Title: Last Kiss
Summary: Based around lyrics to the Pearl Jam song 'Last Kiss', There is a car accident, and whoever is left has to deal with the aftermath. Established relationship (Caskett). One-shot.
Rating: M - Character death, angst
Disclaimer: The usual, sadly. Also, I don't own Pearl Jam either. Bugger.
Author's Note: Don't bother reading this if you don't like heavy, depressing angst galore, with a dash of fluffy goodness. I had some more stuff I needed to get off my chest, and this one pretty much wrote itself. I have loved that song for ages, it always chokes me up. I have no idea where the end came from.
NevynR
Oh, where oh where can my baby be?
The Lord took her away from me
She's gone to heaven, so I got to be good
So I can see my baby when I leave this world.
We were out on a date in my daddy's car
We hadn't driven very far
There in the road, up straight ahead
A car was stalled, the engine was dead
I couldn't stop, so I swerved to the right
I'll never forget the sound that night
The screamin' tires, the bustin' glass
The painful scream that I heard last.
Kate stopped the car at the red light, windscreen wipers going flat out. Barely making a dent in the torrent of water pouring down the glass, they might as well have been off. In the passenger seat, Castle slipped his phone away as he glanced over at his wife of three months, admiring the way the headlights from the cars crossing the intersection lit her face. Her hair left loose and slightly curled, the ends brushed her bare shoulders, drawing his attention to the elegant length of her neck, and he only just resisted the temptation to lean over and nibble on it. Gone midnight, they were on their way home from a perfect evening out: a Broadway show, followed by a light Italian dinner and dancing.
Seeing the light turn green, Kate slipped the car into gear and moved off. Halfway across the intersection, Castle's unashamed admiration for his wife was cut short as he saw the oncoming lights of another car.
"Kate! Look out!" His cry was cut off abruptly as the other car slammed into them, tyres skidding on the wet asphalt. The impact of the car to the drivers' side door rolled them, the car spinning on its roof across the intersection before careening into the traffic lights. The constant blaring of a horn pulled Rick from the blackness as his vision swam. Shaking broken glass from his hair, he ran his hand across his forehead, wondering why everything was still upside down. Realising the car was on its roof, and he was still belted in, he hit the buckle and fell out of his seat. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear the steady trickle of blood from his eyes as spikes of pain lanced through his head, blurring his vision.
"Kate…?" He asked, trying to crawl over to her motionless body still being held onto her seat by her seatbelt. "Kate? Honey? Wake up, Kate!" his called to her as he shook her, trying to reach her seatbelt clip. Hitting the button, he caught her as she fell limply into his arms. The change of position jolting her awake, she opened her eyes and stared at him dazedly.
"Rick?"
"Yeah, hun. I'm here, are you ok?" He asked, brushing blood and broken glass from her features.
"It hurts, Rick. It hurts everywhere…" Slurring her words, she tried to focus on his face, his features blurry.
"We need to get out of the car, Kate… Can you move at all?" Worried, he ignored the pounding of his own head and the pain in his ribs and shoulder as he ran his fingers over Kate's scalp, feeling for bumps. Horrified, he withdrew his hands from her hair, covered in blood. Her face leeched of all colour in the semi-darkness, she shivered in his arms.
"Can't move… It's cold, Rick… Hold me, please?" An icy chill settling into his gut, Castle wrapped his arms around his wife and stroked her hair, sharing whatever warmth he had. She shivered as her eyes slid closed, whispering "Love you, Rick… Always."
Oh, where oh where can my baby be?
The Lord took her away from me
She's gone to heaven, so I got to be good
So I can see my baby when I leave this world.
When I woke up, the rain was pourin' down
There were people standing all around
Something warm rollin' through my eyes
But somehow I found my baby that night
I lifted her head, she looked at me and said
"Hold me darling just a little while."
I held her close, I kissed her our last kiss
I found the love that I knew I would miss
But now she's gone, even though I hold her tight
I lost my love, my life that night.
Richard Castle swallowed the last of his glass of brandy, feeling the familiar burn as it made its way down. Absently, his gaze trailed over the back of his hand, seeing the wrinkles, the age spots, and the prominent tendons. The sparkle of his wedding band caught his eyes, and a single tear rolled down his cheek.
"I miss you, Katie, every damned day…" He sighed as memories of her chased each other around his mind, the crisp recall of his younger days long gone, the memories had grown hazy with the passing of time. "You've been gone fifty years today, you know that?" He addressed the empty study, the fire crackling in the darkness, keeping the chill at bay. "I miss you just as much now as I did back then, you know? You'd be proud of the kids though… Alexis tells me their eldest goes off to college soon, going to be a lawyer, apparently. She says little Alex is a handful, spends all his time chasing Jo around the house…" His words faded off as his mind drifted again, his eyes closing slowly. A long sigh passed his lips, and his chest stilled. The crackling of the fire in the grate the only noise in the room, Richard swore he caught the unmistakable scent of cherries in the air. Opening his eyes, he scanned the room, the detail on the books sharper now than it had been for years. He sat forward, and stood up, and the aches of his weary bones didn't trouble him as he saw the face of the woman standing behind him. Lit by an ethereal glow, she stood before him as he remembered: auburn hair falling in soft curls to her shoulders, emerald eyes sparkling in the firelight, her face full of love.
She held her arms out to him, and in the back of his mind, he noted the shell he left behind in the chair, head forward and still. Wrapping his arms around her, he stood straight and tall once more, whole in body and soul for the first time in half a century. Breathing in her scent, he gazed into her eyes, whispering.
"Oh, Kate, it's been so long… You waited for me for so long…" Tenderly, she ran one hand through his hair, cupping his jaw. Placing a gentle kiss on his lips, she brushed the tears from his cheeks.
"Always, love. We have forever together, now." Lacing her fingers with his, she lead him out of the study, and into the white perfection that lay through the doorway, happy, whole, and together at last.
Oh, where oh where can my baby be?
The Lord took her away from me
She's gone to heaven, so I got to be good
So I can see my baby when I leave this world.
Finis