Disclaimer: I don't own Castle. Obviously.
A/N: This is based on a prompt given to be an anon on tumblr. Kate is 19 and has been best friends with Alexis Rodgers (also 19) for a long time; they're now college roommates. Rick is 21 in this story.
I
No, no, no, no this wasn't happening. This wasn't real.
Kate stumbled down the sidewalk, her shoulder scraping against the brick wall, chaffing the leather of her jacket. She struggled to breath, gulping down air like it was the last breath she would ever take. The acid rose up her throat and before she knew it she was tumbling into a side alley, vomiting up her dinner, splashing it on her feet. Kate crumpled in on herself, her slender frame shaking under the strain of the tears flooding down her face hard and fast.
As quick as she was in that alley, she was stumbling away, a dark pain settling deep within her. The frantic thrum of her heart beating wildly in her ears. She was alive. It was reminding her that she was still alive.
Worried glances and soft whispers of concern trailed in her wake. She saw nothing. Her feet stumbling down a path she had memorised long ago. She would make it. Nothing would ever be okay again but she would make it. To them. To her. To him.
Kate pushed through the glass doors, bypassing the doorman yelling at her to stop. She tripped over her feet in her haste to just get there, falling up the stairs, tears spilling over at the new pain resonating in her shins. She wanted to lay there on the staircase of her best friends building and never move. Her throat ached, the urge to vomit building with each second that passed. She pushed herself up, taking each step one at a time. Kate admonished herself for not taking the lift but the small, cramped space would have been too much. She was barely hanging on.
She teetered into the hallway of the Rodger's loft, her hand sliding across the crisp white wall - the only thing keeping her upright. Kate knocked on the door, her head falling against the doorframe. Hurry up, hurry up, please hurry up, she begged.
The door opened after what felt like an eternity.
'Katie?'
Kate glanced up, the face of 21 year old Ricky Rodgers staring back at her.
'Rick,' she murmured on a gasp. 'Alexis? Is she home?'
'No- no. She's with mother. They went to visit aunt Meredith.'
Kate's body sagged, how could she forget? Alexis had mentioned it a few days ago. Her best friend hated Meredith but went only because Martha had asked her to.
'Kate, come here,' said Rick, pulling her body to him, his arm circling her waist. 'What happened?'
'I-I can't. I think I'm gonna be sick.'
He half dragged her body to the bathroom just in time for Kate to convulse in his arms, vomiting into the toilet. Rick pulled her hair back, rubbing small circles into the base of her back as she wretched and gagged, emptying her stomach. He muttered assurances into her ear, cradling her body to his chest, plastering kisses in her hair. She was safe. She wasn't okay but she was safe.
'They killed her,' she sobbed, her breath ragged. 'My mum. They found her body in an alley like a piece of fucking garbage.'
Rick cursed, tightening his arms around her shaking body. He was her best friend's brother and they had been hopelessly in love with each other for the longest time but never acting on it.
'I'm so sorry, Kate. I'm so sorry,' rocking her back and forth.
They sat like that for the longest time cradled in each other's arms.
'Jim,' he muttered in the silence. 'Does he know you're here?'
'No,' she croaked, her voice hoarse and raspy. 'I was out of the door so fast. I never said. I didn't think.'
'It's okay. I've got you now. I'll phone him. Let him know you're okay.'
'Thank you,' she whispered.
'Why don't you take a shower? Clean yourself up. I'll tell Jim that you'll stay here tonight, kay?'
She hummed, disentangling herself from Rick, missing the warmth of his embrace immediately.
He tugged on her hand, 'I'll be back in a minute, okay? You think you can manage.'
'Yeah- Yeah, I can manage. Thank you. Again.'
'You don't need to thank me, Kate. I'm always here for you,' he said, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
He closed the door behind him on the way out, giving her the privacy she didn't want right now. Kate stepped into the shower, switching the heat to ice cold before sitting beneath the water's spray, her knees tucked up under chin. That's how Rick found her ten minutes later, shaking like a leaf, eyes glazed over, skin ice cold.
'Kate. Come on, Kate,' he murmured, switching off the shower. 'You need to get out. You'll freeze to death. If you don't move then I'll have to get you out and see you naked.'
She didn't move, barely seemed to notice he was even there let alone hear a word he said.
He lifted her out of the shower, wrapping a towel around her skin, guiding her towards his bedroom. She made no motion to move so Rick went ahead with drying her off, trying not to inappropriately stare at her bare body. He dressed her in his clothes, a pair of small boxer shorts, baggy pants and a loose shirt.
'Thank you,' she whispered, finally looking him in the eye. She raised her hand, deftly gliding her fingers over his jaw, tracing his lips. Kate leaned in, pressing her lips softly to his, the fire of their touch blazing away the remnants of the cold. She pulled away, resting her forehead against his, her hand gripping the back of his neck, afraid to let him go. 'You don't know how much this means to me. You just being here. Everything you've done for me tonight.'
'I do, Kate,' he said, pressing his mouth to hers once more, sliding his tongue along the bottom of her lips. She let him in, gliding her tongue over his. The kiss was soft, languid and everything she had always dreamed it would be.
He pulled away from her, his breathing heavy, 'come on, lay with me.'
Rick pulled the sheet back, motioning for her to join him. She slid beneath the sheet, gravitating towards Rick's body, moulding herself to him, slipping her leg between the two of his, resting her head against his chest. Silence settled between them, each trapped in their own worlds. They'd just shared their first kiss on the night of her mother's murder.
Kate's voice broke through the silence, 'I never thought that if I ever got to lay in bed like this with you that'd it'd be because of this,' she breathed against his skin, her finger idly skimming the neck of his nightshirt.
'Neither did I, Katie.'
'My mum always thought that you were a nice boy.'
He huffed a laugh into her hair, 'really?'
'Yeah, she loved you guys. She was always a little awestruck by Martha. Proud of you for getting your first novel published and Alexis for her grades.'
'Your mother was a great woman and I'm so sorry that she'll never get to see the brilliant women you grow into.'
A sob bubbled up Kate's throat, 'do you think she was proud of me?'
'Oh, Katie,' threading his fingers through her hair. 'She was proud of you. She'll always be proud of you.'
A/N: Hope you guys like it. I'm thinking of making this into a three-shot. Chapter two will be up after I've posted the next chapter to 'Out From the Cold'
Twitter: CaptainGoode
Tumblr: whatthefawkes
