AN: I am completely blown away by the number of story alerts and favorites placed on this story, and the lovely reviews I've received. How incredible, thank you all so much! Hope this next one won't disappoint.

#2 Save Me

"Nooooo!" He screamed, a strangled sound torn from the depths of his soul, the fear so encompassing that for an immeasurable moment, he could not move.

The stark metallic bang still reverberated in his ears, echoed against the walls of the empty warehouse. He could only watch, feel his heart shatter when she fell. Almost as if in slow motion, like a rerun of a bad, atrocious movie. One he'd seen before.

'Not again, no please dear God not again…'

The impact had her reeling, her upper body vaulted backwards, knocking her off her feet. The momentum carried her through the air and, flat as a board, she hit the cold concrete, hard, her head, shoulders, butt, feet hitting the ground as one, forcefully.

"Kate!" He rushed to her, knelt down between her legs, grabbed her shoulders. He was oblivious to the shouted orders telling him not to move, stay behind, oblivious to Esposito taking down the suspect who had fired his first shot at Beckett, oblivious to the bellows and hectic activity of the squad securing the area, calling for backup, shouting for an ambulance.

He leaned over her, slid a hand behind her neck, the other touching her face, stroking forehead and cheekbone and the slide of her chin.

"Kate, please wake up," he urged her, "Don't do this to me again…" He pleaded with her, running his hand down her torso. Couldn't feel the wetness he expected, like last time, but it didn't register. Couldn't see the stark blood soaking through her clothes in the dim lighting, like he did last time. His hand did not come away sticky but it didn't register either. He only saw her body, lying motionless on the ground, her pale face barely illuminated by the glimmer of daylight that snaked through the boarded up windows.

He leaned closer to her face, cradled her head, ran his fingers through her silky hair, and over her face again. He knew, if her heart stopped this time, so would his.

"Please don't leave me again Kate!" He cried, didn't feel the hot tears running down his cheeks.

She groaned. He felt the vibration from her chest into his, and he stopped; moving, touching her, breathing.

"Cas…" She choked, her voice almost soundless at first. She wiggled her fingers, struggled to move, tried to sit up.

"Shhh…" He whispered, held her in place. "Shhh Baby, don't move, help will be here soon."

But she struggled again, slowly lifted her right arm, then her hand dropped onto her chest heavily.

"V…" She started, cleared her throat. "Vest, Castle," she pointed out.

It took a moment for her words to reach his brain. She was… oh. Oh. And only now did he register the large white print spelling out POLICE across her chest. He tested his fingers against the thick padding covering her torso, felt the bullet stuck in the lining against his probing fingertips. Oh God…

She moved again, carefully tried to lift her upper body, and suddenly he grabbed her, his hands under her armpits, pulling her up and against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her back and held her tightly to him. His head dropped to her shoulder and his face against her neck, breathing her in. He could feel her pulse pounding under the soft thin skin, and relief washed over him so strongly that he couldn't hold it in, could only choke back his tears, breathe against her skin, pull her tighter to him.

"'S okay Castle…" she whispered to him, "I'm okay…" She felt the wetness where the tear tracks from his cheeks pressed against the skin of her neck.

"Don't leave me again," he murmured once more, his voice almost inaudible, muffled against her collarbone.

It hit her hard, the intensity of pain he was feeling; it clogged her throat, clenched her tummy. The agony he must've been feeling when she really was bleeding out under his hands, when she didn't call him for three months. She never meant to hurt him so.

"Shhhh," she comforted him, her mouth against his ear. She pulled away slightly, nudged her shoulder against his head until he looked at her, needing to see his face. She brought up her hands, ran her fingers across his forehead. Traced the shape of his eyebrows, the rise of his cheekbones and the dimpled valleys underneath. Mapped the topography of his face, at once so familiar and yet achingly new.

"I won't leave you Rick," she promised, holding his gaze. Twisting her fingers in the fabric of his lapels, she held on tightly, desperately, mooring herself to him.

Dropping her forehead so it rested against his, she took a deep breath. Her chest ached, her ribs sore from the impact of the bullet, but she didn't care, it didn't matter, nothing mattered except for this man, here with her. And so she set them free; these words that had been clogging her throat for so long, because she wanted to say them now, because she finally could.

"I love you."

With something akin to a whimper, he hauled her tightly against him again, a hand cradling her head, moving it in position so she would look up at him.

And then his mouth was on her and he kissed her, slanted his lips to hers, frantic and needy. She opened up to him immediately, her mouth granting access to his hot probing tongue, and she met him with fervor, wanting nothing more than to dive in with him, now. His kiss was almost feverish, full of ache, so desperate and needing that she whimpered, pushed deeper inside his mouth. She clung to him, poured all the heartache and unacknowledged love into kissing him, transforming it into something new, something wondrous and beautiful.

At last they pulled apart, slowly, reluctantly. He smiled at her, warmth and so much love in his eyes that her cheeks flushed again. She touched her fingers to his face again, felt his heated skin.

"Castle…" She sighed contentedly, smiling warmly at him. Then she playfully narrowed her eyebrows at him.

"Did you call me 'Baby'?"

"And copped a feel," he added proudly, winking at her. She laughed, followed by a wince when the movement rippled the muscles in her chest.

He got up off the floor, then helped her up until she had found her balance. She took a couple of steadying breaths, then hooked her arm through his, leaning against his side.

"Let's get out of here."

End of Scene