A little more angst, a little more fun and a plan that can only end well...right?

Rick took her back to his place, but even though it was still the middle of the night, he didn't take her back to the bedroom. Instead they cuddled up on the couch, wrapped in a nice warm blanket while some old movie played in the background. She didn't want to go back to sleep, not tonight, images of her dream were still running through her mind and scaring the shit out of her, she wished she could just forget the dream, but it was burned into her memory.

"Do you want to talk about that nightmare you had?"

Her head whipped around suddenly, her lips parting, ready to say no, but the look on his face was making it really hard. "Not really."

"Kate, that was one hell of a bad dream, I have known you for more than three years, I've seen the best and the worst of you, through thick and thin; but I have never seen you look so terrified before."

She looked away from him, resting her chin on her opposite shoulder. "I can't...I don't want to talk about it...don't, just don't...please don't make me..."

"Kate, look at me."

He placed his hand gently on her chin and pulled her face around, but she kept her eyes averted. He tried to get her to look at him but she refused, squeezing her eyes shut when he held her face up to him. "What did I do that is so bad you won't even look at me? What did I do in your dream?" She could hear his voice getting stronger, angrier, almost pleading; he was losing patience with her now and after what he had seen tonight she couldn't blame him for wanting to know what was going on.

"You...you got shot in the head and bled out in front of me, ok! You got shot because of me, the bullet was meant for me but it was so dark you got shot instead...I couldn't stop...you..."

And then somehow he understood. She wouldn't look at him because she was so afraid of what she had seen in her dream, afraid that her mind would trick her into seeing it again if she looked at him.

"Kate, I'm alive, I am not dead, it's safe; you can open your eyes." She slowly lifted her eye lids and looked up into his very alive blue orbs.

Her heart began to calm and her body relaxed, but she couldn't stop looking at his eyes now. A few small tears slipped down the sides of her face and he gently brushed them away. He eventually managed to faintly smile down at her and she felt the heavy weight of her dreams and fears melting away in the light of his gaze. How was it that his eyes alone could make everything seem alright again?

"Kate, I promise you that I will not leave you...as long as you promise not to leave me."

Was that commitment? It sounded like commitment, like something very big and scary and meaningful. It was something that he was willing to give to her and that he needed back, this was a big and scary thing that he needed from her; but was she ready to give it? "I promise." It was hard to say and a part of her immediately wanted to run out the door, but if she just kept running she was going to lose everything. She had to stop running away and face her fears head on, take a stand and stick to it.

He may not be as hurt and messed up as she was right now, but he was still hurt and messed up and if she couldn't seem to do anything to help herself then she was going to help him. He smiled wildly at her through glassy eyes and she laid her head on his chest and hugged him to her. It meant as much to her as it did to him, and that smile on his face was already erasing the horrific images from her mind. Three little magical words started bubbling up inside of her, but she wasn't quite ready to say them out loud.

They stayed there, snuggled up on the couch together, for the rest of the night. Kate did doze off for about an hour, but Rick continued to kiss her head and stroke her arm, keeping that smile on her face and keeping the nightmares away. He didn't really need the sleep, he was a writer, he was used to staying up all night writing stuff, it kind of came with the territory. The winter sun came up late and Castle knew that Kate would have to leave now if she wanted to get to work, but she was still sleeping. He really didn't want to wake her, but if she didn't either get to work or call in sick, someone was going to call her and cause her even more stress. Maybe what she needed was a few days off.

"Kate...wake up sleeping beauty." He quietly whispered, gently bringing her out of her dreamless state.

"Hmm? What time is it?"

"I'm guessing it is sometime after 8."

"What?" She immediately sat up and rubbed her face. "Why didn't you wake me? I have to be at work in...actually I think I should already be there." She buried her face in the palm of her hands and groaned.

"You know you could always just take the day off, call in sick, maybe even take a few days off." He suggested.

The look she gave him told him he was crazy, but slowly her face began to soften and she started to smile at the thought of taking some time off work, she really could use a little break. She scurried around until she found her phone and she called one of the only people she trusted at work anymore.

"Yo, Beckett, running a little late today are we?"

"Shut up Esposito, I am so not in the mood for this right now."

"Hey, you don't sound to good, are you feeling ok?"

"No, I feel like crap, which is why I'm calling. Can you let the Captain know that I won't be coming in for a few days?"

"Sure, but first you gotta tell me what happened to you?"

