Obligatory disclaimer: I don't own Castle the show or any of it's characters. If I did you would see a bit more physical contact between Castle and Beckett:) This story is just for fun.
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Rick had waited most of the afternoon for Kate to come back but by five o'clock, when she hadn't shown up, he'd left to go home. Thoroughly dejected by the events and cursing Gina from here to Sunday, he flopped down onto his couch with a 'hmph' sound as soon as he got home.
He didn't know how long he had been sitting there when he heard a quiet rapping on the door. Who could this be, he thought. He wasn't expecting anyone. And he certainly wasn't in the mood for company.
The rapping came again so he sighed loudly and hefted himself up off the couch and slowly shuffled to the door.
As he pulled the door open his heart stalled in his chest.
"Kate" he said breathlessly "what are you doing here?"
Kate look at him sheepishly and her mouth turned up at the edges.
"I'm sorry" she said quietly "you know, about before"
He looked closely at her and could tell she had been crying.
"Come in" he said and as she entered he closed the door. Leaning on the handle he turned to look at her. She was looking at her feet. She looked so lost. He felt a surge of love so strong for her in that moment that all earlier feelings of hurt dissipated.
"Would you like a drink..." She just shook her head. "Let's sit then, shall we?"
He guided her to the couch and they both sat.
They sat in silence for several minutes. Kate was examining her hands again and Castle was watching her.
"I am sorry about before, you know?" she mumbled and Castle had to strain to hear her.
"When you mentioned Gina's name I..." she wasn't sure how to continue.
Castle waited for her to continue. The silence stretched and Kate began to squirm, wishing he would say something.
"Are you going to finish that sentence?" he asked softly.
She looked at him then and his breath caught in his throat. She was so amazingly beautiful, he couldn't look away. Their eyes locked for several seconds, or maybe it was minutes, who knows?
"I guess I was jealous, ok" she said grudgingly, embarrassed to admit it, but now she had started she might as well go on "when I heard you say you were going away with Gina, I got so mad I couldn't think straight. All I could think of is that you are getting back together with her..."
At that last statement Castle put his hand up to stop her. He looked shocked that she would think that after he had confessed his love to her, but then he stopped himself from saying so as he remembered that she didn't remember anything after being shot. Or so she kept saying, but he had doubts about that. Even so, if she didn't remember then this outburst made more sense. He wasn't sure what to think.
"No, no, no that's not what this trip is about. I have no intention of ever getting back with Gina, that relationship is over for good. The only relationship I have with her now is professional. And she also has someone new in her life who I think she is crazy about." he smiled as he said this.
"And I'm glad, I don't hate Gina, she's still my friend. But we can't function as a couple. I'm happy that she is happy."
Kate sighed and looked at him. She knew he was telling the truth. What an amazing man he was. She wished she had the courage to tell him how she felt. He beamed back at her, happy that the misunderstanding was now sorted.
"So finish telling me all about this trip then" she said.
He smiled at her and said "Well, we leave on Friday afternoon. I'll be away for five days, five long days, with Gina and her simpering assistant, Justin." He screwed up his face at that "As well as three other authors. We are flying to the resort on Black Pawns private jet. Apparently flying is the only way to get to this place. They have a private airstrip of their own. It should be fun, I can't wait" this last part he said sarcastically with a grimace.
Kate grinned at him.
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Friday morning found Castle at the precinct early. As he rode up to homicide in the elevator he pondered what the next five days would be like. He really didn't enjoy these meet and greet type things any more, or all of the schmoozing that came along with it. But he had resigned himself to do it, he didn't really have a choice. He just hated the thought of not seeing Kate for those five days.
The elevator doors opened and he stepped out and walked into the bullpen. Kate wasn't at her desk so he looked around for her. He spotted her in the Captains office and he could see the scowl on her face. He wondered what the Captain was chewing her out about now.
