1051. Chapter 1051

After Boom

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: And, BOOM! I don't own this. Rating: K Time: Episode 2.18, but slightly AU.

He heard the sharp crack of the pistol.

He felt the kick of the recoil against his hands.

He smelled the burned cordite.

He saw Scott Dunn's head snap back and brains and blood paint the wall behind him.

He tasted the bile rising in his throat.

Kate Beckett's training kicked in and she scrambled for her sidearm although it was obvious Dunn was dead. Grabbing her Glock, she stood up just as Jordan Shaw rushed into the room, pistol drawn.

"You okay?"

Kate nodded.

"You got him. Good work."

Kate shook her head.

"It wasn't me. It was Castle."

She turned around and saw Castle just standing there, holding her back up pistol in both hands, staring down the barrel at where Scott Dunn had been. He didn't move.

"Castle? Are you okay?"

He made no reply.

"Are you okay?" She said, walking carefully to him. "Are you hurt?"

Still, he made no reply.

Stopping by his side, she ran her hands over his body. There was no blood or other evidence of injury.

"You're not hit, Castle. I think you can give me my pistol back now. Okay?"

She slowly reached out her hand and placed it on the barrel of her Glock. She felt him very slowly relax and let loose of the weapon. She put it in her pocket.

"Are you okay?"

He said nothing for a long minute.

"Is he…Is he…?"

"You did the right thing, Castle. He'll never hurt anyone again. And you saved my life."

"Beckett….I never…I never…"

"It's okay, Castle. We should get you home. I think a good, stiff Scotch and a good night's rest is what you need."

Before she got any further, Agent Avery and the rest of the FBI team ran in, asking to know what happened. As Shaw explained, Kate led Castle slowly towards the door.

"Detective Beckett." Shaw called to her. "We're going to need a statement from Castle and from you. You should both go back to the precinct."

Kate shook her head.

"Castle is too upset about his first kill to be of any use right now. I'll bring him in tomorrow."

Getting no reply from Shaw, she led Castle out of the building and to her car.

"Castle, you need to fasten your sear belt. Okay?"

He made no response. She reached over and strapped him in.

He said not a word from then until the reached his loft. The loft was dark when they arrived.

"Are Alexis and your mother here?" Kate asked.

Castle frowned. "Here?" His brow furrowed. "Um, no. Mother had…a friend doing a play… in Chicago. There's a teacher's ...something going on. Alexis… went with her."

Kate sat Castle down and got two glasses, some ice and what she thought must be a very expensive bottle of Scotch.

"Is this Scotch okay, or would you like some other kind?"

"It's fine." He said, without looking at the bottle.

She poured three fingers of Scotch into each glass and handed one to him.

"Drink it."

Castle downed it in one gulp.

"Would you like another?"

He nodded. She poured another one which he also downed in one gulp.

When he had finished four Scotches and she had finished her first, she took him by the hand and led him to his bedroom.

"Okay, Castle. You need some sleep. I'm going to get ready for bed upstairs. I'll come down to check on you. Okay?"

He nodded and she left.

Twenty minutes later, wearing shorts and an oversized tee shirt, she went to check on Castle. He was as she'd left him, sitting on the bed, staring into space.

She sat down beside him.

"Castle, I realize what happened tonight was traumatic for you, but you need to get some sleep. I am not going to undress you and put on your pajamas and help you do whatever you do before you go to bed. I'll get some pajamas out for you and I'll wait here until you've changed in the bathroom and done whatever in there. Okay?"

He stood up and headed to the bathroom as Kate found a pair of neon blue pajamas and handed them to him.

It took a half an hour, but Castle finally came out, dressed in his pajamas.

"Okay. Go to bed. I'll get you up tomorrow so we can go to the precinct to give our statements."

Castle nodded and slipped into bed. Kate went back upstairs and tried to go to sleep. However, the long, dangerous and violent day still had her on edge. She wished she'd had another of Castle's Scotches. She closed her eyes and tried to will herself to sleep. No luck.

