Disclaimers: If I owned 'Castle,' I'd be living on an island somewhere and my great-niece and great-nephew would have around the clock nannies so that my mother wouldn't have to deal with them.

Summary: It's Castle to the rescue again, as they talk about the recently closed sniper case as well as other issues. Does she admit that she remembers everything from that day in the cemetery? Uh, no. I hate going against canon. But, there'll still be fluffiness, I promise.

Chapter 8: Emotional Rescue

Rick Castle was exhausted when he entered the loft that afternoon. Alexis raced to the door to meet him when she heard his key in the lock. "Daddy, are you okay? Is it true that they caught the sniper?"

"He was shot and killed," Castle confirmed, hugging and kissing his beautiful red-headed daughter.

"How's Det. Beckett?"

"She's fine. Where's Gram?"

"Out with friends. I made a quiche. I thought that you might be hungry."

"Sweetie, I am hungry, but I'm also exhausted. It's been a rough few days."

"Are you sure that Det. Beckett's okay? You didn't seem so sure yesterday."

"Well, I don't think that she's 100 percent, but I'm willing to give her a few days," he went and took a beer from the refrigerator. He couldn't help but notice that Alexis seemed pensive. "What's on your mind?"

"I was just thinking," she said. "You've been a great friend to her during these last few months. Maybe she needs a shoulder to cry on. I've been thinking that all of this has probably hit a little too close to home. Sometimes you don't always admit that you're not holding up so well. You've said yourself that she holds her emotions in. But, I think that's because she hasn't had someone there who's been willing to listen to her."

"One day I'm going to figure out where in the hell you got your insight from," he smiled, walking around the counter and planting a kiss on the top of her head. "Don't wait up."

"Don't worry, I won't," she smiled.

***CCC***

When she walked into her apartment, the only thing Kate was thinking of was a hot bath and a glass of wine. She'd just had another session with Dr. Burke, where she'd told him that she thought that she was ready to try to put her mother's death where it belonged. In the past. As he'd told her, she couldn't let down a person who was already dead. She thought back to her conversation with Castle before he left the precinct.

She'd come to her desk to find Castle sitting there in his usual spot. "What're you doing, Castle?" She asked as she sat down.

"Waiting for my partner. Maybe you've seen her. Pretty girl. Thinks that she can leap tall buildings at a single bound. Carries the weight of the world on her shoulders. But still finds the time to laugh at some of my jokes."

"She sounds like a handful," Kate said, willing to play along.

"Tell me about it," he sighed, glancing at her. "Anyway, when you see her, tell her that she owes me about a hundred coffees."

"Castle?" She called out to him.

"Yeah?" He turned to look at her.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For not pushing me. For giving me the space to work through this."

"Always," he whispered.

'Always.' He'd told her that after she'd thanked him for saving her from Lockwood. He'd told her that when they were freezing to death in a locked storage container. It seemed to be his go-to word. She didn't fully understand his love of that particular word, but when he said it to her, it sent shivers down her spine. She was beginning to feel as if it was their word.

She went into the bathroom and turned on the taps as she filled the tub with her favorite bubble bath. After soaking in the scented water for a long time, she got out and wrapped a towel around her hair while she dressed in a pair of yoga pants and an old t-shirt. She heard the knock on her door just as she finished dressing.

She walked to the door and opened it, surprised to find Castle standing there with a bag in his hand. "Castle, what're you doing here?"

"When I left my loft, the thought occurred to me that you probably hadn't eaten and probably wouldn't eat until I showed at the next crime scene carrying a bear claw and your usual coffee. So, I come bearing food," he held up the bag.

"Come on in, Castle," she waved him in, shutting the door behind him. "Take it over to the couch and pull the coffee table closer. I'll get plates."

Watching her reach for plates, Castle noticed the white gauze covering her forearm. He hadn't seen it before. "What happened to your arm?"

"Oh, nothing," she brought two plates and silverware over to the table. "I forgot napkins."

