A/U experiment in 'what if' and a retelling of the freezer incident and subsequent events told in dreams, flashbacks and realtime. Paragraphs in Italics are 'dream state' or flashbacks. Everything else is real time.
This has been nagging at me for a few weeks now. You know how it is. Especially when I have little to occupy my mind in retirement.
Elena is on the backburner but will be completed - scout's honor. I also have some on-goings in another FF venue for an old friend.
I will complete this if I get sufficient interest, else I'll delete it and save FF the server load. Not a threat, just a statement of intent. Your comments are always welcome and appreciated.
APR was right. This is an addiction.
OM
Yes You Did by Oldest Man
He couldn't feel his feet. He couldn't feel his ears or fingers or his face. His eyelids were drooping and it hurt – really fucking hurt – to even move his eyes.
"Castle, I wanted you to know how much I lo – " She seemed to slip away at that exact moment.
"Kate! What? Kate?" He panicked. Somewhere inside of him he found the heat, the energy, the resolve, and he slipped off his jacket, ignoring the crackling of the hoarfrost that covered it, and wrapped it around her, breathing his warm breath against her face, her ears, any exposed skin. He loved her and she needed to survi –
"Kate, you said it. I heard you. I wasn't that far gone last night."
"No, Castle. I didn't. You were drunk on your ass, we both were. No, I didn't."
"I heard you say it, Kate. Clear as a bell and then you burrowed into me like you were freezing. I heard – "
"No, you didn't. You imagined it. You're a writer. You have a great imagination. You were drunk and we only woke up together because we both passed out on your couch. Tequila shooters are off the list of drinks, understand? And Castle, don't call me 'Kate'!"
She walked up the stone steps to the 12th Precinct but Rick stopped and looked up at her retreating form.
'She said it. I heard her. She said it, clear as a bell. "Rick, I love you" before she snuggled against me and sighed and went to sleep. She wasn't all that drunk. Or maybe she was and thought I was Josh – but she said "Rick", not Josh.'
Beckett waited at the door a nanosecond out of habit. Castle was a gentleman of the old school and always opened the door for her despite her telling him over and over that she was quite capable of opening doors herself.
No Castle.
She turned and looked back down the steps and saw him standing there, immobile, just looking at her with such longing and frustration that she felt a moment of very uncharacteristic sympathy for him.
"Castle, are you coming?" Her impatient tone and her authoritarian stance said more than anything she might have uttered.
Kate Beckett would never say those words to Richard Castle because she was in love with Josh Davison, her boyfriend. Josh heard them frequently in response to his own declarations when he emptied himself into her. "I love you too." It was automatic, programmed, Pavlovian.
"No, not today. Have a good day, Detective."
He walked down the busy sidewalk weaving a path through the herd of pedestrians and never looked back. He shivered and wished he'd gone back to the loft for his jacket. Kate would have waited. It was cold today. He wrapped his arms tightly around himself and headed home.
"Base this is EMS-7. We have a white male, later thirties, removed from meat freezer. Core temperature is 94 degrees. Request a hypothermia kit and team on standby. Heart rate is 40 – no – 37 and slowing. Classify as severe hypothermia."
"Where's his jacket?"
"Gave it to her." He gave it to her, nodding towards where Beckett stood, wrapped in a blanket and her boyfriend, oblivious to the drama unfolding in ambulance EMS-7.
"EMS-7 this is Base. Get chempaks under armpits and groin. Gotta heat him up or you're going to lose him. Keep an eye on heart monitor and be alert for arrhythmia and handle per protocols. Transport immediately."
"Kate, let's get you home, baby. A soak in a hot bath and a whiskey or two and you'll feel so much better – and warmer."
"Where's Castle, Josh? Where is he?" She wanted to push him away so she could go check on her partner. She was so cold and so worried. Where was he?
Josh pointed to the departing EMS ambulance. "He's on his way to Sinai. He wasn't coming around as fast as you did. They'll just want to check him out and then he'll be released and probably spend a day or two in bed or in a hot bath. Hypothermia can be a killer, Katie, and I thought I'd lost you."
He put his arms around her and then led her over to the waiting patrol car that would take them both back to her apartment.
"No, Josh, I have to check on Castle. I'm his partner – "
"Not tonight. Tonight, Katie, you're going to go home, soak in a hot tub and then we'll cuddle up under as many blankets as you need to feel warm. I almost lost you tonight, Katie, and I just want to feel you in my arms."
"But – "
"No 'buts'. We're going." He led her to the waiting patrol car.
"Morning, sunshine." Castle reluctantly opened one eye and then the other flew open in surprise.
"Beckett! You're – you're naked!" She was straddling him in the hammock, her breasts mere inches from his face.
"We're naked, Rick. I don't think I'll ever get used to wearing clothes again. This was a wonderful idea, lover. A private island in the South Pacific, just the two of us in our 'little grass shack', no phones, no bodies dropping out of the sky, just you and me, Rick, with nothing to do but make love, eat whatever we feel like out of the gigantic refrigerator, lie in the sand, make love, swim in the blue Pacific, make love – "
He gasped and shivered when she moved herself over him. He could feel how wet she was, how ready she was as she slid against his hard length.
"Oh, Rick, this is the honeymoon of my dreams and I'm so happy I finally got you to the altar. It was a true labor of love. Now, how about performing your own labor of love and show me how much you love me?"
"Beckett – something's wrong here. I don't – " His heart skipped a beat when she slipped herself onto him. And another. And yet another.
"Kate. My name is Kate Castle. Say it, Rick. Say my name. It makes me so damned hot when you do."
She was a biter when she approached her climax and she bit him hard on his chest and he winced and shivered in the cold wind that suddenly sprang up.
'Base, EMS-7. ECG shows series of arrhythmias.'
'EMS-7, this is Base. Treat with DeFib. Advise ETA.'
'Clear! No change. 400 joules. Clear! Okay, looks like normal sinus rhythm and successful Cardioversion.'
'Good! Advise ETA.'
'Base, 6 minutes, maybe less. Traffic is heavy.'
'Have you applied chemical heat packs?'
'Yes. Core temp still 94.'
"Better step on it, EMS-7.'
To Be Continued? You decide.
OM