I am so sorry that it has taken so long to get this chapter up! After the last chapter I wasn't really sure where I wanted to go next. Some of your reviews brought up the fact that Kate leaving how she was going to was sure to cause drama, and it didn't make sense that she claimed leaving would avoid drama. This chapter should make her motives make more sense I hope. It gives Kate some back story as well. Once again I am so sorry it has been so long but between writers block and how crazy this semester has been, I haven't had a lot of time to write. I hope to get another chapter out soon since my Thanksgiving break starts on Wednesday. For all of you that have stuck around and have been anxiously awaiting this chapter, thank you:)

Guest: Thank you for your input. Honestly, I wasn't really thinking about it that way until I saw your review as well as several others. Honestly her thought process didn't make sense. Hopefully this chapter will put it in perspective and give her the logic she needed.

Bellasibaja: Thank you, here is the next chapter for your reading enjoyment:)

The Past

The night Meredith left, Castle was sitting on his bed facing the bathroom door when Kate came out on her crutches. Her hair was up in a towel and she had her robe on. She was surprised to see Castle was on the bed and not typing away at his desk as he normally would be at this time. He usually spent a few hours typing, or procrastinating depending on the night, after diner.

"Did you need in?" Kate asked, gesturing to the door behind her with her head as she limped over to the bed. Castle shook his head as she sat down beside him, laying her crutches on her other side.

She started towel drying her hair as Castle began to speak, "I think we need to talk."

Kate stopped toweling her hair at that phrase. She swallowed down the lump that began to form in her throat. "What's wrong?"

"It's about what happened with Meredith."

"Ok…"

"Kate," Castle said with a sigh. "Why didn't you tell me about her pranks when they started?"

"Honestly? I thought she was just trying to assert her dominance as Alexis' mom and your first wife when she started. Then it was just stupid little things that didn't really matter. Alexis told me it was just for a laugh and I could see how much she wanted to please Meredith. I mean, you even commented on how Alexis and Meredith were getting along better and spending more time together than usual. I didn't want to disrupt that, so I just let it go. It really wasn't anything bad and only a minor inconvenience. I just didn't want to rock the boat, especially for the girls," Kate answered, trying her best to minimize Meredith's actions. She wasn't sure she was ready to share her real reason for keeping quiet.

"When did it start?" Castle asked, wanting to know all of the details.

"That night she made dinner? She added all the spice to mine and then dumped the ice cream on me. That was the first time. I didn't really realize that it was purposeful until the next day when she continued."

"I want to know everything. What else did she do?"

Kate sighed. "I'll tell you everything if you promise not to overreact."

"Why would I overreact?" Castle asked, attempting to look innocent. Kate merely gave him a 'really' look and he quickly changed his tune. "Ok, fine. I promise I will stay as calm as I can."

"Also, can I put on some real clothes? This robe is getting a little chilly."

"Oh, right, of course. I'll just, um, be in my office. You can just tell when you're ready or if you need any help with anything."

"Thanks Castle," Kate said, kissing him lightly on the cheek before he scurried out of the room to give her time to change.

Kate called for Castle to come back a few minutes later. She then went through Meredith's time in the loft and all the pranks she had pulled.

"Kate, it sounds like this week has been miserable for you. Why didn't you tell me? At the very least I could have spoken privately to her."

"That's very unlikely. You can never keep your thoughts to yourself, especially when it involves those you care about. I just wanted to handle it myself this time. I thought if I dealt with it on my own it would be fine, but when I got hurt I felt it was time for me to leave the situation. That's what my mom told me to do…" Kate trailed off, realizing what she had revealed. She hoped Castle wouldn't notice, but also knew the chances of that were very slim.

"What do you mean, 'this time?'" Castle asked.

"Nothing. Can we just forget about it?" Kate asked turning away, attempting to end the conversation.

"No, we can't. This is obviously important to you, Kate, so I want to know. I want to try to help."

