Breathe In, Breathe Out
*Spoilers for Pandora.
Ice.
That's what the water is.
Liquid ice, swirling around his legs with mounting strength, leeching its way straight to his bones.
So cold, it's fiery.
So damn cold, he can barely think straight.
But he is coherent enough to know they have to get out of this sinking death trap now.
More water sprays across his face and he splutters, swearing at the window and its refusal to budge.
Next to him, Kate is still eerily silent, slumped over the steering wheel.
He had tried to rouse her, tried to pull her into awareness those few seconds after they had hit the water, but she was well and firmly passed out.
He is terrified.
And he can't let himself go, or they would both die under water, where no one would ever bother to look.
He is starting to believe that this may be worse than the freezer. Because then, they were with each other until the very end. But this, this is different.
He has no time to hope.
Finally, with one last slam of his shoulder, the cracked window is thrown outwards, icy water surging in in its wake.
With one last desperate breath, Castle ducks beneath the wave of water and reaches blindly for Kate's still form. He pulls her from her seat with ease, thankful that they had minds to unclip their seat belts before they had plunged into the river, and forces his body out the window.
He tows her limps form towards the surface, his lungs already screaming from air. Desperation and fear give strength to his exhausted and frozen body and soon, his head breaks free from the grasp of the river.
For a second, he can't tell which way is up and can only hold Kate close, her head just barely above the surface. Her body is as cold as the water around them.
Then he spots the pier. Stroking with one arm, he fights the lead in his limbs and kicks wildly towards safety. Or, in perspective, safer than icy water.
That doesn't account for the shooter and men who drove them into the river.
But he can't just tread water forever.
On his first attempt, he can barely manage to find a handhold on the slick rocks. With cold determination, he continues to reach for safety, not once bothering to stop and reassess.
After a short while, he manages to pull their bodies out from the water's grip and onto the rocky shore, the damp planks of the pier looming above. For a brief second, he allows his limbs to go limp and he collapses, one arm still wrapped around Kate.
It's the lack of movement that jolts him into action a moment later.
She isn't breathing.
Mindless; that's the only way to describe how he reacts.
He loses all sense of awareness as he pumps her chest, breathes for her. He can't do anymore. Simply force her body to stay alive and pray the rest of her will come back.
He presses his lips to hers (they are cold, so cold) and forces air into her lungs. Again and again and again; time is lost.
He won't lose her, not when she's lying in his arms just like the day of Roy's funeral. Not like this. If he does, he will lose himself.
So when he is hit with another thin stream of water shooting out from her lungs, all he can do is lean over her and hold her still freezing form to him and just listen to her breathe. She coughs in his ear and he thinks it might be the most beautiful thing he's heard in his life.
They stay huddled like that for a while, the pier sheltering their soaked bodies from the wind and for that, Rick is grateful. He never thought he would have felt colder then when they were trapped in the freezer, but this has come in as a truly close second.
After some time, she tries to pull away and, grudgingly, he lets her. She rests in the dirt and grime from the river and stares up at him. He can't move, held prisoner by her gaze. Not that he wants to. He just wants to sit here and know she's alive.
"Castle… what happened?" she asks slowly, her voice no more than a croak from the river water.
"We were forced into the water. You remember?" he replies, carefully feathering his hand over hers in his anxiousness.
She nods haltingly. "We hit and then… everything's blank." She eyes him for a second, her gaze probing. "Did you pull me out?"
He looks away and down at where his fingers have unconsciously intertwined with hers. "Yes."
She is silent for a long moment, before she struggles to sit up. Instantly, he reaches out to help her into a sitting position and instead finds her wrapped tightly against his chest, shivering and clutching at the back of his shirt.
"Thank you." She whispers.
His arms tighten convulsively around her.
"No problem," he manages with a weak attempt at levity. It falls short, but only just.
An exhausted laugh escapes her, but is more of a choking bark than anything.
Just then he notices just how much his arms are trembling. He is vaguely surprised that she hasn't mentioned it, but then realizes her whole body is shivering even worse than him.
They need to get to warmth and soon. He remembers just how quickly his body shut down in that god awful freezer. He is barreling steadily towards that point and he can tell she is right beside him.
"Kate."
She hums softly in response, her eyes drooping shut and her head falling heavy against his chest.
"We need to get out of here."
"Okay. Just a minute."
"No." The sleepiness in her voice is enough to shoot fear through his chest. "Now."
He struggles to his feet, his head just brushing the bottom of the pier, and does his best to pull her with him. She grumbles at him, but reluctantly stumbles up as well. She is too tired to argue. He can see it on her face.
Somehow, by some small miracle, they manage to make it up onto solid ground and to where Blakely's body rests. The effort it took to climb from under the pier has been enough to warm them a minute amount and Kate is standing steadier than before.
But she continues to lean on him, arms encircling his waist.
Sirens are sounding in the distance and growing louder, and Rick wonders if the sound of their crash was what drew them. It's a good thing they are on their way, because he may just fall asleep where he stands. And he isn't about to complain about having Kate snuggled to his side, no matter they are both sopping wet and disgusting from the grimy river water.
Wind bites through their sodden clothes and chills them to a point beyond shivering. He remembers this feeling all too well.
The sudden need to simply sweep her off her feet and take her home and never let her go is overwhelming.
Just as he opens his mouth to speak, she tilts her head to peer up at him. With that one look, he is floored. All words abandon him in that instant and a tiny flicker of warmth, of hope, begins to grow within.
As the cruisers, accompanied by two SUV's, scream around the corner and pull to a halt on the pier, Kate murmurs softly in his ear, so soft, he almost doubts the words.
"Rick, take me home."
And that is all he needs.