Hey guys, this is my first CASTLE fic… I don't even know why I am writing it… especially for this episode… but, I just had to… Don't hate me. (The beginning is basically exactly the same as it happens in the episode Knockout, but with my own spin…)
The day was sunny, though it didn't feel right that it should be so. They had just lost their captain, and in their minds, the day was shrouded in clouds of misery. Nevertheless, the sun shone brightly upon the gathered men and women, warming them in their dress blues and blacks. The gathered watched solemnly as the procession made its way up to the podium, depositing the casket draped in an American flag onto the lowering rig. Everyone watched as the flag was removed and folded expertly into a neat triangle and passed to Captain Montgomery's widow. She wept as she clung to the flag, wishing that none of it had ever happened.
The speeches began, first a short prayer from the minister, then a few words from each of his children, and finally Detective Katherine Beckett, his favorite disciple. Having worked with Roy for a long time, and having become something akin to family, she was reserved the final words before he was to be buried.
Detective Beckett began her solemn speech, "Roy Montgomery taught me what it meant to be a cop. He taught me that we are bound by our choices, but we are more than our mistakes. Captain Montgomery once said to me that there is no victory, there are only battles, and in the end the best you can hope for is to find a place to make your stand. And if you are very lucky, you find someone willing to stand with you." At this point, she made brief eye contact with Castle, the meaning of her words evident in her eyes.
When she looked back to her speech, he saw a glint in the distance, for a moment he couldn't place it, but dawning came a millisecond later. That was the glint of a scope. There wouldn't be any snipers protecting the funeral, as most, if not all of them were wearing the dress blues, lined up along the path for their fallen captain.
She continued while he made his assessment, "Our captain would want us to carry on the fight. And even if there is one…" He saw the glint again, and without hesitation, he jumped. Her words cut off as he hit her yelling "Kate!" as his only warning. The yell had concealed a more sinister sound, the sound of a rifle being fired. They hit the ground hard, the breath leaving them both. She looked up into his eyes, trying to take a new breath, but she couldn't.
"Rick." She wheezed with the last bit of breath she had.
He pushed himself up, attempting a breath himself. His breath caught with a gurgle. He looked down at her, there was blood soaking the front of her uniform, and more on her once stark white gloves. "Kate." He rasped, tears in his eyes. He reached down to the hole in her uniform, trying to prevent the blood loss. He held his hand firmly in place as she struggled for breath. "Don't leave me, please." He choked out. "Stay with me, okay?" She reached up a gloved hand to his face to wipe away a tear from his cheek, even as they flowed down from her own eyes. "Kate, I love you. I love you, Kate." He whispered.
He didn't notice the blood dripping onto his hand on her chest, there was so much blood there already. He just watched as an almost smile graced her lips before her eyes slid closed and her head fell back into the grass.
There was commotion all around him, but he couldn't think, wouldn't waste the brainpower it took to decipher it all. The woman of his dreams, the woman he loved, had just died in his arms. His eyes slid closed and he slumped forward in a heap on top of her, protecting her body with his own, even as he lost consciousness.
~KO~
"Lanie, stay down!" Esposito cautioned. She ignored him, that was her best friend laying on the ground, and if she didn't get over there, she could die!
"Javi let me go!" She yelled, pushing him back and running over to her friend. He shadowed her, looking in every direction so he could jump in front of her, if need be. He loved her more than anything in the world, and if it were anyone but Kate that she were trying to rescue, he would have just held her down to the ground until the coast was clear, much like all of the civilians were doing.
As they reached the couple behind the podium, she was at a loss for words. She had assumed that Rick had been too late, that he was just pinning her to the ground to protect her and keep her alive, but he hadn't been. Lanie crumpled when she saw the perfectly round hole blown in the back of the writer's suit jacket. Detective Esposito saw it just a moment later, coming to a halt and falling to his knees next to her. Both of them knew that they needed to regain their composure if they were going to save their friend.
"Castle!" Lanie yelled, trying to move him, "you're crushing Kate you idiot!" She cried. Esposito finally pried him up by the shoulders as she heaved his legs over. They laid him on his back next to Kate, both of them now laying there, bleeding out, but that went almost unnoticed. Esposito reached down to check to see if he was breathing, which he wasn't. He immediately began chest compressions on his friend, not even flinching when he began mouth to mouth, unwilling to lose another partner.
"Kate, come on! He's off of you, open your eyes!" Lanie yelled at her, but she didn't respond. Lanie went to shake her, thinking maybe she had gone into shock, only then noticing the matching hole in the front of her uniform. "Oh God!" Lanie exclaimed, unable to breathe herself for a moment. Esposito paused for a moment, looking for a cause for Lanie's distress. His eyes followed the path of her hands down to Kate's chest where there was a hole matching the one in the front of Castle's suit.
"Lanie, you save her, you hear me?!" He yelled at her to break her out of her shocked trance. "You save her, and I'll save him! We can't lose any more family today!" He yelled, tears burning in his eyes as he saw her finally check Kate for vital signs.
Detective Ryan finally made it to them, he had been trying to keep Martha and Alexis safe, as well as Jenny, whom were all now being guarded by several dozen officers, with all of the other civilians. "I called in an officer down, ambulance in route, ETA 2 minutes." He yelled, making his way around the podium to see the two of them, working over separate bodies. "What the Hell?!" He exclaimed.
