Tell Me You Need Me.

Characters aren't mine, just the story.

She was standing at the sink washing dishes. Her mother had always told her that she did some of her best thinking when her hands were in hot soapy water. Tonight standing in Castle's loft, hand washing crystal wine glasses the enormity of the day's events were finally hitting her. He could have died today. I could have lost him. She dropped her head and sucked in a deep breath. Hold it together, Kate. Don't fall apart now.

On the other side of the kitchen Rick and Alexis were having a tea towel swatting contest. "Ha…Ha, little bird, big bird has won this match. Bow before me and surrender your weapon." Rick announced with flourish.

"No way, old bird, I will never surrender to the forces of swat. You must catch me first for I now have an ally. She is strong and will never allow the forces of swatdom to prevail!" Alexis laughed breathlessly as she crossed the room toward Kate and spun her around as a shield between herself and her father.

"Oh, don't think she can save you. She is an agent of the kingdom of swat, who..." He stopped abruptly as he saw the look on his partner's face, "Kate, you okay?" He reached out for her the towel quickly forgotten falling to the floor as Alexis peaked around her side with a questioning look.

"I'm fine," clearing her throat; she paused then took a breath. Looking at Alexis, she wiggled her eye brows and reached behind her grabbing up the wash cloth with an evil smile. "You are done, Sir Swat-a-lot," she laughed as she lobbed the soapy, wet missile at his chest."

It landed with a splat as a shocked look washed over Rick's face. He watched as the two most important females in his life laughed and congratulated themselves on their win with a high five that ended in a hug.

Before letting go of Kate, Alexis leaned next to her ear and whispered, "Thanks for today. I'm really sorry about…"

"Hey," Kate squeezed an acknowledgement then pulled back and smiled down at her. "Don't worry about it. I understand."

She nodded her head with a grin and walked over to her dad. "I think I've had enough for today. I'm going to go up to my room and call Jules. Night Kate, night Dad," she said as she dropped a kiss on his cheek and headed toward the steps.

"Night sweetie," Castle turned to watch her progress up the stairs before taking a deep breath and turning back to Kate. "She broke up with Ashley tonight. It's been a hell of day for all of us."

"Hell of a day." Kate sighed as she grabbed some paper towels and cleaned up the wet mess on the floor from the wash cloth.

Rick watched her toss out the wet paper towel, drain the water and clean up the counters. "Hey is everything okay?"

Turning toward him, she leaned back against the sink and sighed. "Yeah, it is now. For a minute the day caught up with me."

They stood there for a moment staring into each other's eyes, each remembering the terror of the day's events.

"Rick,"

"Kate," They spoke in unison as they both slowly drifted toward the other stopping only when no space remained between them. With eyes staring longingly, no words were spoken; none were needed as Kate gently lifted her hand toward Rick's cheek. His head slowly lowered toward her lips…

"Richard, I was wondering…" Martha stopped abruptly as she noticed that something was going on between her son and his partner. "Sorry, I… oh, um, here it is, I'll just head back upstairs. Good night Kate. See you in the morning darling."

The frustrated look on Castle's face made Kate laugh as she stepped back and dropped her left hand to his chest. Feeling the dampness, she glanced down and noticed her dad's watch. It was nearly eleven o'clock. "I should be heading home. It's late and one of us has to get up early for work tomorrow."

He reached up and put his hand over hers. "No stay. You're tired, you've had wine. You can use the guest room." Watching her closely, he hurried on, "You've stayed here before, so you know where everything is. I…sleep here tonight. Please for me."

She studied his face. Damn him. He knew that when he looked at her like that she couldn't say no. She bit down on her lower lip and said, "Okay…but I want pancakes in the morning." She turned and walked toward the stairway.

"Kate…I never doubted for a second that you would get us out." he said as he watched her for a minute before turning toward his office.

She stopped and called to him. "Hey, Castle."

"Yeah," he answered not trusting himself to turn around.

"I do need you…and if you tell anyone else I said that I will have to shoot you." Kate teased with a smile as she went on up to her room leaving a bemused ex-hostage standing alone smiling.

"Until tomorrow detective," Rick whispered.