A/N: I typically don't enjoy song fics. But OneRepublic just released their newest album at the end of March, and upon hearing this song, Castle & Beckett's relationship was the first thing that came to mind. The lyrics to the song are absolutely beautiful and inspired me. I couldn't resist writing this.
Still trying to get back into creative writing, so bear with me. Constructive criticism is appreciated.
Slightly spoiler-y for the finale. But only very slightly.
"Kate!"
Rick was just a second too slow. He tackled her to the ground, but it didn't do much good. Kate was now laying in the lush grass, white gloves stained with her blood. He murmured whatever words he could get out to her, just to keep her with him.
"Stay with me, okay?"
The image of her face, of her whole body going into shock, would stay with him forever.
But suddenly, Kate was no longer shot. Now she was hanging off the roof of a building. Fingers slipping, feet desperately trying to find some type of leverage against the flat façade of the building.
She fell, but not to the ground. No, now she was in a room, facing a criminal in a stand-off. Death faced her once again. One wrong move, and the consequences of the bomb sitting on the floor in front of her would become all too real.
"Listen – all I need you to do is put that remote down, okay? We can talk about this. I can help you, but you need to put that remote down. Do you understand?" Her voice wavered, but it was strong.
"No! There's nothing to talk about! This is what I have to do…" The criminal trailed off, his thumb hovering over that little button that was bound to destroy everything within a 500-foot radius. And suddenly, the countdown clock was on. 60 seconds. 45 seconds. 30 seconds. 15 seconds. 10 seconds. 2 seconds.
Rick woke with a jolt, breathing heavily. He sat straight up in the darkness, shadows of the items on the windowsill casting their eerie patterns on the walls and across the bed in the moonlight. A light sheen of sweat covered his brow.
He looked over at the clock on Kate's side of the bed, the green digital numbers glaringly bright in the darkness. 2:07am.
He shifted his gaze to Kate, sound asleep in the bed next to him, and let out a long sigh of relief.
She was still there. She was okay. She was alive and in his bed, quietly snoring. Laying on her side, her cheek was comfortably pressed into the fluffy pillow, the comforter resting just over her midsection, arms tucked gently just under the pillow.
Rick shifted to lie on his side, her back now snuggled against his solid chest. Propping himself up on one elbow, he stared at her face, the moonlight glowing against her golden skin.
She looked so peaceful. She looked happy, the corners of her mouth upturned ever so slightly. The quiet sounds of her inhales and exhales calmed Rick's racing heart and mind.
In that moment, he swore that she never looked happier or more peaceful. No one could hurt her.
Sure, Rick had had nightmares before. In the months after Kate had been shot, all he dreamt about was that day. And it always ended differently. Sometimes it ended with him making it to her in time. Other times, it ended with her dying, and those were the worst nightmares.
After she showed up at his door that night, drenched from sitting outside in the rain, he dreamt about her hanging off the roof of that building. They had talked about her resignation, Maddox, the fight on the roof. He was so angry with himself for not being there. More nightmares plagued him.
But then last week after Kate stood opposite the bomb – all of his previous nightmares had recently been melting into one dream. The sniper, the building, the bomb; all three now swirled together at night, a hurricane destroying his sleep.
Rick couldn't bear to tell Kate at that moment that he had been having these nightmares. She was a sound sleeper and never woke when he bolted up in the middle of the night.
But these dreams spoke to Rick. The more times Kate was confronted with death, the more he realized that he would only have this one lifetime with her. Their relationship had come so far, and Rick could never live without Kate at this point.
She was the logic to his nonsense, and the seriousness to his lightheartedness. She was the optimism when Alexis had been kidnapped, and she was his only hope when the bank robbers held him and Martha hostage. He was her rock, and she was his anchor.
It didn't seem like a year had passed. Between the late nights at the precinct, the late nights in the bedroom, and the lazy weekends spent in each other's company, the year had simply flown by. And while the holidays and birthdays were distinct moments in each of their lives, they still blurred together.
Rick looked back over at the clock. 3:07am.
He had spent the last hour staring at his sleeping girlfriend, his head resting on his hand. His heart had returned to a steady pace, his breaths soft and even.
Kate was here. Kate was safe in his arms. It had taken them four years to get to a relationship, to realize that this was inevitable, to realize that this was the only lifetime they would ever get to spend together.
This was his life with Kate. This would be the rest of his life with Kate. And despite his fame and fortune, Rick realized that all he ever needed was right next to him.