Tendrils of Warmth

Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, wish I did. Actually, if I had my way I would be playing on screen with them.

AN: Thanks so much to Logan and the rest of the girls for being my betas and sounding boards!

Cracking open her eyes, Kate Beckett couldn't help but arch her brow when she saw her boyfriend standing in front of her. Not only did she wonder why he was bothering her while she was sprawled out on his couch, but in his hands he held an electric heating pad and a gigantic mug of what smelled to be hot chocolate.

The hot chocolate she understood; today had been one of the coldest days she had seen all winter. It was the kind of cold that seeped into your bones and didn't let go. The kind of cold that tugs at the scar running down her left side, making it pull and ache. She had spent most of the day cradling a coffee cup in her hands, trying to burrow further into her thick, cashmere sweater and attempting to make her side stop aching. While wine would have been more her speed for relaxation, she was more than okay with the hot chocolate with the steam she saw wafting from the top of it.

Reaching for the mug, she turned her gaze to the heating pad and then back to Castle. "Little early in the month for that," she said.

Castle had the good grace to look slightly abashed at her comment but not much. She had learned quickly that having spent most of his life surrounded by women, Castle really had no qualms dealing with that topic.

"No, not for that. It's for your side."

"My side?"

"Your scar has been bugging you all day so I thought maybe the warmth would help it," he said with a small shrug.

She should have known that he would notice, but every time he did something like this, Kate couldn't help but be a little surprised by how much Castle does see. She reached out for the heating pad, allowing her fingers to brush against his in an attempt to say everything that she didn't know how to put into words.

"How did you know?"

"You spent most of the day favoring your left side, kind of curling in on yourself. Also, and I don't think you even realize you do it, every time you got a cup of coffee today you would let it warm up your left hand and then you would put your hand on your left side. Most would assume that is how you stand but..."

"But you know exactly where that scar is," she muttered quietly.

"Yeah." Castle set out to plug in the heating pad behind the couch as Kate sipped her hot chocolate and moved into a more comfortable position. Deciding she would rather lay down, she put the hot chocolate on the table, and stretched out on her left side with the heating pad between her body and the cushions of the couch. "I didn't put it together right away but then I remembered you had said something last week about it bugging you in the cold. Anyway, I figured this might help."

Castle stood after completing his task and turned to head back into the kitchen. Kate reached her hand out grasping his wrist.

"Hey, where you going?"

"Just to the kitchen. I was going to let you relax while I started on dinner"

Tugging him back toward the couch, Kate pulled her knees to her chest making some room for him.

"Dinner can wait. Come sit with me? I can't possibly finish this vat of hot chocolate alone."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, Castle, I'm sure. Come, sit, relax."

He nodded and moved not to the place where she had made room, but instead towards her head. Motioning for her to sit up a little, he sat down and placed her head in his lap. He lasted all of thirty seconds there before he started running his fingers through the waves of Kate's hair.

Kate felt herself starting to drift off between the heat at her side and the ministrations of Castle's fingers. Fighting to keep her eyes open she looked up at him and wished she could capture the content smile she saw on his face.

"Hey, Castle?"

At her words, he stopped running his fingers through her hair and looked down at her.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks," she sighed.

As he resumed playing with her hair, the last thing she heard sleep pulled her under was Castle's reply of a whispered "Always".

Several hours later, Martha Rodgers waltzed through the front door of the loft fully prepared to regal any and all with her latest adventure. She stopped short in the living room when she was greeted by the site on the couch. There sat her son, head thrown back and mouth open, with Kate Beckett curled up on him, both fast asleep. She decided to leave them in peace and made her way upstairs to her room...but not before taking a picture of the two of them.