Chapter 11

Kate's Partner

It has been three days since the operation, and she is already itching to get out of the hospital. She has never liked hospitals, and she wants to leave as soon as possible. However, the doctors have told her that she is in for a long recovery, and that they want to keep an eye on her until they are sure everything is OK. They may have taken her out of the ICU, since she is doing well, but they are still keeping an eye on her.

They won't even let her pull out the mask. And that is really irking her.

Because as long as she has her mask on, it means that she won't be able to claim that hair-curling kiss Rick has promised her.

Talking about Rick... she turns her head slowly, and there he is. He is completely asleep. She knows he has slept little in the last two days, and in the end, after several tries to get him out, the nurse relented and allowed a small cot to be placed next to her bed.

She is a bit torn. On the one side, she knows he really needs to get home, rest in his house and stay with his family. On the other side, she likes having him here in the day, and he seems to be the only thing that can calm her down.

The last two nights, she has had nightmares. Horrible nightmares. One of them has him pushing her out of the way just in time, only for the bullet to hit him, and then he dies in her arms, bleeding, before he can tell her that he loves her. Other nightmare has the bullet hit her, only it hits her somewhere else, and this time she dies, but she somehow sees Rick desperately calling her name as her heart stops beating in the dream.

Every time, she has been awakened from the nightmares by Rick. He says that, when she has a nightmare, her heartbeat rises really fast and it is as if she struggling against some nonexistent ropes tying her to the bed. Once, she even cried out something that was garbled by the mask, which she supposed was Rick's name, given that it was the one where he died.

Every time, after she has been awakened, he has done his best to calm her down, caressing her hair, whispering in her ear and hugging her. He never pushes her to talk about the nightmares, knowing that she feels best if she talks about it when she is ready. He only does his best to ward off the nightmares.

And every time, right before falling asleep again, she notices the bags under his eyes. She always tries to tell him to sleep more, but it is obvious that, like so many other times, he pays no attention to her advice/orders. She suspects that he even watches her while she sleeps, in that creepy-slash-adorable way of his.

That is why she is now glad he is sleeping, even if it is in that uncomfortable looking cot. He really, really needs it.

And no, what she is doing now is not admiring his face and body from her bed. Oh, okay, she is totally doing it. But, mostly, she is just looking at him with concern.

Even as she worries over his state of being, she cannot help but wonder how Richard Castle is under that shirt. The little she knows about that comes from the few times they have hugged, and even under those clothes she has noticed he has a good set of muscles, muscles that she really wants to touch bare.

It is then, as she thinks about how well developed Richard Castle is under his clothes, that the man himself opens his eyes, and she loses herself in the sea of his eyes. She wonders how is it possible for a pair of eyes to be so blue. And she notices that the spark that has been absent from his eyes is slowly making its way back, which is one of the parts of Richard that she loves the most of him.

"Hey, Rick," she says through the mask.

"Hey, yourself," he replies, standing up from the cot and coming to her. "Did you sleep well, Kate?"

"Could have been better, but yeah," she says. "What about you?"

"Cot and I had a bit of a problem first, but soon we managed to reach an agreement and she let me sleep."

She snorts softly at the choice of words and uses her left hand to grab his. She is recovering her strength, and now she can do more things than when she first woke up. It is still hard, but she can do it.

"Don't know why you won't go home. That cot looks as horrible as I'm sure it feels."

"I'd brave the highest mountains and the hottest deserts if it meant I could be with you, Kate."

"Don't turn on the mush, please."

"Sorry," he whispers. He kisses her forehead, and she feels the tingling on her skin from the kiss. "But it is true. I prefer to stay here with you unless there is no other choice. I want to make sure you don't have anything to complain about, beyond your wanting to get out of the hospital."

"You know me too well," she says, and right then the doctor enters the room.

"Ms Beckett, I see you are awake. And you too, Mr Castle."

"Good morning, Doctor," Rick says. She nods.

