I wasn't happy with 'Dreamworld', so I wrote in some AU scenes.
"I'm alright." He cuts her off before she can say anything, but the creeping hint of tiredness in his voice, in his eyes, give lie to the words. Their talks with Parker and Secretary Reid had only lead to more questions, not answers.
His phone cuts in, interrupting the thick silence between them, the weight of the Federal agency building they are in pressing down on them like a bunker. She doesn't know what to do, beyond the fact she must find the antidote. But he needs her too. He needs her support. He needs to allay the desperation that must be creeping up on him, the ice slowly crawling up his spine as he confronts his mortality.
She knows that feeling, knows it all too well standing for hours on an end on a bomb that hadn't even allowed her the relief of the occasional movement, when he'd sat by her side and cajoled her through the ordeal, right down the last seconds. She couldn't do that for him, not at all, because his best chance lay with her out in the field.
He finds a seat, still speaking softly into his phone. A conversation with his mother and daughter, probably one of the toughest of his life…she takes a quick glance around, then strides over to him. Villante and McCord would surely need her in a second, but till then she will be there for her fiancé. Be his bulwark, be his strength. She comes up behind him and rests on hand on his shoulder, fingers gently squeezing, letting him know he isn't alone in getting through this. He looks up at her, blue eyes ever so slightly watery, and she smiles at him, trying to inject her will and her belief into it. They will get through this. They will find the antidote. There is no other option for her here.
Chatter on a new suspect pulls her away as the doctor arrives to give him another shot. She ruffles his hair before she leaves. He is not alone. He will not face this alone.
"…going to be fine."
She walks into find her two partners talking, McCord bent over, one hand on his shoulder. Lending him her support, giving him positive reinforcement. What she should be doing, really. McCord looks up at her, catches her eye and nods briefly, then leaves them alone.
"Kate." He turns to her as she strides over, need for coffee forgotten. She just wants to be near him, talk to him for a moment, crack a joke.
"Hey Castle. Dreaming up a new partner for Nikki for the next book? Blue-eyed curly-haired federal agent with a steely temper?" She leans over from her seat, scratches his knee with two lean fingers.
"No." He nods mournfully. "I already started writing up such an agent as an antagonist who hates Rook a few days ago. Now I'm confused."
"Well maybe she can switch teams halfway through, come to her senses."
"Yeah, if I'm around to write the ending." He goes for a wavering half-smile, but she sees the pain underlying, and the fear. It is getting to him now. The clock has been ticking for a while, and he's finding it harder to fight. Fine. She'll fight twice as hard for both of them. Because they are one. They're going to have a future together. She knows it.
She turns her grip tight on his upper thigh, catching his attention.
"Hey, listen to me! You will be around to write the ending. And many more besides. Nooki's story has a long way to go yet, and I wanna read all of it, OK?" She fixes him with her best steely glare, one she likes to think of as reserved especially for him.
He chuckles weakly.
"OK, don't want to disappoint my biggest fa-"
"Beckett, I got in! C'mon." Richmond interrupts their moment, dragging them back to the reality of the fight in the here and now. She keeps her fingers intertwined through his as they walk through the office. Damn any sense of propriety.
"I think I'm due for another shot." But before he can move off, she puts a hand on his forearm and drags him around the corner behind the staircase.
His expression is a mix of confusion and that put-upon brave act she's too many times before. That façade he's learned to put up to keep the world out, to project a brave for her, his mother and Alexis most of all. In a way she's touched that she's in that group now.
"Castle…" she leans up to whisper into his ear, "I'm going to take a run at the Secretary myself. See if I can shake something loose."
"Kate…are you sure?" His eyes are full of concern, but not for himself. For her. For the risk she's taking. He's an idiot. For him she'll risk everything. Her life, her career, her future. If she can get him through this, the price will have been worth it.
"Yes. And you know what? I'm not giving up, so you can't either!" She briefly, fiercely presses her lips to his, her hands on his cheek, tilting his face down and into her.
He pulls her into a hug afterwards, letting his broad arms drape over her shoulder. She knows he's seeking brief comfort in the feel of their bodies against each other, the warmth and scent of human contact. She wraps her herself around his torso, actively squeezing them together.
"Amalfi, Costa Rica or Bali." She whispers into his ear before pulling away.
It takes him a second to process and she's already walking away when he asks.
"What?"
"The honeymoon. You pick from that list." She grins briefly over her shoulder as she turns the corner towards the exit. His sort of poleaxed look is well worth it. It is the first expression that isn't concern or fear he has worn in hours.
They will win. They will get their happy ending.