Castle Quiet Company, With the Notes in My Ears

_**Natalie's A/N: **__A few months ago I approached CileSuns92__ with a proposition, a writing challenge of sorts. To keep me on my toes and force myself out of my box, I asked her what she thought about writing a story where we alternate writing lines-she writes one line, I write the next, etc. The rest is, as they say, history. I am so glad to have taken this journey with her, as she did always keep me on my toes and constantly took the story in directions I never even thought of taking. If you'd like to see who wrote what, I'd be happy to send a color-coded version of the story for fun. I hope you enjoy reading, because I certainly enjoyed writing it. Thanks to you readers, and special thanks to CileSuns92 for rocking._

_**Setting: **__Easter.__  
_

_**Credits**__: The title for this story is a mixture of two songs, With the Notes in My Ears by Peter Broderick, and a line borrowed from Terrible Love, by The National [It's not a CileSuns92's story if there's not a little bit of The National in it ;)] Also, we don't own Castle, maybe we can look for it in our yards on Easter morning, but I have my doubts it is going to show up._

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**Quiet**** Company, With the Notes in My Ears**

_By CileSuns92 and nattylovesjordy_

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There was way too much light in the bedroom for Kate Beckett's likings. Unfiltered by the thin, gauzy curtains, the soft light of a spring Saturday morning cast life through her room and, grudgingly, her senses. She reluctantly blinked a couple of times, forcing her eyes open even though she wanted to remain in the warmth of her bed forever, then stared at her ceiling until she heard a noise in the other room.

The muted crash made her shoot upright in her bed, her duvet bunched around her waist before a sweet, warm aroma accompanied the light clicking and clattering from behind the closed bedroom door. "What the - ?" She muttered under her breath, rubbing her bleary eyes while she pushed the duvet aside and reached for her gun on the nightstand.

As not to make any noise, Kate slowly slid her bare feet to the chilled floor and advanced towards the source of the sound. She moved down the hallway in purposeful but silent strides, then held up her gun as she peeked in the kitchen. With every noise the unknown intruder made her grip tightened and her pulse quickened. She waited behind the doorjamb listening to the intruder slam the cabinet shut, whistling a tune that was suddenly familiar.

"Castle?" She asked, surprised and confused, as she lowered her gun. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey!" He turned around and grinned widely, showing a streak of flour on his plain blue t-shirt "I'm making you breakfast."

Kate mumbled something unintelligible before setting her gun down next to a dirty mixing bowl.

"You had a long day yesterday and I thought..." Castle trailed off, turning his body fully to look at Kate and how wonderfully disheveled she looked first thing in the morning.

Wonderfully disheveled and slightly groggy with sleep she may be, but even she did not need coffee for alertness to quirk an eyebrow at his highly feminine apron. She watched him flip something in a greasy pan, but her sleepiness preventing her to understand exactly what he was preparing. The pleasant aroma wafting to her nostrils, however, replaced her curiosity with craving.

Looking at her from the corner of his eye, Castle answered her unasked question: "Crepes. They go _great_ with guns in the morning."

"Crepes?" She frowned once more, still studying his pointed actions as he moved around the kitchen island. "You can make crepes?"

He flashed her a charming grin and poured milk into another mixing bowl.

"Castle, can you please stop for a second and tell me exactly what is going on?" Kate asked in her best bossy-cop tone, suddenly annoyed by her cluelessness and his presence there. Especially when she noticed that he had turned her kitchen upside down.

Castle ignored her request and poured a dollop of the mixture into a sizzling pan before noticing her serious, authoritative glare his gut knew he needed to obey. "Making crepes is an art I wanted to share with you this morning, Kate Beckett." He flashed her a charming smile as he spread the batter on the pan, but she was still not at all satisfied with his answer.

Kate sat down on the stairs beside a stack of books, forcing Castle to look over his shoulder as she said, "And why exactly is that?" in a tone conveying her distrust of his motives.

His smirk said it all, but he still replied. "You can't live off coffee, and crepes are tasty. Especially with Nutella."

"If this is another one of your not-so-clever ploys to get me to eat more?" she warned as she rolled her eyes behind his back.

"I think it is working just fine, whatever my plan is." He grinned as he turned to her for a second, watching as her eyes lit up, then he flipped the crepe with a flick of his wrist.

