Leslie sat on the floor, chin resting on her drawn-up knees, staring out of the large glass door that led to the balcony, and beyond that, the New York skyline, wrapped in nightly blackness.
"So you couldn't sleep either, huh?"
Startled from her thoughts, Leslie's head snapped around to see Beckett standing in the kitchen, clad - as she herself was - in pyjamas and a dressing gown.
They shared a smile.
"No," Leslie replied, a tone of regret in her voice. "Too much on my mind."
Beckett moved about the kitchen, not bothering to turn the lights on.
"Yeah, I know how that feels."
She walked softly across the room and handed Leslie a steaming ceramic mug.
"But hot chocolate tends to help somewhat. To my experience at least."
She sat down beside Leslie with a small sigh, and joined her in looking out of the window.
"It feels so weird," Leslie murmured. "Watching everyone else go ahead with their lives. People keep working and studying and driving around, the sun keeps rising in the morning and setting in the evening, as if - as if nothing's happened."
"That's the way it goes," Beckett told her gently. "The world keeps turning, not matter how much you're hurting. But, after a while, you learn how to keep turning with it."
She reached over and took Leslie's hand, holding it tightly.
"I'm worried about tomorrow," Leslie admitted.
"Yeah. Me too."
There was a stretch of quiet while they drank their hot chocolate and looked at the city.
"I've started remembering things, Katie," Leslie said quietly. Beckett swallowed some hot chocolate the wrong way and spluttered a bit.
"What? Since when? What've you remembered?" she choked, her eyes watering.
Leslie looked uncomfortable. "Earlier thisevening. Things from Friday night."
Beckett waited.
"It's all really patchy, fuzzy, like a dream. But some pieces are clear. I remember... trying to attack him. Instead he pushed me down and started hitting me. I curled up, I think. I remember hearing another two gunshots and trying to get up... it's even patchier from there."
"Do you remember anything else?"
"Hands with jagged fingernails. These wild, frightening eyes..." Her jaw tightened. "Lying on my back on the floor, weight on my chest and something stuffed in my mouth... hot breath on my face... pain... trying to scream..."
Shudders of fear passed through her and Beckett drew her close to her side.
"You don't need to say anything else if you don't want to," she whispered. Leslie nodded and lapsed into silence.
They sat like that for a long time, looking out over the glittering lights of the city, until the sun began to peek over the horizon, and Leslie fell asleep leaning against Beckett's side.
YOU ARE READING
Family Ties - A Castle fanfiction
FanfictionWhen Beckett and Castle are called to a murder scene, they aren't expecting what they find - or rather, who they find. With the murderer skulking in the shadows and just waiting to finish the job, the survivor in his sights, Beckett has to deal with...
