Chapter 10

Standing in the breakroom, Kate delicately picked up the coffee pot and tipped it over into her mug, which rested on the counter a few inches away. She successfully filled the mug with coffee, but when she moved to put the pot back on its warming plate, some of it slopped onto the counter and she groaned. She was using her right arm—nothing should have been awkward—but somehow with her left arm bound against her chest with a brace everything just felt…off. Stupid bullet graze!

With her coffee ready, Kate walked over to the refrigerator to pull out the sandwich Ryan had picked up for her earlier that day. She pulled it out, but then realized she needed to use her right hand to carry the coffee cup. She remained frozen in the middle of the room for a moment, trying to figure the best course of action, when she realized she could probably grip the sandwich between her index finger and thumb of her left hand even with it mashed against her chest. Then her right would be free to carry the coffee.

Very gently, she slid the sandwich into her left hand, but immediately hissed in discomfort. Evidently, gripping the sandwich put too much stress on her bicep, but she found that she could trap it against her side with minimal discomfort, so she had to settle for that. Just as she was about to pick up her coffee and make the precarious trek to her desk, she was interrupted by the breakroom door slamming open. She'd barely registered her partner's face before he was bounding in her direction, calling out, "Beckett? Beckett! Oh, thank god! Thank god you're okay!"

His arms wound around her shoulder so aggressively that she lost her grip on the sandwich and it fell to the floor at her feet. She grumbled, ducked out of his embrace, and scooped the sandwich up off the floor with her right hand. At least it was still in the wrapper and had suffered no damage—or dirt.

After placing the sandwich on the counter beside her coffee, she used a puff of air to blow some hair off her face and then asked, "What are you doing here?" She wasn't annoyed so much as confused, especially since he was acting even more crazed than normal.

"Ryan told me you were shot!"

"And you…dropped everything and came running?" she guessed, half joking, but half serious since she'd only been released from the hospital forty-five minutes earlier.

He shrugged then nodded. "Basically, yeah."

"Oh…well, you didn't have to; I'm fine."

"You're not fine! You were shot!"

She shook her head as he made it sound as though she'd had a near brush with death when in reality the whole thing had been a fluke. What were the odds an accidental discharge hit anyone, let alone someone standing half a block away? Really, she'd just begun that morning with terrible luck. "I'm fine, Castle; it was just a graze."

"A graze! Where? Your arm?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, hence the sling, which, honestly, I think is overkill but they-"

"No, no, no." He cooed as he stepped up and stroked her left shoulder as though she was a wounded puppy. "You need to rest it so it can heal. I mean—shouldn't you be resting now? Sit down! Let me-"

"Castle," she began, her tone warning. "I'm perfectly fine. Actually, I was just about to eat some lunch so-"

"I got it!" He jumped in, scooping up both her sandwich and coffee mug before she had a chance to protest. He led the way to her desk where he placed her coffee mug and sandwich down in front of her desk. Then, he ripped the tape off her sandwich's paper wrap, unrolled it, and then gestured towards it dramatically as an invitation for her to sit down and eat.

"Um…thanks," she said a bit distantly as his assistance was entirely unnecessary. Though, when he sat down in "his" chair beside her desk for the first time in almost two months it did bring a smile to her face.

"So what happened? Was there a big shoot-out? Did anyone else get injured?"

Taking a bite out of her sandwich, she rolled her eyes. "There you go sounding gleeful about something serious again, Castle."

He placed his hand on the desk near her coffee mug and said in the most serious tone she'd heard from him yet, "I would never, ever be gleeful about you being hurt, Kate."

She nodded. "I know. Honestly, though, it was nothing interesting. Suspect was being taken into custody, he was in the process of surrendering his weapon, he dropped it and it went off. It was a genuine accident I just…" She dipped her chin towards her left arm. "Wrong place, wrong time."

"And the wound really isn't deep?"

"Nope, just a really big scrape. I can take the brace off in twenty-four hours as long as it doesn't swell or get worse."

He nodded. "Good. Glad to hear it—but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be resting. Why don't you come over for dinner tonight?"

Just as he suggested this, she took another bite of her sandwich, only the half she was eating began to fall apart. With only one hand, she had no hope of saving it, so the lettuce, tomato, and ham merely plopped down onto the edge of her desk. "That's really not necessary," she managed while trying to put as much as she could of the sandwich back together.

