Visitations

Chapter 3

Covering Up

"You two look beat," Martha observed as Kate and Castle came through the door, well into the night.

"There's some sicko running around out there blowing things up," Castle explained.

"Has anyone been hurt?" Martha asked.

"Two people killed," Kate reported stiffly. "So far all we can determine is that the victims were associated with Stuyvesant High School, my alma mater. One went there as a student, the other one was a teacher, but we have no idea of the motive or where the killer might strike next."

"Can you warn people?" Alexis asked, coming down the stairs.

"Stuyvesant sent out a warning on the alumni email list, but a lot of people aren't on it, including me. It's mostly used to ask for money and I think most of us don't want to be bothered. It will be going out over social media and the news, but without more information, other than leaving town, I don't know what people can do to protect themselves," Kate answered discouraged. "We have to catch this guy. CSU is doing some analysis and the FBI is getting into it too, but right now we have almost nothing to go on."

"Kate," Castle advised, massaging her shoulders lightly, "while CSU is working, you need to get some rest."

Kate could feel the tiredness in the set of his body as he touched her. "So do you."

Kate pulled the covers over her head as she tried to block out the visions of flames rising from ruined buildings. Her mother's voice penetrated the blankets. "Covering up doesn't help."

Kate peeked out. "What?"

"Covering up doesn't help. It won't make the fear go away. It just makes it worse. You'd probably sleep better if you'd just let Castle hold you."

Kate gazed at the man beside her. "I don't want to disturb him," she whispered softly. "He's worked as hard on this case as I have."

"I doubt that he'd see it as disturbing him," Johanna offered. "I think it's time for another trip."

"This is my old apartment," Kate observed. "The one Scott Dunn blew up."

Johanna nodded. "It looks like you and Castle are having an argument."

"Yeah," Kate agreed. "The FBI agent who hijacked my case, Agent Shaw, had sent me home to rest, which was the last thing I wanted to do. Castle showed up at my door with a bottle of expensive wine, saying Agent Shaw said we should decompress."

"Was that really why he was there?" Johanna asked.

Kate shook her head. "Castle thought Dunn was hunting me because of Heat Wave. Dunn was confusing me with Nikki Heat and Castle felt guilty and wanted to take care of me."

"That's kind of sweet," Johanna commented, "so why were you arguing?"

Kate sighed. "Castle had been paying a lot of attention to Agent Shaw. He knew the history of her cases and he looked at all her FBI equipment like bright shiny toys. He was even building theory with her. I didn't like it. I was upset."

"Upset or jealous?" Johanna prodded.

"Jealous," Kate admitted. "I told him that he was supposed to be building theory with me and asked him to run his ideas by me first."

"Did he object to that?" Johanna asked.

"No," Kate replied. "He seemed fine with it. But then he refused to go home. So I reminded him that I slept with a gun."

Johanna gave a very Beckett-like roll of her eyes. "Were you afraid that he would try something, or afraid that he wouldn't?"

"I don't know," Kate confessed. "I think if he had tried I might have given in. I was afraid of giving myself a choice."

"So you crawled under the covers and cuddled up with your gun," Johanna remarked.

"The gun was actually in the drawer next to me, but yeah," Kate agreed sheepishly. "Castle slept on the couch, then he got up in the morning to make pancakes. I didn't know it then, but he made pancakes for Alexis whenever she was upset or disappointed. I guess that was his way of offering comfort. Unfortunately a body dropped through the front door when he went to get the paper and we didn't get to eat them."

"But he was there for you?" Johanna asked unnecessarily.

Kate nodded. "Whether I wanted him to be or not."

"Let's look at what happened later." Johanna proposed.

Kate saw a naked version of herself cowering in a bathtub in the same apartment, now in flames.

"How did you find yourself in a predicament like that?" Johanna asked.

"I should have been dead," Kate confessed. "I would have been. We, everybody, even Agent Shaw thought the killer was dead. Captain Montgomery took the protective detail he had on me off and I let my guard down. But Castle figured it out. He tried to call me, but I was in the shower. When he couldn't reach me, he jumped in a cab and came over. He managed to call me just before the bomb blew and I jumped in the tub."

Johanna disappeared for an instant. "Castle just broke down the door." Johanna reported when she returned. "He fell on his face when he did it too. He's coming this way."

They could both see the look of relief and surprise on Castle's face when he caught sight of a live but naked Kate. Naked Kate immediately tried to cover herself, asking first for a towel, then a bathrobe, both of which were on fire. When she finally asked for Castle's jacket, she insisted that he not look, as he held it for her.

Castle gently suggested that perhaps modesty should not be Kate's greatest concern when her apartment was on fire.

"You know, Kate," Johanna said, "I've seen you do some pretty stupid things out of that stubborn determination of yours, but that one is pretty close to the top. Being more concerned with Castle seeing you naked than with getting out of a burning building? Really? What were you afraid of? He wasn't about to jump you in the middle of the flames. You have a lovely body and you've never been shy about letting people of the male persuasion know it, so why did you have to cover up for Castle?"

Kate thought about it. If it had been anyone else, she would have told them that the most important thing would be to get out of the fire and not to worry about anything else. That was safety lesson number one, a thing she learned in kindergarten. When there's a fire, just worry about getting out.

"Kate?" Johanna questioned.

"I guess," Kate mused half to herself, "that covering up, shielding myself from Castle, was my way of clinging to the last of my control in an out of control situation."

"And?" Johanna urged.

"I'm still doing it," Kate realized. "When things get out of control I try to cover up, whether it makes sense or not."

"I think we're done here," Johanna announced.

Kate was instantly transported back to bed. "Castle," she whispered.

"Kate," he murmured, as even with his eyes closed, the corners of his mouth turned up at the sound of her voice.

Kate felt Castles arms reach around her, drawing her to spoon in the curve of his body. Sleep approached like a comforting mantle as Kate allowed herself to relax in Castle's embrace, but just before she was lost in slumber, Kate heard a voice retreating in the distance. "I told you so."