Disclaimer: Castle in its entirety belongs to Andrew Marlowe. I do not claim to own any of the characters or anything else from the show.

A/N: This is a continuation from the last chapter. I have tried to clarify more of Kate's character and why she stayed in her relationship with Josh for as long as she did. Hopefully this will help, but if not, I apologize for any OOC-ness (for both her and Castle) in advance.

Also, it's pretty obvious, but this is an AU fic. Thoughts are in italics like last time. Any errors are mine, as this is again un-beta'd.

**Trigger warning for discussion of domestic abuse. It doesn't get overly detailed, but I want to be careful. Please read at your own discretion.**

The ride back to Rick's apartment was a long one. He wanted so badly to ask her if there was anything he could do for her, anything he could do to help. But he also remembered her angry words to him from earlier in the day, and so Rick very reluctantly opted to keep his mouth closed. He settled instead for watching Kate out of the corner of his eye. Every so often he saw her swipe at her cheeks, and each time his heart clenched a little more. She didn't deserve to be in this kind of pain. No one did. There was no excuse for what had been done to her.

At last the taxi arrived at Rick's apartment. Kate pulled the sliding door open and stepped out onto the sidewalk, while Rick thanked the driver quietly and slipped him another small bonus before climbing out after her. The driver wished him a good night, and Rick nodded before shutting the door and turning around to face Kate – except she wasn't there. She'd already made her way over to the front stairs and was attempting to navigate up them, but Rick could see for the first time that she was having some difficulty. He rushed over and reached her side just as her left ankle turned over and gave way. She cried out and fell into his side, and Rick threw his arms around her to help keep her upright.

"Dammit," she bit out between clenched teeth.

"Hold on, let me help you get up the stairs," Rick started, but Kate cut him off.

"Castle I'm fine! I can climb a set of stairs by myself," she snapped.

Rick ignored her. "Is your ankle sprained?"

Kate grabbed onto the handrail and pulled herself away from Rick without answering, and he let his arms fall away. He could see how much her injuries were bothering her, but he was also starting to see how wounded her pride was as well. He realized Kate Beckett probably didn't ask for help very often, so that when she absolutely had to, she resented it. Rick said nothing as she put her injured foot down on the next step, and then the next, merely walking beside her as she made her way slowly up the front steps, ready to catch her if needed. He was grateful that this set of steps was not very large; he didn't want to see her make her injuries worse than they already were. The sooner they got inside, the sooner he could get her to lie down and rest.

They reached the front doors, and the doorman rushed forward to let them inside when he saw Kate limping. Rick gave the man a small smile as they passed through before walking ahead to push the button for the elevator.

"I could've gotten it, Castle."

Rick turned around and gave her a look that said everything and nothing all at once. "Kate, you're injured. Enough's enough. I'm not going to watch you hurt yourself more because you refuse to accept any offer of assistance from me that extends past a cab ride."

"I'm not hurting myself-" Kate started to argue in a heated tone.

"Keep your voice down," Rick hissed. "It's the middle of the night."

"I'm well aware of that," Kate shot back. She knew how late it had been when she had asked for the safe house to call Rick. She knew how much she was imposing on him, and it killed her; she hated being a burden to anyone.

The elevator dinged its arrival, and both the cop and the writer stepped on in silence. Kate shifted her weight to her good foot and leaned back against the wall as Rick pressed the button for his floor. The doors shut gently and up they went.

"I'm sorry," Rick said quietly a few moments later. Kate didn't look at him and continued to stare at the floor. "It just... bothers me to see you in pain. You're my partner, and when I see you like this my first instinct is to try to help you. Make things easier for you. But all I seem to do is step on your toes."

The elevator stopped and its doors opened before Kate could think of a logical reply. Her ankle and other injuries were starting to really burn and the pain was distracting her. She limped out of the elevator, and this time when Rick stepped forward to support her under one arm, she let him. Together they made their way slowly down the hall to his apartment.

