456. Chapter 456

After Tick, Tick, Tick

Episode 2.17

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I'm sort of the Federal guy who doesn't own Castle. Rating: M Time: See above

Author's note: This could also be considered another After The Fifth Bullet as I had this idea almost simultaneously with Chapter 450. Whatever.

The first thing he noticed when he came to was the odor of smoke. The second thing he noticed was that something was laying on top of him. What? He thought and looked down. A woman was laying across him wearing only a man's coat. Not what, but who? How the hell did I get here? Where is here? What the hell…?

The woman started to wake up. She looked at him blearily. "What happened? Why are we here? Who are you?" Then she paused. "Shit! Who am I?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. I have the same problem myself." He looked around at the wrecked apartment he was in. Looking up, he could see the ceiling was gone. "I think we were upstairs and now were here." He could see things starting to catch fire. "We should get out of here. Can you walk?"

She opened her mouth, then closed it. After a second, "I don't know. I'll try." She tried, but her leg was caught under a sofa. "I can't move."

"I'll get it off of you. Don't worry." He managed to stand up, but found he had some pain in his left leg. He looked down and could see blood. "Shit. I'm bleeding."

"Please, don't leave me." She begged.

He smiled at her. "I won't leave you. Don't worry. No matter what happens, I won't let anything happen to you." He pried the sofa up off of her leg, then helped her up. He couldn't help noticing that she wore nothing under the coat and that she was beautiful. No. Not just beautiful, very beautiful.

"Beckett! Castle! Where are you?" Someone called from outside.

"In here." He called loudly. He helped her towards the door and got there just as the door was kicked in by a man.

"Beckett! Castle! Are you two okay?"

They looked at each other. Finally he spoke. "It would help if you could tell us which one of us is Beckett and which one is Castle."

Hours later, they sat together in the hospital. The gash in Castle's leg and been stitched up and they both had a clean bill of health, except that they remembered nothing before they woke up in the shattered apartment.

Three men who were called, Ryan, Esposito and Montgomery explained that she was Detective Kate Beckett and he was author Richard Castle who had been shadowing her and had become her partner. The three men, and then an FBI agent named Jordan Shaw, had briefed them on their lives, but none of it sounded familiar.

Finally Montgomery stopped trying to get them to remember. "You two should go home and get some sleep."

"I don't have any place to stay." Kate said.

"You can stay with me. According to Captain Montgomery, I own a loft and I have a spare bedroom."

"Mr. Castle, I can't impose on you like that."

"You can and will." Shaw said. "There's a killer out there targeting you. Castle's is the best place to keep you safe."

"Can someone tell me where I live?" Castle asked.

Before anyone could answer, an attractive African-American woman burst in. "Sweetie! Is it true? You have amnesia? Both of you have amnesia?"

They both nodded.

As the police officers left, Lanie stopped Rick and Kate. "You don't remember anything at all? Either of you?"

Kate shook her head. "As far as I know my life started when I woke up in his arms."

"I'm the same. Nothing before waking up in the wrecked apartment."

Lanie smiled. "You should know something else. You're more than partners. You're lovers."

They looked at each other.

"That would explain why I was only wearing your coat."

"None of the officers said anything, though." Castle said.

Lanie shook her head. "The NYPD has rules against colleagues dating. No one knows but me and I only know because I accidentally walked in on you two making out. But you two have been together for a couple of months now."

They looked at each other and smiled.

"We should leave." They said in unison.

Kate found herself in the middle of a loft that was…unbelievable. Castle really was rich. While she looked around, Castle's mother and daughter fussed over them.

"Mother. Alexis." Castle said sharply. "We're very tired and although I know you're worried about us, we need sleep. Can someone show Kate where the guest bedroom is." He stopped and blushed. "And tell me where my bedroom is?"

Later, Kate stood in front of her door in a pair of pajamas borrowed from Martha speaking to Castle. "Can't I sleep with you? We've slept together before."

"They don't know." He said, gesturing to his mother's and daughter's rooms.

"I don't care if they know. They should be told some time. Now is as good a time as any. Better, maybe they'll know something that'll help us."

He put his arms around her and held her. "Lanie told me I'm crazy about you and that we're great together. And seeing you and hearing about you, I believe it. But, right now, I don't know you at all. It would be like sleeping with a complete stranger. I just can't do it. At least not tonight." He kissed her and walked back to his bedroom.

