Drip.
Drip.
There was blood all over the crime scene.
Nightmares spared no one, not even New York's finest. And with a job like theirs, they were at greatest risk for unquiet nights.
It was a typical nightmare, really.
He had been called out to a crime scene. Triple homicide, the detective on the other line said. He'd found it surprising that it hadn't been Beckett calling, but once in a while, when they couldn't get through her, he would be the next person to be called.
He'd walked to the scene, not expecting anything out of the ordinary. Three dead bodies, with Castle, Beckett and Kevin standing over them, waiting for Lanie to give them a cause of death.
Only, this time it was different.
The bodies in front of him weren't those of nameless, faceless, generic New Yorkers he saw every day. This time, the three bodies were those of people he knew well.
Castle (gunshot to the head, his mind thought detachedly); Beckett (stab wound all over her body. Her death had been slow) and the one that finally broke through the stoic mask he'd put up when he noticed his friends lying dead on a street corner.
Kevin.
Kevin Ryan, his best friend, the man he was in love with, was the third body. And by the looks of it, he'd been tortured to death.
The blood – his blood – was all over the scene, still wet and dripping.
Drip.
Drip.
He couldn't- he had to get out of here – this couldn't be happening – not Kev –
That was when he woke up, screaming his lungs out, with tears streaming down his face.
"Javi?" The concerned voice of his boyfriend calmed him down a little.
Kev was right here, by his side. He wasn't dead.
"I'm fine," he forced out, wiping his eyes and turning to face Kevin. "Just a nightmare."
"Are you sure?" Kevin asked, still sounding concerned.
"Yeah. Go back to sleep, Kev."
"If you insist," Kevin said, sounding doubtful, but knowing that pushing the matter right now would not get him anywhere.
Instead of rolling around and going back to sleep, Kevin wrapped himself around Javier like a limpet before closing his eyes. Javi wouldn't want any sort of concern from right now, not when the nightmare was still fresh in his mind, but he could offer reassurance that he was right there. The thing was Kevin knew his partner very well. And he knew that the only thing that could make Javi scream and cry out like that was the thought of Kevin, dead.
There would always be nightmares. Not only for Javier, but for Kevin too. Their jobs and the things they saw because of it ensured that. But when the nightmares came, when their jobs affected them a bit too much, they would always have the other one by their side, ready to pull them out from the void of darkness that threatened to consume them, to reassure them that they were safe.
No matter what, they would always have each other.
So, this is my first ever Castle fic. R&R please and let me know how I did? Concrit is always welcome :)