Her stomach quickly betrayed her, audibly sharing the depth of her hunger with an embarrassingly deep growl. "Maybe a little." She grinned sheepishly while Castle slid the crepe on a plate and put the Nutella beside it.

After sliding a few onto his own plate, Castle pulled strawberry sundae sauce, powdered sugar, and chocolate chips out of a grocery bag to smother all over his steaming crepes.

"Where did you find a store open at such an inglorious hour?" Kate inquired, but she still smiled as he decorated her breakfast. She was glad she didn't have to go in again until the afternoon, but she couldn't help but curse the fact that her internal clock always woke her up so early.

A hand hovering below the fork to keep it from dripping, Castle brought his fork to her lips and whispered, "Here, try mine," continuing, "It's not as early as you think," as she chewed.

She moaned in appreciation as she let the sweetness blend into her taste buds, while turning to look at the clock on the wall and noticing with delight that it was already mid morning. Eyes closed, she leaned back on the palms of her hands, listening to the soothing jazz tones wafting through her apartment.

She smiled in her darkness, then mumbled, "This is a nice way to wake up in the morning," the notes finally registering fully into her brain. "This song," she whispered in a breath.

"What about it?" Castle suddenly paid closer attention to the radio and tried to recognize the tune.

Kate lightly shook her head, curly tresses falling over her cheeks. "My mom. Whenever she was in the kitchen she would always pull out my dad's old record player, put on this song, and sway around the kitchen," she sighed and, after a pause, quietly added, "It reminds me of baking on holidays with her."

Castle stopped shuffling around the pans and the bowls and simply listened, rapt by the beat as the foreign words spoken in a rough voice blended with the jazz notes and dissolved in the room. Kate sat still, no longer resting on her palms, as Castle crossed the room to the stereo system and increased the volume. She replied to his gesture with a grateful smile, then hummed a few notes of the song between herself as she let the memories swirl in her head, like a long lost lullaby.

Leaning with his back on the next to her, Castle tried to lift her from the memories she could so easily drown under. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"Just..." she hesitated, trying to put into words exactly what she was feeling. "They used to dance together, Mom and Dad, when they thought I wasn't looking, and she was still able not to burn anything despite the distraction."

The flower-coated hand of the man who had orchestrated a surprise breakfast for her brushed her own. His smile was soft but dazzling when he asked, "Care to share a dance, Detective Beckett?" and bowed a little.

Even she, plagued with the flash of images from her own memory and her mother's file at the precinct, could not resist a slight twitch of the lips. "Absolutely."

Her hands joined with his as she climbed down from the stairs and they stood one in front of the other, music still flowing in the apartment.

"You know what goes well with dancing?" asked Castle, his cheek resting on her head.

"Food?" she smirked, settling into his arms and relishing the feeling of his strong and warm grip around her.

Tone confident as if his correlation proved completely logical, he answered, "Carrot cake."

The wide-eyed look Kate gave him spoke before she could say, "You made carrot cake too?"

"No," Castle chuckled, drawing back to look Kate in the face. "Dancing with you like your parents used to reminds me of my own traditions."

"Oh." She smiled with her eyes, asking with curiosity, "How can carrot cake fit in the topic of traditions, then?"

"Every Easter Alexis and I made a carrot cake for the Easter Bunny." With the fondness of a loving father, he continued, "She quickly outsmarted me and started insisting we leave out carrots by the time she was four, but we still made cake for ourselves."

"Aw, I can just picture the two of you like that." She grinned widely, then a thought occurred to her. "Is she going to be home for Easter this year?"

Feigning nonchalance, Castle replied, "She said she could stop by for lunch."

"We can reschedule, then." Kate added quickly, "Our Easter plans"

"Even better," Castle suggested, "We should combine them."

Eyes widening, Kate replied in a tentative whisper, "Combine as you and Alexis and Martha in the same room with me and my father?" she gulped. "For Easter lunch?"

After their disastrous attempt last time, even if it did work out in the end, Kate was not entirely sure she wanted to take another go at getting the family together quite so soon.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Castle," she mumbled, staring at him attentively to understand his reaction.

He brushed her response off as though he did not see her reasoning and refused to accept her decision. For a moment they simply stared each other down still shuffling to the music, silently battling for their own opinion, wondering what was the best next move to make them prevail.

