SPOILER ALERT: This one shot takes place after 2x17: Tick, Tick, Tick... So if you haven't seen it... I suggest you read no further.
After the Blast
Richard Castle looks up dazed. The humming in his ears numbing his senses. Disbelief and grief strike him but he finds the will to edge forward; one foot in front of the other.
Sirens in the distance, he reaches the middle of the street feeling the heat emitting from the front of her apartment. Flames erupt, diminishing into the night's air, bringing with it dark thick smoke, pooling up the side of the building.
Richard Castle blinks. People flee from the building; hand in hand, small children scream in the arms of their parents.
He turns on his heel heading toward the rear entrance to the building. People push past him; the thick door to the building bangs back and forth against brick. He squeezes in through a small opening and climbs stairs two by two. He reaches the second floor as the last of the tenants exit the building below him.
He opens the heavy door and chokes on the smoke that greets him. Lowering his head, he inhales slowly and using his hand, follows the wall. An orange glow emits from the apartment of Kate Beckett and he enters finding the smoke thin, billowing out the blown out windows. The door of apartment 203 lies beneath his feet.
Shock takes hold of him for a moment, and he looks around at the disaster that lies before him. Fire burning, ceiling ripped to shreds; light fixtures hang by tight cords dangling dangerously. Furniture stands at different angles, on their sides, pushed clear across the room from the blast.
He gulps and finds strength within. "Kate!" he booms, and listens, strains above the ever increasing sirens, above the hum in his own ears.
He hears nothing but presses on quickly, pushing himself on through her apartment away from the open window where flames still burn.
"Kate!" he calls again, and coughs releasing smoke from his lungs.
He turns a corner, sees the open door of the bathroom, a shower curtain dangling from bent round rod. He walks quickly toward it and it dawns on him, "What would Kate Beckett do?"
"Kate!" he yells frantically falling to his knees pulling back the curtain from around the thick porcelain tub, revealing a loosely toweled Kate Beckett, curled into a ball at the bottom of the tub. "Kate! Can you hear me?" He reaches down cupping her face.
She flinches; moans and coughs violently. She looks up, grabs his hand from her face.
"Thank God," Castle breathes. He supports the back of her neck and smiles. "Come on, we need to get out of here."
He rises to his feet. A violent coughing fit takes him over and he reaches out to brace himself against the side of the tub, stars shoot across his vision.
"Castle?"
He looks to the side, watches as her towel falls to the floor. His world fades to black.
***
Richard Castle opens his eyes looking up to flashing red and blue lights and a night's sky.
"Where am I?" he says, his voice muffled through an oxygen mask tied loosely to his face. He is lying on a stretcher.
"Welcome back Mr. Castle," a paramedic calls to him. She holds his wrist, checks his pulse. "You have quite the nasty bought of smoke inhalation. Try to remain calm."
"Beckett?" he calls out frantically. "Where's Beckett?"
"I'm right here Castle."
Beckett sidles up to stand beside his stretcher. She is dressed in her "Police" blues, a thick wool blanket is wrapped around her shoulders. He reaches out. She takes his hand.
Castle pulls the mask from his face. "You alright?"
She sighs, smiles. "I'm fine. A small case of smoke inhalation, a few bruises and one killer headache." She squints furrowing her brow. "My ear are ringing." Beckett looks to the paramedic in front of her. "How is he?"
The paramedic smiles and looks up to Beckett. "He should be alright. We'd like to take you both in for full examinations."
Beckett smiles, nodding and walks with the stretcher toward the open ambulance, Castle's fingers still laced with her own.
***
"So what happened to me back there?" Castle asks once the bus is moving.
Beckett smiles releasing her fingers from his. "What's the last thing you remember?"
"I was coughing..." He pauses, eyes widening. He looks her up and down slightly and smiles. "Then the world went black."
Beckett scoffs. "Oh really?" She leans forward, her lips close to his ear. "So it had nothing to do with you seeing me naked?"
Castle watches her lean back against the wall of the ambulance. Watches as she places her hands in her lap.
"You wouldn't tell anyone, would you?" He looks to the ceiling. "I don't think I could live that one down."
Beckett chuckles softly and looks down to play with her fingers. "Don't worry Castle. Your secret's safe with me."