A/N: A little about this chapter before you begin. This wasn't meant to be out today. But I basically got super excited about it. So much so that I haven't even had it beta'd. It's a filler, and yet, an important one. I apologize for any mistakes. Thank you guys for your reviews and well wishes. Here you'll finally see here who made the first move. Two people at once. Fate? Either way, not long to go now.

Sleepless in Manhattan – Chapter 7

Kate paced around the living room restlessly, thinking inanely about the lack of sound her feet made. She missed her heels. Abrupt thoughts such as those cropped up amid the more serious issues she was pondering upon.

There weren't many decisions that Kate had regretted making in her life. Her mother had taught her not only to make decisions wisely to begin with, but also to harvest lessons from times that they didn't turn out as intended. She always told young Katie Beckett that life never delivers anything we can't handle. She lived by that philosophy; called it Johanna's Immutable Law of the Universe.

She paused in her pacing, smiling as she thought about how Johanna would have loved Castle. In fact, she did. She was a fan of his books. She was the reason Kate had become a fan of the books.

Kate shook her head. She must really be missing Castle. Especially if she was entertaining the thought that Johanna might've been responsible in sending Castle into Kate's life. No, those were the kinds of things that Castle would say.

There was a lot to think about. The entire day had been a blur. She went through her routine without much focus on any given task. Oh, she had tried, but she failed miserably each time. He could distract her without even being there. Castle had given her a lot to think about.

Listening to him talk about her – about them – over the radio had been a revelation to say the least. Not very long ago, Esposito had all but pointed out that Castle wasn't sticking around for the books anymore. The Nikki Heat series was basically a colossal love letter written for Kate Beckett. She wasn't blind to it, at least, not any more. As if that weren't enough of a declaration of love, he actually was declaring his love for her. The best or worst part of it was that he didn't even know she was listening. He may have hoped; she could hear as much in his voice, in his words. There was no way for him to know that she was listening, and still, Kate knew, that though he spoke for all the world to hear, Castle was talking to Kate.

There weren't many decisions that Kate had regretted making in her life. But she was regretting shutting him out for so long. She was regretting being selfish, and inconsiderate. True, it was her life, her body that took the bullet. But she was not the only one wounded.

Esposito and Ryan were her brothers in arm, and for all practical purposes, brothers off the field. She knew that it would be easy to reestablish things between them. They were cops. Sure, she knew they'd be harboring some hurt too. But they knew what it was like, for the most part. Lanie knew to some extent. But Castle didn't. For all his insight, Castle wasn't really a cop. He had become one of them, but he wasn't trained for any of this. Though he had signed up for following her, she wasn't sure he knew exactly what he had signed up for.

There was that, but there was also the fact, that his choices were his. Kate knew that his playboy image was just that – an image. It was a façade, established for the public, erected as a barrier. She knew that he was a thoughtful person, and far more intelligent than people gave him credit for. Kate knew that though he made decisions based more on emotion than practicality, that didn't mean he didn't think them through, or that he didn't understand them.

Kate knew that Castle would stand by her. That he would want to do so even if there was a risk attached. That in fact, he would help her from blindly making decisions where her mother's case was concerned. He had saved her, by virtue of his books, from getting irreversibly lost down the rabbit hole. He would do it again. Because she knew that there were things more important – things worth living for. Like Castle lived for the people he loved. She realized that early on through his interactions with Alexis. Never would she have thought of him as the doting father, back before she actually knew him.

That got her thinking about Alexis. Alexis and Martha had been there to watch her go down. To watch Castle trying to get her out of the way, even at the risk of getting hit by the bullet himself. She wouldn't blame the young teenager for hating her. Kate was nineteen when she lost her mother. She knew that there was little rationality involved with coping with loss. Though Castle was unharmed, the fact that he could have been, haunted even Kate. So of course, she wouldn't blame Alexis if she blamed or hated her; yet Kate hoped with all her heart that she didn't.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to centre her thoughts. The truth was, the decision had already been made. She already knew what she had to do, although she didn't know how to go about it. Squaring her shoulders like she would before a takedown, Kate finally resolved to do something. With an air of determination, she sat on the couch, and picked up the phone.

Alexis had been worried about her father's hopes being up. He was excellent at poker. But life was not a game of poker. Besides, she was his daughter. She knew, better than most, how to read him. Especially when it came to the people he cared about, and even more so when it came to the people he loved. So of course, she knew that he had his hopes up about StormRise.

She was also like Castle in her thought processes. Learning from watching her father, right since she was young, she had the kind of mind that sought a story. She prided herself in guessing, correctly more often than not, who done it in the whodunits. Now, being faced with a problem – or at least, facing it on his behalf, she had a case to solve. Like his novels' protagonists, like Derrick Storm, or even like Nikki and Rook; she tried to follow leads. And that had amounted into leading her to the morgue.

Half an hour of interrogation and the best set of puppy-dog eyes that she could muster had gained her the confidence of one Dr. Lanie Parish. ME for the city of New York, best friend to Detective Kate Beckett. Yes, Alexis Castle had inherited a lot of traits from her father. The relentless pursuit for answers was one of them. She smiled as she recalled the defeated sigh Lanie gave before her to hang tight for a few minutes. Lanie was going to reveal all she knew right after she came back from wheeling the latest body to the freezers.

Finally, Alexis thought, she would get some answers.

What she got instead, was more than what she had bargained for.

Kate thought she knew what a volcano must feel like. It had all been stewing around in her mind, right since she first heard Castle's voice on the radio. Or maybe it was right since Castle had entered her life. She wasn't sure of anything anymore. No. Quite the opposite. She hadn't ever been surer of anything than she was now.

Johanna Beckett always told her daughter that she didn't have to shy away from emotions. They didn't make her weak. Kate had understood the concept of it. Especially since her mother had likened it to opening a pre-shaken can of soda. She understood the concept of it, yet she couldn't really change that innate habit. She kept things bottled up.

The can was exploding, and the soda pouring out.

After having only enough patience to wait till the ringing stopped, indicating that the recipient of her frantic call had finally picked up, the words poured out in an impressive speed. "I don't know what to do. No, I know what to do, but I don't know how to do it. Did you listen to the show? He read my letter. He answered my letter. He didn't even know it's my letter. I can't – no, I can. But you know what I mean. Lanie, how am I supposed to face him? Though he did say he would wait. He's been waiting, and God, I don't even want him to wait anymore. He deserves so much better than me. But I'm selfish, and I want to deserve him, and I'm going to try to deserve him. But I don't know where to start. What if I don't know how to do this anymore? What if I've waited too long?"

She expected her friend to tell her to stop and take a breath. Maybe to chastise her, or say I told you so. Instead, Kate was greeted by silence. Who could blame her? She was stunned herself.

"Lanie? Say something."

"So you are StormRise?"

Kate gasped. If her body had been capable of withstanding it, she would have fallen off the couch. As it were, that was probably not very health. Opening and closing her mouth dumbly several times, the words caught in her throat. If this wouldn't make her believe in fate, or at least doubt her disbelief in it, she didn't know what would. She moved the phone away from her face to make sure she had called the right person. It could have been the power of wishful thinking? Nope. It wasn't.

"Kate?"

Remembering her resolve, she shook her head and forced herself to coherence. She recognized the voice. Even so, she was still shocked. And in her shock, she choked out a strangled whisper, "Alexis?"