He placed Kate's coffee down on her desk and plopped down into his chair to wait for her. He hoped Gates wouldn't keep her too much longer as he really needed to get going on his other errands. He really wanted to spend a little time with Kate today before he had to leave and every minute Gates kept her was a minute he couldn't spend with her.
"Hey, Castle, you're here early today" Kate said from somewhere behind him, causing him to jump. She snickered a little to herself at the sight of him trying to right his equilibrium.
He jumped up out of his seat and quickly swung around in her direction but by then she was just about level with him and he nearly swung into her causing them to be momentarily eye to eye.
Castle nervously cleared his throat as he stared into her eyes and said "Um, yeah. I can't stay long, I have a million things I have to do before catching the plane this afternoon."
He frowned a little as Kate moved away and sat at her desk. She sighed when she spied the coffee cup sitting in front of her. She lifted it to her lips and took a cautionary sip to see how hot is was and when she found that it was a reasonable temperature took a longer drink.
She had been having the morning from hell and the coffee was just what she needed. She couldn't stop a little moan from slipping out as she savoured the taste which caused Castles eyebrows to raise and disappear into the hair that was flopping over his forehead.
He looked at his watch and his face fell as he realized the he would need to leave now if he was going to be able to get his errands done in time. He looked up to find Kate watching him.
He grinned at her with that boyish grin that never ceased to make her melt.
"I'm sorry, but I have to leave right now, I wish I could stay longer" he said to her regretfully "I will drop back in this afternoon on my way to the airport to say goodbye" he looked at her intently and continued "I don't want to go, you know that, right?"
She just nodded because it seemed the power of speech had left her. She felt that if she said anything the tears may start.
He just nodded briefly and said "I'll see you later, then" and with that he was leaving. She watched his retreating figure disappear into the elevator and as the doors began to slide shut they locked eyes one more time until the doors had shut completely.
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Castle got through his errands quickly without too many problems. He was making good time and he was certain he would have time to drop back into the twelfth on his way to the airport. He had to see Kate one more time. She was like oxygen to him, he needed her for his survival.
He looked at his watch, one o'clock, good. If he left now he would have about an hour at the precinct.
He shrugged on his coat and gathered up his bag and quickly walked to the door. There was no one home to say goodbye to so he swiftly opened the door and was about to leave when his phone rang. He dropped his bag and delved into his pocket to retrieve his phone, hoping it was Beckett, but no such luck. It was Gina.
He pressed the button to answer the call.
"What now Gina, I was just walking out the door" he complained.
"Great that works in perfectly. The flight has been bought forward an hour and you need to be on your way to the airport right now."
"What the hell Gina. Way to drop this on me at the last minute. I wanted to go by the precinct on the way to the airport."
"Well, you don't have time for that now. You need to get your butt down here asap" she said with acid in her voice "no excuses Rick. You're doing this so don't even think of trying to get out of it!"
"I'm not trying to get out of it. I'm coming aren't I?"
"Yes, under protest. Your precious precinct and your Detective will just have to get along without you for a few days."
"Geez, there is no need to be nasty Gina. I thought we'd sorted out all of this animosity between us."
"Yes, you're right. I'm sorry I'm being such a bitch. Bryan was supposed to come with us but he had something come up and can't make it now. I guess I'm taking it out on you." she said apologetically. "That was always one of our problems wasn't it, taking our problems out on each other and never really talking about things."
Before Castle could answer her she said "can you just get here as quick as possible? They want to take off early because there is some bad weather forecast and they are hoping to miss it, ok?"
"Sure, Gina. I'm leaving now. I will just have to ring the station and say goodbye over the phone."
"Ok, see you in a bit then" she said and disconnected.
He quickly locked the door and rode the elevator down. His car was waiting for him.
"Mr. Castle good to see you again sir" said David his chauffeur. As David put Castles bag into the trunk Rick got into the car. He pulled his phone out again, located Kate's number and pressed the button to make the call.
"Beckett" she answered.
Hey Kate
"Oh Hi Castle, sorry I didn't bother looking at the caller ID so I didn't know it was you. Where are you?"
