Speaking with TVLine on the set of ABC’s Castle, Nathan Fillion says that is what was racing through his character’s mind at the close of last May’s finale, the instant he realized Beckett was about to be felled by a sniper’s bullet.

The shocking shooting not only spilled blood, it also prompted Castle to spill his feelings for his partner in crime-solving, erasing any last shred of doubt about where the playboy novelist stands.

“There’s a lot between these people that has yet remained unsaid, so it was a very visceral kind of thing,” Fillion says. “He finds himself overcome and confesses his love, knowing that this very well may be his last chance to express himself like that, which he’s never done for her before.” [Read the rest here]