A/N: I do not own Castle or any of it's characters. I am just borrowing them for a while.

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Chapter 1

"Stop it Castle!" said Kate to her husband of almost a year as they stepped off the elevator and into the bullpen.

"Come on Kate." Castle whined as he took another swipe to grab her cell from her hand. "Let me read it."

"No. Alexis sent the test to me and she obviously wants me to read it and not you." Kate said as she shoved the phone into her pocket.

"Mom and Dad fighting already this morning?" asked Esposito.

"We aren't fighting, Espo. We are just having a difference of opinion as to whether or not Castle should be able to read a text that Alexis sent to me." Kate said as she grabbed the cup of coffee from Esposito's hand.

"Hey. That was mine." he whined.

"Get yourself another." Kate said as she took a sip of the liquid gold. "Mmmmmm." she moaned. "This is really good this morning. Ryan make it?"

"Yeah." said Esposito as he sulked off to get himself another cup.

"What did she want?" Castle asked, not giving up on finding out the content of the text.

Kate just stared at him and shook her head. "Sometimes she just wants to talk to me about things, girl related. There is nothing wrong, Rick. She just needs some advice. That's all. After all, I am her stepmother now."

Castle let out a big sigh and flopped down into his chair that butted up against the side of Kate's desk. "Fine." he breathed out. "But you would tell me if there was something seriously wrong, wouldn't you?"

"Of course I would but there isn't so let it go and let's get on with our day." Kate said as she switched on her computer.

Castle sulked for a bit more then came alive when Kate's phone rang.

"Beckett." she said.

Kate listened and nodded a few times before motioning to Castle for a pen. Where did all hers go? She scribbled down an address then said, "We'll be there in about 15." and hung up.

"We've got a body." she called to Ryan and Esposito who were still in the break room drinking coffee.

"Where?" they asked.

"The old warehouse on 111th. The caller said the perp was still inside." she told her team.

"We're on it." Esposito said as he retrieved his gun from his desk drawer and slid it into his shoulder holster.

"We're right behind you, Beckett." said Ryan as he too retrieved his gun.

"Lets get this party started." said Kate as she snapped the top of her hip holster closed.

"What about me?" asked Castle.

"Come on." said Kate. "Bring your vest."

Castle grinned his 1000watt smile and jumped up from his chair and retrieved his WRITER vest from her bottom drawer and ran after his wife and her team.

They arrived, on scene, about 15 minutes later and thought they saw movement on the fourth floor of the old warehouse. They entered cautiously and saw the body lying at the foot of a staircase and another staircase was seen at the opposite side of the building.

"Espo, you check the perimeter and see if there is any means of escape from the outside. Ryan, you take this staircase and I will take the one on the far side. We don't want this perp to get away." Kate said in a whispered command to her team.

"On it." both of the guys said and took off.

"What should I do?" asked Castle.

"I want you to wait outside by the car. This could get a bit messy and I don't want you caught in the crossfire." Kate said as she stretched up and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

He returned the kiss which left her a bit dizzy and said, "Be careful. I love you."

"Love you too, Castle. Now get going." she said, her head still a bit swimmy.

Kate could hear Ryan making his way up the staircase opposite her and could hear Esposito outside. She made it to the landing on the second floor when she heard a noise directly above her.

"NYPD!" she shouted as she began running up the stairs.

She heard a scrambling and began to run even harder, knowing the perp was above her. She took about three more steps when everything around her began to spin and her vision began to dim. The next thing she knew, she was falling onto the stairs, her head connecting with the edge of the metal step above her, then she knew no more.

"NYPD!" shouted Ryan as he aimed his sidearm on the perp's chest. "Down on your knees with your hands behind your head."

The perp made like he was going to run but stopped when he saw the menacing form of Esposito round the corner with his gun pointed at him as well.

"Fine." he grumbled as he sunk to his knees and placed his hands behind his head.

"We got him, Beckett." Esposito shouted and waited to hear back from her.

"Beckett!" Ryan shouted.

They waited and heard nothing.

"What did you do to her?" Espo shouted into the face of the perp as he grabbed him by the collar and threw him to the ground.

"I didn't do nuttin' to no one." he said.

"You better not have." said Espo with a sneer.

"I'll look for her." said Ryan and he took off in the direction of the staircase Beckett was using.

"Beckett." he called as he descended. "Beckett, where are you? Can you hear me?"

Silence, except for the sound of sirens heading toward them and boots running up the stairs where Esposito still had his gun trained on their perp.

Ryan rounded the landing of the third floor and as he started down to the second, saw her lying motionless on the stairs.

"Beckett!" he shouted and raced to her. He could see blood dripping down through the grating on the step and yelled for Esposito to call for a wagon.

Esposito let the uniformed officers take the perp and raced to where Ryan was.

"What happened to her, bro?" he asked as he knelt beside Ryan who was trying to arouse Beckett.

"I don't know but there's blood dripping from the step. I think she must have hit her head when she went down." Ryan said.

