A/N: Hello everyone! Happy New Year! Kind of late, I know, but better late than never, right? I'm really happy to be back. These have been a very busy couple of weeks and I've missed writing a lot.

This story is going to be weird, so be prepared for anything… Lots of angst, which is weird, cause I love fluff but, this is what I came up with, so I'll stick with it. I kind of love the idea so far; I just hope I can capture it the way I want. Anyway, I hope you like it

Short chapter, I know. They will grow on length, I promise.

DISCLAIMER: No, I have nothing to do with Castle, it's not mine and never will be so, stop bugging me, ok? :P

Chapter 1. CRASH

Rick Castle turned the key on the lock of his loft's door trying to force down that weird feeling on his stomach. He didn't know why, but he had the feeling that something was about to happen and it wasn't good. He had argued with Beckett because he didn't want to leave her alone, but she had been right when she said that, preparing his daughter's birthday party, was more important than going with her to talk to a possible suspect. So, after 30 minutes of fruitless whining and pouting, she sent him home promising to call him if something came up on the case.

Three hours later, he was sitting on his couch torn between getting plastic cups and using the real thing on his teen's party. His daughter only turned 19 once and he wanted it to be special but he wasn't sure her friends would understand the delicateness of Bohemian crystal. Yep, plastic cups it was.

His phone rang dragging him out of his thoughts. He checked the ID and it was Esposito. Weird.

"Hey Espo, what's up?" He greeted the detective.

"Hey, bro! Is Beckett with you? I've been calling her for hours and her phone sends me to voice mail all the time." He asked.

Castle felt his heart chill at those words. "No, I'm home and she's not here, I left her like 3 hours ago, she was going to check on this guy, Sanchez, the vic's ex-room mate. She should have been back a long time ago."

"Oh, shit! We just got the DNA results, Sanchez's our guy." The detective couldn't hide his worry. "I'll call you later, bro." And he hung up the phone.

"Esposito? Hello? Damn it!"

Rick threw his phone on the couch, got up, reached for his coat and left his apartment in record time. He had gotten his SUV's keys, there was no time to call a car or hail a cab. He had to find her. He still remembered the address she had written on a piece of paper, right before his eyes, no more than 4 hours ago.

Kate was driving her Crown Vic and pressing the redial button every time Castle's phone sent her to his voice mail. Where the hell was he? She had talked to Esposito like 10 minutes ago. Her phone had gone out of battery without her noticing until she got to her car and she had plugged it to charge it when she found like a million lost calls from the precinct. Espo told her he had called Castle and she knew he would be freaking out since then, which made even weirder the fact that he was not answering.

Suddenly it hit her. He was going to her rescue. If he thought she was in danger, he would have left to look for her and she knew he had seen her write that address on a post-it. Without even thinking about it, she made a U turn and headed to Sanchez' apartment.

After driving for a while she noticed the black SUV she had been following for about 2 minutes. She read the plate. It was him. She dialed his number again but he never picked up. She honked but it only got her an infuriated glare from the driver on the car next to her. She turned on the high beams on bursts to catch his attention but that didn't seem to work either.

She looked ahead and saw that the traffic light at the end of the block had just turned to amber. She would go to him when they stopped.

The light changed to red but his car didn't slowed down.

"Brake! You're going to run the red light, you idiot!" She couldn't stop herself even when she knew he couldn't hear her.

She used her high beams again to warn him. He looked up on his retro visor mirror and saw her. It was Beckett, safe and sound on the car behind his. He smiled and raised his hand to let her know he had seen her. Kate noticed his gesture but he wasn't stopping, he hadn't seen the red light yet. She honked again but it was too late. He passed the light and just when she stopped, she saw the truck. A huge trailer was heading towards his car very fast.

"No, no, no, no, no. Stop! Please, Stop! NOOO!" And time froze. She couldn't move, she couldn't breath, she couldn't think.

The truck crashed against Rick's car on a deafening roar. The SUV seemed like a toy car as the huge truck pushed it against the building in the other side of the road. When Kate was able to get on her feet again she run towards the car, or what was left of it, to find Rick smashed against the Airbag, pieces of the windscreen nailed on his face and arms, his eyes were still open but he was out and there was so much blood. She reached him to feel his pulse. It was weak, but it was there.

