DISCLAIMER: Unless I missed the memo, I do not own any of the Castle characters or pre-existing story lines.
A/N: So this was originally supposed to be a one-shot whose ending caused a little bit of an uproar amongst its readers. Due to the overwhelming response (for which I'm super grateful) I have decided to continue the story with two more chapters (yaaay!). The third and final chapter has been written and is currently being edited but I expect it will be up within the next couple of days barring any unforeseen circumstances. I also feel I owe an explanation for the way the original story was left. I had written the story as a post-ep for Recoil and had intended the nightmare to be about well everything that would have been brought to the surface in the ep. However, I've always stuck by the notion that our dear Kate Beckett has been a sufferer of nightmares for the majority of her adult life, but not to worry, I'll elaborate in chapter three. Until then, enjoy!
Keeping Watch: Part Two
She doesn't remember.
He can tell by the way she flounces around his kitchen, pouring their coffee like nothing had happened.
"Morning." Kate beams at him as he takes several tentative steps towards her. "So listen, barring any body drops, today's probably gonna be a pretty slow day so I was thinking we could try that Thai place on 56th that Lanie told us about…"
He gapes at her as she speaks, watching as she continues to go about her morning. Just hours before he was cradling her trembling, fear-stricken body in his arms and now she wants to go for Thai food.
"Castle." He jerks out of his silent shock, realized he hasn't actually entered the kitchen yet. "You okay?"
"Am I -" he stops himself and shakes his head in disbelief, "Are you okay?"
Kate narrows her eyes at him in amusement and shrugs, "Yeah…why?"
"You don't remember?" She shrugs and he elaborates, "Last night, you don't remember last night?"
"Castle what are you talking about? Remember what?" It's her turn to gape at him, wonders what could possibly have him so worked up.
"You don't remember the nightmare? You don't remember me waking you up?"
She opens her mouth to speak but then closes it, considering what he's just said. She tilts her head pensively "Uh…vaguely." She shrugs her shoulders and glances over at him. "I don't know, why?"
"Why? Because whatever you dreamed about drove you to the brink of total panic."
She chews the inside of her cheek, examining his features. The worry lines in his face are deeper and she notices the dark circles under his eyes. "Look, Castle, I'm sorry if I scared you, but I mean, it was just a nightmare. It's really not that big a deal."
He scoffs at her, regrets it immediately because oh shit, she looks offended now, but he's really at a loss. Can't understand how she's so cavalier about this. "No big deal? Really? Because from where I was, it looked like a pretty big deal to me."
"Well, it's not as if I can control it."
"No, I know that, I just -" he pauses "I want to know what scared you. I don't want you to evade this and feel like you need to go deal with it on your own."
"Evade it. Really?" It sounds worse when she says it, not at all what he wanted to say. He should know by now that's not her style anymore. A year ago, absolutely, but not now. Not after everything. "That's what you think I'm doing? Avoiding the subject so that I don't have to deal with it? Castle, I don't even remember what the damn dream was about!
Shit. Now she's angry.
"Kate, that's not -"
"No you know what?" She holds up a hand to silence him and shakes her head. "Just, forget it. I have to go work. Apparently I have some evading to do." She rolls her eyes and grabs her keys, gun and badge off the counter. "I'll see you later."
With that she's out the door, and the coffee she poured for him has gone cold.