"Dad get up! Your turn to cook breakfast." Alexis called and he immediately woke up groaning. She came to his bedroom door and opened it. "I can only come home every few weekends and this is what you're going to do? Sleep it away" he sat up.

"I'm up." He said rubbing his eyes.

"Come on we're hungry."

"You're twenty one. Make your own breakfast."

"I cooked dinner you have to do breakfast." She threw a blanket at him. "And Johanna's up." She turned and left he groaned again and followed her out.

"How is she up already. I only just put her to bed."

"Where's Kate?" Alexis asked sitting at the counter.

"She got called in on a homicide at four this morning." He ran a hand through his hair and smiled when he saw what else was sitting at the counter. "Hello gorgeous! Look at you all smiley, did your big sister change your nappy?"

"She did not. She said she'd leave you have the honour." He picked up his youngest child and winced at the smell

"Gee thanks. When you heading back."

"Tomorrow. Exams all next week."

"How you se…"

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

He reached out and tried to find his alarm clock.

"Dad get up! Your turn to cook breakfast." Alexis called out. He frowned at the feeling of de-ja-vu.

"Coming." He sighed and swung his legs out of the bed. He walked out to the kitchen and he got a strange feeling in his stomach when he saw that the high chair was no longer attached to the end of the counter. It was just a dream Richard! He scolded himself.

"Morning" Alexis smiled sitting at the counter. He frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing just a bad dream." He ran a hand through his hair and smiled "What shall we have for breakfast?"

"Morning Castle." Beckett said sitting down in her desk chair, looking over at him.

"hmm." He said staring off into space.

"I said good morning. You ok? Late night." She smiled sitting down at her desk.

"Something like that." He muttered. Her face fell slightly, what young blonde had he spent the night with now. "Not what you think though." He continued.

"What did I think?" she tried to cover but he ignored it.

"Have you ever had a dream that felt so real that you are almost convinced that it was real. When you can still see everything so clearly that it feels like things are missing when you wake up, you can distinctly remember smelling every smell…" he was still staring off past her.

"What are you on about! Look I need to do some paperwork before we get another body drop so if you're just going to keep blabbing on I'll have to ask you to move."

"No sorry, I'm done." He shook his head and looked at her. "Can help I?" he stopped shaking his head. "Must still be tired. Can I help?"

"Can you ever?"

"I'm hurt." He feigned offence. "I'll get the coffee." He got up and she watched as he walked towards the espresso machine, wondering what had him acting so strange.

"Castle I am going to kill you." She said through gritted teeth.

"Ah Beckett. You don't mean that."

"At this moment and time I most definitely mean it." she screamed again. "This is all your fault!"

"Takes two Kate. Takes two" he grinned, she opened her mouth to respond but all that came out was a ear piercing scream. "Ok I'm sorry it's all my fault!" he conceded gripping her hand. "Keep going Kate. Keep going." He urged unable to wipe the smile off his face.

"It's a girl!" the doctor said wrapping the small bundle up and placing it in Kate's arms. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face, he pushed her hair off her sweat-covered face.

"A girl Castle." She looked back down at their daughters face.

"Little Johanna." He whispered.

"Johanna Castle." She replied wiping a tear from her face.

"Castle… Castle?" Beckett said kicking the side of the couch to wake him up. He sat up quickly. He had to blink a few times to clear a ringing in his ears, these dreams were really starting to get to him. He smiled when he looked up at her. She had never seemed more beautiful. "Am Castle…" she raised an eyebrow. He shook his head.

"Sorry what."

"Wake up. We're going home." that woke him up.

"We?" she frowned realising her mistake.

"Yes we as in the whole team. We're all going to our own homes." She reiterated.

"Oh right yes of course." He stood up, finding himself very close to her. his hand went out without his telling it too and he pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. It was done before she had time to react. He paused realising what he had done then coughed. "Good night Beckett." He slipped out and walked straight to the elevator without looking back. These dreams had to stop, it was just too real.

"Castle what are we doing…" she whispered running a finger along his collarbone.

"If I have to tell you detective then we definitely shouldn't have done it." he grinned kissing the top of her head. She laughed softly.

"You know what I mean."

"We are doing what we've been running towards for the past four years." He said his hand stroking her back.

"This was stupid." She went to sit up but he didn't let her.

"Now, now Detective don't say that. This was perfect." She looked up into his blue eyes and smiled. He hadn't realised that the expression heart skipped a beat, could actually happen until he looked into her deep eyes at that moment.

He swirled the glass watching the brown liquid as it spun. He needed to sleep. The latest case had been long and hard, and he had a splitting headache and had even gotten sick, but he couldn't go to sleep. The dreams were a constant now. Every time he closed his eyes that life flooded his brain. He couldn't get rid of it, and each time it was becoming more vivid, clearer and stronger. It was interrupting his everyday life, making him dazed and sluggish. He couldn't go to the 12th anymore because he found himself staring at her more then normal, and everyone was beginning to notice. It was getting embarrassing. So he was spending his days in his office, pretending to try to write.

BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ

He looked at his phone to see BECKETT flash across the screen. He smiled before he could stop himself. He picked it up and answered forgoing his usual quip.

"Castle."

"We have a body, you'll like this one. Found outside the stage door of Wicked. Painted green." He sat up straighter. "You want in on this one. I know you've been busy writing but…"

"Be there in ten!" he said hanging up and throwing his drink down the sink.

"I'm telling you theatre fan gone mad, Fieryo tends to be a relatively famous and always good looking actor, these fans can do strange things!"

"You're telling me that someone killed Lindsay because the leading man kissed her on the cheek. Really?" she looked at him sceptically.

"I would put money on it." he nodded turning to her to continue talking but a shot rang out and hit the wall behind him.

"Get down!" Beckett shouted, but the crime scene full of officers were way ahead of her, Ryan and Beckett ran after the shooter as he fired off another few shots. Castle heard Esposito groan and hit the floor, he ran to his side to see blood pumping out of his leg. His brain going into auto pilot he ripped off his belt and wrapped it around his leg, then used his jacket to try and stop the bleeding. The crime scene was on high alert, and making sure someone was watching Javier Castle took off after Beckett and Ryan, he couldn't see them and turned into an alley trying to see them. Suddenly something black came at him from around the corner and he cracked his head off the sidewalk. Blinding pain flashed through him and he slowly lost consciousness.