Spill The Sickness

For the anon prompt on Tumblr, sick Beckett

Disclaimer: I do not own Castle or any of it's characters. What I do own is my overactive imagination and my love of procrastination

Richard Castle was bouncing up and down in the backseat of a taxi cab. He had just spent the entire day writing, sending his girlfriend of 6 months to go to work without his presence. Rarely a day went by that he didn't accompany Kate into work, but Castle was struck with inspiration and took off the day to write out 3 chapters of Molten Heat. Now, he was going to surprise visit his girlfriend at home. After all this time, Castle still couldn't believe that he was able to call Kate Beckett his girlfriend. Girlfriend wasn't exactly the best word to describe what they were, but he didn't want to scare people off with 'soulmate' or, even worse, 'my always'. Cringing at his own cheesiness, Castle looked down at the gifts he was bringing with him. 2 boxes of Chinese food from the place near the loft that had their order memorized, a boxed set of Nebula 9 DVDs – he still hadn't made good on his agreement with Kate – and 2 coffees. Even though it was nearing 6pm, Castle needed the caffeine fix, and assumed that his girlfriend probably did too.

As the cab pulled up in front of Kate's apartment, Rick handed over the fare, gathered up his gifts and made his way into the elevator. Placing the food on the ground carefully, he began digging through his pockets. Among certain other things, one of Kate's gifts to him on their 6 month anniversary was a key to her loft. 'In case of emergencies' she told him as she handed it over with a smile. Rick bypassed his wallet and cell phone until he found his keys. Fumbling until he was holding the correct one in his hands, he pushed the small golden key through the lock. With a slight tug, the satisfying click of the unlocking door was heard.

Rick opened the door slowly, and walked through the front door, depositing his keys and jacket as he did. He paused briefly, listening for the tell-tale sounds of Kate being home. No singing, as she so often did when she thought she was along. No running of water to indicate that she was taking a bath, no sounds in the kitchen to indicate that she was making food. 'How strange' Rick mused, as he continued walking through the loft. 'No matter' he thought, 'I'll just get into her bed and surprise her when she comes home!' He walked past the kitchen to put the food, coffees and DVDs on the table, and made his way over to Kate's bedroom.

Rick was nearly overwhelmed by the urge to poke around. Kate had opened up so much to him in the past few months, but he felt that there was still so much of her that he didn't understand. Being a writer, his mind was always keen and eager to uncover the reasons behind people's actions, and while he understood why Kate did most of the things she did, there were still those few secrets that he yearned to understand. Like, for example, why did she have a stack of Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter books sitting on her bookshelf? Or, why did she always insist on having a British flag cushion on her couch? The little things about Kate were the most frustrating and captivating parts of her.

That being said, Rick would have felt rude looking into her personal life. He had done it before with her mother's case and he knew that it never ended well. He kept walking towards the bedroom. He pushed open the door, and jumped back, terrified.

There was a figure lying in Kate's bed.

The figure turned towards Castle, as he stood there shocked. "Rick?" the figure asked.

"Kate?" Rick replied. "I didn't think you were home…"

"Go away" Kate groaned, pulling the blankets up even higher. Her voice sounded hoarse, weak, and far away. Rick took another cautious step towards the lump in the bed. "Don't even get a step closer, Rick. I'm sick. Now go away."

"Sick? As in, common cold sick? Or full blown swine flu sick?" Rick responded.

"Don't be childish Castle, it's just a cold, I'll be fine in a few days. I don't want to get you sick though, so do us both a favour and go."

Instead of following his girlfriend's wishes, Castle walked over to the bedside and stared down at Kate's face. Her nose was red like Rudolph, her eyes bloodshot and watery, and her lips looked chapped and dry. Small smudges of makeup remained at the edges of her eyes and faint trails ran down her cheeks from the tears that escaped. She was an absolute – "I'm an absolute mess Castle. I know. I didn't want you to see me looking my absolute worst and being sick is just disgusting and I'm sorry but please just –."

"You're beautiful, Kate. Sickness or in health." Rick replied. 'Shit' he thought, 'too far too soon', realizing the implications of what his off-hand statement meant. But clearly his girlfriend was too doped up on medicine to even notice. Kate just groaned and turned over in bed so she was facing away. Rick stood up and surveyed the room. There were Kleenex everywhere, strewn about on the floor. A bottle of Advil and a bottle of Tylenol sat on the bedside table, as well as 2 empty glasses, a thermometer, throat lozenges, and a lukewarm bowl of chicken noodle soup. "The soup?" Rick asked.

"Smelled funny, made me feel sick." Kate murmured in response.

"Be right back!" Rick called, rushing through the bedroom doors. Kate groaned. She wasn't sure what Castle had in store for her but she already knew it wasn't going to be pretty.

Rick ran out the front door, almost giddy with anticipation. He knew just what he was going to do to make his sick girlfriend feel better.

Here's the first chapter. Sorry it took me so long to write!

I'm going to get started on chapter 2 right away!

Let me know what you think so far :)

Cheers xx