Here is the promised sequel to 10:24:13 PM. You should read that first, otherwise it will make little to no sense to you.

This will be a multichapter story.

Hope you like it.

The ache from Kate's injuries doesn't disappear completely, not even in a month, a lot of Castle's hands touching her and drinking gallons and gallons of coffee.

Kate has thought that going back to the precinct, being able to throw herself into work, was going to help her forget about everything, but those thoughts were quite quickly overridden by the intensity at which Kate has been feeling…things.

Mostly Castle. And his hands. And his mouth whispering into her ear.

These past 4 weeks, Castle has been driving her absolutely mad. She thought it was bad before, when they were still keeping secrets from each other and the guilt haunted her every time she looked at him, but she could still feel that inexplicable connection, that physical draw to him. But now? After the talk in the hospital, Castle has been different.

More determined and more pushy and more touchy. Meaning, he's been touching her whenever he has a chance. His fingers wrapped around her elbow, or his hand on her shoulder, or just his leg pressed against hers. They've always had that boundary – looking but not touching – but Castle's made an end to it.

And oh, Kate's glad he's done it. Because his touch is better than any medicine she could get.

A week after Kate's accident, she was released from the hospital. She went home, of course, but Castle insisted on being there with her most of the time.

So Kate has been feeling a little invaded, but she promised him that she'll try. Without excuses.

The first day she got home was the hardest.

FLASHBACK

"Castle, stop it. I'm not a little baby. I don't need to be watched over 24/7." Castle retracted his hand from her waist and stepped back. The only thing he did was help her get from the bathroom to the couch, seeing as her leg was broken. But she made helping her really hard.

"We have a deal, Kate."

"That deal doesn't include you pestering me like a little child. I can take care of myself."

"You broke your leg, goddamnit. You still need help."

"Not all the freaking time. I go to the bathroom and you're there. I go to the kitchen and you're there. You're everywhere and I feel like I'm suffocating, Rick." The use of his first name hit Castle right into the chest. She's only ever called him 'Rick' when she was mad.

"What is your problem? I told you that I was going to be here to help you. You think it's fun for me to watch you in pain?"

"Castle –"

"You promised you will try. And that we'll do this together. There is no other way to start doing that than this."

Kate shut up. She couldn't for the hell of it understand why he was so eager to be helping her. It's not like she was shot and… Oh.

Oh.

"Is this about last summer?" she asked him timidly. Castle's eyes widened and he scrubbed a hand down his face.

"Look, Kate –"

"You said yourself that we have to be honest with each other. This is the time to be honest with me, Rick."

"I don't know if you can handle it."

"Handle what?"

"My emotions. My thoughts. You get scared whenever things get serious and I don't want you to run." Kate couldn't quite decide if she wanted to hit him for suggesting that she's a coward (not like she isn't, right…) or if she wanted to just tell him to go and never come back. But both of those would kind of mean the end of their relationship, and she didn't want them.

(The first one could still work, though. She was pissed as hell.)

"It's not like I can run now. My leg's broken, if you haven't noticed," she joked instead, but Castle's eyes clouded over.

"We should probably go sit on the couch for this then. You shouldn't be standing that long anyway."

So he helped her back to the living room and she situated herself on the couch. Castle sat himself a few feet away from her, and she felt the coldness around her body. He was too far away from her.

"Yes. It is about your shooting." Kate exhaled shakily.

"I thought so."

"When you… When you told me you'd call me and that you needed time, all I could think about was, 'I want to help her get better, I need to help her get better', but you shut me out completely, Kate. I didn't know how you were doing, if you hurt, where it hurt, how much help you needed. I called your dad once, and he told me it's best if I don't see you like this. Broken and hurting. I begged him to tell me where you are, but he said no. He said he needed to respect your wishes. So I did, too. But it hurt when you didn't call even once, Kate. It hurt like hell." They were silent for a few seconds and the only thing they could hear was the sound of car honks and sirens from the New York streets.

"You called my dad?" Rick huffed. "That's all you have to say?"

"No. Not all. Just one of the things. Castle, I didn't know. I didn't know you were hurting, too. And I am sorry. I truly am. I only ever wanted to be good enough for you." Castle smiled sadly and told her quietly, "Kate, you were always perfect to me. Even when broken and hurting, you'll always be perfect to me."

"I can't understand that. How can you be like this when all I've ever done was hurt you?"

"Nothing makes me sadder than you. But nothing makes me as happy as you. Alexis excluded." Kate smiled.

"I'm sorry. Again. I'll say it a thousand times if needed, Castle."

"You don't have to. It's not okay what you did, but we're here now. And we're moving forward. That's enough for me," he told her sincerely, then took one of her hands in his. Kate intertwined their fingers as best as she could and squeezed. He squeezed back.

"For me too."

First day home was like that. Castle left at 10 PM, when she went to sleep, tucked her in and kissed her forehead , her nose, and made her chuckle.

They had that same routine for 10 days, and then Kate insisted she was okay to be moving around on her own. Castle admitted that she was making progress, physically and emotionally, and he left. But what Kate felt after he walked through the door, was emptiness. And she was lonely.

Seeing as I decided to put emotional stuff in each chapter, I kind of separated this first one, so you wouldn't get overwhelmed, because sometimes my dialogues are hard to process, especially if the characters are being emotional.

Stick with me on this story, though. It'll be a fun adventure. :)

Ariela