Author's Notes:
This is my first Castle fic. Part one is rated T due to the issues that the show itself dealt with. Parts 2 and 3 (maybe more) will definately be rated M. If you don't like graphic sexual scenes, please do not read. Reviews make me happy, if you can read and review that would be like an early Christmas pressie for me. This story is mostly completed. I just need to finish up part 7, sent it and part 6 to my beta. And I need to decide if there needs to be another juicy scene in part 4. It seems fine without but I might want to add something anyway. I originally posted parts 1 and 2 in November and they are being updated now with this note and typo, grammatical, and spelling corrections. If you read it originally, it should be much different.
Insert all the standard disclaimers here. I don't own these characters. Drat.
Chapter 1Kate and Rick comfort each other after the Triple Killer escapes.
She raced up the stairs, and didn't bother to wait for Esposito to get there, she just kicked the door down herself.
"Castle!" she called seeing him right there tied to a chair, facing away from the flying bits of the door.
"Clear, he's gone. I'm fine. Ryan needs an ambulance," he tried to be matter of fact.
"No, I don't" Ryan said weakly but stubbornly from the floor.
"Hey, what the hell happened here," Esposito asked Ryan and he kneeled to help his partner. Beckett holstered her gun and leaned down to untie Castle and spoke softly to the back of his head, "I'm so glad that you're okay."
"He's the Triple Killer. He set Gates up to be the copycat," Castle explained.
"I know. I did the math when you and Ryan didn't come back from talking to Jerry," she said as she walked in front of him.
"How did you know to come here?"
She took a deep breath, "Your mom called. She said that you told her you loved her and she figured something must be terribly wrong."
"I figured she might," he said then paused. "Good girl."
Beckett called in to the precinct to update the Captain. He told her that he would start making sure that all the necessary APB's and such were posted immediately. Castle reached out for his phone and called his mother. He didn't go into detail, he just told her that he was okay and would be home shortly and will explain it all then. When the forensics team got there, he needed to stand up and leave the room. He knew that Beckett was going to be a while and he wandered over to a bench by the pool. Soon Beckett walked over, sat close beside him and handed him a cup of coffee.
"Here you go."
"Thanks," he replied.
"Mm-hmm," she responded, rubbing her hands together. "Tell me something Castle. Why did he let you live?"
He turned to face her. "To punish me." She looked at him, meeting his eyes. "To make me pay for ruining his plans." He turned away. "Now he's going to kill again all because I couldn't stop him. And I feel so…" his voice trailed off. Beckett looked at him, surprised that the writer didn't have the words but knowing what he meant.
"I know the feeling," she said as she reached out and put her hand on his knee.
"I know you do," he said he turned to look at her profile and he covered her hand with his.
At the pool - Becketts Point of View
I sat there with my hand on his knee trying to give what ever comfort that I could. I hadn't touched him like that before so I was about to pull my hand away, when he covered mine with his. We sat there for a little while before he asked me softly, "So what do you do after something like this?"
"I call John."
"Who is John?" he asked finally showing a hint of his incessantly curious personality.
"Well he's, um, he's my workout buddy," I said slightly embarrassed.
"So you just go to the gym and fight it out?"
"Most of the time." I knew that he would understand and I awaited the innuendo.
"So he is a friend with benefits," Castle asked somewhat surprised.
I smiled wryly, "That's not what I usually call him but yes."
He had to have been shocked by what I said because he tried to pull his hand away. I didn't want to let him go quite yet so I attempted to wrap my fingers around his hand. He wasn't trying to pull away though, he simply wove his fingers together with mine.
"So, why not just date him?" Castle asked.
"I just don't think that it would work out. He's not exactly the kind of guy you take home to Dad."
"So, he's a bad boy," he said.
"Yeah, and I just don't need to tell my dad about my sex life."
"No kidding. I hope I don't have to worry about that with Alexis for a while yet. Like another couple to 20 years." I chuckled.
"So what will you do tonight?" I asked him.
"Go home and be with my other favorite women," he said lightly squeezing my hand. I wondered if he actually meant to imply that I was another of his favorite women.
"Tell them I said hi," I said knowing that it was time for him to leave.
"Come with me," he said more as a question than a statement.
I knew that it wasn't a good idea, but once I looked into his eyes, I wasn't able to tell him no. He almost clung to my hand until we got to my car when I finally had to pull away. The drive to his place wasn't long and after I parked and walked around the car, he took my hand again. I looked into his eyes and it was almost as if he was daring me to pull away. I wasn't able to, at least not yet. He was in such a fragile state and I didn't want to hurt him besides, my emotions weren't terribly stable either right now.