She heard what sounded like a muffled scream. She listened and heard another. She got up and ran downstairs to Castle's bedroom. She found him face down on the bed, seemingly wrestling with his pillow.

"Castle? Are you okay?"

No response. But he just kept wrestling.

"Castle!" She grabbed his shoulder and shook him.

He turned over and looked around wildly until his eyes settled on her.

"Beckett? You're okay?"

"Of course, I am. You were having a nightmare."

He looked embarrassed. "Yeah. I did. Sorry. You can go back to sleep again. I am really sorry."

"What was the nightmare about? Today?"

"Yeah. "He said and turned away from her.

"Tell me about it."

"There's nothing really to tell. It was just a nightmare."

"About what happened today. Will you please tell me what happened?"

He took a deep breath. "Dunn was shooting you and I couldn't find my gun. He fired round after round into you, there was blood everywhere but I couldn't find my gun. And you…" He stopped suddenly.

"I what?"

"Nothing. Forget about it."

"Castle, will you please tell me? You saved my life today and believe me, I am grateful, so if there's something I did that upset you, tell me."

"It doesn't mean anything."

"Tell me and let me decide."

He stared at her for a long minute, then turned away. "You were complaining that I was getting in your way. That if I wasn't around, you'd have been able…"

"I'd have been dead, Castle. Dead. Forever. Yes, I have complained about you in the past, and you can still be a giant pain in the ass, but you're my partner because you're good. Not just a good detective, but a good person. And you'll be my partner for as long as you want to be. Whatever happens in your dreams is not reality. Now, we both need to go to bed."

As she walked out of the room, she looked back at Castle. He was sitting up with his eyes wide open.

"Are you going to go to sleep?" She asked.

"Sure. In a bit."

Kate didn't believe him. She walked to the other side of the bed.

"Okay, I'm going to get under the duvet, but on top of the blanket. Now, turn off the light and go to sleep. I'll be right here."

She had only intended to stay with Castle until he was sound asleep, but he kept moving around and she was very tired….

The lights came on and Kate heard screams.

"Richard!"

"Daddy!"

Castle sat up in bed. Kate raised her head just enough to peek around him.

"Richard, are you all right?"

"Yes, Mother. Why aren't you and Alexis in Chicago?"

"Captain Montgomery called to tell us you'd been in a gun battle with that awful killer. He said you were all right, but we had to come and see for…Oh. Detective Beckett is with you?"

"Martha, I'm just…" Kate stopped, not sure how to explain things.

"Oh, never mind, dear. Now that we know you two are all right, we'll let you two go back to whatever you were doing. Come along, Alexis." She took the young redhead's arm and headed for the door.

"Wait, Grams. Why is Detective Beckett in bed with Dad?"

"If you don't know by now, there's little hope for you, Alexis."

The light went out and the door closed.

Kate buried her head in the pillow. "Castle, they think we're sleeping together."

"Beckett, half of New York thinks we're sleeping together."

"As soon as they go to bed, I'm going back to my room."

"Do you hear that?"

"What?"

"The sound of pots and pans rattling in the kitchen. They must be hungry. If things go as usual, Mother will spend a half an hour to forty-five minutes spoiling some perfectly good food. Then Alexis will take over. If they chat over tea, they could be there for hours."

Kate groaned and buried her head in the pillow again. "This is so embarrassing."

Kate tried to stay awake until Martha and Alexis left the kitchen, but she soon fell back asleep. She awoke just after dawn and crept out of Castle's bedroom. She tiptoed up the stairs to the guest room, noting that both Alexis and Martha's bedroom doors were closed. She went through her morning routine and went downstairs to make breakfast for her and Castle, and anyone else who might want some.

"Beckett?" Castle said, coming out of his bedroom, with a bedhead and still in his jammies. "You don't have to make breakfast."

"I'm halfway done, so I really can't stop now." She replied. "And we have to go into the precinct today to give our statements about the shooting last night. Are you up for it?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"If you don't want to go, I'll cover for you."

He shook his head. "That's okay. I think the longer I wait, the harder it'll be."