Kate spent more than an hour staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep. Finally, she got up and went down stairs. She slid into bed next to Castle.

He rolled over. "Kate?"

"Rick, the only thing that I know is that you told me that you wouldn't let anything happen to me and I believe that. That's all I know and all I have to hang onto. We don't have to do anything, but I just don't want to be apart from you. Please?"

"Of course. Anything you want, Kate." He took her in his arms and in a few minutes, they were both asleep.

Kate felt embarrassed coming out of Castle's bedroom in her pajamas and finding Martha making breakfast for the four of them. Martha looked up and smiled. "It's good to see that you two are together."

Castle smiled and put his arm around Kate. "I think it's good, too."

"Captain Montgomery called. You two have the day off. He said if you even think about coming to work, he'll send you back here in cuffs. And Lanie called. Katherine, you have no clothes, so she's taking you shopping."

Kate turned to Rick. "Will you come with me?"

He looked at Martha. "Do I like shopping for clothes for a woman?"

"Of course, dear." Martha lied. "What man doesn't?"

Remembering what Kate had said the night before, Castle nodded. "Count me in."

Kate found herself intensely frustrated when she got back to the precinct. She was a homicide cop and a good one, according to everyone. But she had no clue what was going on and a killer was out there trying to kill the fictional Nikki Heat, but going after her instead. Castle seemed slightly less lost, but not by much.

That night, Kate put one of Castle's tee shirts and got ready for bed. She came out of the bathroom to find Castle already in bed. She looked at him, then pulled the tee shirt off and threw it on the floor. She was naked.

Castle's eyes widened. "Yes?"

She nodded. "Yes. I want you." She got on the bed and straddled him. She pulled his boxers down and off. He was already starting to get hard. She started rubbing him softly, up and down, watching him grow. He reached forward and began to massage her slit, getting her wet at once. She lifted her thigh and impaled herself on him, letting him slide all the way inside her. "Oh, god, that's good." She moaned. "I should have done this the first night."

He reached up and began stroking her boobs. She leaned forward so that he could take her nipples into his mouth and suck on them. He stroked the inside of her thigh with one hand and squeezed her ass gently with the other. Neither one could last long, and she climaxed as she felt him spurt inside of her.

She collapsed on top of him. "I think I must be in love with you." She whispered.

"I know I love you." He whispered back.

The Nikki Heat case ended suddenly. Scott Dunn was shot to death by Richard Castle while trying to kill Kate Beckett. Jordan Shaw was rescued and the FBI agents were saved.

That night they cuddled in bed after making love. "You told me you'd do anything for me. You risked your life for me and you saved my life. I know I love you, Richard Castle."

"And I love you."

Over the next two weeks, Kate began to remember things mostly from her childhood, but, frustratingly, nothing past her early teens, except for one thing. She remembered Mike Royce. Castle remembered a few things as well, but not as much as Kate.

Kate got into bed with Rick and snuggled next to him, running her hands over his chest. "Ready, lover?"

To her surprise, he moved away from her. "We need to talk."

"About what?" She asked, suddenly afraid. What was wrong?

"I've remembered a lot more than I've told you. I've remembered about us. I talked to Lanie and she confessed. She lied to us. We were never lovers before."

Kate shook her head. "Why? Why would she lie?" How could this be happening?

"She said that I was crazy about you, and I remember enough to know that's true. But, you didn't feel the same way about me."

"Why? I feel that way now. Why wouldn't I like you? Love you?"

Castle explained about her mom's death and how that had kept her from allowing herself to care for anyone for fear of what losing someone would do to her. "Lanie said you had built a wall around yourself and wouldn't let anyone in."

Kate felt tears form in her eyes. "Does this mean you don't love me?"

He hugged her. "I do love you, but we've been doing this under false pretenses. I can't take advantage of you by continuing this."

"I don't know anything really about who I was before I woke up in your arms in the wreckage of my apartment building. You told me you'd do anything for me and I'm holding you to it. The doctors have told us that the amnesia won't interfere with our current memories, so if and when I get my complete memory back, I'll still feel the way I feel about you right now. We love each other. What we felt before doesn't matter."

"So, what do you want to do?" He asked, kissing her lightly on the lips.

"Make some more great memories."