"Don't worry about it. I think they gave us plenty," he removed the containers from the plastic bag. "We also have chopsticks."

"Would you like some wine? Or beer? I think there's some Sam Adams in the fridge," she said.

"Do you have anything non-alcoholic?"

"I have grape soda and root beer."

"Root beer sounds great," he smiled watching as she went to grab the drinks. "I've never known you to turn down wine, Castle."

"Espo and I got into a drinking contest the other night at The Old Haunt. I lost," he said with a mouthful of rice.

"Yeah, Javi's a power drinker," she smiled. "He can even drink me under the table."

She figured that must've been when he'd sought Esposito. "What did you tell Esposito about me?"

"I was worried about you, Kate," he watched her get up and began walking around the room. "We all were. We're family and we care about you. I saw the look on his face when you freaked out at the second crime scene."

"So, you went behind my back?"

"I knew that you wouldn't talk about it. I knew that Espo would be the best person to talk to you. I thought that maybe you'd open up to him in ways that you still won't open up to me. I'm sorry if you feel like I betrayed you."

"Why didn't you come after me yesterday? When I ran off in the middle of that crime scene at The Grace Centre?"

"Two reasons," he took a drink of his root beer. "One, Espo had told me to give you some room. And, I knew that if I followed you back there, you'd only get angry and shove me away. Can I ask you what happened?"

"When Emily grabbed my arm, it was like I couldn't breathe. It was worse than anything that happened last summer. I felt like everything was weighing me down. I just needed to run and strip everything off. I thought that if I took all of it off, then maybe I could breathe again."

"What about the other day when you walked out of the bullpen? Was it the same thing?"

"No," she shook her head. "That was personal."

"Are you still having nightmares?" He asked.

"No, now it's something much worse. Flashbacks. I'd trade the flashbacks for nightmares any time."

"What do you see when you have them?"

"I'll be back in a minute. I have to go and dry my hair," she quickly left the room, leaving Castle feeling bewildered. He sighed as he realized that she was once again running and hiding, just like all of the times before.

She returned moments later and took her seat next to him on the sofa. "I still don't remember anything about that day, Castle. I wish that I did."

"So do I. Now, can I ask you a question? When you asked Lanie if Sarah Vasquez felt anything, were you really asking about yourself?"

"I told you that I don't remember being shot. I know that when I woke up, it was the absolutely worse pain I've ever felt in my life. But, you know the strange part. The hole in my chest doesn't hurt nearly as much as where they put in the damn chest tube."

"Your dad said that the scar was longer than it usually is for a chest tube."

"Josh got impatient," she looked at him. "That's what my doctor told me. I was dying and he got impatient. So now I can't do a fucking thing because every time I lift my arm, my side feels like someone's sticking a hot knife into it. I just want to be normal, Castle! I want to do what I used to do!"

"Now who's being impatient?" He couldn't help but flash her a familiar grin.

"I'm athletic. I always have been. I'm not used to being held back by my own body."

"Kate, you have to give yourself time."

"You never said what brought you over here tonight," she picked up their plates and went into the kitchen.

"Alexis suggested it. She thought that you might want to talk."

"About what?"

"Would you please come over here and sit down?" He patted the seat next to him, smiling at the always familiar Beckett eye-roll when she came back and sat beside him. "I watched this case change you practically overnight. One day you're dressed in bright colors and the next you're wearing dark blue or black."

"Castle, in case you haven't noticed, I wear a lot of dark colors."

"I just think that this case might've hit a little too close to home," she winced when he picked up her injured arm and examined the gauze surrounding it. "What happened?"

"I was a little bit drunk," she admitted, pulling her arm free. "I started having the most god-awful flashbacks. I knocked this table over and my glass was on it. I cut my arm on the broken glass."

"How bad is it?" He asked, taking her arm and unwrapping the gauze as she tried to wrench free of him. "Beckett, let me see it!"

"Castle, stop!" She continued trying to pull her arm free, but he was unrelenting.

