A/N: Hey there! So, yes, this is a post-finale fic, and it IS almost a month and a half since the finale. But if you recall, I didn't see the finale until almost two weeks after it aired, so I'm a bit behind. And my mind was totally blown for like two weeks after that. And I have to write every day for my internships. SO, in conclusion, this has been/is slow going.

All the usual disclaimers apply here - I don't own Castle, blah blah blah. All chapter titles and subsequent lyrics are courtesy of Bon Jovi. The story title is courtesy of Santana, and that song will make its presence known later on. But anyway, on with it! :)

Chapter 1 - Kidnap An Angel

If I could kidnap an angel
I'd clip off his wings
And bring them to you
That would fix everything

She was going to be okay.

In a few days, Kate Beckett would be fine and awake and laughing at him for being so damn worried about her.

Yep, she'd be okay.

Rick Castle was white-knuckled on his car's steering wheel, and fought down a wave of nausea.

She had to be okay.

Fifteen minutes later, he exploded into the New York-Presbyterian emergency room, Alexis and Martha hot on his heels. His heart was beating at an unnaturally painful rate, and he knew he must be as white as a sheet, but there was no room in his head for anything but his partner. He stalked over to the corner where Jim Beckett sat huddled in a chair, looking strained and somber; he'd ridden to the hospital with Kate in the ambulance.

"Is she—?" Rick choked out.

Jim looked up. "She's in surgery." He rubbed a shaking hand down his face, and it was with a horrible pang that Rick realized the gravity of the man's situation; that he'd just witnessed his only daughter being shot.

He dropped weakly into the seat next to him, and felt his own daughter take a seat on his opposite side. This was a nightmare. A true, honest-to-god nightmare.

There was a commotion, and Rick looked up to see Ryan, Esposito, and Lanie – the latter two holding hands, which would've made him smile on any other day – enter the waiting room.

"She's in surgery," he said preemptively, his voice cracking.

Lanie's face was streaked with tears, and she looked a bit unsteady on her feet. Esposito guided her into a chair, and he and Ryan sat down as well.

"We don't know anything else?" Ryan asked in a strained voice.

Jim shook his head, looking to be on the verge of tears himself. "No."

Rick leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. It was only then that he realized they were shaking.

The next few hours passed a haze of horrible. Rick only managed to stay in his chair for about five minutes at a time, because sitting meant thinking, and thinking meant imagining Kate being shot. Recreating the scenario in which a bullet ripped through her chest. Seeing the look of shock on her face as she was knocked backwards by the impact. Watching the deep crimson stain spread rapidly across her shirt and pool on the ground beneath her. He never let himself get farther than that, and would be up and pacing the length of the room.

He told Martha and Alexis to go home after an hour and a half with no news; there was no sense in them sitting there. They only left after a brief but fierce argument, which Rick only won after promising to call as soon as anything happened.

Ryan left not long after.

"I really need to be with Jenny right now," he said, looking at Rick apologetically. "It's just… today's been a lot, and I… I don't know, I need to see her. To make sure she's still here." He shifted awkwardly.

Rick smiled thinly. "No, I get it. Go be with her."

"But you call me," Ryan said seriously. "I mean it, Castle. The second something happens, I need to know."

"You know I will."

Rick watched Ryan go, wishing that he too could be with the woman he loved. Who, his conscience reminded him, was going to kill him when (or if, he thought, a fist of fear clenching around his heart) she woke up. Seriously, who springs something like that on someone at a time like that? Characters in a soap opera, that's who. And as much as he knew Kate was a fan of Temptation Lane, she would not want to live in a world of such ridiculous drama.

Yep. When she was better, she'd kill him. And he couldn't wait.

Some time later, Lanie's stomach growled, and Esposito asked if she wanted to leave.

"Just for a bit," he said. "Change your clothes, get something to eat…"

He was silenced when her eyes shot daggers at him.

"Javier Esposito, the farthest I'm moving from this chair is to the cafeteria for a wilted salad."

Esposito sighed in defeat, and held out his arm. Lanie took it and turned her gaze to the two remaining men.

"We won't be long."

And then Rick was alone with Jim Beckett.

His mind flashed to the conversation they'd had when Jim came to his apartment. He had asked Rick, man to man, to protect his daughter. And he'd tried to. He'd gone to her captain to tell her to stand down, and when that had failed he'd gone to ask her himself. He'd asked her to walk away from the single most important aspect of her life and expected… what, exactly? Had he thought she'd react any better than she did? Was he surprised that she'd lashed out and closed herself off? No, not if he was being honest with himself. But that didn't soften the blow of their last legitimate conversation to date being a knockdown, drag-out fight.

