Chapter 10. When I Look At You.

This chapter goes on with the 9th, I thought it was going to go on with the next day also, but it turned out to be too long so it's just the night of the 9th.

For the people who thought I wouldn't let Kate go to Rick, I mean… come on, how could I not!?

Rick was sitting in his office, trying to write but failing because his mind constantly wandered to Kate. And how rude she had been, he understood, and he knew there was something wrong, but what he didn't understand was why Kate hadn't called him, or told him what was wrong. Didn't she trust him? Okay, they had only been friends for 11 days, and then there's the day they met, but he didn't count that as them being friends. But he remembers it perfectly, Friday the 23th of December.

He just started writing again, when he heard knocking on his door. He sighed, got up and made his way to the door, not bothering to turn the lights on. Who would come to visit him at this hour? He had already put Alexis to bed because the little redhead was so tired after the day of fun that she fell asleep watching a movie. His mother wasn't home yet, he was used to it though…

He looked through the peephole and as soon as he saw Kate standing there, shifting from foot to foot, arms wrapped around her, he turned all the locks as fast as he could and opened the door.

He didn't even get a word out before she launched herself towards him, hugging him as she sobbed against his chest.

"Kate, what happened?" he said after a while just standing there as he led her towards the couch. She cuddled up against him and he put an arm over her, never taking his eyes off of her.

"I don't want to talk about it." she almost whispered so soft.

"Okay Kate. We'll talk tomorrow." he said and she could hear the worry in his voice. He started tracing patterns on her arm to sooth her.

Kate knew that talking about it tomorrow, might be even harder than talking about it now. She sighed, "When I walked into the house I found bottles of booze everywhere." Rick immediately understood more of what had happened, but still heard her out. She needed to get this off of her shoulders, and he needed to know she was okay. "I found my dad blacked out on the couch." She swallowed, trying to get the lump away, but that didn't work. "I put him to bed and started cleaning." He held her closer as she continued. "I threw everything I found out, and cleaned the house. When I was done, you came. I'm sorry about slamming the door in your face by the way."

He smiled, "It doesn't matter Kate. You don't have to be sorry."

"Yeah I do! I pushed you away while you just tried to help."

"Kate don't worry about it. What happened next? Did you get into a fight?"

"Yeah…" she nodded, "He woke up and was mad that I threw everything away. We fought, said some ugly things and I left."

"I'm glad you came to me." He sighed and suddenly realized something, "Wait, how did you get here?"

She bit her lip at that, not wanting to admit it to him. "I ran."

"You ran?" he asked in shock, "You ran all the way?"

"Yeah, listen Rick it's no big deal." She sighed, really not wanting him to worry.

"It is!" he said as she moved away from him. "Kate, what were you thinking, running all the way?" he also sat up and turned on the big light and turning of the smaller one that had lighted the room with a soft orange color.

"I'm going to bed. Night" Kate said as she stood up and started walking away, stopping when she felt Rick grab her wrist.

"Kate, did he hit you?" he asked, voice full of worry and kind of angry. He stood up right in front of her.

"No" she lied and saw he noticed it.

"Kate, don't lie to me." He said as he brought his hand up to her chin so he could move her face. "Your cheek is bruised Kate." he could see her surprise. She hadn't looked in a mirror since she left her dad's house. She walked over to the closest mirror and was shocked to find her whole right cheek covered in a blue shade. "I didn't know it was this bad." She mumbled.

"Let's put some ice on it and you just relax." Rick said as he walked into the kitchen to grab an ice pack and towel.

They just sat like that, him carefully holding the ice pack against her cheek while she sat opposite of him, legs crossed on the couch.

"I'm sorry I didn't call, I just didn't know what to do. I panicked and closed off. I'm sorry." Kate started but Rick cut her off, "Kate, yeah I wished you called me, or had talked to me when I stood at the door but I'm not mad. I'm just glad you're okay." he admitted. "You know, in these past few days, I've gotten so used to having you around that I don't think I can imagine being here without you. Somehow we've gotten so close, and I like having a friend like you."

"Yeah me too. And I never guessed that Richard Castle, the man that wrote the books I love so much, would be my friend one day. My best friend." She stated as she watched as his smile grew.

He turned on the radio and she smiled as this song was perfect for the conversation they just had. When I Look At You by Miley Cyrus. "Come on, make my day better and dance with me?" she asked him as she stood, holding out her good hand as invitation.

"How can I say no?" he smiled as he took her hand and pulled her closer. They swayed to the melody of the song, his arms around her waist, the arm with her cast in between them because she didn't want the rough material hurting his neck. She hummed along and started singing silently.

"I like it when you sing. You have this amazing voice…" he smiled, not knowing what else to say, just wanting to hear her sing.

"You're not so bad yourself Castle." She laughed as he looked at her in amusement. "What?"

"You called me Castle. You never call me Castle. I like it." She chuckled.

"It's a cop thing. I don't think you should get used to it though, I like Rick. Castle is the bestselling author, Rick is my friend." He nodded at that.

"You can call me whatever you want, Kate. Castle, Rick, Richard, Kitten…" he joked as she leaned back to look at him.

"Now I might just do that, Kitten."

He leaned forward, mouth next to her ear as he whispered, "And what about you, Kitten?"

