A/N: Thank you. Really.

Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine.

Someone Like You

Chapter 8

Rick woke up to movement on his side. His eyes remained closed as he tried to hang on to any remnants of the peaceful dream he had been having just seconds before. When the movement next to him didn't stop, he ventured opening his eyes slowly. It was still dark outside, the sky just starting to take on a tenuous shade of lighter blue. From his spot on the couch, he could see the almost full moon, which was the only source of light at that moment. Blinking groggily, he finally looked for the source of movement, only to find Kate shaking next to him, her face scrunched up as if she was in pain. A low moan escaped her lips and her body curled itself in a fetal position as much as their close proximity allowed.

He watched her for a moment, unsure of what to do. Checking his watch, he realized it was a little over five in the morning. Another painful moan escaped her and he decided right then that he couldn't just stand there and do nothing. Touching her cheek gently, he called her name once, twice, three times, but she couldn't seem to snap out of it. He tried again, this time shaking her shoulder with a bit more force. Her eyes snapped open suddenly and he could have sworn he had never seen anyone look so scared in his life as she did at that moment. He watched as she looked at him, her breathing still coming out in gasps and sweat soaking her skin. It took her eyes a moment to focus on him and remember where she was.

"Are you okay?" He asked after a minute, brushing away a strand of her hair that was clinging to her forehead.

"What…" she swallowed hard and tried to take a deep breath. "What happened?"

"You were having a nightmare. I think." He watched as her eyes darted around the room, the tears threatening to escape at any second. "Jesus, Kate, you're shaking." He ran his hands on her arms gently, trying to soothe her. "Do you want some water? Hang on, I'm going to get you some water."

"No, just…" Her hand quickly shot up and caught his wrist as he was standing up. "Just stay." She whispered, her voice shaking. "Please. I'll be okay in a minute."

He sat back down and pulled her to him, his hands working to give her some warmth as her shivering had yet to subside. He heard her take several deep, shaky breaths until she calmed down. They were silent for a few minutes. He didn't know what to do, how to comfort her, or if she would even want to talk about it. Whatever it was, though, it had to have been something really bad to elicit a reaction like that from her.

"I'm sorry." He heard her whisper into the quiet living room and shook his head, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"Don't worry about it. Are you okay?" He looked down at her, the tear tracks on her cheek now visible by the moonlight. She nodded, closing her eyes and hiding her face on his shoulder. "Do you want to talk about it?" He asked softly and felt her shaking her head.

"What time is it?" she murmured, her voice still a little hoarse. He checked his phone, the glow of it illuminating her features better as she quickly wiped her tears away.

"5:15."

"I should go." She tried to sit up, but his arm kept her firmly in place. "I have to get Tyler home, Rick. And I have to be at the Precinct in a couple of hours."

"Let me make you some coffee at least." She nodded and stood up. He followed her and grabbed her wrist as she turned away to make her way up the stairs. "Hey, are you going to be okay?" He asked concerned.

She offered him a small, sad smile and nodded, before turning around and walking up the stairs to the guest room. He watched her leave, concern weighing on him. What could possibly have caused that kind of nightmare? She had been so incredibly trapped in it that it had taken him four tries to wake her up. He remembered her mentioning something about a difficult time in her life, back when she had met the asshole that would eventually abandon her pregnant and alone. Maybe the nightmare had something to do with that. She had said then that she didn't like talking about it, that it was too difficult. He just didn't want her to suffer through this alone. Whatever it was, it seemed to be something incredibly painful.

He moved through the kitchen quickly, starting the coffee maker and whipping up some toasts. Checking the fridge, he took out a carton of orange juice for Tyler, pouring some in a glass and leaving it on the kitchen table. The toasts popped up on the toaster and he quickly put them on a plate, along with two steaming mugs of coffee. Then he sat down and waited for her.

A few minutes later, she appeared on the top of the stairs with a sleepy Tyler leaning against her side. They made their way slowly down the stairs and she smiled when she saw that he had actually made her breakfast.

"You didn't have to do that." She told him when they reached the table, but he just shook his head dismissing it.

"It was no trouble and I wanted to eat too." He looked at her, trying to gauge her mood and smiled when she sat down. "Morning, Ty." He greeted the boy, ruffling his already messy hair.

"Morning." Tyler mumbled, biting on a piece of toast.

