Title: What Dreams May Come

Pairing: Castle/Beckett

Rated T for a bit of language.

Disclaimer: As much as I would love to have Castle chained to my bed, he's not mine, nor are any of the other characters. Maybe for Christmas...

The small, rational part of her brain, the one that was just barely functioning, told her that only crazy people banged on someone's door at 3am. In pajamas and a coat. Barefoot. The rest of her mind, however, the part currently in control, didn't give a rat's ass.

After another round of pounding and almost a minute, the door swung open, and there he stood.

Disheveled.

Confused.

And very much alive.

"Beckett?" he asked, rubbing his eyes and trying to stifle a yawn.

"Castle." She said his name as she exhaled, not realizing that she had been holding her breath. She looked at him, her fingers itching to reach out to touch him, to reassure herself that he actually was standing there in front of her.

While she'd been staring at him, Castle had been looking her over as well. They had just wrapped up a case that ended in a harrowing stand-off with an armed suspect. The suspect had refused to go down without a fight, and she had narrowly avoided getting shot; Castle, who had once more disobeyed orders and ended up in the middle of things, had tackled her at the last second. Ryan had used the distraction to his advantage, disarmed the suspect, and the case was closed.

She'd been pissed at him for the rest of the afternoon, but had seemed fine when they left the station. She was most definitely not 'fine' now, though.

"Kate, what's wrong?" He almost never used her first name.

"I…oh, crap."

He was more than a little surprised when she all but slammed into him, burying her face in his shirt and holding on almost desperately. Completely perplexed, and getting more worried by the minute, he wrapped his arms around her, doing his best to reassure her.

"Shh, Kate, I've got you," he said quietly as he held her.

"Dad?" a sleepy voice spoke from the top of the stairs. "What…?"

"Richard darling, who in the world…" his mother, who had also emerged from her room to stand by her granddaughter, trailed off as she saw the trembling woman in her son's arms. She caught his eye and he nodded.

"Ah," she sighed. "C'mon kiddo," Martha said as she wrapped an arm around Alexis. "Let's go back to bed."

"But Detective Beckett…" Alexis protested, looking back as her grandmother guided her down the hall.

"Your father will take good care of Detective Beckett, darling, don't you worry."

When Beckett heard what she presumed was Alexis's bedroom door shut, then Martha's, she shifted uncomfortably. Now that her panic was wearing off, she was feeling more and more foolish. She wasn't like this. Wasn't the type of person to let anything get to her. She was stronger than that.

By sheer force of will, she made herself push away from him, surprised when he wouldn't let her leave the circle of his arms. "I'm…I'm sorry, Castle. This was a bad idea; I didn't mean to wake everyone up. I'm just gonna…"

"You're not going anywhere," he insisted. "At least not until you tell me what's wrong."

"I…," Beckett trailed off and stared at her hands, which were still holding on to his t-shirt. She hated that she actually found herself wanting to let him comfort her.

Castle reached out and put a finger under her chin, guiding it up until she was looking at him.

"Kate?"

"It's stupid," she told him, but her resolve was starting to crumble.

"I don't care."

"I just…" She took a deep breath. "Ihadanightmare," she said quickly, bracing herself for his laughter, or at the very least a cocky grin.

Instead, his eyes softened a little and he pulled her into a hug.

Oh.

She started shaking a little, and shifted until her arms were wrapped around his torso.

He started rubbing slow circles on her back, rocking back and forth slightly. How many times, especially since he'd started working at the precinct under the pretext of 'research', had Alexis woken him up in the middle of the night and held on to him in just this way?

For some reason, being in his arms made her feel safe, and the soothing motion of his hands made her want to continue talking.

"It was just like today. You didn't stay by the car." She looked up at him accusingly. "You never stay by the car. But then Daniels tried to shoot me, and you pushed me out of the way, but you got shot. And there was blood everywhere, and you died, Castle. Right there, in my arms, and I couldn't do anything about it…"

Beckett started shaking harder and buried her face in his chest again as he pulled her tight against him.

"Shh…" he whispered. "Nothing like that happened. I'm fine, we're both fine. I'm right here, and Daniels is in jail."

"Fuck," she whispered, hating herself for showing any weakness but unable to help it. "I'm sorry…I feel like a complete idiot."

"Kate, the only idiotic thing you did was to not put more clothes on before coming over here. And while I would normally be the last one to complain about seeing you wearing as little as possible, blue lips are really not a good look for you."

He shook his head, and without giving her any warning (or a chance to protest) reached down and scooped her up into his arms, walking them back to his bedroom. She stiffened, but didn't let go of him. Damn it. When they reached the bed, he sat her down and slowly disentangled her arms, making sure she could tell that he wasn't pushing her away.

"Let me get you some warmer clothes," he told her. "You're freezing."

Now that he'd said it, she realized that she really was. When she'd woken up in a panic, she'd grabbed the closest jacket as she all but ran out of her apartment; a windbreaker. Between that, her bare feet, and the t-shirt and shorts she normally slept in, the frigid weather was taking its toll. She swore under her breath and shivered.

In the meantime, Castle had pulled clothes from his dresser.

"C'mon," he said as he walked over to stand in front of her. "You need to get warmed up. Lose the coat."

She did, wrapping her arms around herself and glaring at him. Now she was colder.

He raised an eyebrow expectantly. "Arms up," he instructed as he held up a sweatshirt. She was glaring a little less after he'd helped her slip it on. Socks, soft thick ones, were next, followed by a pair of sweatpants that were almost comically large.

Castle grinned a little, apparently amused by the result, then crawled into bed, clearly meaning for her to follow.

She bit her lip. "Maybe I should…"

"Kate," he said patiently. "You're not going home tonight, and I'm not letting you sleep on the couch." He rolled his eyes. "Just lay down and get some sleep. I promise, I'm really too tired to sexually harass you tonight." He pulled back the covers and patted the bed beside him.

She stood there indecisively for a minute, but then she yawned hugely and decided that she really didn't care. They were both adults, the bed was big enough for four people to fit in it, and it did look comfortable. Making the decision, she crawled into bed beside him, laying down gingerly, but quickly let out an undignified squeak when he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her across the bed until her back was flush with his chest.

She was…spooning. With Rick Castle.

Who, it turned out, could have a second career as a space heater.

"Castle…" she said, trying to put a little bit of her usual exasperated indignation into her voice and attempting to pull away.

"Sleep," he instructed, not letting her move an inch. "You can yell at me in the morning."

She sighed and almost unconsciously relaxed into him, burrowed deeper under the covers, and shifted until she could lace her fingers with his, still finding that she needed the reassurance. When that resulted in a somewhat awkward position for her head, it seemed like the most natural thing in the world for him to slide his free arm around for her to use as a pillow.

Kate couldn't remember the last time she'd fallen asleep in someone's arms, or felt so safe. God, how long had it been since she'd let herself get this close to anyone?

She almost thought she was imagining what happened then. But no, it did happen, and if she hadn't been so tired and emotionally drained, she might have actually protested. Maybe. Castle leaned over and pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her head.

"Mmm," he murmured, clearly already mostly asleep. "G'night Kate."

Who knew what would happen when they woke up? How would this affect their partnership? What would his mother and daughter think? Finally she decided to just stop thinking about it, letting her eyes drift shut as the sound of his breathing lulled her to sleep.

"G'night, Rick," she whispered.

A/N: And there we have it; my very first Castle fanfic. If you enjoyed the story, I enjoy reviews. -grin-