Dick Coonan

She had shot him, the man that killed her mother. She couldn't let Dick Coonan take another person from her. She couldn't let him kill Castle. It was either find out who killed her mother or save Castle. She knew that she would get that information eventually, she hoped, but she would never get another Castle. She still tried to revive him, even though when she shot him, she went for the kill. She wasn't going to give up...that was until she felt Castle's hand on her shoulder. She knew it was his way of saying that there was no use and that he was gone.

Kate started to cry and she leaned against Castle. She tried not to get the blood that was on her hands on anything, but she was pretty sure she stained his shirt a bit. She knew that Castle wouldn't care. He had plenty of shirts, but she knew that even if he didn't he still wouldn't mind. He just wanted to make sure that she was okay. He helped her up from the floor and walked her to the bathroom. She was perfectly capable of walking, but he wanted to make sure she didn't break down before she got to the bathroom. He told her that he would head downstairs to get the spare clothes she had in her locker. She gave him the combination and he left her to wash up.

She locked the bathroom door behind her, not wanting anyone to come in while she was washing the blood away from her hands. The whole precinct saw (if not heard) what happened, so she knew they wouldn't be bothering her anyways. She still wanted to take the precaution. She turned on the water, both the hot and the cold, before she put her hands underneath the water. She let the blood wash from her hands before she pumped some soap onto them, to clean the rest of the blood off of her. She grabbed a paper towel, letting it get wet a bit, before cleaning off the knobs of the sink. She then turned the water off and grabbed another paper towel to dry her hands off. She moved her hands to her jacket, taking it off and inspecting it to see if any blood had stained it. She didn't see any and placed it on the heater, next to the window. She was about to take off her shirt, but then she heard the knock on the door.

"Kate, it's me. I have your clothes."

She unlocked the door and took the clothes from Castle. "Thank you."

"I'm going to head home to change. I'll be back to give my statement."

She nodded before she closed the door. Again, she locked it behind her. She then began to change into her clean clothes. When she was changed, she looked at herself in the mirror. She stood there, just looking at herself and taking everything in, for a few more seconds before she walked out and headed back to her desk. She didn't make eye contact with anyone as she walked. She sat down and began filling out the paperwork. As she did so, she was thinking about her mom.

She first started thinking about what her mother must have felt when she first laid eyes on Coonan. Did she see him? Did she see him walk away from her? Did she say anything to him or did he say anything to her before he killed her? Then she thought about all the good times that she had with her mother, like how they went ice skating a few days before she died, how she stayed home and watched Temptation Lane with her when she had her tonsils taken out, and the times where her dad was on business and it was just the two of them eating blueberry pancakes with lots of chocolate syrup and whipped cream on Sundays.

Her thoughts then went to Castle. She shot Coonan to make sure that Castle lived. If she had to go back to do it again, she would do the same thing. She would save him time after time. Her mother's case meant a lot to her, but Castle meant a lot to her too...more than she was willing to admit out loud. She was starting to fall in love with him and that scared her. She wasn't ready to say that out loud, but she was finally admitting it to herself. Since Castle had become her partner, her job had become more fun. She herself changed. She became less all about the job to letting her hair down once in awhile. She didn't let her hair down like she did in high school, but her life became closer to what it was like before her mother was murdered.

Kate was interrupted from her thoughts when Castle sat down next to her desk, in the chair that had now become his. She looked over at him and saw that he had a bag of food.

"I'm not sure what you would be in the mood for, so I got us some Italian, Thai, Chinese..."

She smiled at him. Only he would go home to change his clothes and come back with food for them. That was one of the things she loved about him. She took the container that had the food that appealed to her the most. She didn't say anything, just ate her food...that was until she couldn't take Castle staring at her.

"Castle, the staring thing...still creepy."

"Sorry, I just...I'm sorry that..."

She cut him off, knowing what he was going to say. "Don't be. I'll figure out who hired to put a hit on my mother some day, just not today. If I had to go back and do it again, I'd do the same thing. And if you tell anyone what I'm about to say there's going to be another shooting. I've gotten used to you pulling my pigtails. I have a hard job, Castle. And having you around, makes it a little more fun."

He smiled at her. "I'm glad to hear that. You make my job a little more fun too you know. Before you, I didn't get to do all this fun police work."

"Yet you still won't do the paperwork."

"Well that's not the fun part. Plus, no one is going to read a novel about how to fill out paperwork."

"Touche."

They ate their dinner in silence, other than a little small talk and the noise from the rest of the precinct. She threw the empty containers and chopsticks into the trash. He was about to leave, but she stopped him.

"Hey, Castle." He turned around to face her. "We should do this again some time. Hopefully over better circumstances."

He gave her a smile. "It's a date."

AN: I always thought that this was the episode where Kate knew there was something more between her and Castle, so that's what inspired this chapter. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for all the reviews. I'll be posting another chapter Monday (as long as everything goes according to plan). For updates, you can follow me on Twitter.