"I got sick, ok, I didn't get any sleep, I forgot to eat and now I'm sick, is that good enough for you?" She snapped. It wasn't really the truth, but it wasn't really a lie either, her stomach was empty because she'd chucked up everything she had eaten last night and they had lost half a night's sleep cleaning her up and taking her to the hospital. Esposito didn't need to know anymore than what she had just told him...although he could know it without her snapping at him, she supposed.

"Easy, I'll let the Captain and your new boy toy know, hope you feel better soon."

"Esposito, if you dare-" She was cut off by the beeping of the call ending. The next time she saw him he was a dead man.

She placed the phone on the coffee table and ran a hand through her messy curls, scratching her head absentmindedly. She glanced over her shoulder at Rick and saw the look of concern and sweetness that existed there and she felt herself begin to smile. She thought about lying back against him and curling up in his arms, but he had been right by her side for so many hours now, filled with so much intimacy and caring that she was beginning to feel that familiar need for space. It was just the kind of person she was, when things got difficult and scary she just needed a little time to sort through things.

She slowly got to her feet and headed towards the kitchen, feeling the need for some caffeine.

Esposito cut off the call before Beckett could finish her threat, leaving him with a grin. He let Ryan know that Beckett wasn't coming in for a while and then went to tell the Captain. Ryan pulled himself out of his chair and stepped into the break room, having a feeling that today was going to be slow and very tedious. Beckett was gone, so there wasn't any work for them, because she always found something for them to do, Castle hadn't been here in forever so there was no point in hoping for today to be at least a little bit fun and in his place was a certain cocky asshole who had been trying to make Beckett's life hell ever since he had arrived.

Pouring the delicious coffee into a cup, Ryan almost had a smile on his face; that was until Detective Brunswick walked in.

"Anyone seen Becks around today?" He asked, almost pushing Ryan out of the way of the espresso machine.

Ryan's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, although Joe didn't notice. If Beckett had heard the nickname he had just used for her, she would be breaking every one of his fingers until he swore never to give her a nickname again. It was a good thing she wasn't here today. "She isn't coming in for a few days, fell sick." He quickly explained.

"Oh really?" The tone in which he used made Ryan pause in his hasty exit and look at him curiously.

"What?"

Esposito walked in just in time to hear Joe's reply. "I overheard a conversation she had yesterday on the phone, sounded like she was getting ready to go on a date, and now she isn't coming in? It doesn't take a halfwit to figure out what's going on there."

Ryan and Esposito weren't entirely sure where Brunswick was going with this, or more, they didn't want to get caught by Beckett thinking about it. "So what's going on?" Esposito asked more for a confirmation than an actual question.

"Well obviously last night must have gone pretty damn well and now she wants to stay in bed for the rest of the day." He chuckled lowly, clearly imagining exactly what she would be spending her day doing while in bed.

The boys were disgusted by his crude sense of humour and were not at all impressed with what this jack hole thought of their boss and friend. "You should have more respect for your partner, bro, talking like that about her isn't going to get you anywhere good." Esposito warned.

Brunswick finished making his coffee and turned to face the other detectives. "Come on, are you two really telling me you have thought of Kate like that?" The cocky grin on his face was sickening.

"Not everyone is a sick perverted asshole like you, doesn't matter anyway, even if you weren't an asshole you wouldn't have a chance." Ryan surprised his partner by going on the offensive, simply insulting the guy instead of replying to his question.

"Really? You think I haven't got a chance with her? We'll see about that."

Ryan and Esposito walked out of the break room with matching smirks on their faces, they couldn't wait for Beckett to get back, this guy would be rolling on the floor crying like a baby in no time. They couldn't wait. Joe didn't seem like the type to respect personal space, so it wouldn't take long for Beckett to slam his face on the desk, twisting his arm behind his back. If only Castle was back, it would be so much more fun if he was here. They both got back to their desks and sat down before suddenly freezing.

"He said she went on a date, right?" Ryan asked over his shoulder to his partner.

"He said date." Esposito confirmed.

Brunswick stepped out a minute later and Esposito quickly called to him. "Hey, did you catch the guy's name? The one she went out with last night?"

"Yeah, I think his name was Rick." He then continued walking away to the other side of the bull pen.

Ryan and Esposito looked at each other, grinned knowingly and nodded. "So she's sick, huh?" Ryan said.

"Yeah, I'm not buying it either." The Hispanic detective said as he pulled out his phone to call a certain M.E. who would be very interested in this news.

"Shit!"

"Here, let me do that."

Kate stepped back and let Castle handle the coffee, rubbing her sprained wrist while trying to keep her anger contained. This was one of the things she hated the most about being hurt, she couldn't manage to do simple things like pour coffee into a cup without help. She wouldn't be able to use her right hand for at least two weeks, which meant that she couldn't do any paperwork, couldn't handle her gun; she couldn't even take down suspects. She couldn't do anything and it was pissing her off!

