I just want to take a small moment for some anonymous guest reviewers to say: if you don't like this story, then DON'T READ IT. I'm not forcing anyone to read it.

Now, to those who keep reading and keeps cheering me on: THANK YOU SO MUCH! You have no idea what your reviews mean to me! They're the lights in the darkness I fall into sometimes. So thank you, and here you have the next chapter, xxx:

Days passed by, days turning into weeks which soon turned into a whole month later. Rick tried calling her, but to his disappointment she didn't answer, not even once. It only took him three tries before he understood she had blocked his number, that didn't stop him from trying though. He couldn't help but sulk in his loft, silently praying she would come back. Some other woman had called a few days after she'd stormed out of his home, said she was told he looked for a new escort. He had been able to hear on the woman's voice she'd been shocked when he told her no, probably not used to hearing someone decline her services. She'd asked if he wanted another woman, as if it was something wrong with her, and he'd told her that he wasn't interested in the escort service anymore. If she'd brought up her he wouldn't have hesitated once though, but she didn't. He didn't ask about her because he had a feeling she wanted nothing to do with him anymore. The dreams he had didn't help much at all, he kept seeing the pain and fear that had been in her eyes, he kept seeing her in a nice dress at a dinner his dreams cooked up. God he wished he'd kissed her.

A sudden knock on the door had him sighing, slowly raising from his desk where his laptop screen kept blinking 'You. Should. Be. Writing.' as his screensaver. His mother had come by more often than he'd like, ever since she'd noticed his moping after Nikki had left. He hadn't told her the whole story, only that he'd met someone who he couldn't have, and she had come back every now and then to be able to check up on him and ask him to tell her who this someone was. The knock started again, rapidly, and he wondered why his mother just couldn't grow some patience for once.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" he shouted out, tired of not getting enough sleep.

How could one woman make him feel this empty? They hadn't even known each other that well!

"Mother, why can't you just..." he started opening the door but as soon as he saw it wasn't his mother on the other side of the door his voice died out. "Nikki?!"

He felt his heart skip a beat, taking in her appearance.

"What the hell happened?!" he yelped when his eyes caught the cut above her right eye as well as the upcoming bruise around it.

Her eyes were filled with tears, her lip broken, and he felt his chest shatter at the sight. He fought the urge to pull her into his chest, her body looking way too fragile for that kind of movement.

"I-I'm sorry," she stumbled on her words, "I didn't have a-anywhere else to go."

Kate watched the man in front of her move out of the way in order to let her inside, and she slowly let her legs carry her inside. She tried not to let the pain striking up her body for each step she took express on her face, not wanting him to see how much it truly hurt. His eyes were on her though, she could feel how he searched her face, tried to search her eyes but she wouldn't let him see into them fully.

"Who did this to you? Nikki?" his voice displayed worry and she was suddenly starting to regret her decision.

"This was a bad idea, I'm sorry I came, I sh..." as she was starting to back away again he gently laid his hand on her back to stop her from fleeing.

"No, you stay here," he said, carefully pushing her towards his bedroom.

"Mr. Castle, I can't..."

"I know, god that's not what I had in mind! I have bandages in my bathroom, come on, sit on the bed and wait there," he immediately said, she could definitely hear he feared she would leave.

He wouldn't leave her side until she sat on his bed and had given him a convincing nod. She actually considered leaving, but, like she said, she literally had nowhere else to go. When he came back he held everything needed to clean wounds and she bit her lip, forgetting for a second it was broken, and let go of it again with a gasp.

"Easy, Nikki," he whispered as he started with taking care of the cut left above her eye.

She couldn't help but observe his face as his eyes were focused on the wound. He looked so concerned, it killed her.

"I'm sorry I came Mr. Castle," she said and she saw him rolling his eyes.

"Stop with the formals. You made it pretty clear you didn't want me near you," he said, and even though his statement was irritated with a hint of anger it was clear she had caused him pain.

She felt her lip quiver at that, her eyes watering, and she realized she had her mouth opened.

"I'm..." she couldn't seem to form any more words, so she closed her mouth.

He carefully put a small bandage over her cut and surprised her by kissing it tenderly before he attended to her lip. Her breath hitched at the affection he showed through his actions.

"Tell me what happened Nikki, please," he pleaded with a low voice.

She took a deep breath, preparing herself for whatever would come next. She was not supposed to share anything about her life with her clients, not even the slightest, most boring information.

"I'm not your client anymore," he mumbled and she cursed herself for thinking out loud.

"I-I... I'm sorry," she suddenly broke down, her tears streaming down her face like it hadn't since she lost her parents.

She hid herself in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably with her body shaking and god she hated this. She absolutely hated opening up in front of people, she hated not being able to control her emotions, she hated that... that... She sighed in between her sobs. She hated that she felt so comfortable around him.

"Breathe Nikki, breathe. Come on, breathe with me, in," he took a deep breath, "and out," he exhaled.

