AUTHOR'S NOTE: 5/21/2012 : Hi everybody! This was my first ever fan-fiction here and when I was recently trying to read it, I found that my grammar was thousand times worse then than it is now! So I would like to sincerely thank everyone who patiently read this the first time over for being so kind with me. I have now corrected a few mistakes, mind you my grammar is not still very praise worthy, so it still would have quite a few mistakes, but I guess, at least it is more bearable now. But anyway I apologize in advance for all the mistakes you will find. :)

And yes this was written around 2 years ago, but even then, it was about the distant future, which seems to have become a little less distant now... But anyway, what I'm trying to blabber here is that, that it is still relevant now; well except for a few odd old season references. So please do give it a read and tell me what you think about it.

All the other 'author notes' in rest of the chapters are old. I just wanted to keep it that way because of my stupid sentimentality. :)

AUTHOR'S NOTE: 8/29/10

Here is my first Castle story or to say first ever fanfiction here.

Warning: This story contains graphic description of a crime scene.

It turns a bit sappy towards the end...but hey who says a little bit of sweetness is offensive? ;D Anyways Happy reading! :)

DISCLAIMER: I do not own CASTLE or any of its characters. Any resemblance of a character to a person, dead or alive is purely co-incidental. This is just for pure creative fun. No copyright infringement intended.

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He is running wildly; all that is visible is thick black smoke. His eyes are watering due to the intensity of it and he is coughing vigorously. He is searching for something...something more precious than life itself. And even though the explosions have still not subsided in the another part of the area, he seems unbothered by it and is still frantically searching for a sign...a sign that his precious love is still alive somewhere hidden in all that smoke.

He spots something a little far away from where he was. He runs toward it and halts suddenly. Then with a bloodcurdling shriek he collapses to the floor. He sees his life literally shattered in front of his very eyes. His hope was crushed harshly as his love lay there tattered and mutilated, covered in blood. Only thing which could identify her was her burnt clothes and her bruised but still recognizable face. It was her; his Kate...his precious Kate. And he could do nothing to save her because he couldn't bring dead back to life. He gathered her remains in his arms, crying, shouting and wailing inconsolably and no one could tell for how long. Sometime later the sirens of Police vehicles and ambulance were be heard. But not to Castle; he was lost…

He came back to reality when somebody kept a hand on his shoulder and patted. But he didn't even bother to acknowledge that. But later due to the continuous bothering he shouted back at that person in fury without even moving his eyes from the body that lay in his arms. Then he heard the voice from behind uttering few things vaguely. It was a lady's voice, trying to say something about clearing the dead body, evidence, crime scene and loads of other crap which he did not care a damn about. All he was bothered about was that his Kate was with him...no matter how she was looked at the moment, she was his and nobody was going to disturb their moment.

The people around seemed worried. The vision was still obscured due to smoke. The CSI were trying their best to collect any possible evidence that was not charred badly. And the paramedics and NYPD people were sifting the place for anyone alive. And there on the other hand the NYPD bomb squad was on its trail to see if any other bombs still existed. This is when they spotted Castle, crouching over what seemed like remains of the former Det. Kate Beckett, as someone from the search team identified them. Everyone was shocked...for it seemed unwatchable. They had found a severely wounded Esposito and Ryan too somewhere far. Mostly everyone was thrown off due to the powerful blast.

He was still holding her. But now was also uttering something insane... He was saying something like, " I'm sorry dear. It's entirely my fault. I should have been with you. I should have never left you. I went out to get something to eat and I did not know that just then you got the call about the anonymous killer's whereabouts and by the time I returned, captain told me you all had left. And then I knew I was too late when I heard the blasts, one after another as I was coming here. But you know what? I still hoped to see you alive Kate. But as always I turned out to be unlucky... Kate, Kate will you please wake up for me... Please Kate...please…" He kept saying that repeatedly and started kissing her all over her face, sobbing all the while.

Some voices were disturbing him again. He wanted to shout at all of them to go away. He thought why people were so heartless that they won't even let him to cry in peace. He wanted to kill whoever was disturbing him and for God's sake, he was with his Kate for the moment and no one... utterly no one had a right to disturb him at that moment!

But then suddenly he heard a beautiful voice...his Kate's voice. He was baffled. She was calling his name! He was overjoyed. But nothing seemed to make sense. But he surely did not care, it was what he wanted the most... for her to be alive and speak to him once more. He hugged her tightly and she hugged him back.