He looked at her while he examined the cut on her arm. It was long and nasty looking, but it didn't appear to be deep enough to have required sutures. "Where's your first aid kit?"

"In the bathroom. I'll—"

"No, I've got it," he got up and went in search of her first aid kit.

He brought the kit to the sofa and opened it, removing antiseptic ointment, gauze, and tape. He carefully treated the cut before wrapping it in the clean gauze and taping it. "Why are you doing this?"

"Do you really need to ask?"

He could see her defenses starting to crumble while he watched. He sat back against the corner of the sofa and pulled her into his shoulder. At first she resisted, as he knew that she would. But eventually she relaxed into his shoulder while they sat there in silence. "Tall buildings at a single bound, huh?" She asked, breaking the silence.

"Sometimes," he whispered into her hair. "I think I'll get you a cape for your next birthday."

"With a giant 'B' on the front?" She grinned.

"Or a 'K,'" he added. "Can I ask another question?"

"You're full of questions tonight, Castle."

"What're your plans for Thanksgiving?"

"Dad and I are going to the cabin. But, I wouldn't be averse to a certain someone coming up on . . . say Friday? We could take a long walk and then he could maybe give me a ride back to the city," she glanced up at her partner.

"I know a few guys who might be willing to take a drive into the mountains. I'll ask around," he teased.

"Castle, when I think of this whole thing, I keep thinking back to Emily. Not just to the way that I reacted, but to how scared she was. I mean, I know why I was shot. But to be shot and not know the reason why. How do we explain to her that she was shot because some asshole was jealous of her happiness?"

Castle didn't answer, but he could feel Kate's body shake with sobs as he held her against his shoulder. After several minutes, the sobs began to ease and he felt her relaxing more against him. He smiled when he heard her breathing even out. He didn't know how long it had been since she'd really slept. None of them had slept much since this whole nightmare had started. Like he'd told her, it was almost like the D.C. sniper case all over again.

He carefully got up from the sofa and laid her down before going into her bedroom and finding a throw on the back of a rocking chair in one corner of her room. He carefully placed it over her before brushing her hair from her face. He then walked over and quietly let himself out of the apartment.

***CCC***

The Friday after Thanksgiving

It was a beautiful fall day. Instead of taking the Ferrari, Castle decided on renting a Jeep. At this time of the year, you could never be sure of what kind of weather you were going to encounter in the mountains of New York. A Jeep just felt safer. Since both of his resident redheads had plans for the day, it was a great day for him to take a drive.

He texted Kate and told her he'd be at the cabin by noon. The plan was for him to have lunch with Kate and her father, take a long walk with her, as they'd talked about and head back to the city before it got too dark.

She'd seemed calmer in the last week. He knew that a lot of it had to do with the resolution of the Lee Travis case. But, he knew that it was more than that, he just couldn't put his finger on what had brought about the changes. He hoped that someday she'd tell him.

When he pulled up in front of the cabin, she was sitting on the front steps waiting for him. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and a thick cable-knit sweater, her hair pulled back behind her. "What, no Ferrari, Castle?" She teased as she came down the steps to greet him.

"Maybe next time."

"Come on, dad has lunch waiting."

Jim Beckett stood up when Kate led Castle into the house. "Mr. Castle, nice to see you again," Kate's father came over to shake his hand.

"It's Rick and it's nice to see you again, too. At least we're meeting over much better circumstances this time."

"Yes, we are," Jim couldn't help but beam at his daughter. "Please, have a seat. Katie has made enough for an army."

"That's only because you've never seen Castle eat," she told her father.

"Hey, the pizza was a dare from Ryan and Esposito," he made a face, laughing when she rolled her eyes. "And there go the eyes."

"Oh, Katie doesn't have anything on the eye-roll. Jo had it down to a science," Kate smiled, listening to her father reminiscing about her mother.

"Around the precinct we refer to it as the 'Beckett eye-roll,'" he told her father.

"I like that," Jim Beckett laughed, watching Kate grinning as she bit down on her lower lip, another mannerism that she'd picked up from her mother.

