A night at the hospital and then back on the case... or not?

Disclaimer: Still not mine.

Chapter 10

Visiting hours were over, the doctor finished checking all Beckett and Castle's vitals and put the last few notes on their charts.

"Both of you need to rest, the nurses will come in during the night to check your vitals, they may not need to wake you unless something is wrong, so hopefully you will be able to get a good nights sleep."

"Thank you doctor," said Castle, as the doctor left his room. He really was looking forward to the sleep. The hospital bed wasn't as comfortable as his own, but he was so tired that he didn't think it would matter what he was laying on.

"Finally," thought Beckett. "Some time alone" She knew there was going to be no interruptions for a few hours until the nurses came to check everything. She could finally ask Castle how he really was.

"Castle, I really am sorry. I never meant for you to get hurt like that. I thought I did the right thing, I didn't see that ditch, and I didn't think the ground would be so slippery."

Castle could hear how the fear and concern in her voice. It saddened him. "It's ok," he responded. "You did what you had to do. If you didn't, we could have ended up a lot worse, and could have had a number of other cars involved."

"I promise I'll make it up to you. We'll find the guy that did this, and we'll make him pay!"

Castle knew she meant it, she would not rest until this person was put away. She was a force not to be reckoned with.

"I know, you will," he said.

"Thank you for joining me in my room Castle, thank you for being there for me."

"Always," he said.

He had his eyes closed and a smile on his face. Beckett wanted to just go over and place her lips on his. But he needed rest.

"I have something to ask you," she said almost nervously.

"Yes," he responded. She could hear his voice getting softer, he was going to fall asleep any second.

"You know that award I was telling you about, well there is a ceremony where they give out these awards, and it's in a couple of days. I know it's late notice, but I'd like you to come with me," she swallowed and took a deep breath, "as my date." She held her breath waiting for his response.

"Of course, Kate. I would love to."

She let out her breathe. He had said yes. Not only that but, he used her first name. They were usually known as Beckett and Castle to each other, not Rick and Kate. It sent the butterflies flying around her stomach again.

"Goodnight Rick," she said and watched as he drifted off to sleep. She closed her eyes and soon was asleep herself.

Beckett and Castle were happy to be arriving at the precinct after leaving the hospital the next morning, Kate's head was no longer throbbing, and Castle had been given some more pain killers to take if his arm was sore. They were given last minute instructions, which included being told to take it easy and continue to rest.

Once they had arrived, they were going to get right back into the case and find the person who had murdered Montana and another, who had tried to run them off the road. Beckett knew that they were most likely linked but could not be sure.

When Gates saw the couple coming out of the elevator, she called them straight into her office.

"What are you two doing back here?" she asked. "You need to rest. Esposito and Ryan can work on the case for a couple of days without you."

"But, this is personal now, sir! Someone tried to run us off the road," Beckett fought back.

"I know, which is even more reason for you two to stay at home, away from this case."

"But sir…" Castle tried to interrupt.

"No Castle!" Gates said. " Ryan and Esposito have the information you gave them yesterday about the car that tried to run you off the road, and they're out there looking for that person, then they are going back to the hotel to see if they can find anything about that mystery note that was left for you yesterday. If we need you, we will let you know. Now go home!"

Beckett and Castle didn't like it, but they did as she wished and they left the precinct.

"Where to now, detective?" Castle asked raising his eyebrows. There is no way Beckett could stand back and do nothing.

"Home Castle," she said sharply.

"What? You're actually going to do what Gates said and let the boys do this on their own."

"No!" she laughed. "I can't question people looking like this. I need freshen up and have a shower."

"Oh," said Castle, nodding his head.

"What? No shower jokes this time?" she laughed as she hailed a cab. "You coming?"

The pair decided they would stop in at Castle's loft before going anywhere else. He was able to pick up some fresh clothing, and they could then get his car. A Ferrari wasn't the ideal car for a detective but they didn't really have a lot of options since Becketts car was in getting repairs, and because Gates had sent them home, they couldn't take one of the cars from the precinct. Beckett was quite excited about the idea of being able to drive Castle's Ferrari, he had his arm in a cast so he wasn't going to be able to drive.

