Chapter One
Wandering
Kate crossed her arms, hunching her shoulders against the cool, incessant rain as she walked the dark streets. She vaguely wondered how late it was. She was so wrapped in her thoughts that she was completely unaware of the time or her surroundings. She stopped and pulled out her phone, heedless of the small drops splattering on the illuminated screen. She was shocked to see it was only 9:37. It seemed much later. Wiping the wet hair out of her eyes, she looked around, searching for a clue to where she was.
She recognized the area immediately. She was only a block from his loft. She should have been surprised, but she wasn't. Of course she was headed there. Where else would she go? She looked back down at the phone in her hand, and pulled up his number. Not giving herself time to second guess herself, she hit 'talk' and waited anxiously for him to pick up. She swallowed the sudden lump in her throat when the call went to voicemail. She tried to convince herself that he was in the shower, or just away from his phone, but instinctually she knew better. She started walking again, quicker now, until she was almost running, suddenly desperate to reach him.
Several minutes later, she was standing in the hallway outside of his loft. She was wet, sore and physically and mentally exhausted. She should be home right now getting out of a hot shower and crawling under the covers of her own bed. She should not be standing outside of Castle's door dripping wet when he didn't even want to see her. But what she should be doing didn't matter. Going home wasn't an option. Being anywhere but here wasn't an option. Everything in her needed to be with him. Now. She raised her fist and knocked on the door.
His stomach knotted painfully when his phone rang and her smiling picture appeared on the small screen. He didn't hesitate to turn it off. He had already had the argument with himself and knew that he couldn't do half way with her anymore. If he did, he would never walk away. It hurt more than he would admit, but not as bad as sitting around watching her destroy herself. He turned and grabbed the remote, pulling her image up on his big screen. Sadly he slid his finger across the smooth surface dumping her entire file into the cyber trash. Done. Over.
He groaned inwardly at the knock at the door. Could this day get any longer? he thought wearily as he slowly walked towards the door. He had watched his baby graduate today and was still raw from losing the woman he loved. He wanted nothing more than to drown his sorrows in a glass of scotch and go to bed. He was so weary that he didn't even think to wonder who would be at his door in the middle of a thunderstorm. He opened the door and froze.