Hi there! So, my internet's been down for the entire last week, and I finally got around to making a post-finale fic. Not exactly how I want it to happen in the series, but I just thought it was such a great idea and I had to run with it. The character of Nikki sort of reminds me of the fandom... but hey, what can you do? (The fandom is awesome though, so I don't really have a problem with that).

Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Tell me what you think if you like. xx

Kate started stirring as she heard the sounds of tinkering around in her bathroom. Confused, she swung herself out of bed, confused by the stabbing pain in her abdomen. Trying to ignore it, she picked up her gun and managed to make it to the open bathroom door to find a dark haired woman, around her height and build, rifling through her medicine cabinet.

"Stop or I'll shoot," Kate said, getting ready to shoot. As she lifted her arms, the pain in her side became too great and she fell against the door frame, breathing heavily.

To her surprise, the woman just sighed. She pulled a bottle of pain killers from the shelf and turned around, holding out her arm for Kate to take.

Kate eyed the hand warily, before looking up into the stranger's face. A flicker of surprise crossed her face when she saw a the spitting image of her standing in front of her.

"Who are you?" she asked, preferring to sit on the floor by the chest of drawers in her room than to take the hand.

The strange woman just sighed again and turned back into the bathroom to get a glass of water. "My name's Nikki Heat."

"Nikki Heat?" Kate asked. "Am I hallucinating?"

"You could say that," Nikki answered. "Here, take this."

"How do I know you're not trying to kill me?"

"Because then I'd be killing myself. Come on, Kate, it's just a pain killer."

"How do you know I need one?" she asked.

"You're extremely paranoid," Nikki answered.

"I'm a cop."

"Yeah, so am I. Remember?"

"Who are you?" Kate asked again.

"Okay, this is going to sound really strange, and trust me, I know how strange it sounds... I'm a part of you. A really small part that only a few people can see. I don't come out often, but I need to talk to you."

"If you're a part of me, how can we be speaking like this?"

"Because you're unconscious. Right now. You're lying in a hospital bed. Actually, you've just regained brain activity, which is a huge improvement. That's why we're having this conversation right now. Now, are you ready to listen?"

"Depends on what you've got to say," Kate shrugged, wincing. Nikki held out the pill and the glass of water and, still eyeing it suspiciously, Kate took them, downing the pill with a gulp of water.

"Thank you," Nikki said, taking the water back and sitting down on the tile. "Firstly, I'm going to tell you that you were stupid. You should have listened to writer-boy. You should have backed down on your mother's case."

"I'm sorry?" Kate asked, astounded.

"You heard me. You were stupid chasing that thing. And if you had listened to him... heck, maybe Montgomery wouldn't be dead right now."

"You've got some nerve -"

"And if Montgomery hadn't been killed," Nikki continued as if there had been no interruption, "then we would not be here having this conversation. I don't want to hear your arguments, Katherine.

"Secondly, what in the hell is wrong with you?"

"What?"

"Come on, not every person can see what's going on in that pretty little head of yours, but they can see that you've got feelings for the man."

"What man?"

"Rick Castle! Jesus, Katherine. You're smart, I'll give you that, but you can be incredibly stupid."

"So I like Castle," she said. "So what? He doesn't like me back."

Nikki stared at her, eyes wide. "Are you serious?" she finally asked after a very lengthy pause.

"What?"

"Kate, I'm not going to call it a relationship, because you're with that annoying doctor type... but this partnership that the two of you share... it's evolved into a hell of a lot more than 'like'."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. You know as well as I do that you are head over heels in love with that man."

"What makes you say that?" Kate asked, narrowing her eyes and wincing.

"Because you're always happier when he's around? You let his absence get to you and you're pretty much always thinking about him. You flirt with the guy and tease him shamelessly. You let him trick you into dates and drinks... If he's not around, you don't drink coffee."

"So? Give me one more reason, and maybe I'll believe you."

"You moaned during that kiss. Whew, I had a field day with that one!"

"No, I didn't."

"Uh, yeah, Katie, you did. Oh, and you were totally about to tell him in that freezer."

"No, I wasn't."

"You don't remember it, on account of hypothermia and almost dying, but I do. That's one of our first instincts when we're about to die... tell the person we love that we love them... Of course, you didn't do it with the bomb, but you didn't need to, did you? He knew."

"You're delirious," Kate told her.

"No, you're the delirious one in this situation."

"Fine... what makes you think he likes me back?"

"Not like... Love."

"Whatever. Reasons, please."

"You want reasons? He tricks you into dates. You cannot tell me that you honestly thought the man had not seen 'Forbidden Planet'. This is Castle we're talking about! He brings you coffee every day. He's a saved your life countless times, often putting himself at risk. He got that cast photo of 'Temptation Lane' for you. And he's written three books about you. He's always got your back, and he followed you to LA to help you out with Royce's case, even though he knew that it was probably a bad idea. And I know you remember what he said to you just before you lost consciousness."

