Author's note: I don't own the characters, Castle, anything else. I just wrote this because last night I found out that Cuffed would air December 5th and not today. So, I was bummed, had a bad day and there wouldn't be a new episode of my favorite show. Which is why I wrote this.
It's a one shot, because I wouldn't know how to continue this. It has an open ending, which I usually don't like, but it just feels good. :) You can just fill your own ending in. Will they be saved, or will they not? Also, really excited for this episode and I wasn't very creative on a title. xD It's my first Castle fanfic (that I finished and post here) and I hope you enjoy it. Not a great writer, but hey, it was fun and I let my imaginations on the wishful thinking train! :) Oh and this might contain spoilers for "Cuffed" but really, it's just what I would LOVE to see based on like 10 bad quality pictures and a short 10 lined summary. So I don't know if you can call it spoilers at all. I'll stop rambling now. Enjoy reading!


My back hurt, like I had been laying too long without turning, laying on a thin matress. My eyes fluttered as some realization hit me. This wasn't my bed, but I was too tired to open my eyes. They felt too heavy with sleep, even though I tried, they just wouldn't open. Half dreaming, half awake I sighed and tried to move, but something yanked my arm back. That was when I felt a body next to me and my heart began to race. I finally opened my eyes, afraid of what I might find, but this all just didn't make sense.
The room was dark, except from two lightbulbs at my left and right side. I tried to sit up, but again, something hold me back. It was like I was tied to something and I looked down at my left hand. "Castle?" I whispered when my eyes fell on the brown hair on the back of a head. I knew it was him, I knew his smell. He didn't move though and I started to panick. "Castle," I tried again, louder now, while I shaked him a little bit with my right, free, hand. Still, he didn't move. "Rick!" I almost yelled, poking him into his sides. If this didn't help.. My mind flashbacked to the little time we spend in Los Angeles. 'Poke you? I wanna kiss you.' Right at that moment, his body moved and I sighed of relieve. He looked confused but the shock washed from his face as soon as he saw me. He too, tried to sit up and create space between us. As far as we were able to do so.
Apparently his left hand was cuffed with mine. He rubbed his eyes with his free hands. "I sure imagined this in a different way," he murmured to himself but my body responded to his words anyway. I cleared my throat and got his attention. His usually blue eyes were now dark and sparkling. "Yeah so," I started, turning my eyes away, looking around the darkness. "Any idea how we've gotten here?" I asked him. I didn't remember anything myself and remembering the heavy eyelids earlier I was wondering if we'd been drugged to get here. "Not a clue, but can I just say I'm happy that-"
"Whatever you were about to say, you probably shouldn't," I cut him off before another flirty joke left his mouth about handcuffs. Or the fact that we technically slept together, as in, the literally meaning of it. I looked down at the crappy matress. No wonder my back hurt.

I tried to stand up and sighed when apparently I was the only one. "Castle, could you?" I asked annoyed. I regretted the way I said it just a second later, after all, this wasn't his fault either. Even though he didn't seem to mind. Why was he always making this more complicated? I knew how he felt about me, but I wasn't quite ready to return the feelings, or fully accept and admit that I had feelings for him at all. "I'm sorry," I said, when we both stand on our feet. "It's okay, I get it," he replied and turned around in a circle, as far as the cuffs would let him. "We have to find a way to get out of here, I don't remember anything and that's not a good sign. I'm usually pretty good with memories," he said. Even though I knew he wanted to get out of here too, he always had a certain ammount of excitiness in his voice. As if he had fallen into some kind of adventure. It was what I loved about him. "Well, let's analyze the room," I said, raising my hand to scratch the back of my head, forgotten that I couldn't rise that hand. My free hand finally reached my hair while my eyes searched for key points in the room. "Two lights next to the stone door and I think that might be a window," I wondered out loud. He turned to look at the direction I was looking at and walked to my side. "I think you're right. It's a window, but it's dark outside, meaning that it's between midnight and 5 AM." He was good at this, I had to admit. That's when I missed the usual warmth on my left wrist. My heartbeat increased, no, no, no, this couldn't be true, could it? I pulled my left sleeve up, but there was nothing but the cuff linking me to Castle. "No," I said defeatedly. Rick turned around to look at me, my cuffed wrist and then into my eyes. "Kate," he spoke and he tried to take my hands in his. "It's gone, where is it, where is my father's watch?" my voice broke and I withdrew my hands from his. "We'll find it," he said but I turned away. "Beckett," his hand on my shoulder. Tears were burning in my eyes, but I wouldn't give into them. Not here, not now. Not with him.

