a.n. So I had some complaints the last chapter about sticking too close to canon. This one will eliminate any of those complaints.

As in any time travel fic, there comes a point where any foreknowledge is completely useless because of the changes the character who went back in time has made. Kate is almost there. There will still be some similarities, but this chapter changes EVERYTHING, mainly due to a mistake on Kate's part. This is perhaps the most important chapter in the story thus far. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Disclaimer: The life we live, is the life we live. Even though I live life lively, I still for the life of me can't understand why people think I could own Castle.

xxxx

Previously…

"You believe me right, Rick," she asked as she soaped up his back.

"Of course. The question is how do we prove it? Shaw will be gone in the morning, and it's going to take proof to get her to keep the investigation open." He turned around and grabbed the shampoo that she used. Before he squeezed any out, he bent down and gave her a small kiss. "We'll figure it out, we always do."

Kate grabbed the shampoo bottle from his hand and put it back on the shelf. She leant up and pressed her lips back to his. Their passion was just getting started when they were interrupted by a chilling voice.

"Goodbye, Nikki. Goodbye, Nikki."

xxxx

When Kate woke up she was very confused and her head hurt like no tomorrow. She could also feel that she was on a bed of some sort. She slowly opened her eyes, only to quickly slam them shut again because of the blinding lights. Slowly she opened them again, squinting against the glare. She soon came to the realization that she was in the hospital, but had no recollection as to how she got there.

She thought back trying to remember what had led to her being in this ridiculously bright hospital room. She looked around the room but didn't see Castle anywhere. It was the thought of Castle that reminded her of what had happened. They were showering together…she remembered that things were just about to get interesting when she heard…something. She couldn't remember. Thinking back she tried to remember the case they were working on. The killer must have rigged Castle's loft, DAMMIT, why didn't I think of that?

Where's Castle? She started to panic when she finally figured out what must have happened. She tried to sit up only to discover that it caused her to become very dizzy.

"Easy there, Kate." Kate looked up, trying to see who had spoken.

"Rick?" she whispered.

When the world finally stopped spinning, and she was back leaning against the inclined bed, she saw Castle standing beside her bed.

"Yeah, I'm here. You need to lean back, you have a major concussion."

Kate looked him over and noticed that his arm was in a sling. "Are you…are you hurt?"

"A broken wrist. No writing for a while, but other than that I'm fine. When I realized what was happening, I pushed us down in the tub and covered you with my body. I got a couple burns on my back but it shouldn't even scar. You would have been fine, but I…uh…kinda banged your head on the way down."

Kate could feel her eyelids slipping closed. She didn't realize that she said something life changing before sleep claimed her.

xxxx

When she woke up next, she was much more aware of what was going on. She looked around the room and saw her dad on the couch reading a fishing magazine. She looked to her right and found Rick sitting in the chair looking at her with an odd expression.

"Hey," she said, wondering why he was looking at her in such a weird way.

"Hey," he said, giving her a small smile. "I'm going to go get some coffee. I'll give you and your dad some time together." He got up, gave her hand a squeeze and left the room.

Jim had stood up and made his way over to the side of her bed. "Hi Katie."

"Hi dad."

"That's quite a man you have there," her father said, following tradition by ignoring her injuries. They didn't do the concerned parent thing, they never had.

"Yeah. Sorry I haven't had time to introduce you."

"No, it's fine. You know how often I've been out of the country lately, so it's not surprising you forgot all about your good ol' dad."

"Dad," she groaned. He was not going to make her feel guilty about her relationship with Castle. Though she did feel a pang of regret that she had let her relationship with her father go by the wayside in favor of focusing on her relationship with Castle.

"Just teasing, Katie. I'm so glad you're okay. And I'm happy you're dating your favorite author. I read about it in the paper. Nearly spilled my coffee too."

Kate rolled her eyes. "I am sorry for not calling. It's been a rough few months."

"So when's the wedding," Jim asked with a smirk.

"Dad! Seriously. Stop right now." The last thing she needed was for Castle to come in to find her discussing wedding details with her father. They weren't anywhere near marriage yet. At least he wasn't. She'd been ready for what seemed like years.

