I'll come by later and try to cheer you up.

Disclaimer: I have things to do other than write this but I'm not doing them. I blame the UK storm.

He's wallowing.

Pathetically, and perhaps a little too theatrically, wallowing.

He'd at least expected his mother to be home when he'd gotten there, but there was no sign of her, no flash of colour as she twirled into the room. Instantly, he had felt betrayed, certain that perhaps she was out somewhere with Alexis, complaining about him and his behaviour towards Pi, conspiring against him. But then he'd seen the note stating she was out for last-minute rehearsals at her acting studio, and the tense bow of his spine relaxed slightly.

Now, he's sitting and staring at his laptop, trying and failing to write. The words won't come, his fingers can't type, stuck frozen as he berates himself for his behaviour- But counting bees? Really?

With a sigh, he closes the word document, his thawing fingers finding his photo album on his laptop. He bypasses photos of him and Kate, pictures from Alexis' graduation, her first Christmas; instead he finds grainy and blurred images from her birth, a small bundle of blankets with an adorable tuft of red hair.

She's always been beautiful, and he will always love her no matter what, but throughout her huge ambitions and teen phases, he'd always thought she'd remain his little girl. She'd promised, hadn't she?

And now she's-

Now she's-

He drops his head into his hands. He doesn't know. And he doesn't know how to fix this.

"Hey."

Looking up, he finds Kate leaning against the doorway, watching him with concerned eyes. He hadn't heard her come in, but he notices that she's ditched her heels, left that blazer of hers somewhere else. He attempts a smile, but feels it tug jarringly against his skin, more like a grimace.

"Hey."

Kate pads over to him softly, glancing at the laptop screen with a soft "Oh, Castle" as she settles a hand between his shoulder blades, thumb rubbing in circles. He tugs her closer, burying his face somewhere near the slope of her waist and feels the way it expands and retracts as she breathes.

"You wanna talk about it?"

"Unless you can come up with a magical way to make this all feel better, Kate, then I think I'll just wallow."

She cards her fingers through his hair, leaning down to drop a kiss to the crown of his head.

"Just give her some time, Castle. Then you can make things right."

He leans his chin against her stomach, staring up at her, words tripping off of the pout of his lips like a child. "Even if making things right involves Pi?"

She shrugs, fingers brushing against his cheekbones, drifting in lazy patterns against his face.

"I know you love your daughter, Castle, and you only want the best for her. But if this is what she wants, I guess you'll have to adjust." She tells him gently.

Taking a deep breath, he pulls away from her, leaning back in his seat. Glances back at the laptop screen. Too soon. She grew up and left him behind, and it's all gone by too quickly. He wants his little girl back.

He startles when Kate reaches over and closes the laptop lid, spinning the office chair away from the desk, both hands resting on the arms of the chair when she leans down and lightly dusts kisses along his jawline, making him shiver beneath her touch.

"Kate." He says, a hand lifting to wrap around her neck.

"Shh." She whispers into his ear, taking the lobe between her teeth and nipping lightly as she does so. "Let me cheer you up."

"Kate."

She smiles, wickedly, knowing what she does to him. She scatters kisses everywhere, across his neck, his jawline, his cheeks, scrapes her teeth with just the right amount of sharpness against his chin, before she captures his lips with hers. He groans into her mouth, fingers finding their way into her hair as her tongue darts out to tease his, and Kate- Kate-

Kate pulls away with a wet smack of lips, leaving him breathless and aching for her as she drops down to her knees before him, nimble fingers reaching for his belt before he has the chance to stop her.

His hand darts out to cup her cheek, tips her back up to face him as she unbuttons his jeans. "Kate- You don't have to-"

She presses a light kiss to his pulse point. "I know, but I want to."

She reaches into his boxers, slipping him free as her fingers curl lightly around him, stroking up and down, teasing as he hardens in her hand.

He grunts, reaching out to slip his hands around the base of her neck, growling when she strokes her thumb over his tip in a circle.

"What's wrong, Rick?" She says, rolling the r and almost making him spontaneously combust. "You seem a little… tense."

She laughs like this is all just a game, leaning down to pepper kisses against his hip, slowly trailing her way across his stomach and making him jerk into her palm. It doesn't deter her, smiling against him when she reaches the base of his erection, letting her tongue dart out to taste.

"Relax, Castle." She murmurs, one hand wrapping around his base as she slowly- so slowly- drags her tongue all the way up.

She is going to be the very death of him, he's sure of it. But oh, what a way it would be to go.

She envelops him into the heat of her mouth without warning, humming around him and making it so much worse as he curses and rests his head back against the office chair. The heat of her mouth undoes him, and he knows that she knows what she does to him, can feel her trying to smother her smile as she breathes in sharply through her nose, taking in as much as she can and swallowing and oh shit Kate-

"Kate." He groans, opening his eyes to see her watching him with large, dark eyes.

He knows, he's always known, that she loves watching him like this, totally at her surrender. Loves watching how he responds to her, to every touch, every move she makes. But that lust in her eyes, making the gold flecks in her eyes brighten- He'd never known this did as much for her as it did for him.

He cards his fingers into his hair as she bobs slowly after catching her breath, licking and sucking and pulling him into hell or heaven, he's not sure which anymore. Doesn't care, either, so long as it's with her. And just the sight of her alone is almost enough for him to make him come as quickly as a teenager, so he prays to God that he can last for her.

"Kate." He husks, tugging on her hair lightly. "Kate, touch yourself."

Her knees spread wider as he speaks, the hand clenching around his thigh dropping down to slip past the barrier of her jeans, underneath her underwear and he knows the minute her practiced fingers find her own wetness because moans around him, low and dirty and doing so many things to him that it's a wonder he doesn't pass out.

He tries to hold back the jerk of his hips against her, but she's moaning and sucking and licking and everywhere is warm and wet all at once, and he can't prevent the shallow thrust of his hips, watching the way her own hips undulate against her hand with hooded eyes. And God, he hopes she's close, because with every bob of her head, every perfect suck of that damn mouth is sending him hurtling close to the edge almost embarrassingly fast.

His hand strokes through her hair and grips her shoulder, the other holding tightly onto the arm of his chair. And then with one final twist of her wrist and flat press of her tongue against him he spills into her mouth, cursing and groaning and he feels her keen while she swallows, her own release unfurling through her body as she shudders.

As soon as he's capable of half-rational thought, he grabs her arms, pulls her up clumsily onto his lap. Her hands curl around his ears lazily as he kisses her, and she tastes like him, so he finds himself dragging her lower lip between his teeth and releasing her frustratingly slowly. All so that he can hear that little noise she makes that's somewhere between a groan and a gasp, that sounds that she makes when he knows she wants more, more touching and kissing and just more.

"I love you." He mutters, hands lifting from her hips to seek the smooth skin beneath her shirt, the one that's been driving him crazy all day. "I love you, Kate."

She giggles against his lips, kisses wet and sloppy and teeth clacking together but he can't find it within him to care.

"I know."

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