[text] I was not made aware that Egyptians invented condoms. That's...interesting to say the least. I was just under the assumption of it being a more modern concept and invention.
[text] I was aware that is a slur but did not know of those origins. It was taught to the modern society about the Romani / Roma usages of the slur.
[text] Do you know what the calculation of that is for other planets? In comparison to a planet like Jupiter or Saturn.
[text] There's been a handful of articles about me being a "Scorpio". I will call hocus pocus on it. However, I am a man who has an appreciation of stability and consistency.
[text] But you can just direct that to my history and upbringing. I do wonder why you feel you don't believe in that though.
I know I said I'd let you guys decide for yourselves whether the kitten stays or goes... Their new, little kitten friend wouldn't leave my head though.
"You know," Castle says slowly while they sit in idle traffic and she stoically tries to keep her eyes from roving onto the kitten, "maybe little Pepper here just ran away."
She frowns. There are so many things wrong with what he just said, but the first thing that comes out of her mouth is, "Pepper? You're calling it Pepper?"
"Yes, it's ironic. And, you know, I thought we'd agreed that Pepper here is a little lady kitten."
"We didn't agree anything."
"Fine, I agreed with Pepper here that she's a lady cat just like Marie and Duchess."
She rolls her eyes, not even surprised that he's seen The Aristocats enough times to remember the character names. A car somewhere behind them honks their horn, complaining about the stationary traffic and sending the kitten flying into the air with fright.
"Oh, Pepper, it's okay. Just a noisy car," Castle says softly, soothingly.
"Castle," Beckett practically growled, bringing a fearful noise out of their car companion. "You can't name the cat because you're not keeping the cat."
He pouts at her, never letting up in his stroking of Pepper.
"So what are you going to tell Mrs Niedermeyer when she asks how you found her cat?"
"It stowed away in my cruiser."
This time it's Castle who snorts. "Tchyeah, because little Pepper here could totally have jumped into your trunk while you had it open for your vest without us noticing."
"I'll come up with something," she insists. Really, it's not like it's hard to explain how you found someone else's pet. They go missing all the time.
Castle is smirking as she walks back down the drive and climbs into her side of the car, still holding the kitten in her arms despite her strong intentions to hand it back into Mrs Niedermeyer.
"Shut up," she mutters, handing off the kitten to him so she can draw her seatbelt around her and start the engine.
"What happened to just giving Pepper back and saying she 'stowed away'?"
"That thing really does have the eye trick down."
As she steps through the front door, she calls out. "Castle, I'm back." Her husband doesn't answer however. The only presence that makes itself known is the white feline that walks a figure eight through her legs, rubbing her head against her dress-pants and likely covering them in a zillion strands of hair.
Squatting, Kate runs her hand down Pepper's back, from head to the very tip of her tail, chuckling to herself as their aging cat purrs and stretches contentedly.
"Where's Castle, hey? Come on, Peps, you can help me find him."
Scooping the pet into her arms, Kate abandons her keys in the entryway and heads straight for her husband's office.
"So you are here," she murmurs softly as soon as she's in the doorway, able to see him working away at his laptop.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, I'm here. Just working on a couple of reviews for those books Gina sent round from Black Pawn."
Kate nods and comes to stand beside him. As he usually does when she comes near, he draws his fingers away from the keyboard and instead toys with the hem of her blouse, fingers occasionally sliding underneath the cotton and stroking across the soft skin of the small of her back. Wanting to reciprocate the affection, Kate lets Pepper down onto the surface of his desk-
"-Oh, no," Castle exclaims, "don't do that-"
But it's too late. Their strong-willed cat has already stalked across the desktop and curled up on top of his laptop keyboard, daring them with flashing eyes to protest.
Castle sighs. "I just had to throw her out of here because she refused to stop trying to do that."
Kate pats his shoulder and laughs. "You're the one who wanted to keep the kitten, remember, Castle?"
