This is a Castle story that i've been thinking about for a while. Warning,this will contain graphic content.
Prologue
Alexis had screamed when her attacker came at her. She had also fought back, viciously.
She cried out for her father.
"Daddy! Please help me!" But that only made her attacker fight back more aggressivly. He had ripped off her clothes as she begged him to stop. The next thing she knew was darkness.
It was midnight when Castle got the call.
He was in the middle of a writing process when he answered the phone in a confused manner. It was a number he didn't recoginze.
"Hello?"
"Yes, is this Richard Castle speaking?"
"Yes it is, who is this?"
"This is Doctor Wagman at NYC hospital. I apologize for calling so late, but your daughter was brought in about an hour ago."
"Daughter...Alexis?"
"Yes, Alexis, she's in surgery right now-"
That was all Castle needed to know.
"I'll be right there," he promised as his heart palpitated as he raced up to his and Beckett's bedroom.
"Kate!" He shook her quickly. She jolted awake.
"Castle? What is it?"She groggily sat up.
"It's the hospital...they just called to tell me Alexis is there, having surgery."
Her eyes shot open, now wide awake.
"WHAT?" She got out of bed. "What happened?"
"I don't know, but I presume a car crash of sorts. We live in a crazy, and dangerous city, Kate." Castle's voice trembled. "I hung up before they could say more. I just have to get over there, my baby's all alone on an operating table.." His shoulders sagged onto hers as she embraced him into a tight hug.
"It's going to be okay, Rick," she said, as her own voice trembled. She remembered all too well what it was like for when Alexis had been kidnapped. She never wanted Castle to go through that agony and worry again.
They raced to the hospital where one of the nurses went up to them.
"Good news is, she's out of surgery-and stable," the nurse told them. Kate breathed a sigh of relief but saw Castle had remained much more rigid.
"What...why was she hurt in the first place? What happened?"
"If you'll just come with me, Mr. Castle..." Dr. Wagman had appeared. "We will disclose everything in my office,."
Kate squeezed Castle's hand as they obeyed.
"I want to see Alexis." Was the first this Castle said when the entered the room.
"In due time, Mr. Castle. First thing is, I want to prepare you both."
"For what?" Kate spoke now as she saw that Castle was slowly losing it.
"For...how Alexis looks."
"Car crashes can make a person look pretty bad," Castle slowly commented. Wagman frowned.
"No one said anything about a car crash, Mr. Castle."
"I just...when they said surgery, I just presumed..." Castle's face went chalk white. "What...happened, Dr. Wagman?"
Wagman lowered his eyes.
"There's never an easy way to tell a parent this kind of news," he said softly.
"WHAT happened?" Castle almost stood up, but Kate motioned him to stop.
"Your daughter was...the victim of a brutal rape, I'm afraid." Wagman broke the news like pealing off a bandaid, as quick and painless as possible.
Kate gasped. She was dreading what was going to be said, but she never, ever, thought it would be rape. She watched all color drain from her husband's face, and the light fade from his eyes.
For a moment no one spoke.
"Did they catch the sonofabitch?" Castle whispered in a dangerous voice that Kate never heard him use before-but close to the one he used for when Alexis had been kidnapped.
"No," Wagman said soflty.
Castle said nothing, so Kate spoke. She had to.
"What...what does she look like?"
Wagman swallowed before he spoke.
"There was a stab wound on her chest. That's what we were operating on. Her skull is fractured, and her her leg and arm broken. Her neck is sprained. But the thing that might bother you the most are the bruises and cuts all over her face. Her nose is totally broken, and so is her jaw. Apparently she fought back, and each time she did-he broke something else."
Castle was shaking beside Kate. Kate trembled too, in silent rage that this could happen to someone as sweet as Alexis.
"Is she in...any pain?" Castle finally spoke, his voice almost childlike with fear.
"No," Wagman replied," She is heavily sedated with a lot of pain medication, especially morphine. She doesn't feel anything."
"I would like to see her now," Castle decided. Wagman nodded.
"Of course, I just wanted to prepare you, Mr. Castle."
"Thank you,I appreciate that."
Kate walked beside Castle slowly, also in shock.
But she needed Rick to snap out of it. If not for her sake, for Alexis. She was scared to death of what this would do to her husband.
"Castle...Rick...I need you to say something to me," she begged. He turned and faced her with a cold and calculating expression. An expression that terrified her.
"I'm going to find the fucking bastard that did this to my little girl, Kate," he told her in a simple, matter of fact, tone. "I'm going to find him, and kill him myself."
And for some reason, whether it was the way he said it, or the look in his eyes, Kate believed him 100 percent.
Castle was going hunt down the sonofabitch that raped and beaten up Alexis, and what was more-she was determined to help him. No matter what it took.