A/N Never say I don't listen to my readers. Here's the second chapter you all demanded - please, don't ask me for a third! :] I do have other Castle fics planned out, so it's not like I'll never be posting another Castle story. Thanks so much to everybody who reviewed Chapter One. I really appreciate all your comments!

Dedicated to Kelly, in the hopes that it'll once again keep her happy until I get my butt into gear and write what she's waiting for.

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle or anything related to Andrew Marlowe.

She hesitates as he opens the door, doubting him, and more importantly doubting herself. Then he turns his head.

"Please," he whispers. The word has barely left his lips before she's rejoining their hands and following him inside.

(She's not sure if she follows or he lets her push him. Either way, she's not leaving.)

The loft is quiet, eerily so. He can't drop her hand because it might be the last time. He is empty, startled into a stark reminder that he is only mortal, and has a life to lose.

"Rick?"

Kate will realize later that it's the first time she's heard his mother call him that. Martha holds him tight, and there's no mistaking the sheen of years in her eyes. Kate looks away. Some things are just too personal.

He feels the hole in him start to heal, some of the nothingness fade away. They are all silent, until he turns to look at her. She nods her understanding, and he is gone, disappearing up the stairs to Alexis.

Somehow, because her voice doesn't seem to be working properly, she tells Martha how sorry she is, how much she regrets ever putting him in that position, and she repeats it over and over again until all the words run into one choked sob.

But then a finger is lifting her chin, and Martha Rodgers, the Martha Rodgers is wrapping her in a hug, just because. And it feels good. Kate has forgotten what good feels like.

(She'll deny until the day that she doesn't that he makes her feel good. He'll say that if he didn't, she'd have nothing to deny.)

Their eyes meet over his mother's shoulder. Before they can breathe, Martha is gone and they are left in an uncertain daze.

She steps closer, slowly letting her fingers close around his. His hands are cold.

"Rick."

He leads her down the hall to his bedroom. They are silent, more than aware of the sleeping women upstairs. When the door closes behind her, Kate lifts her eyes to his.

In the morning, they'll make coffee and pancakes and exchange secret smiles, content with the knowledge that Richard Castle is in amazing shape and Kate Beckett likes to snuggle.

In the morning, when he's done being surprised that she stayed, they'll argue over who closed the distance between their lips.

(Tonight, it doesn't matter.)