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Castle returned to the bedroom. Kate Beckett was naked in his bed. There was no way he could not touch her. She looked like a rag doll that had been haphazardly thrown on the bed. The sheet covered her lower body except her left leg was sticking out of the covers as it stretched across the bed like her left arm. Her hair was strewn across her back and the pillow. He knew she needed to sleep but he couldn't help himself. He crawled back into bed. If he could hold her without waking her, he would. He lay on his side, his head propped on his hand. He reached his left hand out and started to lightly stroke her back. He smiled. If nothing else, he was an optimistic person. She willingly came to him and she was still here – in his bed! He hoped they could talk everything out and he hoped their relationship was truly moving forward.

If she woke up now she would berate him for doing the 'creepy staring' thing again. He couldn't help himself. He loved staring at her, as she worked or slept or really did anything. He wrapped his arm around her and gently pulled her to him. She gave a slight moan as she shifted her position snuggling in closer to him, her back pressed up against his chest. He wrapped both arms around her. He didn't think she really woke up, but then her arms came up and cradled his arms as he held her. "Castle," she breathed out contentedly. He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. Her eyes were still closed. Castle relaxed and closed his eyes too.

The next thing he knew, she was pulling away from his grasp. Instinctively he tightened his grip.

"Castle," she said probably more sharply than she meant. "I have to go to the bathroom."

"Sorry," Castle muttered relinquishing his grip on her, realizing he had been asleep. There was light flooding in through the windows now. Kate groaned a little as she rolled out of bed and started to walk stiffly to the bathroom. Castle finally got his eyes focused. It was 7:12. He looked up at Kate. Suddenly he realized her body was covered in bruises.

"Oh my God, Kate. You're hurt!" Castle leaped out of bed and was instantly by her side. Kate put her hand on his chest to stop him.

"Bathroom," she said raising an eyebrow. Castle awkwardly gestured toward the bathroom door, realizing that she wanted a little privacy.

Castle sat on the bed with his head in his hands. When she told him she had almost died, he assumed that somehow she had avoided being shot, not that she was nearly beaten to death. He was angry at Maddox and wanted to kill him himself. He was angry at Beckett for being so reckless with her life. Maybe he was more angry at himself for walking away when there might have been something he could have done. The truth was he wasn't a cop. He wasn't trained to fight. He didn't have a gun. He probably would have been useless if he had been there.

He heard the bathroom door open and he stood up. Beckett came out. She appeared to be moving a little less stiffly. Just moving around probably helped a little. She smiled at Castle. She couldn't help it. He looked just like a scared little boy. Well, maybe not scared, more like worried.

"Kate, you need to see a doctor."

"Castle, I know I have a lot of bruises, but I'm sure there's nothing broken."

Castle put his arms around her – gently. Kate rested her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around him. After several seconds, she said, "I really need a shower."

Castle looked down at her. She really seemed short without her heels on. A smile played across his lips. "I can be very helpful in the shower."

"Then you'll have to show me," Kate replied with a matching smile.

"Although I would love to wash you myself, I would be afraid of hurting you. I could wash your hair for you though." Castle said enthusiastically as they stepped into the shower.

Beckett was close to declining, but suddenly had a vision of him washing Alexis' hair when she was little. He was probably very good at it. "I'd love for you to wash my hair. First turn around and I'll wash your back." He did as he was told. "Oh Castle, your back!" Beckett's eyes were wide. "I'm so sorry, I didn't realize I clawed you last night."

"No pain, no gain," he quipped. "I never even felt it last night, but I can feel it a little now."

They continued getting cleaned up. Castle finally started on her hair. He lathered it up massaging her head as he did. Beckett closed her eyes. She really enjoyed having someone else wash her hair. Having her scalp massaged felt wonderful. He rinsed her hair then applied a conditioner. He turned her around and kissed her. She was a very willing participant. There was no desperation in this kiss. It was slow and sensual. Just touching their lips together ignited a fire in him. Beckett seemed equally affected. He pulled away and gave her one of his winning smiles. "Time to rinse your hair." He got her rinsed and turned off the shower. He stepped out and grabbed the towels handing her one. He toweled off quickly and hung his towel back up.

