A/N): sorry that this is brief. As always forgive the typo's and grammar. Enjoy! D.
Chapter 2
"Whispers in the Dark"
Beckett & Castle
"Kate," Rick sighed with relief. "I'm sorry I know it's late, but I just had to call…."
"It's ok Castle, I wasn't asleep." Kate hated that her voice still trembled
"You up because of a case?" Castle queried.
Kate considered lying but thought better of it. "No I was just up." She still felt bad, but knew that if she told Richard about her dream that he would worry. She cut off the light in the bathroom and sat down on the bed, in the dark and tried to pretend that Castle was sitting on the bed beside her." How are you doing?"
"Me?" Castle seemed surprised. "Truthfully… I am sick and tired of being away from you and Alexis. I have been traveling all around the country reading from Heat Wave and answering the same questions over and over again. I have to keep biting my tongue so I don't just How incredible you are."
"Castle…" Beckett was both pleased and embarrassed.
"What can I say? I think about you all the time. We left things sort of hanging and I am anxious to see you again. I am feeling much better."
"What about the nightmares are you still having those."
Castle seemed to falter. "I have had a couple…."
"Richard if you come home looking like a zombie I am going to be pissed"
"No really… the first night or two were bad but since then no worries."
Beckett just knew that he was holding back. She could hear it in his voice and feel it in her bones. She debated on whether to push, and decided that they needed the honesty. "Richard…. please…."
"All right, I didn't want to worry you but I had a nightmare right before I called you. But it wasn't the one I usually have. All the major players were there but it was a different dream."
"What time did you wake up?" she asked. She did not know why but she felt an ice cold lump in the pit of her stomach.
"My watch said 3:01 am but it is still set to eastern time so 2:01… why?"
"No reason …." She hedged
"Now who is holding out on whom?" Castle gently chided.
"Ok…Ok… I woke up at the same time from a nightmare,"
"Strange, was it your old nightmare…?"
"No it was more like your usual…. I was attending a funeral but I was in that red gown you bought me for the charity auction."
"I can understand you waking up. That dress is a knock-out but wild inappropriate for a funeral."
"That's not when I woke. You were dead. You had killed yourself because…" she could not bring herself to say the words even now
Then he said something that made her blood run cold. "When Lover cross the Portal lost"
"Where did you hear that?" she almost screamed.
"Strom said it in my dream, twice in fact."
Beckett repeated the entire couplet. "Was that it?"
""Yeah, I think it was. You know Kate if I were more superstitious, I'd be really freaking out right now. I wonder if we both read it somewhere."
"All right Castle go through the entire nightmare as you remember it."
Castle went through the entire dream, from start to finish, when he got to the part about the cold wind gooseflesh covered her and she began to shake involuntarily. When he described the sight in the coffin she held her breath. How could their nightmares be so similar? She could tell even over the phone that recounting the dream was taking its toll on him. She could not comprehend the reasons for their shared dreaming. When he was done she gave him the differences in her dream. In the end they were both quiet for a long time. Then he whispered.
"Kate I need to ask you something. I don't want you to wig out on me…ok?
"Ok." Her voice was soft and fragile.
"Have you ever thought about committing suicide by gun?"
"You will remember that I told you that after I became a cop that I went through a really dark time, Well before u started seeing Dr. Simmons, i… I…"
"It's ok Kate, I am not here to judge"
"I actually tried but the gun jammed. It scared me so much that I got help."
"I used a straight razor. Do you remember that I told you that I had stared down death when I was in College?"
"Yes."
"It was freshman year near midterms and I had just broken up with my girlfriend. I had sent a couple of manuscripts away and just gotten rejection letters. I was very near to being asked nicely not to come back to school because my grades were so low. I was a party animal back then. I felt stuck and I had all these characters in my head that were clamoring for attention. This is before I learned how to filter them out. I was desperate, depressed and downright tired. So I drew a warm bath on a Friday night with my roommate gone for the weekend. Then slit my wrists."
"But I have never seen any scars."
"They are there but they are very faint. The doctor who was in the ER was specializing in Plastic Surgery but was on his ER rotation as a student. He did a good job stitching me up."
"So did you change your mind while sitting in the tub and get medical help?"
"No, it was Bricks that saved me. He knew that I was having a real bad time so he decided to come for a visit. He found me, almost dead, and called the paramedics. It was a close call, the doctor who sewed me up said that I had shaken the Grim Reapers hand."
Since neither of the pair was sleepy they talked until dawn, when their batteries died. They talked on inconsequential things. Each gaining strength from the voice of the other. Kate lay in her bed and felt a drowsy lassitude creep over her and after the call ended she slipped into a dreamless sleep which ended all to soon and her alarm rang.
A/N): Let me know how you think this is going. Next Chapter "Brick's and Stones" tne return of Bricks for a cameo. :) D.