In the silence, Kate noted the music change, the new lyrics and peppy beat urging her to agree to Castle's plans.

A smile was the first sign that she had given in. "Alright, you win! We'll have Easter lunch together."

Pleased that his silence paid off, Castle let out a little squee-a _manly_ _sound of excitement_, that is-and unwrapped his arms from Kate's waist, moving towards the kitchen with planned purpose. "We need to update our menu!" he announced, jumping around like a boy on a sugar high.

"Menu?" asked Kate. "Since when did we have a menu?"

"Since we decided to invite the family." He shrugged, searching Kate's kitchen for a spare piece of paper.

Kate rolled her eyes as she opened a drawer and pulled out a spare notepad.

"So, before I forget," Castle smiled widely as he uncapped a pen and looked up at Kate. "Carrot cake for dessert," he mumbled under his breath while he wrote, his hand tracing the letters elegantly on the ruled paper.

Unlike Castle, who enjoyed bounding around the kitchen like a storm, raiding cupboards for ingredients and inspiration, Kate was content to let Castle do the work and make corrections when needed.

"Who gets the groceries?" He suddenly looked up as he was writing the main course.

After looking over his shoulder and seeing a long list of items Kate retorted, "If you think I'm making a day-long trip to the store, you're sorely mistaken," in a teasing, yet critical and serious tone.

His eyes widened. "Oh, please, there are like twenty things to get." He shrugged. "It's my average grocery list, plus a bunch of spices I forgot to buy last week!" Kate perked an eyebrow and gave Castle a look, to which Castle added, "I'd be glad to go shopping this evening, of course."

"I won't wait for you in the bullpen, then." She smirked, muttering under her breath, "It will probably take you the whole afternoon, after all."

Castle whined. "Hey, that's no fair! If there's a juicy murder, I want in!"

"The only juice you'll deal with is the one in the beverage aisle, Castle," she smirked smugly.

With Kate ignoring Castle's pleading pout, the conversation was settled. They continued their breakfast in a comfortable quiet, the only interruption being the casual comment on the menu either Kate or Rick made as they enjoyed their now-cold crepes. Unbeknownst to the latter, this was one of the last few moments of silence she would enjoy until Castle relinquished control of her kitchen and Easter lunch was finished.

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It was official: Richard Castle loved grocery shopping. Not that this was a newly founded love, as he cherishes the memories of grocery shopping with Alexis sitting in the cart, but rather the rediscovery of a recently neglected activity. After the Nikki Heat novels hit the stands, going grocery shopping was out of the question, so he left the duty to his mother or Alexis, but he had missed strolling through the aisles filled with junk food and wondering which one of those would clog his arteries faster. Some of his purchases would earn admonishment from Kate, he was sure, but the temptation to make a Frosted Flakes-crusted lamb was too overpowering to ignore. He felt like whistling at this point, but he kept his composure, not hiding his wide grin though. By the time he made it to the cash register nearly an hour later, the cart was filled to the brim with all of the trimmings for a intricate Easter carried all four bags of food to his car with glee, excited to cook for their whole family together.

Kate, on the other hand, did not seem as excited.

Her frown as Castle entered the loft later that evening after her shift at the precinct ended did not dissuade the festive spirit of the writer, as he promptly ignored her and began lining up the food on the counter.

"I seem to have forgotten that you are a giant with an abnormal appetite," Kate remarked as the pile of food grew beyond any expectation.

"Hey, I'm not the only one who needs to be fed," he argued. "I seem to recall you have a healthy appetite too, Detective Beckett."

Kate rolled her eyes and found a place for the meats in her refrigerator. She then proceeded to put away the vegetables and stared questioningly at the remaining stuff on the counter.

"What exactly," asked Kate as they stared, "do you plan on concocting with the chocolate syrup, cereal, nacho cheese, canned anchovies, and wasabi?"

"I know exactly what I am going to do with the chocolate syrup," he looked up at her sultry, and Kate gulped, "but the rest is just for your Castle-oriented personal stock, so I know what you have in the pantry when I come over"

Kate simply chose to raise an indignant eyebrow rather than fuel his fire.

"I'm excited about today, Kate," Castle blurted, almost as an apology for his shopping spree, his tone soft and almost reverent.

