A/N: This is a different source of inspiration for me so we'll see how it goes. Obviously, the show and the characters aren't mine. I'm just playing in the sandbox created by others. The song is by Bruce Bouton.
I can almost read your mind
It's runnin' fast out of control
You're afraid of what you'll find
If you get too close
Cold, so cold. Dying. As consciousness began to return she began to panic. Where was Castle? Where was she?
She abruptly tried to sit up from her reclining position but her muscles weren't cooperating and her attempt wasn't succeeding at all well when she felt hands pushing her back down and a kind-sounding voice telling her something she had trouble comprehending. She tried to fight him off but that went even more poorly than the sitting up part.
Her eyes finally tracked and she saw an EMT bending over her and trying to shine something in her eyes. She didn't have time for this. She shut her eyes and tried to avoid the light as she spoke. "Wherz Cassle?"
Her comprehension was improving and she could tell that she was slurring. What the hell was going on? A sudden bout of shivering came over her and she had no strength to fight it. She shuddered as the EMT pulled the blanket up over her again and calmly told her she was fine and needed to relax.
She was alive, they were rescued! Wait! Castle! "Wherz Cassle?"
"If you mean the man you were with, he's in the other ambulance."
"Izy OK?"
She hated that condescending smile he gave her. "He's in the same shape as you. As far I know, he'll fully recover like you. If you both cooperate."
She felt as helpless as a newborn kitten so she decided to just go with it and cooperated with the rest of his examination. Once that was over with, she began to collect herself for trying to get up again when a familiar voice shocked her into immobility.
"Hey, Kate. You gave us quite a scare there."
She was staring into the smiling face of one Dr. Josh Davidson and for a moment she considered whether she was hallucinating or not. "Wht're you doin' here?" Great. She still couldn't talk clearly.
A frown flickered across his face before his smile returned but it seemed a bit more forced. "I thought about what you said and decided to stay, to give us a chance."
She stared at him as she absorbed that. She felt no elation, in fact it felt like disappointment. This was so wrong, her boyfriend decides to stay and she isn't happy? What was wrong with her? She forced herself to smile as she finally responded, "That's great." At least she was beginning to speak more clearly. Too bad she was lying, though.
The EMT never gave her a definitive answer on Castle, maybe she'd have better luck with Josh. "Have you seen Castle?" Oh, he didn't like that. She felt her own ire start to rise but he spoke before she could do anything.
"No. I was focusing on you."
"Could you check on him, please? I want to be sure he'll be OK too."
His return smile wasn't very convincing at all. "Sure. I'll be right back."
She felt relieved. Was it because he was leaving or because she'd get news about Castle? Did it matter? All of the fight left her and she just continued to lay there on the stretcher. She had a lot to think about. She was very glad when Esposito and Ryan came to give her an update. It was a way to focus on the case instead of disturbing questions. Unfortunately they didn't find the bomb. Nothing seemed to be going right lately.
Rick had submitted to the EMT's examination out of necessity. Not only was his mind still a bit fuzzy, his muscles were barely responsive, he was subject to spontaneous shivers and he'd been assured that Kate was alive and being treated just like him. When the EMT left to speak to someone Rick tried to work on sitting up. It took him what seemed like a minute to achieve what would normally take a mere second or two. He was still sitting up unsteadily and shivering while trying to pull the blanket tighter around himself when he heard a familiar voice.
"Castle, Kate asked me to check on you."
Great. Dr. Motorcycle Boy was here. He was glaring at Castle and didn't bother to pretend any concern on his own part. Still, Rick did want Kate to be reassured that he was fine, or at least as fine as he could be this soon. "The EMT said I'll be fine. Tell Kate I'll be there soon." His rival rolled his eyes and departed in a direction that Rick made careful note of. He swung his legs off of the stretcher and was flexing them experimentally when he was interrupted again, fortunately by people he actually wanted to see.
"Good to see you still among the living."
"Espo?"
"And Ryan."
"Hey, Kevin. So you two found us?"
"Yep. Alexis called when she couldn't reach you and we had no luck either. We checked the places where we figured you two would be stupid enough to go, found Beckett's car and then found you two."
