She can't seem to shake the coldness from her bones. Even as she sits at his piano, drapped in his mother's warm fur shaw, she can still feel the cold clinging to her skin. Defeated by the events of the night and by the man on her computer screen, she gives in and takes Castle's hand after he asks her to go to bed with him, leading them into the bedroom.
Already dressed in her pajamas, Kate slips out of the furry warmth of the shaw and slips under the covers, immediately using the duvet to cocoon herself. Castle quietly slips in beside her, lifts the blanket up so that he can press his body into hers-transfering some heat to her, and she accepts. He does his best to tuck the blanket in around her and then holds her close to his chest. She's pretty much in a ball against him. Her legs are curled up, knees pressing into his stomach, her face burried in the crook of his neck. She still feels chilled, but she isn't shaking as much as she was.
The silence becomes too much for Kate, it's almost worse as the seemingly perminant coldness surrounding her. She shifts her head so that she's looking up at Castle. His eyes are still open, starring at the wall on the other side of the room, he looks lost in thought. When he feels her move, he looks down. Even in the darkness, he can see her looking at him. His eyes roam her face, taking in the bloody scratches that arch over her eyebrows and down her cheek. It breaks his heart all over again, thinking about what she went through. She hasn't told him the full story, and he won't push her. All he knows is that she was mercifully dunked in ice cold water for hours.
She fists her hands in his night shirt, as if she's trying to pull her to him, trying to get even closer to him. He brings his free arm from under the covers and brushes stray pieces of hair behind her ear. Her hair is fully dry now, it's a mess of floppy curls all over her head.
"Rick?" She whispers into his neck.
He swipes his thumb over her cheek in response, burrowing down to where they're now face to face, and he rests his forehead against hers.
"Yeah, Kate? I'm here," He answers softly. There's a rasp in her voice, as if she's holding back tears, and Castle can tell that after being emotonally strong all day, she's about to break.
She unclenches her hand from his shirt, and pushes him on his back and climbs on top of him. Her body flatens out against him, and she wraps her arms around his neck. He rests his hands on her hips, and then lightly runs them up and down her sides before bringing them to lock around her back, holding her to him.
"It's okay, Kate. Let it out, I've got you."
He feels hot tears hit his skin, one drop after another. Her body tenses on top of his and he can feel her taking deep breaths. Eventually she let's it all go, her body seizing in full sobs, clinging on to him as if her life depends on it. He keeps one arm around her back, gripping her hip, while his other hand is tangled in her hair. His head falls slightly to the left, his cheek now resting on hers and he's whiserping things in her ear. After a few minutes, Kate sniffles, ragged breaths hit his wet skin and she starts to calm down. With her parched, dry lips, she kisses Castle's neck and tells him that she loves him. He continues to hold on to her, kisses any skin that he can find, and tells her he loves her too.
And when the morning comes, she'll still be attached to him, neither of them moving through out the night, but with the soft morning sun sweeping over their room, warming the darkness with shards of light, Kate will entangle herself from him and put this all behind her. Refusing to fall back down that rabbit hole, she won't let it affect her day and she won't let it get her down. Because it's a new day, and she's alive and she's full of love, and the past is the past and there's no point in looking back any more.