Disclaimer: The usual.

Chapter Eleven

Kate Beckett woke up with a pounding headache. She was sprawled on the couch, her head lying precariously close to the edge. Her mouth felt dry and she was relieved when she caught sight of a glass of water placed on the coffee table in front of her.

She sat up, the room swaying slightly, and took a gulp of water. "Oh," she groaned. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been this hungover. Actually, she couldn't remember the last time she'd been hungover at all.

She moaned as the events of the night before came flooding back. She'd made a complete fool of herself! And, she realized suddenly, Castle must have left her the glass of water. She was supposed to be looking after him not the other way round! She felt so ashamed. She groaned again, loudly this time.

"Beckett?" Castle stood at the top of the stairs clutching the banister for stability, a bottle of water tucked under his arm. He felt only concern as he looked down at her. It was a refreshing break from all of the anger and disappointment and unhappiness.

Beckett glanced up and jumped from the couch at the sight of him. His face was pale and a thin sheen of sweat glistened on his brow. Ignoring the sway of the room, and swallowing adamantly as she curbed her desire to vomit, she ran up the stairs.

Kate threaded her arm around his waist and helped him walk slowly down the stairs. "Sorry," he muttered, "I just wanted to check and make sure you were okay".

"That's my job," Kate replied, slapping him gently on his good arm. She helped him settle onto the couch.

"I'm fine," she added, trying to ignore the pounding in her head.

He raised an eyebrow at her, clearly doubting the truth of her words. "There's Advil in the bathroom cabinet".

"Thanks," she said, standing and resisting the urge to run to the bathroom.

As soon as the door had closed behind her she collapsed on the floor, grabbing her hair out of her face as she vomited repeatedly into the toilet.

Castle heard her retching and grimaced in sympathy. He had made a habit of studying Katherine Beckett and he had a suspicion that he had known she was going to throw up before she did.

He wiped his face clean of expression as she reentered the room, knowing she'd only be embarrassed if she knew he'd heard her.

She sat down gingerly on the couch, one hand on her stomach as she leaned back into the cushions. She accepted her glass of water from him without a word, and swallowed the Advil she held in her hand.

She handed him the bottle saying, "You don't look so hot either and I thought you might want some too".

He nodded in thanks. He swallowed some pills glad he'd had the foresight to grab a bottle of water.

"About last night," she started hesitantly.

Castle interrupted her, "I don't think we should talk about it". He looked at her with concern, deciding that now was not the time to get into a fight with her, regardless of how used he'd felt the night before. She'd clearly just been using him to satisfy some need for meaningless sex.

Kate looked exhausted as she leaned further back and closed her eyes. She had to admit that she didn't have the energy for the conversation, even though she knew it needed to happen soon. "Okay," she agreed. She didn't want to have to talk with Castle about everything just then anyway, because she knew he'd reject her again and she knew she'd have to leave. And honestly she was too tired and too hungover to go anywhere.


They sat on the couch together in silence for a long time. Finally, Castle leaned forward, ignoring the pain in his ribs, and grabbed the remote control. He flicked through the channels, finally settling on an episode of 'Temptation Lane'. He knew it would comfort Beckett. Despite everything that was going on between them, he suddenly felt an uncontrollable urge to try and make her feel better.

Beckett smiled as Castle put down the remote after picking a 'Temptation Lane' rerun. She watched the opening credits, feeling nostalgia and a sense of safety roll over her as the familiar music played. She used to watch this show with her mother when she was a kid. It was a special treat when she was home sick from school. She was touched that Castle remembered, and she realized it was one more reason she'd fallen in love with him.

She felt guilty that she'd caused her own sickness this time. As a kid the illness had never been her fault, but now it certainly was! She was unable to control a groan as her stomach clenched again.

Castle stared after her in concern as she rushed into the bathroom. This time she didn't even get the door closed before she threw up.

Finally, her stomach empty, she stood on shaky legs. She made her way back toward the couch, blushing because she knew without a doubt that Castle had heard her weakness.

When she sat down again he wordlessly handed her the glass of water. He opened his mouth to speak and she cringed in anticipation, "Antonio killed the woman he thought was his mother who is actually his grandmother because he believed she poisoned Maria" he filled her in on the plot that she'd missed.

Beckett smiled at him in gratitude, "Thanks Castle," she said, and she meant it for everything.

Castle just nodded at her and looked back at the screen.


As the end credits of a second episode of 'Temptation Lane' began to play Beckett let her eyes drift shut.

Glancing over at her, Castle saw that she was falling asleep and couldn't help but smile at how adorable she looked. Her cheek was pushed against the arm of the couch, her arms hugging a throw pillow to her. Her long legs were tucked under her and he suddenly found his thoughts drifting from adorable to sexy. He loved that dress on her. He was glad that she hadn't thrown up on herself, if she'd had to change he would have been sorely disappointed.

"No!" He had to stop thinking of her that way, he mentally berated himself. What was his problem?

Still, he couldn't stop his mind from drifting back to the night before. To what it had felt like to kiss her, to feel her tongue in his mouth, her hips rubbing against his.

He punched himself on his leg, for once happy with the wave of pain that washed over him. He had to stop thinking about her like this! He knew she'd only hit on him because she was drunk. He knew it, but he was still being an idiot.

She had to leave, he realized suddenly. He couldn't deal with her being there anymore. Every time he laid eyes on her he knew he'd think of the night before and wish it meant as much to her as it had to him.

