Author's Notes:
Thank you for reading my story, I hope you enjoy it.
It takes place somewhere in the fourth or fifth season timeframe.
No particular reference points needed.
No spoilers.
This story is a reposting of one I did on another Castle FanFic site.
By all means, please leave me feedback/reviews on this or any of the other stories I've posted here.
This is all a first for me and I'd like to know what's good and what needs improvement. (And what smells badly.)
Story Notes:
It's a bit of a one-shot but I did it across three chapters. Mostly fluffy, a bit of suspense.
Disclaimer:
All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
"Doctor Parish! What are you doing up here and, WOW, dressed to kill?" Castle asked.
"Well I'm taking my favorite Detective out to a little dinner and maybe a show." The pleasure in her voice wasn't even slightly masked.
"Espo just left to see you." Adds Beckett.
"I don't know what I'm going to do with that boy. I need to put a bell around his neck I guess." Mused Dr Parish
"You can probably catch him if you go downstairs now. By the way, a ring through his nose might be easier than the bell." Castle suggests.
Parish sighs and heads for the elevator dialing her phone. "Javi, you need a leash. Where are you? ... Stay there. I'll be right down." She presses the elevator 'down' button. "Yes, I came upstairs to meet you. What? Is there a reason you don't want my face shown up here with the other detectives? Ok, so don't get so defensive about it." The doors open and she goes into the elevator and presses the down button. "Ok, I'm on my way, 'bye." She hangs up her phone as the doors close.
"I don't think I'd like to be him when she gets there, this is going to get him another black mark in the 'owe me' column." Castle mumbles.
"Yea, maybe you and him should get plastic chips made to keep track of these demerits you guys owe us." Suggests Beckett, smiling wide but not looking at Castle.
"Yea, that's what I want, evidence and a paper trail, good idea. You ready to leave?"
"Sure, let me get my coat."
As they head for the elevator, Beckett's phone rings. "Hey Espo, did Lanie give you permission to call?" Pauses and looks at Castle with a worried look. "No, she went down a couple of minutes ago. Try her phone again. Ok, call me back either way." She hangs up and says to Castle as they arrive at the elevator doors "Lanie hasn't met Javi yet."
"Did she maybe .." Beckett's hand on his arm stopped him from saying any more.
"Listen, do you hear music from the elevator?" Says Beckett leaning down to listen to the crack between the doors. "That's Espo's ringtone on Lanie's phone! I don't hear the elevator moving. Let's see if we can pull these doors open a bit." Beckett and Castle begin to struggle to pry the doors open, just as the doors crack open, large chunks of metal whiz past the door crashing onto the elevator cab which is stuck between floors.
Standing up, Beckett yells to the room of detectives "We have an emergency, the elevator is stuck and we need a fire rescue team here ASAP!" Turning back to the elevator shaft "Doctor Parrish! Do you hear me? Respond please!" Everyone stood listening to nothing but silence and the creaking of the elevator cab as it sounds like it isn't going to last long.
Grabbing her phone, she calls Esposito "Javi, get your ass up here, we have an emergency!" She quickly hangs up without even waiting for an answer.
"We need to jam these doors open." Beckett says as Castle takes off running to grab a coat rack and helps jam it into the door opening.
Only slightly winded after running the stairs all the way up from the first floor, Esposito flings open the fire door and rushes to their side. "What's going on? What's the emergency."
"Lanie's in the elevator and it looks like it's collapsed!" Beckett says, jumping at Javi and grabbing him by the shoulders as he tries to jump into the elevator shaft after her. "No wait, we have teams coming, we need to use our heads."
"Lanie! Lanie! Are you alright?!" Screamed Esposito past Beckett into the open shaft.
"She's not responding to her phone or our calls. It's too far to jump down there, do you have any of your climbing gear here?" Implored Beckett
"Yea, there's a bundle of rope in the locker room, I'll be right back." As the cool and controlled detective melts away and the concerned lover and soldier takes over, he runs at break-neck speed to the locker room and before the door can even swing closed after him, he is running back with a loop of rope over his shoulder. He quickly ties it to a pole in the room and heads for the shaft already starting to wrap it around his waist to repel down the shaft. "Someone give me a flashlight!" He yells as he begins to put his weight onto the rope, testing his knot and beginning to back down the shaft, Beckett puts a small flashlight in his teeth so he can see where he's going.
"Do we have an ETA on a rescue team!?" Castle yells into the room.
"About three minutes!" Comes the answer from an unseen person.
"Javi, what do you see down there?" Becket calls down the shaft.
Echoing from the shaft "There's a lot of cables and wires here and some beams. It looks like the entire support collapsed onto the car! I'm unable to see the emergency hatch yet, I have to try and clear some of the debris!"
"Can you tell if the brakes are holding or not?" Beckett yells down to him.
"Can't tell yet, I think I hear creaking! Hey! I can hear some moaning, it must be Lanie! LANIE! LANIE! ANSWER ME! RESPOND ANY WAY YOU CAN!" Pauses "I can hear a tapping, she must be responding! I'm trying to move this debris to get to the emergency door!"
