Roses

Alright, here's another one shot prompt! I hope you guys like it.

"I want a fancy date night! Where Castle wears a tux, Beckett a dress, roses, afancy dinner!" -PrettyLittleThingSamantha

Kate Beckett was biting the hell out of her lower lip as Richard Castle held the door of their town car open for her. His hand was extended in assistance and her nerves seemed to calm as she placed her palm in his. With his un-needed, but appreciated, help Kate stepped out of the car into his arms and she was slightly taken aback by the lust already present in his eyes. She leaned into him, watching his eyes dilate as she pressed herself onto the soft virgin wool of his black Galante Uomo tuxedo, and brought her lips hovering over his. It had only been earlier in the day that she had been standing on a bomb with enough exploding force to level the building, but now she was sharing mingling breaths with the man who had deemed himself her 'bomb-buddy', and the events of earlier seemed to only be a nightmare.

Rubbing her nose against his, letting her lips ghost against him, Kate whispered, "Thank you for today, Rick." Her eyes were open and honest as her hands slid up from his shoulders to the nap of his neck. "I don't know what I would do without you." He smiled at her admission, and her breath stuttered as she looked at her goofy man. His eyes crinkled into his smile; his love for her worn on his sleeve for all to see.

She kissed him then on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. He had made reservations as soon as they had walked away from Gates and the boys, needing to celebrate their victory. His lips responded urgently against hers, his hands sliding down her spine and playing with the unclothed flesh of her back, eventually warming the lace just above her tail bone where the fabric met. It was electric. Jolts of pleasure sizzled through Kate's body, endorphins surging through her blood as Castle laved his tongue against her bottom lip, and she complied him entrance. Her breasts were pressed against his broad chest, soft creamy lace meeting stark black wool, as he brought her closer still to his body; a mewling moan escaping her lips as she ran her hand through the back of his hair. She finally relinquished his mouth, gasping, her body now a bubbling cauldron of sexual depravity.

"Do we have to eat?" She asked through her pants, meeting his darkened eyes with her own.

"This dinner is to celebrate your life, Kate. To celebrate our lives." He pressed his forehead against hers, closing his eyes as he tried to steady his breathing. "I thought I was going to lose you today, and I realized that I had never—that we had never really celebrated just being alive together." His words caused Kate's diaphragm to clench. His honesty and anguish over her almost-death was painted across every furrowed line of his forehead and every wrinkle of his frown. He needed this, he needed her, and she would give him anything to make this pain go away.

Kate brought her arms around his shoulders and wrapped him in an amorous hug. Her lips poised against his ear, she whispered, "Okay, Castle. Let's celebrate life." He responded by wrapping his arms around her and holding her tight, squeezing her like she was going to be ripped from him.

"I can't lose you." It came out barely a whisper, but Kate closed her eyes and pulled away from him, hoping the smile she was issuing was enough to hide the shine in her eyes.

"And besides, I could always eat you for dessert." He added in a salacious tone.

"Then feed me, Castle, before I waste away." She chided, and he smiled at her attempt to play off his sexual advance.

Walking forward together arm-in-arm, Castle opened one of the blue doors of Per Se, and ushered Kate inside. She was greeted by a well-groomed gentleman at the front desk who smiled as the couple approached. The glass counter was gleaming with the light from the high-ceilinged chandelier made of crystal or fine glass. The restaurant foyer had an impressive starkness to it, and the beige and white tones brought out a cool modernist feel.

"Welcome to Per Se, my name is Claudio," the young man smiled and looked both Castle and Beckett over. Kate looked down at her dress, self-consciously smoothing out the nonexistent wrinkles in the fabric. The cream color of the lace matched well with her alabaster skin, and the deep emerald of the velvet that swam down from the top of her hip seemed to all be in place. Castle's hand was still at the small of her back where the lace of the top of her dress knotted into the start of the velvet, and the combined warmth of his skin on hers was causing her to blush.

"Hello, Claudio, my name is Richard Castle. I should have a reservation for two." Rick's smile was dazzling and it caused Kate's stomach to flutter. This was going to be a long dinner.

