A/N: This is un-beta'd (my great beta is busy at the moment) and I will update once I get her corrections, if there are any. This is actually a combination of the songs Why God Why and This Money Is Yours.

Written for Castle Fanfic Monday. Reviews are welcome. :)

Castle wakes up a few hours later to find Kate still asleep. He looks at her and he smiles. She's sleeping peacefully, a hint of a smile on her lips, despite all the bad things that has happened to her. Bad things that she managed to tell him at dawn and he kept thinking about since then. He knows he shouldn't but just a few hours with her makes him want to take this tiny, broken being in his care. And not just because she's that.

He slowly sits up so as not to wake her. She shifts a little and he notices the small spot of red on the sheets. He is drawn to it but at the same time wants to berate himself for it. He gets up and puts on his boxers instead and goes to the bathroom to splash water on his face. He looks into the mirror and tells himself that it was all too fast.

"Should it be this way?" he whispers to his reflection.

He hears his phone buzzing in the other room so he wipes his face and goes to the living room to take the call.

"Yeah," he answers.

"You would not believe this!"

It was Paula, his publicist.

"Since your book signing was a big hit yesterday, Black Pawn is asking you to write them three more books!"

"That's great," Castle says.

"You don't sound thrilled," the publicist tells him on the other line. "Partied too hard last night with your friends?"

"It's not that," he started to say. "I am thrilled and it's great. But…"

He faltered.

"But…what?" his publicist went on. "Did something happen last night that I didn't know?"

As Castle around, he got a glimpse of the bedroom. Kate is still fast asleep.

"Rick," he hears on the other end. "Are you still there? Of course, you're still there. I can hear you walking."

"Yeah," he replies. "It's just that…I met someone."

Seeing as this is nothing new, Paula just huffed at the other end of the line. Even before releasing his first book, Paula knew him as a playboy. His mother introduced him to her, two women at each arm. He respects the girls, she's happy at that, but playboy nonetheless. Telling her that he met someone at the party his friends threw him last night is not surprising at all.

"Paula," he begins to explain. "She's…different."

"You always say that to me for every girl you've met over the years."

"I know," he says, sneaking a glance at the bedroom. "This time, it's real."

"Pssh, same script," Paula scoffs. "Is it real enough to warrant a chapter in your next book? Richard, are you happy or what? Because if not, I'll tell Black Pawn that you're declining their offer and you're just going to be a one-hit wonder."

Castle rubbed his eyes. Paula can be a nuisance sometimes but she's right. She's one of the best publicists in the business and if it wasn't for her, he wouldn't have gotten Black Pawn as his publisher.

"I am happy," he answers. "Listen, you can tell them that I'm accepting their offer. Let me just sort this out."

"Sort it out faster."

Curt. Then Paula hang up.

Kate is stirring when he enters the bedroom. He goes to sit beside her and gently caresses her face.

Why give me such a beautiful face if I'm just going to leave her?

"Good morning," he says.

"Is it still morning?"

"Well, it's 11. It's near lunchtime."

Kate winces as she sits up. Castle immediately scans her all over to see if there is something wrong with her, asking if she's hurting. Only when she giggled, oh! that tinkling sound, did he stop and realise why.

"Oh yeah," Rick laughs along with her. "Sorry."

"I'm not," Kate replies, smiling from ear to ear. "I had the best night since…"

She stops. Rick knows why; so he hugs her to comfort her but he actually feels that he's comforting himself.

He cannot stop thinking about the conversation with Paula. He knows that he has to tell Kate that he has to leave her, for career purposes. But he just can't seem to do it. He doesn't have the heart especially after the night they spent.

"Rick?" she asks beneath his arms. "I can sense that there's something wrong. What is it?"

He lets go of her and stares at those beautiful and haunting hazel eyes of hers, just like he stared at them last night. It's mesmerising and at that moment, he knew he's lost in them.

"My publicist called. She says that I have a three-book deal from my publisher."

"That's great," Kate starts. "But why aren't you thrilled?"

He stares at her, deep, that it makes Kate want to cry. She somehow knew in her heart that this will happen. She should have gotten herself ready but after last night, she knew she's lost in him. All of him.

"You should go," she tells him. "It's the way it should be."

"I don't want it to be," Rick answers.

"I'm a gift."

"You're not. And no," he rebuts. "Before you say anything more, I never thought of you as one."

Kate looks at him, her reflection in his sad eyes.

"I know," she says, meekly. "I felt it. But I still am one, whether or not you like it."

They stay silent for some time, both asking themselves if they should stay or go, both not wanting to do the latter but knows the repercussions if they do the former. The silence is broken when Castle stands up and gets his wallet.

"You should take this."

He is giving her a wad of cash. It's probably enough for her to last for a couple of weeks before she finds another job. She's conflicted but she stands her ground.

"No. I won't. You already paid for me back at the club."

"I don't need them." If I can't have you, he thinks.

Kate stands up and walks to him. She's naked but both didn't mind. There are far more issues to talk about than her being naked in front of him. When she reaches where he was standing, she embraces him, tight. Then Castle feels her tears on his shoulders.

"I don't care," Kate says. "I'd rather you leave and we not see each other again."

Castle pushes her back a little and wipes away the tears. He stares at the angelic face, into her eyes – brokenness still there but a wound mended. He thinks of what he wants to do, needs to do.

"Come with me," he says. "Come home with me."

Kate steps back. It's not what she wants to hear so the offer surprised her. It was just one night.

"Kate…"

"Mr Castle…Rick."

"Do you not want to?"

Kate stares at him. She wants to, more than he'll ever know. She trusts him but she is conflicted.

"My dad," she begins. "I should be with him."

Castle understands. This girl, this woman. She carries the world on her shoulder when she shouldn't have to. He wants to mend her but at the same time, he knows that if he does, the more she will push him away.

"Go," he tells her. "Go to him. He needs you."

"Rick…"

Kate steps back into his space. She reaches out to him, touches his face. She knows what to do now. For everything that happened to her in the past several years, she feels that this is the moment the gods allow her to just be.

"I'll come with you," she says. "I just want you."

A smile forms on Rick's face and he carries her, all of her in her nakedness. He never felt this way before, certainly not with the other women he had before. He believes that she is indeed a gift to him, a gift from the gods, the gift that he had been wishing for so long.

Amidst the happiness, they know that they must sort it all out. As Paula had said.

"Rick!" she giggles. "Please put me down. I'm naked."

"Oh yeah!" Castle says, surprised.

He realises it now that all this time she was naked. He realises that she had opened a door for him and only for him. She will be closed to the world outside this little bubble of theirs but to him, she will remain open.

Kate laughs as she puts on her clothes. Castle was making faces that makes her laugh like she has never laughed before. Well, before her mother was taken away from them, before her father took the bottle as a friend. This man is her saviour.

"You go to your dad," Castle tells her. "And I will meet you back here."

"You promise?"

There's hope in her eyes and he kisses her, to show that she can trust him with all of her heart.

"I promise."

She turns around and goes out the door, smiles on both their faces, both high on a feeling both of them need to shout to the world.