Disclaimer: Castle = Not mine, not mine. Not-not mine, not-not mine. (Friends reference. Also not mine).

A/N:

Over 100 followers and over 50 reviews? What?! Thanksies! Those reviews were so helpful, I can't even tell you. I have gone back and altered that chapter slightly (Mostly fixing up errors but I did add a few lines to clarify some things. I originally had planned to take that story a little further, which may have explained Esposito's behaviour a little better. I did hint at it vaguely. But then I decided to incorporate my break-room idea and it no longer worked). Thanks to Minerva89 for pointing out a very specific error, and her firend for noticing. You were right; it was a freudian slip. I'd love to see Beckett in a thong.
And thanks for favouritng, too, wow. As usual, I'm happy if you just read.
Please forgive the interruption to "Through the Grapevine" for this little one-shot. There's plenty more where that came from.

I know, I'm very vague with the paintball descriptions and the game only seems to last about thirty seconds. But the paintball is just phlebotnum.
Nathan Fillion quote in here (and it's not the one that sort of sounds like what he said at the Firefly Panel at comic-con. That was a coincidence).
I'm not a big fan of song-fics. This isn't a song-fic. But if youré interested, I had the acoustic version of "Gold Guns Girls" by Metric playing in my head when I wrote this (It's why Beckett's using gold pelletts or whatever you call them).
Apologise in advance for any mistakes.

Upload Date: September 13, 2012

Chapter Rating: T (adult themes, sexual references, play-violence)

Chapter Summary: Beckett and Castle make a kinky wager over a game of paintball.

#14

It was Beckett's idea. As much as she loved playing laser tag – specifically, with Castle – she wanted something with more contact. Maybe it was just the cop in her. Besides, it was his and Alexis's thing and she didn't want to encroach on that.

When she'd suggested it, he had been absolutely delighted, booking a Paint-Ball field for the two of them one Saturday afternoon.

"It's not too late to back out now, Ricky," she teased him as they put on their protective gear when the day arrived.

"Me, back-out? Never. In fact, why don't we make things a little more interesting?'"

"I'm listening."

"Whoever loses…" he grinned slyly, "has to be the other's sex-slave tonight."

"Well, that's not fair. You're already my sex-slave."

"Oh I am – a willing one at that," he agreed, "but I mean, whatever the winner wants to do, no matter how humiliating, or depraved, the other has to go along with it."

She raised her eyebrows. "Has to?"

"Well, within reason," he added quickly. "The safe-word applies. But the loser has to at least attempt it. That person can't say 'no', outright."

She paused, considering.

"O.k., Castle, you've got yourself a deal - although, I have a feeling you'll enjoy it either way."

"Oh, and you won't?"

She simpered as she walked past him. "You ready, Castle?"

She chose gold paint, he red.

Castle stood with his gun at the ready. This was awesome. Beckett was hiding somewhere. He slowly turned on the spot, a predator in wait.

Becket hid behind one of the blocks. She had a clear shot. This was too easy. She was just about to pull the trigger when suddenly images of what he might possibly have in store for her flooded her brain and she deliberately moved the gun to the side at the last-minute, barely missing him.

She hid back behind the block, grinning, but he had definitely seen her. He gave chase and she laughed, ducking and weaving to avoid his many attempts to get her. Just because she was going to let him win didn't mean she was going to make it too easy for him.

"There's no escape, Beckett. I have you in my grasp."

"Quit talking about tonight and focus on the battle," she called out.

He faltered slightly at her words.

Grinning, she fired a few more shots she knew wouldn't hit him.

Castle leapt and rolled in the most ridiculous way, and she laughed, alerting him to her whereabouts.

He was closing in on her.

She ran, thrilling in the chase as he hobbled after her, finally stopping and aiming, as if to shoot, giving him an easy target.

He took the bait, shooting her.

"Yes! I win! Loser! Loser!"

Beckett tried to act annoyed but couldn't suppress a grin as she looked forward to the evening's events.