"And the bomb?"
"No. Long gone."
"Damn."
"Yeah."
He looked at the two dejected detectives. He'd been so worried about Beckett, he'd almost forgotten about the bomb. With that bomb still in play, everyone was at risk. They were still alive though, thanks to those two. "Thanks, guys."
They both smiled but only Javier replied. "No problem. We have each other's backs. You guys came for us." Rick gave a sad smile and nodded to them.
"Well, we gotta go. We still have a bomb to find."
"Right."
He then followed through on getting out of the ambulance but that turned out to be about two minutes later as he wasn't any steadier on his feet than he had been when he was sitting. Still, it felt better to get things moving again even though it triggered some minor shivering. He began to wonder if he'd ever feel warm again.
Since he still wasn't feeling too steady, he tended to shuffle on his way to the other ambulance. He was waylaid momentarily by an irate EMT demanding to know where he thought he was going. He wasn't in the mood for this, he really needed to see Beckett so he used his greater size to intimidate the man and assure him he'd be just fine on his own now. Since the EMT had already given him some instructions on what to do, he reluctantly acquiesced and Rick continued on his way.
As he approached, he heard soft talking that sounded like an argument to him. He didn't have a full view of the man sitting in the back of the ambulance but it seemed to be Josh. He knew Kate would not be happy about him eavesdropping so he loudly cleared his throat as he continued to approach and moderated his pace even though walking was becoming easier. His legs were getting better but it was taking time.
He saw Josh poke his head out and then say something he couldn't quite make out to Kate and they both became quiet as he came into view. He saw a big smile on Kate's face and an expressionless look on Josh's face. He focused on Kate who was sitting up but somewhat unsteadily as he had been earlier. He probably had a goofy smile on his face but it was so good to see her alive with his own eyes.
"Did you hear about…." He had just begun when Kate interrupted him.
"Hang on, Castle. Josh, could you give us a minute?"
Josh gave her a stony look and then abruptly stood up and practically stomped away. Kate aimed a glare at his receding back before turning to Rick and smiling again. "Could you come up here? I'm still trying to get my body to work right."
"Sure. It'll just take a few minutes to get things going again. I went through the same thing." He was careful stepping up into the ambulance but had no problem. His strength was coming back.
When he looked at her after sitting he caught her looking him over. He huffed out a laugh and muttered, "I'm still in one piece."
She looked down as if shy for a moment and he saw a hint of pink in her cheeks. She cleared her throat and then looked at him seriously as she began to speak. "We have to be careful what we say in front of the medical personnel. They can't know about the bomb. Espo told me it isn't here anymore."
Oh, good point. They certainly didn't want a panic. Good thing he hadn't thought of it until he saw Ryan and Esposito. "Right. I'll be more careful."
She nodded and then wiggled her feet as she stared down at where they were under her blanket. She reached out her nearest hand to him as she asked, "Help me up?"
He took her hand and then reached with the other one to help her put her legs over the side. They quickly became aware of the fact that she was only wearing socks on her feet. Her shoes were gone. "Damn! I liked those shoes! Where are they?"
Rick began looking around until he caught a glimpse of something under her stretcher. He pulled out a nice woman's boot with a four inch heel. He gave her a dubious look that she was unaware of as she was staring in delight at the shoe and saying, "You found them!" She looked up at him with a big smile that faltered as she saw his look. "What?"
"Are you ready for heels this high?"
She glared at him as she declaimed, "I'm cold, not an invalid!"
He looked down at her legs and then up at her and her glare decreased. "Fine. Just in case, you can stay near me." He helped her put on her shoes and it was an indication of how she still felt that she didn't raise any objections. She didn't even say anything when he had to give her a lot of help in getting down out of the ambulance and getting her steady again on the ground. After flexing her legs she pushed him back a little and muttered, "Not quite that close." It wasn't until that moment that he realized what he'd been doing could be interpreted as a hug.
He felt awkward and blurted the first thing that came into his head. "So, Josh is back."