"I think it is," he said pointedly. "Besides—Alexis would love to see you."

Kate smiled. Though she and Castle had connected over the phone the prior week, they had yet to schedule a concrete time for them all to get together, so as much as she wanted to go home and rest, this did seem a perfect opportunity. "Oh…I'd like to see her too. Sorry I haven't gotten back to you about a game night. I just had case after case dropped on me and-"

"No need to apologize." He cut her off pleasantly. "So…dinner?"

"I don't want to put you out."

"Never could. I'll even make you something special—whatever you want."

She shook her head adamantly. "That is completely unnecessary. Whatever you had planned is fine. Or we can get pizza."

He gasped, scandalized. "Pizza? On a school night? Alexis won't know what to do with herself!"

Kate chuckled. "I'm sure."

"Can you make it to my place by six? Or…"

"Six is fine," she confirmed.

He smiled as they settled their plans. "Okay. See you at six."

He stood to leave and she watched him go, not turning back to her food until he'd disappeared from her line of sight. Picking up a chunk of tomato and popping it in her mouth, Kate shook her head gently. Though she truly didn't want him to go out of his way on her behalf, something told her that dinner with the Castles would be just what the doctor ordered to make her feel better.

"Kate's here! Kate's here!" Alexis announced the moment a knock at his apartment door could be heard.

"Yes, I know," he said with a slight chuckle. Wiping his damp hands on his jeans, Castle crossed through the apartment to reach the door. It seemed Kate was a few minutes early, which was perfectly fine with him; the more time she spent there that evening, the better. "Hey, c'mon in."

Kate flashed a flustered smile as she walked in the door carrying her purse and a white shopping bag. "Hey," she breathed. "Sorry I'm a little early but-"

"Oh Kate!" Castle gasped when he caught sight of her left side, for the arm of her green blouse was splattered with dots of maroon. "I think you're bleeding."

"What? Oh shi—I mean crap!" She quickly corrected her curse. She craned her neck to get a better look at the wound and then huffed out. "Great…that's just great…"

"Bleeding?" Alexis's sweet voice drew both adults' attention. She walked over, looked at Kate's arm, then up at her face. "Why are you bleeding? Did you get a cut?"

"No, I was sh—injured. I was injured at work today. It's really not a big deal."

"But you're bleeding," Alexis insisted.

Kate reached out and stroked her hand over the little girl's head. "It's fine, Alexis; don't worry about it."

"It's not fine if it's bleeding," Castle told her in a quiet tone. Then, when she looked at him, he nodded towards the hall and said, "C'mon. Let's look at it before dinner; we have time."

"Oh, no—no. I'm fine. I can just-"

"Kate." He began with slight annoyance, knowing he was about to face one of her stubborn streaks. "It'll be quicker if I just help you out."

She hesitated for a moment, but then dropped her head in submission and began shuffling her way back towards the bathroom. Turning to his daughter he said, "Watch the stove, but don't touch anything; just call me if something starts to burn."

"Okay Dad!"

With Alexis watching their dinner, Castle walked back to the bathroom, where Kate was already struggling to get out of her arm brace. He helped slip the strap up and over her head, before he discovered their next issue: Kate wore a button-down blouse and presumably she did not want him to cut the sleeve open to get to her wound, which meant she needed to take her shirt off for him to help her. He was about to offer her a bath towel for modesty, but it appeared she didn't care, because she began to unbutton the shirt with just one hand.

"I stopped at Walgreens on the way here, so there are more dressings in that bag," she told him.

"Oh. Great." He picked up the bag, placed it on the small bathroom counter, and began to rummage through as he asked, "So what happened?"

"Bike messenger clipped me as I came out of the store. I was more startled than hurt, so I thought maybe he hit above or below the wound, but evidently not…"

Castle hummed, trying his best to ignore the fact that he could see Kate's beige bra now that she had pulled her left arm out of her shirt. Instead, he tried to focus on her left arm, which had a bandage wrapped around the bicep, most of which was soaked through with splotches of red. He unwound the gauze to reveal an angry-looking slice across her skin that made him cringe and groan out, "Jeez, Kate."

She scrunched her nose. "I know—looks horrible, right? I don't think it hurts as bad as it looks—at least, not right now. And the bruising hasn't even started yet! Tomorrow it'll look horrific."

