Chapter 3

It was too hot. The cold water in the shower was a blessed relief, and Kate stood under the spray, letting it run over her skin. The candlelight was soft, but the water was so cold that the glass door hadn't steamed up. All that was distorting Castle's view of her back were the tiny droplets of water clinging to the glass. As he took a step towards the shower Kate turned, hearing his soft footsteps, and, after hesitating a moment, moved forward and opened the door. Castle's breath caught and he slowly ran his eyes over her body, causing her skin to flush lightly. In the heat he had already had to lose his shirt, but he quickly took off his jeans and, after a quick look in Kate's eyes, his boxers and stepped into the shower. Kate slowly moved backwards as Castle advanced, stopping when she could feel the cool tiles on her back.

Castle stopped about an inch away from her body, leaned in so his mouth was just ghosting her ear and whispered "Extraordinary". Kate turned her head to the side and caught his gaze, time seemed to slow as they moved towards each other. They froze seconds away from touching, as the sound of drilling filled the air.

Castle and Kate were both jolted awake by the sound of the engineer drilling loudly outside the room, Kate on the couch, and Castle leaning against the panic room door.

After a few strained moments of conversation just before the power went out, and a couple more after – mostly about lighting candles (both were relieved when Castle didn't make a joke) – they had settled into their respective corners. It had been a long and trying day for both of them, and they were both mentally and physically exhausted. As the power went out, and the room quickly warmed up, they had both fallen into a light doze, it could have only been for a few minutes, but it was enough for them to wake up a little disorientated.

Castle, figuring his position against the door was not the safest place to be, pulled himself to his feet, deciding to take another look around. They had lit a couple of candles and put them on a table next to the couch. The room was still fairly dark, but the glow of the candles was enough to make things out, so he took a better look at the supplies on the shelves. He quickly came to the same conclusion as Kate – that the panic room was kept fairly well stocked. Unfortunately, it wasn't stocked with anything interesting enough to hold his attention for long, so with nothing else around he decided to focus his attention on Kate, wandering over and sitting down on the other end of the couch.

Kate hoped that the candlelight would help mask the apprehension she felt when he sat down and turned towards her. The insanely loud drilling seem to have stopped for now, and Castle decided this would be as good a time as any to make amends.

"I'm sorry." This was the second time Kate had heard him say those words that way, and, considering the circumstances of the first time, it made her wonder if he had realized what he had actually walked out on earlier that night. It was Castle though, so clarification was always a good way to go.

"What for?" Kate sounded a little defeated, which wasn't a tone Castle was used to hearing in her voice, and the question seemed a little rhetorical.

"For getting us locked in here, what else?" He actually sounded confused, so it was clear to Kate that he hadn't picked up on anything. Probably a good thing, so she decided to just go with it.

"Castle, I've known you for nearly two years. In all honesty I'm surprised it took this long for you to get us locked in a room together." The second the words left her mouth it was all Kate could do not to cringe.

"Oh detective, if I'd known… mmkwuck." The end of Castle's sentence was muffled as Kate put her hand over his mouth, withdrawing it just as fast when she realized touching his was also a really bad plan. She stared at her hand for a moment willing the tingling sensation to disappear.

"You know exactly what I meant to say." Even as she said the words she wondered if maybe she had been right in the first place. It had been pointed out to her regularly throughout the day that research couldn't still be the reason he was shadowing her.

"Gina's going to kill me." Castle actually looked a little scared, which would have amused Kate in any other situation.

"What are you even doing here? Aren't you supposed to be on your way to the Hamptons?" Kate was hoping to avoid having to say the G-word for the duration of their incarceration, partly because she wasn't sure she could say the word without sounding like she wanted to scratch G-word's eyes out and partly because it felt like someone kicked her in the stomach every time she heard it.

"The mayor called and asked me to consult, the dead guy is a big donor. Gina said I had 10 minutes, so she's probably out there now threatening someone."

"And your phone?" Kate was honestly interested in how someone (not even saying the G-word in her head seemed like a good idea) managed to separate Castle and his iPhone.

"She took that the minute we got in the car. She's serious when she says she'll be on top of me until I get the book done. I'm not entirely sure I was thinking clearly when I asked her to come with me this weekend."

"So why did you?" Again, the words came out of Kate's mouth before she had even thought them through.

"There were a few reasons." A not-completely-comfortable silence followed Castle's words - Kate waiting for him to continue, and Castle trying to think of a way to get out of having to. He didn't want to explain that he couldn't bear the thought of being alone while Kate was with Demming. It was this desire to avoid more questions that led him to ask her if Demming would be worried about her, since they were supposed to be leaving themselves.

Kate paused for a moment, not sure how to answer. In the end she decided they had danced around the subject of Demming for too long already, so she just replied honestly, "We decided not to go away this weekend."

"Really? Why?" The surprise was evident in his voice. He hadn't seen this coming at all.

Kate looked up at him, debating how best to answer. In light of the way she felt about Castle, she didn't want to be anything less than honest. But at the same time, he was leaving the city with another woman. Still, the universe had clearly given her a second chance. She could make it count without leaving herself too vulnerable. "We decided to stop seeing each other."

"I'm sorry." He really did sound sorry.

"Why?" Kate needed this answer. She needed to know that everything she had gone through in the last few days was actually worth something, even if the evening didn't turned out the way she had hoped it would.

"I want you to be happy." Again, he sounded sincere, and something about it made Kate's heart briefly overrule her mind one more time.

"So why are you leaving?"

I'm so sorry for the delay in updating, I'm gonna try and make sure it doesn't happen again. Thank you so much for the reviews. I was incredibly nervous about posting this fic, and it was wonderful to read them. Also, yes I did borrow from CSI:NY – good catch!