Claudio's eyes slightly widened at Castle's name and his eyes flittered quickly to Kate. Kate caught the action and slightly furrowed her brow as Claudio looked back to Rick quickly and refused to meet her stare. Kate didn't like it. It was too suspicious. She was used to fan freak outs whenever Castle used his real name at restaurants, but she'd never caught the attention of anyone, and this kid was definitely freaking out.

"Right this way, sir. I'll show you to your table." Claudio was rushing now. He stepped in front of Castle so Kate wouldn't see his face, and was walking too quickly to the table in the far corner of the room. Claudio lit the candles that were present on the table and took a quick step back as Rick placed his tuxedo jacket on the outside of his chair and moved around to seat Kate. She shook her head at his chivalry and accepted the chair he pulled out for her with a smile.

"Your server will be right with you." Claudio spoke quickly and made a hasty retreat. What the hell was going on with that guy?

"Castle, I don't like that kid. He's too shifty. Did you see the way his eyes bulged when you mentioned your name?" Kate asked, holding his gaze across the candle light.

Castle barked out a laugh and reached across the table to hold her hands. "Happens all the time, Kate, you know that. Fans are everywhere. They can't get enough of me." She rolled her eyes at his flaunting.

He was rubbing his thumbs over the back of her hands when their waitress arrived at their table. The woman was wearing a stark white collared shirt with a black vest thrown over for professional flair. Her hair was done up in a sweep of braids and curls keeping it off her neck. Her kind chocolate eyes lingered over Kate then to Rick as she introduced herself.

"Hello, my name is Genna, welcome to Per Se. Have you ever been here before?" she asked with a smile.

"Hello, Genna, yes I have actually been here before. Kate, have you?" Castle asked turning his eyes back to his date.

Kate swallowed, "No, I've never been." Genna handed her and Rick menus and began to go over the house specialties for the season, and the special offers they had on group meals.

"If you'd like you could order two prix fixe courses instead of hodgepodging off the menu." Genna offered, waiting patiently for them to decide. Kate opened her menu and gulped as she looked at the prices for the food. Forty dollar appetizers, oh god, hundred dollar entrees, why did he bring her here? She looked up from her menu with slight panic as Castle looked over at her with calm eyes. He turned back to Genna and decided for them.

"We'll do two of your prix fixe courses, and what do you think, Kate? The oysters and pearls with the salmon tartar?" Castle asked, eyes never leaving Kate's. Kate shook her head yes and he smiled. He had been here before, he knew how expensive it was. She shouldn't feel guilty.

"Excellent, I'll put in your appetizers right away. Let me go and get the bread for the table and would you like to start out with a red wine? We have an extensive collection." Genna offered.

"Perfect, uh, I think the last time I was here I had an Australian red, Grange I think. Can we get a bottle of that?" Castle asked.

"What year, sir. We have 2001, '98, '96, '83, and if you're looking for something a bit later I think I have a few bottles of the '71 left." Genna answered, all the while Kate saw nothing but dollar signs.

"I think I had the '01 last time, let's go with a bottle of the '96, Genna." Rick selected grasping Kate's hand a bit harder to try and calm her. He knew, he knew this was killing her. She felt so awkward when he spent money like this on her, even though he had told her time and time again that money was nothing compared to her company.

Genna walked away to put in their appetizers and Kate placed her menu back down after deciding what her entrée would be. Castle was still perusing when he spoke, "You're thinking very loudly." She smiled at his statement. They were always like this, able to pick up the small discomforts of the other with ease.

"It's nothing we haven't already discussed, Castle. I just have to get used to you wanting to spend money on me." Kate admitted, and Castle put his menu down to look at her.

"It's just dinner, Kate. I'm not trying to impress you, I'm not trying to show you off to the world, I just needed to take you somewhere you deserved to go after all the shit we've been through today." There's his honesty again, stabbing her with guilt. She held back a submissive sigh and smiled at his statement instead.

