A/N: Thank you to Ericka for the prompt and to the Lindsey, Callie, and Valen for (gently) yelling at me on twitter to fill it (sorry it took three weeks). Also, thanks to Abbey for being fab and helping me w some ideas and Alex for being my beta - you all rock x

It's half past seven when Kate finally exits the elevator and heads towards the door of the loft. She should knock, like the guest that she still is, but instead finds herself reaching for the shiny new key that Rick had insisted she use while living with him - it's your home, he had said as he handed it to her, even if it's only temporary.

She's exhausted. She had spent her day off apartment hunting - a term that she never found quite as fitting as she does now - and she'd come up with nothing. Nothing fit, none of them were right, and after viewing ten different apartments she'd just given up.

She shuts the door gently behind her and sees Rick standing in the kitchen, watching her.

"Hey," he greets, putting the dish he was washing down on the counter and walking towards her. "How'd it go?"

She huffs out a frustrated breath as she shrugs off her jacket and goes to hang it in the hallway closet.

"That bad?"

"It was horrible, Castle," she sighs, turning back to face him after her coat is hung and the door is closed. "Nothing felt like home."

She didn't expect it to be easy to find an apartment, she knows it took months for her to finally settle on her last one, but back then she was still living at home - albeit scarcely - and was able to take her time, wait until she found a place she was absolutely in love with before signing anything. Now she's a guest in her partner's home and just wants to be out of his way as soon as she can be.

"What would feel like home?"

It's an innocent question, she knows that, but the answer she wants to share with him isn't. She knows he's asking about physical things, but all she wants to answer is here. Because home to her has become this loft - it's full of laughter, love and - most importantly - him. But she refrains, doesn't want to reveal those thoughts to him, instead shrugging and breathing out a quiet 'I don't know.'

"Well, you're welcome to stay here as long as you like."

She knows she is. Sometimes she thinks that he would be perfectly happy if she were to never move out, to just live here forever. But those are thoughts for a later time, a time when they're together - because now, to her, it's no longer an if but a when - and not when she's living in the guest room of his loft in search of a home.

"In the meantime," he continues, his light and flirty tone interrupting her thoughts, and oh god what is he suggesting? "Why don't we do something fun?

"Like what?" she questions, amusement in her tone.

"We could have a movie night!"

She actually laughs at that. Of course that would be his suggestion.

"A movie night, really? What are we, Castle? Teenage girls?"

"I'll have you know, Alexis and I have movie nights all the time and I enjoy them just as much as her."

She rolls her eyes, but honestly, a movie night with him seems pretty great.

"Come on, Beckett, it'll be fun," he whines, as she pretends to consider it. "I'll make popcorn and we can drink hot chocolate and snuggle."

She glares at him, doesn't want him to be getting any ideas of what's going to happen between them tonight, although the thought sparks a flame deep within her stomach.

"Okay, fine, no snuggling, but we can wear pajamas and sit an appropriate distance from each other and it'll be fun and help you destress, okay?"

"Okay, fine." she huffs, adding an eye roll for good measure, but really, there's nothing she would rather be doing.

"Great," he responds, with a tad too much enthusiasm in his voice. "I'll get everything ready, you go change into something comfy and relax and I'll come get you when everything's ready to go."

He knocks on her bedroom door thirty minutes later, a mug of hot chocolate in hand.

"All set?" she asks, taking the mug from him graciously, raising the cup to her nose and inhaling the delicious scent, treasuring the warmth spreading through her hands.

"Yep! We just have to choose the first movie."

"First?" she asks, arching an eyebrow.

"Beckett, you can't have a movie night without watching at least three movies."

"Is that so?" she hums, the smile she's trying to suppress shining through.

"Yes," he huffs out. "Who do you take me for?"

She squeezes by him, heading for the stairs, and the hand that brushes her across her back, allowing her the room to get by him, lingers just long enough that it has to be intentional. Just long enough that she has to suppress the shiver that wants to run through her at the simple touch of his hand.

"You're right, who in their right mind would only watch one movie?" She can't see the look on his face as she walks down the stairs, his body just close enough for her to feel his warmth emanating through her thin t-shirt - oh god she should not be thinking these thoughts. But she's into him and now she's really past the point of denying it to herself - but she knows that he's smiling at her.

"Your sarcasm wounds me."

"Good," she says, laughing and reaching behind her to hit him lightly.