Returning the smile, Kate stepped closer to Castle's warm body. "I am too. We just show it in..." Kate paused and trailed her eyes over the stack of groceries littering her counters. "Different ways," she completed.

"I know it's probably going to be disastrous and my mother is likely to bicker with your father for the whole meal, but that's what family does." He smiled in a way that almost melted Kate on the spot. "We are a family now, Kate, if you want us to be."

Unable to summon the proper words, she slipped her fingers between his and squeezed. To be honest, his words scared her to a point that digging up a hole and hiding in it wouldn't seem so weird, after all. Sure, their families had already come together for a meal, and yes, she felt certain in her relationship with him, but even now she still needs to be eased into such lofty ideas. It was not in her nature to trust people, it had taken her a long time to even think about trusting Castle as a partner, let alone allow him in her life.

Shaking the thoughts momentarily from her head, she suggested they get started. "So, how are we going to do this?" She made a face, still staring worriedly at the food.

Castle pulled out a few sheets of paper tucked into his back pocket. "I have it all planned out," he responded, excitement lining his tone.

"Really? A to-do list?" Kate groaned as she noticed the scrap of paper Castle was unfolding and how many bulleted tasks they had to go through.

"Why of course, Detective," said Castle in that silly, teasing manner so characteristic of the man-child.

"It's a novel not a to-do list, Castle!" she tried to argue, despite knowing it was basically pointless. "It's gonna take us forever!"

With a flourish of his hand, Castle waved away her half-hearted attempts at keeping his plans from coming to fruition. "First," he said, "we need music."

Kate frowned, puzzled by the statement. "Music is gonna shorten the list?"

"Music," he dramatically announced, pulling his gaze from fiddling with his phone to her eyes, "To fulfill the tradition." He hopped with excitement to the hi-fi system and pressed play, the room filling immediately with the notes of the first track. Walking back from the stereo, Castle wrapped his arms around Kate's waist from behind her, slowly swaying their hips to the relaxed rhythm of the jazz floating through the air and whispering into her hair, "Holidays are about family and tradition. This is part of yours."

Kate molded into his touch as she whispered, "You remembered," almost incredulous that he had bothered to find the exact song that had brought up the whole idea of this meal in the first place.

"How could I forget," he murmured.

"Thank you," she stammered, shuffling even closer to him. His arms around her waist tightened.

After pressing his lips onto the top of her skull, Castle pulled apart, tugging her hand along with him. They waltzed to the kitchen counter, where his list contrasted with the dark granite from its place on the counter, and began tackling the first step.

Scanning the recipes, Kate grew uneasy. "I didn't know we would be making such complicated dishes," she admitted, slightly nervous about her ineptitude in the kitchen.

"I've done them before, don't worry," Castle grinned smugly.

Kate rolled her eyes and gave a small snort because _of course_ he's made them before, just like his smorlettes and other scary kitchen concoctions.

As he cooks, she pays close attention to his hands, trying to memorize all his movements, and she's fascinated by the way he moves around, like the kitchen is his territory and not just a leisure hobby. That, and with such a familiarity and confidence like the kitchen is his rather than hers. She was not sure that a man-child like him could follow such complicated tasks, but _boy_ if she was wrong. Like some sort of cooking professional, Castle skillfully begun preparing various ingredients in a bowl.

"Can you turn on the oven?" Castle asked, his hands too busy mixing to do it himself.

Finally given a reason to unroot herself from her spot of wonderment that probably shouldn't surprise her in the least, she scanned the recipe for the cooking temperature and set the oven accordingly. Castle thanked her with a warm smile as he cleaned his hands under the stream of hot water from the sink, before he began the second step of the recipe.

Clearing her throat, Kate offered her assistance. She hesitated for a moment, but Castle was quick to encourage her with an optimistic smile.

* * *

Kate was thoroughly impressed by Richard Castle's cooking abilities, though she had plenty of time to adjust to the idea. They had successfully made the moussaka, roasted some red gold potatoes glazed with a vinaigrette of Castle's, and successfully whipped up a carrot cake batter-extra cinnamon, his tradition-that was now cooling on the counter while they finished mixing Kate's mom's cream cheese frosting.

The doorbell rang, breaking the cooking haze they were in and almost startling them. Castle stopped humming the the music, Kate stopped swaying to the beat, and they both turned towards the door.

