I was so excited to post this that I forgot to add an A/N. The idea for this story came to me over a year ago but I got a huge case of writer's block. After tweaking a few things in the outline (I'm just going to accept that chapters will be short and it will all be in Kate's POV instead of going back and forth from Castle's POV to Kate's as I originally intended) I think I've finally gotten a handle on it.

Disclaimer: Nope. My name isn't Andrew and I don't live in California.


"It was real."

Kate chose to ignore the words that seemed to be whispered close to her right ear. There were people all around here as she walked down the busy New York street. Hundreds of people used this street daily. She was merely overhearing someone else's conversation. The fact that the words brought to mind Royce's letter that she had received not even a week ago only meant that she had been reading the familiar words far too often.

"What you have with Castle is real."

Kate took a quick scan of her surroundings. A few couples holding hands, families out enjoying the warm May weather, businessmen talking into their cell phones, teenagers texting, a street performer playing his guitar…. Nothing out of the ordinary. No one was paying her the slightest bit of attention.

"And you're fighting it."

So where were the voice coming from?

"You need to stop fighting it, Kate."

Kate wanted to demand that the speaker reveal her identity. She knew it was a woman because the voice was too soft and high pitched to be masculine.

Kate took a brief look at the people closest to her. Immediately in front of her were a couple of men arguing about the latest political scandal. Close to her right was a young mother holding a child's hand, promising the tyke an ice cream cone if he would be good for just a few more minutes. Only a couple of feet away on her left a man was blatantly leering at her but the look that Castle had dubbed her 'interrogation glare' quickly caused the man to look the other way.

"Risking your heart is why you're alive."

The sound came from directly behind her this time.

Kate whirled around and locked eyes with-

"Martha?" Kate's shock caused her voice to have a slight squeak.

But no, it couldn't be Martha. The woman did have the same red hair, pale blue eyes and flamyboyant way of standing as if she were merely waiting for her cue for the next scene-but this woman appeared to have a good twenty years on Castle's mother.

Or was stage make-up just that good?

And how would Martha have gotten a hold of Royce's letter? She had locked it up in the top drawer of her night stand the night she had returned from L.A.

But how would anyone else have gotten a hold of the letter?

The braclets on the woman's wrists softly tinkled as she put her hands on Kate's shoulders. "You don't want to look back on your life and wonder, 'If only,'" the woman said sternly. "I won't allow it."
She wouldn't allow…?

"It's time to stop fighting," the woman continued. "Risk your heart. Embrace what's real."

Kate knew Martha was plain-spoken and not shy about giving advice, but this was a bit extreme, even for her.

"Remember dear, when your heart speaks, words will follow."

That was the last thing Kate heard before everything went black.