Just a bridge chapter to set the stage. I've been sadly neglectful of my 31 dedicated readers. Sorry.

OM

Canyon House
Los Angeles, CA

The tray with his juice and omelet and ham went sailing as Beckett pushed open the door. Rick was on his back, eyes squeezed shut and definitely hyperventilating.

She was beside him in a second, running her hands across his sweaty face and whispering to him that it was all a bad dream and that she was here and he was safe with her.

"Breathe, Rick, breathe slowly and listen to my voice. You're safe and you're in bed and I'm right here beside you. Nice, deep, breaths. There's nothing wrong, Rick. You just had a bad dream. Can you tell me about it? It helps to talk about them so we can make them go away. Talk to me, Rick, please?"

"Can't. Not right now. Can't breathe!" He was panicking and Kate flew into the bathroom to get him one of his tranquilizers. He was supposed to take them before sleeping to avoid just this situation but they'd both been exhausted and she'd forgotten.

Kate helped him sit up and pushed the pill between his lips and helped him drink some water. His breathing had slowed and it seemed that he was more alert.

"Tell me about the dream, Rick. Tell me what you remember."

"I woke up and I couldn't more. It was dark and I thought I was back in the wreckage of the plane, hanging upside down in the dark."

She couldn't imagine the fear he must have felt. Kate got into the bed and together they maneuvered him so that she was behind him and he was leaning against her. Kate ran her fingertips lightly through his hair and kissed his cheek. His breathing was almost normal so she asked him more about the dream.

"I was hanging upside down in the seat. The people all around me were dead and hanging in their seats just like I was. It was so cold, Kate, and dark and I – I was afraid I'd never see you or Alexis again. I was so afraid – "

"I would have been terrified in your position. You have every right to feel the way you do but you're safe now. We're together and I won't let anyone hurt you if I can help it. Do you remember the crash? Anything at all?"

"I think I remember the plane breaking up but I'm not sure…"

"That's okay, sweetheart. I think we've got you calmed down. Now, if it's okay with you – "

People screaming, praying, the open sky, people being sucked out of their seats and into the sky…

"I died, Kate. I remember now. I died. I woke up in a meadow covered with dead grass and some heavenly bureaucrat kept telling me I couldn't go back. I died…"

"Rick, listen. You did not die. You're alive and you're in bed and I'm right here, Honey, and we're going to have long lives together. I love you, Richard Castle, and not even Heaven itself will keep me from being with you for the rest of my life!"

"I have one woman in my life and I'm going to marry her if I have to wage war on Heaven itself." The look on his face was so fierce that she was afraid for a moment.

"Rick that's so sweet but – "

"No! It's true! I remember saying it and then Luci…"

"What? Who's Luci?"

"I – don't remember. Damn it, I can't remember. She had empty, desperate eyes, I remember that."

"That's enough for now. I'm going to leave the door open and clean up the mess I made and then I'll cook you something else. You need to eat something, Rick, and I need the practice. Please?"

"Okay, but leave the light on and the door open so I can see you, okay? I know it's childish, but just for tonight? Please?"

"Of course, and I'll keep talking so you'll know you're not alone and that I'm just a whisper away if you need anything."

He knew he wasn't alone. In the back of his mind, just below the threshold of hearing, there was a scuttling of rat's feet on cement, the sound of footsteps on a dead and grassy meadow and a whispered 'I've found my general in you,Richard Castle, and I will have my victory.'

He awoke with a start and felt a wave of panic but tamped it down as he opened his eyes and took in his well-lit surroundings. He could hear Beckett prattling on about nothing important in the kitchen as she cooked something that smelled wonderful to him.

Nature was calling – loudly – and he threw back the covers and made his way to the bathroom. Thankfully, Beckett had left the mirrored door open otherwise - .

"Rick, sweetheart, are you alright in there?" She was standing at the door ready to assist him if he needed it. She couldn't imagine how she would have handled it if the situation were reversed.

The situation wouldn't exist at all because he would never have behaved in such a high-handed manner. He would have asked questions, listened to the answers and together they would have laughed at any misconceptions.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just admiring the needlepoint on my chest. Have you seen it? It's a little off-center and that really bugs me, y'know?"

Kate set down the tray and walked in and felt a frisson of lust when she saw him standing in front of the bathroom mirror in just his boxers. He'd lost a few pounds and he looked really good.

'Down,girl.You know you can't be bone-jumping for atleast 6 weeks.' Lanie's voice in her head made her smile. She walked over behind him and looked at his reflection in the mirror and gasped. She'd never seen the scar where the surgeons had split him open to fix the hole in his heart. She could see the initial wound scar bisected by the surgeon's fine cut. It looked ragged and – and cauterized.

"It looks a lot better than I expected, Rick. And it's perfectly centered. Natalie was right – it does look like you were 'harpooned' by something. Do you remember what hit you, sweetheart?"

She watched her reflection reach around and gently run a fingertip down its length like she was trying to wipe it away and with it all the pain he must have felt. She pressed kisses into this shoulder and her other arm snaked around him and joined its mate, embracing him.

