**Sick and Tired**

Rick Castle woke up to the sound of his alarm blaring in his ear, his body feeling like it had been hit by a truck. He groggily reached over to turn it off, wincing as his head spun. He had been looking forward to a relaxing morning in bed, but then he remembered that Alexis was on a school trip for the week and he was supposed to spend the day working with Kate Beckett. He slowly got out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom to start his morning routine. As he splashed water on his face, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and was not impressed. His eyes were sunken, his skin was pale, and his usual charming smile was more of a weak grimace. Castle knew he was coming down with something, but he didn't want to worry Beckett. She had enough on her plate with her job and taking care of Alexis when she was home. He decided to try and power through the day, hoping that he could shake off the sickness. As he made his way to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee, he stumbled and almost fell over. He quickly grabbed onto the counter to steady himself, taking a few deep breaths to calm his racing heart. He couldn't let Beckett see him like this. When Beckett arrived at the office, Castle was already there, trying to look as normal as possible. She barely even noticed him at first, too busy reviewing the case files for their current investigation. "Morning, Castle," she said, not even looking up. "Morning, Beckett," he replied, trying to sound as energetic as possible. Throughout the day, Castle struggled to keep up with Beckett's usual pace. She was moving from one lead to the next, and he was having trouble keeping up. She noticed that he was being slower than usual, but she attributed it to his usual laid-back attitude. "Come on, Castle, we need to move," she said, as he struggled to keep up with her. "I've got it, I've got it," he replied, trying to hurry along. But as the day wore on, Castle started to feel worse and worse. He was getting more and more lightheaded, and his body ached all over. He knew he had to try and focus, not just for himself, but for Beckett's sake. He didn't want her to worry about him. As they followed a lead to an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town, Castle's legs started to feel like jelly. He stumbled and almost fell over, but Beckett caught his arm. "Castle, what's wrong?" she asked, concern etched on her face. For a moment, Castle tried to brush it off, but his body had other plans. He felt himself swaying, and before he knew it, he was going to pass out. "Beckett..." he muttered, before everything went black. Beckett's eyes widened in alarm as she caught him, holding him upright. "Castle, you're sick," she said, her voice firm. "We're going to get you to the hospital, now."