I'm not really sure why this popped into my head... but it wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it down.
I know that there have probably been a plethora of fics that have written this "Linchpin" filler scene...
I hope you'll forgive one more.
Chapter 1 - Breath
It was so dark… so dark…
He waved his arm through the water, frantic to find her.
He couldn't find her!
He'd lost all sense of direction.
His fingers floated towards her seat, grasping for the clasp of her seat belt. Something brushed across his hair…
Her arm.
Oh my god!
He awkwardly shoved himself between the seats, pulled on the fabric strap, racing to follow it down her chest to find the buckle.
He could see nothing. The green glow dissipated the further the car sunk… down… down…
He pulled on the strap one more time, desperate to make some space - even an inch - between her and the buckle.
It wouldn't move.
His lungs burned. He had nothing left. He had one chance… one shot…
He pressed the muzzle of her Glock to the buckle jammed beside the seat, closing his eyes.
Please… please let this work.
The water muffled the sound of the first shot. He squeezed the trigger again. He wasn't even sure if the gun shot had worked until her limp body floated slightly towards him.
Frantically, he wrapped his arm across her chest, yanking her over the back of the seat. Everything was getting hazy… blurry… He couldn't think straight. His chest was on fire, blazing pain coursing through his body.
Hang on, Kate!
He quickly jammed the gun against the rear windshield, simultaneously turning away to bury his face in the floating tendrils of her long hair, and pulled the trigger again... and again.. and again... and again.
The sound of the fourth blast echoed around him as shards of glass sprayed everywhere, carried by the swirling current of the water created by the exploding pocket of air.
His feet pushed off the back of the chairs, forearm shielding the top of his head as he rammed through the broken window, pulling Beckett with him.
Hang on!
The need for oxygen was desperate… the surface of the Hudson calling to him…
He kicked erratically, one of his shoes coming off his foot. The freezing water stung like electrical shocks. His free hand clawed fiercely through the water, his other arm clutching Beckett's lifeless form tight against his side.
Oh god…
He felt his body give out on him… everything he had… it wasn't enough. His eyelids began to droop, heavy. His grasp around Beckett's torso began to loosen as the muscles in his arm started to slack. His lips parted of their own volition, the disgusting, dirty water of the Hudson oozing into his mouth.
The cold, muddy water trickled down his throat. He choked, desperately giving one last frenzied push towards the surface. Towards the light.
He practically vomited as the cold February air flooded into his lungs, convulsively hacking as he regained his bearings.
The reflections of the setting sun danced across the glimmering surface of the river - dusk settling over the harbour front - making it extremely difficult for his distressed mind to orient itself.
Kate…
The unconscious woman enclosed in his grasp quickly refocused his discombobulated thoughts.
Thrashing his head left and right, frigid waves sloshing in his face, he spotted a ladder attached to the edge of the dock.
Even the twenty seconds it took to reach the ladder were agonizing. His body was revolting against him, the cold water engulfing his every pore. He could hardly feel his fingers, the tips completely numb. But Kate...
Please god...
It was a short climb, but even getting himself and the limp, heavy body of Beckett up the ladder was an intense struggle. Reaching the top, he flopped her ungracefully off his shoulder, the side of her torso thudding hard against the rough, cement surface, the force of her weight pulling her onto her back.
Crawling on his hands and knees, he grasped her cheeks between his frozen palms. "K-Kate?..." he stuttered, his voice a cracked whisper, one hand sweeping the soaked hair off her face.
He wasted no time. Tilting her head back and plugging her nose, he sealed his open mouth over hers, breathing two deep puffs of air into her lungs. He shivered as they contacted, her lips so cold, so lifeless.
Stay with me...
He exhaled another deep breath into her mouth, fingers quivering uncontrollably as they traced the side of her neck, searching for a pulse.
Kate...
Castle covered her mouth again, filling her lungs once more with the breath of life, hoping his frozen fingertips might be able to sense even the semblance of a heartbeat.
Upon the fifth breath, his fingers felt something push against them. It was weak and it was slow, but it was there.
Come on, Kate! Breathe!
He exhaled into her mouth repeatedly, fighting the debilitating cold that was infusing itself into his core. Her chest continued to rise and fall with every breath that he breathed into her...
Cold water dripped from his hair onto her face as he breathed his own oxygen into her again... and again... and again...
And again...
Kate... stay with me...
As he leaned in to seal his open mouth over her blue, lifeless lips one more time, water spewed from her throat, the painful sound of gurgling and choked coughing like music to his ears. He quickly turned her onto her side facing him, her body convulsing uncontrollably as her lungs rejected the liquid that had filled them.
His eyes twinkled, body shivering erratically, as he watched the dirty river water pour from her mouth on to the wet, concrete dock. Her body began to breathe on its own, every intake of air laborious as she continued to cough up liquid on each exhale.
He ran a quivering palm along the side of her cheek as she rested on her side, eyes closed, body like ice. His knees flopped out from underneath him, his ass landing hard on the surface beneath him. The relief that was coursing through him was overwhelming to say the least. Shaky fingers traced across her pale, icy skin. He could no longer fight against the fatigue, the cold, the sheer exhaustion.
His quivering fingers skated across her soaked jaw, shaking uncontrollably as they traced her bottom lip - cold and void of colour. No response. But she was breathing... and it took his breath away.
His entire body shook as he leaned in, pressing his cold, numb lips to hers one last time. But the kiss of life was only true in fairy tales. There was no warmth in her lips as he held his against hers for as long as he possibly could - seconds, minutes, he couldn't tell - before everything went black and he collapsed beside her.
Second half coming soon...
Judge away.