They ate in a comfortable silence. A few minutes later, Kate told her son to go grab his stuff so they could go. Once Tyler had run into the living room, Rick reached out for her hand, running his thumb over her skin. She sighed and squeezed his hand.

"We will talk about everything, Rick. I promise." She said before he could get a word out. "But this is exactly the kind of situation I was trying to avoid with the kids. Tyler already asked why we slept over instead of going home."

"What did you say?" he asked quietly and she shrugged.

"That it was really late and I was really tired and you offered to let us stay." She explained and he nodded understandingly. "But this?" she motioned at their joined hands. "And everything else, how we've been acting around them, it gives them the wrong idea and I don't want that."

"I know, you're absolutely right." He said, looking down sheepishly. "What do you suggest we do, then? Because I can't walk away, Kate. Not anymore."

"I don't know." She murmured and closed her eyes. "Maybe we should just go back to the way things were before? Consider yesterday a fluke?"

"But I don't want that." He protested. "I mean, is that even possible for you? Pretend that nothing happened, that nothing's changed? Because I don't think I can do that."

"I don't know, but we have to try. I don't want them to get caught up in the middle of whatever is happening between you and me. Tyler is already attached to you guys, so I am not just suddenly going to make him stop seeing you. Especially because I don't want that either. But he is already confused as to what's going on, you know?" She let out a breath before continuing. "He is my priority and whatever we do is going to affect him and Alexis."

Rick nodded, knowing she was right. Alexis had already asked him the night before if Kate was his new girlfriend, to which he had assured his little girl that Kate was a friend, whom he cared about very much. He understood Kate's concern, he really did. He never brought any girls home, unless he was serious about them. After Meredith had left, the only one he had brought home was Gina and he had ended up marrying her. Sure, their marriage had sunk like the freaking Titanic, but he had been serious about her once upon a time.

The problem with Kate was that Alexis met her from the start, before anything had happened. Now he was at a loss of what to do, of how to deal with those feelings that were bubbling up inside of him. He didn't want his little girl to get caught in the cross-fire.

"We'll figure it out." He gave her a sad smile, just as Tyler walked back into the kitchen. She let go of his hand and turned to her son, helping him zip up his coat and pull his gloves on over his casted hand.

They stood up and Rick walked them to the door.

"Tell Lexi I said bye." Tyler said and he nodded, smiling down at the boy.

"I will. I'll see you later, buddy." He told him and Tyler waved, making his way to the elevator to press the button. Rick sighed and turned to Kate. "I guess we'll just talk later?" His voice sounded sad and disappointed even to his own ears and he felt like kicking himself.

"Yeah." She managed a small, weak smile. "I'll call you later." She kissed his cheek and walked towards her son, entering the elevator.

He watched them until the doors closed and they disappeared from view. His hand unconsciously touched his cheek, where her lips had kissed him not even a minute before. Sighing, he went back inside and closed the door behind him, leaning against it.

This sucked.

Rick managed to sleep for another hour after Kate and Tyler left. Around 7:30, he got out of bed to go wake Alexis and get her ready to school. He did a lot of their usual routine on autopilot, his mind trying to come up with a solution for his current predicament with Kate. He drove Alexis to school and went back to the loft. He had another signing this afternoon and his heart just wasn't in it. In fact, this whole aspect of his job had only been fun at first. Now it had become a chore and he was glad he didn't have to do it all the time. Around noon, he started thinking what he should get for lunch and was tempted to call Kate to see if she wanted to have lunch with him. But after what she had said, he figured it was for the best if they spent some time apart. It seemed like the longer they were around each other, the stronger this magnetism between them seemed to get.

He was dialing his favorite Thai restaurant's number to order in when his doorbell rang. He frowned, not expecting anyone, and groaned inwardly when he saw it was Gina on the other side of the door. Sighing heavily, he opened the door.

"Hi, Gina." He greeted her, but she didn't say anything and stormed past him into the apartment. "By all means, please come in." he mumbled sarcastically to himself and closed the door.

"This is exactly why I yelled at you the other day." She told him and he frowned, confused.

"What are you talking about?" he asked her tiredly and she shoved her IPad in his face. His blood froze in his veins.

