A/N: So apparently this is what happens when inspiration strikes at 2am! Just a short little scene but hopefully it's suspenseful and fun.
Disclaimer: Unfortunately I don't own Castle, no matter how much I wish I did! My highest praise goes to the writers, cast and crew at Castle and I hope that I capture the spirit of this fantastically addictive show. I love Mondays :)
"Castle?" Kate whispered as loudly as she dared, her voice echoing a bit in the old warehouse they were trapped in.
"Kate?" She breathed a sigh of relief at hearing his voice, though she still couldn't quite tell where he was.
"Castle, where are you?" she called out again.
"Kate, I'm here...I'm stuck..." There was a bit of panic and a bit of humor to the tone of his voice.
Kate risked peeking her head up from behind the cold metal shelving units full of boxes of all sizes to see if she could spot him.
"I see you," she replied when she finally spied the top of his head in the next row over. "I'm coming, don't move."
"Don't worry," he said a bit under his breath, "no hope of that."
Kate crept along the row she was hiding in hoping not to call attention to her position. The shooter was still there somewhere but she hadn't heard anything except for Castle since the last round of bullets had whizzed past her head as she dove for cover. She'd also heard a loud crash around that same time which she now assumed must have been the result of Castle's attempts to take cover as well, and the reason he was stuck. They'd gotten separated a few minutes earlier and she'd had no idea he was so close to her.
As she made her way to the end of the aisle, she checked her weapon to see how many bullets were left.
Three. Shit. Better be enough, she thought.
Kate peeked her head around the side of the shelving unit she had finally reached the end of. No sign of movement anywhere, but that really didn't mean anything. She grabbed a small piece of metal lying on the ground next to her and threw it as far as she could into the corner of the room and waited silently as it clattered to the ground. Nothing.
She took a cautious step and then another and another until she was finally around the shelf and into the aisle where Castle was. She looked down to where he lay half sitting, struggling with something in front of him. There were boxes and scrap metal rods lying all around him. She ran up as quickly as she could to find his lower body was completely buried under the rubble.
"Castle, what happened? Are you okay?" she whispered to him.
"Yeah," he looked at her sheepishly. "I slipped as I took the corner and rolled into this shelf. I must have banged into it pretty hard because everything sort of toppled down all around me."
She looked down at where one of his feet poked out from under some boxes. There was something not right about the way it looked, like the angle was wrong.
"Looks like we need to get you some better field shoes," she smirked as they both eyed his Italian leather dress shoes.
He looked back at her disbelievingly, "Says the woman who chases suspects in four inch heals. Please tell me you see the irony in that."
"Yeah, well I'm not the one on the ground, am I?" She laughed lightly at him. "Now come on, get up. We've got to get out of here and get some back up." She looked around to make sure no one was approaching.
"No, seriously Beckett, I'm stuck. And I think under all this junk, I may have done some damage to my leg." She watched his face more closely now, realizing that he was actually grimacing, trying to conceal his pain. He had been trying to put on a brave face, but the pain was causing his mask to falter. She looked back down at the strange angle his exposed foot lay in and concluded that he had probably either broken or dislocated something. She now figured he was actually holding up pretty well given the pain he must be in.
"You go," he said quietly. "Get help. I'll be fine here."
"No. I'm not leaving you."
"Well, I'm not going anywhere," he said realizing they were at an impasse.
"Maybe if we get this stuff off you I can help you get up."
"No Kate, it would make way too much noise. They'd hear it for sure and we'd be sitting ducks. Look, you've got to just go and get help," he looked imploringly at her just wanting her to get to safety. He thought she looked like she was about to give in but then that Beckett resolve kicked in and her defiance flared.
"I am not leaving you," she said through gritted teeth.
"Kate," he said more harshly this time. God she could be so stubborn sometimes, he thought in frustration.
All of a sudden she clamped her hand over his mouth and placed a finger to her lips. Craning his neck, he could see her eyes darting around quickly, listening.
"What is it?" he whispered looking around too. She glared at him and he took the hint and shut up.
Clink.
There it was again, she thought. And this time they had both heard it, a soft scuff of a shoe on the concrete floor. It was coming from the direction where Kate had just been.
She moved to position herself so she was beside Castle. His back was towards where the noise had been so she wanted to make sure that he could at least see her without straining his battered body too far.
Kate raised her gun to aim at the end of the aisle, eyes flying from side to side, ears straining to hear any further evidence of the oncoming attack.
She was so focused on the approaching assailant that she didn't notice Castle's eyes perk up and focus on a spot ahead of him and in the next row to his right.