"So, which do you choose?" he asks once they're seated on the couch, popcorn and hot chocolate resting on a tray between them, a bottle of red with a pair of glasses on the end table next to her.

There's an array of DVDs on the coffee table in front of her, everything ranging from P.S. I Love You (really?) to the original Star Trek.

"I'm easy," she replies, but after looking up and seeing the smirk on his face she's quick to follow up with a glare. "Not what I meant, Castle."

"I would never," he replies, his amusement still clear on his face and mirth laces his words. "But your choice, I want you to have fun, because we both know that I will either way."

Her heart flutters at that. She's not really surprised at the implication of his words - that he would be happy doing anything as long as it was with her - but they still hit her hard, and suddenly she realizes that he needs know it's not a one-way thing. She'd be just as happy doing anything with him.

"I'd have fun either way," she says, her eyes focused on her hands, her voice quiet but steady. "Your movie selection isn't the reason I'm staying here."

"I thought the reason you were staying here was because your apartment quite literally went up in flames."

She swats him lightly, but she's thankful for that. Thankful that he defused a conversation she's not sure either of them are ready to have.

"Sorry, too soon?"

"No, no, it's fine." It's still surreal to her, she thinks, that she's never going back there. "Anyway, I haven't seen the latest Harry Potter why do-"

"You haven't seen the latest Harry Potter?!" he exclaims, mock horror etched on his face.

"Nope."

"Why?!"

"I mean, I was going to at some point, I just haven't gotten around to it," she answers, shrugging.

"It's decided then," he states, standing up from his place on the couch and walking towards the TV, the DVD in his hand and a smile on his face. "And after we can watch that romcom I know that you really want to watch."

"Just put in the DVD, Castle."

He looks back at her and smiles as he slides the DVD into the player. Before he rejoins her on the couch, he removes the tray from between them, setting it instead on the coffee table, moving the array of movies to one side. When he sits down next to her this time, he's closer than he was before. His body still isn't quite touching hers, but he's close enough that she can feel the heat emanating from his body; it's electric.

Kate forces herself to focus on the movie instead of the body seated next to hers for as long as she can but a third of the way through she finds herself unable to focus on the adventures of the teenagers on the screen. Instead her attention is entirely on Castle. He leans forward, silently retrieving his glass of red wine from the table. He turns to look at her, offering the glass to her with a smile as he leans back on the couch. She takes it graciously, smiling at him over the rim as she takes a sip. He readjusts slightly as he resettles on the couch, moving just the slightest bit closer to her so that their already almost touching thighs are now snug against the others.

She tries to refocus her attention on anything but him, staring at the clock, her wine, and finally again at the film. Her eyes remain glued to the screen, but her thoughts are glued to the spots where their thighs are touching. She's no longer capable of paying attention, not to the movie, at least. Her thoughts are only on him. The heat his body is radiating, the scent she's grown love - love? - over the past year, the electricity that's sparking through her body from where their knees are only just touching.

She's yearning for him, wants to be closer to him, touching him in more places than just the slight brushing of their thighs. So she moves. She shifts closer to him, their bodies aligning more and she can feel his breathing halt as she rests her head on his shoulder, wraps her arm around his torso.

It's not a bold move, not in general, but it's her and it's him and everything they seem to do has meaning, so she holds her breath as she waits for his reaction, waits for him to relax. He does, after a few moments, settles his hand over hers where it's resting on his torso, laces their fingers together gently.

He doesn't say anything about it, although neither does she, and they sit in silence, her eyes focused on the screen but her mind anywhere but as she takes in the smell of him, the feel of his body against hers.

They stay like that the remainder of the movie and as the ending credits roll she can feel his hesitance in getting up, putting on the next film. So they sit there, content in their silence and proximity until the screen turns black. She goes to pull away from him, makes the move that neither of them seem to want to make so that the next movie can be put on, but his grip on her hand tightens and she finds herself instead being pulled into a tight hug.

She can feel him breathing her in, but she won't comment on it, not now. Instead, she holds onto him tighter and whispers her thanks into his neck.

"So," he whispers as he pulls back, not wanting to shatter the bubble they've seemed to have entered. "What should we watch next?"

A/N: Thank you for reading! Please feel free to review letting me know your thoughts! Chapter 2 should be up soon :)

Prompt: "Our eyes are glued to the screen, but our thoughts are glued to the spot where out elbows are touching"