What boyfriends are for
He falls asleep some time after dawn.
She doesn't blame him, though. He has been awake for over thirty hours, taking care of her andnow doing her job. She knew that he would collapse eventually, no matter how many times he told her he was used to pulling all nighters.
She stands up from the armchair, holding her blanket, and walks to his desk. His cheek is pressed against the file he was checking when he fell asleep and he is snoring just a bit. Kate smiles to herself, the tips of her fingers softly brushing the hair out of his forehead. His back will probably hurt from sleeping in that position, but she knows that if she wakes him up, he'll refuse to go to bed and start working again, so she just covers him with her blanket.
"Good night, sweetheart" she kisses his head, then takes the files on his desk and goes back to the armchair. She slept almost the entire day yesterday because of the medications and now she's feeling rested enough to go through the files Esposito gave her when she complained about Castle dragging her home from the Precinct.
Kate tries to make herself comfortable, but, to be honest, she's feeling a little cold and missing that blanket. Maybe her fever is back. She scares that thought away shaking her head - there's no such a thing as "too sick to work"! -, but just when she finishes going through one file, her head is heavy and she starts coughing uncontrollably.
Somewhere around the second minute of coughing, she feels something being put on her shoulders and she looks up, the coughs a little less violent know. Castle's standing in front of her, giving her the same look a father would give a daughter who was caught eating candy before lunch.
"What the hell are you doing?" he asks, and Kate knows she's in trouble.
"Well, I was feeling better and you fell asleep, so I thought I'd keep going from where you stopped."
"Kate, you need to rest." he insists, and then his expression and his tone soften. "Please, sweetie, just go to bed."
For a split second, he thinks he's won. Then he sees that glimmer in her eyes that tells him she's still got something to say.
"Okay, but only if you do, too."
They stare at each other for a second, but soon he exhales, giving in. Anything that gets her to rest. Plus, he's tired too and that sounds fair.
"Let's go" he says, getting hold of her as the two of them slowly walk to the bedroom. Halfway there, Kate rests her head on Castle's shoulder.
"Thanks for taking care of me, Rick." she whispers, snuggling in his arms. He kisses her temple before he answers.
"That's what boyfriends are for."
