I almost deleted this chapter like 10 times. I apologize if it isn't very good. I'm struggling with balancing my time between teaching, personal life, and writing. I am not sure how much longer this story will continue. I don't plan on cutting it off without a proper ending, but it will be coming soon. I get students on Monday, and my life will be even crazier/stressful. Thank you for your support thus far, and as always, feel free to let me know if you have any ideas you'd like to see in this story. Thanks!

After a quick bathroom run, some situating of pillows, and an awkward goodnight handshake from Castle, Kate found herself sitting next to an asleep Castle. She wasn't even remotely tired. She has so many thoughts running through her head that she couldn't foresee any sleep in the few hours. Her body was aching with inactivity, but if Castle has to be in a hospital then she would not leave his side. Not again.

The last few hours went well. They were able to be completely honest with each other, and they were able to make some headway on their future. She kissed him again. She couldn't get the smile off her face, not that she really needed to. It was everything she hoped it would be. The kiss itself wasn't anything special, but the feelings it ignited were. She knows Castle is hers, she doesn't doubt that now. That kiss… physically reaffirmed her belief. There was absolutely no way she would walk away from a man that kissed her like that.

Eventually, Kate was able to fall asleep for a few hours. Exhaustion was finally the only way to keep her mind quiet enough to sleep. She had only been asleep for a few hours when she was suddenly woken up by a loud noise in the room. Instinctively she reached for a gun that was not at her side while her eyes tracked the room. Her heart was pounding wildly in her chest, even after she realized they were alone in the room.

Kate's eyes finally looked down to Castle. Her gaze started at his feet and slowly moved upward, to look for any signs of distress. Also, to reassure herself that he was still her with her. Sometimes her nightmares were too vivid for her to differentiate between real life and dream world. It was nice having him so close to check.

When she finally reached his face, all the air left her lungs. His face was twisted in pain and fear. He must have made a noise, called out to her, or something. She had never seen him look this way before.

"Castle? Castle. You need to wake up, Rick. You are ok, it's just a dream. Wake up." Kate quietly soothed over and over again while rubbing her hand up and down his arm.

Castle was in the park walking around. He couldn't tell where he was going, or why he was even in the park. Someone was waiting for him to get there. Maybe if he could find their meeting place he would get answers. The further he walked, the colder the temperature fell. It felt like a bad idea to keep walking, but he didn't know what else to do.

Off in the distance, Castle could make out a figure next to some bushes. The closer he came to the figure, the more scared he felt. He couldn't turn back now. The figure had turned and was beckoning him to come closer. Closer to the bushes. Those bushes were so familiar…

After what seemed like an eternity, he finally reached the figure. His eyes roamed the area. A cold chill ran through his body when he finally realized where he was. He was standing in the spot he had been shot. Why was he here?

His eyes moved from the bloody spot in the grass to identify the figure before him. His eyes racked up the still too-dark image, even through the darkness he could tell who it was. Meredith.

"Hey Castle."

Castle? Meredith doesn't call him Castle. Richard or Kitten, but never Castle.

"Castle! Shouldn't you have some charming hello and a coffee for me? Hello? I've been waiting for you."

It was Meredith's body. Meredith's voice. Kate's attitude?

"Who are you?" He finally croaked out.

"Seriously? Why are you acting so strange? This is weird… even for you?" The last part was whispered, but loud enough for him to overhear.

"Kate? What are we doing here?"

"So he does know who I am! Get this man a prize."

"Why are we here, Kate?" He was starting to get agitated with this Kate. She was being rude, and not letting him know what was going on.

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Kate. Please just tell me what is going on. I don't get it."

"No surprise there. When do you ever get it? That's why we are here."

"What?"

Meredith-Kate chuckled darkly, "Don't play dumb with me, Castle. You know what you've done. You know you aren't good enough. It's time to end this pain for me. You aren't worth it anymore."

"But I thought… you said you wouldn't leave…" Castle said while drowning in confusion.

"Leave? Honey, I'm fleeing! Who would want… you?" Kate spit out. Her face skewed in disgust.

"Don't go. Stay. I promise to be better."

"Too late." Kate said while lifting a gun that appeared. She pointed it straight at his heart. "You aren't worth my time. No one will miss you. In fact, I'm doing us all a favor."

"No, wait. You don't have to do this."

"Oh, but I do." She pulled the trigger.

Castle shot up out of bed, panting. His hands clutched his heart where he had been shot. Excruciating pain shot through his body as he tried to figure out what had happened.

"Rick. Hey, Rick, you are safe. You need to calm down and sit back. You are going to hurt yourself." Kate whispered soothingly. She could see how upset the dream had been.

Castle was still shaking from the nightmare. He was starting to realize that it had been a dream. It had seemed so real to him. It truly felt like Kate, the Kate in Meredith's body, had hated him. That he had done something so terrible to her that she was willing to kill him. He could feel real Kate next to him, stroking his arm, whispering. It was almost too much for him to handle.

"Castle? Are you backing with me yet?"

"Yeah…" he finally whispered.

"Nightmare?"

