Sorry

3

"Are you?" he questioned back, seeing as she wiped her thumb under her eye after sniffing again.

He could almost swear he saw her biting her lip, see the sparkles of water in her eyes, before she shook her head and looked down.

"No," she breathed out. "I'm guessing you're here because of the same reason I'm awake."

He scratched the back of his head, "Yeah... nightmare." She nodded and patted in front of her on the purple covers. It looked like she was pulling her legs closer to her under the cover, perhaps crossing them, in order to make room for him to sit there without crushing her.

Hesitating for only two seconds before he took the few steps separating him and the spot she invited him to. When he sat down he could see her face more clearly, and even though her hair was roughed by sleep and she didn't have the slightest makeup she had never looked more beautiful. He also noticed the water edging her eyes, the tears she had most probably spilled before he came into her room. It took him by surprise when one of her hands reached for his, tangling their fingers together.

"You want to talk about it?" she asked carefully.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Not much to talk about, it was the shooting but you..." he didn't dare say the words so he just let the sentence die on his tongue.

"Me too, but you were the one... shot," she told him and he hugged her hand, knowing it took her some bravery to actually tell him about it. "I was actually debating whether to go check... on you or not when I heard your footsteps," she admitted. "You suck at sneaking though," she added with a small tease in her tone, probably trying to lighten up their mood.

He chuckled at that, finally feeling at ease after the nightmare he'd woken up from. "Yeah, well, Alexis used to tell me the same thing when she got in her late teens."

Kate joined his chuckle at that, feeling better already with him in her presence. It got her thinking, his presence had always had that effect on her, calming her down. She actually wondered...

"Would you sleep with me?"

It slipped out of her mouth before she could rephrase it and she watched his eyes go wide with confusion as he let out of a 'huh?'.

"Sleep-sleep, I-ah... I... maybe we could... maybe we'd sleep better with company?"

She hated how insecure she sounded, how vulnerable she was, but at the same time she was... relieved? proud?... because she was finally allowing herself to be completely open to him.

"I-Okay," Castle agreed and she looked at him with such hope in her hazel eyes he wanted to kiss her.

"Really?" she could hear the shock in her own ears.

He nodded. "Sure, maybe we can finally get some peaceful sleep."

She hummed and moved a little as he raised from the bed. At first he laid as far away from her as he could, which she figured was due to not wanting to make her uncomfortable. That was not how she wanted it, she'd never been a cuddler but she felt the need to be closer to him. And so she carefully moved a bit closer to the middle of the bed before gently grabbing his hand and pulling him closer as she turned her body. He definitely didn't protest but she could also feel the hesitation his body was filled with.

"You're okay with... this?" he breathed out carefully and she hugged his arm to her belly as she let her back meet his chest.

"If it's okay with you?"

Suddenly she felt him pulling her body closer to his and smiled at the warmth her whole being was feeling at that.

"Perfectly okay."