Disclaimer: I'm too tired to be witty. I just don't own Castle okay?

A/N: Um... apparently this is what happens when you mix no sleep, stress, and coffee... I should be doing my final project for school but this happened instead.

~Rose

Between the conception

And the creation

Between the emotion

And the response

Falls the shadow

-"The Hollow Men" T.S. Elliot

The sheets wrapped around her so tightly she could barely breathe smelled purely of him. She sucked in a deep breath, inhaling the all too familiar scent.

The wind outside was blowing the trees so hard that they were brushing against the windows and casting eerie shadows against the wall of the lamp-lit bedroom. Kate could hear someone walking around the loft which was strange since both Martha and Alexis were at the Hamptons.

Her cop instincts told her something was wrong; there must be someone in the loft. Reaching over and grabbing her gun out of the bedside table drawer she quietly got out of bed and crept into the living room.

She could barely see in the shadows except for the faint outline of a man who was facing away from her. Raising her gun and mentally preparing herself for whatever she needed to do, he slowly turned around.

"Rick," she breathed as his familiar blue eyes fell upon hers. She was in his arms almost immediately and then he was kissing her. His lips trailed along her jawbone and up to her ear before making their way back to her lips. "Rick, I love you."

His eyes got wider and then his smile spread. The joy at finally hearing her say those long awaited words couldn't be kept off his face. He couldn't help it; his eyes filled with tears as he caressed her cheek with his palm. "I love you Kate. I love you so much."

She was crying now too. "Always."

They held each other for what could have been seconds, minutes, or hours—but never long enough—before they finally let go.

Kate closed her eyes and waited for him to kiss her, but the kiss never came. She felt the darkness creeping up on her and the hollowness return.

The memories came flooding back as she remembered where she was. She wasn't in Rick's loft. He wasn't there with her.

He was dead.

She didn't tell him how much she loved him.

She never got the chance.

The sheets around her weren't from Rick's bedroom—they were from the hospital.

He had died trying to save her but it didn't work anyways. Kate Beckett struggled to take her final breath with the whimper of his name on her lips.

She was hollow.

He was gone.

Then, so was she.

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but a whimper.

-"The Hollow Men" T.S. Elliot

A/N: Yeah, no clue where that came from. I'm sorry...