316. Chapter 316

AU After Tick, Tick, Tick

Episode 2.17

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Castle is da bomb, and I don't own it. Rating: M Time: See above.

Castle was rooted to the spot as the flames roared out of Kate Beckett's apartment. Then he snapped out of it and ran to her apartment. He ran up the stairs to the second floor and skidded to a stop in front of her door. Intellectually, he knew that solid wooden doors were harder to break through than most people thought. But he simply threw himself at the door. Luckily, the door and the frame had been damaged by the blast and Castle kicked it in.

"Beckett!" He screamed. Where the hell was her phone at? He tried to remember where the phone charger was, but drew a blank. The apartment was burning. He had to find Beckett quickly and get her out of the apartment.

He checked the living room, but found nothing. Next he looked in the bedroom, which seemed to have been damaged less. Dashing out of the bedroom, he saw a wisp of brown hair in the bathtub. "Beckett!" he yelled again. No reply.

Rushing into the bathroom, he saw that she was unconscious, and naked. Damn! She'll kill me for seeing her like this. He looked for something to wrap her in, but everything in the bathroom was on fire. I have to get her out of here, now.

He bent over to pull her out of the tub and get her outside when a heavy light fixture fell from the ceiling onto his head. It knocked him forward so that his forehead hit the far side of the tub. He stood up, briefly seeing double, then looked back down at Beckett. I have to get her out of here. He leaned over again, feeling dizzy for a moment, then managed to get his arm under her knees and the other arm under her shoulders. He picked her up and staggered to her door, avoiding the fire as he went.

Once outside, he had another dizzy spell, then turned towards the stairs. He stopped for a second at the top of the stairs. He wasn't sure he could get them down the stairs safely. How the hell am I going to do this?

"Castle! What the hell do you think you're doing? Put me down this second!" Beckett barked at him.

"Sure." Castle said, putting her down. He was starting to feel groggy.

"Castle, I'm naked. I don't know what you think you're….Oh, my god! You're bleeding."

Castle looked around. He was bleeding? "Where?"

"Your head."

He put his hand to his head. It came away wet. Bloody wet. "Oh, hell." Suddenly, what she had said first to him got through the fog in his brain. "Here. I'll give you my jacket." He started trying to take the jacket off, but his fingers seemed very clumsy.

"Take your shirt off. I need to put pressure on the wound. Dammit, Castle, what happened?"

Castle found that taking his jacket off to cover Beckett, taking his shirt off for her, and explaining what had happened was too much for him. He leaned against the wall.

Beckett pulled him upright, wrestled his jacket off, then pulled his shirt off. She held it to his head, trying to staunch the flow of blood.

Castle was tired. He needed to rest. "Tired." He mumbled. He slid back against the wall and started to slide down.

"No you don't." Beckett said, pushing against him and holding him upright. "I think you're concussed. Stay awake, Castle. I can hear sirens. Help is close. Stay with me, Castle. Stay with me."

The first person to reach them was a uniform, fortunately a police woman, who threw her coat over Kate. She turned to Castle who was starting to slide to the floor. Both women held him up. "Get the medical kit!" The uniform screamed to her partner. "I've got an injured man here."

"Castle, you're going to be okay."

Castle smiled at Beckett and promptly passed out.

He came to, wondering where he was. He quickly decided he was in a hospital, but how had he gotten there? His memories were all jumbled together. Beckett! "Where's Beckett?" What he had intended as a shout, came out as a mumble.

"Hey, he's awake." Someone said. Castle thought. He knew the voice. It was…Ryan.

"Ryan?" He said, louder this time. "What happened to Beckett? Is she okay?"

"Yes. But you both were concussed. Somehow yours was worse than hers. She's up an around, but they're keeping her overnight. You'll be okay, too."

"Can you tell us what happened?" That was another voice. Jordan Shaw?

"Someone dropped a building on me."

"Hey. Are you okay?" That was Beckett.

"What? I don't look fine?" He answered.

"Wise ass." But she said that very gently and with a smile. He saw her turn. "Sir, I want to get back on the case tomorrow."

Captain Montgomery answered. "That is entirely up to the doctors, Beckett. And we need to get you into a safe house. That'll take time."

"Sir, I don't need a safe house. I can..."

"She'll stay with me." Castle cut in.

"Castle, I am not staying with you."

"I live in a secure building, and there'll be people there who care for you. Remember, I carried you out of your old apartment. I'll be happy to get out of this bed and carry you to your new place, my loft."

