You Don't Know Me.
This story has been stuck in my head for a while. I had a hard time getting it out on paper though. I hated DMB so much that it showed in the story every time I tried. Finally with an all-night writing session and help from friends, here is the finished product.
Acknowledgements: Thanks so much for the help Luv2sk87, Tiff098765, & Phnxgrl. There is no better place to spend some time other than the 12th. Everyone there rocks!
Disclaimer: While the wonderful characters belong to Andrew Marlow and ABC, the story belongs to me.
"Was that Rick I just passed in the hall?" Kate's father asked pulling up a chair and sitting down next to her bed.
"Yeah…was he…did he look okay?" Kate asked tentatively biting down on her lower lip.
Her father's eyes narrowed as he looked closely at his daughter. "He hasn't looked okay since you were shot." Frowning he leaned closer to her bed, "What's going on, Katie? Does that surgeon have something to do with this? Because I got to tell you, I have just about had enough of his attitude."
"I asked Castle to give me some time." She murmured, before lifting her head up, a question in her eyes. "Wait…what about Josh?"
Her father took a deep breath and leaned toward the bed, "You really want to know?" He asked reaching over and taking her hand.
"Yeah, I do."
Jim glanced up at the monitor then quickly back to his daughter. "Maybe we should wait a couple days."
"Dad…please."
"Alright; Rick, Javier, Kevin, Lanie, Martha, and Alexis were standing in the surgical waiting area. I was around the corner on my way back from the men's room. All of a sudden he came charging down the hall shouting like a maniac about snipers and funerals. When Rick and Javier tried to explain what happened, he ignored Javier and shoved Rick into the wall…hard and then he started shouting that it was all Rick's fault. That he got the Captain killed and you shot. The next thing everyone was yelling and I had to break it up."
"He hurt Rick?" Kate attempted to straighten up, grimacing when the pain in her chest grabbed. She gasped as she slowly slid a pillow over her left side, nestling it to her chest with her arm.
"Sweetheart, take it easy." Jim stood and draped his arm over her shoulder in a gentle hug. "Your doctor glared at Rick and then left. Rick…he spent the time while you were in surgery looking like he had been hit in the head by a two by four. He kept trying to apologize to me."
"This wasn't his fault. He tried to get me to back off. I wouldn't listen…I yelled at him…told him that we were over. But…he just kept showing up, calling...he wouldn't leave me. He tried to save…oh…oh Daddy!" Kate whimpered as she snuggled her head in her father's shoulder. "I just keep hurting him. He deserves so much better than me."
"That's not true and you know it. I happen to think that you are pretty special and I am fairly sure so does a certain writer that I know," her father said with a quick kiss to the top of her head. He turned and sat back down in his chair, taking hold of her hand. "Now, why don't you lay back and take a nap. You'll feel better when you wake up.
Three hours later Kate was still asleep. The steady beat of the cardiac monitor was music to Jim Beckett's ears. He was tucked into his chair with a dog eared copy of A Calm Before Storm held tightly in his hands as he read. He heard the door snicker open and glanced up just in time to see the tall doctor walk over to the desk and talk to one of the nurses. Laying the book on the bedside tray, he thought to himself. 'Humph…if he cared about her so much then why wasn't he at the viewing or the funeral? Lanie told me that they had been dating for about nine months. All that time, and she had only mentioned him once or twice. Hell, I hadn't even met him until yesterday at the hospital.'
"Mr. Beckett, it's nice to meet you. I'm Josh Davidson; I'm a Cardiac Surgeon here at the hospital. Kate and I have been dating. Sorry we had to meet under these circumstances." He smiled and held out his hand.
"Yes, I understand that you helped stabilize Katie when she first came in. Thank you," Jim said as he stood up and shook the extended hand. "Well, if you are going to be here, I am going to run down to the cafeteria and get a bite to eat."
"Has she been sleeping long?" Josh asked sitting down in the chair her father had just vacated.
"About three hours. I'll get back as soon as I can. I know you're busy". Jim threw over his shoulder as he walked out of the room.
Josh looked over at the bedside tray and noticed the Richard Castle book laying on it. With a frown and a little more force than warranted, he slid the tray away from him and sighed.
"Josh?" Kate whispered
"Hey, you're awake." He reached over and tried to take her hand.
"Yes," she said as she slid her hand away from his. "We need to talk."
"What's wrong Kate?"
"My Dad says that you caused a scene in front of my friends from the precinct. He said that you shoved Castle into a wall. That you accused him of causing the shooting and getting the captain killed. Is that true?"
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I was just so angry and that man is nothing but trouble. I don't know why you put up with him. He's a nuisance."
