Hello faithful readers! WOW - you've once again blown me away with your AMAZING reviews! Normally, I try to reply to each and every one of them as they come in, but there were just too many of you! (Not at all encouraging you guys to stop though!)

Thank you to everyone who is reading this story and a very special thank you to those of you who reviewed or are following it! Y'all are warming the cockles of my cold, dead heart ;)

I'm so sorry for the delay - it appears that once I got the first chapter of this story out, that my muse tortured me with for WEEKS, the little bitch jumped ship and left me with no idea how to continue it! So I'm gonna say, I'm not entirely happy with this chapter - but I hope that you can forgive me - I've never had to write without my muse around before - must be the three week Castle dry spell..

At any rate - try to enjoy the chapter - even if it is sub-par!

Chapter 2

Your mother was a devout believer in the truth, and if she were here right now she would tell you that the truth can never hurt you.

Sitting in her hospital bed, Kate Beckett wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh or cry at the irony of her mother's beliefs. She had always considered herself to be an honest person. She didn't deliberately lie, cheat or steal. She had always believed in the innate integrity of her actions and her words.

It turned out she hadn't only been lying to herself, but to everyone around her.

She had always been a guarded and private person, she had just never realised how much of that had depended upon her ability to deceive those around her. Oh sure, she didn't tell bald-faced lies that were designed to hurt her family and friends, but she certainly hid behind little white lies and lies of omission that were designed to not only keep people from getting too close, but to make her life easier.

Until now.

Now, as she turned to look at the pitiable sight of her partner tied down to his own hospital bed, she was filled with fear – fear that she would blurt out her true feelings for that man, fear that she would hurt him or chase him away with her completely uncensored words, because, not so deep down inside, Katherine Beckett was afraid that the people she loved left her because there was something deeply wrong with her.

That fear had stolen her voice.

It turned out that her only saviour, her only reprieve, was in silence. While she couldn't fabricate falsehoods, she was still left with the option of not speaking at all. Unfortunately for her, while that might have worked on most of the people in her life, it never had, and likely never would, work on Castle. Even without words, he could read her face like the books he wrote.

She sighed again, closing her eyes to the site of him, her heart aching to go to him.

"Are you really going to leave me strapped to this bed like some sort of lunatic?"

Her eyes popped open again at the unexpected sound of his voice. His tone was deliberately light, but she could hear the misery in his undertone. She had thought he was sleeping, though his blue eyes were now trained on her own, reading every nuance of her face.

After several minutes of silence, he spoke again, "it's not fair you know."

"What's that?" she finally answered, her voice hoarse from disuse.

"You have the option of silence. Me?" he sighed, "I don't get any of that. My words, my actions, my emotions – I have no control over any of it. And what does it get me? I'm strapped to this bed like some sort of rabid animal."

Her heart breaks a little seeing the pain and misery in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Castle." It's the truth. She's not afraid to tell him that much.

"Kate…please?"

She's losing her resolve. He's right after all, it's not fair. She might not be able to lie, but she still has some control. Again, she goes with a safe truth. "They don't want you to hurt yourself….I…don't want you to hurt yourself."

"Do you know what this is like?" his voice cracks a little. "It's like being ADD and high on meth – I feel like I'm going insane. I'm like that dog in that movie with the balloon house – the one that gets distracted by squirrels," she smiles a little, "except that everything and everyone is a squirrel. I just want to be with…you…I don't know…you just quiet it a little…"

That was it. She didn't know how he did it, but he did. Every single time. Before she was even fully aware of her actions, she found herself slowly climbing out of her bed, being careful not to knock any of her lines or monitors that might alert the nurses.

Standing at the edge of his bed, she debated with herself over the wisdom of untying the cuffs that held his wrists and ankles to the bed. Recalling the incident that morning that had finally caused 'Nurse Ratched' to strap him to the bed in the first place, she found herself wondering about what power this man had over her to cause her to go against her own common sense a mere twelve hours later.

"You know they strapped you to that bed for a reason," she sighed, running her hand through his hair, hoping that the action would soothe him just a little. She felt him lean into her hand a sigh contentedly.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to keep pulling my lines out, they just itch," he whined a little, wriggling his fingers in the cuffs.

"If you'll recall," she chuckled at the memory, "that wasn't the straw, so to speak, that broke poor Ratched's back."

"It was too hot in here," he smiled.

"So you decided to run naked down the halls?"

"Seemed like the thing to do at the time."

"You know you've probably traumatised Alexis for the rest of her life," the instant the words left her mouth she regretted them. Immediately his face sobered and his eyes lost their twinkle of amusement.

"Do you think she'll ever forgive me?"

"Yeah Castle, I do," and she smiled, glad that this time, her forced truthfulness could bring the man some comfort – though she'd nearly bitten her tongue off to prevent the word 'eventually' from being tagged on to the end of that sentence.

"Are you really not going to untie me? I promise not to do it again." The 'charm' smile was back in place, though it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"That would be too ba—" the words were out of her mouth before she was even fully aware that the thought had formed and well before she could slap her hands over her mouth to prevent their escaping.

"Oh really, Kate? Did you like what you saw?"

Normally, this would be the point where she would turn on her heal and walk back to her bed and leave him there believing that she had no intention of untying him. Unfortunately for her, it turned out that she wasn't able to act out against her own intentions either – and because she had no intention of leaving him bound to his bed like some sort of criminal, she found herself unable to pretend that she would just to hear him beg. She couldn't even threaten him. She wanted to bang her head against the wall in frustration, but the fear of making her brain damage permanent stopped her.

Sighing once again, she found herself loosening the cuffs on the wrist closest to her. As soon as it was free, she felt him latch onto her hands.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Stay?"

She knew that she shouldn't – unfortunately, she also knew that she really wanted to. Without saying a word, she shuffled around to the other side of the bed to unbind his other wrist.

Rubbing at his wrists, he looked at her expectantly waiting for her answer. When it came, he found himself surprised.

"Move over."

Shifting over as much as his still bound ankles would allow (and he was immensely grateful that he had some leeway with them), she slowly climbed in beside him, finding herself immediately wrapped up in his arms and pulled against his chest.

Feeling him sigh in contentment, she allowed herself to relax against him. Just as she was about to drift off to sleep, she heard him mumble something.

"What was that?"

"I said, are you really going to leave my ankles tied up?"

She smiled against his chest and answered with the honest truth.

"Yes I am, Castle. I don't want you running off in the middle of the night," she could almost hear the wheels turning in his head, "and don't even think about taking them off yourself. I'm a light sleeper and if I so much as feel you start to sit up, I'll pull out your chest hair one piece at a time."

She smiled, proud at herself for being able to find a threat that she fully intended to carry out if necessary. She just hoped it would be enough to stop him from trying, despite the fact that he had very little control over his impulses.

"I've got you in my arms right now, Kate. There's no place else I'd rather be."

She stiffened in his arms at the sincerity that she heard in his voice, but found herself unwilling to be believe that he hadn't just spoken them as an impulse.

"I meant what I said, Kate," he whispered into her hair, having felt her tense in his arms, "holding you quiets the insanity for a while."

Refusing to analyse the deeper meaning of his words, she forced herself to relax and enjoy the feeling of being held in his arms. Listening to his breathing as it evened out, she found herself slowly drifting off to sleep.

As I said before - not sure how pleased I am with this chapter - but here it is - a bit more serious than I was aiming for, but I'm hoping that (with the return of my treacherous muse) the next few chapters should lighten up some.

Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think :)