He picked up her phone from the coffee table and shot a text to Alexis:

Ready to come home from Paige's? Your old man misses you, and Beckett has to leave!


Alexis opened the text and read it. Then she read it again. She wondered what it really meant and was suddenly concerned that Detective Beckett had done something to hurt her dad's feelings. Again.

She'd already been packing her stuff up, so leaving Paige's apartment wasn't an issue. The original plan had been to eat lunch before she headed out, but she decided she'd better get home as quickly as possible.


When Alexis entered the loft she was surprised to see Beckett curled up on the couch sleeping. Her dad was sitting on the other end, a considerable distance between them, and he had his arms crossed and a stubborn look on his face. Somehow Alexis had been expecting the situation to be reversed, especially since her dad was supposed to be the injured one.

As she walked closer to the couch she looked again at Beckett and noticed in surprise that the detective looked pale.

"Dad?" Alexis asked, causing her father to startle.

"Hi Pumpkin!" he tried to pull himself out of his funk, "I didn't hear you come in".

"Obviously," Alexis grinned at her father, "it's good to see that your brain wasn't permanently damaged by all that medication".

"Nope," Castle grinned back at his daughter, "good as new". He gasped slightly as he stood up and gave her a hug, "Well, almost good as new anyway".

"Dad," Alexis continued, lowering her voice as she noticed the detective begin to stir, "what's wrong with Kate? Is she sick?"

"Kate?" Castle asked in surprise.

"Oh yeah, um, she asked me to call her Kate, I hope that's okay?" Alexis looked hesitant.

"Of course it's okay!" Castle said, surprised that Beckett had told his daughter to use such a familiar term. "What was she playing at?" he thought, suddenly angry.

"Dad? Are you mad?" Alexis asked, sounding like a little kid.

"Oh pumpkin," Castle felt guilty, "of course I'm not mad! You should call her Kate. It is her name after all". He smiled down at his daughter as he gently wrapped his arms around her, ignoring the pain in his side.

"So is she?" Alexis asked curiously again.

"Is she what?"

"Sick?"

"Yes!" Castle decided on the spot that was the best response. He hadn't even thought about what he was going to tell his daughter. Glancing down at the still sleeping woman in front of him he felt a swell of emotion. It wasn't necessarily good or bad, it was just a lot of…feelings.

"What should we do?" Alexis sounded concerned, "Do we need to take her to a doctor?"

"No!" Castle cleared his throat, "Definitely not. She just has a little virus". He felt bad lying to his daughter, but he didn't feel the need to embarrass Beckett with stories from the night before. Hell! He didn't feel the need to embarrass himself with stories from the night before.

He still needed to get rid of her. Even with his daughter standing there he felt a pang of longing as he glanced at Beckett, "I think she just needs to go home. Get a good night's rest. She'll be fine tomorrow—I promise".

"Good," Alexis helped her now pale faced father sit down on the couch, "because I really don't think you can be alone yet. I mean, I'm here tonight, but I have a big exam tomorrow and maybe I should skip school to look after you but—" Alexis bit her lip, torn between her commitment to school and her commitment to her father.

"Lex!" Castle reached out and touched her arm, "Don't worry about it! I know you need to take that exam, you've been studying for weeks".

Alexis narrowed her eyes as she examined her father's face. He was looking worse by the minute and she was a little concerned that he was going to pass out. She already had one unconscious adult on her hands, she didn't need two!

Reading the concern in his daughter's eyes Castle groaned, "Why don't you give Lanie a call after we get Beckett home? Maybe she can stop by tomorrow," he closed his eyes as he tried to count, triumphantly he opened them and exclaimed, "It's Thursday! Her day off. She won't be working on a Thursday".

"Right!" Alexis was pleased that things seemed to be working out.

Now that his daughter looked more comfortable Castle returned his attention to Beckett. He scooted closer to her, reaching out and actually allowing his hand to stroke her hair.

Alexis narrowed her eyes as she watched the movement, confused by the emotion in her dad's actions.

Castle drew his hand away and created a little more space between them before gently shaking Kate's shoulder, "Beckett!"

Her eyes flew open immediately drawn to his face.

"Hi," she said weakly. Suddenly realizing where she was she sat up abruptly, relieved to find that her headache was a little better, "God Castle, I'm sorry, I'm supposed to be looking after you!"

"No need," he responded, a blank look on his face. Beckett felt disappointed at the now familiar lack of emotion in his voice.

"Alexis is back," he continued, gesturing to his daughter who was standing next to the couch.

"Alexis! I'm sorry I didn't see you there," Beckett looked at the teen apologetically.

"Seems like I'm invisible today or something," Alexis muttered before she remembered why she was there and a little contriteness entered her voice, "I'm sorry you're sick".

"Sick?" Beckett glanced toward Castle, but he just looked back at her, his expression set in stone.

"Yeah," Alexis nodded. "I'll just call a car service to take you home".

"Home?" Beckett had a flash of realization. She really didn't want to go back to her apartment. "I feel a lot better, I don't need to go home".

"Yes you do," Castle said gruffly in a tone that told her arguing would be futile.

"Okay," Beckett felt like crying, "I'll go and grab my things".

She turned and stood up walking away quickly so that Castle and his daughter wouldn't see the single tear that was rolling down her cheek.


AN: I apologize for going all Marlowe on you and ending a scene with no resolution. I hope you'll find comfort in the fact that this story is rated M…and there must be some reason for that!