6x06 AU: What if Castle really did get his hand stuck in that wall?
They stood in the cathedral, and the only thing that was going through his mind at the moment was that he would love to get married in a place like this, with such history and beauty to it-though it still paled in comparison to the fiercely hot detective strolling through the chapel with him. He smiled at himself, despite the fact that they were there on a mission. He couldn't help but think of Beckett at all hours of the day. He dreamed of her, even had nightmares of her.
Castle caught the sideways glance she was giving him. "What are you smirking at?" she asked, eyebrow raised, because whatever it was, she was certain he was having impure thoughts in church. Oh god, now she was having impure thoughts in a church. This man! The things he did to her. A shiver raced up and down her spine.
"Nothing," he answered, smirk growing and doing nothing to ease her suspicions. Castle took the image from Beckett of the symbols and held it up. "Amazing, right?" he said.
"Yeah, but what does it mean?" The process because to solve the puzzle, DaVinci style, and writer and muse did what they did best. It didn't take them long to figure out that the ORIS was the answer, and looking at the hole in the wall, Castle handed the image back to his partner and moved trancelike towards it. Beckett watched him, because when that lightbulb went off in his head, it totally did it for her.
Truth be told, his heart was racing. Were they actually going to find treasure? Oh, but then he was there with his partner, and knowing her, she'd make him give it back. She had a damn good heart like that, and it was so damn frustrating at times, in the good way, of course.
He chanced a glance back at his fiancee and tentatively extended his hand towards the dark opening in the wall. Beckett wanted to say something, tell him that perhaps this wasn't a good idea, but his hand was already slipping inside the wall, and a twinge of fear stunned her.
Castle could have let Beckett shine her little flashlight in there to see what was lurking inside. He expected spiders and their webs, and other creepy crawlies that would normally have him shriek like a girl, but… treasure! This was totally his Indiana Jones moment, and he wasn't about to back down from it now.
His hand slipped inside, and Beckett looked on with her heart pounding furiously in her chest, burdened by anxiety. Nowhere did it say that this was a good idea, and treasure hunts were usually too good to be true. In the back of her mind, she knew that this was probably a waste of time, but on the other hand, a girl was dead, so there was a very real danger.
Suddenly, Castle screamed, and it startled her. She almost dropped her papers to the stone floor, and ran towards him, but then he stopped and had that look on his face. "I'm just kidding."
"CASTLE!" she berated, her heart skipping beats in her moment of panic. She breathed heavily, thankful that nothing had happened, and yet pissed off because she had just totally been had. Effing jerk! Typical.
"Can't believe you fell for that," he twisted the knife, so to speak, and Beckett rolled her eyes at him. Ah, but after his birthday surprise last year, she should have expected something like this to happen in such a heart thumping moment. He would milk it for all it was worth. "There is something in here though, hang on," he said cryptically, and yet seriously enough that she believed him.
Seconds felt like eons, and it was like she could hear her own heartbeat in her ears, thumping so furiously. She was perhaps just as curious as he was to what was inside.
Castle fumbled around inside, blind to what he was feeling with his walking fingers, or how much dust they were collecting. The thought made him cringe, but hey, treasure would be worth it. He wasn't afraid to get down and dirty, and honestly, there was no way he was going to stand back and let Beckett do this (even though she would without complaining). There were only so many things that she relinquished control over. She never let him drive when they were on duty, which… okay, he could understand, because it wasn't even her car. She always had to be first through the door… which okay, he could also understand, because she had the badge and gun. This case… this had Castle written all over it in spades, and now that he had solved the puzzle of symbols, he was relieved to find she was deferring to his knowledge and… dare we say genius?
He felt a lever, just before his elbow were to disappear into the mouth in the wall, too. Interesting, he thought to himself. He pushed down on it, flexing his wrist just so. It felt like it needed oil or something due to how hard it was to push down. There was a grinding sound, clicking, gears turning and suddenly, blinding pain. Castle cried out, his voice carrying through the cathedral. He frantically tried to pull his arm out, but couldn't.
Beckett raised an eyebrow at her struggling fiance. "Come on, Castle. You already got me," she admitted to him, because she had to give him at least that. Her levity was short-lived as she watched him continue to struggle and make anguished noises. "Castle?" The prayer candles next to him were knocked over, some smashing to the floor, others rolling in different directions, some with flames still alite, others flickered out.
The papers fell from her grasp and she rushed forward. Real fear gripped her, and she reached him just as his legs gave out. She wrapped her arms around his middle, tried to keep him from landing too hard on his knees. "Castle?" Talk to me, tell me what's wrong! She placed her hand on top of the one that was gripping the shoulder of her jacket so tightly. Part of her wondered if she was being played again, but when he started breathing so heavily that she thought he was close to hyperventilating, she shoved those thoughts away.