Martha and Alexis were not home when they arrived so Castle left them a note to say he was going to be at Beckett's house for the day. He wasn't sure what either his mother or his daughter would think about that, but he did not have time to explain on his note so he just left it as it was.

When they walked in the front door of Becketts apartment she took Castle's coat and hung it up.

Beckett found him a clean towel and showed him to the bathroom where he could take a shower. They found a plastic bag and tape and covered Castle's hand and cast so it wouldn't get wet.

"The water sometimes takes a while to heat up," she said turning the hot water tap. "It's a pain, but give it time."

She was just about to head out the door when Castle stopped her. "Beckett?" he said. "Um, I could use a little help actually."

She turned to face him, and lifted an eyebrow. "Seriously Castle?" she said.

He looked down at his shirt. "It's hard to undo all these buttons with only one hand," he lifted his head to look at her. "Please. No funny business, I promise," he smiled at her.

Both of them knew that it was completely possible to undo the buttons with one hand, but neither of them would admit it.

How could she say no to him. He had those adorable puppy dog eyes.

"Ok" she said as she walked towards him.

One by one she started unbuttoning his shirt buttons, each button exposing more and more of his chest.

She took a deep breath in, he smelt great. She placed a hand on his chest, and stood there for a moment taking everything in.

"Um, Beckett?" He didn't want her to move, but he couldn't let her stay there. He really just wanted to take her in his arms right there, but he had promised no funny business. She was standing so close and she smelt so good. Her hand was on his chest. Castle had to get some control over the situation before his body lost it. "Those last few buttons aren't going to undo themselves."

"Oh, sorry, yes!" she said and quickly undid the bottom two buttons on his shirt. She was beginning to wonder whether this was a good idea, maybe she shouldn't have offered for him to have the shower after all. She wasn't sure she could stop herself from jumping in the shower with him.

"Thank you," he said as he slid his arms out of his shirt and it fell on the floor.

"I'll, um, go make coffee," Beckett said and turned towards the door again.

"Um… Beckett? Just one more problem."

As she turned, Castle had closed his eyes and screwed his face up like he knew this could be stepping over the line.

"There's a button on my pants."

Beckett took another deep breathe, walked towards him, helped him with the last button, turned and ran out the door closing it behind her as fast as possible. She leant back on the wall next to the bathroom door and let out a deep sigh. If she stayed only a few seconds longer, she would not have left that bathroom at all.

While Castle showered, and Beckett had pulled herself together again she went to make coffee. She sat herself down on the lounge and tried to work out the case. She was finding it so hard to concentrate. All she kept seeing was Castle's bare chest. All she wanted to do was go in the bathroom and join him in the shower.

"No! You must concentrate!" she said out loud to herself.

"No what?" said Castle. "Who are you talking to?" He had come out of the bathroom, and was walking into the lounge room.

"No one" said Beckett.

When Castle appeared in front of her, fully dressed, buttons all done up, she looked up at him. "So you couldn't undo your buttons, but you managed to do them up?" she asked somewhat unsure of how he managed it.

"Yes, it turns out, taking the plastic bag off my hand before attempting the buttons was very helpful! I would have left it on, if I knew you wanted to help me again detective," he gave that cheeky grin again.

"No Castle! I'm glad you did it yourself!" she said smiling. "I made you a coffee, I'll just go through and have a shower, I'll be out soon. You better not have used up all the hot water!"

Beckett got up and walked towards the shower.

Castle had taken a seat on the lounge and started drinking his coffee. When he'd finished he took his cup to think sink to wash it out. On his way back to the lounge he noticed Beckett had left her bedroom door open and had just come out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around her body. She spotted him watching her, gave him a smile, and then closed the door.

"What?" he thought. "She didn't even scowl at me? She just smiled"

He sat down unable to remove the image from his head. Beckett wrapped in a towel, smiling at him. Her long slender legs, her hair tied up off her neck, her shoulders bare and beautiful, and her soft lips simply smiling at him.

"Snap out of it Castle" he thought to himself.

A few minutes later, Beckett came out of the bedroom dressed, with a serious expression ready to work on this case.