Rick was obviously trying to be quiet, trying not to wake her- yet- but she seemed to have a heightened awareness of him lately. And right now, Rick was getting ready to leave her. Again.

When Kate sat up, she held the sheets over her naked torso and watched Castle as he moved about the room. "You're leaving," she eventually pointed out the obvious, mostly as a means of attracting his attention.

Rick stopped moving and turned to her. "Yeah," he explained. "Crow finally got some solid leads and I'm going to go help him again."

Kate was not the clingy type. She was definitely not the needy type, so she hated some of the things she was feeling just then. But then, she'd never felt this way about someone before. Yes, she loved him, yes she knew two people couldn't spend every waking- or sleeping- moment together, but with Rick she felt possessive, and needy and maybe even a little clingy. He belongs to me, damn it! she thought and the idea made her realize that she had a right to know where Rick was going, and why he was leaving her- yet again- just after they'd made love. She knew that possessive feeling was mutual- it had been there in his words and his thoughts when he'd penetrated her body, both her neck and farther south.

She finally asked him, her voice angry, "And how long until I see you again this time? Five days? A week? Or am I only going to see you when you're horny enough to grace me with your presence?"

He narrowed his eyes on her and snapped, "You know that's not true."

"Do I? How could I know otherwise when the past week can speak for itself?"

Rick moved to sit on the bed beside her, facing her, but didn't touch her. "Please believe me, I'd much rather stay here with you, but I promised Crow I'd help him."

"That's great," Kate said sincerely, getting ready to argue her point. "I can respect the desire to catch a violent attempted murderer, but you and I work better together. And it pisses me off that you left me for three days, and you're about to do it again."

"I'm sorry," he reached over and put his hand on her thigh. "I'll call Crow back and tell him I can't-"

"No!" she snapped, cutting him off. "This is what we do. We solve crimes and we catch the bad guy. I wouldn't ask you to stop doing something we both feel compelled to do."

"What do you want me to do then?" he asked, confused.

"Take me with you," she said. Rick began shaking his head, but Kate kept talking. "We work better together. Let me help you on this case."

"Kate, no," he finally said. When she frowned- obviously angry but maybe even a little hurt- he pulled her onto his lap, holding her close to his chest. "It's too dangerous. These people aren't human. They're stronger than you are and the woman who attacked Crow wouldn't hesitate to kill you. I won't risk you."

Kate tucked her head under his chin and spoke quietly. "Then change me. Make me stronger. Make me like you, and we'll do this together."

Rick was quiet for so long, Kate pulled away from his chest to look up at him. His face was blank with surprise so Kate just waited for him to collect his thoughts, watching his face. "You..." he began, and then stopped. He studied the depths of her eyes and finally asked, "You want to change? To feed on blood and never see the sun?"

"I want to be with you," she confessed. "But as equals. I won't be the helpless child that Big Rick has to take care of. And it would be nice to be a little less fragile, so I can stop wincing every time you try to hold me tight."

Rick pressed his lips to her hair, holding her head in one big hand and tucking her back under his chin. "Crow and I have been looking for a way to reverse this," he told her. "I have you and Alexis to think about and Crow never wanted this. He was doing research for a graphic novel and he happened across an actual vampire. Crow thought he was just a crazy homeless guy, but he turned out to be real. So while we've been tracking down his mother, we've been trying to find a way to reverse this... infection."

"Infection?" Kate asked, confused.

"Lanie's been studying her blood and mine, and she says it looks like a bacteria or a virus has infected our bodies, making most of our tissue stronger while feeding on our blood."

"What if there's no way to reverse it?" she asked and then waited a long moment for a response Castle couldn't seem to form. "And even if there is a way to reverse it, we'll go through that together, too."

"You would go through that just to be with me?" Rick asked in wonder.

"That, and to be stronger than you again," she joked.

"You were never stronger than me," Rick scoffed.

"Oh?" Kate challenged, and pulled away to give him a skeptical look. She moved then, rising up on her knees and letting the sheet fall away. When she was straddling his lap, she began pushing his shoulders gently until he was lying back on the bed. She hovered over him, her hands pressing on his chest to keep him down and she gave him a superior look. "I could probably make you do anything I wanted you to."

"Really?" he asked facetiously.

With a wicked smile, she leaned close to his ear and said in a husky voice, "By asking nicely."

When Kate bit his ear, Rick gasped and began laughing. "That's not what I meant by strength."

"Me either," Kate agree, joining in the laughter. "But I want to be as strong- physically- as you are. I want us to be equals."

Rick studied her face critically for a moment, growing serious before he told her, "We'll never be equals, Katie." Kate frowned, obviously confused and wondering what he meant and trying not to feel hurt, knowing he couldn't possibly mean that the way it sounded. So he smiled and concluded, "You'll always be better than me. Smarter than me. Stronger than me- even if you're not physically stronger at the moment."

Kate smiled happily. "You're going to change me then?"

"Are you sure that's what you want?" he asked anxiously.

"I want to be with you," Kate repeated.

"You're going to have to bite me," he told her, still anxious.

"That should be fun," she joked, smiling wickedly. Kate was trying to keep the tone light because if she had to think about it, if she had to acknowledge that she was about to drink someone's blood, she thought she'd be sick. Plus, she'd never intentionally bitten someone hard enough to draw blood before and she didn't really want to start with Rick.

But Rick must have sensed her hesitation because he said, "I could share my craving with you if that would make it easier?"

