A/N: Thanks for the continuing interest in my little story. Still don't own them….

The jolt of adrenaline hit her system and she began to reach out to help him when she realized that he didn't seem to need help. He sat there calmly, in no obvious pain, while the knife penetrated his hand and into the board. There was no blood and although he didn't look her directly in the eye, he was turned towards her and she could see he was only concerned about her reaction. It took her a few moments to come up with something to say and even then, it wasn't particularly articulate.

"How?"

He pulled the knife free and she saw his hand fill in when the knife left and his hand looked exactly as it had before he had started. She tried not to look too freaked out as he finally looked her in the eye. "I have a control over my body that nobody else seems to have. I could also have done this."

He stabbed down again but the knife met the skin on top of his hand with a loud thud and she couldn't even see that it made any impression at all, much less a cut of any sort. He pulled the knife back and again his hand looked perfectly normal. "I can handle burning embers with no harm, I even shot myself and the bullet bounced off. That hurt like hell for several seconds though. I can take down killers because I'm faster and stronger than anyone I know. I don't need surprise or leverage or any other advantage to beat them. Sometimes I have even wondered if I'm human." He put the knife down and put his hands down on the chair's arms and stared at the floor.

A large part of her was gibbering in a corner of her mind repeating that this was impossible. A tiny part of her was marveling at the possibilities. Her heart was telling her that there was only one possible response. She decided to listen to her heart.

The defeat in his voice spurred her into decisive action. Fortunately, he had sat in the chair sideways to the desk so she had ready access to his lap so she sat there and pulled him into a firm hug. She had decided he was right, sometimes showing is better than telling but she had something to say too. "I love you."

She was reassured when his arms came around her and pulled her more firmly into his chest. She kissed his cheek and then he turned towards her with a relieved smile and she kissed him on the lips with as much passion as she could to tell him he hadn't scared her off. He was still her Rick. They had to take a break eventually to catch their breaths. When her heart had calmed down she wanted to make sure they were done. "Anything else to get off your chest, Castle?"

He chuckled and it made her want to laugh too but she just smiled at him and waited. "I can sometimes read something from a person's mind. It isn't easy and I can't control what I get very well and if they're fully alert and conscious I usually can't get anything at all. It's easy for someone to prevent it."

She pretended to glare at him. "Have you been doing any Vulcan mind tricks on me?"

He laughed a bit nervously before replying. "No. Absolutely not. I would consider it an invasion of privacy."

Another thought came to her. "How about snipers?"

"They are fair game."

"So what did you get?"

"Not much. I think he works for Arantus Solutions. I have two names for him and I think one is just an alias, maybe both of them."

"So what are we going to do to find out more?"

"Everything I know seems to indicate this is really big. I think I'll use a CIA contact."

"I don't have a better suggestion."

"I know somebody who owes me. I'll try him."

He opened an app on his phone and made a call through it. When the other device accepted he spoke. "This is a message for agent Blue from Rick. I need everything you can get on Arantus Solutions and everything you can on a guy using the names Cole Maddox and Cedric Marks. He seems to work for Arantus." He then hung up. "It'll probably take several days."

She decided to distract him, well both of them really. "Yeah. So what are we going to do in the meantime?"

Her teasing grin and flirtatious manner led him to only one conclusion. "Why don't we continue this in the bedroom?" He scooped her up in his arms as he stood up and she gasped and giggled at how easily he did it. She hoped that this meant that he was done holding back around her. He seemed happy and relaxed so her flirtation seemed to have worked.

He had just made it to the door when she quietly asked, "How about no condom this time?"

He nearly stopped in his tracks and looked at her with a little concern. "I'm on the pill and we're both clean. There really isn't a reason to always use one. I want to feel all of you and you to feel all of me." He looked skeptical for a moment and she thought he'd be stubborn but then his face cleared and he agreed. This was a request she'd wanted to make for a while but she figured it would be especially effective tonight as a show of trust. His caution had made it seem like just sex and she definitely wanted to make love with Rick, not just have sex.

She had tried to make it all about him this time but as usual, he went out of his way to make sure she enjoyed herself as well and, also as usual, successfully. She grinned at him as he she held him in place above her so he was still inside her. She wanted to preserve the moment and tease him as well. "Have you been holding back any bedroom tricks?"

She was surprised when he blushed, it had always been hard to get him to blush and her success must mean that she was on to something here. "Share with the class, Castle. No more secrets." She tried to make sure he saw she was only teasing and his sudden answering smirk reassured her on that score. However, the next moment she found herself in the midst of an intense orgasm.

It had taken her by surprise as he hadn't moved and if this wasn't the most intense one she'd ever had, it was close. When she finally recovered enough to speak she had to ask. "How did you do that?"

"Do you really want me to spoil it with an explanation?"

He was giving her his innocent look and at first she had no intention of letting him off the hook. However, after a moment's consideration she did begin to wonder what difference it would make. She decided to concede the point, at least for now. "If you promise to do that again, you can keep your secret."

"Oh, I very much intend to do that again, Kate." The wolfish grin he gave her along with his deep voice that practically had her vibrating made a chill go down her spine and she could feel goose pimples forming over most of her body and she felt her nipples harden in reaction as well. It was moments like this that she realized just how much she depended on Castle already. She was sure he was her one-and-done and she just hoped the day it was made official would come soon. However, making sure the bride-to-be would live long enough to get to the altar had to take precedence for now.

He cooperated as she reversed their positions and she relaxed against him. She just wanted to stay this way for as long as possible. She didn't see how things could get any better at this moment. She also had one less worry. She had brooded about the danger to him but apparently there wasn't much point to that. Maybe it was this 'dragon' who should be worried. Her boyfriend was a freaking honest-to-goodness superhero.

A/N2: I was going to put Rick's explanation of his bedroom trick in this chapter but then I realized it kind of killed the mood. Thus, I decided to keep it a mystery for both Kate and the reader.