Chapter Twelve

Kate pushed Castle off her, and stood up, rolling her shoulders and looking cautiously at him. "Don't," he said.

"Don't what?" she asked.

"Don't go," he murmured, his eyes half closed.

Kate chuckled and reached for his hand, pulling him from the couch. She kept a tight grip on his fingers, leaning in to place a featherlight kiss against his cheek. She pulled back, and he let go of her hand, cupping her face in his strong palms and kissing her mouth.

"Don't go," he said again, and deepened the kiss, his tongue tracing the inside of her upper lip before meeting her own.

"Shh," she managed, pulling away in order to speak. "You're coming with me."

Beckett took his hand again and led him from the sofa through to her bedroom, pausing in the doorway to relinquish her grasp. She padded the next few steps into the room, perching on the edge of her bed intent on taking off her dress. "Well- are you just going to stand there?"

"I'm-" He looked unsure, she realized.

"Castle," she said. "My sofa… it's not the most comfortable. I know you were probably focusing on other things, but-" she picked up her watch from where it lay on her night stand. "It's late." She frowned. "Really late. I'd kinda like to get some sleep."

"Okay," he said at last. "Okay."

"You want to take a shower?" she asked.

"You go first," he told her, and she nodded.

"Okay, but I don't want you prying through all my stuff," she warned him and he smiled, his eyes lighting up. "I'm serious," she told him with a scowl and he held up three fingers.

"Scout's honor."

"Uh-huh." Kate narrowed her eyes at him and reached for the hem of her dress, biting her lip to hide her grin as she felt Castle's eyes on her.

She shed the dress, clothed now only in her panties and bra, and pulled her necklace over her head, setting it carefully onto the nightstand and silently thanking the gods that the small table was devoid of any of Castle's books.

She unwrapped her bangle and placed it beside the necklace, looking up sharply at the small gasp that escaped from Rick.

"You have a tattoo!" he exclaimed, his eyes fixed on her wrist.

Kate nodded reluctantly, glancing down at the fine text on her wrist that usually stayed hidden beneath her watch. Vincet omnia veritas. "I do," she agreed. "In fact, I have two." She closed her eyes, smiling again at the sound this information evoked from Rick.

"Where's the other one? Why didn't I see it? I mean- we just had sex- I should have seen it, right?"

Kate opened her eyes, rolling them at Castle. "Right. But you might have noticed… we were both… pretty clothed."

Castle grinned at her. "Round two, Kate, round two. I'll see it then."

"Will you?" She laughed. This was becoming the strangest pillow talk she'd ever had; she was no stranger to men reacting to the fact she had a couple of tattoos, but it had never been quite this fun before. "Who says there's going to be a round two."

"Oh, Kate," he said, and he chuckled, a low throaty sound that had her repressing a grin. "If it was that good with that many clothes on, imagine how great it will be when we manage to do it without our clothes.

Kate laughed, and stood up, reaching for his hand and leading him through to the adjoining bathroom. She'd changed her mind; neither of them were showering alone.

"Nice," he nodded, looking around. "Very- oh!"

Kate squeezed her eyes shut. Shit. Of course she'd left one of his books by the bath - the well thumbed copy of At dusk we die was on the table by the bath, and to make matters worse, it was next to an empty wine glass.

"Well," Castle started, reaching out to pick up the book, but Kate snatched it away from him before he could flick through it; knowing he'd signed this copy almost a decade ago had her feeling more exposed than standing before him in her panties and bra.

She set the book on the counter by the sink and reached in to turn the taps on, and she felt Castle's eyes on her again. She turned to find him watching her while he stripped off his own shirt and pants, and it was Kate's turn to smile at the sight before her.

Shimmying out of her panties, she closed her eyes when she felt Castle's hands skim her waist before reaching behind her back and divesting her of her bra. His fingertips ghosted across her skin, skimming her nipples and she shivered as she felt them stiffen beneath his touch, smiling as she stepped away from him and into the shower.

He stepped into the tub after her, running his eyes over her lithe form lazily. "So… a dolphin?"

Kate laughed. "Uh-huh."

"I would have expected something a little more… literary, perhaps, given the tattoo on your wrist. What's the meaning behind the dolphin?"

Beckett looked at Castle. "Meaning? Really? Castle, I was two weeks shy of seventeen for that one."

"Hmm." It sounded like Castle had already stopped listening, his fingertips skimming her skin, tracing circles around the ink. He lifted his hand from her hip and reached for her wrist, bringing it to his mouth. He pressed a kiss to the ink before using his tongue to trace his way up her wrist, along her upper arm, his mouth eventually settling at her throat. "Kate," he murmured, his voice thick with desire, and she bent her head back, gripping his arms and pulling him closer.