"It's too early!" a wide-eyed Kate blurted, wiping her hands on a dishtowel. When she looked at the clock by the sink, though, she realized that between cooking and dancing, their time had most definitely expired.

"It is probably my mother," Castle announced, sharing Kate's disappointment that their alone time had come to an end.

In actuality, Castle was met at the door by Jim Beckett who came bearing a bottle of wine.

"Mr. Beckett," he greeted a little awkwardly, losing his bestselling author façade to be just Rick, facing his girlfriend's father.

"Castle," Jim replied, equally uncomfortable.

"I should, uh," Castle stammered, holding out his hand, letting an uncomfortable silence settle between the two men.

All Jim could say was, "Good idea."

Luckily Kate's somewhat warm greeting to her father broke the awkwardness between the two men. After giving her dad a quick hug, she looked between the two men, wondering why they were even acting so strange. She had a hard time understanding males sometimes, especially during social events or family meetings. Regardless, they were acting strange.

"What's the matter with you?" she hissed at Castle, winning only a frown as a reply.

"Huh?" Castle tried to feign confusion and ignorance. "Nothing. Shall I open the wine?"

"It's Chianti, it tastes better if you open it earlier." Kate shrugged, still studying the two men.

The light pop of the cork filled the silence before a series of short raps at Kate's door.

"My half of the family is here," Castle grinned, shuffling to the door to let the two women in.

Martha breezed past the open door and her son, going straight to Kate and her father. Alexis greeted the occupants of the room with a little less enthusiasm than Martha, but Kate didn't mind it at all. The young woman's subtlety was the balm to Kate's irrational nerves; after Alexis' arms quickly squeezed around Kate's shoulders she felt like she could ease into this family.

"If the smell is of any indication, I'd say that we're going to be pretty full before tonight." Martha smiled, making Kate feel even more relaxed.

"Just wait," Castle said to his mother as he beamed at Kate. "Kate is an amazing cook."

Kate blushed right away and mumbled, "It was a team effort."

"You're too humble, dear," Martha said, waiving Kate's embarrassment off with a graceful flutter of her hand. "Now, Richard, you've talked a big game and all, but where is this delightful meal we are expecting? I'm famished."

With a chuckle at his mother's antics, Castle directed the guests to the living room, where the table had been set so they could eat in a little more space than in the kitchen.

The table was littered with the various dishes they had made. "Everything looks delicious," Alexis said as she sat down. "Much better than the food at the cafeteria."

A chorus of nods was the answer to her statement as they all took their places and unfolded the napkins. With comfortable ease, Castle and Kate begun serving their family the food they had prepared, dishes passed around the table with smiles and sentiments of thanks. The awkwardness Rick and Jim felt at first impact dissipated as quickly as they attacked their food, establishing a male companionship, while the women enjoyed teaming up against the two of them with teasing remarks every chance they got. Alexis charmed Kate's dad and embarrassed her own, much to the chagrin of Kate, and the growing friendship between Kate and Castle's respective parents was easy and evident. The subtle glances Kate and Rick were able to exchange during the dinner were the cherry on top of a perfect meal.

Everything was like before, as it was with her mom-the warmth of the kitchen, the scents of a homemade meal lingering about, and family by her side.

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_**Irene's A/N**__: First of all I have to thank Natalie for coming up with this great idea. Seriously, for those of you who want a challenge, this way of writing is what you need! It's unpredictable and sometimes you're there, waiting for your friend to put up the line, wishing 'Please, write that thing so I can add the awesome line I thought.' And then the line that comes before yours is even better than what you had in your head, or it goes in a direction you've never considered, and you have to adapt. Some days it was easy to think that you'd never find a line to continue the story, others you could write back and forth for hours. It was a challenge, it was intriguing, it definitely kept me on my toes too and I have to say, it taught me to have an open mind, and adapt to what is thrown at you. The process was definitely tricky to figure out at first, but when we started typing, things fell into place in a matter of days. _

_The song that we loosely referred to in the one-shot is Via Con Me by Paolo Conte, which obviously comes from my Italian roots, but you can easily find it on YouTube and it has been used in commercials, so you probably have heard it already. _

_Okay, now that I have rambled about the way we put this together, I hope you can all ramble back at us and say what you think of it. Thank you for stopping by and Happy Easter you all!_


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Castle, Family, Romance