Castle looked at Kate with anguish. What was he going to do? She was so distraught that night and he felt so helpless.
"Hey, what is it?" he asked, approaching her and pulling her hands away from her face.
"I keep thinking I'm seeing things outside," she wept, feeling ridiculous, angry and upset with herself. "Oh God, am I going nuts?"
He smiled and pulled her to him, winding his arms around her. "No," he laughed, "but your body is in shock sweetheart. It figures considering what you've been through tonight." He pulled back then and linked his hands behind her waist. "But you know what, in the morning things will seem a lot better. We've just got to get through tonight."
She had thought the very same thing herself but the night seemed to be getting worse by the minute!
"I know," she nodded, trying to be sensible, " but…" She turned her head anxiously to the window at the top of the stairs.
She looked so completely lost and terrified, he wanted badly to be with her, hold her, but at the same time he was acutely aware that suggesting it would sound as if he had an ulterior motive. Admittedly, under normal circumstances, with her, he would have an ulterior motive because she was one hot lady! But at that moment he just wanted to protect and comfort her.
Then it came to him! He just might have thought of a solution.
"I've got an idea, come with me," he said suddenly, grabbing her hand and leading her down the corridor in the opposite direction from the room she had just left.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"Well, as I said before, when Alexis was younger she used to be afraid of thunder storms," he said, turning a corner, "so for a while we both moved room to here," he explained, stopping outside the only door in that smaller section of the upstairs hallway. He turned the handle and pushed open the door.
"Duddudduddah!" he announced, gesturing into the room.
"Bunk beds?" she questioned, turning to him.
"Yeah," he said proudly, bounding into the room and hauling himself onto the upper bed, sitting with his legs dangling over the side. "Dibs on top bunk!"
She gave a small laugh at the sight of him. "Castle," she put her hands on her hips, "you're not five and neither am I! I'm not that frightened," she lied, "you're sweet but, you don't have to babysit me," she said, hovering by the door.
"Are you kiddin'?" he replied, jumping off the bed suddenly towards her. "What about me? I am that frightened!" he exclaimed. "Please Beckett, will you sleep on the bottom bunk for me?" he pouted.
She watched him for a moment, she knew what he was up to and she felt… touched.
"Well, since you're afraid," she said, moving into the room, "I guess I'll have to…" Just then a roll of thunder could be heard outside and she grabbed the door, slamming it behind her and leaning back against the handle "… I'll sleep in here," she confirmed quickly.
He grinned with the boyish excitement of a child who had just got permission for a playmate to sleepover.
"Right then," Beckett began, having accepted that they would be sleeping in there that night, "Give me your shirt," she ordered.
His face lit up. "Oooh, only if you promise to seduce me out of it," he grinned.
She rolled her eyes, "Hand it over," she insisted, gesturing to his shirt, "and then you can get in there," she said, pointing to the connecting bathroom, "and do… whatever… until I say so, okay?" She had thought about going into the bathroom herself but she had a vision of coming out of there and he'd disappeared again, carried away by something or someone, so she opted for simply cutting her losses and slipping into bed immediately once she had seized the opportunity to undress.
He growled at her. "So masterful," he said, unbuttoning his shirt. He went to say something more as he handed it to her but she silenced him by forcing him to turn and pushing him towards the bathroom. He purred at her over his shoulder before disappearing behind a closed door. She leapt into action immediately and whipped her shirt off over her head before unfastening her jeans and peeling them off. Then she thrust her arms into his shirt, buttoning it up whilst heading for the bottom bunk. Immediately the warmth from Castle's body heat that had remained in the shirt transmitted to her and the aroma from his aftershave filled her senses. It reminded her of the few moments they had shared on the sofa downstairs earlier that afternoon.
Throwing back the quilt, she slipped into the bed and sat, glancing around the room. There was a definite woodland theme to it with the pink and green quilts, rugs and walls covered with cute woodland animals and bold coloured flowers. Around the entire room on the walls ran a painted white picket fence, over and under which popped the smiling faces of flowers, bunnies, bears and squirrels, and in the far corner there was some kind of cottage playhouse. Alexis had clearly been quite young when the bedroom had been decorated however she must have also used it in her early teens before moving out into another room because on the wall opposite the bunk beds was pinned a collection of pop star posters.
