Reborn in Castle (TV show)

"Then the rules started. He wanted to know where I was, who I talked to, why I wore certain clothes, and why I spent time with anyone who was not him. Every argument ended the same way. He'd apologize, say he was stressed, and tell me he acted that way because he loved me too much."

Her fingers tightened around Travis's hand.

"The first time he hurt me, I told myself it was an accident. After that, I kept making excuses because admitting the truth felt worse than living inside it. He started giving me pills whenever I couldn't sleep or stop shaking. He said they would help me calm down, and I believed him because I wanted relief more than I wanted answers."

She swallowed hard before continuing.

"For a while, I barely recognized myself. I was exhausted, scared, and convinced that leaving would make everything worse. A teacher noticed something was wrong, and my aunt kept pushing until I finally admitted enough for people to help me get away."

Lanie looked back at Travis, her voice quieter now.

"It took a long time to stop feeling trapped whenever someone raised their voice near me. Even after I got out, part of me kept waiting for the next person to show me that kindness always came with a price."

The monitor continued its steady beeping while she sat beside him, speaking into the quiet room as though the truth had waited too long already.

"After Derek, I promised myself I'd never let anyone get close enough to control me again," Lanie said. "I spent years building walls and calling them independence because that sounded stronger than admitting I was terrified."

Her eyes lowered again.

"Then I met Marcus in college. At first, he was everything Derek had never been. He listened to me. He brought me coffee during exams. He remembered little things about me that nobody else cared enough to notice. He made me think I had been wrong to give up on love."

A pause stretched between her sentences as she carefully chose the next words.

"We got engaged after graduation. I thought I finally had something good, something normal... something that wouldn't hurt me."

Her grip trembled slightly around Travis's hand.

"On the day we were supposed to get married, Marcus asked me to meet him on the roof of the hotel. He said he wanted a quiet minute before everyone arrived. I thought he was nervous about the ceremony."

Lanie took a slow breath.

"He wasn't nervous. Something had changed in him, and I still don't know what caused it. He started accusing me of things that made no sense. He said I had ruined his life, even though I had no idea what he meant. Then he tried to kill me with a knife."

Her eyes filled, though she kept looking at Travis.

"I fought back because I had learned what happened when I froze. During the struggle, he lost his footing near the edge and fell before I could pull him back."

The room felt colder after that confession.

"The police ruled it self-defense, and there were CCTVs, so it was clear," she continued after a moment. "Everyone told me I survived, and they were right. Still, surviving did not erase the memories. It did not explain why he changed. It did not stop me from waking up at night wondering whether I missed some sign that could have changed everything."

Lanie looked at Travis's face, her expression tired and unguarded.

"After Marcus, relationships stopped feeling like comfort. They felt like a locked room where I could lose myself again. Promises became dangerous. Love became the first step toward something I might not survive."

Her thumb brushed lightly against his knuckles.

"So when you asked for something serious, I heard every bad memory at once. I heard Derek telling me nobody else would want me. I heard Marcus saying things that made no sense while I tried to understand why someone I loved wanted to hurt me."

Her voice shook, but she did not turn away.

"I said no because I was scared... because keeping things casual meant I could leave before anything became real enough to destroy me. I took the part of you that felt safe, and I convinced myself I had no right to ask for anything else."

She leaned closer, watching his face as though he might wake up at any second and interrupt her.

"But I wanted more. I wanted you to look at me like I was the only person in the room. I loved it when you came into the morgue with coffee and acted like you had a medical emergency because you missed me. I didn't have nightmares when I was with you. You made me feel safe... It meant a lot when you asked if we could try something real."

Lanie's breath caught.

"I love you, Travis. I still love you, and I hate that it took almost losing you for me to say it out loud."

The confession settled into the room with nowhere left to hide.

She glanced toward the door, then looked back at him.

"Kate loves you too," Lanie said quietly. "She looked terrified, but she also looked certain that you were coming back."

A sad smile touched Lanie's face.

"She deserves to have you wake up. You deserve someone who does not run every time you ask for more."

Her eyes filled again, though she did not wipe the tears away.

"I'm not here to ruin that, and I'm not here to make you choose anything. I came because you deserved the truth before another day passed. I'll tell you the truth once again after you get better."

She held his hand between both of hers.

"You were right to want something real," She nodded. "You were right to ask for more than a relationship that only existed whenever I decided it was convenient. I wasn't ready then, and I don't know whether I'm ready now. I only know that after almost losing you made me understand how much of myself I buried to avoid getting hurt again."

Lanie gave a quiet, broken laugh.

