Author's note: Happy Valentine's Day! Here's your present from me.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
The subdued roar of the engine stopped at the same moment that everything in front of her went dead. She glanced down, shocked.
"What happened?"
"We're crashing."
She looked out the window and saw the ground coming up at her at terrifying speeds.
"We can't!"
He reached over and inflated her seatbelt, his eyes catching and holding hers. He looked calm. She felt terrified.
"Hold on tight. We'll be okay."
She looked back out the window and saw a patch of blue.
"What's that?"
"Water. We'll land there, I think."
"What if we miss it?"
"Then we'll hit the trees."
They dropped like they were on a roller coaster, leaving her stomach fighting for space in her throat with her heart – which was already firmly entrenched there.
"Hold on!" he yelled as the blue patch suddenly loomed in the entire front window. And then it was gone and they were crashing into the trees. The front window was obliterated in a shower of glass and she threw her head sideways to try to protect her face. The plane came to a crashing stop and she felt herself thrown against her safety belts, which held tight.
She whimpered, and looked over to the pilot's seat.
"Castle?"
He hadn't been so lucky. The belts had held, same as hers, but several branches had shoved into the cockpit window and then into him. Blood was everywhere and his head was lolled back, lifelessly.
"Castle!"
"Hey!"
Beckett jerked awake suddenly with a cry of fear, breathless.
"Castle!"
"Easy. I'm right here."
She couldn't see him, but she could feel him. His hand had been on her shoulder, shaking her awake, and how his arms were around here, pulling her against him. Shaken and still caught up in the terror of the nightmare, she allowed him to hold her as she clung to him; glad he was alive and not dead.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I'm right here. Easy…"
His voice was soft and steady, just what she needed, and as she stopped trembling she could feel that he was rocking her gently as he soothed her. A hand running lightly through her hair and a low hum rumbling in his chest while he was doing it.
"I had a bad dream," she told him, feeling like a child, but not ready to pull away just yet. The scene had been vivid and frightening.
"I know. I'm sorry."
Her cheek was against his chest and she could feel his heart beating, reassuring her that it had only been a bad dream and he was fine.
How long they stayed like that she didn't know, but it was a long time. Beckett wasn't used to bad dreams – amazing considering all the terrible things she'd seen in her career – and it had left her reeling and needing a chance to recover. Castle was willing to hold her without comment aside from the occasional reassuring murmur from somewhere over her head. Finally, though, she pushed herself a little more upright, and he helped her settle beside him.
"Feeling better?" he asked.
She nodded, but it was almost completely dark and she could only see a dim outline of him, which meant he probably hadn't seen the motion.
"Yes. Thanks."
"Want to talk about it?"
"No."
"Okay."
He pushed himself up, and she heard him gasp with pain at the action. Wondering if she'd hurt his feelings by shutting him out, she turned her head to watch him as he walked away. He didn't go far, however, and she heard rather than saw him gathering up branches from their large pile and tossing them on the dying fire to build it up.
"We were crashing…" she told him.
He nodded, and she could see it now that the fire had things lit up again. He walked back over and sat back down beside her, close but not quite touching. She handed him the emergency blanket he'd slipped out of when he'd stood up.
"I figured that was what it was," he replied, not even smiling at the fact that she'd changed her mind so quickly. "Let me guess; it didn't turn out like it did in real life?"
"How did you know?"
"What else would it have been?" he asked.
She scooted closer to him, resting her head against his shoulder. He was warm and solid and she still needed that. Luckily, he didn't tease her for it, and didn't make a smart comment about it.
"It was pretty intense," she admitted, looking at the fire. She didn't know why he'd built it up again. She wasn't cold by any means, and she could feel the warmth emanating from him, proving he wasn't, either. Maybe too much warmth, something said nagging at her, but she was still shaken and unable to really gather herself enough to consider possible ramifications of that. The fire was comforting, and she decided that that was the reason he'd done it.
"It was only a dream, though," he reminded her, leaning down and pressing a kiss against her hair. "Everything will be okay in the morning."
She smiled.
"That sounds like a line you've used more than once."
He nodded.
"Alexis believed it every time. So should you."
Which explained why he was so good at soothing bad dreams. She watched the fire crackle and burn but the solid presence beside her did more to calm her than the blaze. Eventually, after who knew how long, her eyes closed once more, and this time when she slept the bad dreams stayed away.
