heads back to the adults in the living room. Kate is in the floor in front of the coffee table to give her father and Kelly the couch to themselves, and his mother is sitting in the armchair like it's a throne.
He doesn't want to, but he settles down next to Kate in the floor, knowing his back is going to hate him for it later. Kate slides her hand over his thigh, resting there, seemingly an unconscious move because she's watching his mother and smiling.
"And then I figured - what the hell? A boy only turns five once, and I'm not missing it."
"Which is the opposite of what you said when I told you that we were headed to the beach for Dash's birthday," Castle says drolly.
"I don't know what you could possibly be talking about," his mother sniffs.
"I believe the quote was something like, The beach? Why would I want to languish in the heat? The boy will be five all year long."
Kate bites her lip but laughs as his mother shakes a finger at him.
"I said no such thing."
Oh, yeah. She did.
"Anyway, here I am now. And I brought friends." She waves her hand at the couch, encompassing Jim and Kelly, who both are smiling, but not exactly laughing. They've been traveling with his mother since the city - however many hours ago that was - and that's probably been three or four states too long.
"Well, as soon as the sheets are clean, you guys can head to bed. Until then. . ." He trails off and they all have an awkward moment of silence. His mother might be melodramatic, but she's at least able to carry a conversation.
Just when he thinks he'll have to do something to prompt his entirely too-quiet wife, Kelly speaks up.
"Well, Kate," Kelly starts, leaning forward. "I heard that you've got Ellery enrolled in three days at preschool. She'll be in my class starting in January."
Kate shifts beside him; he wraps his hand around hers, squeezes.
"Well, I-" Kate glances at him, then looks apologetically to Kelly. "I sort of did that without telling Rick. So it might change. We've - well-"
"I planned on announcing this later, but now's good too." Castle leans back against the coffee table. "I've got an offer on the table to buy a controlling share of Black Pawn."
His mother nearly falls out of the chair, gaping at him, and Jim leans back, rubbing his hands together.
"Congratulations, son. That will be - a rather large undertaking. What brought this on?"
"I signed a contract to write a children's book - or young adult, depending on how it goes. But Black Pawn has absolutely no resources to market it. So I'm going to change things."
"That sounds great," Jim says. "The children's book - what's that about?"
"It's Dash," Kate says, grinning widely. Pride flares in Castle's chest at the look on her face.
"It's Dash? You're telling me you wrote a book about Kate, and now you're writing a book about your son?" His mother asks, laughing at him. "My boy, you are leaving the rest of us out."
"No. Actually, Mother, you're in this one too. A lot." He cuts his eyes to Kate, but she hasn't read that far yet either.
"Ooh, I am? Really?"
"Yeah."
"Who am I?"
"You're the bad guy."
She stares at him, but Jim is laughing heartily while Kelly snickers into her hand. Kate slaps his chest and glares at him.
"Castle-"
"It's a good role?" His mother asks, lifting a finger as if to silence everyone else. "Richard."
"It's a great role. Of course it is."
"Very good. Make me dastardly. But don't let me hurt the boy."
He smirks at Kate, nods to his mother, and sees Jim and Kelly smiling at each other.
"You can't hurt him. He's Nikki's son. Felix."
"Ooh, Nikki's, eh? And Jamie's right?"
"Nikki and Jameson's kid," Kate says at his side. She settles a little closer to him. "It's really good so far, what I've read. Rick told Dashiell about it today, and he seems pretty excited too."
"Oh yeah," he murmurs to her. "Don't let me forget to add in Ellery."
"Ellery too?" Jim asks.
"Felix's best friend - Chandler, a girl his age - will be based on Ellery. Quiet, fierce, smart - and well, Dash asked for his sister to be in the book. So, well, she'll be in the book."
"Do Nikki and Rook make an appearance?" Kelly asks. She's read his books - he remembers when they first met, she blushed like crazy and then asked point blank why he killed off Derek Storm and how could he do that? She's not a big talker like his mother, but she's got a strong will, and she's smart. He can see why Jim's attractd to her.
"They do," he answers. "Nikki trains him. Felix. And Rook is there to give him a little nudge in the right direction, from time to time."
"That will be so special," Kelly sighs. "Wow. Your whole family in a book."
Kate leans against his arm, and when Castle glances down at her, she's giving him this soft smile, like gratitude, that makes his chest tight. He ducks down and kisses her cheek, grinning at her.
"It's all Kate's fault," he says. "She's the one who asked me to make sure Rook and Nikki get a happy ending."
"I'll claim that one," she says back, snaking her arm through his. "I'm your muse, aren't I?"
He laughs at the evil twinkle in her eye, knowing exactly what she's saying, so he doesn't answer that. At that moment the dryer buzzes loudly and she jerks, startled.