Strangely enough the room did kind of reassure Kate by her just being in it but she could still hear the thunder and rain outside and the memory of the terrifying 'faceless' figures, as well as the image of her mother outside, was looming in her head.
What was Castle doing in there? He seemed to have been in there for an awful long time. She pulled the quilt more snugly around her and waited for him to emerge. Seconds and minutes passed but still there was not a sound coming from the bathroom. Slowly her nervousness began to build.
"Castle!" she shouted out eventually in panic.
The door flew open and he came running out in his boxer shorts. "What's up?"
She gave a sigh of relief. "What have you been doing in there all that time?"
"Waiting for you!" he replied defensively. "You told me to stay in there until you said you were ready."
She frowned. "I did? Well I don't take that long to get into bed!"
He tutted and shook his head, turning the light off and heading for the bed. The only light was now a soft glow coming from behind the bathroom door. "Well with you women a guy just never knows." She watched him approaching, assuming that he'd climb up the steps to the top bunk but instead he stood looking down at her with one hand behind his back. "Okay, so, are you ready?" he asked.
She blinked a few times. "Ready for what?"
He grinned. "I haven't done this for years. Ready for… Mr Floppy time!" he announced, producing a big, grey, floppy eared stuffed bunny from behind his back.
She couldn't help but laugh. "Mr Floppy time?" she echoed incredulously.
"Sure, Mr Floppy goes bounce, bounce, bounce," he said, bouncing the bunny up the bed towards her, "and…wait for it… budoom, budoom," he said, flopping the ears on Kate's nose. She stared up at him in shock.
"Oh my God, I've got nothing to worry about; you're the one who's going insane!" she exclaimed, pushing the bunny out of her face.
He laughed but carried on regardless. "Now make space for the last big bounce into the bunny burrow," he urged. "That means you gotta pull back the quilt next to you," he said aside under his breath. He had to be kidding! "Come on, come, on," he urged. She couldn't believe what she was about to do but she did indeed find herself pulling back the quilt for the bunny. "One," he said, bouncing the bunny, "two," he continued bouncing the bunny higher, "three!" he finished bouncing the bunny into the space beside Kate and pulling the quilt around them, before leaning towards her, giving her a quick kiss on the nose and standing up again. "Go with me on this, it's tradition," he said, by way of an explanation. She looked at a loss; what could she say?
The thunder rolled again outside and without moving her head, her eyes flicked sideways to the window and back to Castle.
"Now," he continued, trying to distract attention away from what was happening outside, "the big brown bear climbs the mountain," he said, climbing up to the top bunk, "to sit on top of the bear cave and watch over the beautiful princess like he has done since the first time they met," he said, wriggling into bed. Kate chuckled quietly to herself underneath. He leant over the side then to peer down at her, "You want to hear the story of when they first met?" he asked.
"This I just have to hear," she laughed.
"Okay," he replied, "but you have to promise that you will close your eyes and concentrate on falling asleep for Mr Bear. Do you promise?" he asked.
"Scouts honour," she said, trying her best to hold back the laughter.
"Okay," he said, satisfied and slipping down under the quilt. "A long, long time ago there was a great big nasty old giant whose name was… his name changes every time, you gotta give the giant a nasty name," he prompted Kate.
"You're kidding, right?" she responded.
"No, come on, you're slowing down the story," he replied.
"Castle?"
"Yes?"
"Is there much audience participation in this story?" she asked, beginning to regret agreeing to hearing the story.
"No, this is the only bit," he replied.
Oh Lord, she was going to have to think of a name for a nasty giant!
"Come on!" he prompted after a short silence.
"Err, bozo!" She came out with the only thing she could think of at the time. She bit her lip.
