The Call
"Oh Katherine!" Martha exclaimed. "I'm so glad you called. I've been trying to reach Richard but he hasn't picked up. Is he with you? Can I speak to him?"
Kate swallowed. "Martha, uh, I'm with him, but he can't speak to you right now."
"Why not?" Martha demanded. "Katherine, he's been acting very strangely and I'm worried."
"Martha, I'm afraid you have a reason to be," Kate confessed.
Kate could hear the sharply in-drawn breath of the woman she hoped would be her future mother-in-law. "What do you mean?"
"Martha I'm at the hospital, Walter Reed. Castle had an - accident. I'm sorry, I can't tell you anything except that he stumbled into a case I was working on and he got exposed to a deadly toxin."
"A deadly toxin?" Martha repeated. "Is he going to be all right?"
Invisibly to Martha, Kate shook her head helplessly. "I don't know. We gave him the antidote, but we don't know if he got it in time. He's in a coma. I don't know when he'll wake up."
"Or if?" Martha questioned grimly.
"Yes," Kate admitted. "I know that the last thing he wanted was to worry you or Alexis, but I thought you should know."
"I need to do a hell of a lot more than know," Martha declared. "I'm coming down there, and I'm sure Alexis will want to come with me. She'll probably want to bring that jackass Pi for comfort, but under the circumstances that may not be the worst thing."
"Alright," Kate agreed. "The floor he's on is restricted, but I'll get passes for you. Call me when you get here and I'll make arrangements to bring you all to him."
The shuttle to Washington D.C. couldn't fly fast enough for Alexis. She clung to Pi's hand for the entire flight, but it didn't help. He kept talking about healing reikis. She knew he just wanted to help, but couldn't imagine how anything Pi would do, could counteract the effects of a toxin. Kate had told Martha that the doctors had said they'd just have to wait for Dad to come out of his coma. Other than monitoring him, there wasn't much they could do.
The cab from the airport struggled through traffic, as Martha's and Alexis' anxiety rose with every mile. Finally as it approached the hospital, Martha called Kate.
Kate was was waiting at the entrance to Walter Reed, and after nervous embraces, handed the group their passes and guided them upstairs. Martha's arm went around Alexis' shoulders as they entered the room. Castle lay frighteningly still, pale against the sheets, as the monitors bleeped. His hair, usually brushed back, had fallen unevenly over his forehead and there were red rings below his eyes. Alexis grasped his hand and called to him, but there was no sign that he heard her or felt her touch.
"Have the doctors said any more about when he'll wake up?" Martha inquired hopefully.
"There's only one, Doctor Goldberg, with any experience with this toxin," Kate explained. "He was trying his best to help Rick after he was exposed, but right now he's as in the dark as anyone."
"Dad's going to come back to us," Alexis declared. "He has to."
"I'm going to start channeling healing energy into him right now," Pi announced.
"You might as well go ahead," Martha conceded. "It's not like anyone else around here has any clue about what to do."
Castle remained unmoving as Pi laid hands on his head, shoulders, midsection, and feet. As the hours passed, the women took turns falling into troubled slumber in chairs. Pi curled up on the floor. Clothes were changed and teeth brushed, in the adjoining lavatory. Late the next morning, eyes desperate for any sign of consciousness, Kate thought she saw Castle's finger move slightly. She motioned to Martha and Alexis. Leaning over the bed, she called to him, lightly stroking his neck with her finger. "Castle."
"Mm," he murmured softly as his lids slowly fluttered and rose. His eyes locked with Kate's, and he smiled in recognition. "Hi. I had the strangest dream, and you were there."