Disclaimer: I don't own the show or the characters. Or Nathan Fillion. But give me time.

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Castle was almost there. He slid his hand a bit further—two inches away. If he could only reach a little more. Two inches. One inch. Almost…there…

WHAP

"I swear to God Castle, if you change the channel one more time you're going to be walking back to Manhattan." Beckett's voice sounded half disgruntled, half amused as she slid him a sideways glance. Castle leaned back in his seat with a pout.

"We've been listening to public radio for almost an hour now," he complained. "I think I've learned all that can be learned about the Greek debt crisis." He slumped in his seat a little. "We should have taken the Ferrari," he groused. "We'd have been there by now."

Beckett shook her head and allowed a little frustrated sigh to puff at her bangs. All things considered, Castle was a fairly good travelling companion. He was an effortless conversationalist, and could keep up his end of a discussion on almost any topic, including Russian literature, which they had argued about for a solid hour before declaring it a draw. He was the first person she had ever met who had actually read The Master and Margarita—and that included all of the people in the Russian Lit program at NYU. Not too bad at all for a choice of company on this frustratingly long road trip. But after the first two and a half hours he had become increasingly restless, fidgeting with all the dials in the car, asking every fifteen minutes or so if he could drive, if they could stop and get milkshakes, if they were almost there. She felt like her old elementary school teacher, Mrs. Winters, whose snappish impatience she had never felt any sympathy for…until now.

"Fine. Castle. You can change the channel exactly one more time before we get there," she relented, and had to restrain a grin at the eagerness with which he lunged forward. He switched through a couple channels of static before his eager look turned into a slight frown.

"You really should get satellite radio," he muttered. "I mean seriously, the state of New York City's finest cop cars is disgraceful." He finally settled on a slightly muffled rock station and settled back to stare at the passing forest. "This is the loneliest road I've ever been on," he mused, as he watched the expanse of dark trees, "and that counts Death Valley."

When Gates had approved the trip upstate to track down a possible suspect in their latest case—a string of kidnappings that had escalated to the murder of a six-year-old boy, she had only grudgingly allowed Castle to tag along, admonishing them both that they would be out of their jurisdiction, and to behave themselves. Castle had graced her with a beatific smile, promising to be an angel. Beckett and Gates had rolled their eyes simultaneously, but secretly Beckett had been glad for the company. Specifically, for Castle's company. The man had a way of being so…god she didn't even know how to explain it. Whenever her thoughts towards Castle became overly affectionate (which they had been doing distressingly often these days) she tried to shake them off before they headed in too worrisome a direction. She wasn't ready for feelings like those. Friendliness yes, affection, yes, but too often she would catch herself staring at Castle when he wasn't looking, with a hint of a goofy smile on her face, like a lovesick kid. No. No! She was Kate Beckett for God's sake. No-nonsense, pragmatic Kate Beckett. A realist to the end. Those puppy-dog eyes would not get to her. The memories of kissing him, pressed up against his body would NOT wake her up in the middle of the night, distract her into daydreaming at work, and she certainly would NOT fantasize about seeing him naked. Not ever. From this moment foreward.

"Earth to Beckett." Castle's snapping fingers made her jump a little, and the car veered on the road.

"Jesus, Castle," Beckett panted, realizing that she had been driving for minutes without actually seeing the road in front of her.

"Um, Kate?" Castle was looking a little concerned. "Maybe I should drive. Its getting late and you've been at the wheel for a—"

"I'm fine, Castle," Beckett warned. "Besides we're almost—"

The impact came like a thunderclap, without warning. The headlights of the car behind them were suddenly so close they were blinding, and they were both thrown forwards, rebounding off their seatbelts with a painful snap. Beckett's senses were thrown into overdrive as she felt adrenaline surge through her, and she struggled to twist the steering wheel to get them back on the road. And then another massive collision from behind, throwing the car into a spinout. Beckett's chest collided painfully with the wheel as the car jolted and she lost control of the car completely. She could hear Castle beside her shouting, but as the car careened off the road all she could see, all she could focus on was the trunk of the tree that lay directly in their path.

She heard Castle call out her name, and then there was nothing.

/

A/N: Omg my first Castle fanfic! I'm so in love with this show and the chemistry between the whole ensemble, but its taken a little while for me to get up the nerve to start a fic about them because a) I want to do the show justice, b) I've read some absolutely incredible fics on here and the sheer quality of some of the writing is intimidating, and c) most of my fanfics end up being looong and I'm in the middle of writing my own novel (original characters and all). But I need a break and this show is just too good not to steal the characters for a little while. So cheers everybody! I hope you like it!