Castle was bursting with smugness. Then, his eyes locked on the round, red stain in the left-centre of her chest. Suddenly, he felt as if all the air in his lungs had been replaced by stone. There was a ringing in his ears, his pulse thundered and his head spun. His arms, legs and mouth went numb.

Beckett's grin faded as she slowly realised something was wrong.

"Castle?"

Castle fought for air, taking in deep, ragged breaths, bending over and grabbing his knees. Gradually, the ringing was replaced by a loud bang, screams and Beckett's breathing as she fought to stay alive. Then, sights joined sounds. His visioned blurred but then he could make out colours. Green. Blue. Red. So much red. Red everywhere.

Beckett ran towards him, concerned. "Castle, what's wrong?" she asked, bending down slightly to face him.

He looked up at her and his legs gave way. She tried to catch him but he was too heavy for her, dropping to his knees. She knelt in front of him.

"Castle? Is it the paint fumes? Are you dizzy?"

He didn't answer her.

She examined his body, checking for paint marks.

"Did I hit you? Did you get shot?" She knew the gear didn't protect everywhere.

"Shot," he whispered.

"Where?"

"In the chest," he gasped.

She narrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Castle, your chest is clean. And you're protected there."

He didn't appear to have heard her. "I wasn't fast enough. Not – not faster than a bullet."

She froze.

Faster than a bullet.

Her shooting.

Then she looked back down and saw the red blotch, in almost exactly the same spot as -

Oh, God.

He was reliving it.

"Shh," she soothed, steadying him by the shoulders. "It's ok, I'm here. I'm here."

"Kate?" His tone was meek, child-like.

"Yeah, yeah, it's me," she assured him, stroking his hair.

"I - I – I don't - " he was having trouble speaking due to his shortness of breath.

"Castle, just breathe. Breathe for me. Breathe with me."

He tried, slowing down his breaths, following her lead as she slowly demonstrated controlled, drawn out breathing.

He exhaled.

"Good job, good job, just keep breathing easy, ok?" she said gently, rubbing his back.

He stared at her for a moment, and then drew her in, holding her close.

She felt hot tears on the back of her neck, causing her to fight back her own as she hugged him just as fiercely.

"I'm here," she whispered. "I'm alive. I love you."

The sobs he had been fighting back broke through at her words.

"It's ok," she repeated soothingly. "We're ok. I'm safe. I'm with you."

He sunk into her shoulder.

'I love you, Castle. It's alright. Everything's alright. I love you."

His breathing appeared to have steadied. After a few more moments, he relaxed his grip and raised his head to look at her.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"I don't know,' he said slowly. "Kate, I'm sorry - "

"You have nothing to apologise for. You were having a panic attack. Those are involuntary. Trust me." She gave a small smile.

"But I'm not the one who was shot."

"No, you're just the one who held me bleeding in your arms. You're just the one who tried to save me. You're just the one who - ' her voice cracked, "who watched me die in that ambulance - "

"Kate," he protested, looking away.

"No, I'm sorry," she said, gently pulling him back to face her by the chin. "You have to hear this. You're just the one who loves me.""

She moved in closer, gently wiping the moisture under his eyes with her thumbs.

He concentrated on keeping his breathing controlled.

"Ï was shot," she said gently, but matter-of-factly,"and that's ok."

"Ök?"

"Yeah, it's ok. It's ok that it happened. We have to accept that it happened and we can't change it. We don't need to."

He stared into her eyes for a moment before speaking again. "Did you say you love me?"

She smiled. "Yeah, I did."

"Did you just say it to calm me down?" he asked.

She knew what he was doing. He was trying to get her to say it again. Her smile widened. "Yeah, that's right. I don't love you. I'm only using you for your body."

He finally smiled back. "Well, I can't blame you. Few can resist."

She rolled her eyes. "Come on, Castle," she said, helping him up. "Time to go home.""

"Ök," said Castle. "But don't think that this means you're getting out of our bet."

"Wouldn't dream of it," she replied with a grin.

I'll admit, Castle crying is one of my Pet Peeve's unless it's played for laughs. However, this just felt so organic and so natural that I had to put it in.