"That reminds me, why am I even unconscious?"

"Tell me what he said."

Kate closed her eyes and thought. "He said 'stay with me, Kate, please.'"

"After that."

"He said 'I love you, Kate.'"

"That's right. He finally said it. And it took him long enough."

"He... do you think he really loves me?"

"Heat Rises comes out today, you know. You've been asleep for so long..."

"Are you changing the subject?" Kate asked.

"You didn't let me finish... Anyway, if I remember correctly, the dedication says... 'I love you. Please wake up soon.' So yes, I would say that he definitely loves you."

Kate smiled.

"What are you going to do about it?"

It was ten o'clock at night when the hospital closed to visitors. Jim Beckett had spent each day by his daughter's bedside, and today had been no different. When the doctors came to ask him to leave, he placed a kiss on his daughter's forehead and left the room.

Just as the door swung shut behind the older Beckett, Castle slipped into the room. It was the first time he had come to visit, but Ryan and Lanie had drawn a map of how to get to Kate's room rather well, and he had followed it exactly, taking care not to be seen by any of the hospital staff.

Turning around, he leaned against the door, relieved that he'd managed to get in and that there was nobody else here. Then, he looked around, and saw what he'd been putting off seeing for two weeks now.

She was connected to more tubes in this room than he'd ever seen in his life. There were drips poking into her arms and beeping machines all around the bed. He had no idea what they meant. He briefly wished that Lanie were here to tell him, but then decided that he'd rather not know. He'd rather live in blissful ignorance of her condition, pretending that she was perfectly alright and was sleeping.

He moved to touch her hand but hesitated. What if it made her worse?

He picked it up and placed it in his own, sitting down in the seat that Jim had vacated barely a minute before. It was so much like Kate's hand, but different. Instead of being strong, it was weak, fragile, delicate. The warmth he usually felt when their skin touched was replaced this time by a hollow, cold feeling. Her muscles didn't automatically tense as they normally did, instead, the hand stayed relaxed. And Kate herself looked so helpless, instead of the strong, independent woman that she should have been.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to her. "For... For not being able to save you... for not visiting before now... I'm sorry for everything I did wrong that I should have done differently. I... I want you to know that."

He looked at her as though expecting her to answer, but he knew, instinctively, that she wouldn't. A tear escaped his eye.

"The book came out today," he said, changing the topic. "I wanted you to be there for it, but it turns out I'm not that lucky. I did bring you a copy though. You can read it in here when you're waiting to be okayed to go home, if you want. I signed it for you as well."

He hadn't noticed the rhythmic beeping of the machines changing, and even if he had, he wouldn't know what it meant. What he did notice was her hand tensing slightly in his. He looked down at it, wondering if he'd imagined it and coming to the conclusion that he probably had.

"Now I'm imagining things," he said to himself. "Kate, I don't know if you can hear me, but please, please wake up soon. I've..."

Her hand tensed again and this time Castle knew he wasn't imagining it. He looked around in wonder at the machines, all beeping differently from how they were before. As he realised what was happening, he was torn between pressing the button for the doctors to come and waiting there all by himself. What if something was going wrong?

Hesitating only slightly, he pushed the button to call the nurses to her bedside. Then, he held her hand while she woke up.

Just as a nurse and a doctor came through the door, her eyes fluttered open and she focused on Castle groggily. And when they pulled him away, he could have sworn he saw the corners of her mouth turn up into a smile.

"So let me get this straight," the doctor said to him a bit later on once they'd seen to everything that needed seeing to. "You snuck around after visiting hours were over, slipped into her room, and then after less than five minutes of being with her, she started to wake up?"

"Yes," Castle answered. "Can I see her now, please?"

"Look, that patient was the victim of an assassination attempt, so we need to rule out that you were trying to finish the job. We're not going to let you in to see her until we're sure."

"You can't be serious. Okay, yes, I was sneaking around when I shouldn't have been. But the woman in there means everything to me, and I had to see her, without anybody else around."

"And you couldn't find a time to do that in the past two weeks she's been here?"

"How are you going to prove that I wasn't trying to kill her?"

"We have some police officers coming down to interview you. They should be here soon." He looked over Castle's shoulder. "Oh, here they are."

Castle turned around, expecting to see some uniforms from a precinct that he'd never been to. Instead, he was met with the sombre and intent faces of Ryan and Esposito, who took one look at Castle and laughed.

"This guy?" Ryan asked. "Doctor, he's cleared."

"I'm sorry?"

"You heard the guy," Esposito replied. "This man can go through."

"But you didn't even interview him!"

"Don't need to," Ryan shrugged. "Thanks for calling though."

"Does that mean I can go see her now?" Castle asked the doctor.

