I've been so very tired lately, but here I am. Enjoy!

Chapter Seven

That night, Castle and Beckett enter the loft, thoroughly exhausted after the mountain of paperwork they—or rather, she—had had to go through in order to tie the case up in a neat little bow and take a three-day weekend to relax with her fiancé.

It was worth it when Castle insists that she go take a warm bubble bath while he makes them something for dinner.

"You're probably twice as exhausted as I am," he comments, helping her out of her coat. "With that three-hour run this morning, I mean."

Kate's silent for a moment, her body tensing slightly. "Yeah," she says, quietly, slipping away from him. "Yeah, I'm kinda sore." She doesn't say anything else as she walks towards their bedroom. Castle watches her, a confused pout on his face. But then he sighs and lets it go, turning and walking into the kitchen to start searching for ingredients for dinner.

Kate soaks in the tub for nearly an hour, thinking long and hard about what she is going to do about her…issue.

When she finally emerges, wrapped in Castle's large and comforting bathrobe and a pair of pajamas, he already has the table set, with candles, wine glasses, and his fine china, and is grinning at her from the kitchen island, stirring something in a pot.

"Hello, Gorgeous," he greets, beaming, "go on and take a seat; everything's almost done."

Kate smiles lovingly at him.

What did I ever do to deserve you?

She sits at the table, pouring them each a glass of wine as she watches him prepare the food in a small serving bowl and use his Darth Vader oven mitts to carry it to the table, placing it between them.

"Bon appétit," he exclaims, serving up a generous helping of their leftover pasta Bolognese onto her plate.

"This smells even better than it did last night," Kate comments, picking up her fork and spearing a piece of macaroni, bringing it to her mouth. She moans, her eyes closing momentarily, before opening slowly, her face alight with pleasure. "What did you put in it?" she asks.

Castle's mouth is practically dry from having watched her eat that single piece and make those sounds. He clears his throat and takes a healthy sip of wine before answering.

"Um, oregano," he says, huskily, "and some nutmeg. Added a couple of red pepper flakes to give it a little kick, ya know? You really like it?"

Kate takes another bite and moans, nodding. "It's orgasmic," she comments, sending him a heated look. Castle swallows thickly and she hides her grin behind her napkin. Castle takes another sip of wine and then practically shoves a forkful of food into his mouth, missing slightly and slathering his lips with tomato sauce.

Kate giggles and shakes her head, reaching out to wipe his lips clean with her napkin.

"You are such a mess," she teases. He grins toothily at her and she makes a face at the sight of his partially-chewed food. "Castle, mouth closed when you have food in your mouth," she chastises. His mouth shuts, automatically and he swallows.

"Sorry," he says, making her laugh again. She rolls her eyes at him, gazing lovingly.

"What am I going to do with you?" she asks, rhetorically.

"I can think of a few things," he replies, wiggling his eyebrows at her. Kate barks out a laugh and shakes her head.

"Not what I meant, Castle," she says.

"Still," Castle replies, giving her that look. Kate rolls her eyes again.

"Down, boy," she says. He just laughs and takes another bite of his food. Things are silent for a moment, then:

"Castle?"

He looks up at her, inquisitively. "Yeah?"

"I…" Kate takes a deep breath; it's now or never. "We have to talk."

Castle's eyes widen slightly, but just enough for her to notice. He puts down her fork, gives her all his attention now, waiting.

"I…we…" she takes another deep breath, and a sip of wine to calm her nerves. "I've been having…nightmares."

Castle relaxes for a second, as if relieved, before tensing once again.

"Nightmares?" he asks, trying to remember if she ever woke up screaming—as she'd done once or twice when they first started sleeping together. Those nightmares had all but disappeared, though.

Haven't they?

Kate nods. "Not very often," she assures him, "but lately…" she sighs. "I'm sorry. I should have told you before, but I didn't want to worry you. It's just that…the last couple nights…"

"You've been having them the last couple of nights? I thought you just said you didn't have them often."

"Well, I don't…usually," Kate insists. "But, for some reason, I just…I dunno. Lately, they've been getting worse."

"How much worse?" Castle asks, calmly.

"A lot worse," Kate mumbles.

Castle sighs. "Is that why you went running this morning?" he asks. Kate nods, guiltily. "Why didn't you just tell me? I could have helped you relax...no euphemism implied." Kate chuckles, looking up at him; there's a mischievous glint in his otherwise serious gaze.

"I dunno," Kate says, honestly. "I'm just…I'm used to dealing with this kind of thing on my own. And I saw how freaked out you got last year when I had that nightmare about Bracken. I just…I didn't want to put you through that again."

"So you hid." It's neither a question, nor an accusation.

Kate nods. "Yes," she says, "and I'm sorry for that. But I'm really trying to get better for you. For us."

Castle nods. "I know you are," he says, "and I appreciate that. Just, next time, wake me up. I promise I won't freak out anymore…or I'll at least give it my best effort not to. Deal?"

Kate smiles lovingly. "Deal," she says, softly.

They go back to eating and a comfortable silence settles over them once again. Castle is the one to break it.

"Kate," he says, gaining her attention. "I think you should go back to therapy." Kate's eyes widen.

"What?" she asks.

"You heard me," he says. "If you're having nightmares again, maybe you should talk to somebody…somebody who can be objective."

Kate nods in understanding. "I'll think about it," she promises. "Let's just see if they continue over the next couple of days; maybe it was just a fluke."

Castle looks dubious, but he agrees. "Okay."

They continue their meal with no more conversation.

Later that night, Kate is cuddled up against Castle's chest—their clothes having disappeared hours ago—sleeping peacefully, when suddenly her face twists and she fidgets, turning so that she's no longer leaning against him, her body continuing to fidget.

Suddenly, her eyes widen and she takes a deep breath, sitting up and looking all around her.

Nobody's there, but she still doesn't relax. She pulls the sheet over her chest and taps on Castle's shoulders, rousing him from his slumber.

"Kate?" he mumbles. "What? What's wrong?" Slowly he sits up, startled when Kate launches herself into his embrace, burying her face into the crook of his neck. He rubs her back, soothingly while she calms down, whispering sweet words in her ear.

"Castle," she gasps. "Castle, it wasn't a fluke."

THE END

Thank you to everybody who followed this story! If you could possibly send it to Stana, I'd be forever grateful. As it turns out, they CAN read Fanfiction. There is no violation at all. I've seen videos of actors who have read fanfiction about their shows, so I'm certain it's okay. Even if it isn't, hey, at least we tried, right?