"Well, then I think I'll be getting the lobster." Kate replied, again shifting the mood and causing Castle to laugh. His laughter was contagious and she soon found herself following along with his chuckles.

Genna returned after their bout of laughter with a platter of different butters, a basket of multi grain breads and their wine. Another server had rolled the wine up to the side of their table on a small trolley, the wine left to chill and breathe in a bucket of ice. A crystal vase was also on the trolley next to the wine, but after realizing it was there Beckett was distracted as a pure white rose was placed in front of her by the other server with the corkscrew.

"I'm to tell you this is the first of many," the young man stated as he popped the cork on the wine and placed the cork next to the rose. Beckett watched the other server leave and wasn't listening as Genna took down Rick's entrée and dessert order.

"And for you, ma'am?" Genna inquired, breaking Kate of her reverie.

"Uh, I'll have the butter poached nova scotia lobster with the grilled abalone mushroom, and for dessert the Manjari chocolate mousse, please." Kate ordered, handing her menu to Genna as she continued to be dazzled by the appearance of the rose.

"I'll be back with your appetizers soon." Genna remarked and she threw Kate another smile. Kate looked over at Castle who hadn't taken his eyes off of her as she picked up the white rose and brought it to her nose.

"Why did he give this to me?" Kate asked, realizing that the crystal vase was now present to hold her flower which she placed delicately into the container. "Did you do this?"

"I plead the fifth," Castle quirked holding his hands up in mock surrender.

"So you are guilty, you just don't want to purger yourself." Kate retorted with a grin.

"Any reply to that statement could validate my guilt so I refrain from speaking until my legal counsel arrives." Castle responded, grabbing some of the bread and lathering it with one of the honeynut butters.

Kate rolled her eyes and grabbed some bread for herself, trying one of the olive oil butters instead and let out a soft moan as the taste reverberated across her tongue. It was delicious. The warm, fluffy bread was silk against her palate, combine it with the sharp taste of the butter and it was heavenly.

"If you're going to moan like that we probably shouldn't have ordered dessert." Castle flat lined, as Kate snorted into her next bite. She swallowed the bread and continued to chortle at his statement, causing a blush to stain her face.

"You're the one who ordered the complete service dinner, Castle. You'll just have to deal with the moaning when they keep bringing out food this fantastic."

Kate thought she heard something like "It's only bread," but was distracted by the appearance of Genna with their appetizers. She placed the dishes in front of the couple and handed Kate two more white roses.

"To the extraordinary KB," Genna said and retreated from the table. Kate sat slightly flabbergasted as Castle picked around at both appetizers, playing oblivious.

"Kate you have to try this caviar, it's exquisite." Castle muttered with his mouth full of oyster and fish eggs.

"Okay, you have got to tell me what all of these roses mean." Kate stammered, still taken aback by the romantic gesture. She placed both flowers in the vase and admired her growing collection. They had to mean something. Castle was all about subtext and double entendres.

"You're a detective, Miss Beckett. I do believe this is when I say, 'detect'." He had that ridiculous smile on his face, like he wanted so badly to ruin her surprise, but he knew it would be so much better when she found out herself. Kate looked at the table, bringing a piece of the tartar to her lips and bit into the succulent salmon. The flavor blossomed in her mouth and she savored the bite as it slid down her throat.

"Oh my gosh, Castle, this is delicious." Kate stammered through bites of her food.

"Try it with the wine, we've let it breathe long enough," Castle replied as he grabbed the bottle out of its ice bath and poured a generous helping into her glass. She thanked him with a smile and returned to her only clue, the cork to the wine. It was the odd sock at the table, and she felt that out of everything that had happened tonight, that cork was her big break. She picked it up and played with it between her fingers, continuing to focus on it even after the appetizers plates were taken and Genna had returned with their entrees. Three more white roses were presented to her along with her lobster, and Kate was left with no notes, hints, or other clues from the server.

Castle had remained uncharacteristically quiet while Kate overanalyzed the cork at the table. She was watching him watch her as he ate his American wagyu. She was starting to get frustrated that she couldn't figure it out. She pulled out her phone and Googled the color of the flower, and was met with more questions.

