From Fear to Forever

Chapter 1: The Author's Offer

Sara's eyelids fluttered open at 1 am, her eyelashes tickling below and atop her eyes as she tried to discern what had happened just a couple of hours before. She had confronted James about his affair with a much younger girl, he had freaked out and hit her, he'd threatened her and her daughters, they'd escaped the mansion which he said he would set ablaze, arrived at the hospital, she'd said goodbye to her daughters, and then nothing- just black. And those arms that she had sunk into. Strong. Whoever had caught her, he or she didn't let her hit her head at all. She owed them a thank-you.

"Ah, you're awake," a tall, clean-shaven man in a lab coat, a doctor, said happily as Sara sat up in her hospital bed.

"Yes, it would appear so." She'd survived. That was all she knew so far.

The doctor, Doctor Russel as his name tag stated, checked his clipboard before announcing, "There's someone here to see you."

Oh, no, Sara thought. Not James. Please Lord, don't let it be James. How could he have found me this quickly? "Who is it?"

"His name," the doctor sighed, "Is Rick Castle."

Castle? Rick Castle? The author? Why was a famous author coming to visit her in the hospital? She didn't know him, not personally, anyway. Sure, she'd read his books. Most everyone had. That is, before he stopped writing new ones. Sara didn't know why he hadn't published in a while, and didn't ever think to ask her more Castle-obsessed friends, so she had kind of forgotten that the author existed for a while, to be honest.

Then he walked in. Ruggedly handsome, dressed nicely even at 1 am on a Thursday morning. Sara had seen men dressed formally before. James, being a millionaire, had dressed up almost every day. And yet- she was not prepared for this. It could've been the medicines being injected into her body though various tubes which had been inserted while she was knocked out, but she swore she felt herself swooning when Castle came into the room. Something about him was... different. His hair was so perfect, his smile... 'Sara. You have to stop this. You're married,' she thought, before the devil on her shoulder interjected, 'to a sociopath.'

"Hi there!" Rick Castle was surprisingly perky at one in the morning, now wasn't he?

Sara swallowed hard, wishing that the doctor had given her some water before he'd left, and replied, "Hi," and added cautiously, "Do I know you?"

Castle was clearly taken aback by her question. "You don't know who I am?"

"I do. Rick Castle. Writer of Derek Storm and Nikki Heat. I know who you are," Sara was trying hard to mask her annoyance. He was arrogant. Clearly. "I'll rephrase: how do you know me?"

He just laughed. "Oh, I don't!"

Sara's brow furrowed. This man- five minutes into meeting him and she was already lost. "Then why are you here?" She was beginning to think that maybe he was just as insane as her husband...

"I was moved. By that scene in the waiting room. I'm assuming those were your daughters?" He sounded excited. Sara didn't want to admit it, but she was less disturbed than intrigued.

"So you were watching me?" she accused, raising an eyebrow at him.

Again, he seemed to be offended by her question. "Let me tell you a story," he began, and she braced herself for the worst. "Two years ago, my wife and the love of my life Kate was killed."

So she really hadn't been following the news all too well, had she? She hadn't known his wife had died. Sara was sure it would've been on the news at some point... she tried to think back to two years ago. She was absolutely sure she'd never heard this before. She felt for Castle. The romance between him and detective turned Captain Kate Beckett was heavily covered by the media, and up until recent years, Sara had been following along. They seemed to be madly in love, and it was entertaining to watch them slowly fall for eachother.

"I'm so sorry," Sara offered her condolences, "I can't even imagine what that must be like."

"Thank you," he said softly, and paused for a moment. "Since she died, I haven't written a single word. She was my muse. I couldn't think of any new ideas."

That explained why he hadn't been releasing any new books lately and why there were no rumors of a new novel either. "That makes sense," Sara joined in.

"Yeah. My mind was completely blank for two years- until a couple hours ago," Castle had tears in his eyes, but he blinked them away and looked back at Sara.

She bore a puzzled expression on her still young face. She was thirty-eight, but she still looked thirty-two according to James. Though, she wasn't sure how much of what he had told her she should continue to believe. Sara ran her hand through her loose brown hair, trying to figure out what was so important to Castle about what had happened earlier. "And just what happened a couple of hours ago?"

Castle chuckled. "The way that you had to say goodbye to your girls like that, and you were hurt. My first thought was 'I have to know her story.' Then, of course, my second was 'Oh, god. She's going to fall.' I ran over and caught you, just in time. Thank god."

"Wait, you're the one who caught me? I was wondering who..." Redness filled up Sara's cheeks. She was blushing, and it took all her brainpower to unsuccessfully figure out why.

"Yes. And I have an offer for you: you tell me your story. I'm sure there's a mystery attached to it somewhere, so I will help you solve that mystery using my resources as a PI and a friend of the NYPD. I base my newest book on your story. So will you tell me?" Castle pitched his idea to her in such a charming way she couldn't say no, adding one of his signature smiles at the end.

Sara tilted her head to the right a little bit, letting her hair fall over one shoulder. Her eyes expanded as she looked at Castle, as if challenging him to admit that the whole thing had been a joke. When the well dressed man simply said nothing, his blue eyes probing hers for any type of an answer, Sara determined that somehow, he was actually serious about this. How much should she tell him? Nothing that would get her in danger, of course. Nothing that could be used to track down her daughters. What if he was working with James, what if they were planning something? She had to quiet all of these doubts in her mind. She had to force herself to trust him. If he wasn't what he seemed, she could always back out, right? One thing was for sure: Sara Lane Willport was not going to let herself be manipulated again.

She looked down at her hands almost like she thought they would give her the answers she so desperately seeked. "Okay," Sara said softly, shifting her eyes back to Castle, "I'll tell you my story, you help me, and you can write your book. But only if you promise to help."

Castle cleared his throat and whispered in the sincerest tone Sara had ever heard.

"I do."