"Make that two bro, two officers down." Esposito yelled, knowing that if Castle had been awake he would have been grinning ear to ear for the slip up of Espo calling him a cop. Ryan nodded, grabbing for his radio again, making the call in for a second ambulance.
"ETA on the second ambulance is 7 minutes, do we even have that long?" He said, kneeling down between the two, trying to see what he could do to help. He resumed the compressions on Castle for Esposito, so he could help Lanie with Kate.
~KO~
Castle's eyes fluttered open for a moment, he thought he was dreaming, there was a pounding on his chest, then lips against his, more pounding, lips again, the lips didn't feel right, too masculine. He tried to take a breath, but it was too hard, his lungs burned for air, finding it when the lips returned to his. He understood now, he was receiving CPR. He opened his eyes more forcefully this time, the sun being blotted out by whoever was kneeling over him.
"Castle!" Kevin yelled, noticing the open eyes. "Stay with me buddy, come on!" He said, stopping his compressions for a moment, then realizing when his eyes started to slip closed again that they were necessary, he began them again. He heard Castle struggle for a breath, but it didn't sound hopeful, so he bent down and gave him more oxygen.
"Saaaave K-k-k-" Castle gurgled when Detective Ryan pulled away. Ryan nodded, he knew Castle would give up his life for her, he knew he would want her to have the first ambulance. Upon seeing Ryan nod, Castle's eyes slipped closed once again, shrouding him in darkness.
~KO~
The trio worked over their friends until the first ambulance arrived. The EMS crew immediately being directed to Detective Beckett.
"What about that guy?" One of them asked, looking at them speculatively.
"I've got him!" Dr. Parish yelled, jumping up and helping to attend to her other friend. She hadn't really thought about that before, she supposed that they were work-friends, he was kind to her, she was flirty back, but not overly so, just enough to keep Kate on her toes. She thought about all of this while keeping up the pressure on the wound in his chest. He was still losing a lot of blood, she just hoped the other ambulance got there in time.
The first set of paramedics had Kate on a body board by now and were rushing her to the back of the ambulance. Lanie heard the doors slam and looked around, Javi was nowhere to be seen, he must have gone with her. She listened as the sirens faded and then seemed to mix and get closer again. The other ambulance was approaching, thank God! She thought.
The other EMS team rushed onto the scene. "Where's the officer down?" They asked hurriedly.
"This man is as much an officer as I am, or any of those cops over there!" Detective Ryan yelled, jabbing a finger toward the crowd of officers and civilians. "You save him, or I swear to God, you won't make it to your next shift!" He said coolly, his Irish vigor coming out in his eyes. He used to be undercover with the Irish mob, he could call in a hit, if he didn't do it himself.
"Alright, okay," Lanie said, pulling Kevin away from the paramedics, "let them do their jobs Kevin." She said in a soft tone, but she stared them down, daring them not to. "They should know better than to not work on a man who jumped in front of a bullet for a cop." She said, sending the one that was still looking at her and icy glare.
"Okay, let's get him into the ambulance!" The other one exclaimed, as they hauled him up on the body board they had slid under him and secured.
"Lanie, go with him, make sure he's safe, I have to go get Martha and Alexis! They don't even know!" He said, shaking slightly. "I'll bring them in the cruiser. Go, don't worry, keep him safe!" Lanie chased after the paramedics, climbing in the back just before the doors shut. The ambulance took off, lights on, sirens blaring.
~KO~
Detective Ryan turned around, walking pointedly into the crowd of shocked funeral attendees, searching out Martha and Alexis. He found them huddled together, bawling into each other's shoulders. They hadn't seen Richard being carried away into the ambulance, Hell, they hadn't even seen Kate carried away. They had assumed just as Lanie had originally, that Rick had been too late, and that he was in the back of the ambulance with her, holding her hand. They were too caught up in their crying to notice that there had been two separate ambulances, not just one.
"Martha, Alexis, please come with me." Detective Ryan said calmly, motioning for them to follow him through the throng of people towards his cruiser.
"Thank you dear, but shouldn't you be getting Jim to the hospital? It is his daughter after all, I mean, we love her like family, but he actually isher family." Martha said, blotting her eyes on a handkerchief as they made their way to the cruiser.
"Yes, and I would, but he was out of here faster than I could spot, following that ambulance as if his life depended on it." Detective Ryan said in response, they both nodded. He didn't want to tell them yet.
When they reached the car, he opened the door for them and they both slid in the back, buckling in. He closed the door softly and ran around the front, buckling in and starting the car in seconds. He flipped on his lights and sirens, intent on making it to the hospital as fast as possible. He pulled out his radio, requesting information on which hospital the ambulances had headed for, "I need a location on the officer down call, which hospital were they sent to?" He said quickly, listening intently. "Okay, dispatch, do what you can to block traffic on the way from the cemetery, they don't have much time!" He threw his radio onto the passenger seat, maneuvering his way through traffic faster than ever before.
I've got more where that came from, just a little cliffhanger to get this thing going, eh?
~Morgen