He kept breathing like that, exaggerating each inhale and exhale in order to get her to calm down. When it didn't work she felt his arms coming around her, pulling her into a comfortable hug. It didn't take long before she found herself snuggling into him, her sobbing muffled into his broad chest. He held her close and for the first time in a month, she finally felt safe.

Kate laid with her head on his chest, on his bed. Sometime, when her tears had run out, he'd put some cold, soft, relieving moisturizer onto her bruises and pulled her up in his bed in order to hold her close in his arms. They'd been quiet, none of them wanting to disturb the silence, both afraid what more questions would lead to. Her body felt melted into his, as if their bodies were shaped to be laying together like they did. And she made a decision she had promised herself never to make, opening her mouth she just let it out.

"Kate," her voice was rough, throaty because of the crying. "My name's Kate."

She felt his body shift a little, and she slowly met the blue eyes looking down on her. There was shock to be read in them, and she wondered if he'd given up hope of ever finding out. Perhaps he'd even given up hope of ever seeing her again.

"Kate?" he asked and she was about to bite her lip but managed to stop herself before she reopened her wound. "I like it, a beautiful name on a beautiful woman," his voice was nothing more than a whisper.

She felt her cheeks turn redder at his comment.

"Kate, what happened?"

His eyes were as soft as she'd ever seen them, and she couldn't understand how she could've thought she could live without them.

"New client," she sighed, "I don't know what he thought but... he started doing stuff I didn't... he was too violent and as many times before I told him that if he kept that up I would have to end our arrangement. He wouldn't... stop."

Her lips were quivering again and god she hated this. Why couldn't she just be strong?!

"I tried to... I really tried to get away," she sniffed and his arms tightened around her in a carefully but strong hug.

"Shh, you don't have to tell me any more," he hushed, kissing the top of her head.

He surprised her, but then again, when hadn't he? He made her feel safe, even though he shouldn't. There was no explanation how it was even possible.

"You know, when that other woman called I thought for sure you would never ever talk to me again. I'm so glad I was wrong," he confessed into the dark night.

"I'm sorry," her whisper was hushed down, and he told her it was okay, nothing to worry about.

He kept whisper reassuring nonsenses, things she couldn't help but feel like she needed to leave this wonderful man alone. She didn't deserve his friendship. She wasn't worth his troubles, yet he was laying there and holding her as if she was the most fragile belonging he had in his possession. As if she was one of the people he cared about, like really cared about. Before she knew anything else his massaging ministrations with his fingers on her face and in her hair had softened her down into a sweet slumber.

Rick immediately felt relief in his body when he heard her sniffing breaths turning into deep sleepy ones. Looking down at her face he could see she was far away from there right now, in the land of sleep. He hoped to the bottom of his heart that she wouldn't have any nightmares. He had witnessed that once. A couple months ago he had managed to hold her back in bed long enough for her to fall asleep in his arms, despite her objections about needing to keep boundaries and therefore needing to leave he'd managed to hold her back by kissing everywhere on her face, except for the lips then, and massaging her naked back. At that point he knew he was screwed, he knew that he was crossing a line with her, but he didn't want to stop. She had finally given up hopes of leaving his bed when he'd started massaging her scalp, which he found quite amusing. That's when he knew she was unable to resist him, that she liked his touch as much as he liked hers. It was also then that he started noticing her glances to his lips, glances he knew she made unconsciously, and he had a feeling she'd made them a whole lot longer than he'd noticed.

That night he'd woken to her screams once, and managed to at least get her to tell him what the nightmare had been about before she disappeared out his door. She'd only said three words, 'my parents' deaths', and he'd tried to calm her down, to keep her from leaving, but she'd insisted by saying she was only his escort and he was only her client. He didn't buy that anymore, and especially not after seeing her eyes when she left him that day a month ago. Her eyes had told him she didn't want to leave, that it pained her to leave, but something scared her, and he didn't know what. This night he hoped she would stay, after whatever she'd been through earlier he hoped she would sleep deep, without any nightmares. He wouldn't let himself join her in the world of sleep until she'd been out for about an hour, then he was way too tired to be able to keep his eyes open. He kissed her hair one last time and secured his arms around her, hoping that he would wake if something disturbed her.

Kate stirred awake a couple hours after she'd fallen asleep, at first confused about where she was but immediately recognizing the comfy bed she was in, along with the arms still around her. She looked up at him, seeing he was asleep, and her mind kept spinning around with questions like 'why would he help her?' and 'what have I done?'. They weren't allowed to have relationships so she hadn't really ever thought too much about that before, but now she wondered if the things she felt for him might be more than just him being her client.
And she couldn't help but wonder...?

Carefully Kate untangled herself from his arms, trying her best not to wake him from his slumber. One part of her wanted him to wake up, but another was afraid that if he did, she would get scared and not do what her mind was set to. She moved slowly till her face was in line with his, looking down at his peaceful expression, and wondered if she really should or if it was a bad idea. No, you can! She smoothly, almost without touching at all, let their lips connect in a way she hadn't allowed before.