"Eat your lobster, Kate or I'm going to nibble on it." Castle commented as Kate stared incredulously at her phone. "What, why the look?" he asked as he playfully poked her food with his fork.

"White roses," Kate started, swatting his hand from her plate, "have multiple meanings." Kate plucked into her lobster and snagged a bite before continuing, completely caught up in solving the rose mystery. "Purity, innocence, reverence, humility, heavenly, 'I am worthy of you' just to name a few." She looked at Castle as she uttered the last meaning, watched his mouth twitch at her utterance and then his eyes cast down to his food. Yeah, that's the one he's focusing on.

Kate pushed her plate to the side, having finished eating the last bite of her amazing dinner, and brought one of her hands across the table to clutch at Castle. He looked up from playing with an asparagus stalk they had used to garnish his plate and she noted the conflicted mire his eyes had become. She needed to know what they meant, why the beautiful flowers she was being given were causing her partner so much anguish.

"It started with the cork, Kate." Castle whispered, his hand moving up to trace the blue veins on her wrist. She knew this was the last clue she was getting. If she couldn't figure it out from the cork, the waitress's comment, and his words then she wasn't worthy of knowing.

She picked the cork up again and looked from it to the bottle still bobbing in the semi-melted ice bath. Bottles, corks, "extraordinary KB", what did they—oh! Kate gave a small twitch as the synapses in her brain threaded the flowers and the clues together to create an adorably romantic gesture, and she turned to Castle who was looking at her, eyes brimming with hope.

Kate grabbed one of the white roses out of the vase and held it between them, not able to look him in the eye after her realization. "I'm getting a few more of these, aren't I?" She asked, watching his head bob in confirmation. Kate bit her lip and stroked one of the petals on her flower. "I'm getting one for every time you saved my life." His eyes closed as she stated her hypothesis, a confirmation if she'd ever seen one. "A white rose, reverence, for every time you've pulled me out of death's clutches." She closed her eyes and could feel herself close to tears. The meaning behind the roses caused her hands to shake and the exhaustion from the events of the day seemed to finally seep into her bones.

"One of the roses is for today, isn't it?" She mumbled, trying not to cry. Castle finally looked up at her and nodded head again, also holding back tears. Kate let out a watery chuckle and pulled her hand away to place her rose back in the vase; their meaning causing a weight in her chest. Genna chose that moment to arrive and take their entrée plates away, promising to bring dessert out quickly. She also left a small bundle of five more white flowers in front of Kate before quietly retreating away from the almost crying couple.

Kate felt a tear escape her eye and descent her cheek, meeting the corner of her mouth and moistening her lips. Five more, she combined them in the vase with her other six, a visual representation of all the times her amazing man had risked himself to save her.

"That's it, Kate." She brought her eyes back to look at Castle who scooted his chair over and brought his hand up to wipe the tear trail off of her cheek. "There's only eleven white ones." Kate scoffed and pressed her face into his palm, bring her own hand up to cradle his.

"I knew you were keeping score, Castle, but to see them—to actually look and know that I could have—that you could have." She choked to a stop, not wanting to ruin their adorable night with more tears.

"Shhh, it's okay. I didn't realize we were both going to turn into blubbering messes, I wouldn't have done this." He chuckled, causing her to smile. "It was supposed to be romantic."

"It is, in a slightly morbid way, but I wouldn't expect anything less from my master of the macabre." She smirked, bringing her lips to his in a quick kiss. He grinned as she pulled away and sat back in her chair, sucking in a deep breath to calm her fluttering heart.

"Do you want me to tell you which instance each stands for?" Castle asked and Kate snapped her head around to look at him in a slight panic. Did she really need to know exactly which moments he counted as times that he saved her life? She could guess a few: when he tackled Lockwood, diffusing the bomb after their freezer experience, saving her from her burning apartment, him shooting Tyson off the Triborough Bridge. She remembered them, all of them, and probably ones he didn't count as times he had saved her: pulling her out of her mother's case, waiting for her. And, honestly, probably times he was giving himself too much credit.

