Disclaimer: I don't own Castle.
The room was dark, but light enough that she could see her way around it. She moved forward, her gun in her hand, and sweat dripping down her face. Moving toward the lighted doorway, she stumbled on something on the ground and turned to see that it was a hand. Kate's face paled as she moved closer to the hand, being sure not to touch it, but close enough to see whose it was. When Kate saw the face of her mother staring back up at her, she turned and hurled into a nearby corner. She wiped her mouth and knew she had to keep moving. Now staring down at the floor to make sure there was nothing else there, she continued to the door. Kate stopped when she heard a soft call of her name and turned to find her father sitting close to her mother with a bottle of beer in his hands.
"I can't keep her forever, you know. Once I'm gone, you're gonna have to take her out of my hands." Kate's face scrunched up as she tried to think of what her father meant by what he'd said. "It's your turn now, Katie. Take her from me." Before Kate could react, her father took the gun that was resting in his hands, the gun that Kate hadn't noticed, and pulled the trigger after pressing it to his skull.
"No! Come back! No! Not you too!" Kate tried to scream.
Finally Kate sat up in her bed and wrapped her arms around her knees, tears streaming down her face. She kept trying to say 'It was just a dream,' but it was coming out more like strong breaths than actual words. Kate didn't try to stop the tears, she didn't try to untangle the blankets from sticking to her, she didn't even try to push away from Rick's chest when he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her flush against him.
Kate let the tears end and her breathing finally steadied. She pushed her hair back into a loose ponytail after leaning off of Rick's chest, and then let her head fall into her hands. Rick didn't take his arm away from her waist, even when she was protesting against it being there. He knew she needed someone because she had no one. She was a rock. She could tackle suspects and she could watch as the monsters of the world wrote their confessions in front of her, but once in a while, just like everyone else, Kate needed someone to just hold her.
She wouldn't be the first to admit it. Ever. But he wasn't making her. He didn't need her to ask for him to hold her, or to tell her it was alright. He didn't need her to ask for him to be there for her. After a few minutes passed, Kate leaned back into his chest and sighed.
"I'm sorry." Rick opened his mouth to respond, but instead craned his neck and looked down at her.
"Kate, I- Don't ever be sorry for having a nightmare."
"You didn't sign up for this when you met me."
"Yeah, you're damn straight I didn't." It was Kate's turn to look at him. "But that doesn't mean I'm just gonna run away from you. That doesn't mean I'm not going to stay with you and let you lean on me because I didn't 'sign up for it.'"
"You don't need to do this," Kate untangled herself from Rick and stood up, trying to make her way to the kitchen when he caught her arm.
"I want to do this, Kate. I'm not doing it because I need to, and I'm not doing it because I feel sorry for you. I'm doing it because I care about you and I don't want you to feel like you have no one. You have me. You'll always have me."
"Promising thing to say to someone you met recently." Kate looked at him through her eyelashes, and then back down at his hand still wrapped around her wrist.
"A promise is a promise, no matter how long or short you've known someone." Kate smiled at him and he let go of his grip on her wrist. "So, I take it you're feeling better?"
"Yeah I'm feeling much better!" She laughed. "Really though," Kate turned to look at him, "Thank you for being here." Rick looked back to her and smiled widely, but still with affection.
"Always."
A/N: So I made this short I know, I know, I'm sorry! BUT, you get another chapter tonight because for the next few days I'm going up to my cousins house for vacation, so I won't be able to update. Enjoy!