"Yes! Stay with me, please. Please, Rick, don't you dare to die on me." Tears were sliding down her cheeks without her even noticing. She pulled out her phone and called an ambulance and sent an Emergency message to the boys.

The ambulance was there in no time. The paramedics had to fight her hard to make her move from his side; she didn't want to leave him. He never left her alone when she was shot. She wanted to be there for him too. When they had managed to move her from his side she spotted the trucker and, before she knew what she was doing, Ryan was trying to separate her from him. She was shouting and holding the man by his shirt's lapels, threatening him.

"If that man dies, I'll kill you with my own hands, you hear me? If my partner dies, I'll kill you!" Esposito joined Ryan in pulling her from the guy, who was absolutely devastated and in shock.

"Hey, Beckett, calm down. Please, you gotta calm down, OK?" Ryan told her. "Look at me!" He had to take her head between his hands and move it to make her look at him. "They're taking him to the hospital, you can't go with him on the ambulance but we'll take you." The young cop was overwhelmed by her reaction. He had never seen Beckett loose her cool like that before. "You need to breath, Kate." The shock showed on her face. She didn't blink. He held her hand and moved her to the car, where Esposito was waiting for them.

Kate was sitting – or lying – on a plastic chair. Her head on her hands, her legs shaking uncontrollably, her head spinning out of control, thinking about what would happen if he died. He could not die. She had survived a bullet for him, she was changing all her life for him, she was going to risk everything for him. No, the bastard couldn't leave her now. Period.

A pair of shoes appeared under her eyes. She looked up to find Ryan holding a cup of coffee for her. It would have been a nice gesture at any other time but, right then, it only made her break down again. Tears fell down her face as her body started to shake violently, she couldn't breath, something was pressing against her chest, making it impossible to put air inside. The pair of shoes vanished through the corridor, running.

A couple of minutes later two pairs of hands were holding her, she had a glass of water on her hand and someone put a pill on her mouth and ordered her to drink, so she did.

Time went by. Kate was dozing on her chair when the jumble woke her up. Martha and Alexis were there, scared and confused, asking questions and getting no answers. She couldn't face them right now. This was all her fault, how was she supposed to tell them what had happened? They were going to hate her.

"Kate! Oh my God, what happened? How's Richard? Do you know anything? Please!" Martha was out of control.

"I- He…" She couldn't go on. Alexis was pressed against her. Her head was on her shoulder, her arms circling her waist, she was crying like a baby. "There was a car crash. He ran a red light and there was a truck…" Her legs trembled; her head was doing that stupid thing again. Her heart was racing and her eyes didn't seem to want to focus. Before she knew what was going on, Martha and Alexis were putting her back on a chair.

"Is she ok?" Alexis asked Esposito, who was entering the waiting room at that precise moment.

"She witnessed everything. She was right behind him on her car. Tried to warn him but it was too late."

"Oh, my goodness! Poor child!" Martha put an arm around Kate's shoulder and brought her to her side, cradling her. "Do you know anything about my son?"

Esposito didn't know how tell her. "The doctors said he's in coma. He's lost a lot of blood; they've already given him a transfusion. His back is injured; they still don't know how bad it is. They're… you know doctors, they are never optimistic… That's all I know by now." He took Alexis' hand. "I'm really sorry."

"This is all my fault." Kate said. All three pairs of eyes fixed on her. "He was looking for me. If I had picked up my stupid phone, this would have never happened."

TBC.

A/N: I have the feeling that most of you will find Kate a LOT out of character. I know, I know! It's just that we've been seeing a lot more about her on the last few episodes, they're showing us that she's not a robot. She has feelings and emotions and she's learning to let them out so they don't consume her. I also have to say that she's in shock at the moment and she doesn't really know what she's doing, she's not really herself. Anyway, I hope you get the idea.

PLEASE, please, please, review! I love reading your opinions, whatever they are. I'm a rookie, I need advise :P

Thanks for reading!