The Next Day

Somehow, they had made it to the bedroom. The morning sun had yet to stream through the partially parted curtains. Castle lay in bed, wide awake. He had been awake for hours, though he couldn't remember the physical act of actually getting in bed. Yesterday had been so draining, and so very mentally exhausting. Then, he lost his mind with Kate. She succeeded in making him forget the events of the day for a few hours.

He looked up at the ceiling, as his brain woke up and remembered. The only thing keeping him anchored was the hand draped across his chest, so warm and delicate, and so very Kate. "What are you doing up?" Her voice startled him, and he flinched. "Sorry," she mumbled, shifting closer to him, pressing her naked body against his own. Castle shook his head dismissively. It wasn't her fault. His mind had been drifting, and now he crashed back down to Earth. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing," he replied, resting his cheek on the top of her head and allowing his eyes to slip shut. "Go back to sleep. You don't have to be up for work for a few more hours."

"We."

"What?"

"We have to be up in a few hours, Castle." Her finger swirled around his chest.

"Mmm, no."

"What do you mean no?"

"You're doing paperwork, tomorrow, and I've got a meeting with the publishers in the evening."

"Why is it you're my partner - but when there is paperwork, you're nowhere to be found?" Kate inquired.

"Just lucky I guess. Go to sleep."

"You first."

Castle opened a bleary eye and sighed softly. There was no chance of that happening. His mind was too focused on the past and the possible future. He was still awake when Kate's breathing evened out once again.

Morning arrived and Castle extracted himself from Kate's arms. He wandered to the en suite, and went through part one of his morning routine. Part two was coffee and breakfast. He pulled on his boxers and padded across the bedroom, unaware of Kate's eyes following him. He walked into the office, and cried out in pain.

Kate shot up in bed, throwing the covers off and grabbing the house robes. She threw it on and rushed towards the office where Castle was still howling in pain. "Ah, God, no, Kate, stay there," he instructed her.

The detective looked at the state of the trashed office, and she raised a hand to her mouth. Glass was on the floor in sharp jagged pieces, his laptop screen was cracked, and the time traveling dohickey was resting in the corner. Pens, paper of all sorts was everywhere, but the glass was the worst part. She looked down at Castle's foot he had lifted from the floor. It was dripping blood and had a rather large piece of glass sticking out from it.

"Castle, your foot."

"Ya think?" he snapped, looking around, unsure of how to proceed. He was surrounded by little landmines of glass.

"Okay, okay. Let me get the broom," she said, carefully navigating the field of glass. She returned seconds later and began to sweep the shards up into the dustpan. "Okay, here…" she set the broom and pan down and pulled his desk chair around so he could sit.

She lifted his foot to inspect the damage. "Well, I don't think you need to go to the hospital," she said, running to the bathroom to retrieve the first aid kit. She knelt down in front of him. "Okay, this is going to hurt a bit," she told him.

As she tended to his foot, her lips curled up into a smile as the memory of last night flooded her mind. "Sorry about your office."

"I'm not."

Castle had made her coffee and breakfast, consisting of eggs, bacon and toast. He spent the day pouring over his own paperwork that Kate didn't help him with, staying off his foot. Granted, he wouldn't let her, because editing drafts of his next novel would be considered spoiling it, and Kate was adamant that she did not want to be spoiled.

Don't do paperwork, he mentally scoffed at the thought as he went through his book, chapter by chapter for the first five. It took him the entire afternoon, and by the time his meeting rolled around, he was so tired, but he dragged himself to the five star restaurant with a limp in his step. They wanted more books. He wanted to enjoy his engagement, and thought that maybe now was a time to take a break. Maybe take a year off, and let the creative juices gather again.

Maybe.

But, he went to the meeting anyway.

Kate Beckett looked at her watch as it rounded on 9pm. She sighed to herself, decided she was going to go home - home to her fiance. Truth be told, she missed him today, and she felt guilty for not checking in on him during lunch. With everything that happened yesterday, and the blame that Castle was shouldering, she should have checked in.

She called him, and pressed the phone to her ear. She listened to the ring, and sighed when it went to voicemail. "Hey, Castle. Sorry I'm running late. I'm leaving now. See you soon."

She hung up, and startled when it started ringing immediately after. "Beckett," she answered. Listening for a second, she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Whoa, Espo, slow down. What do you mean The old haunt? Yeah, I'm on my way, too. Call me when you get there."

Kate grabbed her coat and headed for the elevator. She swallowed the panic down, and called Castle's phone again. There was still no answer. "Come on, Castle."

She pulled up to The Old Haunt to the bright flashing lights of police cherries. She noted Ryan and Espo's cruiser right outside the doors to the bar. She flashed her badge to the patrolman, ducked under the yellow crime scene tape and entered the bar, taking in the scent of beer and Friday nights.

She looked around, and aside from the gaggle of witnesses being questioned by uniformed officers, nothing seemed to be out of place. Where was the body? "Basement, detective," the patrolman at the door said, pointing. As if she didn't already know where the bloody basement was, pfft. She and Castle had many memories down there.

She headed there, pulling out her phone again to call Castle, not noticing she had a missed call from Ryan. As she descended the stairs, she could hear his Star Wars ringtone. She stopped halfway down the steps to the office that resided there. The voicemail clicked in.

Charging forward, Kate stopped at the bottom of the steps. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, Kate," Ryan waved his hands and crowded her, blocking her view of the body dangling a mere inch from the ground. "Go back upstairs."

"What?" she looked at him as though he had grown two heads. There was a body, and this was her job.

"Kate. Go back upstairs," he repeated. She looked at him more fully, noting the redness in his eyes. Esposito quickly joined him.

"Ryan, wha -" she peered over his shoulder. A body hung there, facing away from from her, tethered to the rafters by a fishing line that was practically invisible. There was a sinking feeling in her stomach, which felt more like a boulder had been dropped inside. "I heard his ringtone…" she whispered. It was a plea, to tell her that what she was thinking was wrong, and oh God, the more she looked at the back of the victim's head, the more she saw the resemblance.

Beckett was quick. She moved between the two detectives, but they had been expecting it, and their arms prevented her from moving forward. "No, Castle! God, let me go! Please! Rick!"

The detectives held to Kate tighter, pulling her back towards the stairs. She didn't need to hear them say the words to know it was her fiance. "Kate!" Epsosito shouted in her ear, forcing her head to snap towards him. "It might not be him."

"Let me go… or I swear to God…" I'm going to shoot you. Ryan let her go, and Esposito pulled back, too, both with weary eyes on her. It's not him, it's not him, it's not him, she mentally repeated to herself. A mantra that she held onto with each painfully small step towards the man dangling.

Laine stood there, soft and sympathetic eyes following Kate's every move. Kate's eyes never wavered from the body as she circled around him. From the side, he had the same nose, same bodily proportions. Face to face with him, milky eyes staring back at her, she whimpered as her stomach churned. She bent at the waist, powerful sobs filling the air. She wasn't one to cry, but this…

Laine wrapped an arm around Kate, leading her away, and Kate moved with her, numbly. The image was burned into her mind now, a nightmare made reality. Soulless eyes searing her own.

Castle.

A/N: So, I may have turned this into more than just a one-shot. Oops. My bad. ;)