Opening her eyes, Kate sighed as she found herself lying on her bed in the clothes she'd worn to the beach the previous evening, a small smile covering her face gently as she realised Rick must have carried her home because she'd fallen asleep on the bus and he hadn't wanted to wake her up yet. Sitting up, the brunette quickly climbed off the bed and entered the corridor, turning to see that Rick's bedroom door was thrown open and his clothes were covering the floor like he'd changed in a hurry and run out or like there'd been some sort of fight. Practically running down the stairs, Kate quickly noticed that the front door was wide open and there was no note around to explain where he'd gone. What if they'd found them? What if they'd taken Rick to get to her? What if they'd dragged him away and she was never to see him again? She had no money on her, no contacts and no idea where she really was. She had no hope of getting away from where she was or finding the writer. Sitting down on the stairs, Kate quickly buried her face into her hands as she took in the fact that Rick was gone and she was alone and she hadn't told him, she hadn't told him how she felt. Hearing footsteps, Kate lifted her head to see the writer standing in the doorway with groceries, confusion covering his face when she looked out at him before walking over and tightly wrapping her arms around his neck.

"What's wrong?" he asked quickly, obviously concerned about her as she moved away and shook her head before laughing gently. "I went to buy food, I thought you'd be hungry why was the door open?" he asked, a laugh leaving her lips as she realised he was okay and had been thinking about her instead, thinking about their needs.

"You must have left the door open when you went out Rick," she admitted as Rick nodded slowly, understanding how they might have happened. "I thought someone had come and taken you or something had happened to you, my brain just started thinking of all these things that might have happened and seeing that your room was a mess…" she began as he laughed and looked at her.

"I couldn't decide on a t-shirt this morning, I hadn't gotten round to cleaning it away when I left," he admitted as she glared at him for a moment before moving away from him and sighing, realising that he was perfectly fine and she'd just overreacted. "I should have left you a note, I was just in a hurry, I wanted to get to the shops early so we could spend the day on the beach and I wanted to make sure that you had things to eat this morning and your coffee," he explained, the brunette nodding as she took a couple of the bags off the floor before walking into the kitchen with him before unloading the food he'd bought, amazed at the variety of healthy stuff he'd purchased. "I know you'd have killed me if all I came back with was ice cream," he admitted, her head nodding slowly as she began to put things where they belonged. "I'm sorry I worried you earlier, I wasn't thinking," he declared as he began to prepare their coffees while Kate began to prepare a fruit salad for them.

"I wasn't worried, I was surprised. I woke up in a strange place and then you weren't here and I was nervous," she stated, the writer nodding slowly as he poured the warm liquid into the two mugs before sweetening it in the way Kate liked before passing it to her, a small smile covering her face as she thanked him and held it in her hands, enjoying the warmth of it in her hands as Rick watched her in amazement. "I'm sorry I fell asleep on you last night, I guess I was more tired than I thought," she said quietly as the writer shrugged and took one of the bowls from in front of her and began to eat what she'd prepared with the largest smile covering his face as she watched and laughed before starting to eat her own breakfast. "Leave a note next time," she said quietly as he nodded.

"I promise," he declared, looking across at her for a moment before sighing and moving to put his now empty bowl into the sink. "So want to go to the beach today?" he asked as she nodded, staring down at the outfit for a moment before sighing and walking towards the stairs. "Hurry up, I really want to go and explore the beaches, this woman I was talking to earlier was telling me all about these amazing rock pools Kate," he explained as she nodded before disappearing up the stairs to change, knowing that she was just as excited as him to spend the day on the beach again.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

"Rick there kids, there's a smaller chance of them hitting the bottom that if you jumped in," Kate called out as she stared at the writer who shrugged and looked at her, her eyes rolling as she continued to swim in the water, actually enjoying the cold waters that were surrounding her body while the writer stood on the rock and watched her for a moment. She really was stunning. "If you think about jumping in, I will hurt you," Kate warned, the writer laughing as he slid into the water, trying not to complain when the coldness surrounded his body as he slowly moved towards her and laughed when she stopped and stared at him for a moment. "This is fun," she laughed as she looked at him for a moment, her smile disappearing as she realised how close they were to each other. "I like it here," she admitted quietly as the writer watched her in amazement, taking in how amazing she looked before she swam away again, Rick staring at her legs again as she climbed out of the rock pool to find a towel and wrap around her hips before turning to look at him again. "Stop staring at me Castle," she called over angrily, however unable to remove the smile that was covering her face as she sat down with her feet in the water, her smile growing when the writer swam over to where she was sitting before staring up at her.