Now it was her turn to lean in, she had no idea why because Alexis was upstairs in bed and Martha was still out doing God knows what. "Don't ever, call me Kitten, again!" she smiled but was still serious.

The song came to an end and they parted. "Rick, could you do me a favor?" she shyly asked.

"Yeah sure."

"I'm afraid I'll have nightmares again. I don't want them to come back. So could you…" she sighed, realizing how ridiculous it sounded, "never mind…" she sighed as she took a step back and was about to go upstairs to her room when he stopped her.

"Kate, I'll do whatever you want me to. Especially to keep those nightmares away. What do you want me to do? I'll do anything."

She took a deep breath and just spit it out. "Would you sleep next to me?" she looked shyly up at him to see him, not laughing, not frowning but actually with a tiny smile on his face. "Kate, if that's what you want me to do, I'll be happy to do it." He said as she murmured a thanks.

"But, I do have one condition. We need to sleep in my bed. It's much more conferrable." She chuckled. "Sure Rick. I'll just go and get changed." She said as she went upstairs and came back downstairs within five minutes.

She found him in his bedroom, in his pajama's also read to sleep. "No funny business, okay?" she stated more than asked as she got under the covers. He just smiled, "Kate, of course not."

"Okay. She nervously nodded. He had already woke her up from a few nightmares, but it was the first time that she was actually going to fall asleep next to him.

They lay apart, staring at the ceiling in an awkward silence until he sighed and spoke up. "Kate, I'm saying this because I don't want to overstep, but I'm going to give you a hug, and then you can just fall asleep in my arms. I think that will go a lot faster." She chuckled and nodded as they moved closer to the middle of the bed and just cuddled and soon fell asleep in each other's arms.

Kate woke up, frightened from her nightmare. She hadn't woke him up though… so she must not have kicked around like she usually does. She also noticed she was still in his arms. She really didn't want to wake him up so she got out of the bed and tip toed to the kitchen. She just noticed it was just 3 am. At 4 am she would be able to stay up, but 3 am was just too early. So she poured herself a glass of water and enjoyed the cold fluid calming her heated insides as she rubbed a hand over her face, careful not to touch the still sensitive bruise. It hurt less with the ice pack, and the fact that she had slept on her left cheek but it still hurt if she touched it.

She was still shaken up from the nightmare when she heard something at the front door. She panicked. Last time it was Will, causing her to now have a cast on her right arm. She ducked away behind the counter as she heard the door open. She heard the heels of woman's shoes on the floor but before she could stand to see who it was, Martha walked behind the counter to be startled by the hiding Kate.

"Oh Kate darling, you scared me. What are you doing there?" the redhead asked as Kate stood up and straightened her pajama's. "I'm sorry Martha, I just heard the door open and well, I freaked."

"Okay, well that's a start, and what are you doing here, in the kitchen, at 3 am?"

"I woke up from a nightmare just a few moments ago and I didn't want to wake Rick up. So I sneaked out of his room to get a drink."

"Kate? You sneaked out of his room? Is there something I should know, darling?" Martha teased but she was very curious.

"Oh no Martha, nothing like that!" Kate panicked. "We didn't sleep together, well we did sleep together but not in the way that you think- "

"Kate, darling slow down. I will believe you, and I know you didn't. Well, you should go back to sleep. I'm going off to my bed now. Goodnight darling." Martha pulled Kate in for a hug.

"Thank you Martha, and I will." Kate said as she watched Martha fly up the stairs.

Kate walked back into the master bedroom and smiled at the sight of Rick being curled up, hugging his pillow, instead of her. She climbed back in the bed and laid back down.

"You want to talk about it?" Rick asked out of the middle of nowhere and startled her.

"God Rick, I didn't even know you were awake!" Kate said as she rested her hand on her heart. Still startled by Rick.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. So? Want to talk about the nightmare?" Rick questioned as he sat up against the headboard.

"It was just like other times." Kate sighed as she also sat up next to him, "I saw flashes of my mom, happy and healthy, then the next second she's just… laying there." She had to swallow the lump in her throat away.

"Kate, it's okay. You don't have to tell me. I just wanted to know you're okay." Rick smiled as he pulled Kate in for a hug.

"Did I wake you up?" Kate questioned after a moment of silence.

"I think I woke up from mother walking in. Don't worry about me, now let's go back to sleep."

"Yeah." Kate yawned as if on cue and she settled back down in the bed. So did he and soon his arms were around her again, she didn't mind. She liked the feeling. And for a second she wondered what it would be like if she would be able to fall asleep like this every night, but she shook that thought out of her head. She was crazy for thinking that, but she did like the thought. "Rick?" he hummed in question. "Thank you."

"For what?" he questioned.

"Just for being here." She admitted.

"I'm just glad you're here, safe and sound." He smiled as she dozed off into a nice and peaceful slumber.

So? What do you guys think? And uploading a day earlier. Well 2 days… Happy? ;)

It's just a little shorter but I wanted to start next chapter with a new day. I don't know if it will be a filler or not, maybe a day with Alexis? Let me know what you guys want.

This video inspired me to write on when I was stuck, so thanks to the maker of this video, you're getting this chapter sooner than expected! It's a really beautiful Caskett video, check it out!

watch?v=DS5Q4OFBML8