"Goddamn it!" She exclaimed again, stopping herself just in time from slamming her fists on the kitchen counter. Now that wasn't going to help, was it?

"Swearing about it isn't going to help."

"You think I'm swearing? I haven't even begun to swear yet!"

"Well then how about you stop before you start?"

Kate bit back a comeback that was only going to start an argument which was something that neither of them needed right now. She wanted to be more grateful, she needed to stop using him as her personal punching bag, but it was a really hard thing to do when she was in such a bad temper. She tried to calm herself down, but having no outlet for her anger was making her feel sick again; which only made her even angrier.

Rick could see the conflict in her eyes and slowly took a step towards her. Her eyes shot up, she almost seemed paranoid that he was about to try something. He could see it in her eyes right now, she didn't want to be held; she didn't want to be touched. But sometimes you had to bypass the wants and go straight to the needs.

"Just take a seat, ok?"

She did as she was told, facing away from him so that she wouldn't be tempted to let her anger out at him; he was the last person who deserved that. She couldn't see what he was doing, so when his hands landed on her shoulders she tensed.

"Just try and relax, Kate."

His voice was soft and soothing and when he started to rub his thumbs between her shoulder blades, she felt the anger and vigilance start to leave her body. She let her body go almost limp, rocking in time with his movements. She closed her eyes and focused on the feel of his hands on her shoulders and neck. He worked slowly and thoroughly, releasing all the tension from her back and shoulders before moving up to her neck. He traced his fingertips over her neck and she purred with satisfaction, craning her head to one side to give him better access. He took this as an opportunity to place a gentle kiss just under her ear, making her whimper, begging for more. He continued to massage her neck and shoulders while trailing soft kisses down the side of her neck. He loved the little sounds she was making, they were adorable and the way she was biting her lip made it look so very kissable. He could feel the heat building in her body and he knew he needed to put it to a stop before it got out of control, or they would end up exactly where they had found themselves last night.

He continued to kiss her neck, but more softly now, and instead of rubbing her neck, he started to very gently run the tip of his fingernail around in circles, taking it down under her collar at the back of her neck. She pulled away immediately, laughing freely; covering her neck with her hand where he had tickled her. He smiled cheekily at her, making her smile even more along with rolling her eyes.

"Feel better now?" He asked.

"Yes, thank you, Rick."

"Glad to be of service." He did a little mock bow and spun on his heel to grab the coffee from the counter behind him.

He placed one mug down in front of Kate and sat beside her with his own. They drank in silence for a while, just enjoying each other's company. Things were pretty ok until a thought struck the smile right off Kate's face.

"Rick, I won't be able to use my wrist for two weeks, I don't think I can last that long. I'm right-handed, I do everything with my right hand and now it is useless to me. What am I going to do?"

"The doctor said to keep it wrapped up for two weeks, he didn't say you couldn't use it for two weeks. You should give it a day or two, try some of those wrist exercises he showed you and you should be able to write without too much pain."

"So I don't have to keep away from work for two weeks, I just need to come up with a good story to explain how I sprained my wrist."

"Easy, you twisted it while doing yoga, hoping it might make you feel less sick."

She gave him a suspicious look for a moment before remembering the time he had shown up at her apartment and she had told him that she had been doing yoga to keep his mind away from dirty corners. "So I got sick, stayed home and did some yoga and ended up spraining my wrist?"

"Exactly, you were sicker than you thought and you slipped or something."

"I suppose that will work, and it would also explain my attitude and why I snapped at Esposito this morning."

"Precisely, you can bitch and boss as much as you like and blame it on your wrist being in pain."

"Will you come too?"

He paused for a few minutes before responding. "What about that Brunswick guy? And Gates? If I turn up she'll probably kick me out."

"Then just don't show up at the precinct, come to the crime scenes and we can go somewhere like Remy's to sit and talk about the case instead of standing in front of the white board."

"Ah, so I will be the sneaky, shadowy character hiding in the background?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, you can be all super-secret undercover spy." The giddy smile on his face made her laugh.

"So what shall we do until then?"

Kate looked over at him and a cheeky smile spread across her face.

Yes, I am bored of writing in Castle's loft so I am taking them back to the precinct. Beckett is going to have two partners and only one of them has full rights when it comes to Beckett, and Brunswick is not that one; fun times ahead. So it was nice to see Kate at least trying to open up about her nightmare, I gotta say, that dream even scared me when I was writing it.