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Last Chapter: But Rick had a restless night. He eventually woke Kate up by accident after having a nightmare. She crawled into bed with him to help him sleep, but Rick knew that he had to tell her the secret he'd been keeping. She was pissed, like really pissed and when she went for a walk Rick tried to follow her… bad idea. He ended up collapsing in the hall. The nurse yelled at him, but he really wished it was Kate yelling. At least that way she was talking to him. As usual he managed to find just the right thing to do to. Kate didn't want him to know that he found that soft spot so they sat in silence until they both fell asleep. The next morning Dr. Walert comes in and tells them they can go home and that Rick can work a desk job, but Kate doesn't seem too keen on having him back on the case.

Chapter 26: Page 6

"What do you think you're doing?" Kate questioned him harshly.

"Helping?" he said with a shrug.

"No, I think you've helped more than enough." She said sarcastically.

"Come on," he pleaded, "You know I'm helpful, and you can just leave me in the car when you're chasing the bad guys."

"No way, not with your track record of staying in the car. If I was going to let you come back to work on the case at all, you'll be confined to the precinct until you're better." She said.

"So, does that mean there's a change I can come back?" he asked cautiously.

"We'll see… I haven't decided yet." She said.

Rick let the subject drop, feeling that if he were to push her any further she wouldn't ever let him come back.

They spent the better part of the next hour in silence.

Kate refused to let him know that her anger was fading away the longer they sat together. And the fact that it was, made her angry at herself.

Their silence left a tangible thickness in the air that was only cut through when Ryan and Esposito came strolling into the room.

"Hey guys." Castle said cheerfully; glad to have someone to talk to.

"Hey." Ryan said back

"I see he hasn't lost all his marbles." Esposito said to Beckett.

"Yeah, I guess not. Though I think he never really had them all to begin with." She said cheekily, looking over at him

"Ouch." Esposito said, laughing at Castle, who just shrugged in response.

"Well if a few missing marbles make me a best-selling author…. I'm all for it." He said with a smile.

The boys went through their little 'feed the birds' routine, which elicited an eye roll from Beckett.

"But really man, how are you feeling?" Ryan asked.

"I've been better. But after a day in this place I am more than ready to go home." He said honestly.

"Yeah, and a day without you and Beckett at the twelfth was no fun. We can't wait to have you back." Esposito added.

"Hey, don't look at me. It's up to Beckett when and if I get to come back." He informed them, secretly wanting them to be on his side. Maybe sway her decision in his favor.

"Oh come on Beckett. How much trouble did he get himself into this time?" Ryan asked jokingly, but his smile fell of his face when her only response was,

"Enough."

"Oh." Said Ryan.

"Did you tell her?" Esposito asked Castle in a hushed tone.

"Yeah." He nodded looking down into his lap.

He was in no way proud of what he had done.

"Yes, he told me. Yes. I'm angry, but not angry enough to get rid of him quite yet." She said daring to glance over at him, "Plus, someone has to take care of him for the next couple of days. And if he's at the precinct I can keep closer tabs on him."

Castle let out a sigh of relief. She wasn't getting rid of him.

The boys stayed for a little while longer, and Ryan passed along Jenny's, 'get well' wishes, before they left.

They had come in before the start of their shift so Gates couldn't yell at them.

Both Castle and Beckett knew it took them both a lot of effort to get up that early, but they also knew that they'd do anything for family.

After they left Castle stayed silent for a moment, hoping Kate would say something first, but when she didn't he stepped up to the plate, not wanting to fall back into their previous uncomfortable silence.

"So, does this mean you aren't going to leave me?"

He couldn't look at her that was until he heard her turn to face him.

"Rick," she said and he looked over to her, "I was never going to leave you. I just needed some space. I was barely handling what had just happened to you. I blamed myself already and then you drop that bomb on me. I was physically walking away, not emotionally walking away."

"Oh." Was all he could muster.

"Yeah." She said looking down at her lap and wringing her hands.

He leaned over and put a hand on top of hers, stilling her movement."

"I'm so sorry. If I could do it over; I would." He said.

"I know." She said biting her bottom lip.