But somewhere in the back, the voice that was disturbing him still persisted so he decided to turn back and give them a piece of his mind. But the moment he turned back, no one was there. He was terribly annoyed at whoever the hell that person was but decided that was not important now and turned back to his Kate. But alas! She was gone! He suddenly felt as if he was falling into an abyss...far far away from everything he ever loved. He shouted "Kate… Kate!" Again and again he couldn't hear anything. But after sometime he heard her voice again…but this time very clearly. And suddenly something cold fell on him. He didn't recognize it until he felt wet and he opened his eyes!

There she was, giving that divinely naughty smile of hers...his darling Kate. She was fully dressed to go and was towering in front of him with an empty glass of what was presumably the cold water which she moments ago emptied on him! Her smile changed to a giggle watching his amused and shocked reaction! She then made a mock angry face and said, "Hmm Mr. Castle...is it not yet morning for you? Do you know what the time is? Your darling daughter has already chided me for not waking you up on time and now if we miss the flight it is me on whom she is going to blame that on and I'm having none of it! So you better get up and get ready, Now!"

She barked out with a mock angry tone. She then bent down to pull him out of the bed but instead he managed to pull her onto him and hug her tightly. She at first tries to escape thinking it is one of his early morning romantic escapades but when his body tightens tensely and his breathing becomes slightly laboured around her, she sensed that something was wrong. She then gently and cautiously asked, "What is wrong dear?" And Castle suddenly starts to sob into her shoulder. Gently allowing his tears to fall on her, she kept rubbing his back. She then holds him for a moment before she moves away, hands now on his arms, she looks into his face. And when she sees tears in those deep blue eyes, unknowingly her eyes too started to blur with tears. He look worried. She asked again after wiping off his tears "What's wrong Rick? Aren't you fine? Is something hurting or was it a nightmare?" she asked in the same tone as she would to a child, filled with both concern and love.

He simply nodded and hugged her again whispering into her ears, " Kate, I'm so glad you are alive and next to me. Please Kate, promise me you will never leave me alone. Kate... I will die without you. If I'm not dead after you aren't there that would be only because I would have gone too insane and would be believing that you were still alive..." Saying those words he hugged her even more tightly.

She was touched by his words; not that she didn't know how much he loved her, but the magnitude of that love, always seemed to surprise her, every time he professed. She smiled into his shoulder and whispered into his ears, " I will never leave you Rick...Never!" And suddenly her voice changed into more teasing tone and continued, "I can never do that to the world Rick. I can't leave them alone with you... Without me being there to keep you on a leash, you would wreak hell on it!" And she giggled. Later she felt his lips curving into an enchanting smile. He moved back looked at her and did something that had her in fits of mirthful laughter... He put his tongue out and panted and by showing an imaginary leash on his neck which he gave it to her and said, "Never ever leave me... I love you Boss! And yeah...I'm going to follow you to wherever you go...forever like a faithful puppy. So you can never escape from me!" And came close and licked her cheek! She rolled her eyes but was still amused and laughing when he suddenly eyed her lips intensely just before he dived in and she responded with the same fervor.

Then just after few minutes into their deep sea diving escapade, there came a sharp knock on the door. A voice on the other end said, "Mama... Is daddy awake yet? Willy and I are waiting here fully read to leave, for like forever! Mama... we are going to miss our flight! And you know none of us want that! Please wake up dad, will you? "

They then suddenly broke their kiss and were sadly pulled back to the real world... Their fantastic real world… the world of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Castle and their 3 children; Natasha [Natie] , William [Willy] and of course Alexis.

They both got up and Rick hurried into the bathroom. Later Kate opened the door and assured Natie that her dad was awake and will be ready in few minutes. True to her word he was ready in 10 minutes and the happy family left to the airport.

They were going to meet Alexis in Washington. It was her birthday today and they were going to her surprise party organized by Jack; Jackson Keats- Alexis' now long time boyfriend. Martha and Chet would arrive there too. Jack was going to propose to Alexis and he wanted to do that in front of everybody who mattered to her.

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Ahh well if the 'nightmare' part didn't make much sense it was because nightmares seldom do! ;) hehe But I hope, the rest of the chapter made some sense at least. :)

Anyway, I hope you guys liked the first chapter. I guess two or three more to go. Actually I intended it to be a small One shot but then I ended up writing a little too much and it became one over-grown Oneshot! So anyways, I hope it's a bearable read. Thank you for your patience. Please do R & R...