"Well, this is a good moment. I am going to check how your lungs are, and I will need your help, Mr Castle. I could probably ask an orderly, but I am sure you would prefer him to do this."

She can't help it. Her face is now sporting a faint blush, as her imagination starts to conjure images of things that Rick could actually be doing right now, things that are surely not what the doctor suggests.

"That's a good signal, you are recovering quite well right now," the doctor says, noticing her blush, which only deepens it. "OK, Mr Castle. She has to be sitting down for this test, so I want you to aid her. Ms Beckett, you can try to sit on your own, but do not strain yourself, and let Mr Castle help you up, alright?"

She nods, and she moves her arms so that her shoulders start to rise. Leaning on her elbows, she makes the effort to go backwards, to use the headboard as an extra support to aid her. Rick is next to her, allowing her to do this on her own, but always ready to help if she needs it. She is grateful that he doesn't treat her as if she were made of porcelain.

After two minutes or so of struggling, she finally manages to sit and scoot away from the headboard. Rick slowly sits next to her and puts her arm around his shoulders, so that she can lean on him if she needs it.

"Very well, Ms Beckett." The doctor puts on his stethoscope. "Now, I want you to breathe in, slowly, as deep as you can. If it pains you, stop breathing in." When the stethoscope's head is put on her back, she shivers: it is VERY cold. She starts to breath in, and she is amazed when she realizes she is taking in a lot of air before it starts to twinge. "Now, breath out, slowly." She slowly blows the air out of her lungs. "In, again." She breathes in. "Out, again." She blows again. "Very good. Your lung is healing quite well. In fact, I think that you can finally quit the mask."

"Seriously?" she asks.

"Yes. If you allow me..." The doctor cuts off the gas and then takes the mask and slowly pulls at it, at the same time he pulls from the rubber band that keeps the mask on its place. "There. You can breathe normal air now. However, if you have any breathing problems, you are back into that mask, understood?"

For some reason, she feels as if the doctor is a sort of Minerva McGonagall, nice to you if you behave, but a nightmare if you step out of the line. She nods, and the doctor goes out of the room.

"Anybody ever told you how beautiful you are?" Rick says out of the blue.

"Mmm. Yes," she replies.

"Darn. Well, it doesn't matter. You are beautiful, Kate. There are attractive woman out there, but you are much more than that. You have the perfect combination. You are intelligent, compassionate, feisty, hot as hell, and many more great things."

"Thank you," she whispers, hoping that she isn't blushing. She then remembers and looks at him with a soft smile. "There is something you owe me."

"I do?"

"Yes. Something about hair curling, or so I think."

"Sure," he replies, smiling. "You know, when I thought how our first kiss would be, I never imagined it would have to be so that we didn't get caught by that guy you then knocked out."

"How did you imagine it, then, Mr Castle?"

"I would have taken you out to a date," he whispers. "Night-time picnic at Central Park, if the weather permits. No candles, of course, wouldn't want to burn the park down, just a lamp. Wear would be casual. You would probably put on a t-shirt with a jacket over it and jeans, I would put on a short sleeved shirt and a pair of trousers. After eating, we would turn off the lamp and lay down on the grass. I would get you to put your head over my chest or my arm. We would see the stars for some time, and then we would leave. I would escort you home, and when we reached your apartment, you would put your arms around my neck, I would put your hair behind your ears, and then I would cup your face and kiss you softly, in a way that would leave your knees buckling, so that you had to lean on me to be able to stand. And then, depending on the mood, you would invite me home or not. And whatever happened, I would be happy, because as long as I had that date, it would be a wonderful night."

"Nice," she replies. "That is something we will have to do when I recover well enough."

"We have a date, then. But now, I think I promised you a hair-curling kiss, didn't I?"

"You did."

Rick moves a bit, so that he can face her, and looks directly into her eyes. God, those blue eyes... they are sparkling like there is no tomorrow. She is happy for that. Because that means she is getting the old Rick back.

