Florida Heat

A/N: Hey everyone! I would like to thank you all again for your support and enthusiasm for this story. You all rock. Also, I would just like to let you know in advance that chapters may be coming a little less frequently now that the semester has started up again, but have no fears I will write as much as I can as often as I can.

Oh, and I posted chapter 10 a couple of days ago but for whatever reason, the story didn't repost in the community, so you may want to go back and read that if you missed it. Now, on to chapter 11! :)

Chapter 11

Present

She could no longer feel the heat from the water burning her skin. It had been painful at first, like little bolts of lightening scalding her over and over when she stepped into the shower with the heat turned all the way up. Now, she had been sitting huddled in the shower for so long that she could no longer feel anything. She had gone numb and the heat faded away.

Two Hours Before

Kate stared blankly at the wall, all emotion draining out of her body. She could feel it spiraling down in a vortex: happiness, anger, sadness, humiliation, strength, and weakness. It was all whirled away as Castle's voice continued to explain to her what happened to her mother when Kate was 19 years old. He told her that she and her father had been out to dinner and her mother hadn't shown up. He explained that Johanna Beckett had been found in an alley, stabbed to death. He explained that she had become a cop because her mother's killer had never been found.

Kate stared at the wall.

He knelt before her, as she sat on the edge of the bed, and placed a hand gently on her knee. His thumb rubbed softly over her bare skin; her yellow and green bruised and battered skin. He was asking her if she was okay. Was she okay? How could he ask that? Of course, she was not okay. She was not fine. She was not good. Nothing about this situation was okay. She had just learned, for the first time, that her mother was dead: murdered. She laughed silently to herself, her body still failing to move, but it wasn't the first time, was it? No. She had been told this before; she had been living with this knowledge, this burden, for years. Then, for a few blissful days, she had been free. Free of the heaviness. Now, the weight, the darkness, was back on her. So, when he asked her if she was okay, looking up at her from his squatted position in front of her— compassion and pity reflected back in his eyes— she turned slightly to blink at him once, before she stood, walked around him and out through the door.

No, she was not okay.

Two weeks before

"I just want you to know…" Castle's voice drifted off causing Kate to turn around to look at him from where he had been helping her slide on her blazer.

He had been acting weird all day, stuttering, stopping his sentences before he even started, turning to walk away from her before any words made it past his lips. She had even caught him staring at her with what could only be described as a panic stricken look on his face. The clincher, however, that something was on his mind: he hadn't made a single sexual innuendo all day.

Kate looked up at him; a single eyebrow rose in question as she smiled at him. This wasn't the time to make fun at him; he was seriously bothered.

"What's going on, Castle?" She prompted gently, catching his hand in her own as they stood in the middle of the mostly abandoned squad room.

He looked up at her, from where his head had been hung, feet shuffling. A sudden confidence took over him as she held loosely onto his fingertips and he took a step closer to her, his hand wiggling out of her grasp to grip her fingers instead.

"I just want you to know," he spoke in a low rumbling tone. "That in a couple of weeks, when I get back from my book tour, I am going to show up at your door with a bouquet of flowers. Then, I am going to ask you to go out to dinner with me. Assuming that you say yes, which I really hope you do, I will take you out to a nice dinner— nothing too fancy, because I want us both to be comfortable. Maybe, afterwards, we will grab a cup of coffee because that is what we do. You could pay for that if you want, because I know you are a modern independent woman and all of that. You may not like me playing the big strong man, insisting on paying for everything. After that, though, I will walk you home and once we are at your front door, I will kiss you goodnight. Don't worry, I will be a gentleman about it."

Her breath was stuck in her lungs and her heart was beating so hard it hurt her chest.

"I am telling you this now because you said you needed time and you wanted space. I have given you two months of space and now, I am giving you two weeks worth of time to get used to this idea. Until then, Katherine, goodnight, and I will see you tomorrow."

He gave her fingers a final squeeze before letting her hand fall from his and turning towards the elevator. Leaving her standing, with her jaw fallen slightly open, in front of her desk. Her agape mouth slowly slid into a wide smile as she tugged her bottom lip gently in between her teeth. For the first time in nearly three months Kate Beckett truly smiled.