Castle used some clean gauze to dab at the wound and saw that the blood seeping out had mostly stopped, which was a good sign. "No stitches?" he observed before turning back to the bag to get a new flat bandage and wrappings for her arm.

"Not deep enough. It should just scab over on its own and as long as I keep it clean and dry it'll be fine."

He frowned as he put the bandage in place and began to wrap gauze around it. "You're acting pretty casual about a gunshot wound," he pointed out. She made it seem no different than if she'd tripped on the sidewalk and scraped her knee, when in reality if she'd been standing a few inches to the left they'd be having a very different conversation at that moment.

"Just a reality of my job, Castle. This isn't my first gunshot wound and it won't be the last."

Giving her a pointed look as he finished the gauze he said, "For the record: I don't like hearing that."

After a moment of silence she cleared her throat and began tentatively, "You, um, you seemed really worried today when you showed up at the Twelfth."

"Of course I was worried—why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know. I mean, we're friends and partners—kind of—but I-"

"What does that mean? Kind of?"

She gave a little shrug and reached for the collar of her shirt so she could put her arm back in the sleeve now that he'd wrapped it. "Well, you've been turning down most of the cases lately so-"

"That doesn't have anything to do with you," he said quickly while mentally kicking himself for not making his true reasoning clear. "Did you really think it did?"

"Well, no. I didn't think I'd done anything to offend you or anything, but I…I wasn't sure…"

He gave his head a gentle shake. "I just have a lot going on right now with my regular PI cases and some personal stuff. I… I just didn't think I had the time to take on extra work. I'm sorry I should have explained that better."

She forced a smile and quickly finished the rest of the buttons on her shirt. "It's fine. No harm done."

Feeling a twinge in his heart, Castle reached out and placed his left hand on her right shoulder. The last thing he wanted was her thinking in any way that he didn't care—that he didn't want to be her partner. When she met his eye, he said, "There is harm if you think I wouldn't care that you were shot. That you were even close to being shot. Because I care, Kate." Without even fully realizing he was doing it, he moved his hand to the side of her neck where his thumb could graze her jawline. He could feel her pulse thrumming, but she didn't look afraid or upset. If anything, she looked...hopeful.

"The thing is, Kate, I-"

"Dad! The pot is making a loud noise!"

"Shit!" Castle cursed instantly when their moment was disrupted by his daughter's alarm. He quickly moved to leave the bathroom, but then stopped when he realized that would leave Kate on her own to put the brace back on her arm. "Oh, I should, um-"

"I'm fine," she assured him, already sliding her left forearm into the appropriate part of the sling. "Go on."

"Okay." He then rushed out into the hall towards the kitchen, his mind still reeling from the fact that, had Alexis not interrupted them, he probably would have confessed to wanting her for much more than a partner.

Sitting on the couch with Kate on one side of him and Alexis on the other, Castle could not help but feel sad when the cartoon playing on the TV came to a close. Though he knew he was jumping the gun, he felt that moment they were sharing—the three of them together—was the way things were meant to be; the way things would be in time and, frankly, he couldn't wait.

After a delightful meal during which Kate was extremely complimentary of his stir-fry, she offered to help with the dishes, but of course could not functionally do so with only one arm. Instead, he'd sent her into the living room with Alexis where they played two rounds of Go Fish while waiting for him to join them. They then played a few rounds together before Alexis was permitted to watch her school-night-allotment of television. Castle doubted the show had been on for more than two minutes when he felt Kate's head droop onto his shoulder as a clear sign she was asleep. Not that he minded, of course; he was actually quite thrilled about it.

Over the next twenty minutes, her body drew steadily closer to his until she was completely balanced between his arm and the back of the sofa and the fingers of her right hand were curled delicately around his forearm. With her head nuzzled against his, he could not have imagined a more perfect way to spend the evening. Well, he supposed it would have been perfect if she had not suffered an injury earlier that day, but it was as perfect as it could be, all things considered.

When the show stopped playing, Castle turned the TV off with the remote and turned to his daughter. Speaking softly he said, "Go brush your teeth, okay? I'll be there shortly to tuck you in."

Alexis nodded, stood off the couch, and then practically did a double-take when she saw Kate. She had evidently been too engrossed in her show to realize what was happening on the couch beside her. She leaned in closer to examine Kate's crumpled form and then turned to her father to ask, "Is she gonna spend the night?"

