Disclaimer: The wording is mine but the characters aren't

There is a lot of fanfic out there at the moment, so I appreciate you reading this. I don't want it to get clichéd (any more than it is), so ideas and comments would be great. I just want to write a story I would like to read.

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"Ryan, can you run the computer?" she asked quietly.

The man looked a little surprised but took it from Castle. "Wouldn't Tech be better?"

"They can have at it later if we need to," she murmured. "But I would rather we dealt with it ourselves," she felt Castle come to hover protectively against her back. She didn't know what else was on that computer, and she wasn't going to trust her personal life with anyone else.

"I'll get started as soon as we get back," he nodded.

…..

6.

No one said anything when they woke the computer up in the conference room. Castle felt a new wave of outrage as their coworkers witnessed the very intimate moment between them the night before.

Gates took one look and Castle thought he would have to use a chisel to get the frown lines off her forehead.

"Do you know when this was taken?" she asked.

"Last night," Kate's face was stony.

"And where it was taken from?"

"Not yet, Sir," she admitted.

"It was a Canon EOS 5D. It has quite a powerful zoom," Castle offered. "It was left out in the bedroom."
The Captain nodded, assimilating the new information, her eyes glancing quickly at the glaring photo. "Ryan, you work with this computer and get all you can from it; you can use the room for the rest of the day. Don't tell anyone else. The last thing we need are these photos getting out."

Both Castle and Beckett shifted uneasily.

"Esposito," Gates continued, "You do what you can about finding out where the photos were taken. Maybe we can find some witnesses on the other end. Until we know who took them, we can't get a warrant to search the place more thoroughly and see if she poses any threat."
Esposito nodded, sharing a brief look with Ryan.

"What so you want us to do?" Beckett asked resolutely. He glanced over at her, pride warring with concern. She had hidden away her emotions, even from him, determined to be ready and deal with the problem.

"You can take Mr. Castle and go home."

When Kate actually took a moment before opening her mouth, Gates' eyebrows rose, obviously expecting her detective to raise an instant objection. But Castle knew her better. After coming back to the precinct after the summer, she had been more even keeled and more adept at balancing work and her life outside of it. It was a true testament to her progress now that she was giving serious consideration to her Captain's order.

Then her head tilted a fraction and she gave her head a small shake. "While I appreciate the offer Captain," she started. "This shouldn't take priority over my cases, and if this was about our safety, we all know we are safest here."

"I'm aware of that, Detective," Gates responded easily. "But we don't have any reason yet to believe there is any threat to either of you at present."

"Then, Sir, I don't quite…" Kate broke off looking puzzled.

"My rule about Detectives working their own cases still stands. And if you stay here and try to work other cases, I'm not sure I could fault you if you happened to drift into this room. Trust me, Detective, take the rest of the day or work from home, but you don't need to be here. Your boys here will keep you updated with any progress."

Her meaning was clear to all and Castle was indescribably grateful to the woman for giving Kate a graceful out.

Kate glanced back down at the laptop on the desk which had reverted to the screen saver due to disuse and saw some of the photos of themselves for the first time. His breath caught as his stomach rolled at the intimacy of even the platonic shots and he knew seeing these, Kate wouldn't back down.

His discomfort must have been audible because she turned to look at him, her eyes still hard and a little moist. She expelled a short breath and took his hand.

"In that case, Sir," she swallowed. "We'll be taking the afternoon off."

Gates just nodded, not debating her use of plurals.

Kate locked eyes with the other two members of her team in silent apology and entreaty.

"Go," Esposito said evenly.

…

She started driving for the loft and he indulged in a mental sigh of relief. The morning had left him on edge, and he wasn't sure he would be able to hold it together if they got into a fight now.

"How many times has this happened to you?" her voice broke into his introspection.

He shrugged, still trying to tamp down the sick feeling to a tolerable level.

"You mean you don't know?" she must have caught the gesture in her peripheral vision.

"Black Pawn doesn't really want to worry me every time one of my crazier fans makes an appearance. Very rarely you'll get one that tries to follow me after a signing, or when I go into town."

She was silent and he anxiously examined his statement before he closed his eyes in remorse. Crazy fans following him after a signing? Kate had done that.

"I'm not famous enough to warrant actual stalkers," he offered, trying to make it right. They were partners, but he couldn't deny the doubt. She couldn't leave. "I've never had to take out a restraining order either."

"And the photos?"

"I've never had a picture taken where I haven't been in public," his throat worked past the bitter taste the topic provoked. The only silver lining he could find was in the fact that they hadn't made it into public media. But there was the possibility.

Anything but that.

Because that would be the end.

Castle didn't need a writer's imagination to consider the reparations that would cause. He didn't know if he could resent her for wanting to run after something like that.

"Castle?"

