Hello everyone. There's a couple of reasons why I haven't wrote in so long. One of those reasons is college, I'm getting a lot of work to do. Another is because basically I got a review and someone didn't really like the story so I was trying to take their advice on board and it took me a little longer. I hope you all like it and I'm sorry that it took so long. The time frame may seem different from the show and that is because this isn't the show, this is a creation from my mind.
'Twas a Wednesday morning in the Castle household. Last night events had left the living room in a big mess. Discarded chocolate wrappers and popcorn packets scattered all over the couch. A bunch of chick flicks laid out by the TV.
"I still can't believe Big ran out on Carrie. Who even does that?" Kate ranted in frustration.
It seems that one of the few perks of memory loss was that Kate got to watch some of her favorite movies and TV shows again. The bad news was that Castle also had to re-watch all of her favorite movies.
"Then after all of that mess, Carrie kissed another guy. I need Sex in the City 3 to come out." Kate continued.
"Kate, please! It was enough torture having to watch them, I don't need to relive them the next morning."
"Castle, I saw you crying at Carrie dropping the phone when she realized he wasn't coming!"
"What you saw was a bored man rubbing his eyes."
"I'm not buying it."
"I had to endure two Sex in the City movies, you owe me."
"I had to watch sex scenes with you, is that not payment enough?"
"Come on, it's in the title, you knew what we were in for!"
"Yes, but I didn't think you were going to make inappropriate comments all the way through it! 'Being fucked up against a car - Samantha has always been the classy one out of the bunch." She rolled her eyes for emphasis.
"You knew when you put the DVD on that I come with commentaries."
"I could have guessed before you told me. Okay, fine, since I caused you so much pain, you can decide what we do today."
"I was thinking that since today is your day off, we could go out for lunch." Castle replied whilst chewing on some of the leftover candy.
"Are you sure you haven't already eaten?" Kate laughed.
"This? No, this doesn't count."
"I wish I could think like that, but apparently my body (weight) does count it."
"Oh yeah, Kate, you're huge." He said sarcastically.
"Shut it, writer boy. Plus, you already bought all that ingredients for your 'sandwich creations' as you put it. It would be stupid to waste it."
"First of all, it's writer man. Man, Katherine; I am a man. Second of all, we could take it with us and go for a picnic?"
"A picnic sounds like a nice idea. I'll go get changed and you get the food ready, sound good?"
"Oh so you're not going in your jammies?" He joked.
Kate ran straight upstairs to her new room and opened up her closet. It wasn't normal for her to be getting nervous about a picnic with Castle, was it? It was two months today that she had gotten home from the hospital and Kate was starting to feel comfortable. She felt as if her and Castle had this thing going and neither one was sure of what it was. She was scared to admit it to anyone else and even herself that she felt something towards him... but she did. Hence the reason she was nervous to be going for a picnic with were a romantic thing, for people going on dates or people in love. No, she was over-thinking this, a picnic didn't have to be a date; it could just be a lunch arrangement. Even after thinking this through, Kate continued to rummage through her wardrobe, looking for something suitable to wear. Something nice, but not an outfit that showed she tried too hard. Subtle, but sexy. Sexy? No, not sexy, that is not what she meant to say.
There was a knock on her door.
"Kate, are you ready?"
"Just a second!" Kate shouted nervously.
She quickly grabbed her skinny jeans, a black vest top and her leather jacket. If anyone else had worn that outfit it would have looked as if they hadn't tried, but on Kate Beckett; it looked perfect.
"I'm ready." She smiled.
Castle tried really hard not to let his mouth drop at the sight of her, but his mouth had a mind of its own. It dropped, and he was pretty sure Kate noticed. He just couldn't seem to build the strength to close it; she had taken his strength away from him and he was weak at the knees.Pull yourself together, Castle, it's just tight jeans and leather.
What he proceeded to do after the jaw-dropping made his actions more embarrassing; as he held up the basket of food in front of her face, not saying a word, his jaw still hanging open.
"Are you okay, Castle?"
He made some sort of noise that was definitely not human as she bent down to get her purse.
"I'm good, I'm better than good... I mean not because- just 'cause we're going for a picnic and it's sunny outside and it's going to be a great day. You knew that already, well I hope you did- I have no idea why I'm still talking, so I'm going to stop right now. You look nice. And stopping now." He stopped to take in a deep breath.