Kate smiled as she considered the evening; Castle had fallen into a light slumber quickly but she lay there, awake still, reflecting. It may have been a long time since she'd brought a guy home, but as apprehensive as she was about Castle's reputation, she couldn't bring herself to regret the evening or the decisions she'd made. He made her laugh and she needed that, she realized. As much as she'd liked Josh they'd never really connected intellectually, admiring each other's passions from afar.

Eventually, Kate drifted off to sleep, only to be woken a few hours later by a strangled gasping. She flipped the bedside lamp on, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness, and turned to the man beside her.

"Castle," she murmured, "Castle… wake up."

He appeared to stir but moaned again rather than opening his eyes, and she placed a gentle hand on his upper arm.

"Castle… you're dreaming."

He groaned again, but his eyelids flickered and he opened his eyes. "Kate?"

"You had a nightmare," she soothed, and he nodded, his features laced with terror.

"Kate, they put my daughter in a cage. A cage," he choked.

"Shh," she said, running her fingers through his hair and coming to rest her hand on his forehead. "Shh."

Castle shrugged; there was a dullness to his eyes, and suddenly it was like they were back at the precinct and she was breaking bad news to him all over again. Kate shuddered.

"Hey," she tried again. "Hey. It's okay, Castle. You got her. She's okay. You're okay."

She was lying though, and she wondered if he knew that; he wasn't okay, not at all. And if he wasn't okay, she could only assume that Alexis wasn't either. Hmm. Maybe Alexis' presence at the book store made more sense now. Kate couldn't imaging the girl had much interest in attending her father's book signings; perhaps the girl wasn't letting her father out of her sight. She'd have to check in with Alexis, make sure the girl had someone to talk to, and she frowned.

Huh. When had this happened, exactly? This need to protect. To take care of not just Castle, but his daughter? She laid her head back down on her pillow, and rolled so she was lying flat on her back. She linked her hand with Castle's, staring at the ceiling as she listened to his breathing settle into a steady rhythm. "Can I turn the light off?" she asked, and she turned her head to see him nod.

The room was plunged back into darkness. Castle was silent, tracing circles on her palm with his thumb, and Kate stared at the ceiling until her eyes adjusted to the dim light and she could see Castle's silhouette out of the corner of her eye.

"Kate?" he asked at last. "Are you still awake?"

"Uh-huh."

There was silence again for a moment, and then Castle spoke, his voice quiet. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Kate asked, genuinely astonished.

"For… waking you. Dragging you into this. Making you bring the job home with you." He shrugged. Kate had turned so she could see him, but in the darkness she couldn't make out his expression. He was lying on his back, not looking at her. "I know… I know how we met. And I thought- I don't know."

He took his hand from hers, and ran his fingers through his hair, pressing his index finger and thumb to the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes.

"Kate, I thought it didn't matter- but it does. We met because I was involved in one of your cases, and I can't make you bring your job home with you. You want someone else. I can't be the carefree guy that you've seen in the tabloids. I can't be that for you."

He turned, at last to look at her.

"Do you understand?"

Kate raised her eyebrows, wishing the light in the room made it just a little easier to see properly; the dim glow pushing its way through the cracks in her blinds wasn't enough. "Is that what you think?" she asked, at last. "That I want the Richard Castle that makes it to page six every other week? You think I want to be another in the long line of Richard Castle conquests?"

In spite of the dim light she saw Castle wince and she smirked. Good.

"Castle- when I met you, I met a scared father. I met a nice guy. I didn't meet the guy who was signing stuff at the bookstore today, and I didn't meet the guy who went to that movie premier last month with some… celebutante on his arm the night I had to cancel our plans."

"You know about- Oh. That's why you stopped returning my calls. Kate, sometimes I have to go to events. You'd canceled, and Paula called me, insisted-"

Kate narrowed her eyes at him and placed a finger on his lips, shrugging before continuing. "I didn't meet the guy with the interesting rap sheet, or the guy who stole a police horse." She paused. "In the nude."

"Police records are meant to be private," Castle grumbled, and Kate smiled; she could hear lightness return to his voice.

"Yeah, well, they're not exactly hard for me to get into. Castle… I don't know what this is- and you know what? I don't want to. It's been a one time-"

"Two," he interrupted, and she rolled her eyes. Yeah. Well.

"Fine, a two time thing, and it's way too soon to be taking this too seriously." Kate bit her lip, contemplating how much she should say. She pictured the long abandoned file that was still in a shoe box in her father's storage unit; the photograph on her dresser of her younger self sandwiched between her parents on the last Christmas the three of them had celebrated together. "I can tell you, Castle, if I'm bringing my job home with me, that's on me."

A/N: Many, many thanks for the love last chapter, feeling much more confident about the M thing now! ;) Thanks again K, for the beta. :)