A/N: A couple of different people mentioned this in reviews, and I already responded to those people, but because I love you guys I figured I'd put it in an author's note in case people were wondering who didn't ask. The microwavable teddy bear mentioned in the previous chapter? There really is such a thing. My sister has one, which is where I got the idea.

Thank you all sosososo much for the wonderful reviews you've been leaving. They make my day. Maybe my week. Starting to write for Castle was the best, most rewarding decision I have made in a very long time, and I have all of you to thank for that.

Again, this next chapter started off a whole lot shorter, but it sort of took on a life of its own, and now it's grown to the 2,000-plus-word monstrosity that you have before you. Hopefully it'll help to hold you over until the episode tonight. That's what writing (and hopefully reading reviews? hint, hint?) has been doing for me. Happy Castle Day to those of you in areas where there is a new episode tonight, I'm sorry for rubbing it in if you're not, and I hope you like the newest chapter regardless!

She was still half-sitting on her couch, but her head was down on the arm rest, she was holding the warm teddy bear close to her body, and there was no question in his mind that she was asleep. It didn't look especially comfortable, and for an instant he considered moving her, but he didn't want to wake her, both because she needed her sleep and because, even in her weakened state, he feared for his life if she woke up and he was touching her.

Now what? He thought maybe he should leave. He knew she would be creeped out if she woke up and he was still sitting there watching her. But then, she had said she didn't want him to go. What if she needed something when she got up and he was gone? He didn't think for a second that she would actually call him.

So what should he do? He looked around the room as if for inspiration. A small desk with a computer on it stood in the corner, and a little table with a printer beside it. That was the answer. He went to the printer and took a stack of plain paper and a pen that he found in a cup on the desk. Then he went to the small table that he'd seen near the kitchen, turned on the little desk lamp in the middle, and started writing.

She was lying in her bed, but she wasn't alone. There was another presence lying there beside her, touching her skin. A warm body. She smiled, remembering all of the things he'd brought her and how sweet he'd been. This side of him was somehow completely different from the immature playboy she'd come to know, and maybe love, but never fully trust. She wrapped her arm around him, pulling him close to her.

She woke with a start and realized what she'd dreamt, her face burning with embarrassment as she realized that the presence beside her wasn't him after all, but the teddy bear, still warm from the microwave. She must not have been asleep for long. And she wasn't in her bed, she was on the couch, in a very awkward half-sitting half-lying position. She forced her eyes open and looked to the chair where he'd been sitting, and was relieved to find it vacant. He must have gone home. Too exhausted to convince herself to move, she stretched herself out on the couch, finding a more comfortable position, and fell asleep again almost instantly.

"Castle?"

Her voice jerked him out of the scene he'd been working on violently, and he jumped. "Hey!" he greeted her when his brain caught up. "You sound better."

"What are you still doing here? I thought you left last night."

He frowned. "I didn't want to leave in case you still needed something." He looked around, trying to get his bearings. He hadn't been asleep, but he had been thoroughly immersed in his writing. His right hand was cramped and stained black with pen ink. "What time is it?"

"Eight."

"At night?" That didn't make sense, he hadn't gotten there until almost that time.

She raised her eyebrows. "In the morning."

His eyes widened. Had he really lost track of time for that long? He said the first thing that popped into his head. "We're going to be late for work!"

She laughed. "Relax, Castle, it's Saturday. We're on call." She emphasized the fact that he'd said "we," mocking him a little.

"Oh. Well still, I need to get home. Alexis is going to wonder where I went."

"I'm sorry, you didn't have to stay."

He gathered up his papers. "Sorry? I should be thanking you. You have no idea how much writing I got done."

She smiled. "Is that what you were doing all night?"

"Yeah, and I got some good stuff, too. I forgot how inspiring it can be just to write with pen and paper. I usually type."

"Aren't you going to have to type it all now anyway?"

"Hm, good point." He shrugged. "I'll just have Alexis do it. She's my proofreader anyway."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm glad you have a useful purpose for your daughter."

He nodded. "Definitely. How are you, by the way? You look and sound a lot better."

She nodded. "So much better. Thank you. For… everything."

"Don't mention it. I'm gonna go home and," he yawned, "maybe try to get a couple hours of sleep. But you call me if anyone is murdered."

She smiled. "Always."

"Where were you all night?" Martha asked when her son walked in, raising her eyebrows.

"I was at Beckett's," he told her. "And lose that face, nothing happened."

"Of course," she said, her tone a little sarcastic. "How is she?"

"Better. But she got like eleven hours of sleep, and I got none. So if you don't mind…" he stopped, looking around the apartment. "Where's Alexis?"

"She slept over at Paige's last night. She's not back yet. What in the world were you doing all night if Beckett was asleep?"

He waved the stack of papers filled with his own handwriting that he had been carrying under his arm. "Writing."

"Wow. She really is your muse."

He narrowed his eyes. "I am going to bed now. Please don't tell Alexis about all of this, I'd rather explain it myself. Okay?"

Martha nodded vaguely.

"Mother. Okay?"

She waved her hand. "Okay. Get some sleep."

"Thank you. I will."

"Detective Beckett."

The voice that answered Castle's cell phone was definitely not his, and she knew that Castle didn't normally address her that formally. "Alexis?"

"Yeah. Sorry. My dad can't really talk right now."

"Oh. Okay?" She didn't quite understand, but when it came to Castle, less questions were usually better. She probably didn't want to know what he was preoccupied with, especially considering how awkward Alexis sounded. "Well, can you just tell him to call and meet up with us as soon as he can?"

"Umm… no."

She paused. "Umm, why?"

"It's not that he's busy… he actually can't talk."

Beckett's mind filled in the blanks. "Oh no! He's sick now?"

