"Why did we wait so long to do that?" Castle asks, skimming his fingers up the bare expanse of her back.

"Cause we're idiots," Kate sighs.

"No, I don't think that's it," he laughs, still stroking her back. "We've both wanted this for a while now, I know we have."

"I'm that obvious, huh?" she smirks.

"I find you staring at my lips a lot."

She laughs at that, rolling over to face him. She reaches up to stroke her thumb across his cheek.

"So we're doing this?" she asks. "Us?"

"Beckett, I've never met anyone quite like you before. And now that I have, I very much want to keep you around. I'm in this. You and me? Let's do this."

Kate hums, curling a leg around his hip. Castle traces his fingers up her thigh, tapping them against her side.

"So does this help you solve the great mystery that is me?" she asks, tangling her fingers with his at her side.

"Parts of it," he smiles back. "Like where your tattoo is and what you sound like when I -"

She cuts him off by kissing him.

"Mmm and what you taste like," he mumbles against her lips. "But I had a little preview of that this past winter."

She hums, kissing him again, her hips rocking against his with the promise of round two.

"You've come to mean a lot to me over these last three years," she tells him, finally managing to pull herself away. "I don't want to screw this up and lose you."

"Kate," he starts, stroking back her hair, watching her react to the use of her first name. "I told you I'm in this. I'm yours."

"You're not the one I'm worried about."

"I'm your partner. I'm in this rabbit hole with you as long as you'll have me here. I'm here to dive in with you together. You can't push me away that easily. You've seen how persistent I can be."

She smiles at that, dancing her fingertips across his jaw line. "Yes, you're very persistent."

"Montgomery is still going to let me be your partner, right?"

"He likes you. I think your shadow job is safe."

Castle nods, catching her wrist at his jaw. "You know, if you're just going to keep straddling me like this then I'm going to have to initiate round two."

"Actually," she hums, rolling her hips against his thigh, "I've already initiated it. Just waiting for you to follow through."

He clucks his tongue at her before drawing her in for another kiss. "Yeah, I can definitely get used to this."

And for the next two weeks, everything is great. Sex and actual dates to Remy's, bets on how long they can sneak around before Ryan and Esposito find out. But of course it's her mother's case of all things that comes swooping in to ruin everything. And suddenly Montgomery is involved in the whole thing and Castle is holding her up against a car with a hand over her mouth, trying to keep her from going into the hangar and getting herself killed. And when he finally lets her go, she's met only with the lifeless body of her captain and more questions than answers.

She feels nothing but numb after that. Even refusing Castle's insistent offers to stay with her that night. It's all too much and she just needs time to process.

But that time is cut too short when she gets shot at Montgomery's funeral and the last thing she registers before she blacks out is Castle frantically telling her that he loves her.

She wakes to darkness, a sharp, stabbing pain blossoming in her chest. Her eyes struggle to focus, groggy from whatever drug they have her on that's clearly failing to manage her pain. Her memories from the past 12 hours flicker in the back of her mind, like remnants of a dream she's trying to remember. It's too much. Way too much. Maybe she should try to go back to sleep.

Kate closes her eyes again, but now all she can focus on is the pain. She should call a nurse in here to help, but she can't manage to find the damn call button. Her eyes roam over the darkened room, landing on a figure slumped in a chair by the wall. It must be past visiting hours, who did they let stay? Her father perhaps? But the more she studies his form she realizes that no, that isn't Jim Beckett. It's Richard Castle.

A part of her wants to let him sleep, but she knows the only reason he's camped out in that chair is because he wants to make sure that she's okay. Because he loves her.

Fuck, when did that happen? They haven't even been a couple for that long, but - wait does she feel it too? She can't possibly be in love with him already. She just doesn't -

The familiar sound of his ringtone interrupts her thoughts, startling him awake. Castle curses under his breath, rushing to quiet the phone. She watches him duck out of the room to answer it, still completely unaware that she woke up.

