Knight Light (To Guilder and Back)
This came out of a little fluffy plot bunny that just wouldn't leave my head, so I wrote it down. Thanks Mogie and Jem for the title help!
Disclaimer: If I owned them, this would have really happened and I would be living in LA not NYC.
Richard Castle knew he was a dead man. No, scratch that…Richard Castle knew that he was a dead man if he got caught and that his chances of survival hinged solely on his partner staying asleep. He knew that he shouldn't be standing in the doorway of his guest bedroom watching her sleep but after the past 48 hours he couldn't help it. The terror he had felt watching her apartment explode was nothing compared to what he had felt when he saw her laying dazed on the concrete floor with Dunn's gun pointed at her head. Terror that had decided to revisit him in his sleep, leading him to lurk in the door of his guest room. His nightmare had been so real and vivid that when he awoke he wasn't sure what was reality anymore. He had laid in the dark of his room for a few minutes trying to piece everything together before finally giving in to his impulses to check on her.
So here he stood, hovering in the doorway, knowing that if she awoke Beckett was likely to shoot him on the spot. That didn't stop him however from moving farther into the room. He slowly took in her sleeping form taking inventory of the details he knew would drive his nightmare from his mind. She has obviously fallen asleep reading given the lamp on the bedside table still cast a soft glow over the room and she had an open copy of The Princess Bride in one hand. He couldn't help but smile at her choice of book knowing that it would relax her after the horror of the past week. She was curled up on her side, the book clenched in one hand with the blanket pulled up under her chin. The tension lines that had taken up residence on her face in the past week had melted away and a few strands on renegade hair had fallen across her face as she slept. It was these details that made him realize just how young she looks while sleeping. His gaze was drawn to her chest, and while that wasn't an uncommon occurrence, the reason for it tonight was. He found his eyes trained on her chest watching the rise and fall of it as she breathed. He counted each breath as he reassured himself that she was fine. As he raked his eyes over her form one last time, he frowned when his eyes landed on the healing cut on her forehead. It served as a reminder to what had almost happened. His right hand shakily reached out brushing against the cute before tucking the rogue strands of hair behind her ear. Her could feel the tears prickling at the back of his eyes as he whispered, "I'm so glad you're okay."
As Beckett snuffled in her sleep and repositioned slightly, he retracted his hand as if he had been burned, not wanting to get caught. He stood watching her for a few more minutes, soaking in the fact that she was alive and safe in his apartment. Deciding that he had enough mental images to chase away the nightmares and sleep soundly he reached over to gently tug the book out of her hands. Closing it gently, he placed it on the bedside table and then moved to turn off the lamp. He was nearly successful before he was stopped by the sound of Beckett's voice, "Castle? What are you doing?"
He couldn't mask the small smile that crossed his face at the sleepy quality of her voice or the way that she was owlishly blinking at him, clearly confused at his presence. "You fell asleep with the light on. Thought I would turn it out for you," he quickly replied. He hoped that she wasn't awake enough to A) catch his lie or B) notice the time. He knew that she would have plenty to say is she realized that he was standing in her room at 3AM. She stared sleepily at him for a moment before letting her eyes fall shut as she murmured, "Thanks Castle."
"Don't worry about it. Go back to sleep."
"Mmm, hmm," she barely replied as she burrowed further under the navy comforter on the bed.
He watched her breathing fall back into the deep slow rhythm that indicated she was sleeping. After a few seconds he reached over, turned off the light and left the room quietly shutting the door behind him. He quickly and quietly made his way downstairs to his own room, knowing that once he was there, he would be able to sleep soundly for the rest of the night.