The days quickly settled into a rhythm that Kate both loved and hated. She woke up sometime in the mid-morning, ate a small breakfast in the kitchen while Castle chattered to her about whatever crazy idea he'd just had for his book, then watched TV or read a book for awhile before falling back asleep until lunch time. She'd wake, eat, hang out with Castle, and then go back to sleep unless he was driving her to one of her appointments. She woke up in the evenings before Lanie, Esposito or Ryan came over to chat and check up on her. She also tried to make sure she was awake when Alexis was going to be home. Listening to the teenager chatter happily about her internships, plans for the future, and thoughts on life was more relaxing than Kate would have expected. On good days, Kate managed to be awake for most of the day with only short naps when she got exhausted.
On bad days, Kate had to remind herself that she'd gotten off lightly. The doctors had told her about all the possible symptoms she might need to live with for months or even a year, and she had almost none of them. But that was cold comfort when the headaches got bad enough that all she wanted to do was sleep to get away from the pain, or when her emotions felt so raw that the littlest thing could make her start sobbing. She didn't like how much it reminded her of the first couple of weeks at her father's cabin after her shooting, when she'd had almost no emotional control and worried sometimes that she was permanently broken.
It was hard not to snap at Castle on those days. He had a tendency to hover when she least wanted him around. She did her best not to bite his head off and she hid when she felt one of her crying spells about to start so she could be overly-emotional in privacy.
Two weeks after her fall, Kate felt the start of another bad day. She had a moment of dizziness in the kitchen and dropped a glass. Castle came running in from his office to make sure she was okay. Without asking or stopping when she objected, Castle lifted her off the ground and carried her safely away from the glass so she wouldn't step on anything with her bare feet. She hit him on the shoulder and accused him of being an overbearing mother hen at what was nearly the top of her lungs. Then she doubled over as the headache started and he carried her up to her room while she cried from the pain, the humiliation of feeling like an invalid, and shame that she'd lost control of both the yelling and the tears. He set her on the bed and turned to leave. She caught his hand to stop him. She couldn't speak through the tears but she didn't want him to walk away before she apologized. He settled onto the bed and wrapped his arms around her, rocking her gently and humming.
By the time she stopped crying half an hour later, she was exhausted and the headache wasn't any better. She'd ended up leaning against the backboard next to Castle, head on his chest and arms around his waist. She moved to sit up slowly, but Castle tightened his grip and held her where she was. She relaxed back into him, taking a shuddering breath and letting it out as a sigh. She could feel the rumble of a suppressed laugh and she looked up at Castle suspiciously.
"What's so funny?" Kate wanted to be irritated with him, but his eyes were full of joy and less than a foot away from hers. He opened his mouth to reply and Kate found herself kissing him. He stiffened in shock and she broke the kiss, trying to pull away as she felt her face heat. "Sorry, I don't-"
His mouth was on hers before she finished the apology. She let him pull her back onto the bed, his hands in her hair and her arms looping themselves around his neck. A sudden stab of pain in her temple reminded her that her doctors did not want her exerting herself or doing anything that would raise her blood pressure. She broke the kiss, but only pulled back far enough to look Castle in the eyes.
"I'm supposed to be resting. As nice as this is, it doesn't feel restful."
Castle kissed her briefly on the nose as he stood, leaving her sitting up on the bed.
"I'll be downstairs. Holler if you need anything."
He was out the door and down the hall almost before Kate could blink.