It was an average morning in New York city. The sun was shining, the streets were buzzing with cars and people, and the birds were tweeting. Kate Beckett looked out the window of her therapist's office, down at the people walking to work, getting a cup of coffee, or trying to get a cab. She sighed not sure where to start.
"Just start from the beginning" he told her.
She looked back at him and nodded. "Alright...well. I've been having these dreams...dreams where I die" She sat down on the sofa. "They're always the same. I'm in what I can presume is a warehouse, I'm tied up, and I hear her screaming. I want to help her but I can't get out of these restrains. I somehow get my feet free and then Castle comes in. He frees me and I run off to save Kathleen. The lights go on and I see her. I tell her that everything is okay but then I see the man with a gun...my gun. I know he's going to pull the trigger but then I hear a gun shot behind me. I see that Castle has been shot and he's on the ground not moving. I can't do anything to save him. I know that Kathie and I are going to be next...before they pull the trigger I wake up due to me screaming". She felt herself getting goosebumps as she said the last part.
Dr. Bruke looked at her. "Do you know these men?"
"No...I'm not even sure if the one that kills Castle is a man...but when I'm in the dream I have a feeling the dream me does".
"Who is this Kathleen or as you call her Kathie?"
She looked down as she heard Kathie screaming out her name for help. "She's my sister".
"You never told me you had a sister".
"No one knows I have a sister. I don't want her to be known around here. I can't risk loosing my little sister like I did my mom. If someone was after me they'd go straight to her. She's in less danger if no one knows about her".
"Do you see her often?"
"Family reunions, Christmas, Dad's birthday, at the cemetery on the anniversary of Mom's death, and she calls me on my birthday and I call her on hers. I don't mean to shut her out, I love her. She's the best sister I've could of asked for...I just want to protect her. We weren't always like that. We'd talk everyday until I got my job here and she went away to college. I wasn't there to protect her and didn't want me contacting her in anyway put her in danger".
"Kate, don't you think your sister is a little old to protect her from harm?"
"I know I can't save everyone and I know I can't protect her forever. If people wanted to find her bad enough they could. But it makes me feel better knowing that I can try and help. She's my baby sister. If anything happened to her like it did mom because of me I wouldn't be able to take it. I won't be able to just sit here and not try and find her killer".
"How long have you've been having these dreams?"
Kate thought for a moment. "About four days...I thought it would stop but they haven't".
"Have you've talked to Kathie?"
"No, she's at dad's cabin this week. He called me and asked me to stop by. I was going to go but these dreams are too real. If I walk through that door and I see that she's not there...I don't want my dreams to come true. I don't want her or Castle dead".
"Maybe your dreams are trying to tell you that if you keep pushing the people you love away they're going to leave you".
Kate quickly interjected. "I do not love Castle" She knew that was a lie and so did Dr. Bruke. "He's my partner. I don't think I could get him to leave even if I tried and my sister and I have a strong sister bound, even though we don't talk and see each other often. When we do see each other we spend hours and days together till one of us has to go back to work. On the phone we talk for hours. Surprisingly, we get a long better than most sisters". She looked at her phone and saw what time it was. "I have to go. The bad guys don't just walk in and confess". She got her jacket and placed it back on before heading out of his office. She pressed the down button for the elevator and waited.
She sighed and looked at her phone. She looked through her contacts and saw her sister's name. She debated to call her. Just to make sure she was okay. Maybe hearing her voice would make the dreams go away...but then if she called then Kathie would know that something was up. It wasn't her birthday and if she wanted to make sure she was still there at dad's she'd call the home line and not her cell phone.
The ding from the elevator interrupted her thoughts. She got in the elevator and pressed the number for her floor. She fixed her long, curly, brown hair and sighed. She had to get her thoughts together. She could not step out of the elevator and head over to Ryan, Esposito, and Castle with all these things on her mind. She had to focus. She had a job to do and her nightmares were not going to cause her to mess up.
The elevator doors opened and Kate stepped out. She headed towards her desk where she could see Castle sitting in his chair with two coffees on her desk. A small smile formed. Even though he had no idea what was going inside her head, that early morning coffee would sure do the trick to keep her mind off her nightmares.