Ok, so this 'story' is going to be a collection of one shot Castle/Beckett fics, with each chapter being a different fanfiction. Hope you enjoy and thanks for reading!

One Shot

One shot.

One bullet.

One choice.

One moment.

One life.

One shot is all it takes to shatter someone's world, to change someone life, to make everything different.

One shot killed Dick Coonan. One bullet hit Katherine Beckett in the chest. One choice led her to pull the trigger, killing the man behind the murders of Johanna Beckett and Roy Montgomery. One moment later and Castle is wrapping his arms around her as she falls to the ground and she is letting him. She's even pulling him closer. One life freed from the chains that had held it down for so long. And six months later, just when the dust had started to settle, one shot, gone astray, hits the man that Kate Beckett was finally allowing herself to love.

Sitting in the hospital waiting room she knows he's going to be fine. Logically Kate knew that the author, her author, who was lying in surgery with a bullet in his leg, was going to make it. There would be confinement to bed, and probably some time in a wheelchair, and then crutches during physical therapy, and then walking just fine, even running. Knowing Castle he would invent some sort of wheelchair games to keep himself occupied, the thought of which make Beckett smile despite the situation. There would also be the task of keeping him out of the field with her until the physical therapist gave him the OK.

But none of that was the problem. None of that was the reason why Kate's head whipped around to find the source of every loud noise, why her heart rate picked up just a bit at every slam or bang of a door.

The problem was that it had been almost six months since she had shot the man who hired Coonan to kill her mother and things had been going back to normal. Or as normal as they were going to get. She had finally let Castle break down the last of her walls and allowed him to step over the rubble. That day…she didn't like to think about it, but that one day, hell that one instant when she had pulled the trigger had changed so much. She couldn't pull her mind back as it drifted to what happened right after the bullet left her gun.

She had pulled the trigger and then just stood there. Ryan and Esposito had been standing next to her, and Castle had been right behind them. Her gun went off and everything was silent for a minute. Ryan went to check for a pulse and Esposito simply stood there, staring at the body. But the aftermath had been lost on Kate, who had felt a surge of emotion after seeing the shake of Ryan's head. It was over. Her mind was a fog except for that one phrase. It's over. Then all of a sudden she saw the faces of her mom and her dad and Montgomery swimming in front of her eyes and the emotion that she had gotten so good at holding back surged forward and broke through her barriers. The floor came rushing towards her but she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her just in time to lower her gently the rest of the way. Her breathing game in gasps as their lungs tried to fill themselves around the rush of tears. Normally she would care that everyone was seeing her have some sort of meltdown but not today. The walls she had spent so many years building up were crumbling to dust and something that had been hiding behind them was spreading its wings and trying to fly. Through the white noise in her mind she could hear Castle talking to her, saying her name. She could feel him holding her, keeping her from hitting the ground but being careful, not knowing if she wanted him there or not.

Though the tears still flowed freely her breathing began to return to normal and she managed to find Ricks face through the blurriness. It was all she could do to wrap her arms around him. Of course she wanted him there. She realized now that she had wanted him there for a long time, that she needed him there. Who else would know what this meant to her? Who else would be there to help her pick up the pieces? Who else had been there all along?

Kate was pulled back to the present when someone walked by just a little too close. Now, six months after everything she had begun to feel safe again. With the help of her therapist and with Castle by her side she had loosened all the ropes that had been keeping her tied to the ground and she was soaring. She still had nightmares, and she still got feelings of being insecure, but it was getting so much better. Castle had been improving too. She hadn't realized before then how much of what happened to her affected him as well. It was nothing short of miraculous that they had survived the ordeal and come out of it stronger and together.

But now this. He had been shot and she couldn't help but blame herself, at least in part. He was going to be fine but that wasn't the point. The point was they were supposed to be safe now. Well, as safe as she could get being a homicide detective. And he wasn't even supposed to be in the line of fire. He had refused to stay in the car, yet again, and now he was lying on an emergency room operating table.

Kate put her head in her hands and tried taking deep breaths around the paranoia that was surfacing. Someone walked by again, but this time the shoes stopped right in front of her. She picked her head up quickly, eyes wide. A nurse in light blue scrubs was standing in front of her.

"You're waiting for Mr. Castle right?"

Kate simply nodded.

"Well he made it out of surgery fine. There should be no lasting damage to his leg. With enough time and physical therapy he will be as good as new."

Kate let out a long shaky breath she didn't know she had been holding. "Thanks. Um, when can I see him?"

"He's still asleep but the anesthesia should be wearing off soon I you want to go into his room and wait."

"Yes, please." Kate said, standing up and following the nurse through a set of double doors and down a hallway. They stopped halfway down and the nurse pointed to a door on the right. Kate thanked her and opened the door slowly, not sure exactly what she was going to find on the other side.

Turns out she really shouldn't have been worrying too much. Castle was sitting up in his bed, looking groggy and pale, but more like himself than she thought he would. "Hey, Castle." She said tentatively.

"Aww Kate, you came to see me."

Oh good, they had him on pain medication. She sighed and took a few steps closer to where she could reach out and take his hand in hers. "Of course I came Rick, you got shot. Do you really think I would go anywhere else?"

"You never know, could have gotten a case while I was out. How long was I out? What day is it?"

Beckett couldn't help but roll her eyes. "You've only been out for about four hours. The bullet went right though so it was a clean wound at least."

"That's good." He said with a sigh, resting his head back against the pillow. Apparently talking this much was taking a toll on him.

Kate leaned down and pressed her lips gently to his. "At least if you're in the hospital for a few days it will give me time to do all the paperwork you caused by getting yourself shot." She said with a smirk. Hopefully his sense of humor was still intact.

Rick scowled for a moment. "I come across as manly and heroic in your report right?" He said, returning her smile.

"Heroic? Please, you got hit with a stray bullet, you weren't fighting off a dozen masked gunman. And if you had stayed in the car we wouldn't be here at all."

"Staying in the car is neither manly nor heroic. Plus I've been following you around for over four years now and this is the first time I've gotten shot. I'd say that gives me a pretty good track record."

"I suppose." Beckett said with a huff. "CSU is going to have a field day with that crime scene though, you sure do bleed a lot."

Suddenly Castle's eyes lit up. "Please tell me CSU gave the bullet to Lanie, I want it when she's done."

Kate's eyes got huge. "What? Why?"

"What do you mean why? That's the first time I've ever gotten shot. I wanna get that thing framed."

Oh god, she should have known. "Castle you are not framing a piece of evidence."

"But I need proof of my heroic deeds. What if nobody believes me?"

Kate feels a slight pang in her chest where her own scar is. He doesn't think people will believe him? That's what this is about? "Castle you don't need people to believe you that you got shot. And you can always just show them your scar."

He made what sounded like a laughing noise. "Please, scars only work on the ladies I'm taking my pants off for, and there aren't too many of those anymore." He said with a smirk.

Beckett rolled her eyes and leaned down towards him, her eyes darkening and her voice lowering. "Richard Castle if I catch you taking your pants off for anyone but me I'll shoot you myself."

Castle was about to respond but found his mouth occupied by Kate's, her lips pressing against his in a searing kiss that betrayed more than just the lust that had been in her voice.

He kissed her back, attempting to put just as much emotion into it. As she broke away he felt himself getting tired again, being pulled back into sleep by the medication dripping into his veins. But before sleep consumed him he saw the love and devotion in her eyes, and knew that they could overcome whatever lay ahead and come out on the other side together and stronger than ever.

Ok so, not one of my better works (in my opinion) but i hope some of you enjoyed it. Reviews are always loved and appreciated soooo much :D