I had a thought, dear

However scary
About that night
The bugs and the dirt
Why were you digging?
What did you bury
Before those hands pulled me
From the earth?

He's dead. He should be. His last memory was the excruciating pain in his chest. He was shot. And he knew it wasn't just once. He was dead. Of that he is sure.

But why is he awake? He groaned as he tries to sit up.

Dirt. There's dirt below his hand and feet. Okay, so he's sitting on the ground. He tried to look around.

Stones. Gravestones. He's in a cemetery. Why in the world is he laying in the ground of a cemetery.

That's just creepy.

He stands up and brushes off all the dust and dirt piled up on the lower half of his body. Hmm. Weird.

He stands up from where he was sitting. Is that a coffin? He reads the name of the gravestone just above the coffin he came out from.

Richard Castle. April 1, 1973 – June 24, 2009.

Hey, that's him! He's actually dead. Why is he awake? How is he awake?

His first thought was to run. To where or to whom, he doesn't know. He remembers someone who deals with spirit stuffs anyway. Maybe he could help.

Before he can make a move, he was interrupted by quiet sobs. He looked around to find a woman a few feet away from him. How he missed her when he first looked around, he's not sure. She continues to sob and as he takes a few steps towards her, he realizes she'd been digging on the ground with her hands.

He approaches her cautiously.

"Hey there." He greets softly.

Her sobs abruptly stopped and so did her digging. She turned to him and he almost took a step back.

She has bloodshot eyes with wide, dark circles below them. She's got a wound in her forehead but it doesn't look new. She still had tears on her cheeks that she tried to wipe with her soiled hand causing dirt to smear all over it. But despite that, he can see that she's beautiful.

"Are you okay?" He tries again and before he could register it, she's on her feet and had wound her arms around him.

His panic was then replaced by empathy as the woman cries against his chest.

"What happened?" Rick asks after a moment.

"I- I thought I was alone." The woman choked out between sobs.

Confused, he asks again. "What do you mean? What happened?"

It took her a while to answer and when she did, she pulled away from him.

"I woke up here. And I had this pouch in my hand with stones in it and I do not know but somehow I had to bury them all." She explained.

"And that's what you were doing? Burying the stones?" He asked and she nodded.

"Where are they?" He queries once he noticed her empty hand.

"I already buried them all."

His eyes grew wide. "How long have you been digging?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. Days? A week?"

"And what happened? After you buried them?"

"Nothing." She replied as another tear fell down her cheek.

"Then why did you do it? And why are you still digging?" He asked, curiosity now peaked.

"I don't know." She answers before sobbing back on his chest.

He runs a hand on her tangled hair. "What's your name?"

"Kate." She answered between sobs. "My name is Kate."

He lets her cry in his arms without another word.

I will not ask you where you came from
I will not ask and neither should you

"I thought I was alone. T-that I was the only one. I never expected for you to happen." She says after a while, arms still wound around him, looking him in the eye.

She truly is beautiful. And she is so close to him. Her gaze wavers him, makes him feel grounded- real- despite everything that has happened. He feels her move, closing the small gap that remained between them.

"Kate," He tries to stop her because really, what is happening? This should be some sort of a bad dream or something.

"Please." She pleads to him. "I need this."

And when she tries to lean back in, he succumbs to the pull. None of these happenings seemed real. They can't be. But he tries to live in it. Because if this is some twisted way of destiny to lead him away from his obsession with his job, then he'll accept it. Who knows what he can learn?

Honey just put your sweet lips on my lips
We should just kiss like real people do

He takes her hand in his. Her smaller digits fit perfectly between his. He leads her out the cemetery before asking, "Where do you wanna go?"

She shrugged."I don't know anymore."

And somehow he's gotta remedy that. He doesn't know what happened to her. His writer mind always seeks for the story but Kate, she is different. And after what happened, he too, has been different.

"You know I've always wanted to try and become a tourist in this city and visit some sites." He suggests with a grin that he hopes she'll reflect.

And when she did, he's sure that if his heart was still beating, it would've plummeted out his chest.

They both need this.

I knew that look dear
Eyes always seeking
Was there in someone
That dug long ago
So I will not ask you
Why you were creeping
In some sad way I already know

They enter the crowded streets of New York. People pass them without any weird looks. With their look and clothes, he had expected people judging and laughing at them. Although he can't say he's surprised. Too many things don't get noticed by the busy people of New York.

It wasn't until they pass a store with glass panes that he realized why no one noticed them. They don't have a reflection and most likely aren't visible to others.

Maybe it's better. A lot of the tourist spots in the city are already closed at that hour anyway.

So I will not ask you where you came from
I would not ask and neither would you

Honey just put your sweet lips on my lips
We should just kiss like real people do

It's almost morning as they stroll hand in hand on central park. The sun peeks just below the horizons the skyscrapers of the city has created.

"I had a great time." Kate says shyly as she glances at him. "Thank you."

He stops then to look at her. He loves her smile. He cradled her cheek in his hand while the other still held hers.

"Always." He says before pulling her in to meet her smile with his.

I could not ask you where you came from
I could not ask and neither could you

Honey just put your sweet lips on my lips
We could just kiss like real people do

As the darkness fades out, so did they.

His last thought was of her.

He wished it was real.


A/N: So this is kinda my interpretation of Hozier's song Like Real People Do. If you haven't heard it then you should because Hozier is perfect. :P

Also, thanks for reading and I would like to hear your thoughts about this :))

And one more thing! Happy birthday, Stana xo