"No, I think I got them. I was there too, not sure if you remember, though." She said with a faint blush. "You might have been too busy playing superhero."

"Ooh, I love it when you call me your superhero." He teased running his foot along her calf making her shiver. She chuckled and played with a piece of her hair, twisting the already existing curl around her finger. He was such a goofball, and she wouldn't want him any other way.

Kate watched as Genna reappeared with their desserts and seven bright red roses to add to her collection. Kate was thrown off by the color, but accepted them and mixed them into the vase with her eleven white.

"Is there anything else I can get you both this evening?" Genna asked politely as Kate looked down at her delicious chocolate mousse. She shook her head no and Castle confirmed that they were alright, and Genna left them again to return to her other tables.

"What did you get, Castle?" Kate asked as she picked up her dessert fork and struck into her succulent morsel of chocolaty goodness.

"The deconstructed snickers bar!" He relished as he combined bits of all the pieces on his plate into one bite on his fork. Kate shook her head and brought her first bite to her lips, of course he ordered the candy bar dessert at a five star gourmet restaurant.

The velvet of the chocolate against her tongue caused her breath to stutter. It was beyond delicious, it was orgasmic! Her eyes fluttered closed as the chocolate coated her tongue and the moan that left her lips was almost sinful. She opened her eyes to Rick's fork held a few inches from his mouth, and said mouth agape with a slack jawed look of fascination. She cleared her throat and he snapped back to attention, crucial bits of his deconstructed dessert falling from his fork.

"Careful, Castle, some would say it's rude to stare." Kate sniggered as she brought another bite of her mousse to her lips, licking the fork clean with her tongue as she slowly pulled the fork from her mouth.

"You are such a tease, Kate." Castle mock grumbled, skewering the bits of his dessert that had fallen from his first bite.

"Yeah, but you love it." Kate retorted pulling the fork away from her third bite, letting it rest on her bottom lip. She loved playing with him like this. He would let her have it later, he always did. Either toying with her during foreplay or bringing her so close to the edge only to back away leaving her begging. It was their push and pull, and she thoroughly enjoyed it.

"You're right," Castle replied, seriousness lining his voice, "I do love it." Her breath caught and he casually brought another bite to his mouth. Kate nibbled at the end of her fork. All the times he had said it to her she had been in some sort of perilous situation. Her shooting, her leaving him, her standing on a bomb, and now, to be at a gorgeous restaurant with no imminent threat available to hide behind, it was so easy to respond to him in kind.

"I love you, too, Rick." He pushed towards her, capturing her lips with his greedy ones. The taste of chocolate, peanuts, and his tongue played throughout her mouth and it was better than any of the food she had devoured that night. She wanted to straddle him, to finish the foreplay she had started on the sidewalk all those hours ago. He began to pull away, Kate's eyes flicking open as his lips finally left hers. He lingered, rubbing their noses together and she looked into his eyes and saw wanton lust and harsh desire. She couldn't wait to get back to the loft.

"Take me home, Castle," Kate whispered against his ear, flicking her tongue out to lave his lobe. He moved his lips to her neck, placing small quick kisses down her jaw to her jugular, throwing in a quick nip or a simple lick to keep her toes curled.

Her skin was on fire as he brought his lips to her ear and playfully growled, "You haven't guessed what the red roses mean yet." He reset his chair and left her hot and bothered across the table. Her chest was slightly heaving and she was slightly aghast that he was able to control himself so well. Usually he was the one who was left seeking more in public.

"Really, Castle?!" Kate reached for her ice water and took a quick swig, "You're going to just stop?" He was grinning again and she was starting to get annoyed with how easily he could play her.

"It'll be worth it," he promised, taking a smooth swig of his wine. "Now hypothesize, Detective."

Kate pouted, mostly out of sexual frustration, and looked at her new additions to her vase: seven bright red, fully bloomed roses to match their white counterparts. She took out her phone and Googled 'red rose meaning' and was shocked to see so many different comprehensions. They ranged from love and beauty to courage, respect, and a 'job well done'. There seemed to be too many avenues that this new gift could align itself to. Kate looked from the whites to the reds and was struck with realization.

