In his loft Castle cast his eyes to the bedroom door, still closed and housing his fiancée, and his heart clenched tight in his chest for the woman she used to be. He set aside the papers she gifted him and rebound them slowly, wrapping leather and twine around the words that she poured onto paper as heartbreak thundered through her chest.
Alone, in self inflicted darkness, and on this very night two years ago she dreamt of him and wrote it down.
He blew out the candles one by one and when he entered the bedroom he found her sound asleep. He took in the time on the clock and discovered they had barely minutes of the witching hour left; her tale had held his attention so thoroughly. What had seemed like mere seconds of time lost in her story had been a while longer.
Castle paused at the end of the bed and took in her face, serene in gentle shadow. With her hair spread out over the pillows and the sheets kicked to the bottom of the bed, she could've been plucked from the pages of a fairy tale, a myth born of legend and laid out at his feet, but he knew her in more simplistic terms, as the woman he loved.
He crossed the room slowly, blinking hard and rather than hovering over her as he had done many mornings past - with a mug of coffee in hand, and a soft smile - he slid down onto the bed at her side and traced a finger out over the bare skin of her throat.
He thumbed the hollow of her jugular, shifted his body closer, moulded himself to her side and allowed his fingers to climb and caress the curve of her jaw. With his lips to her neck and the night surrounding them he whispered softly, "Kate. Wake up."
He took his time, mapped the skin visible to him and traced over that hidden by the silk of her negligee. He hummed her name in quiet repetition, wondered at the woman who could offer up the tiny pieces of her past and then fall asleep in his bed, knowing he'd want answers, knowing he'd wake her to get them.
Perhaps expecting it, maybe even desiring it.
He brought her out of sleep on the soft call of his voice, the light touch of his lips on her skin and when he finally stepped between her and the tug of dreams, she turned towards him, fingers reaching in the darkness.
"Mmm?" Her lashes lifted slowly, confusion heavy in the green of her eyes until she saw his face, "Castle- " she smiled, "You're here."
He hummed, let the seconds drift into minutes, stroking over the gentle heat of her chest before he spoke again, "Kate. What was that?" He asked, lips buried deep in the sweet, sweat warmed crevice of her neck, tasting the reaction of every breath as it moved over her skin.
"You read it?"
"Yes." He nipped at the word, pressed his yearning into the curve of her shoulder as she avoided him, kept at it until she gasped. "I read it."
"And?"
"Kate, what was it?"
She yawned, giving in to another shiver as it raced up her spine and drove her body into his, "Therapy exercise from a long time ago." Her voice was thick and gravelly, yet tender with the remnants of sleep and the touch of him.
"Hmm?" He didn't ask beyond the sound of curiosity and his fingers wove through her hair, up and over her ears. She closed her eyes and he touched the lids, her lips parted and he couldn't help but stroke over her mouth - just as she had done to him in her dream.
"I wrote down the nightmares." She whispered, her eyes finding his once more, a cloud of memory marring her vision. Then she smiled and reached for him, "I wrote down the dreams too."
"You dreamt about -"
She hummed, burrowed closer, "I dreamt about you, yes. And us."
"In costume." He grinned into her skin, found that little spot at the back of her neck that made her shiver, made her duck her head and squirm away and blush.
"It was Halloween." She defended, breathless.
"It's Halloween tonight."
"Yes."
"And tomorrow."
She smiled, "Yes."
"When we get married." He licked out at the pulse again, felt the heat of her retreating flush and took a few seconds to bring it back, tease it into life once more.
"Yes." She gasped, arching against him, her head thrown back in sudden surrender, allowing him further access. Her fingers dug into his shoulders, a pinched tight grip that only eased when his licking turned to kisses, his mouth rough and greedily feeding on her skin.
"Was it a warning?" He asked gruffly.
She startled, gripped him harder, pulled him tighter to her, "What? No."
"Pirate Queen?" His hand met the soft curve of her hip, and he grinned, "Scurge of the sea? Should I be worried?"
She touched at his smile, gave back her own, "Fantasy."
"One of mine now." His hand trickled low to her thigh, spread her knees, found the inner curve and meandered there with sweeping touches. "Do you own those boots?"
Breathless with every word, "Yes."
"The entire costume?" His fingers travelled higher.
"Yesssss."
"I'm sure I have a cape somewhere." He grinned against her cheek, refusing the kiss she offered, nipping at her lower lip instead, taking her between his teeth and nudging at her nose when she reached for him.
"I wanted freedom, Castle. Escape." She found his eyes, silver sparks that flickered with each blink. "A way to be with you when I was weak so I dreamt it." She sighed, "I wanted to be strong."
"You're strong." He growled, daring contradiction, with his lips pressed to her own.
"Stronger together." She hummed, nipping back, chasing his kiss when he dipped back down towards her throat and stayed there, breathless himself.
"Therapy?" He questioned, finally, "Did you -?"
She shook her head, "No, I never showed him that one." Her hand ran the length of his jaw, cupped lightly at his face, "That one was for me. My -"
"Hope?"
"Yes."
They drift in silence for a few moments, his heart as tightly bound as the pages of her dream, with thoughts of the words she had written.
"Your hero?" He couldn't help it, that curious part of him that never gave up needing answers, the part of him that loved her viciously, dug in claws to hold on, scratched past the surface to know more.
"You were saving me for a long time, Castle." She spoke slowly, reverently, laying each word as bare as her soul. She showed him a truth she hoped he already knew and with stark eyes born of wonder she turned to him and said it again, slower, "A long time."
"What was I?" He hummed, laving her pulse and teasing at the beat until he could nip at it with his teeth. "Vampire?" He questioned, growled low in her ear in threat, "Beast? Jekyll and Hyde?"
"Fantasy." Kate supplied again, "Someone I wanted but couldn't have."
"You could've -"
She shook her head, "It wasn't time."
Her fingers tightened and she tried to roll them, only he wouldn't let her, his knee planted itself between her own and he twisted so he could pin her to the bed. Castle stared down as her hands roamed over his back, her lips quirking with a smile that made him wonder if this had been her plan all along.
Lightning came once more, rain battered every surface and the thunder returned in a ferocious drum beat that matched her heart.
"That's what tonight is for." He whispered, pulling her back to the topic with his lips at the shell of her ear, "Ghosts and goblins, mythical monsters, Pirate Queens and fantasy -" he breathed the words, "- made flesh."
He squeezed her thigh, let himself taste her skin again and stole a fevered kiss, swallowing down her blissful moan. From hip to waist, he touched lightly over her hands, arms and shoulders until he was smoothing the hair from her face and pulling back from her lips breathless.
She shook her head, "I prefer now and tomorrow." Reminding him of the possibility, of what was yet to come. Heat and the slow cinder burn of forever in each sweep and caress, her eyes opened slowly as the lightning hit again, sparking through her iris as unblinking she looked up, traced his lips, touched his face and whispered back, "I prefer reality."