"I love you, Richard Castle. Now, come back to bed, baby, and let me feed you. You've lost weight, honey, and while I like the new you, I plan on fattening you up a bit. We'll take walks and build up your stamina and Meredith says she has a gym somewhere around here and there's a treadmill and – I'm getting ahead of us again, aren't I?"

She was surprised when he twisted around in her arms and brought his lips crashing down hungrily on hers, his tongue demanding entrance and as she opened up to receive him, he broke the kiss and laughed .

"What's so damned funny, Rick?" It had been almost like before the accident.

"I'm just glad I'm alive. I didn't think I'd ever feel your silky lips parting to allow my tongue entrance or feel your heart pounding against my chest like it is now. I'm the luckiest man alive, Kate Beckett."

The guilt and anguish she felt manifested itself in tears and she burst into them and buried her face in his neck, not wanting to see the look on his face. Alive. Loving.

"Kate, no more tears, please? You've cried enough to green the Sahara, my lover. No more tears unless they're happy tears, okay? I – I think I'd better sit down, no, wait, lie down. Yeah, flat and quiet for a moment. Diz – "

She felt him go 'rag doll' on her, literally, and only her hold around him kept him from falling. Beckett called on reserves she didn't know she had and somehow got him into bed and then went to the kitchen and dialed a physician that Meredith had marked as 'makes emergency house calls' and got his service. She left a hurried message and then went back to check on Castle.

After a cursory examination and after reviewing his charts that the Marine doctor had pressed on her saying 'believe me, it'll save him a lot on unnecessary probing and poking', he gave Kate his evaluation.

"Mrs. Castle, he's tired. Simply put, he's run out of steam. He's running on gas he doesn't have and it's taking a toll. Except for sitting up at the kitchen table to eat and the occasional stroll to the bathroom, I want him in bed."

Kate didn't correct his error. She liked 'Mrs. Castle'. It sounded right. Kate Castle. Mrs. Katherine Castle. Yeah.

"Now, beginning next week, if he's feeling up to it, he can sit out on the deck and enjoy the California sunshine for as long as he wants. A week after that he can begin short walks on flat terrain. You should consult his physician regarding physical therapy and rehab. And call the ortho guy's number. Casts? Positively medieval. A fiberglass frame will enable him to use his fingers and preclude loss of flexibility – a real possibility at his age."

Kate explained their situation and the doctor smiled. "I'll take over as primary physician and I'll contact a cardio doc from the list. Oh, no standing showers for the duration. His blood pressure drops a bit and he gets dizzy. Tub baths for at least a month, maybe longer. You won't mind that, will you?"

He almost leered and Kate resisted the urge to drive her knee into his groin. She hadn't appreciated all the attention he paid to her breasts and wished she'd worn a sweatshirt and bra but she'd been frantic and clothes had been the last thing on her mind.

"Now, I've written a prescription for a sleep aid. Make him take one and only one before he retires for the night. When you talk to a counselor, advise him or her about the prescription. They have my permission to discontinue the drug if they feel it's in your husband's best interests. So, I'll send him a bill and call if you need anything – anything at all."

There was that leer and the suggestive language and she felt her knee twitch but smiled and let the doctor leave.

Kate didn't trust her memory and had made the doctor write down his instructions while verbally giving them. Other than the suggestion that he was available 'to meet any of your personal needs at any time', they were pretty much the same as his verbal ones. Kate could almost feel the leer in his written words.

Sometime during the night, probably immediately after she fell asleep spooned against his side, her hand, of its own volition, had crept down beneath the waistband of his pajamas and taken him in her gentle grasp. She awoke first and pressed a kiss into his side and removed her wayward hand but not before giving him a gentle squeeze of appreciation and promise.

Today she'd call Natalie and ask her to come over and visit. Rick would get a kick out of seeing her son again and the two of them could entertain each other while Kate talked with Natalie. She planned on leaving them alone while she ran out and filled prescriptions and bought them both some clothes. Neither had planned on being away from home for an extended time.

Tomorrow would be another big day. Martha and Alexis were flying in and she had already arranged for a rental car for them. She was scared to death of their reaction to the entire affair. She planned on telling them everything that had happened, including the 'why' of it. She would talk with Rick about it later and gauge his reaction.

Kate was scrambling eggs when the house phone rang. It was the 'ortho guy' that 'Dr. Letcher' had recommended. She wanted to see them both in her office before noon. When Kate explained about Rick's condition, she said, 'I don't make house calls but this is an exception. Casts! Positively punitive. They have to come off. I'll bring some braces and see about custom fittings later. They absolutely must come off, Mrs. Castle."

Kate puffed hair from her face. Not even up and hour and her Great Plan was already in the crapper. She finished breakfast and took a tray into Rick's room. She had heard him up while she'd been on the phone and had cursed Meredith for not having portables around. She made a mental note to add that to her list of 'essentials'.

"Rick, breakfast. Want to risk life and limb and eat in the kitchen?" Oh, yeah. She could get used to the domesticity of being Mrs. Richard Castle.