I own nothing related to Castle, and never have. This is just a little something that popped into my head tonight, that wouldn't let me sleep until it had gotten out. I hope you enjoy, G
I MISSED, AND SHE IS GONE
He'd left Jordan to finish untying herself, at her urging. Somewhere in this warehouse, Kate Beckett was stalking Scott Dunn, and Rick Castle had no doubts that Dunn was also stalking her. He kept the gun Kate had given him raised, being careful to clear each corner, just as he'd observed Kate, Esposito and Ryan do a hundred times.
He was scared. Not for himself, well not so much. He was scared that he'd let her down. "Castle, you're my only backup," she'd said to him before stepping out to face the man who'd been hunting her, the man who'd blown up her apartment. 'By God', he thought, 'I wish I had her courage.'
From somewhere to his left, he heard her voice calling out to Dunn. "No one has to die, here."
His palms were sweating, and he was more nervous than anyone would have guessed, to look at him. He knew he was a good shot. He'd proved that to Beckett on the range, after manipulating her into making a bet that would give him what he wanted. But like he'd told her, "Wouldn't it be harder if they weren't standing still?" He knew that on the range, he could shoot the balls of a fly at twenty paces, but on the range his adrenaline wasn't in overdrive, and his hands weren't shaking out of the fear that his inexperience would lead to Kate getting hurt.
Suddenly there was a gunshot, and the sounds of a struggle. He started moving quicker, toward the noise. He came around the corner just in time to see Dunn slam Kate against the wall, her arms pinned above her. He twisted her gun from her hand and then threw her to the ground. Castle saw her wince when her shoulder absorbed the impact.
She looked up at Dunn, now standing over her, pointing her own pistol down at her. "That's how all my stories end, Detective," Dunn said, "with someone else dead." He took aim at the center of her chest.
"NO!" Castle cried out. Raising his own weapon, he fired. His shot went wide to the right. In his haste, he'd aimed for Dunn's head, instead of his center mass. Dunn smiled, squeezing the trigger. The impact of the bullet slamming into Kate Beckett's chest convulsed her body once, and she lay still. Dunn started to raise the weapon toward Castle, who was unable to move, or even to think.
Two more shots rang out from behind him, and Dunn jerked twice, his hand flexing with the first impact, firing off a wild shot that went into the wall, before he dropped.
And then she was beside him. "Castle, are you alright?" He could only nod. He couldn't find the words. Jordan moved from his side, to Kate, taking a second to kick the gun away from Dunn's outstretched arm. She knelt down next to Beckett, feeling for a pulse. When she looked up, her eyes told him everything he needed to know. She was dead. Kate Beckett was dead, and it was all his fault. The scream that tore itself loose from his throat was a thing of pure agony, "Kaaaaaate!"
He sat bolt upright in his bed, drenched in his own sweat, his eyes rapidly moving, searching the room around him, searching for her body on the floor, for Jordan, for Dunn's corpse. It took a few seconds, but the soft voice in her ear began to register, & the cool touch of her hand on the bare skin of his back. What truly made him realize he'd been having the nightmare again, what truly made him believe she was okay, as always, was her scent, like cherries. He turned toward her, barely able to believe she was okay. She kissed him, pulling her back down beside her. "It's okay Rick," she said. "You didn't miss. I'm here." He pulled her close to him and held her until they both fell back asleep.
Four years had passed since that night in the warehouse, and every year, on the days surrounding that date, March 22nd, he had the nightmare. It was always the same, and the only thing that kept him sane was that she was always there to reassure him, to hold him, to love him. Thank God, he hadn't missed.