He was revolted with the realization that he still hadn't managed to forgive her completely. He thought that they had healed those wounds during the summer, but he still didn't trust her not to leave him. Gina left him. Meredith had too, and she had a child with him. That didn't stop her; she packed up and ran as far as she could.

Neither of them had anything like this to contend with either. This was the second madman he had sent after Kate.

"Rick!" she said more insistently and he couldn't repress a slight flinch. Kate reached across and caught one of his hands, balancing her attention between him and the road. "Hey," her voice was soft. "Where did you go?"

He just shook his head. He trusted her.

"Okay," she frowned a little, but left it alone without removing her hand. "Later?"

"Maybe," he offered half-heartedly. In twenty years maybe, on holiday when they were very drunk.

"Nothing is going to happen to you, Castle," her fierce statement came after nearly a full minute of uncomfortable silence.

"It's not me that I'm worried about," he muttered.

…

"Go…where?" the blank shock was not an expression she was accustomed to seeing on Richard Castle's face.

"I don't know." She was just a cop; no one said she had to have a plan all the time.

He was looking at her like she had sprouted another head.

"Come on, Castle," she sighed. "You can't honestly expect me to hide away up here."

"It's not hiding."

"Castle, you told the doorman to ring everyone up. Even Martha."

His face was shadowed for a fleeting second with something like hurt for standing against him, before he reined it in. Vibrating with energy again he fell back into the pacing which had prompted her to suggest they have an afternoon out. But there was more to his reaction than just worry over a potential stalker, and for the life of her she couldn't understand what it was; especially now that he seemed to be trying his best to just lock it away from her. Sometimes, they were very similar.

"I get it," she took a step closer and stopping his movements. "I do. But Castle, nothing is going to happen to you." For the briefest second she thought she saw his eyes clear a little, but at the last part of her sentence any calm he had regained left him and he threw himself away from her in agitation.

"You don't get it do you, Kate? They don't give a damn about me. It's you."

Her eyes shuttered at the intensity of his outburst. "You don't know that."

"Yes, I do," each word was almost bitten off. "And you are out of your mind it you think I'm letting you out of my sight until we know what the hell is going on."

She had been a little overwhelmed at the strength of his worry and protectiveness, but couldn't help but bristle as he finished. "Let?" she asked quietly, trying not to make it any worse but feeling a little like shouting herself.

His chin was set and his face shone with it. "That's right," he said forcefully. "I am not going to lose you, Katherine Beckett."

Her indignation choked as he voiced what she had been feeling all day. "And I'm not going to lose you," she replied just as firmly. "But I am not going to duck and cover every time a possible problem comes our way." She saw his jaw tighten and held up a hand to head off his response. "I've only just started really living my life again. Our life, and Rick, I don't intend to stop."

He just glared at her.

"I promised you I would stay safe and come back to you," she closed the short distance. "But that's not going to work if you never let me go."

"I don't want to."

"I know," she whispered.

"So where does that leave us?" she was able to read some hurt in his sentence as well as worry.

"That leaves us to find something we agree on," she told him resolutely.

"Security," he immediately answered.

"A bodyguard isn't going to stop someone taking a photo or protect us from someone we don't even know. With a good camera Louise won't have to be anywhere near us to take the photos. If it's not her then when we get a name and a face locked and that person is at large, I will have no objections."

"Alright," he huffed out a breath which must have come all the way from his toes. "We're going to catch this guy."

Kate nodded. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

"Likewise," the heat under it catching her a little off guard. Writers could be men of action.

"Ryan and Espo know what they're doing," she said and he just nodded his agreement.

He didn't give her anything back, and she tried to put her new experiences to work and talk to him, be more open with him.

"It makes me sick," she confessed, tucking her chin so she wouldn't have to look at him, not ready for that much yet. He just stared at her; she could feel it. She waited for him to reply but listening proved fruitless when he placed a kiss to the crown of her head: a wordless agreement which left her all the more determined to face this thing down together with him.

"You can't leave me," his voice broke and her head snapped up in time to see the treaty in his eyes.

"You're an idiot," she huffed in disbelief, trying to retrieve her stomach from the basement. "Don't you get it?" she asked, staying strong in the face of his doubt. "You're the one who isn't going anywhere." She closed the smallest space and took his chin in her hand. "You're mine."

She held herself back from kissing him, using all the strength she had to convince him. Someone could put a photo up on the big screen at the Yankee stadium and she would say she hated it but he had to know she couldn't hate it too much. Despite all the ribbing and suggestive comments it would get her, it would just make her job that much easier: that many less people she would have to tell that Richard Castle was hers. For good. A picture in the paper a year from now or the super screen now. Though she would prefer one fully clothed.

"I love you," she told him quietly but meaning each of the three syllables, garnering a sharp inhale from him.

His eyes cleared of doubt and made way for a different darkness.

"Finally something we can agree on."

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