He turned me away and his eyes swift over my face worried. "We'll find it," he convinced me. My right hand locked on the necklace and my mother's ring. It felt cold in my hand. I could not tear my eyes away this time, but I didn't need to. After a few silent seconds which felt like tiring ages, as if all the while I had put up a fight, he looked behind me and paced to the window. I followed, not wanting to hurt either of our cuffed hands. "What is it?" I asked him, when his fingers traced the wall. "The wall, it shows a little edge here," he started, still tracing it, "but I don't think it's enough to stand on. And even if it was, we wouldn't be able to peek through the window."
I followed him to the wall, feeling it for myself. "You're right," I agreed and turned around the wrong way. I ended up bumping in to him. "Yeesh, these things are annoying. Remind me next time to turn around clockwise, will you?" I said and sighed. His snicker made me smile, even though we were in a crappy situation. "I don't mind so much," he chuckled. "I know you don't, that's the worst part!" I rolled my eyes, realizing it was way more difficult to have my guard up then usually. He stopped laughing and I started to walk to the other side of the room. "Castle.." I said. "I think I've got something."
My knees bumped into something low and hard. It felt like a box or one of those freezers we found bodies in quite regular. "What is it?" he asked, trying to open it. "I don't know," I admitted. It didn't seem to open easily. The crack wasn't wide enough to put fingers through. "Is it locked? Do you see a lock somewhere?" We both traced the box twice but ended up with nothing that would indicate that the box was locked.
"Do you have anything useful in your pockets?" he asked me and I stuffed my hand in the pockets of my pants. Nothing. I grunted. "Nothing, you?" I said, but my voice sounded hopeless. "Same," he murmured and looked around the room. Fortunately it was getting lighter and they had woken up in the early morning rather than at midnight. The room was a bit lighter and he tugged at the cuffs, so that I'd follow him to the right side of the room. We passed the matress and I blushed, but shook any thought not involving a plan B away. He bend and took something from the ground. "Aha!"
"What is it?" I asked when he was about to turn to show me. It was a knife. "Can I hold it?" He gave me the knife carefully and I inspected it. "Looks like steel, maybe this could help cracking that box open," I said and moved back to the other side of the room. The floor was edgy and I nearly lost my balance on the heels I was wearing. "You okay?" I heard him ask. "Yeah," I answered distantly and bucked in front of the box, sliding the knife in the crack. "Castle, when I count to three you lift the knife, okay? Put it in as far as possible and lift it so that I can get my fingers between the box and the lid." "Let me do that, I'm stronger," he started to argue. "Castle, my fingers are smaller and you're not stronger, I'll be fine," I replied and cut him off when he opened his mouth to object. "Do you want to get out of here or not?" I eyed him questionly. "Fine," he growled and moved his cuffed hand so that I would be able to move both my hands.
"One, two, three," I said and pulled my fingers under the lid. Once they were under it, it wasn't too hard to lift it. It took a bit of strength, but I was a cop, I'd been through worse. What scared me, was what was in the box.

"Wow," I heard Castle say as if he'd was amazed by what was in there. "You've never seen a collection of knifes and weapons, Castle?" I teased him, looking at what it hold. It was a set of knifes, primes and sharp objects that might have come to use. "Do you think we can move it? It'd be perfect to stand on and look through the window," he suggested and I nodded, "but let's take the stuff out first, I don't want to take the risk we can't open it later." We walked a few times, putting it on the bed and returning to the box. "Is there even room beside it?" I wondered, after closing the lid so we could stand on it. "I think there is. I'll go first," Castle told me and climbed on the box, yanking my arm with him. "Wait," I said and he stopped, giving me time to climb on it as well. When I did, he crawled over to the farest end. "There room between it, but not much," he noted. "That might be easier to shove it away though," I said as he lowered himself in the small space between the wal land the box. "I really don't wanna know what's been down here in the last few decades."
"Well, you can worry about your clothes later, Castle," I told him. It then occured to me that the way we were cuffed was very unconvenient. Both our left hands were cuffed, meaning that when he was facing North, I was facing South. "Okay Mr. Muscle, this is your chance to show how strong you are. We need to create a little bit of room, I'll push with my foot and my hand against the wall, you try to push as hard as you can with both your hands," I told him and he smirked. "One, two, three," he counted and I pushed as hard as I could with my foot against the box. It did shove easier than I thought it would. It only took two times to have as much space as needed for us to bend over push together with our hands, using the wall and floor behind us to do so.
"I liked the earlier position you were in more," Castle said and I rolled my eyes. "Shut up, Castle," I said, but of course he wouldn't. "Seriously, it was kind of hot. You, between the wall and the box backwards.." I gave him a look and he smirked. "You might want to watch your words, or you're going to enjoy being cuffed far more than you should," I shot back at him, seeing him bite his lip. I couldn't help to feel a little aroused myself. Heath washed over my cheeks. He opened his mouth but I interrupted, "focuss Castle or I might make you regret like being cuffed." A small whimper left his mouth and a shiver ran down my own spine. "Now, push," I ordered and inch by inch we were able to get the box to the other end of the wall. The sun was now shining through the window and I wondered how the hell somebody got us in here in first place. There was one stone door, but it looked like it had been closed forever. There were no holes in the wall or floor, the only way in and out seemed the window. Or maybe not? My eye fell on a small part of the wall. It looked like someone had tried to tear it down. There was a small hole in the stone. "Beckett, you coming?" his voice woke me up from my own thoughts, I saw he already climbed on the box, trying to peek through the window, but he was stuck because he couldn't use both hands. I climbed up there myself, as he helped and pulled me up. "Thanks," I mumbled, finding my balance. Even though we were on top of the box, we still weren't high enough to see through the bars.
"How about you give me a boost this time?" he smirked at me. "At least I won't grab something that doesn't even sound like 'legs'," I told him and raised one eyebrow. "You liked it," he said and took a step closer, forcing me to stand against the wall. He was less than two inches away. "I did.. not," I said but couldn't help to look at his lips. It took every nerve in my body not to close the distance between us. "You did and you know it," he whispered in my ear, his warm breath on my heathed skin. He moved away slowly, locking eyes with me. "But fine, I'll give you a boost again and try not to grab your ass, again." I let go of my breath, not realizing I'd been holding it until now, my blood racing through my veins. I licked my lips and turned around. I had to lower my left, cuffed hand, to create room and be able for him to grab my foot. "Ready?" I said, as I grabbed his left shoulder with my right hand. He nodded and pushed my foot up, while I tried to climb onto his shoulders. It wasn't easy and it hadn't been easy last time. Of course, I was used to climb onto shoulders, walls, everything was covered in police training. It was him that made it hard. Him and the thought of his head being between my legs. I shook my head and tried to concentrate on the wall. When my knees where on his shoulders and he had his cuffed hand free, he raised it to give my hand space. "Castle! What did I just say?" I told him as I felt his hand leaving a warm mark on my butt. "I just don't want you to fall!" he replied, but I heard the smile in his voice. I growled and moved my right hand up to the bars of the window, pulling myself up. Awesome, I had no idea where we were. All I saw was a sunrise, the city waking up, while it seemed like we were a few yards out of town. I sighed and tried to describe what I saw, but neither me nor Castle seemed to know where the hell we ended up together.