Kate sighed. She remained facing away from him, debating if she should tell him. It would help him understand her actions, but she didn't like telling this story. Thinking about it, however, she knew Castle wouldn't let it go. Plus, if she was honest with herself, she would tell him eventually if their relationship continued to progress as it was. With another sigh, she turned back to Castle. "Fine, but I don't like telling this story. I need you to promise to let me tell it without interrupting me. Can you do that?"

"Of course. I'm here to listen and do whatever I can to help."

Kate sighed for what felt like the millionth time that night. "There were two incidents. The first was in elementary school. I had a bunch of friends until about second grade. For some reason the girls decided that they didn't want to be my friend anymore. By second grade standards they were so cruel to me. I don't know what happened, but they all turned on me. I didn't want my parents to know, so I would tell them I was going to go to a friend's house, but I would just go to the library instead. It's where I developed my love of reading. Books couldn't judge me.

"One day my mom decided to bring me lunch at school since she had a slow day at work. When she went into the cafeteria to find me, I wasn't there. I ate my lunch in a bathroom stall. Stereotypical, I know. When they found me, they questioned why I was there. When I told them about the bullying, they promised they would make it better. They had an assembly on bullying to try to fix the situation.

"I don't know how they thought it would help. Basically, everyone blamed me for making them sit through a boring assembly all day. After the assembly, it just got worse.

"I told my parents and they had me change schools because it wasn't worth it. That's the first part. Do you have anything you want to say?"

"I'm just sorry that happened to you. You did nothing to deserve that." Castle said with a sad look on his face.

"I'm gonna go grab a drink real quick and then I'll tell you the rest, ok?"

"Whatever you want, Kate. I know this is hard for you."

Kate went to the kitchen and got a glass of water. Surprisingly, telling Castle this story wasn't as bad as she expected. He let her speak without interrupting and didn't seem to pity her, only feel sad that she had to go through the experience and he couldn't make it better. There was just something about Rick that put her at ease, and she was grateful for it.

Meanwhile, Castle was sitting on his bed. He couldn't believe she had gone through that at such a young age. She was younger than Alexis is now. No child deserves that kind of treatment.

A few minutes later, Kate walked back into the room. Castle was sitting with his back against the headboard. When he saw her, he opened his arms. She walked over and carefully moved into his embrace, mindful of her ankle. She knew she would need some of his strength if she was going to get through the rest of this story. The second part was always way worse.

"This part is harder," Kate warned Castle.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Castle said, wanting to give her an out.

"I've gotten this far, I need to finish it. Plus, telling you isn't as bad as telling some other people has been."

"I'm glad. All I want is for my girls to feel safe and comfortable around me."

Kate smiled. "Ok, if I'm gonna tell this, I need to do it now, or it's never gonna happen. This story is about freshman year of high school. I was happy in the new school system. I was shy at first, but soon made new friends. Life was good again.

"Maddie was my best friend. We were both pretty popular. At the beginning of the year we found out that her family would be moving and she would likely only be staying through first semester. Towards the end of the semester we started getting in fights about everything. Someone told me later that we were probably doing it unconsciously to make the separation easier. Right before she left we got in a huge blow out about some guy. It was stupid, I don't even remember his name.

"Somehow word got out. Some other girls decided to make up a rumor that I slept with a bunch of guys. Eventually this girl named Rebecca heard that I had slept with her boyfriend. She didn't take too kindly to that fact and started to bully me. She was downright cruel.

"Most of the time she would confront me in the bathroom and threaten me. She would assault me in the cafeteria as well, dumping my tray on me or tripping me while I was carrying my food. We had a large cafeteria so it was easy for her to do it when the teachers weren't looking. She tried to avoid situations in which she could get caught by a teacher so it would just be her word against mine. That way I wouldn't bother going to the teachers since it was unlikely they would believe me.

"After about two months, she started hitting me. I told my mom and that's when she told me to just remove myself from the situation if she came up to me. She said that I could go to the principal if I wanted to, but she didn't want to make the decision for me since it had turned out so badly in the past and I was old enough to make my own decisions.

