Chapter 7: Partners

Beckett begins to stir, and he immediately tenses his body, waiting for whatever blows she dealt him. She blinks open her eyes and is slightly confused for a moment. Her pillow is unnaturally warm and harder than usual. Slowly she lifts her head up and finds Castle under her, staring fearfully up at her. She blinks a few more times, trying to process this. "Castle?"

"Kate… I'm so sorry about this. But… I swear I didn't touch you. Well, not until you started using me as a pillow at least… and I didn't touch you anywhere I shouldn't have. Please don't kill me," Rick rambles, not able to keep the panic from his voice.

She looks down at their intertwined hands on his chest, thinking for a moment before settling back down beside him, her head on his chest, "I'm not going to hurt you, Castle."

"Really?"

"You're safe."

He relaxes his body, relieved that she isn't going to kill him. "So how are you feeling?"

"My head isn't quite as bad today, but I still need something for it."

"You want me to go get your medication?"

"I'd rather you stay here," she says softly.

"Okay… but Alexis is going to be leaving for school soon. I mean, she can get herself ready and all, but we always say goodbye to each other before she goes." The detective tries to scoot back so that he can get up, but he holds her tighter so she can't move. "She won't be leaving for at least fifteen minutes, and you may never let me do this again, Kate, so I'm going to enjoy it for as long as I can."

She smiles to herself at his words, content to let him have a few more moments together, "Can we… doing something today? Outside of your apartment? I just need to get out today, or I might go insane."

"Sure. Did you have anything particular in mind?"

"Not really. Just… out."

"You really don't like my apartment?"

"It's not that. I just… feel a little trapped. And it's not you or Alexis. It's just the situation, the fact that I can't do anything."

"How about the park? We can have a picnic."

"Maybe. Isn't it still a little cold out?"

"We'll check the weather when we get up and decide. If it's too cold for a picnic, we can just take a walk and then go out for lunch."

There is a soft knock on the door before Alexis tentatively opens the door. "Sorry if I woke you guys up," she says, hesitating only slightly at the sight of the two of them together. "I just wanted to say bye to you, Dad. And there's an article in the paper about you guys."

Kate moves back so that he can sit up and hugs his daughter. The red-head smiles at them, "Have a good day."

Castle turns to her, "Did you want to get up or sleep some more?"

"Get up. If you don't mind, I'm going to take a shower."

"Go ahead. I'll find something for breakfast."

"Can you bring me a couple pills first?" she slowly stands up, keeping her hand on the bed for support.

He quickly goes down the hall to fetch a glass of water and her pill bottle. She sways slightly as she takes the medication so he grabs her arm to hold her steady. "You sure you're okay to shower?"

"You're just hoping I'll invite you to join me," she smirks.

"I wouldn't be opposed. But it's more for your safety than my own personal desire."

"I'll be okay."

"If I hear any crashes, I'm coming in."

"You better not be sitting outside the door the whole time."

"I wouldn't have to if you'd just let me in," he counters.

"In your dreams, Castle," she smiles before shutting the bathroom door.

When she comes out, he is just putting plates on the table for them. "Good morning, Detective," he smiles brightly at her. "You seem to be walking better today."

"Yeah, I'm not so dizzy."

"See, you'll be back to work in no time."

She takes a seat and picks up her fork to dig in to the eggs. After he sits down across from her, she asks, "Can I see the paper?"

He looks down at the paper, "I don't know, Beckett."

"Castle," she says in a warning tone.

"You really don't need to read it; it's just speculation about how we might be together because I'm the one who found you when you were attacked the other night."

"So? I still want to read it."

"Really, you don't want to."

"I want to know what was said. What the press says is going to be nothing compared to what people at the precinct will say when I go back. I can handle this."

"Kate… just call your dad and let him know you're alright and forget about this."

"My dad?" she frowns at him.

"Yes. I would imagine he's afraid that you're seriously hurt if he happened to read about it this morning or saw it on the news or something. I know I would be freaking out if I found out my daughter was injured through the media."

She sighs, "I guess you're right. I'll do it after breakfast."

"So… it's going to be a little chilly today. We could go for a walk and then eat lunch somewhere if you wanted. You could invite your dad to join us for lunch," he offers. She bites her lip. "Kate, it's not like I haven't met him."

"Yes, but at that point the press wasn't writing stories about us being together."

"No, but I'm sure it's not the first time he's wondered. I mean, I've written a few… scenes of questionable material about you."

"Nikki, Castle, not me."

"You inspired her."

Kate shakes her head, "Can we not talk about what my dad thinks of your sex scenes?"

"Wait, does your dad even read my books?"

"Not really. But he read Heat Wave since it was based on me."

He looks at her for a long moment before speaking, "Maybe I should talk to him about it, let him know that it wasn't really about you."

"Please, Castle, don't mention it. Or we could just make this easier and not invite him to lunch."

"He's going to want to see you."

"I don't understand what the big deal is. I hit my head. I wasn't anywhere near death. It's not like I was shot and spent weeks in the hospital before regaining consciousness after surgery."

"Wouldn't you be worried about me if our situations were reversed?"

Instead of answering, she asks a question of her own. "And why would anyone, crazy fans aside, attack you?"

"Because I'm your partner."

A/N: See? Castle is perfectly fine. I, however, am not. I feel like I have a whole bunch of stuff to do... but I can't do most of it right now. And of course I actually have time to work on it now since I don't have the stuff. Yeah, my zoology teacher isn't very good at giving us our stuff. Or grading stuff in a timely manner. Of course once she actually gives us the stuff, I other stuff to work on. And I would totally work on my statistics stuff, but I don't want to go to the library and mess with minitab right now. Sorry for rambling... hopefully you enjoyed this chapter. Next up: Central Park.