She was right. It was a flu, besides the horrible hangover.

The thermometer Castle gave her was showing 39C, which was not good.

It always happens: No matter how hard you try to prevent it, you catch the nasty cold that's going around. But when you get blindsided by that bug, it's time to slow down and take care of yourself. Of course, right now Rick would want to take care of her, which was relieving and stressful at the same time. She didn't know why.

"Is Benylin, okay for you?" he turned around from the kitchen counter to look at Kate, who was laying on the couch with hand pressed against her burning forehead.

"Whatever. I just don't want to feel like one of the bodies resting on top of Lanie's morgue table." She mumbled under her stuffy nose.

"Except that they are cold. Not burning." He joked, while mixing some Benylin with hot tea.

"Right."

This whole thing was nice. Talking like their old selves, joking. So simple.

But there were still a lot of things that weren't resolved between them. She was still distant from him. Even when he offered her the cup of tea she tried to avoid brushing her hand against his in between the exchange.

Kate propped herself upwards against the couch's arm to be able to drink properly the medication he gave her. While she was blowing her tea to cool it down, he was sitting on the other end, studying her.

The loft had never been this quiet before, when she used to live with him one year ago. She wondered what's different and then it hit her.

"Where are Alexis and Martha?" she found herself asking softly, feeling weird for mentioning them, because the whole time she was keeping herself from saying those two names out loud. It was painful to think about anyone related to him.

"They were asked by the FBI to give indication about the year I was missing. I think afterwards they are going to stay off in the Hamptons for a week or somethin'." He mumbled, some kind of shame filling in his voice.

She wanted to ask 'Why is FBI embroiled in this and what it has to do with his disappearance.' And so many other unanswered questions, but not yet. She wasn't ready. A sly nod was her response and then she found herself asking "Why would they – you know –"Her arms shrugged like it's no big deal. "Keep it from me?"

Rick's head turned to look at her with furrowed eyebrows. "They didn't kept it from you, Kate."

She just remained quiet, still unconvinced in what he said. "Hey, – look. You can blame me for everything if you want, but don't blame them. Because they don't have anything to do with it, they were just told not to. I know I hurt you a lot that Alexis and my mother knew and you did not. But they are my family and they were the only people to whom I was allowed to call. It was too risky to connect with anyone else." He tried to explain, hoping for some kind of understanding from her.

"And what I am? A hamster?" Really, Kate? That's the best you've got? She thought to herself.

"Kate, please don't do this, you know you're –"

"You know, what? It was a long and exhausting day. I am going to get some sleep, thanks for the tea." She placed the cup on the mini table and stood up from the soft couch where they were sitting, making her way up to his guest room.

"Kate, hey – Kate. Come back, let me explain." He sighed in defeat and trapped his head between his palms, massaging slightly. She was blocking him out.

At least she didn't changed her mind about staying at his loft, yet.

Xxx

Somewhere during the night she woke up with massive dryness inside of her mouth. It was like someone sucked all the fluid and water from her body. Then made her go in solarium, too.

Her head was pounding painfully.

It was horrible, especially when she felt, so weak and sleepy. But she couldn't just fall asleep again and forget about the desert on her tongue. She remembered how her mother always said those words when she was sick and refused to drink medication 'Kate, don't be a stubborn, you have to keep yourself hydrated with lots of water and an occasional electrolyte drinks.'

Her lips curved into a weak smile at the sweet memory of her laying helpless in the bed and her mother extending tons of medication at her.

Gathering some power she propped herself upwards on her elbows and then slipped her feet from the bed, stepping on the cold, wooden floor. Swaying around in the darkness, Kate found the stairs and carefully made her way down to the kitchen where she could finally reach the sink.

Finally. Water. Thank, God.

Feeling warmer than usually she knew her body temperature was higher than normally. She fumbled through the bottles of pills, without turning on any lights that may wake up Castle. The moonlight was surprisingly helpful at the moment. She found the one Rick gave her 'Benylin' and took 2 of them, gulping down the medication among with 2 cups of water. Damn. She was really dehydrated.

Watching downwards she felt some kind of a moving shadow of body, reflected in the sink from the light of the moon. The shadow was getting bigger and bigger with each passing second and before she could think of something wiser, her body turned around to the person in the dark, colliding her fist with his nose.

"Awwwgh!" A grunt left his mouth and he swayed backwards. She instantly recognized this grunt. "Oh my -." And quickly found the lamp key, turning it on.

"Castle!?" she squeaked in regret that she fisted him in the face. But she thought it was someone else, the –

"Really? Again, Kate?" he growled, standing down on his knees on the floor, holding onto his bloody nose.

Taking him gently by the elbow, she helped him get up on his feet. Glancing down at the blood drops stained on his white shirt her eyes looked up at his, filled with an apology. "I am, so – I am, so sorry."

His lips curved into a sweet smile, behind the hand pressed against his face. "It's fine. It's my fault – I shouldn't have sneaked, so quietly behind you."

"C'mon, let's put something on it." She kept her grasp firm on his arm, leading him to the bathroom.

'Very good move, Detective Beckett.' She remained quietly at herself.

Xxx

"Stand still." She mumbled, holding his head downwards.

"It hurts." He whined, shutting his eyes closed.

He was sitting on the toilet with Kate standing on her knees, between his tights. In this situation he couldn't even think of this as 'strangely arousing', because of the pain in his nose. This one was worse than the time she knocked him in the face, when he showed up at her apartment.

"You have to stand like this while breathing through your mouth so the blood does not drain down your throat." She instructed, holding his jaw and scalp. Touching the soft skin of his face, she felt it thinner than before.

"What if it's broken?" he looked up at her and she gently pushed his head back downwards.

"It's not broken." Her eyes rolled and she found herself realizing from how much time he hadn't made her roll those eyeballs.

Of course he would smirk at her Detective voice and constructions. "You know a lot about broken noses."

Ignoring his playful attitude, she took the ice from the floor next to her, wrapping it in washcloth. Lifting his chin slightly she cleaned the dry blood around the base of his mouth.

"To reduce swelling, we have to apply a cold compress to your nose for 5 to 10 minutes, so don't move and it will hurt less." He nodded at her and winced at the cold ice colliding with his soft ruggedly handsome face.

Xxx

Ten minutes passed in dead silence. She was standing there between his tights, keeping the washcloth with ice gently on his nose, studying his face in the meantime. It was like she wanted to make up for all the time she thought he was dead, and look at him. Really look at him, not only glance for a second.

"You can do a great nurse, Kate." He smiled jokingly and she chuckled at his 'kid on a sugar rush' side.

"Thanks, but I am good as a detective." She responded teasingly, moving the washcloth to the left side of his nose, where was more swollen and reddened. Out of nowhere her free hand lifted up to stroke his soft cheek, barely touching it. God, she missed him. But on the other hand there were so many undone things between them that she wished she could forget about. Unfortunately it was not that easy. If they go too fast into this without settling things between them, it will get worse.

He noticed that Kate was softer with him and the look on her eyes showed that she wanted him. And he wanted her, but then her hand quickly dropped away from his face and she stood up.

"Go and change your shirt, I'll get you some painkillers."

"Alright." Rick simply responded, without pushing it. He reminded himself to give her the space she needed. Despite the desire to wrap her around his torso in a tight hug and kiss those salty from tears lips.

…To be continued…

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