"Bozo! That's a good one!" he chuckled. She was relieved to hear that it was up to standard. "Okay so Bozo used to walk all around the land at night, boom, boom, boom in his big boots just to make children frightened. Now luckily there was a really kind big, brown bear who, out of the kindness of his heart, found a magical way to take away all the children's fears. Of course, the big, bad giant didn't like the big, brown bear much so one night he set a trap for him." Castle leant over the side of the bed again at that point, saying to Kate, "Now don't get too scared at the next bit because it all turns out okay in the end," he reassured her.
"Okay," she laughed.
"Okay," he smiled and lay back again. "Then Bozo went to a small village and crashed and banged all around the streets, making the poor children terrified in their beds. The kind bear heard the children's cries and ran quickly to the village but on the way he was so worried about the children that he didn't see the bear trap and as soon as the box had fallen on top of him the giant locked the padlock and the bear was helpless to save the children!" Castle paused for a moment. "How you doin' down there?" he called out.
"I think ill just about cope," she replied, chuckling.
"Just checkin'" he grinned before continuing. "The bear stayed in the trap for years, and for years the poor children suffered until one day a beautiful princess found the trap and the bear sitting forlornly behind the bars of the box. The bear told the princess his story and the princess really wanted to release the bear but she couldn't open the padlock. Then, out of nowhere, a big floppy bunny appeared and told her a secret. You still got the big floppy bunny?" he asked Kate.
"Yes," she assured him, wondering how on earth Alexis ever got any sleep when Castle kept interrupting the story. He went on.
"There was a rumour that in the neighbouring land that there lived a wizard with a magic key which would open any lock to release a good person, but if the person was bad when the key was used the lock would stay closed forever. Well the princess knew that releasing the bear would be a very good cause and so she asked the bunny how she could find this wizard. The bunny told her to hop onto his back, he was a very big bunny and she was a tiny princess," he reasoned, " and then off the bunny bounced. It was like magic how fast the bunny bounced across the land until finally they found the wizard in the magic castle. Now the wizard didn't want to give the key over to any old person and so he asked the princess to tell him three things about what she was like to assess if she was worthy of taking the magic key. The princess thought carefully and replied… 'I have devoted my life to helping good people and locking up bad people,' Castle leant over and threw Kate a purposeful look. She gave a small laugh. He continued, "I do this because I care about the people I help, and well, I'm a real cool chick too!' She winked at the wizard."
Kate's eyes widened and she couldn't help interrupting. "She did? Is it okay to wink at a wizard?" she asked with a grin.
"Yes it is; he was a cool wizard," he replied. "Now close your eyes, you should be falling asleep by now," he reprimanded her.
"Yes sir," she chuckled, turning over on her side with the ridiculous floppy rabbit in bed behind her.
"Anyway, the wizard smiled, "So you are ," he agreed. "Here, you may have the key." So she took the key, thanking the wizard, and returned to the bear trap on the big bunny's back. The key opened the padlock and the bear finally climbed out of the box after being trapped in there for three long years. Unfortunately though Bozo, the big bad giant, had heard about the princess who wanted to release the bear and he came running angrily, boom, boom, boom, in his big boots to trample on the princess. The princess was very frightened but luckily it turns out that the bunny was a magic bunny and just before the giant reached the princess he turned the box trap into a huge, huge trap and the giant ran into it. As quick as a flash the big, brown bear grabbed the key and turned the lock and because the giant was a very bad giant the padlock would never, never open again." Castle took another look over the bed at Kate underneath as he continued in a quieter voice. "Now although the giant could never hurt any of the little children from that moment on, sometimes he got angry and made a big noise inside that box trap but the bear told all the children that the giant could never get out and he stayed with the princess forever to protect and reassure her just in case she got frightened in the night," he finished.
The room fell silent and Castle watched the pale curve of Kate's cheek and her auburn hair fanned out on the pillow. He had thought she was asleep but after a moment she must have sensed him watching her because she shifted her head and looked up at him. He smiled and winked at her, whispering, "goodnight Kate."
She smiled back warmly. "Goodnight," she whispered in response before returning her head to the pillow.