"Is your family home?" Kate asked quietly as he slipped his key into the lock.

Rick turned to look at her. "They are," he said slowly. "Why do you ask?"

"Will... will they mind me being here?" Doubt edged with a touch of fear made her pause.

"I haven't told them anything, but I figured we'd deal with that in the morning. My main concern was getting you here safely. Regardless, it's my apartment – I don't particularly care if they mind or not."

Kate gave him a look that made him re-examine his words. "What I meant is that you come first, Kate. If they have any concerns with you being here, I will talk to them about it. But I'm sure that that point is moot because they're not going to mind, they like you being here and you're always welcome at our apartment..." He sighed and hung his head. "I'm just sticking my foot in my mouth, aren't I?"

He said I come first. Kate smiled for the first time that night. "You are rambling a little, yes, but it's alright." She winced as a jolt of pain shot up her injured foot. "Can we go inside though?"

"Oh yes, of course." He turned the key in the lock and swung the front door open carefully. Kate hobbled inside and Rick followed in close behind her, flicking on a light for the living room and another for the kitchen.

"Did you want to get cleaned up first?" He asked her quietly as he slipped his shoes off. "Or did you want something to eat? I don't know what happened at the transition house, so I am not sure what to offer you first."

Kate sat on the arm of his couch and faced him. "Honestly Castle, I'd be happy with just a bed. I want to go to sleep, put this behind me and deal with it in the morning when I've had a full night's rest."

Rick watched her silently for a moment, mulling over how to say what he wanted to say but unsure of how to say it. At great length, he said, "You can have my bedroom down here, and I'll sleep in the guest room upstairs."

"I can't take your bed from you Castle-"

"You can and you will. Please don't argue with me about this," Rick said firmly. "Down here you're away from stairs, and it's a short walk to the bathroom and the kitchen. Everything you need is relatively close, which is important because of your ankle there. What would happen if you were to fall in the middle of the night?"

"Castle..."

"Please, Kate," Rick pleaded, his patience finally starting to fray. "I told Tracey and Melanie that I would keep you safe and look after you here, and I fully intend to keep my word. It's just for one night. After tonight you can go stay with your father or Lanie even if you'd like-"

"No."

Rick stopped and gave her an odd look, but let it go. Neither one of them said anything for several minutes as Castle busied himself with putting away his jacket and shoes, while Kate feigned interest in the interior of his apartment.

Rick finally broke the tension. "Well if you want to just head right to bed then, the bedroom is through the study on your left there. Make a right when you hit my desk and you can't miss it. I'll be in there in a moment, I'm just going to get you a glass of water from the kitchen."

"Ok. Thank you, Castle." Kate limped through the open doorway and Rick watched her go. When he could no longer see her, he pulled a mug out from one of the kitchen cupboards and filled it from the tap. Following Kate's path, he could see she'd indeed found the bedroom without any trouble.

"Pretty impressive eh?"

Kate turned around on the bed and smiled at him. "This is incredible, Castle. I only wish my bedroom looked this..."

"Amazing? Awesome?"

"Classy. This looks like a bedroom befitting for some kind of celebutant – which I guess you are." Rick chuckled, remembering when she had first used that term with him. She looked around the room again, amazed at what she saw. "The pictures on the wall, your linens, the sitting chairs in the corner – everything goes together so well. You have quite the sense of style."

"You should really thank my interior designer, but regardless, thank you Madam Katherine," Rick teased with a mock bow as he walked over and set the glass down on the nightstand before stepping back. "So, umm... I'm not sure how to ask this-"

"A change of clothes would be wonderful, if you don't mind," Kate interjected, and Rick looked surprised. "That's what you were going to ask me, right?"

"Uhh, yeah I was. How did you know?" Rick asked as he walked over to his dresser and started rifling through one of the drawers.

"You looked like you would rather eat snails than ask me what you were about to ask, so I figured it had to be something awkward."