She drove them to the precinct. She tried to make small talk with Castle, but he responded with monosyllabic grunts, so she gave up. Once parked, she walked Castle to the elevator. When they reached the Homicide floor, the door opened and they stepped out. There was dead silence for a second, then everyone began cheering and clapping.

Kate felt Castle try to pull back, but she held onto him.

"Just ignore them, Castle. And remember, I'll be right here with you."

Kate more or less dragged Castle through the congratulatory crowd and into the FBI's war room and to Agent Shaw.

"Is Castle having a problem?" Shaw asked.

"He's never killed anyone before. It's bothering him."

"Is that right?" Shaw asked.

Castle just nodded.

"Good. Scott Dunn was never bothered one bit by all the people he killed and he'd still be out there killing if it wasn't for you and Detective Beckett. Remember the people he killed and you'll have a handle on putting it all behind you."

Castle nodded again.

"Okay. Are you ready to give your statement?"

Castle, who normally wouldn't shut up, had to have each word practically dragged out of him by Kate and Shaw. The closer he got to talking about the actual killing, the more trouble they had getting anything out of him. Finally, Shaw just began asking yes or no questions, allowing Castle to just nod his head to answer.

When they were done, Kate thought he looked worse than some killers she'd gotten to confess in interrogations.

"Beckett, if there's nothing else, I'm going to go home."

"Sure. There's just paperwork to do. Would you like me to pick up something to eat on my way back to the loft?"

"Okay."

"Anything special?"

"Anything will do."

"I'll get some Chinese."

When Kate got back to the loft that evening, she found Castle sitting in his office, idly looking at his laptop.

"Doing some writing?" She asked, hoping he was getting better.

"Research."

"Are your mother and Alexis here?"

"No."

"When will they be back? I bought food for four."

"Tuesday."

She went into the office and leaned against his desk. "Castle, could you be a little more forthcoming?"

"I'm sorry, Beckett. It's just that…." He shook his head resignedly.

"I know. I felt bad when I shot Dick Coonan. Not because I had lost a lead to my mom's murder, but because I had never killed anyone before and it is traumatic."

Castle didn't answer directly. "They left for Chicago. They hadn't seen the play and Mother felt that Alexis needed some time off because she was really upset to find I was in a gunfight. She wants me to call the school and tell them she can't come in for a couple of days."

"I'll put some of the food into the refrigerator and I'll heat the rest in the microwave. It'll be all ready in a few minutes."

When dinner was served, Kate saw that Castle just picked at his food.

"Is the food okay?" She asked.

"I'm just not hungry. I might just go back in my office."

"What did you have for lunch?"

"I wasn't hungry."

"You need to eat." She said and got up to sit in a chair right beside him. She picked up a prawn with her chopsticks and held it in front of his mouth. "Eat." She fed him a few things and then he picked up his own chopsticks and ate on his own. Then he went back to his office.

Kate sat in the living room and read while Castle seemingly just sat and stared at his laptop.

"Castle, it's bedtime. Can you manage?"

"Yes."

It took him a few minutes, but he got up and headed for his bedroom. She went to hers and got ready for bed. She came down to see if Castle had made it to bed and found that he had.

She was woken by something crashing downstairs and the sound of Castle swearing. She got out of bed and went downstairs. She found a broken lamp and Castle staring at his big toe.

'What happened?"

"I got up, but I knocked over a lamp. It's nothing. Go back to bed."

"Castle, what happened?" She repeated.

He took a minute to reply. "I was looking for my gun."

"You don't have a gun."

"I was looking for your backup gun. I had a nightmare and I was sleep walking." He shook his head. "Dunn was chasing us in that warehouse and I couldn't find the gun. He kept shooting you and you kept begging me to find the gun, but I couldn't. I looked and I looked, but I couldn't find it. Then I ran into the lamp, knocked it over and stubbed my toe. I woke up."

She walked over and took his hand. "Come on. I'll stay with you for a while until you settle down." Again, Kate got between the duvet and the blanket and again, she intended to stay only until Castle was sound asleep. Again, she woke up at dawn next to him and decided to go back to sleep.

TBC