Castle was shaking his head ferociously at Alexis, but she ignored him. "Yeah."

"I'm so sorry, Alexis. Tell him I'm sorry, and the worst of it will be past in about a day. Do you need anything?"

"No. Gram and I have it covered."

"Okay. Well, I've gotta go investigate a murder, so…"

"Yeah. Sorry. Go. And don't worry about Dad, he'll be fine."

Beckett frowned. "I wasn't… worried."

"Oh. Yeah. I didn't mean that you were. Just… he was. When it was you." Castle glared at his daughter.

"He was?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry, I'm keeping you. Go crack your case."

Beckett smiled at Alexis's wording. She'd been hanging around her dad too much. "It's okay. You're right though, I have to go now. You can call me if you need anything, okay?"

"Okay," Alexis said, but they both knew she wouldn't. Solving a murder was clearly a little more important than whatever she would've been calling about.

"Okay. Bye, Alexis."

"Bye." She clicked off the phone. "Beckett says she's sorry and it only lasts a day."

"Why did you tell her?" Castle croaked.

"I'm not gonna lie to her, she's a cop. Plus, there's a crime scene and you're not going. She would've known something was up."

"Someone was murdered?" Castle asked. "No, I'm going!"

Alexis rolled her eyes. "Come on Dad, you're sick. You need to rest. Plus obviously it's contagious since you got it from Beckett, and you know how upset Dr. Parish gets when people contaminate her crime scenes."

"Maybe Pearlmutter's the ME on this case."

She raised her eyebrows. "It doesn't matter. Same principal stands. And stop talking, your voice is getting worse."

Castle tried to protest, but Alexis held up a hand to stop him, and the expression on her face was so severe that he didn't argue.

"Where's Castle, by the way?" Lanie asked when she'd finished giving Beckett the relatively straightforward autopsy results of her latest body. Lanie had found some pretty clear prints, which was definitely a good start.

"I need to talk to you about that," Beckett said, avoiding her friend's eyes.

Lanie raised her eyebrows, pursing her lips. "What did you do?'

"Why do you assume I did something?"

"Because we have a dead body and he's not here, you're looking unusually tired and you won't make eye contact with me."

"I didn't exactly do anything," Beckett muttered, staring at her shoes.

Lanie sighed. "I don't have all day, Beckett, and neither do you. What didn't you exactly do?"

"I was sick yesterday," she grudgingly told her friend, realizing she'd have to make this admission before she could get Lanie's advice.

"Oh?" Lanie asked, knitting her eyebrows a little. "That would explain why you look so tired."

"Yeah, well, Castle figured it out at work yesterday and he came to my apartment."

"He came to your apartment?" Lanie repeated, unblinking.

Beckett sighed heavily, closing her eyes for a second. "Yes, Lanie. I just said that. He came over and he brought me some stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Advil, soup, a teddy bear—"

Lanie stopped her. "A what now?"

"It's a teddy bear. It heats up when you put it in the microwave."

"What in the world is the point of that?"

"I was cold. Lanie, you're missing the point."

"Okay, I don't think you've gotten to the point yet, so how can I be missing it?"

"I fell asleep after a little while and he just stayed there, writing. All night. And now he's sick."

"You are usually much better at telling stories than this, girl."

"Lanie," Beckett said, getting frustrated because she didn't want to have to explain herself much further, "now he's sick, and it's my fault. And I feel a whole different kind of terrible than I did yesterday. What I had was bad."

"Honey, why didn't you call me?"

"I figured you were busy and I didn't want to get you sick."

"Beckett, come on, I am never too busy for my best girl."

"And again, you're missing the point."

"And again, what is the point?"

"I feel like I should do something. He's sick now because of me."

"What do you want to do?"

"I don't know, what can I do? He has Alexis and Martha to take care of him, so I'm sure he doesn't need anything from me, but… I don't know. What do you think?"

"I think you're feeling guilty for no important reason."

"I feel like I should go over there after work, just to see if there's anything I can do. I mean, that's what he did with me, right?"

Lanie raised her eyebrows. "You're asking me? All the information I have is from the semi-coherent story you just told me."

"I should, but I have plans with Josh after work. We made them like a week ago."

"Oh, is that what this is about?"

Beckett frowned, frustrated by the fact that Lanie suddenly seemed to understand something while she herself was still desperately confused. "What?"

"Who was there for you yesterday? Castle or Josh?"

"That's not a fair question. Josh had no idea I was even sick, same as you didn't. And I didn't want him to see me like that, I looked awful."

"But you didn't mind that Castle saw you?"

"No, Lanie, of course I did."

Lanie raised her eyebrows. "You did?"

She groaned. "Why am I talking to you? I can't win no matter what I say."

"Beckett, we both need to get back to work, but it comes down to this. You deserve to have someone who you're comfortable being with all the time, through good times and bad. And you need to decide who that's gonna be. It wouldn't hurt for you to have someone in your life who knows you well enough to know when you need help, even if you're not willing to admit it."

She didn't say the first thing that popped into her head, what was so glaringly obvious to her after the previous night. I already do. Whatever Castle was or wasn't, he was certainly in her life.

Instead, she argued. "Yeah, okay, but Lanie… he's seeing someone else."

"So what? So are you. Look, I'm not saying you have to marry anyone, I'm just saying you have to decide who you'd rather spend time with tonight."

"I'm not sure I want to spend much time with anyone but my couch and a book tonight. I'm already exhausted and it's still early. I really don't think I'm up for going out."

"If that's the whole truth, fine. Tell it to Josh. All I'm saying is think about it."

She felt her voice starting to slip away again, so she took a sip of the peach-flavored tea she was carrying in a travel mug, finding it impossible to drink without thinking of the person who'd brought it to her. "I'll think about it," she promised, stepping out of the morgue.