"I forgot a book in my locker the next day. I needed it for something we were doing so the teacher had me go get it. I didn't think anything of it since it was during class. I should have paid more attention, because when I closed my locker, Rebecca was there. She had two of her friends with her.

"I remember hearing Mom's voice in my head, 'Just leave and go somewhere with adults you trust.' I tried to move around them, but she pushed me into the lockers. At that moment, I knew I was trapped. I couldn't get away and there was no one around to save me. Even if I had yelled, there were no classrooms near enough for anyone to hear me. I felt helpless," Kate paused. Tears filled her eyes as that feeling of helplessness washed through her again as she relived the experience. Castle hugged her tighter to his side. He wished he could take all the pain and sadness away and give her some of his strength.

After a moment, Kate took a ragged breath and began again, her voice shaking slightly. "They kept hitting me until I was on the ground. They pause for a minute, but then Rebecca kicked me and they all kept going. Mostly it was just kicking and spitting, but Rebecca did drop down and deliver a few punches as well. The whole time they kept hurling insults at me, calling me a slut, telling me nobody would ever want a whore like me. It was awful.

"I don't know how much time passed before my savior appeared. Josh Davidson was his name. He was a junior and already accepted into a pre-med program. He had been in the library taking an online class and finished early. He had come out to take a walk, I guess, when he heard the noise. When he saw what was going on he ran to the office to get the nurse and some help to get the girls off of me. Even though he was a football player and pretty strong, he knew he couldn't take all three of them at once.

"I was in the hospital for a week after that. I had a concussion, a sprained wrist, and a broken foot. My mom took the time off from work and we spent most of it watching Temptation Lane. My dad spent all his time off at the hospital as well. He had a big case coming up at the time so he couldn't take the time off, though he wished he could. Josh visited for at least half an hour every day as well to make sure I was ok.

"So that's the story," Kate finished trying to downplay it so she wouldn't start crying. "I know you have questions, so lay them on me."

"Did you have to change schools again?" Castle asked getting right to his questions. He wanted to keep her talking so he could find out everything he wanted to know before she clammed up again.

"No, Josh was like my protector after that. He walked me to classes, made sure no one messed with me, and put an end to the rumors. It was amazing. Rebecca and her friends were expelled from school so that made things easier too."

"So what happened between you and Josh? Do the two of you still talk?"

"We talk occasionally. Usually an email here or there. We dated during high school. He graduated a semester early, so after the first semester of my sophomore year. We lasted until spring break of that year. Neither of us was happy anymore. Long distance didn't work for us. He was too busy with pre-med and I just wasn't ready for a relationship serious enough to last long distance. We are still polite, but not that close. He's actually married now with a little boy of his own."

"Thank you so much for telling me this. I can see why you didn't tell me about Meredith."

"I just wanted to do it on my own this time. But, maybe, now we could do it together?"

Castle pulled Kate closer to him. "That sounds perfect. I would love to help you through anything in the future." He pressed a gentle kiss to Kate's lips. He went to pull away, but she put her arms around him and deepened the kiss.

Castle was the first to pull away a few minutes later, gasping for air. "Babe, what was that for?" It was then he realized the position they had gotten themselves into. They had slid down the bed, Kate was on top of Castle with her shirt worked up over her stomach, and one of Castle's hands was on her hip and the other had made its way up the back of her shirt, near her bra clasp.

"I guess it was just a thank you for understanding and listening."

"While I would love to continue this, I don't think either of us is ready for that, so I'm gonna go take a cold shower. You can get under the covers and go to sleep. You've had a long and tiring day so I'm sure you are ready to sleep."

"You really are an amazing man, Rick. Even if you do act like a child most of the time."

There you have it:) I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I would like to apologize one more time for how long it has been and thank all of you that have stuck around this long. While I can't promise that I won't take this long to post again, I can promise that I will do my very best to upload much more frequently:) As always please leave me a review letting me know what you thought, any suggestions or questions you have, and if you found any mistakes. Thanks and love you all:)