Kate nodded gratefully, her eyes on Rick's, as he stared up at her intently. When he took a slow, deep breath, Kate thought she could smell what he did. Her own breaths synced with his as he sighed in pleasure. Their next breath was just as deep as the first and on it, Kate scented something unbearably sweet. Warm and moist, the fragrance called to her like siren song, drawing her closer to Rick. She pulled on him until he was sitting up and she quickly yanked off the t-shirt he'd put on while she slept. And then she pushed him back, following him down and pressing her bare chest to his as she buried her face in his neck.

When she inhaled this time, she took in his scent instead of her own transmitted to her by Rick. He smelled warm and spicy and male, and Kate wanted to taste him. She began kissing his neck and when she eventually parted her lips over his skin, she sucked gently at his pulse point.

I don't want to hurt you, she admitted as she continued simply to kiss him.

I'll be okay, he reassured her, though she could tell he was a little tense too. Rick had to remind himself that he'd heal within minutes before he was able to tease her. "Would you like me to irritate you to the point you'd have no qualms about biting me? I've driven women to a lot more than that in the past."

I think I'll manage, Kate replied and there was a rather droll tone to her thoughts then. But she'd heard him remind himself that he'd heal and that was what decided her. Without further warning or thought, she parted her mouth over his skin and bit down hard. His blood filled her mouth and the idea almost made her gag. But then she registered the taste. There was the expected; warm, coppery, salt undertones. But it was sweet too, and Kate was so surprised by the unexpected sweetness that she swallowed and sucked at the wound, drawing more blood from him. It was so good, Kate thought; normal blood didn't taste like that, did it?

Kate kept drinking, trying to pull more and more, but he was already healing and she was getting less and less. The wound was long gone, but Kate was still licking and sucking at his neck when she finally heard his moans. She pulled away, licking her lips, as she looked down at him and saw his eyes close, his face contort as if in pain.

"Are you okay?" she asked, alarmed.

His eyes snapped open as he nodded, "Yes." His hands closed on her hips and Kate noticed that the grip was only slightly uncomfortable, not painful like it had been last night. "I'm fine." He kept nodding. "I'm good." He grasped her hips harder, pulling them down at the same time he thrust his own up into her. "Do it again," he practically moaned as he grinded his denim clad body against her, and Kate gasped when his hardness pressed into her.

Kate was relieved that Rick was responding this way, relieved that he was as turned on as she was because her own reaction had surprised her- and scared her. What kind of freak gets off on biting someone? She asked herself.

But Rick responded sardonically, The same kind of freak who gets off on being bitten. And then they both laughed.

"I want you to bite me again, Kate."

She only stared at him in surprise for a moment. He really was turned on, she noted as she sat on his groin. And biting him was what had done it.

So she kept staring until he said, "Oh, wait," his eyes lighting up like they did when he had- what he thought was- a good idea. He lifted his hips and Kate rose to her knees to give him room. Rick reached between their bodies and unfastened his pants, pushing them down only far enough to free himself. He held his erection up under her and commanded her, sit down and then bite me.

Just yesterday, a command like that would have had her moving to action immediately, the compulsion to obey irresistible. But now, Kate cocked her head to the side to study him and consider. His face was all lit up like a kid on Christmas, with one hand on his groin, the other on her waist, squeezing eagerly. But Kate asked herself, Do I really want to be the type of woman who gets off on biting her partner while having sex?

She hesitated long enough that Rick frowned. "What are you thinking? I can't hear you." He sounded confused by that.

"Our lives are changing, aren't they? It'll be like nothing we've ever known."

Rick nodded in agreement and asked, "Are you scared?"

Kate finally smiled and shook her head no. "As long as I get to be with you, I think I'll manage."

When Rick smiled in response, her heart felt light enough, she feared it might float from her chest.

"I can't hear your mind," Rick said, and Kate finally noted an absence in her consciousness. "I don't like it."

Kate focused for a moment, opening herself up to him and when his presence in her mind returned, she felt her own happiness doubled, Rick's thoughts in sync with hers.

Better, he concluded contentedly.

Kate smiled and finally sat down on him, taking him inside her body to the hilt and they both gasped in unison.

Much, she agreed.

They began moving together, yet Kate still didn't bit him. She waited until he was seconds away from his climax before she leaned down to him and bit down on the curve between his shoulder and his neck. Her own release hit her so hard, there was a roaring sound in her ears... Or was that Rick roaring out his own release?

Whatever that sound was, the pleasure crashed over her so intense, the world turned black once again.

A/N: I've had a couple questions, and I'm sorry I haven't gotten back to them personally, but I thought I'd explain them here. (I prefer to get back to reviews personally, but this semester is just so chaotic, I technically shouldn't even be writing on fanfiction in the first place :-( So I'm sorry for not getting back to you, I will try during the summer…? Anyway…)

So, my explanation: In my vampire world, one must ingest infected blood in order to become a vampire - I read too much Anne R ice as a teen. So Kate won't be turned by letting Rick drink her blood. But it has to be more than a certain amount of blood in order to affect a change. Too little might make for a healthier-than-average human, or in Lanie's case, heal severe physical wounds, but won't change the person, because there wasn't enough blood exchanged. Rick and Kate can hear each other's so well because they are a 'mated pair.'

I hope you'll forgive me if that's not entirely logical, but I had to find a way to make my vampires unique from the myriad of other stories out there about them. Plus, this is a work of fiction, so it doesn't have to be 100% logical, right? The fun is in the fantasy and fantasy is never totally logical. AND, a couple chapters wouldn't have been possible if Rick were unable to bite Kate without major consequences. All right, I'm done rambling. I just love this story and I wanted to explain for the lovely people out there still reading it. You make my day when you review this story, honestly! Your encouraging reviews= happy day for me!

Love, Johnny (did you know that can be a girl's name too? It can! It is… ;-D)