She can hear snippets of the conversation from the hallway. Her dad is calling. Something about coffee and Danishes. She wishes it was just a little bit brighter in here so she could make out the hands on the clock on the wall. But she thinks she knows what happened now. Her dad had been here, keeping watch at her side, and Castle had offered to stand in so he could go home and change. And apparently get coffee. Now she wonders how long she's been out of it for.

Castle re-enters the room and this time his eyes find hers. She hears his audible sigh of relief.

"You're awake," he says, relief flooding his tone. "I'll go get the doctor."

"Castle," her voice is hoarse, doesn't even sound like her own. "What time is it?"

He checks his phone. "Almost 6 AM. I'll be right back."

It's nearly 9 AM by the time she and Castle are alone again. The doctors and nurses have finally stopped fluttering about and she finally convinced her dad that it was okay for him to go into work and deal with the big case he's been prepping for months. But she doubts they'll be alone for long since Castle called the boys to let them know that she was doing okay. She's sure they're on their way over right about now.

Castle is sitting where he has been all morning, in a chair pulled up next to her bed opposite her IV. For the better part of the morning, he's been playing with her hand, his fingers rubbing circles into her palm and dancing over the back of it. And he's been quiet. Quiet to a point that is so unlike him, it has her gut twisting in worry.

"Talk to me," she says softly, after the nurse checking her IV drop leaves the room.

"The light left your eyes in that ambulance." He doesn't say more, just tangles their fingers together and squeezes.

"I'm a fighter, you know that."

He nods, his gaze still not leaving their hands.

"And I'm okay now. The doctor said he expects me to make a full recovery."

"He also said that they had to restart your heart during surgery."

She can tell he's been playing worse case scenarios over and over in his head. And by the way he still won't look at her, he hasn't stopped. He cares about her so much, loves her apparently, it makes her chest ache in a manner not caused by the bullet.

"Babe, I'm not going anywhere." Did she just call him Babe? That's new. "They can't get rid of me that easily. And neither can you."

His gaze finally lifts to meet hers. "Did you hear what I said? Just before you blacked out?"

Kate nods. She hasn't been able to think about much else.

"Well I meant it. The dating part may still be new, but you've been in my life for three years now. And almost losing you yesterday... it made me realize just how much I cared. I don't want to lose you, Kate. I can't."

She squeezes his hand back. "Come with me this summer."

That concerned look on his face morphs into confusion. "Come with you where?"

Oh. Right. He hadn't been in the room when she had this conversation with her dad earlier.

"To my dad's cabin up in the Catskills. He offered it to me this morning and I think it would be a good idea to get out of the city to...heal. There's a rehab center I can go to up there and the area is peaceful. It reminds me of my childhood and I think it's exactly what I need right now. But I want you to come with me. I could use the company. I could use...you being there. I don't want to be hours away from you all summer."

"Your childhood, huh? I'd get to see one of the places where little Katie Beckett grew up?"

The worry lining his face is starting to lift; his playful demeanor trying to make a comeback. She starts to laugh, but it hurts her chest too much so she just smiles.

"So you'll join me?" she asks hopefully. "You don't have to stay the whole summer if you don't want to. I don't want to take you away from Alexis or anything -"

"I would love to," Castle cuts her off, squeezing her hand again. "I think it would be good for me too to get out of the city for a while. Might actually be beneficial for my writing to get some peace and quiet. Alexis could even come join us for a week or two if you don't mind. And you know, I've been going to the Hamptons so much these past couple of summers it's almost starting to feel like an extension of the city. Somewhere new would be good. Somewhere with you."

Kate smiles again. A summer spent with Castle. Like the one they should have had last year at the Hamptons. The one Gina took from her because she was too slow to respond...

Well shit.

Maybe she does already love him too.

AN: I apologize for the shortness of this chapter, but I really didn't want to break up the next section. Thank you all so much for your support thus far! It means the world to me!