Chapter 13

Awakening

"Castle, you need to wake up! You're scaring me!" He feels somebody shaking his body.

"Castle," he hears it again.

He opens his eyes to see her hazel ones staring back at him.

Castle jumps up into a sitting position and stares at her with wide eyes, gasping for air.

"Beckett!" he exclaims in surprise and then confusion runs through his features.

"Kate?" He gulps down another breath of air.

"You are alive! Oh, thank god you are alive!" and with that, he whirls his arms around her and pulls her into a tight hug, his big bulky arms almost crushing her. She lands against his chest with a loud 'oomph'.

"Castle, what are you-" she tries to ask what happened, but she can't. Because suddenly his mouth is on hers and any other words she was going to say slip from her mind. His arms are surrounding her like a wall and his mouth is working furiously against hers and she drowns in the overwhelming feelings.

She likes this.

Whatever he saw in his dreams, whatever brought out that reaction… she wants to know what happened.

Gently, she starts to slow the kiss. He resists her efforts at first, but air becomes necessary, so he finally breaks the kiss, breathing heavily, his cheek resting against hers.

"Castle, what happened?" she asks once she has gathered enough thoughts to form a sentence. She pulls slightly away from him, trying to look him into the eyes.

The darkness of the room surrounds them, only the ambient light from the street shines in, illuminating the animal pictures on the walls. When she heard Castle thrashing around and calling her name, she had tried to wake him. It took several minutes - that really seemed like hours - to wake him up.

Castle meets her gaze and he sighs. He's reluctant to share, she can tell.

"What happened in your dreams?"

Castle lets go her shoulder and slides his hand down to take her hands into his palms. Looking back up at her, he sighs again.

"You died. Kate. You died. I thought I had lost you forever."

Suddenly she feels like biting back tears. It makes sense. The horrified screams she heard. "Oh, Castle."

Freeing her hands from his palms, she throws arms around him, hugging him tightly. He presses his face to her neck and lets out a soft sob, his hands tighten his hold around her hips. They remain there for a little while, breathing each other in, him ghosting soft kisses along her neckline.

She can't hold back a smirk anymore. She smiles against him and whispers. "So, I guess that's a 'no' to the Creaver costume?"

Her comment makes him chuckle against her neck and after another kiss he nods. "This thing is so creepy."

"Did you see Creavers in your dream?"

He disengages from their hug and shakes his head. "No." Then after a silence, he adds, "Well, not exactly."

"What do you mean?"

She pulls the sheet up to her chest, to protect her body against the chill of the room.

Castle watches her for a moment and then looks around the room. "Well. Uh. It's a long story."

"We have time." Beckett turns around to look at the clock on the nightstand. "It's only four thirty. And after the day we had yesterday, I'm on call."

"You don't have to leave early?" he asks, eyes narrowed.

"Not that I know of," she shakes her head. "What do you say to getting something to drink from the kitchen. I will make you a bit of warm milk to calm your nerves, and you can share your story. Judging from your look, there lots to say.

Castle nods. "Okay. Give me a minute?"

Beckett is already getting up from the bed. The sheet slides off her, revealing her naked skin. She crouches down to pick up his dark red shirt and puts it on as she walks barefoot towards the kitchen.

As soon as Beckett leaves, he makes his way to the bathroom. He turns on the faucet and splashes a few palms of water onto his face to wash away the remnants of that dream. He rubs his face and looks in the mirror.

He is very glad to see normal, pink coloured skin on his face. Not green.

Extending his right arm in front of him, he observes the soft lines of his hand, tracing every groove and crease of his palm to see if he can spot anything that looks a little bit like green skin. He even peeks down to check if he still has… a green lantern.

But no.

Everything is normal.

Thank god.

He washes his right hand one more time. Just in case.

He closes the bathroom door behind him, picks up a pair of his boxers and puts them on, before he joins Beckett in the kitchen.

Castle and Beckett are sitting on the tall stools around the kitchen counter, both of them have a glass of milk in front of them. He leans against the cold surface and watches Beckett as he recaps what happened to him in his dream with a little smile playing on his lips.

"So, let me get this straight," Beckett waves a hand in front of her, counting down with her fingers. "You had superpowers, you turned into a green monster, you had a shiny … unit? And you fought with Gabriel Winters and Samantha Frye to the death? Wow…. that's…"

"Terrifying, huh?" Castle smiles.

"No," she puckers her lips and furrows her brows, trying to think of the right word to describe the situation. "Disturbing."

"Well," he smiles. "Po-tay-to, po-tah-to."

"Are all your dreams like that?" she questions him, sipping her warm milk.

"Disturbing?" he asks, raising his eyebrows.

"Well, yeah."

"All my dreams are disturbing," he can't not joke about that.

"Castle," she scoffs. "I am serious."

"I am too," he laughs. "But, no. This … was a first of this kind. I should really stop watching Game of Thrones..."

"Ha," she laughs full heartedly. "Yeah, I would like to see that."

She scoots closer to him, touching his arm with her fingers. "Are you feeling better now?"

Castle sneaks his arms around her and pulls her into his embrace. "Yeah, I am."

"Let's go back to bed," she disengages herself from their embrace and pulls him up from the stool, not letting go of his hand. "It's still early. And I feel like sleeping some more."

"I agree," Castle nods, one hand safely surrounded by her fingers, but the other raises up to rub his eyes. He feels the sleep sneaking up on him. "If I can sleep of course."

They step inside the bedroom and Beckett leads him to his side of the bed. "Don't worry. I'm here."

She walks to the other side of the bed and settles herself under covers, sharing her body heat with him.

She is still wearing his shirt.

"You sure you want to leave it on?" he asks, a small smile playing on his lips.

"Maybe?" she teases, pulling the fabric off a little bit, exposing her shoulder.

"No, no, this won't do." He crawls closer to her, crowding her personal space. He places a kiss on her bare shoulder. "I would like my shirt back."

She bites her lower lip. "Then take it off yourself."

The alarm blares beside his bed. He lets loose an annoyed groan and reaches for her phone to turn the damn thing off. He can't reach it, but the damn thing doesn't stop ringing. He faintly hears a shower running in the bathroom.

So. Beckett is still at home.

Why doesn't the alarm stop ringing? He raises his head from the pillow and tries to locate the annoying piece of technology. Ah. It's on Beckett's side of the bed. He is too tired to crawl there, so he promptly stops in the middle of the bed, making whiny noises.

Suddenly, he remembers his dream.

This is how it started.

He presses his eyes together tightly and concentrates. Maybe if he tries really hard and if it flies to his hand...

Maybe.

Without any warning, something lands on his hand. He cracks one eye open. Then the other. His eyes widen in surprise.

It's the phone.

And it's still ringing…

FIN.

A/N: So. There it is.

Thank you everybody, who has been on this journey with me. Without Lou's prompt, it would have never happened. And see, I didn't get my 25000 words. Oh, well. Maybe next time.

I hope you have enjoyed the story to the end. And those of you who have reviewed – thanks a heap. It has been a pleasure reading your opinions. I like them.

Please keep them coming!

Thank you for reading.