Perfect
This is what should have happened on the show

Perfect
Caskett always
Thank you

oh well...damn you! what did you just do to my heart?
I loved it! :)

wow, this just makes his own disappearance at the wedding hurt more. you kill me.

There's that word again! Such a good word!

Oh, I like how he tells her that his heart stops for either of them! And she loves them both! And he wants to hear it again!

Nice one!

Lovely post-ep for the episode. I love that you delved into Kate's feelings about what happened, how she felt after getting cut-off from him in such an explosive manner and then not knowing anything for HOURS. And I really love that you had her tell him she loved him but without really realizing she let that cat out of the bag until he called her on it. Nice!

Always does say it all...

This was really amazing, Caro! Love how you look at Kate's turmoil too, at the absolute terror she must've felt for a while; it broke my heart thinking of that when I watched the episodes and ugh, how she breaks down, it's heart wrenching! I particularly love how you tied it together with Rick's tendency to shut out everybody from getting too close to Alexis, and how he realizes that finally and promises to change because this is Kate now.

Yay! Catching up on all my awesome fics! Great way for us to see the post target/hunt episode. Loved it!

A much needed heart-to-heart for this episode. The final lines-my heart twisted in exactly the right way. Well done, and thank you for this!

That was so heartbresking and sweet. I like the image of Kate deferring her emotional break until it's quiet and tears pour out unbidden. She had chosen to be supportive, but had suffered while she didn't want to burden him, she also chose not to shut him out when she could no longer hide her pain. That sounds like progress. This is one of my favorite Hunt post-eps. Thank you so much for writing and posting.

This was absolutely perfect! Oh this has to be my favorite Hunt post ep fic. I really, really liked it. I loved how Kate finally let herself cry over everything that had happened and wasn't embarrassed when Castle came in the room. And the line, ""This beats for both of you," he says gently. "It would stop without either one."" just about killed me. So very perfect. You are such a talented writer. Thank you for sharing your talents with us.

wow that was such a great story love it!

I am loving these stories!

We dearly needed this one. Really, the last thing Kate would've heard is a gunshot - right after Castle said 'I'm so glad you called.' The episode demanded that we finish the story from his POV, but poor Kate! She would react like this.

I like how he's first clueless and then figures it out. Great word choices to describe this, too, like 'beeline' and 'blindsides' -
"For a long drawn out moment it just blindsides him. ...Castle searches further back and comes up with nothing, until he recalls the remnants of terror in her green eyes when he walked through the door earlier and she made a beeline straight for him."

This was genius, too; Castle telling her that she AND Alexis are his top priorities:
"The moment I could contact you and let you know I was okay I should have grabbed a moment and done so. You deserve that Kate. And it's okay to demand that of me. It's okay to demand your rightful place on my list of priorities."

Great stuff.

This...
She stares at him open-mouthed, so he pulls her hand to his chest, flattens her palm over his heart.

"This beats for both of you," he says gently. "It would stop without either one."

... says it all!
Beautiful!

Loved it!