It was hours later that I realized we must have been stuck here for a while, since my stomach was getting impatient. I couldn't remember what I ate last night, if I had eaten at all. That, the loss of my dad's watch and the fact that we seemed to be far out of the city, got my hopes decreasing by minutes. After having no luck at the window, we started to try out if we could make the hole in the wall at the corner bigger but it seemed like today wasn't our day. We didn't get really far and ended up at the bed to rest. It had turned dark really quick, meaning the only light was from the two bulbs next to the stone door.
"Do you think they know where we are?" I asked, after moments of silence. I did have a strange déjà-vu feeling when I ended up in his arms, exactly like when we'd been locked in the freezer. I had to admit that I prefered the cuffs over the piercing cold. "Hm?"
"I mean, if even we don't know what happened, nor where we are, do you think the guys will?" I looked up at him. I shouldn't have let my guard down, but somehow I didn't mind staying like this in his arms. It made me feel save and I know that this was me admitting my feelings for him to him, but he hadn't made a comment about it so far and I was way too comfortable here than moving away. We were cuffed, it wasn't like we could sit far away from each other anyway. "I think they will. The fact that we don't remember what happened, doesn't mean that nothing did happen. I'm sure they will find us. They did the last time we were locked up together," he tried to soothe me. I wasn't a person that panicked easily, but I had been on edge lately and I was glad that I was here with him and not with somebody else. And I knew that was what he had wanted to tell me this morning when we woke up.
"Try and get some sleep," he told me and I felt him brushing my hair back. I looked at him and remembered an earlier conversation months ago. We'd both been exposed to radiation and I had told him that I just wanted someone to be there for me. That I could be there for him and that we could just dive into it together. This was exactly what I had meant back then. "No, I can't," I objected, but he tightened his grip on me. His arm pulling me closer to him. "You can. Besides, you need sleep or you can't convince me of you being stronger than me tomorrow," he said softly. I rolled my eyes at him. "Why are you always so competitive?" I chuckled. "To impress the ladies of course," he grinned back. Somehow that annoyed me. "Ladies?" I raised an eyebrow, the smile disappearing from my face. "Well, just one, actually, but I like seeing her jealous." I poked him in his side, causing him to let out a giggle. "Ouch!"
"That's your punishment Castle," I told him and withdrew my hand, folding it in my lap. I closed my eyes, moving a bit but not as much as he needed to know that I wanted out of his arms. Fact was, I didn't. "Kate?" he said, minutes later when I was almost drifting away to a dreamless dream. "Hm?" I mumbled, too tired to open my eyes. "I'll get us out of here. No matter what," he whispered into my hair and I smiled. I knew that maybe he couldn't keep his promise. The chance we'd get out of here before starving was not big, not without help from outside. Not with us being cuffed, something that wasn't practical at all. But I found it sweet that he made a promise, a promise that said that he'd do whatever it took, to get them out of there. Just like she would.


The sound of his breathing and the movements of his chests were what helped her to sleep. In a normal situation with any other person, there was no way that she'd have her guard down to sleep. But as she had found the last months, years, maybe even from the beginning, things with Castle were different from "normal". In a good way. No matter what they'd been through, they always would go through it together. And they always found their way out.