Chapter 1
Castle awoke with a start, looking past his fiancé to the clock on the bedside table – it was three o' clock. He leant back and sighed – he hated waking up prematurely, especially this time in the morning. He hardly seemed to get enough sleep as it was these days and once he was awake his mind would start racing almost immediately, making it almost impossible for him to get back to sleep.
He wondered what had woken him this time – a bad dream? No. He was sweating – the sheets on his side of the bed were wet with it – but his heart wasn't pounding.
A noise then? He listened – but there was no sound either inside the flat or coming from the road outside, save for Beckett's shallow breathing beside him.
A resolution to a new case perhaps? But they had tied up all the loose ends to their most recent assignment that very afternoon.
An idea for a new story? He asked himself – but his mind was blank.
Absolutely nothing at all then it seemed, which made it even more infuriating.
He took a breath in through his nose and let it out through his mouth slowly. He rolled over onto his side – his neck felt a little stiff. He reached up a cold and clammy palm to rub at it and his head started to throb. His stomach was churning – making him feel nauseas.
He swallowed hard as he felt the bile begin to rise, and – there it was – the gravelly sting at the back of his throat.
So it was sickness which had disturbed his rest.
The reason behind his recurrent sneezing fits that day had been down to more than just simple allergies then, it now seemed.
Castle shivered, pulling the sheets up around him and inevitably steeling a few inches from Beckett's side of the bed as he did so. He felt guilty – he didn't want her to get cold – but he couldn't ignore his own body's thirst for warmth. It was an instinctual need, and the sweat had already started to cool, leaving his share of the blankets cold and uncomfortable.
Besides, her skin felt dry and hot against his.
He lay there, listening to the sound of her breathing and feeling the congestion already beginning to settle on his lungs. He was finding it harder to breathe than he had done a few hours ago, but it was not enough to cause him any great concern.
It was only a cold.
He closed his eyes and it wasn't long before he felt himself freefalling – drifting back off towards a broken and fitful sleep.
He had no reason to worry – colds were ordinary. He'd had dozens throughout the course of his life so far, and no doubt there would be many more to come.
They certainly weren't dangerous.
At least that's what Castle thought.