A/N: A bit of a shorter chapter, but I'm hoping to have the next chapter up in the next few days, so y'all won't have to wait too long.

Two Months Later

Rick was happier than he'd ever been. His daughter was excelling in school and her extracurriculars. His mother was booking shows meaning there was a chance she'd financially be able to move out of his apartment. And Kate was everything. While he was in love with her long before they ever became official, he could tell that she felt the same, although neither had admitted it to the other yet.

Rick was writing more too. He credited Kate as his muse and she hated being called that, but he continued to be inspired by her and her work, so the title of muse would stay. Rick was still working on getting Kate on board with him shadowing her team on occasion and while she hadn't approved of it yet, he made frequent visits to the precinct to "drop off lunch." If he happened to stay for several hours to offer insights on their investigation, then so be it.

After two months of dating, Rick still hadn't decided if and when he would mention his dream life to Kate. He wanted to tell her, but he was scared about how she would take it. He lost her once before and he couldn't live through that again. Maybe one day he'd be ready to tell her.

It was a bright summer afternoon when Rick sauntered into the Twelfth Precinct with a suit coat over his arm. After a meeting with his publisher he decided to take his girlfriend out for lunch. He spotted Kate seated at her desk with her head down as she looked through a file. A smile graced his lips and his heart fluttered around his chest at the sight of her. He laid a hand on her shoulder and leaned down to kiss the top of her head.

Kate looked up, initially confused and surprised, but when she realized it was her boyfriend, she grinned up at him.

"Hey! What are you doing here?"

Rick deftly slid into the chair next to Kate's desk that had unofficially become his chair and said, "I want to take you out for lunch. I had my meeting at Black Pawn that went very well, so I was hoping you would be interested in a little celebratory meal."

Kate reached out and squeezed his forearm that rested on her desk. "Oh, I'm so glad the meeting well! I can't wait to hear more about it. I'm in the middle of something right now, but would you be willing to wait…" Kate checked her watch. "…about forty-five minutes and then we can go to lunch?"

"Absolutely. I haven't had nearly enough time this week to annoy Esposito."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Please refrain from throwing stuff around this time."

"I'll do my best," Rick stated, then grabbed Kate's nearly empty coffee mug as he stood up and made his way to the breakroom.

With the blue mug filled again with Kate's lifeblood, Rick was about to set it beside her when he spotted a familiar white statuette of elephants sitting on Kate's desk that he'd never seen there before. He let go of the coffee too early and it tipped over, drenching Kate's work with brown liquid.

"Castle! What the hell?" Kate jumped from her seat to avoid getting burned by the hot coffee flowing over the edge of the desk.

"Oh no, Kate. I'm so sorry," Rick struggled to say, but he could barely breathe. He fumbled to try and clean up what he could with a box of tissues nearby, knocking over a cup of pens, stacks of files and other trinkets Kate kept around her work space. He tried to not look at the elephants, but he couldn't take his eyes off of them. His life wasn't real. Again. Why was he seeing them again?

Rick started to feel dizzy and pushed himself away from the desk, making the elephants tip over and fall over the edge of the desk. He managed to get a hold of his chair before his knees buckled under him. With him firmly in the seat again, he dropped his head to stare at the floor and tried to even out his breath.

"Castle, what's wrong?" Kate asked, the fear evident in her voice. "Rick, are you okay?" She kneeled in front of him and grabbed his trembling hands in hers and rubbed her thumbs in circular motions on the backs of his hands in an attempt to soothe him in some way. She recognized he was having a panic attack, but she didn't understand why. She changed the tone of her voice, making herself sound steady and calm despite everything inside her being tense with worry. "Okay, Babe, can you copy my breaths?" She breathed in slowly and held it and then breathed out slowly and repeated it while Rick attempted to follow her.

Kate reached up to place one hand against his cheek. "Hey, are you able to look at me?" Rick gave her a shaky nod and then lifted his head to meet her eyes. Kate gave him a worried and sad smile, trying to keep any tears at bay. "Hi there," she said when she could see the blue of his irises again. "You're okay. Just keep breathing like I am."

Kate knew there was commotion going on around the bullpen as she helped Rick, but in that moment, all of her focus was on him and everything around her was blurred background noise. She and Rick were in their own bubble, safe with each other.

Rick could feel the safety in their bubble as well and was able to start breathing with some regularity. Kate was real. She was looking directly into his eyes and stroking his cheek. She was right in front of him and the only thing his eyes could look at in that moment. Kate was his anchor. Everything else didn't exist because she was the only thing he could see, but in her he started to see Evie. His little girl that was a mix of him and a mix of her with a disheveled mop of hair and bright blue eyes, who also wasn't real. He closed his eyes to keep her ghost from haunting him again and tried to fight the noise and bustle of everything outside of him and Kate. The roar of the precinct towered over him like the first giant wave of a tsunami. When it crashed over him, he tried to breathe but he choked on every inhale. He needed to escape. He needed to resurface. He felt his feet on solid ground and pushed himself up to reach fresh air, but the wave grabbed hold of him and he fell. The last thing he said before the darkness took him was their daughter's name. Evie…