Castle nodded.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Castle shook his head. He couldn't figure the dream out, much less talk to her about it.

"I'm here if you need me, Rick. You know that right?"

Castle nodded. No need to try to talk really. She would hear his pain in his voice anyways.

Kate continued to reassure him with a slight caress on his arms, head, and back. Safe zones. She could feel his heart still pounding in his chest, and the look on his face confirms that this nightmare shook him.

"I need to call the nurse in here, I'm worried about the stitches."

"I'm fine. Just… give me a minute."

"What if you ripped them out…?"

"You can check." The last thing he needed was Jessica in here.

Kate nodded and reached to move the hospital gown away from the wound. She could see blood soaking through the bandages and knew that he had pulled some of the stitches out. She was going to need to call Jess in to check, but she was fairly certain that was the case. She carefully adjusted the garment back in place, and moved to press the call button for assistance before he had a chance to protest.

"You pulled them out. I can see blood through the bandage so we are going to have to get someone in here to check it out. I'm sorry, Castle."

Castle didn't make a move to acknowledge the information, or even to protest. He had his head hung and was staring at his hands clasped in his lap. The haunted look in his eyes still hadn't left. Kate was beginning to worry that something was really wrong. Maybe he was in more pain than she thought.

Kate moved to grab his hands in hers. "Castle."

When he still didn't acknowledge her, she used her other hand to raise his head. She bent forward to look into his eyes. She needed to see his face.

"Castle," she pressed further, "I need you to talk to me."

"I…" Castle began.

"Ricky, you rang?!" Jessica said with more excitement than necessary. If only Kate had her gun…

Castle turned his head to look at Kate. She could see the confusion and betrayal in his expression. She squeezed his hand before she lifted her eyes to Nurse Jessica.

"Yes, I called because I think he ripped out his stitches. Would you mind checking it for us?" Kate emphasized the word us. Sure, they weren't officially together, but she wanted her to know Castle wasn't unavailable to her.

"Oh, sure. What happened, Ricky?"

"Rick moved funny. No big deal." Kate replied for him. She knew how private he truly was, despite the playboy persona he has adopted. There is no way she was going to tell Jessica that a nightmare caused this.

Jessica removed the bandages, and could see the bottom two stitches had been ripped out. Fortunately, the wound looked like it was healing nicely and she didn't think that he would need to have more put it in. She cleaned the site again, re-bandaged the wound, and then pushed Castle's back onto the bed.

"You did rip a few stitches out, but I don't think we need to worry about putting new ones in. When the Doc rounds in a few hours we can ask his opinion, but you will be fine for the rest of the night."

"Thanks." Both Castle and Kate said at the same time.

"Sure thing. Call me again if you need anything. Ricky, take it easy ok?" Jessica replied. She was enjoying messing with the chick in his room. It was obvious she didn't like it when she referred to him as Ricky. She was worried she might even develop a tick.

"I will, Jess. Thanks." Castle mumbled. He didn't really care what was going on right now. He was in pain, tired, and still upset from the dream.

Once Jessica left the room, Rick could feel Kate's eyes on him. He knew she wanted to talk about the dream. He knew she was worried. He just couldn't bring himself to talk to her about it. He just wanted to forget about it and fall into a dreamless sleep.

"I know you want me talk about it, but I can't right now Kate. It's too much…"

"Rick, I really hate Jessica."

Castle whipped his head up and stared at Kate like she had just grown an extra head. When he finally processed what she said he burst into laughter. He thought she was going to push him to talk, make this into more than it was. He was preparing for a fight. Instead, she wanted to talk about Jessica? He fell just a little more in love with her.

"I could tell. You never call me Rick when other people around. You are not a fan of Ricky." He was still chuckling.

"No! I can't believe you were ok with someone calling you that. It's so… not you."

"I'm different now, Kate. 8 years ago it was fine, I wasn't sober much when I was with her anyways. Now? It would bug the hell out of me."

"I can't wait for the shift change. That woman… she is lucky I don't have a gun on me anymore."

Castle chuckled. "It's funny when you threaten someone other than me."

"Well, you haven't bothered me. Yet." She smirked.

"Yet. Give it another day. Right, Beckett?"

"Another day? That seems pretty generous to me, Castle. I was thinking more in terms of hours."

"Hours? Come on, Kate. Getting shot should at least buy me more than 48 hours."

"Fine," Kate smiled and grabbed his hand. "You have one more day. Use it wisely."

He looked down at their entwined hands. He isn't sure when they began touching each other so freely again. It seems like Kate is always touching him, and she is growing bolder. He isn't sure when she started doing it, but he liked it. He had missed her comforting touch.

"Kate?"

"Ricky?"

"Hey. If you don't want me to start calling you Katie, then you better be careful."

Kate raised both hands in the air. "I surrender. Katie… that's what my dad calls me." She said with the cutest, disgusted look on her face.

"Well, this just got weird." Castle joked.

"Castle. What were you going to say?"

"Just… thank you."

"For what?"

"For everything. I couldn't… do this without you."

"I love you, Rick."

"I love you, Kate."

In that moment, they both realized it was going to be ok.