Castle pulled out his keys, unlocked his door, and was nearly tackled by Alexis with Martha close behind. He dropped my hand as he hugged his daughter tightly. Martha took my arm and led us all into the apartment before she hugged me.
"Thank you for keeping him safe," she whispered before she turned to hug her son and granddaughter. I wasn't standing there but a second when Alexis, with tears streaming down her face, turned to look at me then held out one arm to include me into the family hug. I didn't hesitate and was soon held by her and her father. I longed to cry with Alexis but I knew that I couldn't, not yet; I just buried my face into Castle's neck and enjoyed his scent and arm around me. I have no idea how long we all stood there when Martha and Alexis finally pulled away. Alexis looked at me and her dad then said "I know that you probably need to talk about what happened so I am going to head to bed. Good night, Daddy. I love you. Thank you so much for taking care of my dad, Detective Beckett."
"Good night, sweetheart," said Castle. "I love you, too."
"Good night, Alexis," I said.
"Thanks again for helping my son," Martha said.
"I'm just glad you called me when you did," I said. She waved off my comment.
"I love you, Richard," Martha said lightly patting his cheek.
"I love you too, Mom and I am sorry that my telling you that is enough to scare you into calling the police," he tried to joke.
"Oh son, I didn't call the police, I called Kate," she said as she walked from the room.
"Thank you so much for coming to get me and for being here for me," he said as turned back to me and surprised me by pulling me back into his arms.
"I'm so glad that you're okay, Rick." I repeated as I ducked my head to his chest.
I didn't want to burden him with my tears, I was there to comfort him, and so I tried to hold them back.
"Sorry, don't mind me," Martha said as she came back downstairs and picked up some papers. I turned my head further away because I didn't want her to see that my eyes were red from almost crying. "I wanted to get my screenplay. Why don't you two go sit on the couch and I'll bring you some drinks?"
We pulled away from each other but Rick clung to my hand. Moments later, we were on the couch and Martha brought a tray of several drinks, sodas, water, and alcohol along with a box of tissues. As soon as she left the room, we looked into each other's eyes and reached for each other. I have never been a very touchy person but I knew that he was. Usually he would make all sorts of sex jokes but tonight he wasn't so I knew how upset he was.
We sat there for a while when I realized that Rick was shivering. I reached for the blanket on the back of the couch and tried to pull it over us. I knew what he was feeling, helpless and at fault. I didn't know what to do but I just stroked his hair. I wanted to tell him that everything was going to be okay, but until we caught him, I couldn't.
"Oh, Rick. We are going to do everything we can first thing in the morning to get Jerry. I promise."
"I know, Kate. I just don't know what I'll do if he kills again. It would be all my fault."
"No it isn't, Rick. It's his fault, he's a sociopath. You are just trying to help."
"And getting in the way and causing trouble. I wouldn't be surprised if you refuse to let me shadow you anymore," he said sadly.
I normally would have made a joke about that but knew that this wasn't the time or the place, I just held him a bit tighter. The thought of him not being there at work anymore wasn't one that I wanted to entertain now. "If you don't want to shadow me anymore, I understand it. But I hope you don't leave. You can be very helpful at times and I just like having you around," I admitted both to him and myself.
He pulled back a bit to look into her eyes, "The pulling your pigtails thing?" he said with a slight hint of a smile as he gently tugged a lock of my hair.
"Yeah," I said as my eyes started to tear up again.
"Hey, why are you crying?" he asked gently.
"When Martha called and told me what you said, I knew that something was wrong, just as she said. I didn't think I was going to see you again. Not alive at least. And that rather scared me," I said.
Somehow, he realized that it was his turn to comfort me; he lowered one arm, and slipped my legs over his, across his lap. He traced his finger down my cheek before running his hand to the back of my head and lowering his forehead to mine. I thought that he was going to kiss me and while I would have welcomed it, I didn't think that tonight was the night for that.
"I intend to pull your pigtails for a long time, Kate. I promise," he said as he once again pulled me close. I buried my face into his neck and finally let the tears fall. Normally, I wouldn't even think of letting him see me cry but tonight was different. Tonight was all about getting past the pain to be able to focus on catching the killer tomorrow.
The end part 1 of 7