CHAPTER 8

The sound of a vehicle speeding away caused both of them to turn their heads - catching only the faint outline of a dark van as it disappeared into the ether.

Abandoning them… in the middle of the night… in the middle of nowhere… in a dark and cold forest.

Perfect.


She could do nothing but watch the red tail lights fade into oblivion, mud soaking through her jeans, the intense chill infusing her knees while she knelt on the cold ground. The darkness of the night engulfed them as Beckett immediately turned to Castle who had dropped his hands to the ground, supporting his arduous weight.

Her arms instinctively reached for him, her left hand skirting his back while the other lightly pressed to his side. "Castle?..."

A pained grunt escaped his throat while he swallowed the pain that was reverberating throughout his body. "Gimme a minute," he breathed, voice raspy, eyelids scrunched together.

Keeping her palms firmly in place, she continued to hold him gently as he battled through the pain that the adrenaline had been masking up to this point. Taking a moment to survey their predicament, it became immediately evident to her that they were not in a good place - both literally and figuratively.

The dizzying effects of the drugs that had been pumped into them continued to linger as the creepy obscurity of their surroundings flooded around them, enclosing them in a formidable sea of towering trees. The broken moonlight gave the darkened forest a sinister atmosphere as it sliced through the high, leafless branches, casting ominous shadows across the endless thicket.

Beckett shivered as the crisp, early-April wind crawled through her sweater, biting her skin.

They needed to stay warm... find shelter.

"Can you walk?" she whispered to her fiancé as his breathing evened.

"I think so," he nodded, voice gravelly.

As she reached to take his hand to steady him as he rose from his knees, memories of him helping her out of her tub flashed through her mind. How her body screamed as she hobbled through her burning apartment after it had exploded - Castle never letting her go. Never letting her fall.

Always there.

And now it was her turn to help him stand. To hold him up.

But after struggling to his feet, he managed to take only a few steps across the muddy ground before his knees began to buckle, the pressure on his injured right leg too much to bear, the pain in the left side of his chest pulling with every laboured step. His huge frame weighed down on her as he hissed in agony.

"Nope… nope…" he groaned as they diverted to lean against a towering, old oak.

Before he could crumple to the base of the tree, Beckett led him around to the opposite side of the thick trunk. If they weren't going to be going anywhere, at least the tree could be useful to shelter them from the cutting wind.

Probably for the best, she thought as she peered into the dark abyss of the vanishing dirt road. Can't see much anyway.

The threatening darkness enveloped around them as he pressed his back against the trunk, gingerly sliding down the rough bark, her hand carefully bracing his injured left side on the way down.

"How are your ribs?" she inquired softly as she helped him settle into a semi-comfortable position on the cold, mossy ground.

"Delicious," he smirked through the pain. "Especially when I slow-cook them and glaze them with my secret sauce."

"Funny man," she grinned dryly, tenderly running her hand across his shoulder. "Seriously, though, Castle," she continued after a moment, "how's your side?"

"Hurts when I move," he admitted with a slight moan, "but breathing is okay."

"No punctured lung," they both declared simultaneously.

Beckett couldn't suppress the relieved smile from crossing her face as he stared back at her, his eyes black, his face partially in shadow - the cuts and scratches on his cheek and the bruising around his eye concealed due to the darkness.

Her white of her eye twinkled slightly as the moonlight highlighted a single glistening tear that escaped and was snaking down her swollen, red cheek. She couldn't look away as his right palm came up to caress the edge of her jaw, the connection intense.

"So beautiful," he muttered, voice clear and earnest, the pad of his thumb swiping the tear from her wounded face.

"You're not so bad yourself, Castle," she smiled tenderly, turning her head to brush her mouth against the inside of his hand, her lips lingering as she closed her eyes, relishing the fact that they were here. Alive.

And together.

A gust of wind bellowed between the trees, causing Beckett to quiver as the cold night air pierced her body and chilled Castle's large hand.

They both needed to keep warm.

Without a word, he carefully extended his right arm, inviting her to curl in beside him. She folded herself against his chest, wrapping her right arm along his abdomen, careful not to put any pressure on his injured rib cage.

"I love cuddling with you for warmth," he smirked quietly as she coiled her knees closer to her body.

"Huddling," she retorted playfully.

"Potayto, Potahto," he chuckled, tightening his embrace.

She smiled into his shoulder as his forehead came down to rest against the top of her head. He was hurt far more severely than she, yet he still managed to make her smile. Find the joy. Comfort her.

Reflecting on who she had been a few years ago, she began to wonder if she would have had the strength to do it on her own. All the trials she'd been put through - almost freezing to death, hanging on to the edge of a building, being tortured and nearly drowned... even being shot in the chest. Would she have been able to last as long - hold on as long as she had - if he hadn't been with her?

