Beckett let out a soft oomph as she landed on the cold grass, pressed down into the ground under Castle's weight. "Castle what the hell are you doing!" she asked, shoving him off of her and starting to rise to her feet. Castle didn't respond, instead brutally pulling on her left arm, forcing her back to the ground and laying over her, no explanation. The screams from the funeral attendees filtered into Kate's subconscious, focusing in on one word "shooter." Confused, she picked up a bit of wood in Castle's hair and stared at it, bewildered. It felt like hours later, pressed into the ground by the unfamiliar weight of Castle's body, staring at that piece of wood, when Ryan came running up "are you OK? Are you hurt?"
"I'm..." she groaned, rolling Castle off of her to scramble to her feet, "fine. Just...what happened?"
"Shooter. Castle knocked you down just in time, bullet hit the tree behind you."
She glanced over at the tree trunk, taking note of the bullet sized hole, and looked down at Castle. His eyes roving carefully and without discretion over her body from head to toe, his eyes filled with concern and fear, not a trace of the lust and affection she was used to finding when she caught him staring at her. She extended her hand to help him up from the ground. "Yeah I got the knocking me down part."
"I..." Castle stuttered, still eyeing her, clearly resisting the urge to reach out and touch her, confrm that she was in fact OK.
"Castle I'm fine. Thanks to you." She smiled softly at him and extended her hand, pulling another piece of splintered tree from his hair. "This is totally going to end up in your next book isn't it," she joked lightly. He smiled slightly in response, still staring at her dazedly, unable to formulate any coherent thought beyond "she's ok she's alive she's ok"
Javier came up to them. "He's in the wind. We've got every cop in the city looking for him. Now you're going home and we're there until we find this guy. I hope your couch is comfortable."
"You are not," she started indignantly before Ryan cut her off. 'Don't even try to finish that sentence Beckett, just get in the car and drive. We'll be right behind you"
Castle shook his head bringing himself back to the present, "Come to my house. It's a secure building, I've got plenty of space and trust me the couches are much more comfortable than the one at Beckett's." All three men turned and looked at her expectantly. She nodded her consent.