"Courage and respect, Castle." God, he was going to make her cry again. "The red ones are for the times I've saved your life." The grin that lit his face at her announcement squeezed her heart and she brought one of the red roses out of the vase to bury her nose in its center.

"For all the times you've risked your life for me, Kate. I had to thank you."

She didn't know what to feel. On one had she was fascinated that this wonderful man in front of her had devised such a precious display of affection, but she was also burdened with guilt over the amount of times they had both found themselves in mortal danger. His eleven saves, her seven, too many close calls and near misses for her liking.

She paused her thinking to go back to the numbers. "Uh, Castle," she started looking back over her flowers. "Why do I only get seven red flowers? There is no way I've only saved you seven times." It was pedantic, she knew, but she distinctly recalled him giving her eight saves the last time they had had this conversation. How had she lost one?

"I might have over exaggerated your number the last time we discussed this. Upon further examination I have deduced that there have actually only been seven times that you have saved my life." He was hiding behind his wine glass with a guilty smile on his face.

Kate was about to retort when Genna sidled up and placed the check on the table. Kate lost her voice at the numbers scribbled on the small white piece of paper. That was way too many digits for her liking.

"Here is your check, Mr. Castle, and Claudio will see to the closing out of your bill. I hope you both had a wonderful night tonight." Genna gleamed as she grabbed their dessert plates off the table. They both said their thanks to her and Castle grabbed his card out of his wallet and stood. Kate watched him with a pout on her lips as he donned his tuxedo jacket and came around to pull out her chair.

"I don't need your help, Castle." Kate bit, still letting him pull her chair out. Her pride was really the only thing that was bruised by his numbers comment.

"I know you don't. You don't really need my help for anything." She wasn't expecting that kind of a response. "You're a fierce woman who has more guts and intelligence than anyone I've ever known, Kate. And if you get anything from tonight please know that I am honored to have been able to give you the white roses, and humbled that you've allowed me to give you the red ones."

Kate stilled under his gaze and felt her eyes brim with tears again. This man and his wonderfully hypnotic words. She moved forward and placed a chaste kiss on his lips, drawing back quickly as not to provoke either of their sexual deviancies.

"I love you. I love you so much." That's all she could give him, and from the smile that pulled at his lips she knew it was enough.

He reached over and grabbed her flowers, pulling them from the vase and wrapping them with the paper the vase had been placed upon creating a beautiful bouquet. Carefully handing it to her so he could deal with Claudio at the front, they made their way out of the restaurant. Claudio threw her a lopsided grin as he saw her approach.

"Did you like your surprise, Miss Beckett? I hope I didn't freak you out earlier with my aloofness. Mr. Castle had left very detailed instructions and I was just extremely nervous to get it right." Claudio looked from her to Rick and Kate responded with a smile.

"You did wonderful, Claudio, you and Genna both. Thank you for my surprise."

"So, did you say yes?" Claudio asked looking to her left hand and seeming a little disappointed that there wasn't something large and sparkling there to catch his attention.

Kate's eyes bulged and she opened her mouth to retort, but Castle stepped in to quell the flames before she had a chance to respond.

"She's more of an intimate, one-on-one kind of girl, Claudio. I'd have to do something much more spectacular than giving her few flowers to produce a positive outcome for any proposal." Castle winked at her and she blushed fiercely. Oh man, had he been thinking about proposing? Kate hid her face behind her flowers as Castle paid their bill and they both made for the door, arm-in arm.

They exited to a warm breeze that lifted Kate's hair and played it across her open back, but she was still reeling about Claudio's question to notice the beautiful night. Castle squeezed her hand causing her to break from her turbulent thoughts and bumped shoulders with her.

"Stop freaking out, Kate. I'm not asking you to marry me." Castle chuckled as the town car pulled up to the curb and he moved to open the door. He unclasped her hand to reach for the door handle but Kate held on. He turned back to her with a puzzled look and she clutched to him like he was a life line, her anchor.