"I guess you just know me too well, Detective." He spun around, holding a pair of black boxers with coloured poker chips on them. "These ok for the night?" He asked as he walked over to his closet with the boxers still held in his outstretched hand.

"Yes, they're fine. Thanks again Castle."

He looked back over his shoulder at her. "We're not at the precinct anymore, so you can call me Rick, you know. By the way, is this t-shirt alright? I'm assuming you wear a t-shirt when you sleep at night-"

"Yeah I do," Kate said quickly without really looking at it. She wanted to bypass that conversation completely. This was not the time or the place to be having that sort of discussion, nor was he the right person to be having it with. He was her partner, not her boyfriend.

Rick seemed to realize it too. "Alright then." He placed both the boxers and the t-shirt on his bed, and stepped back hesitantly. "I will, uh, just leave you to get changed then. I'll be outside in the living room, so just call for me if you need anything. The bathroom's just off to the left there as you can see, and there's a spare toothbrush and tube of toothpaste under the sink if you want to use them."

Kate pretended to be fascinated by the design on his comforter. "Ok. Will do. Thank you."

Rick looked at her for a few more moments, then sighed and left his bedroom. Kate heard him walk back out to the living room and turn the TV. The dull hum provided a welcome distraction as Kate hauled herself to her feet to begin getting changed for bed.

It was a good while before Rick realized that he couldn't hear any sounds coming from his bedroom anymore. There was no shuffling of feet, no running of water. Oh god, what if she'd fallen and hit her head on the edge of the sink? Or her ankle had given out again? He should've been paying more attention-

He raced into the bedroom, stopping on a dime when he saw Kate curled into a ball on the bathroom floor. He only dimly recognized that she'd managed to get changed into his boxers and shirt before she'd collapsed on the floor.

"Kate? Kate, are you alright? Kate!" Rick asked frantically, getting down on his knees beside her. From where he'd been standing he'd thought she was unconscious, until he heard her quiet sniffling. Relief exploded in his chest as he realized she was still awake, just extremely upset and overwhelmed. Up close, he could see how her tears had left faint streaks on her cheeks. He jostled her shoulder, searching for a reaction to his presence. "Kate, talk to me! What's wrong?"

Kate tried to tilt her face away from him, and a strangled cry escaped from between her lips. She couldn't speak even if she wanted to; the lump in her throat made it impossible to talk. All she could do was lie helplessly on the bathroom floor crying as Rick ran a shaky hand up and down her back in a soothing motion.

It was much later when she finally spoke. Rick missed her whispered words and had to ask her to repeat them.

"I hurt."

"What can I do to make it better? What can I do to help?" Rick asked, moving his hand to gently brush her hair back away from her face.

"I don't know."

Rick took this opportunity to look at Kate, really look at her. Now that she was out of her uniform and wearing Rick's night clothes, he could see more of her lithe form. How sad that it's under these circumstances and not a happier occasion, the voice inside his head mused. His boxers revealed a swollen ankle which looked rather painful, and bruises on her calves and thighs; his shirt revealed additional marks and bruises on her forearms, and Rick could see how visible the marks on her face now were. He was definitely going to have to talk to her about seeing a doctor in the morning, for her ankle if nothing else. He could provide temporary relief for the night, but it would need some serious attention soon.

"Why did you stay with him?" Rick asked her quietly.

Kate laughed, a short bark which echoed in the silence of the bathroom. "If only it was so easy to explain," she said in a low voice.

"Then help me to understand," he murmured. "You're a cop, you know about domestic violence. Why would you stay in a relationship that you knew wasn't safe?"

Kate was silent for another few minutes, and Rick started to regret opening his mouth. Maybe he'd pushed her too far. Maybe it really was none of his business. He was just her partner after all.

"It wasn't any one factor," Kate said slowly, softly. "It just...happened. One thing led to another and it spun out of control."

"I see."

"And of course I knew about domestic violence, knew what to avoid. But he wasn't like this in the beginning." She took a deep breath.