"I'm sorry," he found himself saying quietly. "Jim, I'm so sorry." Jim looked at him with eyes precisely the same shade of green as his daughter's. Rick wanted to cry. "You asked me to protect her and I obviously couldn't because now we're here, and – god, I tried, I told her she couldn't let herself get killed over this, but we just fought, and—"

"Rick," Jim broke in. "I didn't ask you to be her bodyguard. I didn't ask you to take a—" his voice broke, and he took a shuddering breath, "take a bullet for her. If you say you tried, than I trust that you did."

There was a beat of silence.

"But we fought," Rick said in a low voice. "We've never had it out like that before. She – she told me that we're over."

"I know my daughter," Jim said. "Katie only gets like that if you touch a nerve."

"And I did." Rick didn't really want to say all of this, but it tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop it. "I was asking her to walk away from investigating her mother's murder. So of course she pushed, and I was an idiot and pushed back…" He sighed brokenly and rubbed his hands down his face.

"Katie's life is full of people who don't push back," Jim said quietly. "Why do you think she got so wrapped up in Jo's murder the first time around? She was hell bent on finding something, and nobody had it in them to pull her away. And where did that get her?" He swallowed hard. "So she may fight you, but I promise, she appreciates that you push. And I do too, for that matter."

Silence fell as the two men became absorbed in their thoughts. Talking with Jim had given Rick an odd sense of comfort, and he no longer felt the need to do laps around the room.

Things fell into a perverse sort of status quo after that. Lanie and Esposito resumed their seats, and Ryan returned after an hour or so as well. Every now and then, one of their number would make a trip to the coffee machine and nurse their cup of brown sludge until it no longer warmed their hands through the paper cup. Rick found it utterly disgusting anyway, but gave up on it after a single cup because it reminded him of Kate. He'd brought coffee for her so many times that he automatically began preparing two cups, and the abysmal quality of the coffee at the hospital wasn't worth the emotional damage of having to force himself to only pour a cup for himself.

Rick checked his watch; he was beginning to get antsy. How long was this supposed to take? Was it a good thing that there was no news yet? He thought briefly of asking Lanie; she was a medical professional, after all. But her eyes were still puffy, and he just didn't have the heart say anything.

So they waited.

The sun was low in the sky and casting dramatic shadows in the room before anything happened.

"Family of Katherine Beckett?"

Rick nearly jumped out of his skin, his heart suddenly pounding in his throat. Good god. All he'd wanted for the last six hours was news, and now that he was about to get it, he wasn't so sure he wanted it. Nonetheless, he was the first of the group to reach the doctor. She was a rather petite woman, and he nearly bowled her over in his rush.

Once everyone was gathered around, she smiled politely – not in a particularly happy way, but more as a greeting. "My name is Dr. Ohlsen; I was in charge of Katherine's surgery. She was very lucky," she said. Rick appreciated that she knew that now was not the time for pleasantries. "She may have gotten hit in the chest, but the bullet missed everything that would've caused her to bleed out within minutes. That being said," she continued, "she did lose a lot of blood, but we were able to replenish that fairly well. The bullet ricocheted in her chest and did cause a bit of damage – more so than it would've had it gone straight through. Her right collarbone is broken, but honestly, that appears to be the worst of it." She smiled. "We'll be keeping her anesthetized for the night so she can wake up with less pain, and the next 24 hours will be the most critical, but she should make a full recovery."

There was a collective sigh of relief. Rick simultaneously felt like doing a jig and felt like his knees were about to give out.

"Can we see her?" he asked weakly.

"I can let you in briefly," Dr. Ohlsen said. "But after fifteen minutes or so I'm going to have to ask anyone who isn't family to leave. I'll also be limiting her visitors tomorrow, as it's the most crucial time in her recovery. But if everything's going well after that, she'll be able to see visitors around the clock."

Rick experienced a brief flare of indignation, but as he followed Dr. Ohlsen to Kate's room, he was just glad that he was going to have to deal with visiting hours at all.

"If her collarbone's broken, that means she'll need to be in a sling for awhile," Ryan muttered as they made their way down the hall. "God, Beckett's going to hate that!"

Rick laughed, and clapped him happily on the shoulder.

She was going to be okay.

A/N: I don't think Beckett actually got shot in the chest, but I've had one particular scene planned in my head for about a year now that involves her arm in a sling. And it's cute. So work with me here!

Reviews make my day! (hint hint, wink wink!)