Alternative ending to the scene where Beckett's apartment is blown up in episode 'Boom,' of Season 2

..

I shiver despite the fact that I have just been in a burning building... My burning building, my apartment... I'm trying not to think about the fact that someone just tried to kill me, but fear sits in my belly, heavy and uncomfortable. The medic is cleaning the cuts on my arms, and I huddle as far into Castle's coat as I can, wishing for the world I was fully clothed, at least I would have a little dignity. I duck my head into the collar of his coat, and I can smell him. Somehow this calms me, just a bit.

"Beckett," it's Castle. "Beckett," he repeats, I turn to look at him. "Are you okay?" He looks nearly as scared as I feel. I grimace.

"All things considered? I'm fine." The medic nods at me, and tells me he can close the doors so I can get changed now, I thank him, and look once more at Castle, he looks lost. Not a look I see very often on his face. "I'm fine Castle." I reassure him.

"Beckett," I'm very fast getting sick of him calling me.

"Yeah Castle?" I answer, hinting at my annoyance.

"Do you want to come and get cleaned up at my place?" I smile at this, he is a thoughtful man underneath is sometimes shallow exterior.

"Thanks Castle, I would rather..." I trail off. "Yeah okay, I'll get changed first." When I finally figure out how to open the doors from the inside, I step out to Castle leaning against the side of the ambulance.

"All set?" He asks, looking a little calmer. I follow him to his car and ignore the trembling in my legs, and the way my heart is racing. Why kill me? I mean, I know he thinks I'm Nikki Heat, but why did this have to happen?

"Mum and Alexis were so worried about you; they will be waiting to see you. Just in warning," he tells me. I smile. It's hard to think of my life without him in it, and I have to admit I have a soft spot for Alexis, and his mother and her eccentricities.

He shows me how to work the shower, and where to find towels. Alexis lends me underwear. I blush at this, having to borrow a bra from a 16 year old. God knows if it would even fit. But with my apartment so badly damaged, there wasn't much salvageable. I slip my hand into my pocket and let the chain holding my mother's ring slide through my fingers.

"Thank you," I tell Castle, he is hovering and fidgeting nervously. I look at our reflection in the bathroom mirror. "I don't need help showering." I tell him, smirking into the mirror. He looks at my reflection for a moment, and then smiles smugly.

"Nice tattoo by the way," he says. My eyes widen in shock he did look. I should be appalled, offended and angry. But I have to bite my lip to stop from laughing. "Old boyfriend...?" He asks, referring to the name I have tattooed on my right hip.

"Wouldn't you like to know..." I tell him mysteriously, turning to him and slapping him playfully on his arm. "Next time I'm in a burning building, naked in a bathtub. No peeking or you won't live to tell the tale." He chuckles, and leaves closing the bathroom door with a click.

Little does he know, Ben was not an ex, as if I would be stupid enough to tattoo a man's name on myself! He was my first love, my first dog, a golden retriever named Ben.

The End.