A/N: The finale was incredible last night and can't wait for season 4. Here's my story on what I think happened after the finale. This is from Castle's POV. I do not own any of Castle or the characters. I am merely writing this story as a pastime.
*Spoilers if you have not seen the Season 3 finale yet*
Chapter 1: The Shooting
Everything happened in a blur. I was standing there mesmerized at her presence, her elegance, her mannerisms. A shiny light caught my eye, the next thing I knew there was a gunshot, screams, and me throwing myself on top of her. I was too late. The gunman got to her before I did. I couldn't take my eyes off her. She was always so strong, brave, never ran from a fight. But here she was, lying in front of me while her life slipped away.
All that kept going through my head was how I couldn't "wait another minute" as my mother had warned me the previous evening. I had already wasted way too much time. "I love you, Kate", I said. She kept her eyes locked on me, "I love you", I repeated. I had to make sure she heard me. If this was the last time I'd see her beautiful green eyes looking into mine, I had to make sure she heard me. She had to know how much she meant to me and hear those three little words that I had been holding back for the last 3 years. I had always just been waiting for the right tomorrow, now I had run out of tomorrows, this was my last chance.
My hand was covered in blood, I was praying it was my own. It is the worst feeling I had ever felt, having her blood on my hands. I kept staring at it, almost like willing it to just disappear, turn into some kind of nightmare. Maybe I would just hear her beautiful laugh once again saying "it's just ketchup Castle". I knew it was unbelievable, but I could always hope.
"Dad, dad! Are you ok?" I heard Alexis crying as I got pulled away from Kate. Four strangers started tugging at Kate's uniform, tearing it off her, connecting her to a lot of tubes and pipes. I tried to run to her, but I was being held back. "Relax bro, let them do their job", everyone was now surrounding us. Cops and paramedics were swarming the place. "You can't help her any more right now, they'll take care of her, you have other responsibilities to attend to".
I snapped out of my daze. My daughter, my mother, they had been at the funeral. I took a glance around and saw them huddled together, Alexis in tears, my mother trying to stay strong as always. I rushed to their side, they clung to me immediately. "Is Beckett going to be ok?" Alexis whispered between sobs. I didn't know how to answer, I just had to get to the hospital. I had to be by her side. I couldn't let anything happen to her, she protected me so many times, this was my chance to protect her.
I looked at my mother for reassurance that everything was going to be ok. Growing up she always knew what to say, what to do to make everything right. The woman was always right, not that I would ever admit it to her. She was right about not waiting another minute in telling Kate how I really feel. But what would happen now, would I see her alive again? Would I make it to the hospital in time, would she pull through this and give me a chance to fix everything I had ever done wrong between us? "I'll go get the car". The first time she seemed to not know how to fix the situation, however, getting the car seemed like reassurance enough.