"Why didn't you tell me?" The words slipped out before Rick realized it. Damn. You shouldn't have asked you moron-

"I didn't want you to know." Kate's reply surprised Rick, even though he knew he probably shouldn't be. This was Kate Beckett they were talking about. She didn't let anyone know what was going on in certain parts of her life unless it was absolutely necessary. Even after shadowing her for the last few years, she was still a mystery he was still trying to solve.

"Even though you knew I knew?" Rick stroked the top of her head ever so gently, and Kate's eyes fluttered shut. If she didn't have to look at him when she answered his questions and bared her soul, maybe it would help make these topics easier to talk about.

"Denial's a bitch." Kate smirked sadly. "And I didn't want to involve you."

"Why not?" Emotion trickled into Rick's questions, despite his best efforts to hide it. The last thing Kate needed to know right now was how deep his feelings for her ran, and how badly shaken he was by seeing the evidence of Josh's touch on her body.

"You have a family. A mother. A daughter. I was afraid of how you might react if you knew the dirty details about my relationship with Josh, and I didn't want you to try to go after him."

"Come on Kate, do you really think I'd try to hurt him?"

"I didn't think you would, but I couldn't promise that Josh wouldn't try to hurt you," Kate countered.

"Oh."

"Yeah." They fell quiet again, each lost in their own thoughts.

"How long has this been going on for?" Rick ventured. "Or do I even want to know?"

Kate paused, unsure of how he'd react when she gave her answer. "Castle, you can't blame yourself."

"The hell I can't. I'm your partner, I should have noticed these things!"

Kate's hand crept up to rest on Rick's arm, and his mouth closed. "Long enough," she said simply, opting for the less painful option. "Longer than it should have ever lasted."

"How? And why? You're Kate Beckett, Wonder Woman in disguise. I would never have thought that you'd be the type to fall into a relationship like this."

Slowly, painfully, Kate pulled herself up off the bathroom floor and propped herself up against the side of the bathtub behind them. She let her head fall back until it thudded dully on the porcelain rim, then closed her eyes. A tear leaked out of one eye, but she made no move to wipe it away.

"Even Wonder Woman has limits, Castle."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. And sometimes she doesn't know how far past them she's soared until they're just a speck in the distance. Until she switches her autopilot off and wakes up to reality."

"You said earlier that one thing led to another."

Kate nodded. "It did. We were so happy when we first got together, Castle."

"You looked happy," was all he said.

"We just fit together so well. He was what I needed in my life."

Rick smiled sadly. He had noticed the happy changes that Josh's presence in her life had brought to her. Everyone had. She started smiling more, giggling even. She had more energy in her stride, more bounce in her step. Rick could tell when she'd spent the night at his place, or vice versa, despite the efforts she put into hiding that little fact. He'd needled her about Dr. Motorcycle Boy now and then, to keep up appearances, but inside his heart was being torn apart. He wanted her to be happy, but he wanted her to be happy with him. However she had continued to treat him as her friend, her partner, and so that was how he'd kept their relationship. If Kate was happy, he was happy. He would try to be happy. For her.

Rick caught Kate looking at him funny, and he quickly switched his expression to something he hoped was more neutral. He'd have to be more careful if he didn't want to tip his hand too soon. His feelings weren't what she needed to deal with right now anyways. Pandora's Box had already been cracked open, but he could still try to chain the lid shut as best he could.

A lightbulb went off. "He didn't start with the hitting, did he?" Rick asked.

Kate rolled her head back and forth on the tub's edge, and Rick winced at the sound it made. Scooting himself over next to her, he silently extended an arm towards her in invitation. Kate looked down at the floor as she accepted his offer, tucking herself against his side and resting her head on his broad shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her. His head rested against hers gently as she spoke.

"People think that it starts with the hitting, the beating. A nudge leads to a push, which leads to a shove and then a smack. An open palm becoming a closed fist. But it doesn't always play out like that," she whispered.

Rick reached for her hand with his spare one, meshed their fingers together. He caressed her slender digits with his callused ones, and she sighed against his body. "How did it happen for you?" He asked.