There were several pictures of him and Kate from yesterday as they walked back to the precinct after lunch. As he scrolled down the pictures, he saw that they had managed to catch them holding hands, hugging against his car and – he closed his eyes, almost not wanting to look as he scrolled down to the last picture – kissing.

Shit.

"Do you have any idea what kind of damage control I'm going to have to do to contain this? Because I don't think you understand that whatever you do in public has a chance of ending up on the goddamned internet. Damn it, Rick."

"How long have those been out?" he asked quietly, his hands covering his face warily.

"Not long. I've already asked them to take them down, but it might be too late. Do you have any idea how many strings I'm going to have to pull, how many favors I'm going to have to call in? This is exactly why I asked you if I had to worry and you assured me you two were just friends. Kissing in broad daylight in the middle of the freaking street, Rick? What the hell were you thinking?" she ranted and Rick sighed, completely at a loss. How was he supposed to tell Kate?

"Just…" he took a deep breath and tried to pull himself together. "Just do the best you can do to bury this. Please, Gina? Just… it was a mistake, we just got caught in the moment and I didn't even remember we were in public."

"Are you two together? Because I might have to release a statement about this, about who she is."

"No. No statement. And I don't know what the hell we are. It's…" he ran a hand over his head frustrated. "It's complicated between us. Just try to fix this and whatever you do, do not release her name or who she is or what she does. Please."

"You owe me big time, Rick Castle. Big time." She spat out and stormed out.

He took a deep breath and grabbed his wallet and keys, throwing his jacket on. He had to tell Kate.

Kate drove home lost in thought. Tyler fell asleep almost as soon as they pulled into traffic and she didn't have the heart to wake him when they got to her building. Carrying him inside was no easy feat as the boy was tall for his age and almost too heavy for her to carry. But he was her baby and she did it without even thinking twice. She put him in bed and went to take a shower. She needed to think. The hot water cascading on her body was soothing and she could feel the last remnants of her nightmare fading away. It had been a while since she had last had a nightmare that felt so real and she wanted to kick herself for having it at Rick's. Not that she had any control over it, but she shouldn't have stayed over at the loft in the first place.

Damn it, this thing was so messed up. It shouldn't have to be so complicated, but their kids were already in the middle of it and they had to tread carefully. If it was just the two of them, they could just see where this could go and enjoy it while it lasted. But not with Tyler and Alexis already involved. She really didn't know how to go about it. When Tyler asked her why they had slept over at the loft, she had been at a loss of what to tell him for a moment. Because this wasn't normal. How could two people be so involved with one another so quickly? She knew it wasn't something impossible, she knew it existed, but she had never thought it could possibly happen to her. Was this what love at first sight felt like, if such thing existed?

But that was clearly a ridiculous thought because she was not in love with him. She was just strongly attracted to him and liked him as a friend as well. He was a great guy, a fantastic father and she really enjoyed his company. But love? No. No way.

A couple of hours later, she drove Tyler to school and went to the precinct. It was still early and she had the bullpen mostly to herself. She loved to come in this early because it was always the best time to think with all the peace and quiet. She made her way to the break room to get some coffee and then stopped in front of her murder board, sipping the disgusting hot beverage. She should have stopped at Starbucks on her way in.

By ten in the morning, they had a solid lead and Ryan and Esposito went out to pick up a friend of the victim's to bring in for interrogation. Kate stayed behind, going over Lanie's report and the vic's records. She had noticed all morning that her fellow detectives and officers kept looking at her, pretending to be busy when she caught them looking. It was unnerving.

When noon rolled around, she decided she would take a break for lunch. Her stomach was already protesting as she had had breakfast way too early at the loft and never ate anything after that. She grabbed her coat and her purse, thinking she would just go across the street and grab a burger at Remy's. When the elevator doors opened, she was surprised to see Rick there.

"Hey." She said and he pulled her inside the elevator, the doors closing behind her. "What are you doing here? Is something wrong?" She asked, confused. He looked so nervous, running his hand through his hair.

"I have to show you something, but I promise it's already being taken care of." He finally said and she felt the knot in her stomach tighten.

"Rick, what is it?" she asked apprehensively.

He pulled out his IPad and showed it to her. She felt like someone had punched the air from her lungs as the pictures appeared in front of her.

She heard a distant ping from the elevator, signaling they had arrived at their destination and the doors opened behind them.

A/N: Tell me what you think?