*waves* Hi.

For Sam, who continuously tells me to write. It comes up in every conversation we have. I'm certain of it.

SPOILERS FOR: Tick, Tick, Tick…
Boom!
Setup
Countdown
Knockout

Time Bomb

"And if I had to pull you out of the wreckage
You know I'm never gonna let you let me go"

He still dreams about her apartment blowing up. Sometimes it's as he remembers it. She answers her phone, and he can warn her. He screams her name down the line as he sees and hears and feels her apartment exploding into flames. He knows its only minutes later when he slams down the door. He calls out for her, and hears her coughing and finds her naked in her bathtub. In his dreams, she's not worried about him seeing her naked, she's so shocked by the blast that she lets him help her out of the bath and into his jacket. In his dream, he averts his eyes anyway, because he knows that she appreciates it when he acts like a grown-up.

In that version of his dream, when they're out the busted down door, he pulls her into a hug. She wraps her arms around him tightly and rests her head on his shoulder. He can feel her shaking and he knows she's crying. He never sees the tears, just the clear tracks down her sooty face. When they break apart, he cups her jaw with his hands and they kiss. The kiss differs from hot and hungry, to soft and savouring, but it's always an amazing kiss.

When she inevitably gets kicked off the case and stays with him, she spends some of that first night in the guest bed, before sneaking into his room. They talk in whispers and sighs for hours and eventually fall asleep in each other's arms. They don't have sex, but what they share is a different kind of intimacy. The soft caresses and light touches speak to a completely opposite side of either of them. One that proves, at least in his dreams, that they would be amazing together. Because by the time the case is over in those dreams, she doesn't bother going to her bed. She just goes to his, and after they save Jordan from Dunn, they consummate their relationship. And it's everything he ever wanted and so much more. And he always wakes with a raging need for an ice-cold shower, but he doesn't care because she's still alive, and its history written the way he wants it.

When he wakes from the nice dreams, he floats to consciousness. His arm wrapped around her waist, one hand just under her left breast where he can feel her heart beat. His nose is buried in her hair, smelling her unique scent, as well as the cherry and vanilla he's loved almost as long as he's loved her.

Sometimes, the dreams aren't as fun.

In the bad dreams, he's just a little too late. With everything. He's a little late in figuring out they have the wrong guy and he climbs out of the cab just as her apartment explodes. He figures out the killer, but his thumbs stumble over his phone and it takes him two attempts to call her and as she picks up her cell, he hears her apartment explode. He figures out the killer and calls her but he can't get a cab and her apartment burns before he can smash down the door. He figures out the killer, and he gets in his call, and he's smashing down the door after the apartment has blown up, but she didn't make it to the bathtub in time.

And if his subconscious is feeling particularly nasty, they get the whole way through the case, but he's too late getting to her when Dunn's standing over her and before he can even think about the gun in his hand, Dunn's already shot her. He falls to his knees by her side and cradles her head gently, but he knows it's no use. Shot to the chest from point blank range… she doesn't have a hope in hell. He always kisses her lips and her eyes and her forehead and tells her he's falling for her and he'll never forget her…

When he wakes from the bad dreams, it's with a start. He gasps for breath, and though he can feel her warm hands on his body and hear her soft, comforting words, it still takes a few second for him to adjust. A few second to remember she's in bed with him, fine and breathing and alive. But when he does, he slumps back into the pillows, dragging her with him. They've been together for a little less than six months now. They survived Dunn and they survived a freezer and another bomb, and though it was touch and go for a while there, they survived Montgomery's death and she survived that shot to the chest.

It in those moments that he remembers why he first thought of her as extraordinary.

He closes his eyes when she kisses his forehead. Lets the panic roll over him and away from him, and when he knows he can deal, he opens his eyes and looks at her. He doesn't need to speak to tell her he loves her; they've always had the uncanny ability to converse with just their eyes. But he whispers softly, because there's nothing better than the way her eyes sparkle. Even in the dim light at some ungodly hour of the morning. It's in those moments he wants to ask her to marry him, but he won't do it because she is extraordinary and deserves to have the most extraordinary proposal. He's got it planned; the perfect blend of intimate and big and he just can't wait to execute his ideas.

He kisses her lips softly, and wraps an arm around her waist and snuggles against her. His hand rests just under her left breast, where he can feel her heart beating. He burries his nose in her hair and lets her unique scent drift over him, breathing in the cherries and vanilla, falling more in love with her and that smell with every inhale.

She is his forever, and he her one-and-done. Always. They're never going to let that go.

Time Bomb – All Time Low

At this point, I would like to say a huge thanks to everyone who reads, reviews does both, whatever.
This'll probably be the last one for a while (let's pretend it wasn't over a month since I last updated...) because I'm running away to join the circus. Not really. I'm going on an adventure for a couple months.
So... yeah. Thanks for sticking with me. It's been over a year since I published my first Castle fic. And 'Shuffle' has been going almost as long. You guys are awesome!

Peace out!
(See ya when I get back..!)