Disclaimer: The author of the fan fiction does not, in any way, profit from the story and all creative rights to the characters belong to their original creator(s).

Oh, bless your hearts. Your reviews give me the warm fuzzies, even those of you who are anonymous or sign in with a name that I can't find on this site (yes, I'm talking to you, Allison McKenzie) so I can't thank you personally and tell you how much your words brighten an otherwise crappy day.
Note the change in Upload Date format. I'm sick of pandering to an international audience. I'm Australian; we don't use Fahrenheit So, if you do, just switch the day and month, and you'll be fine (I have to do it all the time because 80% of everything on the internet is written in American English.). As of the latest Andrew Marlowe interview, I've got a timetable now (Scary). Which basically means this little series of one-shots will be over by the time the last episode of season five airs here (some time in June or July, I'm guessing). I will remind people not to tell me when she says ILY, I mean it. I've decided to stop reading ahead/watching sneak peeks and spoilers after Hunt airs in the US. We're up to After Hours here (I just saw Swan Song and it's nowhere near as heinous as so many people made it out to be).

Spoilers!

Upload Date: 18.02.13

Chapter Rating: K+

Chapter Summary: Castle and Beckett talk in the midst of Alexis's kidnapping case.

#46

"I didn't know you had that side to you."

Her expression was unreadable. Was that awe? Fear? He didn't know. Shock, definitely.

"When it comes to the people I love, I do," he said unabashedly, meeting her probing gaze with an intense one of his own.

That utter rage in his features as he had... interrogated -for lack of a better word - that witness, that dark shadow behind his normally cheerful blue eyes, was so unlike him. Yet, with a jolt, she suddenly realised there had been one other time when she'd seen him like that.

The night he had tackled and punched Lockwood past unconsciousness, when he, Lockwood, had tried to kill her.

"Does that scare you?"

Beckett took a deep breath and exhaled, surveying him.

"No," she said in a throaty whisper as she cupped his face in her hands. "That protective streak, that tenderness that Alexis brings out in you, is one of the first things that made me fall in love with you. Nothing that comes from that could scare me. It's good to know we have something else in common."

Castle eyes glimmered slightly at her confession, the ghost of a smile playing at his lips before he sighed, reverting to his weary, anxious state. After they found Alexis - and they would find her - they would talk about this further. For now, having her by his side, whispering those words in his ear, was enough to keep him sane through this living hell.

All she wanted to do was take his pain away, but she couldn't. All they seemed to find as this investigation dragged on were more dead ends. So, instead, she had to watch him suffer as every worst case scenario rant hrough his mind. It was torture. Pain didn't belong on his face. This face was meant for smirking, and crinkling at the corners of his eyes, for bewildered looks when she surprised him and flustered expressions when she was messing him, for the way his eyes lit up when he talked about how proud he was of his daughter, for the looks of concern he gave her over Christmas break when she was studying instead of relaxing, the carefree boyish grin of pure joy whenever they played Laser tag. She loved watching them together, those few fleeting moments when she had the chance, and now, she scolded herself for secretly wondering if she would ever have another.