Kate's forehead scrunched up as she tried to recall how it had all started. "He started saying things to me, these short little jabs which were made more to unsettle me than they were to hurt my feelings or anything like that. Then the comments turned to blatant put downs, which progressed to complaints. When I didn't bend to his will, he started being a little firmer with me. He used his voice and his dominating presence to try to intimidate me. And when that didn't work-" Her voice broke and she fell silent.

"That's when he started putting his hands on you," Rick guessed.

"Yes. He'd grab me with a strong hold if he wanted to pull me closer, or pinch me if I said or did something he didn't like. Then I would get angry and he would back off, pretending to be sorry. Later on he'd do it again. And again."

"Why didn't you just leave? He obviously didn't respect you."

"He was... he was someone to come home to," Kate admitted. Somehow hearing herself say the words out loud made them seem more pathetic compared to when they were locked inside her head, but it was too late to take them back. She had never spoken about any of this to anyone before, not even Lanie. But this was Castle, and Kate knew deep in her heart that Castle wouldn't judge her. "He was an asshole sometimes, but he still showed his lo-feelings for me too. Like a pendulum swinging back and forth. Despite the bad times, for the first few months I thought he really did care about me."

Beside her, Rick sucked in a breath. So many things he wanted to tell her, but couldn't. I wanted to be there for you Kate. I would have welcomed you home every day, with open arms and a kiss. All you had to do was ask.

"Is that why your wrist is sore?" Rick asked her.

"Mmhmm. The other day we were out at the mall and he wanted me to come look at something in a store's window display. Something about a new motorcycle jacket he was interested in buying. When I asked him to wait because I was in the middle of something, he grabbed my wrist – hard – and pulled me over. He did it forcefully enough that I stumbled, and he caught me. All the while he made it look like an accident, so no one would suspect anything. He did it other times too, usually when we were at home, so it hasn't had a chance to heal yet."

"Is that where the bruises on your arms came from too?"

Kate shook her head slowly. "No, those were different. Some are from his hard pinches, but most are from when he grabbed me and sh-shook me." Memories flooded Kate's mind unexpectedly, and she struggled to will them away. Not now, not again! I don't want to remember!

"Shhh," Rick soothed, capturing one of her hands between his two large ones. He was overwhelmed with disgust and sadness at hearing what he had done to her, but he knew he couldn't let her see it. She needed her partner, a rock to hold onto in these turbulent waters. "It's alright Kate. I'm here, you're here. You're alright."

Another tear escaped, and then another. "He'd shake me, yell at me and demand that I tell him what was wrong with me. Why I had done what I had done, knowing it was a stupid thing to do but had done it anyways. He told me I was just a cop, another mindless drone navigating the system to scrape out a living. I wasn't as important as he was, wasn't saving lives like he was."

"Kate you know he's wrong about that, right? Well actually he's wrong about everything he said, but you know you're not 'just a cop' right?"

"I don't know what to think anymore."

Rick didn't know what to say to that. Deep inside the dark crevices of his mind, he was beating the living daylights out of Josh. Screaming at him for all of the things he did to Kate, how he transformed her from a strong, confident and independent woman to someone who could no longer remember why she became a cop and why she loved it her job so much. Rick wanted to kill the man for what he had robbed her of.

"After that," Kate continued softly, "Things were ok again. After a night where he'd been more aggressive than usual, Josh usually backed off and we would both pretend that things were fine between us. I would hide my bruises under my make-up and come to work, same as always. He'd go to the hospital and save people."

"Did he ever... you know..." Rick asked awkwardly. He wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer, but he knew it would gnaw at him until he had an answer one way or the other.

Something cold flashed across Kate's expression momentarily, and then it was gone. "You mean did he ever rape me, Castle? The answer is no," she continued sharply before Rick could say anything. "He never tried anything like that. I would have been long gone if he had ever tried that shit with me." Rick was scared to admit to himself that he wasn't quite as sure as she appeared to be, but hell would freeze over before he voiced that thought aloud.

