AN: I am not abandoning "Hearts that we knew", but I can't continue that one until my laptop is back (ugh) so here something new. I have no idea if anyone likes it, but I couldn't get the idea out of my head. I've never written AU like this before and always shied away from it before, but here goes. (I don't own Castle blablaetc.)

Blood. It always started with blood. The scent penetrating through the haze, almost seeming real. Then there was grass, a landing on the grass between graves. It was poetic, but it always scared her at the same time. There was chaos and within were faces of people. People that looked like strangers, but felt like friends. And then there was him. Bowing over her, hands at her back, stroking over her face, desperately seeking her eyes, begging her while looking for her heartbeat. Then there were words, words that rended her heart from some deep place inside her where she always felt hollow.
"Kate, I love you. I love you Kate."

Kate woke up with her name still on the stranger's tongue. Or so it seemed at least. So very real that she could feel the burning of the bullet physically in her chest. So real that, even though it was a dream, the images stayed burned inside her head. So real that sometimes, very rarely, she found herself looking for the man in her dreams. The man that kept returning every time she closed her eyes. It was always fractured. Scenes from a story that was never told. Her lying in his arms, freezing to death. Her kissing him. Her drowing in a car alongside him. He had taken up every night of her life. She couldn't even remember when he first started appearing. He had just been there. Always. He had always been there. The man of her dreams, and she didn't even know his name.

"Katie?" She groaned at her name sounding on the tongue of a very different man. Namely her boyfriend Peter's. She had completely forgotten about him staying over. Oddly the man in her dreams seemed to take up more time than he did. She decided that it was no use dwelling on the man of her dreams, when her very real boyfriend was standing right in front of her. She pushed herself upon her elbows and blinked against the lights. "You know I was really comfortable." She feigned annoyance and Peter simply grinned at her. Her face lit up as soon as she smelled the scent of coffee. She had always loved coffee. It tasted almost like fond memories, if that made any sense at all. She carefully took a sip of her coffee and moaned softly at the taste. "Breakfast in bed. What did I do to deserve this?" She joked, reaching for a croissant and her boyfriend grinned. He bent over and placed a kiss on her mouth, blocking the croissant's intended path. "Do you need to ask?" His voice was bordering on husky and she giggled.

"Hmm." She moaned and softly kissed him back. "You wouldn't be the first one to want something from me lately." She arched her eyebrow and tried to keep a straight face.
"Ah, tough case I get it?" Peter tried to chase her lips but Kate quickly took another sip of her coffee before she wouldn't get any coffee this morning.
"Yeah." She mumbled between sips. "It's just a mess at the office right now. The case is an absolute maze. I don't think even my client understands it." She caught a smirk on Peters face and kicked him affectionately from under the covers. He mewled and feigned hurt, lifting up his hands in surrender.
"Hey, I didn't say anything."

She pursed her lips in answer and put down her empty coffee cup. Before she could say anymore Peter leaned towards her and tried to capture the taste of coffee on her lips before it disappeared. "But it's your own fault. You said you like the weird ones."
"Hmm… Probably why I like you then." She grinned against his lips and flipped them over. The croissant was left untouched and fell to the floor, but she couldn't be bothered with even noticing while her lips were now claiming his. Peter's hands quickly trailed over her endless legs, pushing up her sleep shirt and writing nonsense on her skin. His lips were torturously slowly mapping out her face and neck and she was just about to scold him for teasing her when her phone buzzed on the nightstand.
"Let it go to voicemail." Peter mumbled against her ear, his hands trailing up, torturously close to where she wanted them. For a moment she considered ignoring the phone and letting him have his way with her, but she really needed this case to be a success or she was done. Peter made a sound of protest at her sudden movement and she threw a lidded gaze at him. "Like I said, you're not the only one that needs me today." He muttered a small protest against her skin and started slowly trailing his fingers over her body again. Kate blindly picked up the phone and threw him a dangerous look that made Peter feel both aroused and very, very uncomfortable. Teasing Kate usually wasn't a good idea. Luckily he didn't mind payback in the least. She trailed the fingers of her free hand over his thigh and he almost choked on his breath when she greeted the person on the other end of the line.

"Hello mom."

Love it? Hate it? Should I continue?