"Castle," she mutters. "Gonna wake Dash. I told you to turn the buzzer off."
"Is that what you said? I - how do you do that?"
She rolls her eyes at him and scrambles to her feet, offering a hand to pull him up too. He follows her to the dryer and she flips a dial, yanks open the door, and pulls out the sheets.
"I missed that," he says, wincing at her and taking the laundry out of her hands.
"It's just this - Look."
"Oh. Wow. That's easy. I - I feel kind of stupid for not noticing?"
"Uh-huh," she murmurs, raising her eyebrow at him. "Hey, you do our bed for them? I'll do the sheets for your mom."
"You're just afraid to put the sheets on the bed where your dad and his girlfriend are going to sleep."
"I am not. Now hush."
"Yes, you are. You are," he drawls, nudging her hip with his, hands filled with warm sheets.
"Don't call her his girlfriend," she hisses at him. "She's like, in her late fifties."
"If she's not his girlfriend, then what? His lover?"
"Oh, God," she groans, burying her face in the sheets. "Castle."
"Okay, okay, I'm stopping."
"Go. Sheets. Stop making me blush."
"Love you."
"Uh-huh."
She can't sleep.
The sofa bed really isn't that comfortable, but Castle is out like it's a feather bed. Of course, Castle doesn't have his mother and her lover in his bedroom, doing who knows what-
Ug. No. No, no.
She's not thinking about that.
She is thinking about that.
She can't stop thinking about that.
Kate groans and flops over onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. If only her insomniac son was awake, then the two of them could cuddle up and watch movies on the ipad.
Well, she could read. Or play a few games of Memory, or Solitaire, or Draw Some. Well, Ryan's probably not awake right now to play his turn in that game, but-
Does her Dad - he loves Kelly, doesn't he? She's good for him; Kate has seen that these last few years. Her father spends less time fishing alone, and more time with family, more time in the city as well. When Dash got chicken pox, her father and Kelly kept Ellery for two days, kept her entertained and happy and engaged so that the little girl barely even missed her mother.
Kelly is good for him, she is. Kate knows this. And she wants her father to be happy, to have companionship, someone to share his life with. It's good. It is.
She groans again and presses her hand over her eyes, tries to force out the jittery anxiety that seems to have taken up residence in her blood. Like too much coffee. She hasn't felt this worked up since - since the night they conceived Ellery.
There's a thought.
Kate rolls over onto her side, lifts up on her elbow to check the time. Two in the morning. Entirely too late for her to still be awake. She bites her lower lip and leans over him, checking.
Asleep.
Hm.
Well.
She can change that.
Kate slides her knee up, slowly presses it into his thigh. When he twitches, she hums and lowers her chest to his, as if snuggling up.
He still sleeps.
She slips her arm around his waist, shifts her hips closer to his, opens her mouth to breathe hotly on his neck. When she still gets nothing, Kate touches her tongue to his adam's apple.
He jerks and his arms close around her, a reflexive embrace, as his startle open. "Kate?" he growls, clears his throat, but that low timber still rattles in his chest.
Mmm. Yeah.
"Hey, there," she murmurs, nibbles on the scruff at his throat.
"What're - what-?"
She can feel him swallow slowly, the trail of his fingers up her back sparking her skin. She shivers and lifts up to kiss his mouth, tasting sleep and rich, dark Castle.
He grunts and rolls her off of him, looks at her funny as he rubs his eyes. "Kate?"
"Yeah," she says, and scoots in to kiss him again. "Better not be anyone else groping you in your sleep."
He grunts a laugh but stops her with a palm to her jaw, shakes his head on the pillow, slow to wake. "What's - I don't - what're you doing?"
"I'm wired. I need you to - to - loosen me up, Castle."
One of his eyes opens, then both. He stares at her. "What?"
She slides her knee between his legs, and he gasps, breathless, catching her thigh with his hand.
"Kate."
"Rick. Now."
He shakes his head again. "It's like - what time is it?"
"Two."
"Jeez, woman. Come here," he mutters, and he reaches out to grab her, pulls her against him. She wriggles - this isn't at all what she was going for, Castle and his stupid cuddling.
"Castle," she whines, wriggling her hips against him.
"Gimme a sec," he mutters, his fingers sliding along her stomach. "I can do something about this."
"Oh," she murmurs, relaxing back against his chest.
"Yeah. Oh, is right." He presses a sloppy, lazy kiss to her neck. "Waking me up in the middle of the night."
"You've woken me before," she growls back, turning her head to touch her lips to his jaw.
He chuckles against her. "True. Fair's fair. Now, shut up and let me - what did you call it? - loosen you up."
"Don't tell me to shut up," she rebukes him, but finds her breath catching instead. Oh. Oh, very good.
That's good.
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