"This is nice actually, if a bit too cold," he commented as she looked at him for a moment before sighing. "The last time you were in a bathing suit, we were working," he declared, a laugh leaving her lips as she nodded, remembering every moment of their trip in LA as well as how close she'd been to taking that next step forward. How close she'd been to walking over and kissing him and holding him and making love to him and yet it hadn't worked out! None of her plans worked out when it came to them. "Kate what are you thinking about?" the writer quickly questioned as Kate looked down at him and smiled.

"Just everything," she sighed, not knowing what to say to him exactly. She didn't want to explain everything to him, not when they were having as much fun as they were. "I think I want to go back to the house now Rick," she admitted, knowing that she wasn't letting him in like he wanted her too.

"Kate," he whispered, confused at what had suddenly made her so nervous before he began to move, indicating that he was planning on leaving with her.

"No you stay here, you're having fun, I'll see you later at the house Rick," she declared, running off before he had the chance to say anything to change her mind.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Approaching her bedroom around an hour later, Rick sighed as he silently slipped into the room to see Kate sat on the balcony with her arms wrapped around her shoulders while her hair curled naturally around her head, making him smile as he took in beautiful she looked as she sat in silence with a book in her hands. Walking towards her in silence, Rick sighed as he sat down beside her and looked at her as she shut the book and turned her head to look at him, a small smile covering her face as she moved her blanket so he couldn't rest underneath it as well.

"You okay?" he asked quietly as she nodded and sighed, not knowing what to say to explain why she'd run off earlier. "You don't need to explain it to me, I just need to know that you're okay," he admitted as Kate laughed and cuddled into his side, not fighting him when his arm wrapped around her, securing her to his side as they fell silent for a moment.

"I'm fine, I just needed a moment alone," she explained, the writer nodding as he stared out at the view for a moment while Kate shut her eyes and sighed, just enjoying the familiar and safe smell of his aftershave. He'd clearly managed to purchase the same brand here and she was glad that one thing had stayed the same since they'd been forced to leave New York. "Everything's just started to hit me, the fact that I won't see my family or my friends for ages, the fact that I've been forced to leave the only home I've ever known because someone's trying to kill me and almost succeeded on the second attempt, the fact that I'm so confused about everything I'm feeling right now that I feel like my head might just explode if I continue to think about everything," she explained, her frustration obvious as the writer stared at her for a moment, amazed at how different she seemed to the strong detective that she was in New York.

"It's okay to be scared, I'm scared about everything as well," he admitted, not knowing what else to say to her as she stared at him in amazement. "Alexis is starting college and I'm not there to support her right now and although I know I made the right decision and Alexis wouldn't have been happy if I'd left you alone, last night all I could think about was my baby girl and how she was growing up and I had practically abandoned her at the time that she's going to need me the most for a while," he explained as Kate nodded slowly and laced her fingers with his.

"Alexis has an amazing support unit around her Rick, she has you and she has Martha and there's everyone at the precinct," Kate promised, wanting to calm her friend as she stared up at him for a moment. "Esposito and Kevin will solve this case and then we can go home, we'll be home before you know it and then you can be the amazing dad you are again," she promised as he sighed and stared out at the sea. "It really is beautiful," she sighed as he nodded again.

"There are so many beautiful things around here," he commented, looking down at her briefly while she remained completely focused on the view ahead of her. "Did you have fun earlier, before you started panicking about everything?" he asked quickly as Kate laughed and nodded, knowing that she'd enjoyed playing around with him until she'd started thinking about everything to do with their relationship and all the chances they'd missed. "Want to play a game or something?" he asked.

"I'm actually just enjoying being here right now," she admitted, knowing that the amazing view and the security of his arms were enough to keep her occupied for a while longer. "I'm sure Alexis will be okay," Kate said quietly as he nodded; knowing that his little girl was going to cope fine at college, no matter what his own worries were about the whole situation.

Small chapter I know but I wanted to develop Kate's nerves about the relationship. She's not had the same time to process as she did in Always and she's still trying to work out what she wants while trying to cope with the fact that she's miles away from everything and she's been thrown into this situation. Anyway I hope you got that through the chapter and I promise there will be some sort of answer to her feelings soon but this is Beckett and she's not the easiest to get to open up!

I don't like this chapter but hopefully you do so please review and I'll attempt to update before I go to Spain this weekend! Your response has been amazing already anyway and I love hearing from you, your comments really do make writing these stories fantastic.