Hermit

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle…unfortunately.

Kate had contemplated becoming a hermit so many times before, but the shooting gave her a reason. She holed herself up in her father's cabin for three months. She didn't call anyone and cut off all interaction with Castle, something that she knew she would regret in the near future. She didn't care though. Kate needed the time to recover from her injuries both mental and physical, and couldn't do it in the presence of anyone but herself.

The days counting down to when she had to return to work were agonizing. All Kate wanted to do was lay in bed and not feel. She wanted to be numb forever, for she feared that if she opened herself to the emotions, the emotions would overwhelm her. The anxiety would consume her and make her incapable of doing her job well and she would never find the person behind her mother's death.

The day Kate had to return to work arrived. She woke up early, as usual these days, and sluggishly got ready for work. She caught the train to the precinct, not wanting to drive because of her nervousness, and arrived at work to a crowd of people. They applauded, making Kate want to crawl back into her little hole, but she disregarded the feeling and kept walking. As her coworkers hugged her and welcomed her back, Kate's attitude changed. She was a part of a wonderful team that did heroic things, things that she wanted to be a part of again.

The accomplishment of walking into the bullpen took a lot of courage, but Kate did it. It was important because the desire to become a hermit disappeared. She regained the motivation to become a person again, not just a shell of who she once was. The only thing that was missing was Castle, but she would win him over again, she had to.