Fear


A/N: Set sometime in season four.


"No."

Beckett turns around, her eyes wide, "Why not, Castle?", she says, her voice loud.

Castle moves his look from her to Gates, "Can someone else do it?"

"No!", it's Beckett's turn to decline, "This is my case. My lead. My job. I'm sure as hell doing it."

"Mr. Castle,", Gates starts, collecting her briefcase and preparing to leave out the door, "detective Beckett, make up your minds and tell me in the morning. If you don't mind, I'm going home."

When Gates leaves out the door, Beckett comes to stand closer to Castle, anger visible in her eyes.

"What the hell was that, Castle?", she yells out, but Castle stays calm, "I am capable of doing my damn job."

"It's not about that, Kate.", she straightens up when he uses her first name, "It's about you putting yourself in danger when you can avoid that."

"I'm not the kind of peson that leaves the dirty work to others, Rick."

When he speaks, his voice is hoarse, "You could get hurt."

"I could get hurt?", she yells, "So what if I get hurt? We'll catch our guy. We'll give closure to a family that needs it."

A silence falls between them as neither of them says a word and only a battle of looks continues.

"What are you afraid of, Castle?", she says slowly, and when he doesn't answer she goes to the door.

Before she closes them, she hears him answer;

"Losing you."