Castle braced himself up against the bath and pulled her towards him. This wasn't really a bath built for two, and she had no option but to lay in between his legs, with her head on his chest.

"Ahh, that feels so good," Beckett admitted. "And please Castle, no witty remarks."

He let out a soft chuckle and moved one of his hands to her waist, successfully holding her in place, ensuring she wouldn't slide down the bath. He reached for the washcloths he had placed there earlier and after soaking them yet again, he placed them in the same positions as earlier.

Beckett relaxed, closed her eyes and let the water consume her. She felt Castle's other hand gently stroke her head, playing with her damp hair. She was positive he placed a gentle kiss to the back of her head but couldn't be sure, the relaxation and the water making her sleepy again.

He could feel her relax against him and he managed to settle down himself, well as much as he could with the woman he loved lying practically naked in between his legs. He was glad of the now cold water, as any more slight movements from her, and she really would be twisting his ear.

It was a tight space and after a while, his leg started to cramp. He bent his knee and slowly started to move it up towards his body. Freeing up a little space, Kate adjusted herself moving slightly to the side, almost hugging him now. She placed her hand on his inner thigh and the sensation was enough to make Castle swallow thickly. Her hand remained there as she snuggled into him, her eyes still closed.

Castle tried hard to think of something, anything to stop his body reacting to her touch. Now the lower half of his body was on fire and the cold water was doing nothing for him now.

He tried to even out his breathing as his head hit the back of the porcelain tub. He stared at the ceiling, trying to focus on the spider in the corner, watching as it weaved its web.

He wasn't sure how long they'd been in there, but he noticed now that Kate had stopped shivering and knew it was time they got out of the bath. Now came the challenging part, actually getting up without her feeling the effect she had on him. There were no towels to hand to cover his 'growing situation'; this was going to be tricky.

He sat upright, trying to subtly move her away from the middle of him. "Kate, it's time to get out now." Sliding her forward a bit, she opened her eyes and turned around to face him.

"Huh?" she said, noticing where her hand was placed. "Yeah, sorry Castle." She quickly said removing her hand.

"I didn't grab any towels," he admitted, looking, trying to locate them.

"There's some on that rail next to the door" she told him, standing up and getting out of the bath slowly. He watched her as she grabbed one, wrapping it around her body. Turning to face him, she handed him one, "I thought you wanted to get out?" she questioned him.

"I do, it's just that my underwear is obviously soaked and I think I'm gonna just take them off and then grab the towel, if that's okay with you? No point in getting dressed in wet underwear." He was starting to ramble, but she seemed to buy his rather quick response and made her way out of the bathroom.

He gathered himself quickly, drained the bath and stepped out of his wet boxers. Wrapping the towel around his waist he made his way back towards her bedroom. He stopped in his tracks as out the corner of his eye, he saw Kate peel off her wet underwear. He knew he shouldn't be 'technically' spying on her through the crack in the door, but as god was his witness, he couldn't help himself.

Her beauty was breathtaking. He watched as she swiftly dried herself off and wrapped the towel around her again. Sitting on the end of the bed, she ran her fingers through her wet hair and sighed, her chest heaving heavily.

Concerned that she was somehow feeling worse again, he coughed as to alert her to his impending presence and came into the bedroom.

"How are you feeling now?" he asked her, their eyes locking together.

She sat on the end of the bed; shoulders hunched downwards and stared at him. "Better thanks," she answered, "Listen Castle … I …" she struggled trying to say what was on her mind and Castle did what he's always done, gave her an out.

"I should really get dressed again, and you, you should probably put on something too and get back into bed. Don't want to catch a chill, undo all my Florence Nightingale work." He smiled at her warmly and could see the relief on her face, although he wasn't quite sure what she was struggling with, only the fact that she was.

Clothes in hand, he headed towards the living room, giving her some privacy to change. He quickly pulled on his shirt and jeans and sat down on the arm of the couch.

Kate grabbed some fresh night clothes from her drawer and as quickly as she could, put them on. She felt conflicted inside. When Castle did sweet things like this, it made her appreciate just how much he really did mean to her, but trying to get those feelings to the surface, exposed enough to actually have a conversation with him about them, was something entirely different.

She heard a small tap on her door and laughed inside, "You can come back in Castle, I'm decent."

She was now sitting upright on the bed and some of the redness from her chest and cheeks had subsided.

