The Coming Future (A Castle Fanfiction)

Part Nine: Revelations

"Castle, Beckett, you're getting gross," Javier stated from the front seat. Kate still had Rick pinned to his window, her hands up his shirt and her tongue in his mouth. They'd just barely gotten in the car, but already it seemed to Esposito that they were getting ready to rip each other's clothes off and insert things into places where they shouldn't be inserted. Rick fixed his face with his hands while Kate simply stayed over him, her hands out from under his shirt and on the seat below.

Rick kind of looked at her as she loomed above him. Something was different about her. She'd somehow changed. Shifting in his seat, he pulled himself forward, leaning to have his face directly beside Javier's. The writer then whispered as softly as he could, "Does she seem a little... promiscuous to you?"

Esposito just looked at the writer in shock. "You're kidding right?" He still looked as serious as all get out, so Sito replied by saying, "Castle, let me put it this way. If gender roles were reversed for everyone in this car, I would be telling you that your fiancé has had a boner all night and should go get that checked out."

"You noticed that too, huh?" Rick asked. He then looked back to see Kate sitting quietly, calmly and peacefully in his seat, strapped in, staring out the window with her hands on her stomach, slowly caressing her skin through her shirt. "And the odd and extreme mood swings?" Rick asked.

Esposito nodded and said, "Like Bruce Banner."

Castle then asked, "You don't think she's drunk right now, do you? Or high?"

"Did anyone test that powder she inhaled last night?" Javier asked. Rick shook his head. "Well someone should. She's acting like she's got Manic Depression."

"Amen to that," Castle said, giving Javi a bird to feed.

From the back, Kate then called, "Castle?" in a broken, silent tone. He fell back in his seat and was almost instantly moved closer to by Kate. Looking into his eyes, clearly scared about something, she asked him with a quivering lip, "What's wrong with me?"

Worry veiled his face as her golden brown eyes stared into his, glazed over with tears that made a small pool on her bottom lid. "Kate, sweetheart, nothing is wrong with you. You're fine." Her hands stayed where they were, resting in a protective pose in front of her vulnerable children while her head fell against Rick's chest. Normally she would have been able to keep from crying, but she couldn't do anything about it in the state she was in. A few sharp breaths left Kate's heaving lips as she gripped tight to her stomach with one hand and the opposite side of the children's father's shirt. His arms came to rest around her as he held her close to him, attempting to calm her.

In her mind, she thought about how reckless she was being. She was continually putting her life and the twins' lives in danger. Even the first two times she was reminded of this, she ignored it and continued to be outraged with the man who already felt as guilty as any man could about what had happened. She literally couldn't control herself. It was as though she'd been distantly watching herself do what she'd done. Guilt was eating away at her like nothing ever had before. Kate honestly thought she might have thrown up if she'd had any food left in her what so ever.

Fear also crept in and dug into her heart. She knew she honestly couldn't control herself. She honestly couldn't have repressed those emotions even if she'd tried. Also, she wasn't making a conscious decision when she attacked Rick with her lips. That was something she never did in public. Never. And it definitely wasn't something she would have ever done in front of Esposito or McCord. This wasn't her. None of it was. And that petrified her.

Castle just continued to hold his future wife while she cried. Her breaths became shorter and more and more labored while he pulled her to him and held her so tightly. He couldn't tell what was going on with her, but this was more unusual than anything he'd seen her do in the last few days. She was never this vulnerable in front of anyone aside from him, and she hated being the vulnerable even when it was just him. He'd also never seen her so scared for such an odd reason. In his eyes, she looked just as frightened now as she did when she was on the bridge with Tyson or when she was on the grass at the cemetery after she was shot. She was never this scared in front of them. Never.