"How did he hurt your ankle?" Rick asked instead.

Kate laughed somewhat sardonically. "He pushed me into one of the kitchen chairs, and my foot got caught under one of the legs as I fell. He said it was my fault for not catching my balance fast enough. And then when I was on the ground, he stepped on it to make it hurt, so I would give in to what he wanted. I don't even remember what that was anymore, just that it hurt so much when he did that."

Bile rose in Rick's throat and he swallowed hard. "And that happened last night?"

Kate nodded and rubbed her eyes. "That was one of the final straws."

"What was the final one? If you don't mind me asking, I mean," Rick said hastily.

Kate leaned away from Rick and propped herself up against the tub, turning herself so he could look at her face straight on. Rick could see the bruises on her cheeks and near one of her eyes. Her lips were still slightly swollen and one corner had been split. A lot of damage had been done, but Rick realized, with some guilty relief, that it could have been a lot worse. A couple of inches in any direction and Kate could have had damaged vision or broken teeth instead of merely bruises and a split lip. Rick wondered if the doctor had been careless in his rage, or if it had been a deliberate move on his part; then again, he wasn't so sure he wanted to know. The latter had some disturbing implications for the doctor's psyche if it were true.

"He used a closed fist, in case you're wondering," Kate said softly. "That's why the marks are so pronounced. In the past he had slapped me before, but this was the first time he'd dared to hit me with a closed fist."

"Wonder Woman's final breaking point?"

Kate shrugged. "Something like that."

"And then he left?"

"We screamed at each other for awhile and then he just grabbed his jacket and stormed out. I didn't know what else to do, my mind had shut down and was basically running on auto-pilot by that point. I dialled the number before I even realized I was doing it, and by the time I did, something clicked inside me. I knew that I needed to be doing this, that I should have done it a long time ago. So they came and picked me up and took me back to the shelter. And then... and then I asked them to call you."

Carefully, with great tenderness and affection, Rick cradled Kate's face in his hands, careful to avoid her bruises. The last thing he wanted to do was cause her any more pain than she was already in. Her eyes searched his as he stared back at her, memorizing every detail of her face, from her emerald eyes to her warm lips. His thumbs grazed her cheeks featherlight as he watched her watch him, and he thought to himself that she was the most gorgeous woman, both inside and out, that he had ever had the fortune of knowing.

"You are so beautiful, Kate Beckett."

She flushed and pulled away, hiding her face as she looked away from him in embarrassment and... something else. Rick couldn't quite put his finger on it. But she wasn't crying anymore, so that was a start.

They sat there on the tiled floor in an awkward yet strangely comfortable silence, neither one willing to move forward from all which had been revealed. It was a lot to take in, a lot to digest; Rick couldn't even begin to imagine what it had cost Kate to divulge all of the intensely personal turmoil in her life.

Rick glanced at her from the corner of his eye and saw her staring off into nothing. Her fingers were wrapped around each other as they lay still in her lap. She must be exhausted. "Are you ready for bed now?" He asked her. "You look so tired."

"I am tired. It must be... Well I have no idea what time it is, but it feels like it's been a very long night."

Rick nodded in agreement. "That it has been. Did you want to go lie down on the bed and we'll take care of your ankle before you go to sleep?"

She nodded and gave Rick a gentle smile. "Alright."

A/N: Almost done, there's still some points that have to be tied up in the final chapter. Also, for those who have been reading and thinking that Kate wouldn't get herself into an abusive relationship because she's so strong and independent (etc), I agree with you. The concept for this fic originally came from another fic I read, but as I've been writing it, I've decided that I also wanted to show that domestic abuse is not always so cut and dry. There are several forms and many, many ways to be abusive, not just physically hitting someone. So that's what I tried to show, based on some personal experience in my past and the knowledge on domestic violence that I've gained over the years. Any errors in that knowledge are my own fault.