"I'm not freaking out, Castle." His eyebrows lifted from her statement and she held his gaze and continued to squeeze his hand. He turned his body back to hers, maneuvering one hand to the small of her back and the other to her cheek where she pressed into his palm. His eyes were radiating love, pleasure, and surprise and Kate felt a weightlessness to her body that was making her slightly dizzy. The kiss he placed on her lips was sweet and tender and he pulled back, too quickly for Kate's liking, to card his fingers through her hair.

"Good to know." He whispered losing himself in her eyes. Kate stared back letting herself bask in their moment.

"Take me home, Rick," she breathed.

Castle opened her door and helped her inside, kissing the back of her hand then shutting her door. Kate's stomach was flipping, her heart was pounding, and her loins were in desperate need of friction from his body. He slipped into the car and as the driver pulled into traffic Kate bunched up her dress and straddled Rick in a quick motion that caused him to gasp in surprise. She ground herself against him and brought her hands to either side of his face to steady him as she explored his lips with her teeth. Castle moaned as she bit into his lip and smoothed away the pain with a flick of her tongue. They moaned into each other until they broke apart to breathe.

"You taste like chocolate, Beckett." Castle groaned into her ear as he brought his lips to her jaw line again. She let out a small series of mewling pants before nuzzling his ear and running her fingers through his hair.

"I have been told I make a delicious dessert." She flirted, grinding into him again as she felt him start to respond to her movements.

"I could always go for seconds."

That he did.

Author's Note: Geez this is long! Thank you again to PrettyLittleThingSamantha for the prompt. I hope I did it justice. On another note I'm going to include a list of what I deemed to be the lifesaving moments of the show so far. I read a couple blogs that breached the topic, but I didn't really agree with some of the times people thought Kate saved Castle. I'm sorry if you don't agree, but I might have a stricter guideline to the 'who-saved-whom' debate. Please let me know what you think, and leave me a prompt if you feel so inclined. I've used up all the ones I had received from the last time I had asked and would love some fresh inspiration!

Reviews are my anti-drug, so help keep me off the hard stuff ;)

-Liz

My speculated times when Castle saved Kate:

-S01E06: Champagne bottle distraction

-S02E17: Phoned with enough time for Kate to make it to the tub

-S02E18: Two possibilities- pulled her from the burning building, and shot the guy who was about to kill her in the warehouse. I only counted it as one.

-S03E01: When he shot Kitty Canary who was standing behind Beckett

-S03E13: Tackles Lockwood

-S03E17: Diffused dirty bomb (also speculated to save her with his body heat in the freezer, left to speculation)

-S03E24: Pulled her from the hanger so she wouldn't get caught in the gun fight with Montgomery (also speculated to have saved her from getting shot a second time by the sniper, left it to speculation)

-S04E16: Pulled her from the Hudson River

-S05E05: When he shot Tyson off the bridge

-S05E06: Convinced the mob boss to help rescue his girlfriend who was being held by the guy who killed said mob bosses best buddy

-S05E22: Helped crack the bomb code and kept her standing

My speculated times when Kate saved Castle:

-S01E07: When that guy fell on the car Castle was staying in and he was reaching for the gun to shoot Rick. Beckett stepped on the gun before he could grab it, stopping him from murdering Castle.

-S02E01: Two words- Russian Beckett!

-S02E13: Shooting Dick Coonan

-S03E01: Shooting Kitty Canary's husband who was standing behind Castle

-S03E16: The fire fight before they were locked in the freezer (A few blogs weren't counting this sighting that it was her fault that they then ended up almost freezing to death, but without her return fire they would have both been shot to death. It was just unfortunate that the container they ended up in was a storage locker of death.)

-S04E07: Talking down the robbers of the bank and carrying messages across from Castle (Again, some blogs didn't have this one either, but without her crude negotiating skills I feel like they would have shot Castle in the face after he kept trying to go all Die Hard on the robbers.)

-S05E05: Shooting the shit out of 3XK