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It was dark, so very dark that no matter how much she strained to see, Beckett's eyes could make out nothing. She was helpless, alone, vulnerable. Then she heard breathing and she knew that someone was close behind. The hairs on the back of her neck crackled with fear.
"Who's there?" she called out. There was no reply, no supportive human contact to relieve her fear, just more breathing from what seemed like every direction around her. She felt sick with terror but there was no escape. She stood, frozen to the spot, waiting for the horror to unfold. Then the lightening flashed and she inhaled deeply, closing her eyes to block out the scene around her. But closing her eyes made no difference because she could see through her eye lids, she couldn't hide from the white faceless ghouls around her, touching her hair, her arms, her skin!
Then someone was calling her from afar. She knew that voice; she turned towards it and there was her mother. She felt elated, saved.
"Mother!" she called out. "I'm here!" But her voice was too quiet. She tried again to shout louder, she strained desperately to communicate with her mother but her mother seemed to be lost and oblivious to her.
Beckett pushed past the white figures around her; she was no longer afraid of touching them, her only concern was to reach her mother. They finally lost interest in surrounding her and let her go, so determined was she to break free.
She ran with all her worth but her mother never seemed to get closer. She called out and ran… helplessly… pointlessly. She would not stop, she could not stop! But soon her legs felt weak and she began tripping and falling to the floor.
When she looked up then they were surrounding her mother! The white faceless figures seemed to be suffocating her mother. She felt her mother drowning… breathless… dying!
"No!" she called out. It was her fault! She had lead them to her mother. "I'm here," she shouted, come get me!" But the figures were no longer interested in her.
"No, mother, mother!" she cried. "Sorry! I'm sorry. I love you! Mother!" she sobbed.
"Kate!"
She heard a loud deep voice echo around her.
Castle had woken with a start and sat bolt upright in bed. It had taken him a few seconds to realise where he was and what was happening but when he heard Beckett call out for her mother he flung back the bed covers and flew out of the bed, leaping down to the floor below.
She was still shouting out and fighting with her quilt as she tossed in the bed. He sat next to her, grabbing her firmly by the arms and pulling her up towards him to a sitting position.
"Wake up now sweetheart, it's just a dream Kate," he said, wrapping his arms around her as she sobbed uncontrollably. He held her closely for a while but her sobbing didn't seem to be lessoning so he pulled back slightly, taking her face in his hands to get a better look at her. She was gasping and sobbing in starts, her face red and terribly tear stained. "You are awake now aren't you Kate?" he asked, just in case. He had never in his life seen anyone so incredibly distraught. She simply stared at him with such anxiety, unable to talk through her sobs. It was clear that she was awake though. "Okay," he began decisively, "move over."
"What?" she questioned breathlessly, struggling for breath over the tears.
He pulled the quilt back, swung his legs up onto the bed and nudged her across. "You need someone to hold you tonight Kate and bad luck, you got me," he said as, not leaving any room for argument, he put his arms around her and pulled her firmly to him, repositioning the quilt over them both. She lay stiffly in his arms, still shaking and coughing with the remains of her outburst of tears. She looked up at him with uncertainty but he simply put a hand on her head and moved it so that she was resting on his shoulder, her face against his collarbone. She felt suddenly warm and safe, cocooned by him, and it was far too irresistible for her to refuse that. He smelt as masculine as the arms and chest that were supporting and soothing her.
"Go to sleep now Kate," he coaxed, stroking her hair back with soft rhythmic movements. The sobs had now ceased but one rebellious tear escaped her eye then and rolled down her face, dropping onto the base of his neck.
"Castle," she said with a small voice.
"Yes kate," he responded.
"Is it all going to be all right?" she asked tearfully.
He moved so that he could tighten his arms even more snugly around her. "Yes, it is. I promise you Kate, it will all be okay," he replied with conviction.
She sighed then, apparently satisfied and suddenly exhausted as she nuzzled her cheek against the hollow of his neck. He in turn rested his cheek atop her head.
His arms were holding her so closely to him that she couldn't imagine anyone or anything separating them that night. She finally felt safe and drifted off into a peaceful sleep.