A/N: I'm not sure how long it's been, but it has been quite a while since I've written any good Castle fic. Also, I've yet to watch any promos or spoilers for season four.. so please do not ruin it for me in your reviews! I hope you all enjoy this.
Disclaimer: NOT MINE.
It's not as if he had shot her personally. No. He hadn't. But every time he saw her face scrunch up in pain or her lips form the small 'o' when she moved wrong in the hospital bed, he felt a stab somewhere near his heart.
It doesn't matter that she's out of the hospital and walking around. That she's in perfectly good health and they're back to their normal banter. It still stabs him, unexpectedly - tearing apart his mask of confidence.
That's what has him following his daughter clear across the country to California when she leaves for college early. He respects that she needs to be her own person though and makes sure there's about two hours between the school and his new apartment. His mother keeps the loft and he's glad that there's the option of going back but he's doubtful that will ever happen.
She calls for a week straight, angry as hell because he left in the middle of night with only a note he slipped into her mail slot. When he refuses to answer, she stops calling and turns to harassing his mother about his whereabouts.
He's ignoring the women clad in bikinis who throw their self at him, doing the press thing on auto pilot as he tries to forget dark brown eyes and the sweetest smile.
Her two partners are beyond pissed at the little stunt he pulled, the Medical Examiner out for blood but keeping him updated on how she's doing.
Three months pass and the dull ache he's learned to live with turns to a full on panic attack as he opens the door to his small apartment and comes face to face with her.
She gives him no time to make excuses or talk his way out of this one, slapping him across the face before kissing him with all the emotion that had been smothering her since the shooting.
It only takes her asking once and he's agreed to stop being stupid and move back home. They spend a week lounging around in sun and getting used to being together, heading back to good ole' New York when she receives a call from her not-so-patient best friend demanding they come back.
When he founds out that it was his daughter who finally told her where he had went and exactly how to get there, he sends her a huge gift basket with every candy known to man and ten giant balloons.
She waits two months before telling him that she's moving in - surprising the hell out of both of them.
He risks his life when only a month later he proposes, with promises of a long engagement.
His daughter comes home for summer break and they're all running around like kids, playing laser tag and watching movies in a giant fort.
They head to the Hamptons for a week and his girls surprise him when he comes back from a press conference one day to find their closest friends and family at the beach house. She's dressed in a gorgeous white summer dress, grinning like the cat that ate the canary at his slack-jawed expression.
It's a simple wedding and they celebrate all night after everyone leaves, including his daughter who politely informs them that she does not need those kind of nightmares.
Before they know it, it's back to murderers and writing every day - their normal life.
But four months later she's throwing a plastic baggie that contains a small white stick with a pink line at him, yelling about how the hell she's supposed to do her job and that she's not ready to be a mom.
It takes him three days to get her to come home from hiding out at Lanie's. Two more to get her to even talk to him. When he finally does get her to talk, it's nearing three am when she finally falls asleep with red rimmed eyes.
Seven months later they're welcoming Marcus Alexander into the world. When he takes the small infant into his arms, he finally feels the guilt lift from what seemed to be its permanent residence in his chest - leaving him feeling free.