"No, he's not. He's my partner."
"No, he's not." Josh maintained. "Hell, Kate, he's not even a cop."
"You're right, he's not a cop, but he is my partner. He's there for me…he saved me."
"No Kate, I saved you. He was the one who got you shot. You were bleeding out and I drained the blood from your lungs, tied off the vein that was severed by the bullet. I saved you." He insisted firmly.
"No, so many times, he's pulled me out of the line of fine. He's beaten gunmen unconscious…held me close in a freezer to keep me warm. He's held me back when I wanted to run into dangerous situations. He…he saves me."
"Kate, babe, he didn't save you. He got you hurt." Josh's voice was calm and coddling but laced with annoyance.
The drugs made Kate slur a little, but her eyes were clear and she kept insisting. "Rick saved me. You don't understand. He tried to stop me. I…I wouldn't listen…no matter how many phone calls I ignored…how cruel the words I flung at him were…he didn't leave me. He's never left me. He's always there for me."
"While I'm not, just say it Kate. I thought that's what you liked about us. I thought…never mind," he shook his head and went on. "He said he tried to get to you." He threw his hands in the air with a frustrated growl. "Really, well, you shouldn't have been in that situation to begin with. If he wouldn't have poked around in your mother's case then this would never have happened."
"No Josh, that's not true; I never said I was giving up my mother's case forever. It was only a matter of time before I looked into it again. When I told you about that…I was angry and didn't mean half of what I said. Don't you see, it's because of Castle I was able to get the man that killed my mother. Do you have any idea what that meant to me?"
"Obviously it means more to you than me. He means more to you than me." He looked over at her seeing a brief flash of guilt pass over her face before it turned to disgust.
"Seriously?"
"Castle said this…Castle did that! I am so damn sick of hearing his name." Josh jumped up from the chair and started pacing back and forth by Kate's bed. "He always interrupts our time together. He calls, you drop everything. He always comes first." He stopped and looked into her eyes with a sneer. "All those late nights you spend with him. Have I been naïve to think that the two of you have just been working? Are you sure there isn't something already going on?"
She looked at him for moment trying desperately to reign in her anger. "You really don't know me at all," she said eerily quiet.
"But he does." Josh growled, hands fisting at his sides.
They stared at each other. Neither spoke, the sad truth of their relationship finally dawning on both of them.
Kate sighed. "I think that you had better leave."
"No problem. I'll come back later, when you've had a chance to calm down."
"No, I would rather that you didn't. This isn't going to work." She said almost to herself. "I'm sorry, but we're through."
"You're making a mistake. This is not the time to make these decisions." Josh snarled.
"You're right. We should have talked about this before." Kate took a deep breath and pasted a death glare on her face as she looked him straight in the eyes. "And Josh…you will never…ever…lay a hand on Rick again. Do you understand me?"
He stood staring at her with disbelief. She had made her choice from the beginning and he was just now realizing that he had never really stood a chance; it was always going to be the writer. "Yes, I believe I do." He sighed with resignation as he smacked the door and stormed out.
Kate set in her bed trying desperately to calm down. Her heart monitor alarm ringing out in its annoying clang. For three clicks of the wall clock over Kate's bed no one in the room moved, then as quickly as everything stopped, the bustle and noise returned to the unit. The nurse at the desk hurried over to check out Kate's monitor. She quickly adjusted the buttons and the alarm silenced.
"Is there anything I can get for you Ms. Beckett?" The nurse asked.
"No…no, thank you." Kate tried to smile. The confrontation had been difficult but necessary. She wished Castle were here. No…she had to sort this out on her own. She needed to be whole when she told him how she felt. He deserved that. He loved her, she knew that now. That would keep her sane while she was healing. She could get her life together; become someone who deserved to be loved. The kind of person he deserved. She was so deeply in thought that she didn't hear her father walk up to her bedside.
"Katie. I passed the good doctor in the hallway, he seemed upset. Are you alright?"
"Yes and he's not my doctor." Kate rubbed her hand over her face than lifted tired eyes to her father. "We broke up."
"About time," her father hummed as he sat down in his chair and picked up his book again.
She looked at him and frowned. "What?"
"Really? You've dated him 9 months and I have heard him mentioned two times tops. Rick? He has been in every conversation that we have had for the last three years. Give me some credit Katie, I know you. After that smelly grunge guy, I learned my lesson. I knew that sooner or later you would figure out the right thing to do on your own. It's how you do things. People who really know you get that." He sighed and settled back in his chair as his daughter settled back into her pillows. "It's going to be okay sweetheart. You just need to give yourself time to heal."
She nodded her head at her father as she leaned back and closed her eyes. It was time to heal.