Son of a bitch. She thought as she put a hand to her forehead and leaned back against her desk, her bag dropping to the floor from her shoulder. Richard Castle had just spoken his intentions to court her.

Present

Castle knocked on the door lightly. It had been two hours since Kate had left his room and he was worried. He knocked again, louder, when she failed to answer, yell, scream, or anything. He listened for any sign of movement before pulling a keycard out of his pocket. He fiddled with it for a moment, flicking it in between his fingers, debating his next actions. She had left the card in his room the night before, after calling down to the desk, in case she managed to lock herself out of her room again. Now, he was pondering using it to break into her room. It was justifiable circumstances, he convinced himself as he slid the card into the slot on the door and turned the knob as it buzzed and flashed green.

The hiss of the shower could be heard the second he opened the door and he could feel the steam bursting at the hinges of the door. His hand was raised anyway, poised at the point of knocking. There was something wrong, he could feel it as it gnawed away at his gut. He needed to make sure she was truly okay.

"Kate?" He called as his fist connected solidly with the wood. "Are you okay in there?"

When only silence answered him, he sucked in a deep breath, turned the knob and pushed the bathroom door open. She may kill him later, but now he had to make sure she wasn't dying herself.

"Kate?" He called again as the billowing cloud of steam hit his face like a shock wave, rushing past him to evaporate into the cool bedroom air. He coughed out of reflex and wiped a hand over his face, scraping away the building layer of moisture as he walked through the white wall and towards the shower.

"Shit, Kate," he mumbled. "How long have you been in here?"

He reached a hand in, fumbling blindly with the knob, scalding water pelting his skin, until the stream shut off with a thump. A deafening silence filled the space as the steam flooded his lungs. He reached for a towel, making his way to the other end of the shower. He pulled the curtain back slightly, poking his head in with one eye cracked open.

She was huddled with her back to him. Her knees drawn up with arms wrapped around them and her head buried in between. The skin on her back stared back at him, angry and red; her hair falling all around her like thick, wet dreadlocks.

"Kate?" His voice was smooth through the fog of the shower, as he placed a hand hesitantly on her shoulder "Can you hear me?"

When she still didn't answer, he laid the towel gently around her back, grasping it as he wrapped his hands under her armpits and hauled her to stand. She wobbled slightly, her knees threatening to give out as he reached around her, securing the towel in place and spun her around to face him.

"Castle?" She slurred as she looked up at him, confused, disoriented. "What's going on?"

"Kate, sweetie," He soothed, running a hand down her face. "How long have you been in here?"

"Dunno," she slurred again as he helped her over the edge of the tub to the soaked bathmat. "I got in right after I left your room. Don't know how long it's been since then."

He took a second to translate her slurred jumble of words, his eyes widening as his brain finished the interpretation.

"Jesus, Kate. That was hours ago. Come on." He sighed as he helped her walk across the slick tile floor and into the cool room.

"Drink this," he demanded as he set her down on the edge of the bed and grabbed a bottle of water.

He watched over her, arms crossed over his chest as she downed the liquid in a few huge gulps, the thin plastic bottle crinkling as it imploded. Drips of water fell from the ends of her soaking wet hair, absorbing into the white towel and mosaic print bedspread. Red blotches covered her skin.

"Next time you want a sauna just tell me, I'll set you up with a spa day," Castle joked feebly, finally sinking down to sit next to her, the bed bending and creaking under their collective weight.

"Sorry," she whispered back, the water working its way through her system, rehydrating her. "I just wanted to wash it all away. I wanted it gone."

"I know," he whispered back, a hand coming up to brush a wet matted lock of hair out of her face.

They sat in silence for a few more minutes, Kate staring at the junction between the wall and dark carpet in front of her. Castle staring at his hands. Her fingers played with the water bottle, the plastic cracking and crinkling with the tiny movements of her fingertips: bending, flexing.

"I'll leave you to get dressed," he said finally.

Castle pushed himself off of the bed and turned towards the door only to stop when Kate's hand shot out to grab his. "Please don't leave me."

The panic was evident on her face and the shock of the sight overwhelmed him before he reminded himself that this wasn't Beckett, the no nonsense cop who hid her emotions behind a concrete wall. This was Kate, the woman who had woken up days before with no memory of who she was, after surviving who knows what. This was the nineteen year-old girl, who had just had her entire world collapse in on her.