"Would you believe I'm on my way to the airport. The flight has been bought forward an hour so we are leaving at 2 now, not 3. I'm not going to be able to get back to the precinct to see you before I leave" he said with real regret in his voice.
"Oh" was all Kate could manage. She had been looking forward to seeing him again before he left.
"Um, so I guess I will see you when I get back"
"Yeah, I guess you will. Try and have a good time, ok Castle? But not too good a time, ok?" she said with a bit of a laugh.
"Ok" he said. There was a couple of moments pause and then he continued "I'm sorry I really have to go now we just arrived at the Black Pawn departure lounge"
"Ok, Castle. Take care then"
"Thanks Kate, I will...And...I'll really miss you" he said the last part in a rush before quickly disconnecting the call.
Kate looked at her phone in her hand and whispered I'll really miss you too.
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Rick's plane took off on time without a hitch. He settled himself back into the seat with resignation. This was going to be the longest five days of his life. He had taken a seat at the back of the plane. It was a small aircraft and he wanted some space away from Gina and the idiot Justin. There were three others on board as well. They were the other authors that Gina had roped into doing this stupid thing.
Actually the three of them, two men and a woman that Castle had never met before, looked just about as pleased as him to be there. They all sat quietly looking out their windows completely ignoring what Gina and Justin were saying.
About twenty minutes in Rick noticed that it was getting really dark. That's strange, he thought, as he checked his watch, 2.22pm. Shouldn't be this dark this early. He took a good look out of his window and could see that they were flying through some really dark, dense clouds.
And then right before his eyes was a brilliant flash of lightning, it hit very close and made Rick jump back a bit. Now that wasn't something you saw every day. He was a little bit in awe of it but also a little bit scared. It seemed that they were right in the middle of the storm. This must have been the bad weather that they left early to try and avoid.
Just then the pilot announced "Well, folks it looks like we didn't gain anything by leaving early. In fact it seems to have put us right in the path of the storm we were trying to avoid. Things are going to get a bit bumpy for a while so could you all please sit yourselves down in your seats and get all buckled in?"
Rick grabbed for his seat belt and quickly buckled it up. It had gone very quiet on board and he looked around at the others who all wore similar concerned looks.
He felt his heart pounding in his chest and even though he wasn't really a religious man he prayed anyway. Couldn't hurt right?
More flashes of lightning and now sleet. Visibility was down to about zero. The plane was bumping around wildly. It was like the worst roller coaster ride ever. Rick closed his eyes and doubled his praying efforts.
All of a sudden there was a loud crack and the plane veered to left wildly. They seemed to be falling out of the sky rapidly.
Static from the loud speaker and then the pilot yelled "Hold on folks. We've taken a bad hit and we're going down. I have to try and find somewhere to land. Just hold on and assume the crash position" he broke off abruptly.
Rick to a deep breath to try and calm himself but it was impossible. This might be it. He may not survive this. Alexis his beautiful daughter, what if he never saw her again and Kate. Oh God, Kate. He loved her so much and now they may not ever have a future.
He could feel the plane gathering speed on it's downward spiral. He dropped his head and assumed the crash position and was vaguely aware of the others doing the same.
"HOLD ON! We're going to crash in the next couple of seconds..." yelled the pilot.
Rick felt the impact of hitting the ground through his entire body and then they were slipping and sliding along the snow covered ground. Veering left and then right as the pilot tried in vain to keep it straight. They were crashing over mounds of snow and taking trees along with them. Rick was braced so tight against the impact that every one of his muscles had started to scream with the tension.
And then they seemed to slow down and then with a massive jolt they stopped. Rick couldn't believe he was still alive. Stunned but alive. He slowly lifted his head and sat back. He could see movement from some of the others.
There was something wet running down his face and when he put his hand up to touch it to find out what it was his fingers came away covered in blood.
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Ok, what did you think? Reviews and constructive advice welcome, flames are not. Thanks.