"I have a hair dryer here," he said grabbing some things from under the vanity, "and here is a new toothbrush. I'll be back in a few minutes." Castle walked away whistling. Beckett smiled and couldn't help checking out his butt as he walked away.

Castle stopped in the bedroom and threw on a pair of boxers. Then he went to the laundry room and put her clothes in the dryer. Next he started a pot of coffee. He quickly ran upstairs and found a pair of Alexis' sweatpants and a t-shirt and brought them down. He laid Alexis' clothes on the bed then put on some jeans and a t-shirt. He was just pulling on his t-shirt when Beckett emerged from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her. She almost looked disappointed to see him dressed. She had used the hair dryer a little – mostly just to chase away the excess water. Her hair was still fairly wet but it would air dry.

"I've got your clothes in the dryer. I found some of Alexis' clothes that I thought you could wear. I thought that would be preferable to one of my mother's muumuus." Kate laughed at the picture of her in one of Martha's insanely colorful outfits. Castle delighted in seeing her laugh and was more than pleased that Kate showed no signs of taking flight. "Before you get dressed, I want to put some arnica on your bruises."

Kate shook her head, "You are so Mr. Mom. I've never heard of arnica."

"It will help, Kate. You surely don't need to go in today. You're in no shape to be chasing bad guys."

"I'm not going in today," she replied. "Castle, I need to tell you everything that happened yesterday. I smell coffee, maybe we could talk over breakfast."

Castle nodded as he started applying arnica to her bruises. He could hardly keep from wincing when he saw the angry green and purple bruises up close. He couldn't help but wonder if he hadn't added to her bruising last night. The bruising was so bad along her ribs, he wondered if her ribs could be cracked or broken without her knowing it. It took his breath away when he saw the bruising around her neck. "Oh, Kate," he said, his voice anguished. "He strangled you!"

Kate nodded. "I promise I will tell you everything later, but right now you have some explaining to do."

Castle looked at her in surprise, "What do you mean?"

"For four long years you've kept a secret from me." Her eyes narrowed as she stared him down. Castle felt like a perp in interrogation. He had no idea what the secret could be. There certainly wasn't anything he'd kept from her for 4 years. No secret wives or anything else he could think of.

"Really Beckett, I don't have any secrets." He felt so defensive, maybe defenseless was more appropriate.

She stepped closer and he instinctively stepped back. "I can't believe you never told me," she accused.

He swallowed, "Told you what?"

She stepped closer again, "That Richard Castle has a tattoo on his ass!" She grinned and smacked his backside to emphasize her point.

Castle laughed, "Shit, Beckett. You scared me to death! You are pure evil and if you weren't injured I would get my revenge. Besides it's not really on my ass. It's more on the side."

"I never imagined that you would have a tattoo."

"Funny, I always imagined that you did. You know, something like little handcuffs tattooed on your ass."

Beckett threw a pillow at him for that. Castle deftly caught the pillow and threw it back on the bed.

"Well, it wasn't my idea. Meredith thought it would be so cute if we had matching tattoos. I was young, in love, and stupid so I went along with it. At least it's a design and not her name. I don't plan to get any more."

"Not even for me?"

"Matching handcuffs?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. She smacked him with the pillow again.

The mood had definitely lightened. Castle stepped to her smiling, his eyes twinkling. It was a look that always melted Beckett. No matter how bad things were going, just seeing Castle's humor filled and mischievous eyes and his smiling lips made everything alright. He put his hand along her jaw slightly tilting her head up so he could kiss her. He meant for it to be quick, but her soft, inviting lips drew him in. His heart started pounding as desire once again threatened to overtake him, but he was determined that they would talk before they found their way back into his bed. "I'm going to start breakfast. You get dressed and I'll have your coffee waiting, and some Tylenol."

Hope you are enjoying it so far! I had to work Nathan's tattoo into the story. I'm sure we won't be seeing that on the show!

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