After finally watching Knockout this little plot bunny decided to wander into my head and refused to leave so I put it into a word document for another day, but it broke out and re-attacked me until I decided to write it.
Basically starts after Beckett's surgery. And I am going to attempt to use all the spoilers that have been let out by the cast and crew.
I do not own anything you recognise, including Dr Belden.
In the quiet room with nothing but the steady beat of the heart monitor to drown out the noise of the air-con there was no one awake to hear her almost inaudible whisper of 'I love you too.'
He awakes at the twitch of her hand which is carefully entwined with his own. With his hair ruffled from sleep and the past few hours and days showing on his face the smile that is elicited at the tiny movement looks almost out of place but not unwelcome.
He knew that one movement didn't necessarily mean that she was awake but he still watched her optimistically for any sign of life. With his eyes glued to her he couldn't help but realise how fragile and weak she looks lying there on the colourless hospital sheets, her small frame emphasised by her dismal state. It was such a comparison from the strong woman he was used to that he would even admit that he was nothing if not a little scared.
Slowly her long lashes began to flutter against her unnaturally pale cheek, and after a few seconds of bated breath from the writer her heavy eyelids opened to the world before her. He'd never been so happy to see her beautiful green eyes looking back at him.
She was uncomfortable and in pain but those thoughts fell to the back of her mind as she noticed the dishevelled writer hand in hand with her standing right next to the hospital bed. He was smiling down at her, relief and joy were obvious in the grin that seemed to spread from one side of his face to the other.
She smiled back as he finally broke out of his shock and spoke. 'Kate, you came back to me.'
'Rick,' her voice was hoarse, and her throat screamed with pain as the name slipped through her dry lips, 'water.'
He looked down at her apologetically. 'The nurse said that if you were to wake up I couldn't give you anything, I had to get her first.' She glared at him as he left to call the nurse but it wasn't filled with her usual conviction.
Looking around she noticed the morphine dispenser by her head, it explained why her throat was her worst concern. Although she was too drugged up to feel the pain she could feel the illusion of pain, or what might have been the memory of the moment that the sniper's bullet ripped through her skin.
When she fell she thought that it might have finally been her time that finally she was going to die. That this time, she wasn't going to be as lucky as when they were in the freezer. She almost gave into the inevitable, she was ready to greet the next life with the hope that she would find her mother there waiting for her with open arms. Only as Castle held her in his strong embrace she knew that she needed to fight, she needed to hold on for as long as she could because it wasn't only her anymore. She needed to live for her friends and her family, even for her mother.
An older woman followed an overexcited Castle into the small room bringing Kate out of her musings. Both the patient and the nurse rolled their eyes at his childlike impatience. 'Hi Kate, I'm Denise, your nurse. How are you feeling?'
Her response was strangled and the look of pain on her face was enough to make the ever impatient Castle worried. 'Water, she wanted water.' She nodded her head slowly in agreement; a slight ache erupting in the base of her skull at the sudden movement.
'We'll get that in just a second, first we need to get you into a better position.' Carefully Denise moved Kate into a slightly raised position and helped her take a sip out of a small cup of water. 'Better?'
'Slightly,' it was still painful but she could speak.
'Mr Castle, you can help her drink this but no more, we need to monitor her intake for a little while.' He quickly made his way to the other side of the bed and took the offered cup from the aged nurse. 'Kate, I'm just going to take your vitals alright?'
She nodded as she took another sip of water. The testing was monotonous but she knew that it had to be done. Not too long after it was over and she could relax once again as the nurse, happy with her vitals left.
She leant further back into the hard hospital bed as she looked over to Castle whose hand was once again entwined tightly with hers and smiled slightly. 'I made it, just like you told me.'
He squeezed her hand in response, 'you really did. For a while there I didn't think you would make it.'
The mood was too tense for her liking; she didn't need to be reminded about having almost entered the world that she would have shared with Montgomery and her mother. 'You know I'm too stubborn to die.'
A small smile re-appeared on the writer's face at her feeble attempt to make a joke. 'I know; who would I be able to torture then? But let's never get this close again, alright?'
'I promise Rick.'
He contemplated the way she was using his first name for a moment, it wasn't quite normal but she had just been shot, she wasn't supposed to be normal. Before he could question it anymore a harassed looking doctor strode to her bed side; he introduced himself as Dr Belden and busied himself with re-checking her vitals and all the monitors surrounding the detective's bed.
Happy with his assessment he re-addressed his patient, 'alright, I need you to tell me your full name, date of birth and your address.'
'Why?' Kate looked up at him sceptically, she had just been shot in the chest and he was asking her name?
Not shocked at the way she questioned his authority he explained calmly, 'we need to make sure that there are no mental side effects from either the shot or the surgery. So we just ask that you relay some basic information, name, date of birth, address and so on.'
'My name is Detective Katherine Anne Castle.'
Sorry for any gramatical/spelling mistakes.