"Castle, that's not…"

"Beckett, you're staying with Castle. That's an order." Montgomery said, ending the argument.

"What are all of you people doing in here?" Another voice cut in angrily. "Mr. Castle is my patient and he does not need this. Everyone out, this instant." She speaker was a tiny, slender woman, but there was question that she was in charge. Except with Kate Beckett. As the others filed out of the room, Kate stood her ground.

"Castle got these injuries pulling me out of a burning building. I need to talk to him for a few minutes. Only a few minutes and then I'll go. I promise."

The doctor glared at Kate, who didn't flinch. "Okay, you can stay for two minutes. That's all."

Before Kate could speak, Castle spoke. "Beckett, I know you're angry for me seeing you naked. I'm sorry, I should have tried harder to find something to cover you with, but…" Castle's words were cut off by Beckett's fingers placed gently on his lips.

"Shh." She said, smiling. "You could have been more seriously hurt than you were helping me like that. Actually, we both could have died. So, don't worry about it." She leaned over and gently brushed her lips against his. "We'll talk more later."

As she walked away, Castle called out to her. "Beckett, you're incredibly gorgeous."

"You have no idea."

Two days later, Castle and Beckett sat on his couch in his loft, eating popcorn and watching Hard Boiled. Castle was surprised that Beckett was resting her head on his shoulder. He tried to look at her eyes to see if she was awake or asleep, but couldn't do so without moving and disturbing her. He decided to ask. "You awake?"

She nodded. "Yes, but I'm tired. Time to go to bed, I think."

Castle turned off the DVD player and got up. "Okay, the guest bedroom is upstairs, first door on the right. It has its own bathroom. If you need anything…."

Kate stood and rested her head on his chest. "We still need to talk. Castle, you can infuriate me at times, but most of the time…I like you. We both could have died the other night, and that got me thinking. I don't want to grow old alone and have nothing but being a cop to look back on." She took his hand and led him towards his bedroom.

"Beckett? Are you sure about this?"

She stopped. "It's not like you haven't seen everything before, you know." She smiled at him.

"It's just that…If I have to make a choice, I'd rather be your friend for now with the possibility of something more later than be your lover now with nothing more later."

She nodded, looking serious. "You do have a choice. Be my friend and my lover now and we'll work on more later, or I'll drag you into the bedroom, and we'll be friends and lovers and work on something more later."

"That's a choice?"

She nodded, smiling. He followed her into the bedroom.

Kate began unbuttoning her blouse, but Castle stopped her. "Do you mind if I do that?"

"Only if I can take your clothes off." She replied,

He unbuttoned her blouse as she took off his shirt. Her bra fell to the floor easily, but she had to reach to pull his tee shirt over his head. She kicked off her shoes, but then had to bend down to take off his shoes. "Stupid shoes." She muttered.

"I'll buy a pair of really intelligent sandals tomorrow."

Their pants and the rest of their underwear followed. As they stood there looking at each other, Kate started to push Castle back onto the bed.

"Wait." He said. "I just want to look at you."

"You've seen everything before." She teased.

"Actually, my memory of you is pretty blurry. You're amazingly beautiful." As he said this, he ran his hands lightly over her boobs and on down to the curve of her hip.

"Really, Castle. You don't have to exaggerate. You've been with models, starlets, women who…"

"Are nothing like you. You could be a model, a movie star…."

She took his hand and put it between her thighs. "What I am is wet, and what you are is hard. Now, Rick. Now." She gently pushed him back until he was on his back on the bed. She grasped him and guided him inside of her. "This is so good. I can't believe we've never done this before. Why did I put this off?"

Castle wisely said nothing, just smiled at her.

Kate began to slide up and down on Rick, increasing her pace slowly. He reached between her thighs and stroked her engorged clit. That brought a low moan from Kate.

"Hey, remember, Mom and Alexis are asleep upstairs."

She nodded, but moaned again, trying but not succeeding in muffling it. He pulled her to him and then flipped her onto her back, covering her mouth with his. Her moans increased, but were muffled now. Kate's arms went around his neck and her ankles locked behind his back. He used one hand to stroke one boob and the other to squeeze her ass. She felt an orgasm building within her and as it hit, she felt the joy of knowing that her lover had come inside of her at the same time.

Rick rolled off of her and hugged her, scattering kisses over her face, neck and shoulders. Then they lay together quietly.

"Rick, I know this can't last."

"Why not?"

"You and me? Really?"

"Yes. You and me. Really." He kissed her again.

"Rick, don't tease me."

"Kate, just believe in the magic. Just believe."