After lunch was over, Jim offered to clean up while Kate led Castle outside. "I think my dad likes you," she admitted shyly when they walked down the steps.

"He's a great guy, Kate. Can I tell you something?" He asked.

"Sure. What's on your mind?"

"A couple of days before you got shot, he came to the loft. He begged me to get you to back off of the case. He was scared, Kate. He'd already lost your mother and he said that he couldn't bear it if he were to lose you, too. He said that you cared about me and he thought that you might listen to me. He wanted me to convince you that your life was worth more than your mother's death."

"That's why you came to my apartment," she guessed as he nodded. "Her case has consumed almost every waking minute of my life for 12 years now. It's something that I'm trying to work on, but it hasn't been easy."

"I know," he looked at her, holding his hand out toward her.

She glanced down at his hand, thinking back to the first time she'd ever reached for his hand. It had been the night that they'd rescued him and Ryan from Jerry Tyson's clutches. It was the first time that she'd ever truly seen Castle scared. She remembered reaching for his hand to offer him a small measure of comfort, watching his face trying to process how close to death he'd come that night.

She took his offered hand, smiling at his much larger fingers closing around hers. She gave him a small smile, watching while he returned the smile. "I have something to show you," she tugged on his hand while he had no choice but to follow her. "I want to show you my favorite place to sit and think. Not even my father knows about it."

"So, I should feel honored?" He was amused as he followed along behind her.

"More like privileged, Castle," she walked down a familiar path. He could hear rushing water down below while he kept following her, ducking under low tree branches as they walked.

She stopped at a clearing next to a huge boulder. Down below, the river swirled angrily against the shore. "Wow," he breathed, taking a look around him. "This is great."

"I discovered this rock when I was 12 years old. I'd had this awful argument with my mother because she'd caught me in her makeup for what she called the 100th time. Everything that I ever got busted for, she called it the 100th time," she rolled her eyes while Castle couldn't help but chuckle. "I can still remember her coming into the bathroom, where I was standing at the mirror with her makeup. I remember her telling me, 'Katie, you're too young to wear makeup. I don't understand why you're in such a big hurry to grow up.' When I told her that all of my friends were wearing it, she says, 'If all of your friends were jumping off of the Empire State Building, would you be right behind them?' That was always her answer when I told her that all of my friends were doing something that I wasn't allowed to do. So, I ran out of the cabin and just kept walking. Eventually, I ended up right here."

"It's peaceful here," he looked up into the trees over their heads.

"I'd come up here at first just to sit and think. Last summer I spent a lot of time up here with my iPod, listening to Coltrane and Dylan."

"Dylan, huh? Acoustic or electric?"

"Some of both. You like Dylan?"

"I like a little of everything. It depends on my mood. I like classical, country, oldies, heavy metal. It just depends on how I'm feeling. I never took you for a blues fan."

"My father bought me my first Coltrane album when I was eight years old. I'd never even heard of him, but I fell in love with the first notes. I don't think I'd ever heard anything so . . . perfect. I listen to him and the world just melts away."

He smiled, listening to her talk about John Coltrane. There was something magical that came over her face while she described how he made her feel. "So, Coltrane is better than sex?" He couldn't help asking.

"So far, yeah," she laughed. "When I ever have sex that's better than Coltrane, it's going to be pretty fucking mind blowing."

"Don't worry, I'm sure that guy is out there somewhere," he smiled at her.

"I'm sure that he is, too," she couldn't help blushing when he squeezed her fingers.

A/N #1: Okay, I have to end it right there on something of a high note. The next chapter opens the door to hope for Castle. My boyfriend/proofreader suggested the line about Coltrane being better than sex. For the record, I don't like the blues, so I've never listened to Coltrane. He has and says that Coltrane is awesome.

A/N #2: I was re-watching 'Kill Shot' last night and noticed a MAJOR continuity error. When Kate showed her scar to Lee Travis, the scar was on her other breast and was a different shape than it had been earlier in the episode when she was looking at it in the mirror.