Please don't leave me. The words echoed in her eyes and through his mind.

"Don't worry, I won't go anywhere," he replied, sitting back down on the bed still holding her hand.

"She's really dead?" She whispered a while later, time slowing and speeding up upon its own accord.

"Yeah, sweetie, she's really dead." He squeezed her hand gently, both of them lying clasped in his lap.

"What happened to the guy that did it?"

"You shot him, two years ago. Killed him in the middle of the precinct."

She nodded her head as she slipped her fingers from his with a final squeeze of her own. "Good."

He watched as she rose from the bed, holding the towel up modestly with one hand, as she rooted through her bags, before carrying a stack of clothing back to the bathroom in the other.

When she emerged again her hair was brushed up into a messy bun and she was wearing one of his Marvel Comic t-shirts over a pair of leggings.

"How did you?" His voice trailed off as he looked at her, taking in the sight of his shirt, which was about three sizes too big for her, hanging off of her body. He had been with her the entire time she had been in his room and he hadn't seen her go near his suitcase once.

She merely smirked in response as she climbed up onto the bed and methodically fluffed her pillows, adjusting them so she could sit comfortably propped against the headboard. "A girl's got to have her secrets."

He grinned back at her, certain that he looked like an idiot, but he didn't care. It was such a "Kate" thing to say. He scooted himself up to sit next to her as she picked up the remote and started to flip through the endless list of movies on the screen. He waited patiently, his eyes flickering between the remote resting in her hand on her lap and the sharp lines of her face. His fingers picked at the hem of his shirt that she was wearing. His hand resting against her other thigh, a gently reminder that he was still there— he wasn't leaving, too.

Castle looked up at the screen as she reached over to place the remote on the side table and let out a laugh at the unexpected selection. "The Princess Bride? Really? Who knew Detective Beckett had a sappy romantic side?"

Kate placed a hand over his, effectively stopping his repetitive plucking motion, which was apparently annoying her. She simply shrugged her shoulders and squeezed his hand in hers.

"Apparently I do."

He looked over at her again, watching as her eyes grew wide and she fell into the mythical world on the screen. He watched her bite into her lip gently as Buttercup ordered Wesley around. Kate sank down to rest her head on his shoulder and Castle brought his arm up to wrap around her, holding her securely into his side. I'm never going to leave you.

"You owe me a date you know," she whispered as Wesley rode off into the sunset.

"As you wish," he whispered back, his lips brushing against her hair in a ghost of a kiss. "Whenever you are ready, Katherine, I'll be waiting at your door with flowers."

This time it was Kate's head that jerked up as she was forced from unconsciousness by a pounding at the door. She glanced at the TV but the movie was over and a series of previews repeated on the screen. A muffled mumbled came from beside her and she lifted her head enough to see Castle, slumped against the headboard, sound asleep next to her. She pushed off of him, swinging her legs around to shimmy off the side of the bed, her feet hitting the floor with a solid thump as she slowly wandered towards the door, rubbing her eyes as she went.

"Hey chica!" Esposito exclaimed as she swung the door open and came face to face with the two other detectives. "Sorry to wake you, but we have news."

Kate stepped back silently allowing the two men to enter her room before letting go of the handle and wandering back over to wake Castle. Her brain was slowly catching up to what was going on.

Both men had stopped short when they saw Castle asleep on the bed and turned to look at her in question.

"What?" She snapped at their twin inquisitive looks. "We were watching a movie and we fell asleep. Why am I even explaining this to you?"

Kate shook her head and set about shaking Rick's shoulder until he blinked up at her and shifted to sit upright, scooting over so she could sit next to him. "What's up?"

"Robin and Batboy have something to tell us."

"Robin and Batboy?" Castle quirked an eyebrow up at her. "What does that make us Batman and Catwoman?"

Kate made to respond when Espo interjected. "Not to interrupt your flirting, because you know we never like to do that. We just thought you should know that, while you two were playing snuggle buddy and watching movies, we figured out a way to find the house that you were held in."

Both men were standing at the foot of the bed, chests puffed out in pride as Kate and Rick stared at them expectantly.

"Well?" Kate finally prompted when they failed to expand.

Ryan held up the laptop he had been holding at his side. "Meet an amazing little thing called Google Earth."