Kate gave him a quizzical look. "Well I'm glad you're okay. Sorry, I'm glad you're good. No, wait, you're better than good, didn't you say?"
"Be quiet, and get out." He directed her out of the door with his hand on the small of her back, which surprised her but she didn't complain about it.
Thirty minutes later they were sat on a green, eating cherries out of a plastic box; laughing as they each failed at knotting a cherry stem with their tongue.
"I swear I can do this." Kate frowned, looking frustrated.
"Yeah, it looks like it." Castle laughed.
"No seriously, I can!" She sat in front of him with her face deep on concentration as her tongue moved around furiously in her mouth.
He sat and watched her for a few seconds, noticing her beauty in the glow of the sun. She started coughing loudly, choking almost. Castle quickly started patting her back.
"Shit. Are you alright?!"
She started to laugh, gasping for air. "Yeah, I'm fine! I think I swallowed my cherry stem. That's not going to harm me, is it?"
"You know what it will do? It will go to your stomach and soon more cherries will start to grow there and before you know it, you will be-"
"Castle, I'm not six."
"Oh right, yes, I was momentarily confused as you were choking on a cherry stem like a child."
"You're so funny." She replied sarcastically.
"It's one of my many great personality aspects."
"Like modesty?"
"I feel like we've had this conversation before."
"It wouldn't surprise me."
"Me either."
She smiled at him. "Do you know what was one great thing about waking up in that hospital?"
"Random, but I'll play. What?"
She smiled again, remembering a favorite moment of hers. "When I saw my dad rushing into my hospital room, I felt this wave of panic that he had been drinking; he's always drinking since mom died. When he started talking to me I asked him if he had been drinking and he smiled at me, but he didn't answer. Instead he put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a chip." She smiled, even bigger this time. "He got sober. It took him years of trying and failing to stay on that path; but he did it, Castle. He did it."
"I was waiting for the right time to give you this back." She looked at him confused. He slid his hand into the inside pocket of his blazer. "I've been carrying this with me since the accident; the hospital gave it back to me, I don't know why they didn't give it to you. Anyway, I was waiting for you to say something or maybe remember. So, here you are." He held her father's watch in his hand and placed it on her wrist. "This... is for the life that you saved."
She looked up into his eyes. "I saved him."
"I know you did."
"So do I. Castle, I'm telling you that I remember!"
He looked at her with his eyes wide.
"Not everything, I just remember the moment that he came to me and he told me that he had made it to a year. He showed me his chip and he hugged me and told me that it was all because of me. That I had saved him."
"You remember." He smiled.
"Not everything!" She added quickly.
"But something."
Their eyes both locked on each other, and they knew in that moment that they had a chance, that they had something to fight for. She was remembering. They got so caught up in the moment that they didn't realize how long they had simply been staring at each other; it had been at least two minutes of unbroken silence.
However, that silence did break, and not by what either one was expecting. A (gun) shot sounded in the near distance and panic spread straight across Kate's face in the blink of an eye.
Her body tensed and she froze, unable to move and not wanting to move. Castle was telling her words of comfort, reassurance maybe, but she couldn't hear. All Kate could hear was the beating of her own heart. Castle placed his hand on hers, trying to let her know that she wasn't alone, but even though she saw it, Kate couldn't feel it; all she could feel was her pulse hammering and the sweat on her back. Her body temperature kept increasing until it was almost unbearable. Kate jumped up quick as a flash and started to run. She had no idea where she was going, she just knew that it had to be away from here. Castle stood and watched as she ran into the woods near them. Running through the trees as he shouted after her.
"Kate, Come back! It was just a car back firing. Kate, it's okay!"
She stopped a few moments after and rested her back against a tree trunk, muffling her cries into her jacket sleeve. She didn't understand this feeling.
What is happening to me?! She thought, full of panic and fear.
Subconsciously she put her hand up her shirt and rested it between her breasts, feeling the torn tissue. Her mind flashed images of Rick shouting her name and running towards her.
"Kate! Stay with me, Kate."
Her confusion increased as did her tears.
"I love you. I love you, Kate." He said while he pulled her into his arms and held her tight.
She let out a frustrated scream. She didn't know that it was her PTSD acting up again. She didn't know that a sniper had shot at her, putting her in a battle to fight for her life. She didn't know, because nobody had told her, and that's why she felt more scared and alone than she had ever been.