She turned his head towards her. If she could just get him to focus on her… The tears of pain in his eyes gripped her. "Rick…" He breathed heavily through his nose, jaw clenched tightly. She knew he was trying to stay strong, but she could feel him shaking. "Babe, what happened?" she demanded, looking up at the orifice his arm was trapped in. Her eyes widened when she saw blood drizzling out from the mouth of the carving. "Shit," she said to herself, and maneuvered around behind him. He groaned, but tried to keep it in, when she pulled back the sleeve of his jacket.
Beckett tried to shine the light into whatever space wasn't filled with the flesh of his arm. "I can't… I can't see…" she trailed off, feeling helpless and defeated.
"Something… pierced... my arm," Castle said after a couple of minutes, panting heavily through the pain. "Can't move it."
"Something? Like what?"
"Spikes, maybe?"
"Can you hit the lever again?"
"N-no."
Beckett was temporarily captivated by the blood that was dripping down to the floor. "I'm going to call it in," she said, knowing that they needed help. Quickly, she whipped out her iPhone in its white, shower-proof case and started dialling. The feeling in her stomach plummeted even further as the bars on her phone went from strong to non-existent. "No, no, no," she said over and over, smacking the thing.
"Wh-what?" Castle said, trying to look over his shoulder at her.
She came around to his front and knelt down in front of him, placing a hand on his shoulder. He looked so tired, and in pain, and his blue eyes were so piercing, despite how wet they looked. "I lost the signal," she said, looking at his arm. "I'm going to have to-"
"Go," he interrupted, nodding, understanding. He wouldn't blame her for leaving, though she hesitated, and it was clear she was blaming herself already.
She nodded her head in acknowledgement, and before rising to her feet to run to the entrance, she pressed her lips to his forehead, noting he was clammy. And that worried her.
The sun was shining blindingly when Beckett stepped outside. She looked down at her phone and waited for the signal bars to reappear in the top corner. It felt like she had been waiting for an eternity, her mind never once leaving her fiance. When the signal finally came back, she called it in as quickly as she could, giving them just the right amount of information they needed.
Turning on her heel, she ran back into the cathedral and shoved the phone back into her pocket. Rounding the corner, she could see Castle at the other end far more limp than she had left him. The arm trapped in the wall was taught, and it looked like it was the only thing that kept him from crashing onto his side. "Castle!" her voice echoed towards him. When she reached him, she dropped down and took his weight onto herself to keep him upright and not injure his arm further.
"Kate," he whispered, eyes opening and closing again.
"I'm right here, Rick. Right here. Just hang on. Help is coming."
He wrapped his free arm tightly around her back and rested his head upon her shoulder. His breath tickled at her neck, and on a normal day, it would have made her feel just as good as her favorite red wine that made her feel all…
She looked at the blood, still drizzling down, and worried her lip. "You're losing too much blood, babe. I think you might've hit an artery."
He groaned his acknowledgement. "Broken bone, too," he mumbled.
"You're sure?"
He merely nodded his head like a little boy against her neck, his voice lost to him. The pain had turned to numbness, but Beckett could tell he was fearful of what would happen next, of what this could mean. As she supported his weight, her eyes scanned over the carving on the wall. There had to be a way to get had to be a way to free him without… No, she wasn't even going to let her mind drift there, even though on some level she already had. What if… She could see it so clearly, like someone was shining a spotlight on the most painful memory she had and expanded upon it.
She could see the grass, the way the trees bowed to the wind. There was peace, and silent grief. Rows of tombstones. Her mother was among them, lost in the names surrounding her, and now, one of those names was CASTLE.
Beckett worried her bottom lip and tilted her head to check on her partner, the man who she knew without a doubt would not have let her stick her arm in the wall. "Babe? Keep your eyes open," she instructed, her hand moving along the nape of his neck to card through his hair.
Castle mumbled incoherently against her neck. "Castle!" she verbally jostled him. It had more of an impact than she originally anticipated, because he jolted upwards, and tensed as pain shot through his arm. She winced with him, because… yeah, she could imagine just how much it was hurting. She saw the tired look in his eyes and she guided him to rest against her again. "It's okay," she encouraged. She was used to his weight upon her; in fact, she loved it. Especially after nights of passionate lovemaking, she craved it. She never felt so loved, adored and open with anyone else, but Castle… He made her feel things…
And she wanted to keep feeling that way for a long time.
"Kate," he murmured. "I feel…"
She already knew what he was feeling. He was shaking, and with his erratic breathing and increasingly paler skin, it wasn't hard to figure out. "What?" she asked, anyway, because if she could keep him talking and alert, she had hope, and he could distract her from the rows of tombstones flooding her mind.
"Weird," he said on a shiver.
"You're going into shock. It's going to be okay. Stay awake. Just hang on a while longer." She looked over her shoulder towards the entrance, where she can just barely hear the traffic, and fainter still, the sound of sirens coming to their rescue. They're still a few minutes away, and Beckett was alarmed by the amount of blood gathering at their feet. "Still with me, partner?"
He nodded from under her chin. He felt so cold, and she was so warm against him.
A/N: I would really appreciate reviews. They do inspire muses so.