As his face nears hers, she suddenly needs to start breathing through her mouth, and her eyes drop for a second to his lips, before going back to his eyes. She's mesmerized by them, and when she feels he is really near she closes them.

The contact between their lips is... amazing. There are no fireworks, no explosions, no world rocking. But it is as if her whole body is wholly harmonized with his. She feels like the temperature around her is climbing. Like the rest of the world disappears. She pays no attention to the fact that just three days ago she was shot and nearly killed. She doesn't care that she is in a hospital, where a doctor or nurse could enter at any moment.

She remembers the kiss he gave her when they were looking for Ryan and Esposito. That one had been passionate, full of fury. After he broke it, her emotions had taken a hold of her and pushed her to kissing him again. It was only her reasserting control that allowed her to realize the guy that had been watching was distracted and cut off the kiss.

This kiss is different and the same. Right now, the only thing she can do is to lose herself in this kiss, feel how his tongue slowly caresses her lips, opening her mouth to taste him. It is passionate and full of fury. But it is also sweet, and soft, and hungry, and so... goddamned... right. It was perfect. As if their lips fit together. As if they belong together.

She brings her free hand to his neck, so that she can deepen the kiss, so that her tongue can do what she has dreamed many times, to battle with his tongue in a desperate attempt to finally get what she has wanted and denied for so much time: kissing Richard Castle.

In the end, her need for oxygen is too much, and she has to stop the kiss in order to keep breathing. She opens her eyes. She sees his smile, and she notices the corners of her mouth are twitching up, especially as he caresses her cheek.

"This is so much better than what I imagined. Kissing the woman I love, finally being able to hold her in my arms... it is like a dream becoming real."

Her heart skips a beat after she hears what Rick has said. He has said a couple of times that he loves her, and this is just a confirmation. But the sincerity with which he has said it makes it even more real than before, and she is really happy. So much that she could just burst.

"Thank you, Rick," she whispers in his ear, snuggling with him. "I love you, too:"

She feels him smiling, and both of them stay there, content in the fact that they were with the person they loved so deeply. Their one and done.

A/N: Once more, I hope that you liked this chapter. This is the third chapter with Kate's point of view, and I have decided to skip a couple of days. Kate is on the road to recovery and she finally gets what Rick has promised her. It is also a way to start exploring the physical component of their relationship, given that they have already put their feelings on the table. I know that her behavior seems out of character for her, but I guess that, maybe, her being shot and finally managing to put her heart in order would certainly affect her a bit, allowing her the chance to finally open up. Also, Rick now takes things a bit more seriously. He is still the slightly immature man of the series, but he knows how near he has been to losing one of the things he treasures the most, so he will start to act a bit more mature. He is still a funny guy, but he will mature.

Regarding the reviews... things seem better, given that I got 7 reviews for chapter 10. Hopefully, this trend will continue, and I'll be getting more in the next chapters!

And now, messages for certain reviewers!

My muse: to you, my beautiful lady of the night, I tell you that you are very much missed in here. The kiss between Kate and Rick is very much like the ones we share. I very much hope that you will be back here soon, so that my welcome kiss to you may be as great as the kiss Rick gives to Kate.

Trisana Sarrasri: that's the problem with these kind of people. They have no regard for other people's lives. Their work makes them dispassionate when it comes to actually caring about someone else. It is going to take some work and time until the killer is finally caught, but he will be caught.

bones35: remember when I said Kate still had to drink her coffee? Well, now she has done it :D. There is a chance that Castle's tackling Beckett may have done the difference in the series, but we can't be sure of it until we finally see the series' next season.

angelrescue02: that pun was really bad. Even if unintended. I thought it would be an original idea, to show the situation from the point of view of the killer. The reasons why I pictured him like this, was because I can't understand how someone can be so willing to kill just for money. This was just my attempt to show what could go through their minds, and, well, I hope it was successful.

NessAliceLautner: I am glad you decided to express your opinion. Only problem I have is that you didn't like chapter 5. Was it just for the three Harry Potter jokes I made?