"You just need to trust me when I say that I want this just as much as you. I wouldn't give it up for anything. If you had told me we would have figured it out together, and with any luck; the two of us could have come up with a plan. A better plan, that with any luck wouldn't involve an emergency room." She said, feeling the tension between them breaking.

Rick scooted over making enough room for her on the bed, but she just shook her head at him.

"Oh no." she said. "I don't forgive you that much."

Rick pouted for a second, but then sprawled out on the bed saying, "No worries, more room for me."

He reached for the remote and turned on the TV.

They both stayed in their respective seats until the end of the first show, and by then both of them were getting antsy.

How long could it take to fill out discharge papers?

They had to be setting some world record here.

Bored with the reruns on that station, Rick played with the remote until he found the celebrity gossip channel.

"Oh come on, REALLY?" she asked incredulously.

"Indulge me for a minute. I just want to see if the world has missed my charming presence." He said.

"Unlikely." She muttered, but he just pretended he hadn't heard her.

After a few minutes she was already pleading with him to change the channel until they heard, "Coming up next, New York's best-selling author, attacked and some of the long awaited pictures confirming the relationships between him and his muse NYPD homicide detective Kate Beckett."

Both of their heads snapped towards the television.

"No." was all Kate said is disbelief, as she slid forward on her seat.

Unfortunately for them they would have to wait until after the commercial break to see the supposed 'evidence' of their relationship.

"I'm so sorry Kate." He said looking as if he had betrayed her.

"Unless you took those pictures, or called the paparazzi to take them, which is unlikely seeing as were unconscious for most of the time, then none of this is your fault. It's no one's fault. I just should have been more careful. A hospital is a public place and I should have known to keep my hands to myself." She said firmly.

"Why detective, does this mean that you are saying that you have a difficult time keeping your hands to yourself when we're alone?" he asked.

Kate gave him a shove on the shoulder before she said, 'Not the time Castle!" but she said it with a smile on her face and wasn't very convincing.

When the commercial break ended Kate reached for Castle's hand.

He said, "No matter what they have, we'll make it through this together."

She squeezed his hand in response. Letting him know that she agreed, but she didn't dare pull her eyes off of the TV.

Soon pictures of them were flashing across the screen.

They were shots of him still sleeping, her holding his hand, sitting on his bad, kissing his cheek.

All of them were obviously taken through the small window on his door.

"Well," he said , "That could have been so much worse." Rick said hoping she agreed. He'd definitely been caught doing so much worse, but this was really her first time, so to speak.

"Yeah." She said leaning her head back against the chair and letting out a sigh of relief.

"I'll contact my publicist and we'll issue a statement denying their claims. If the best proof they have is you kissing my cheek. I don't think we'll have that much of a problem."

"Okay." She said closing her eyes and biting at her lip, letting out another small sigh.

"Kate unless you're going to let me kiss you could you please stop doing that." He said. Kate opened her eyes and smiled at him.

Enjoying the effect she had on him.

She glanced back to the window, and satisfied that no one was lurking outside; she got up and kissed him firmly on the mouth. Letting her lips move with his.

It was the closest to make up sex they were going to get for a while.

She let him run his tongue against her lips, but when he made a move to grab her and deepen the kiss she pulled back saying,

"Nu-uh Mister. No way. Not only are you supposed to be resting, but we don't want to get carried away and end up on the celebrity gossip channel again."

"Yeah," he agreed, "Probably not. It wouldn't our case, and it would probably drive our psycho serial killer even crazier anyways."

"Wait, what makes you say that?" she asked.

"Well when he called he seemed most upset about us being together. He thought I was going to hurt you. That's why he wanted me out of the picture." He explained.

"Rick, why didn't you tell me this sooner?" she said as she pulled out her phone, "This means we have motive."

Well folks there you have it.

I think sometime in the near future I'm going to take my first day off from writing since I started this story. Just because you know I do have a real life and such. I don't know when exactly I shall take said day off, but if I don't post every other day I have not forgotten about you and more is on its way soon! (Okay great, please don't hate me!)

Anyways! Let me know what you thought!

Elizabeth