Did he see something or was it just the adrenaline coursing through his body playing tricks with his senses? No, there it was again, a shadow moving silently towards them. Castle looked around for anything he could use as a weapon, or at least a distraction until Kate could turn and fire.
It was then that Castle realized that this was a coordinated attack. The one guy on Kate's side was making some noise to take her attention off the real threat: the guy about to come up behind her who was in front of Castle.
Both of their bodies tensed at the imminent attack that was coming and Castle didn't know whether to tell Kate what was about to happen or not. He didn't want to take her focus off her current target and she couldn't look in two directions at once. In an instant, the decision was made for him as the shadow moved again and stepped out from behind the shelves into the aisle in front of Castle, unseen by Beckett.
Without hesitation, Rick grasped the closest thing he could, reached back and threw it with all the force he could muster from his awkward trapped position on the floor.
In that same moment, Kate squeezed the trigger and fired at the other guy still hiding behind the shelves in front of her, but whom she had caught enough of a glimpse of to form a target. His body dropped and fell silent.
Kate turned to look at Castle who was now white as a ghost. His eyes were focused down the aisle in the distance and his breath was coming in short ragged gasps.
"Castle?" she asked, a confused and worried look on her face.
He managed to lick his lips and swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing harshly in his throat. But he said nothing.
Kate finally turned to look down to where Castle's eyes continued to remain locked.
She gasped as she finally saw what he had been staring so intently at. The second shooter was now lying on his back, a foot long metal rod sticking out of his chest where it had impaled itself with the force of Castle's throw.
She gasped again, looking at him in shock – partly because she had never even heard the guy coming and partly because she couldn't believe Castle had actually managed to hit the guy, let alone take him down.
"Hell of a shot Castle."
"I was aiming for his head," Castle replied meekly, eyes still fixed on his target.
"Castle?" she questioned, totally stunned. And for once, Castle was silent.
Just then, Ryan and Esposito ran up to where the body lay on the ground, looking down the aisle at Castle and Beckett, then back at the body, then at each other. Finally, Espo looked at Castle, his eyes narrowing as he pieced together what must have happened. "Castle, did you do this?"
Nodding gently, eyes still wide like a deer in the headlights, Castle replied, "I did that."
"Damn bro," Espo said in astonishment and appreciation, "nice aim."
Ryan, a bit less interested in the dead bodies, moved over to Castle and started pulling off the rods and boxes still covering his lower body. "You okay Castle?"
Castle slowly turned his attention away from his handiwork to look at Ryan, clearly not registering what he had said.
"Castle, are you okay? Are you hurt?"
Castle looked down again at the mess surrounding him. "My leg," he stammered out. "Something's wrong with my leg."
"Okay, well, let me see if I can get you out of there."
Suddenly Castle grabbed Ryan's arm as tightly as he'd grasped that rebar just moments ago. His eyes turned wild and he tried to get up, almost frantic. It was like he was finally coming out of a trance and not entirely sure what was happening. "Kate? Where's Beckett? Is she?"
"Castle, I'm here. It's okay, I'm fine." Kate had walked down the aisle to check on the guy she had shot, but was now returning to find Castle clearly shaken. He relaxed somewhat after hearing her voice. Once she finally came into his frame of vision, he relaxed the rest of the way, or at least as much as he could, given the adrenaline spike he was still recovering from.
She knelt down to take his hands which were shaking like crazy, as Ryan continued trying to free him from his confinement. "Castle, you're shaking. Are you sure you're okay?" Kate looked Rick over as best she could to make sure he hadn't injured more than his leg.
He reached his hands up to grab her face and pulled her in to kiss him. He held her there for a moment, foreheads adjoined, just trying to quiet his breathing and willing her to never walk away again.
"I'm okay," he said finally, gaining a little more strength in his voice. "But Kate?" She looked at him questioningly. "Please tell me you saw that?"
She let out a small laugh, half relief that he was returning to his old self and half laughing at the memory of their first case together when he had said that same line after grabbing a gun away from a man who was holding him hostage.
He looked at her expectantly, wanting to know that his girlfriend had just seen the kick-ass way he saved her.
"Sorry Castle," she replied. But as his face looked dejectedly down from hers, she added, "but it looks like you really nailed him." He looked up at her with eyebrows raised at her pun.
"Why Detective Beckett, I do believe I'm rubbing off on you."
Just then, Esposito walked by catching the last words of the conversation. "Yeah bro, that's what we're all afraid of."