"Javi, hang on, the emergency teams are just arriving here." Beckett turns to the F.D.N.Y. team assembling next to her and fills them in on the situation. "We have one officer who has repelled down there, we think we have one female in the elevator who isn't responding to phone calls but may be responding by tapping on the floor. She's our M.E. and his girlfriend, he said there's cables and support materials on the cab and he can't get to the emergency door. There's also creaking that might be the brakes."
Quickly turning to his team, the captain barks orders to his people and they jump into action. "Get that man back up here so we can get one of our own down there! I want chains and pulleys on that cab to secure it! Get the EMTs up here with a stretcher pronto! We need ropes and grapples to clear that debris!" Turning to the police members "Folks, let us take it from here please, give us room to work, we'll get her out of there ASAP, I think you might need to tend to your detective when we pull him back up, he's going to need friends to keep him from getting into our way."
"10-4" Responds Beckett, using the old radio sign for clear acknowledgement of the orders, as she stretches out her arms and begins to coral her co-workers out of the way. Turning back towards the open shaft she yells" Javi, you need to come up, the professionals are here."
"Is Captain Gates still here? She should get in touch with the building's management and probably other city groups." Castle suggested.
Beckett looked at him, surprised at how logical he sounded. Grabbing her phone and dialing "Captain Gates, Detective Beckett, we've had an incident at the precinct, the elevator's collapsed and Doctor Parrish might be in it. We've got the fire department here beginning the rescue now. ... Okay, will do, will keep you apprised until you arrive." Hanging up the phone she turns to Castle "If you keep making sense, we're going to start to worry about you."
"Yea, I'll do that later, if you don't mind." Quips Castle, not looking away from the rescue teams.
"Javi, come over here!" Called Beckett as she trots over to where Esposito is now standing to drag him out of the way to where the others are waiting. "They know what they're doing, she'll be fine, she's in good hands. She needs you to not get in the way."
Beckett's phone rings. "Beckett" ... "Yes Sir, he's right here," as she pulls her phone from her ear, Javi begins to reach for it and she avoids his grasp and says "Captain Gates wants to talk to Castle."
"Me? Alright." Taking the phone "Yes Captain Gates." Long pause. "Right, will do it now." Hands Beckett back her phone. Pulls out his phone and dials a number "Hi Mayor, it's Richard Castle, I'm sorry to call you like this, it's not a pleasure call, Captain Gates here at the 12th precinct is having problems, probably because of the hour and the long weekend, reaching the people she needs to deal with for an emergency here." ... "Yea, we've had an elevator collapse and we believe we've got one injured party so far. No, the M.E., Doctor Parrish. Captain Gates asked me to reach out to you to bypass the red-tape she's hitting. Right, do you want me to have her call this number? Okay, I'll call her now. No, I don't think your presence will add anything to the situation at the moment but I really would prefer to defer to Captain Gates' judgment on that. Right. Calling her now. Thank you."
Castle hangs up the phone and dials again.
"Captain Gates, I talked to the mayor, he wants you to call him on his private line. Yes, his number is 212-555-2677, he's expecting your call now." He hangs up his phone and turns to his friends. "Well, the big-wigs are in motion. Javi, Lanie's not going to have to worry about being forgotten by the system." He smiles hoping the news will help Javi relax a bit.
"Well Castle, for once maybe it was good to have you around." Quipped Beckett with no reaction from Castle.
From inside the shaft "We are through the access hatch, we have one female down. She's moving. EMTs are going in for triage. Stand by."
With those words, everyone held their collective breath for what seemed to be an eternity.
Again, the voice from the shaft says "She's got a head injury, possibly a broken jaw. We need a collar and stretcher down here ASAP. She's going to be okay once we get her out. There seems to be no internal injuries. She's giving us a message. She's written the letters J.E.O.K! Does anyone know what it means?"
Beckett calls out "We do, she's letting us know she's ok!"
Castle grabs Javi as he begins to fall to his knees and the tears begin to come. "It's okay bro, let's go sit over here, as soon as she comes out we'll make sure you're with her."
Beckett pulls out her phone and initiates another call. "Captain Gates, they've reached Doctor Parish, it seems like she's going to be okay. Possibly a broken jaw." ... "Roger, got it. We're going to go to the hospital with Esposito and Parish, we'll update you from there. Thank you very much. Really? Alright, I'll do it but I won't enjoy it. Right. Thanks." She hangs up the phone with a look on her face like she's just tasted sour milk. "Oh this really isn't going to be a pleasant experience."
"What's up?" Asks Javi collecting himself.
Beckett twists her face and says "Captain Gates wants me to thank the team for a job well done and, ... she found this distasteful and I hate to say this too, ... she said to tell Castle that he too did a good job and was a valuable asset and contributor."
"Wow!" Grins Castle "She might..."
"No. She wanted me to make sure you knew. No, she's not starting to like you." Interrupted Beckett smiling at him.
"She's coming out!" Came a call from the shaft.
Javi runs over to Parish as her stretcher is leveled out onto the floor. "Lanie, look at me, tell me you're ok!" Parish squeezes his hand digging her nails in so he knows she's really ok.
"Javi, give them some room. We need to start down the stairs so we can be ready when she comes down." Beckett pulls him back by the shoulders and leads him to the stairs and waves to her co-workers to join them heading down.