"Alright. But I've missed teasing you."

"I missed you too, Dad. I'll make sure to call more often. And when we get out of here the three of us should get dinner or something."

They talked for several more minutes then Jim took his leave, saying he had to get back to work. As he was leaving the room, Rick came back in.

"Hey, babe," Kate said, looking at the coffee in his hand with a greedy glint in her eye. God, she needed caffeine.

"Hey. And no, you can't have coffee. I already asked. Sorry."

"You are so damn mean."

"Uh, huh. Luckily this isn't coffee. It's decaffeinated tea." He handed her the cup.

"Thanks. I guess."

Castle sat down in the chair beside her bed and looked at her. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm better now. My head still hurts like I got run over by a dump truck, but other than that, I'm peachy."

"Good."

They sat there in silence for several minutes.

"Kate?"

"Yeah?"

"When you fell back to sleep you…uh…said something odd."

"Oh?" What could I have said that made him look at me like that? She remembered the odd look he had given her when she woke up for the second time.

"Yeah. You said, 'It didn't happen like that the first time.' What did you mean by that?"

Before she could school her reaction, she paled. Oh, no. How could I be so stupid? Can I lie? Can I tell him it was just a symptom of the concussion? Would he believe me? Or should I tell him the truth. If I tell him the truth will he believe me?

"Kate?"

Castle, I'm from the future, Kate almost snorted at the absurdity of that statement. "I…" She didn't know what to do. She knew the longer she stayed silent the worse this was going to be, but she had no clue how to handle this situation.

She was saved from answering by a knock at the door. She looked over and saw Jessica standing at the door.

"Can I come in, Kate? Seems you're in a pickle."

xxxx

"So let me get this straight. You are from the future. In this future, you and I were together, but I died on the day of our wedding. Alexis was alive; and we had solved your mother's case. Now you're here."

The explanation hadn't gone well. As she and Jessica had told Castle what was going on, Kate could see that Rick wasn't taking it well. After they had explained, Jessica had taken her leave. Kate didn't know how the blonde woman knew she was needed, but then nothing about this timeline and her return made sense. Kate had been doing her best to just go with the flow, accepting that her return was something she would never understand, but now that Castle knew, she wished she had some better explanation than 'I woke up back in my past body, and I was engaged to you four years from now. And Oh, yeah, Alexis was alive in my time.' It didn't make any sense to her, so she knew that Castle would be confused by it all.

"Rick?" Kate whispered, afraid that she had ruined everything. He looked over at her and she could see that he was believing her. She could also see the anger in his eyes.

Her man stood up and started pacing the length of the small hospital room. "I…Was any of this real? Did you set up everything just to be with me? I don't…I'm so confused."

"Of course this was real, Rick! How could you even ask that? I love you. I have no clue how I got here or why, but I knew that if I was really being given a second chance I was going to use it to the best of my abilities. My biggest regret last time was pushing you away for four years. I wasted so much time last time and I lost you before we could ever have a life together. I was not going to let that happen this time."

He flopped down on the couch, keeping the distance between them. "I feel like I've somehow been managed into this relationship."

Kate frowned. "Do you love me?"

"Yes."

"Then how could I have pushed you into a relationship? I've done everything at your pace, and I will continue to do so. I know this is a shock, Rick, but I love you and whether I'm from the future or no, that will never change. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I will do anything I can to see that we're together always."

Castle sighed. Kate wished she could see what he was thinking. She couldn't help but think if they made it through this, they'd be stronger. If we don't… she shook that thought away. Failure wasn't an option.

She was brought back out of her thoughts by Castle getting up and walking towards the door. "I need some time, Kate. I…I just need to get my head around this, okay? I…I'll be back."

xxxx

a.n.2. Damn Matt and those damn cliff hangers. I'll take a wizard's oath to not do another cliffy in this story for at least five chapters. And yes, dammit, I am a wizard.

I honestly didn't know where to end this one, so I left it there. This won't be much of a snag in their relationship, but Castle needs some space to realize that nothing has really changed between them. I also think that Castle wouldn't have any problem believing her, but might feel somehow that he was pushed into a relationship. They'll talk about Alexis in the next chapter.

Please review!