The doctor was speechless. "Yeah," he managed, looking from Castle to the two detectives and back. "Wait! I'd like the officers to go with you."

Castle looked like he wanted to strangle the doctor, but he decided that wouldn't get him anywhere except the back of Ryan and Esposito's car in handcuffs, so he forced a smile onto his face and let his friends lead him back to Beckett's room.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Esposito asked once they were out of earshot of the doctor. "Sneaking around a hospital after visiting hours. Of course they thought you were here to finish the job!"

"If I was here to finish the job, I would have done it during visiting hours, and I probably wouldn't have pushed the button to call the doctors," Castle replied.

"Actually, why did you call the doctors?" Ryan asked as they arrived at the door.

Castle didn't hear the question. He was looking straight at Detective Beckett, a giant grin on his face. She already looked more alive, albeit in pain, and was grinning straight back at him. Esposito noticed first.

"Ah! Sleeping Beauty awakes!" he said, closing the door behind the three of them. "How are you, girl?"

"Sore," she said, blushing slightly as Esposito and Ryan took turns placing a kiss on her forehead. "And tired."

"But you've just been sleeping for two weeks!" Ryan exclaimed, putting an arm awkwardly around her. Castle hung back, unsure of what to do.

"And that, believe it or not, is really tiring," she said to him. "Two weeks? Hmm."

"What?" Esposito asked.

"I just... got the impression it was much longer."

"What made you think that?" Ryan asked.

"I don't know," she answered, glancing briefly at Castle, who took a seat on the bed that was next to hers. He would wait until they left to have their conversation.

An hour later, Esposito received a call on his phone from the new captain asking where they were, and the two of them decided they'd better leave. After saying one last goodbye to Kate, they left the room and closed the door behind them, leaving Castle and Beckett alone.

"It's good to see you're awake," Castle said awkwardly, not moving from his perch on the bed.

"I'm sure it's a good thing that I'm awake," she replied. "How are you?"

"I'm okay," he said. "I've been trying to find things to do... Can't really follow you out to crime scenes if you're incapacitated. And the new captain... She doesn't like me too much, so I didn't really want to hang out at the precinct."

"Ah yeah," was the reply. Was he avoiding the topic on purpose, or..?

"Look, I feel really bad, but I couldn't bring myself to visit before tonight... I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Castle," she smiled.

"Are you sure? I mean, I'm supposed to be your partner. I'm supposed to be by your side no matter what. And I've been anywhere but by your side for the past two weeks."

"Castle, it's okay. I understand... You didn't want to believe it, so you put off visiting me for as long as you could."

He smiled. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she said, nodding. "So, I have a question for you... Why am I here?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why am I in the hospital, and why was I unconscious?" She'd asked the same question to Ryan and Esposito, but they had completely ignored her.

"We were at Montgomery's funeral, do you remember?" he asked.

"I remember snippets," she nodded.

"Yeah? Well, as you were delivering the eulogy... you were shot. By a sniper. I tried to get you out of the way but I was too late. They didn't catch the guy and you..."

"I what?"

"You were bleeding out in my arms, Kate. I had no idea what to do."

She bit down on her bottom lip and smiled slightly to herself. "Thank you," she finally said. "For trying to save me, you know..."

"I have something for you!" he suddenly said, pulling out a present from inside his blazer. "I was going to leave it for when you woke up, but you already did that."

"What is it?" she asked.

"That'll ruin the surprise!" he exclaimed as she took it.

"It's a book?"

"Not just any book," he said. "Heat Rises. It came out today."

"You signed it as well?"

"Nikki Heat is based on you," he shrugged. "Besides, you're my partner. You don't need to pay for my books."

Kate smiled and opened up to the dedication. Know that I meant what I said. Please wake up soon.

She laughed and rolled her eyes. "She lied to me."

"Who did?"

"Nikki."

"I'm sorry?"

Kate sighed. "When I was unconscious, I was visited by 'a part of me that few people see'. She said her name was Nikki Heat, told me off for a few things and then... she told me that the dedication said 'I love you, please wake up soon.'"

"Half of it says that," he reasoned. "So she didn't lie completely..."

"I guess she didn't really lie about the 'I love you' part either," she muttered, just loud enough for him to hear.

"It doesn't say that," he protested.

"No, but you said that, didn't you? Right before everything went black, I remember, you... you told me you loved me."

"Yeah, I did," Castle said, deciding it was best not to lie.

"And you wrote right here 'know that I meant what I said'... you were talking about that, weren't you?"

"Yes. Because it's true. I love you so much, Kate. And at this point, I don't even care if you don't love me back. It feels better finally having said that, and for you to know that. I don't have to hide it anymore. If you feel the same, bonus, that's great. But I know you're with Josh, and I know I irritate you, but -"

"Castle, I love you too," she smiled, cutting him off. "I love you too, Rick."