"So wake up, Travis. Wake up and be angry with me. Tell me I waited too long and that I'm an idiot for saying all of this while you can't interrupt me."

She looked down at him, tears slipping down her face.

"Just wake up so I can hear you say something stupid again."

For a few moments, she stayed silent and listened to the steady monitor. Travis's chest rose and fell beneath the blankets, each breath reminding her that he was still here, still fighting, even if he could not yet open his eyes.

"You saved Kate because that's who you are," Lanie whispered. "You see someone in danger, and you throw yourself into it before anyone can stop you. You take every hit yourself, then act surprised when people get angry because you scared them half to death."

Her fingers tightened around his hand one final time.

"You have a second date waiting. You have friends who are pretending they aren't terrified for you. You have a captain who will probably create an entire new policy because you scared him so badly."

Her smile trembled as she looked at him.

"And you have me, even if I don't know what that means yet."

A nurse appeared quietly in the doorway and glanced toward the clock.

"Doctor Parish, I need to check his medication in a few minutes," she said gently. "You should let him rest."

Lanie nodded, though she did not stand right away.

"I'll come back later," she told Travis. "You'd better be awake by then, because I'm done talking while you get every advantage."

She bent down and pressed a gentle kiss against his forehead before stepping away from the bed.

At the doorway, Lanie looked back once more.

Travis remained still beneath the soft hospital light, surrounded by machines and bandages, but his hand was still warm where she had held it.

Lanie walked out with tears in her eyes and the truth finally spoken aloud.

...

[Somewhere Between]

Travis couldn't hear anything, feel anything, or even tell whether he had a body anymore. He drifted through a gray world filled with smoke that never moved, stretching endlessly in every direction without a floor, sky, or hint of light. The silence pressed around him until it became its own kind of noise, heavy enough to make him want to shout just to prove he still existed.

He had felt this once before in his past life. Back then, he had thought death was supposed to feel final. Instead, he woke up in another world with another body, and a chance he still didn't fully understand.

Now he was back in that awful place again.

"Even my enhanced body can't escape an explosion, huh?" Travis thought, though his voice never reached the smoke around him. "I thought I was stronger than that."

Kate appeared in his thoughts before he could stop her.

He remembered the explosion and how he tried to keep her awake.

"I hope Kate's okay," he thought, trying to force himself toward anything beyond the endless gray. "She better be okay after all that."

Nothing answered him.

Time meant nothing there. It could have been hours, days, or months, and Travis had no way to tell. He just kept drifting through the smoke until boredom became more irritating than fear.

"I wonder how long it'll take for my body to heal," he thought after what felt like forever. "It should be faster because of the healing factor, unless that explosion turned me into a human floor mat."

Even in the middle of nowhere, he still found a way to annoy himself.

"Well, we'll see."

The gray world stayed quiet.

Then something warm brushed against the darkness.

At first, it felt distant, like sunlight reaching through a closed door. The warmth grew slowly, pulling him toward it until he could almost feel the weight of his own body again. Pain returned first, deep and dull beneath the numbness. Then came the steady beep of a monitor, distant voices, and the faint pressure of someone holding his hand.

Travis tried to open his eyes.

Nothing happened.

He tried again, pushing through the heaviness until the darkness started to crack around the edges. The warmth stayed close, and for the first time since the tunnel collapsed, he stopped drifting.

...

[Two Months Later]

Kate pushed open Travis's hospital room door with a coffee cup in one hand and a folder tucked beneath her arm. She had come straight from physical therapy, and the ache in her side still reminded her that recovery wasn't something she could rush. Even so, she had gotten better at hiding the pain whenever people looked too closely.

She expected to find Travis asleep in bed as usual.

Instead, she froze in the doorway.

Travis stood near the window with his back turned toward her, shirtless beneath the morning light. The marks from the tunnel crossed his shoulders and back in uneven lines, some faded and some still fresh enough to look angry against his skin. The sight hit Kate harder than she expected because it made everything real again.

"Travis," she said, her voice catching before she could stop it.

He turned toward her slowly.

The bruises along his face had faded, though a thin scar rested near his temple and another crossed his shoulder. He looked leaner than before, and there was still exhaustion in his eyes, yet the second he saw her, his familiar grin appeared.

"Yo, Beckett," Travis said. "Looks like you're alive and I missed our second date."

Kate put her coffee cup and folder on the side table. Then, she walked up to him and kissed him right away. Travis kissed her back. They both felt relieved to see each other doing well.

The kiss lasted a minute or so before they pulled back.

Kate pressed her head against his and whispered, "Welcome back."

--

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[18 advance chs] + [Modern Family: 28 chs Early access]