It's strange - how the man who was once the bane of her existence became the one person who could ground her, give her strength that she didn't know she possessed. Without her even realizing it, he became that small, clear voice in her head that was always with her.

The one person she couldn't live without.

"You might deafen me if you keep thinking so loudly."

His deep, muffled voice snapped her from her reverie. She smiled as she felt his fingers twine around the stray ends of her long, mussed hair that were cascading over her shoulder, his strong bicep hugging her lithe form against his right side.

Her hand crept up along his torso, coming to rest atop the centre of his muscular chest. She felt her body melt into his as the even palpitations of his heart thumped against her splayed palm, the rhythm of it beating in time with hers.

"You know what would be really great right now?" he whispered into her hair. "S'mores."

She rolled her eyes as she bit back a giggle. "Really?" she replied drolly.

"It'd be perfect. You. Me. Cuddled together, a roaring campfire at our feet…"

"Sorry, Castle, but I neglected to pack marshmallows when I left for work this morning…" she began teasingly before her voice trailed off.

This morning. The realization hung like a dead weight between them. She had no idea what day it was. How long Vales had held them. Or where they were.

An uncomfortable, prolonged silence filled the air, the creaks and moans of the trees crying out into the night, the cracking of branches and the crunching of dead leaves echoing in the darkness.

And then, finally, Castle asked the question. "Why didn't they kill us?"

His inquiry floated heavily in the air like rain clouds hovering over a dry field, begging to be relieved yet perhaps not entirely prepared for a possible flood.

Beckett stared blankly across his chest.

She knew why.

"Vales is smart," she began. "Killing a cop would only bring attention to his Meth operation, and he didn't want that."

"But, then-"

"I challenged him," she sighed. "And he's not a man who is used to being openly defied."

Castle began to realize exactly what she was trying to say. "He wanted to send you a message..."

"That he's still out there," Beckett nodded slightly against his side. "And that he hasn't forgotten."

"And hurting me…" he realized, his strong arms tightening their hold as she pressed herself into his side more fervently.

Her eyes fell shut as she affirmed his conclusion. "And hurting you..."

"...was the best way to hurt you," he finished, sighing heavily as his lips pressed firmly against the crown of her head.

There was nothing more to say. One of her greatest fears had come to fruition. He'd gotten hurt - not because they had been working a case or because he got caught in the line of fire. He was hurt just because he was tied to her.

Because she'd made their relationship… their engagement… public.

"I'm so sorry, Castle," she mumbled into his shirt, voice cracking slightly at the thought of his pain.

"For what?"

"You wouldn't have been hurt if…" She choked on the words, struggling to get them out. "...if we… if I hadn't…"

"Kate..." His quiet, steady voice rippled through the cold air between them, halting her admonition. She tilted her head up to look at him. Although he was almost encased entirely in shadows, she could feel his penetrating gaze washing over her, his face just inches away from hers. She swallowed lightly, her heart fluttering just as much as the frigid wind. "This isn't your fault."

She didn't need to be able to see him to know the heat and adoration that were swirling in his eyes. She'd seen it all too many times in the past. All too many times, and yet not enough. Never enough.

"What's a gash on my leg and a few broken ribs?" His palm swept along her shoulder, gently tracing her swan-like neck, fingertips barely painting the underside of her jaw, the edge of her lower lip. "I would die for you."

Before she could protest, his mouth pressed against hers, the sensation simultaneously tender and fierce, the satiny pressure of his lips quashing any possible retort that she would have tried to make. That she's the cop. That she's the one who's supposed to do the protecting.

But they were in this together. Two halves of an imperfect whole. And there are no limits to what he would do for the people he loves. None.

She could taste his salty tears as she licked them from his lips - the passion, devotion and vehement reverence flowing between them as her delicate fingers glanced along the side of his face. She tenderly pressed one more chaste kiss to the corner of his mouth before pushing away.

"And I'll do everything in my power to ensure it never comes to that," she whispered.

"I know," he smiled quietly, pressing his forehead against hers as she buried her face into the side of his chest.


Everything eventually became very quiet, no more words were exchanged.

The whistling breeze encircled above them as the partners cocooned themselves around each other, attempting to stave off the bitterly numbing cold that was seeping into their bones, complete exhaustion hitting them like a tidal wave.

Kate tried to fight the threatening slumber as the ambient noises of the murky woods snaked around them, but the steadiness of Castle's breathing paired with the slow, rhythmic beating of his heart began to lull her into a comfortable trance.

Her eyelids began to droop. Her body felt so heavy, listless. She no longer had the energy nor the will to battle the sluggish lethargy of her mind.

Her hand flopped – the fingers that had been curled into the soft material of Castle's shirt, now loose - as she joined her fiancé, drifting off into a dreamless abyss... the dark, menacing forest swallowing them whole.


xxx

It's been a tough week… but it felt good to write again. (Typos still mine)

One, maybe two chapters to go…

Hope you stick with me.

Judge away.