"I don't think so; she just had a really stressful day," he said while forcing him not to think about a time when Kate would spend the night in bed with him.

After Alexis walked off, Castle shifted his arm slightly, trying to find the best way to wake Kate gently. Fortunately, moving his shoulder around did the trick and she began to stir. He dipped his chin and watched from the corner of his eye as she blinked, lifted her head, and then instantly appeared rather startled. "Oh—oh! I was…was I sleeping on you?"

He chuckled at the way she sounded almost horrified. "A little bit, yeah."

She quickly scooted almost a full couch cushion away from him and he could see the flame in her cheeks. "Oh, gosh—sorry! I'm so embarrassed."

He reached out his hand and gave her right forearm a squeeze. "Don't be; it was cute," he added with a wink. Then, he stood from the couch and said, "I'm just going to make sure Alexis gets to bed okay. Wait here for me?"

Once she nodded in confirmation, Castle walked back to the bathroom to find his daughter finishing up at the bathroom sink. As they crossed the hall into her bedroom, she said, "It's too bad we don't have an extra bedroom or Kate could just stay with us."

He smiled at her sweet sentiments and leaned against the doorframe while she changed into her pajamas. "She could do that, but I think she likes being at her apartment, too."

"I meant just sometimes. When she's tired."

"I see. Well that's very kind of you to say that, sweetheart; I'm sure Kate would appreciate those sentiments. Now, do you need anything else before bed?"

Alexis shook her head as she climbed up onto the mattress. Before she lay down, she turned to him and said, "Will you tell Kate I had fun playing cards with her tonight?"

"I sure will. Goodnight, pumpkin."

"'night Dad."

When Castle walked down the hall, he spotted Kate standing near the entryway trying to adjust the sling around her neck. "Oh, hey—do you need help with that?"

"No, no; I'm fine."

He nodded and then passed on Alexis's sentiments on the games they played together. Kate smiled and said, "Well I had fun playing with her too. We'll definitely have to do it again soon."

Castle smiled instantly when the most perfect idea hit him. "What about tomorrow?"

"What?" she half-laughed, clearly not expecting his invitation.

He took a step closer to her and gestured towards her bandaged arm, which he fully intended on using to his advantage in that particular moment. "I was just thinking… I know you said you could probably take the brace off tomorrow, but that doesn't mean your arm won't hurt. You can come back for dinner and another round of Go Fish."

She gave little shrug. "I'd be fine ordering takeout, Castle."

Refusing to feel disappointed or deterred, he took another step in her direction. "Sure. You could order takeout and if that's what you want, I'm certainly not going to twist your arm—your one good arm—into coming over but…" He gave a shrug and plastered a crooked, dopey smile on his face. "I know we'd both love to have you here."

She gazed at him for a moment before nipping at her bottom lip with her teeth. "Well, um, I don't think I can tomorrow, but how about the day after?"

He shrugged. "We don't have plans."

"Okay. I'll see you at six, then."

"Six." He echoed as his heart fluttered in response to her smile. Though he wanted to leap into the air and dance with joy, he restrained himself. This was it—the start of what was to come; he knew it. They needed to find their footing again, get back to being "them" after the stress of December and the separation of January, but then they'd be well on their way to "more."

He waited patiently while she put her shoes back on, collected her purse and bag of bandages, and made her way towards the door. As he walked her out and caught sight of her wince when she bumped her arm into the doorframe on the way out, he realized just how different their day could have been, particularly if he had to visit her in the hospital. Not wanting her to leave without acknowledging the moment, he called out softly, "Hey Kate?"

She stopped and turned back, curious. "Yeah?"

His heart hammering beneath his ribs, Castle stepped up to her, leaned down and tilted his head, and pressed a kiss to the apple of her right cheek. As she gazed at him a bit stunned he said, "I'm really glad you weren't hurt worse today."

"Oh, um, yeah." She gazed down at her left arm and when she looked back up he could tell her cheeks were rosy. "Goodnight, Castle."

"See you in two days, Kate." He replied, then, he stood in the doorway of his apartment watching her walk away until she disappeared into the alcove with the elevator. Only then did he go back inside and continue to go about his evening routine, the grin never leaving his face.

A/N: Reminder - this fic has only 12 chs and an epilogue so there are only 3 more updates left

but don't worry, there's more to come :)