The Coming Future (A Castle Fanfiction)

Part Eighteen: Things Missed

This had been a topic her mind and heart had battled out. In her heart she couldn't imagine worrying Maddie with things like this. Maddie didn't need to be burdened by anyone else's pain but her own. Then again, her mind told her that she deserved to know and that it wasn't right to keep a victim from knowing that she wasn't alone. But finally she'd had to find a healthy medium and decided to put off telling her story until she'd come to terms with it on her own. And since Maddie was exhausted and Beckett didn't have it in her to admit anything aloud for a second time, she told the girl simply, "I'm fine and so are the twins and for right now that's all that matters, alright? But you look like you're exhausted. Why don't you go upstairs to bed. We can talk in the morning."

She hummed her answer and said okay before coming in and giving them both a hug. Her tired feet then dragged along the floor as she slowly made her way upstairs and out of the couple's sight. Once they heard her door close, Rick turned and shut the door behind them while Kate made it three steps inside with a smile before it felt her lips. She then quickly walked over to the couch, finding her gun laying beneath a pillow, half covered and half visible. When she pulled it out, she found that the safety was on, but there were bullets inside the chamber. What was more astonishing to her was the fact that this was her forty-five which she always kept in a safe. "Castle," she said with a gasping unease, "You let Maddie into our safe?"

"No!" he replied as he joined her, "I have no idea how that got out of there. I mean, you and I are the only two people who know the combination and I haven't opened it in months. You're the one who opens it every day."

"Yeah, because I don't want to leave my gun sitting and have you be able to reach for it like you did with Pi," Beckett replied. Castle didn't even attempt to argue this point, but even if he had, Beckett moved on too quickly for him to get a legitimate point out. "You know what, I don't care how she got this. My concern is why she had it in the first place."

Looking between his wife and her gun and thinking about the past, he replied, "She probably had it out for the same reason you slept with your glock for nearly fifteen years after your mother passed, and for the same reason I left the T.V on in the apartment all day and night for a month after your shooting. It probably just made her feel safe."

This hit Beckett in an odd way for some reason. It wasn't the thought of safety that struck her, but the thought of Maddie not feeling safe. She must have known that they'd do everything to keep her safe. They would do anything to make sure nothing bad ever happened to her again. Maddie must have known that they would give their lives to ensure that she would be alright. Why would she need to have a gun with her to feel safe?

Rick looked at Kate and somehow seemed to read her mind. "Kate, she was alone in a strange house and she didn't know when we were coming back. She didn't take the gun upstairs with her, so she must feel safe now that we are home. Don't worry about it, I'm sure she's fine." Beckett thought this over as he spoke and just simply took him at his words. The pain pills were starting to wear off a bit but hadn't worked their way out of her system enough to keep from slightly dulling her senses. She didn't think this through simply because she didn't feel she had the mental capacity. The sight of his crystal clear baby blue eyes gave her enough sense of comfort for her to just simply let the worry roll off her back and agree that Maddie would be alright. Castle then smiled at her and switched topics, "You know, Maddie is asleep though. And Alexis and my mother aren't home. There wouldn't be anything to disrupt if you-."

She cut him off, "Rick, I'm so not in the mood for sex tonight. Please try to understand what I went through today has left me a bit... unwilling to have sex for now."

"Sex?" he asked as though that word was confusing. "No, I was going to say there is nothing that could disrupt some quiet time if you wanted to go take a nice warm bath. I would never ask you to have sex after what happened today. Never."