"You certainly look better than you did a few hours ago." he observed, standing in between the space linking both rooms.

Their eyes met once more and locked again, somewhat intensely this time. Breaking the connection she smoothed out the sheet on her bed and climbed inside.

"Thank you Castle, I'm sure this isn't how you had your Friday night planned out?" This was her ever so subtle way of asking him what his plans for tonight in reality were.

With the towel still in his hands, he made his way over to her. She watched him attentively, wondering what his next move was going to be.

Her heart started racing as he approached her. "Scoot down the bed a little." He instructed her.

"Why?"

"The ends of your hair are holding all the water, and your top is already wet, you don't watch to catch a cold too." Castle couldn't help but notice the now wet top. He could visibly see that she was wearing no underwear as the water had made it partly transparent.

He sat behind her on the bed, effectively straddling her and with the towel, began rubbing the water from her hair, towel drying it.

"Castle, you don't have to, I can do this for myself you know?" she pointed out, attempting to pinch the material from her breasts, trying to stop it clinging so tightly.

"I know you can do it yourself, but the point is that you don't have to. I'm here, so please, just let me finish?" She didn't miss the inflection to those words and damn, there was that knotted feeling in her stomach again.

"I've done this before ya know." He told her.

"Huh, what?" she asked in confusion. Her mind was getting foggy now as he played with her hair. God, she loved to get her hair played with.

"When Alexis was about, I dunno, two or three, she had this raging fever. I of course, didn't know that's what it was." He continued to rub her hair and tell the story, "Meredith was out doing god knows what and I was trying to get some writing done. I heard Alexis crying so got up to go to her room. There she was, the poor thing, all curled up in a ball just like you were, shaking."

Kate let out a soft snigger as he continued.

"I really started to panic seeing her like that. Such a small person and the shaking …" he temporarily stopped with the story as memories flooded his mind, dropping the towel to the side of the bed. "I thought she was having some sort of seizure."

Kate leaned in against him and felt his hand start to caress the side of her head.

"I was so scared and everything I tried to do to calm her down wasn't working, I felt so helpless and such a failure." He admitted.

"What did you do?" she asked him, intrigued.

"Did the only thing I could think of … I called my mother." They both let out a laugh at the same time. "She told me to get her into the bath, that the cool water would bring down her temperature and to call if I needed her to come over."

Castle slid down the bed a bit, trying to get into a more comfortable position. With Beckett still situated in between him, he dropped his arm down beside hers, their skin making the briefest of contact.

He entwined their fingers cautiously and continued. "I ran the bath, stripped her down and tried to put her in. She was screaming the place down and every time I placed her in, she would stand right back up again and hold out her arms for me to lift her up. I tell ya; even at that age that kid had a strong mind of her own."

Kate couldn't see the reaction on his face, but she could feel the movement in his chest and knew he was shaking his head. Not wanting the story to end, she began to gently, ever so gently, stroke her thumb along the side of his hand.

The feeling was electrifying to his skin. Like tiny hot needles shooting heat up his arm, straight to his heart. "Then what did you do?" she enquired, as she continued to torture him with her touch.

"What I did with you," he answered, "I got undressed and got into the bath with her. She snuggled up to me and we just lay there together until she stopped shaking. I gave her some child something or other medication and thankfully her temperature came down and she pretty much slept through the night. I on the other hand, had a terrible night. I slept on the chair in her room and watched her the entire night; just to be sure she was okay. So detective, that's how I knew that doing the same for you would help you, although you didn't make it easy." He laughed out.

"Where's the fun in that!" She retorted quickly. "Seriously though, you're a good father Rick and I can understand how scary that must've been, given her age at the time. Kids can't always tell you how the feel."

"Yeah, some adults have that same problem too." Before he could take them back, those words were out.

A/N, I must say a big thank you again to all the people who have taken the time to read and review this. The response and number of hits I've had have really blown me away and given me the courage to continue. I realise technically this might not be how this situation would've played out had it been real, but it is fan fiction after all and I did exaggerate the characters just a wee bit. I just hope this and the remainder of this story doesn't disappoint or spoil your enjoyment if it's OOC.

Thank you also for the advice on how to correct previous chapters. That can be tomorrow's task as I really should be getting to bed. Sadly work awaits me. You guys on here really are the most welcoming and are the best. Thanks again.