She gave him a look that he wasn't sure was surprised or annoyed – maybe both. "Yeah. He doesn't like me not telling him what's going on though."
"Probably likes it even less that I know."
She gave him another look, more curious than anything else that he could tell. She nodded before saying, "Probably." She started walking towards a group of people that seemed to include Esposito and Ryan. "We have to find Fallon."
"He should believe us now."
"Jamal's body will force him into rethinking this."
He wasn't sure what to say so he followed silently. He decided to contact Alexis when he got a chance. He didn't want her getting worried and coming back to the city. She needed to be far, far away from this. Then he began to wonder, had Kate done anything about getting her father away from this? He shook his head, of course she had.
He stayed focused on Fallon as they discussed the case and Fallon finally was willing to investigate McCann. Things seemed to go pretty well until Fallon said them rejoining the task force was up to "her doctor" with a nod behind her. He saw Kate stiffen and she replied coolly.
"We've already been released."
Fallon looked a little surprised but nodded and said, "I'll see you in the precinct then," before he turned and entered his car to depart. Kate was staring at the ground and was apparently thinking hard. Rick wasn't sure about what was going on and the hour wasn't perfect for his call (just after 6 AM) but he stepped aside and pulled out his cell phone.
He was starting to think he'd have to leave a message when Alexis answered somewhat breathlessly. "Dad? Are you OK?"
"I'm fine, Pumpkin. How are things going at the spa?"
"Fine, I guess. We're back home though."
"What!?"
He heard her huff and then start to respond, "We were worried. If you're here…."
"Kate and I are still on a dangerous case, you still need to be somewhere else!"
"If I knew why…."
Rick gritted his teeth and saw that Kate was giving him her undivided, concerned attention and it made his frustration spike enough to say something unplanned. "I'll bet Beckett's father didn't give her this much trouble." He realized that he had accidentally opened a can of worms when Kate's eyes got big and she started motioning for him to stop. He didn't want to argue with Alexis anymore and decided to try a new tack. "Can you get Mother on for me?" Alexis mumbled assent and he hit mute and turned to Kate.
"What's wrong?"
She grimaced and looked down for a moment before looking up at him again. "He wouldn't leave. He said if I was staying then he would stay as well. I couldn't tell him why it was so important and he got stubborn."
Rick considered a remark about it being a family trait but decided that would be a bad idea. He pondered their joint dilemma for a moment when a solution hit him. "We should make this a joint effort. I tell my family to get him away and you tell him to help get my family away."
Kate looked stunned for a moment and he thought she'd call him crazy but she suddenly nodded and had a determined expression as she began a call of her own. It took some fast talking on both their parts but they eventually got all of them to agree to meet and get to his place in the Hamptons as quickly as they could.
Kate reached out to grip his arm as she thanked him for coming up with his successful ploy. His return grin faded as she became distracted and she looked over towards a tall man waiting near the ambulances that were packing up to leave.
She looked back at him and said, "See you at the precinct, Castle."
She turned and walked towards Josh and for a moment, he felt the fiery burn of jealousy. However, that faded as he took in her posture and stride. That was not Kate Beckett walking, that was Detective "badass" Beckett stalking towards the doctor. Rick wasn't sure what was going on but for the first time he did not envy Dr. Motorcycle Boy much for having Kate walking towards him. He liked badass Beckett but he didn't think Josh would enjoy it.
Alexis was still sleepy and annoyed that their plans had changed once again. "Grams, why did you suddenly agree to leave?"
Martha gave her a sly grin that spoke of conspiracies before replying. "We get to meet Katherine's father."
Sometimes she didn't really understand any of the adults in her family. Her flighty mother, her immature but dedicated father and her eccentric, dramatic grandmother - she was used to that. Now however, her Grams seemed to be starting a devious streak. She just shook her head and headed back to her room to pack – again.
A/N2: Two things bothered me about this episode. After talking about how secret the case had to be they openly discussed the bomb in front of Josh and an EMT, that shouldn't have happened. Second, why would Kate recover from hypothermia first? She succumbed first, which makes sense as she has smaller mass than Castle and she would also end up colder than Rick before they were rescued.
