"Thank you for being there for him," Kate said, sipping at her drink and staring over the water. "And I'm glad you could be there for him. I know he would have taken losing me pretty hard."

It wasn't something she was saying to stoke her ego; she said it because she knew how inconsolable she would be if Castle disappeared. He was so much of her life now, and it would be hard - perhaps impossible - to put herself back together if she lost him. It was an awful thought and she swallowed down more of her drink, trying to push it out of her mind.