"Has she moved at all?" Espo asked as he grabbed Beckett's wrist and felt her pulse.

"No, bro, and I don't want to move her in case she hurt her neck but that looks like a lot of blood dripping from her head. Where's that wagon?" Ryan said.

Just then they heard the sound of wheels rolling across a concrete floor and began yelling for them to come up the far staircase to where they waited with a still unconscious Beckett.

The ambulance crew arrived along with a white-faced Castle.

"Kate." her name came out of him in almost a whisper. "What happened to her?"

"We don't know, bro. Kev found her like this after we apprehended the perp on the fourth floor. We looked around and called for her without a response and this is how we found her." Espo explained.

"Who are you, sir?" the crewman asked Castle.

"I'm her husband." Castle replied.

The crewman shook his head then said, "You can stay but you'll have to keep out of our way so we can help your wife."

"Yes. Of course." Castle replied.

"Has she said anything or moved at all?" one of the ambulance crew asked.

"No." Ryan said. "She's been like this since I found her. I didn't want to move her in case she hurt her neck but she's bleeding pretty bad. She must have hit her head on the step."

The crew bustled around and produced a cervical collar which they carefully slipped around Kate's neck then turned her over, with the help of Esposito and Ryan, and laid her on the landing to assess her.

Castle gasped when he saw the blood smeared across her forehead and down the left side of her face. He also noted how pale she was and became instantly terrified.

"Looks like she hit right above her left eye. It's a pretty big gash and will definitely require stitches." the crewman said as he pressed a wad of gauze to the cut over Beckett's eye.

"Why isn't she waking up?" asked Castle, voice shaking.

"She probably has a moderate concussion." the crewman said. "We'll know more when we get her to the hospital. Her vitals are a bit on the low side and her left pupil is a bit sluggish but that is to be expected with a head injury like hers."

"Will she be alright?" Castle asked, his face almost as white as Kate's.

"Time will tell." the crewman said. "Does she have any medical conditions we should be aware of?"

"She, um, was shot in the heart a few years ago but other than that, she's very healthy." Castle said.

"Okay. Thanks." the crewman said. "Let's get her loaded and to the hospital."

Castle ran down the stairs behind them and clutched Kate's limp hand as they wheeled her to the ambulance.

Just as they were ready to load her in, she blinked a few times and opened her right eye.

"Welcome back, Kate." Castle said with a smile as he kissed her hand.

"Wha? What happened?" she asked as she lifted her other hand and gingerly felt the bandage on her head.

"We were hoping you could tell us, ma'am." the crewman said. "Be careful not to pull your IV out. We have fluids running. Your blood pressure was a bit low."

Kate looked at the back of her left hand and nodded then winced when a pain shot through her skull from the movement.

"What is it, Kate?" Castle asked.

"I think I need to throw up." Kate said as her color turned from white to green.

The crew just got her rolled onto her side and a bag under her chin when she vomited the contents of her stomach into the bag.

"Feel better?" Castle asked as he wiped the corners of her mouth with his handkerchief.

"Not really." Kate said, giving him a weak smile.

"What happened, Kate?" he asked. "You were fine when I left you. What happened in the next few minutes that caused you to end up face-down on the stairs?"

"I don't know, Rick." she said hoarsely. "I can't remember."

"What is the last thing you remember, ma'am?" the crewman asked as they loaded her into the back of the ambulance.

Kate thought for a minute then said, "We entered the building and...and...I can't remember. It all sort of goes black after that."

Castle looked at the crewman as he sat down beside him on the bench in the ambulance and again grasped Kate's hand.

"It's not unusual for the last few moments before a traumatic head injury to be forgotten. The memories may come back or they may not. Only time will tell." the crewman said.

"Did we get him?" Kate asked Castle.

"Oh yes. Ryan and Espo caught him on the fourth floor and he's probably being booked as we speak." Castle said.

"Hey girl." Lainie's voice came from outside the ambulance. "What the hell you think you're doing?"

"Hey Lainie." Kate said as she tried to look at her best friend.

"I come here to pick up a stiff and almost end up with tow for one. What are you doing?" she said.

"I wish I could remember." Kate said as she turned green again and motioned for the barf bag.

Castle got it there just in time as she again vomited. This time it was only stomach fluids and a bit of coffee.

"Damn, girl. You did it up good." Lainie said as she stepped in to check on her best friend before she was whisked away.

"Guess so." said Kate, embarrassed that she had just vomited in front of her friend.

"You be good and listen to the doctors and writer-boy here. I'll be checking on you later, girlfriend." Lainie said as she placed a kiss on Kate's forehead.

"I'll try but no guarantees." Kate said as she again motioned for the bag.

"You better get her out of here." Lainie said to the crew. "She needs tending to."

"Yes ma'am." the young man said to Lainie as she stepped out of the ambulance and shut the doors behind her. "Just another day."

Within moments they were racing down the streets of NYC, sirens blaring, to the hospital where they would hopefully find out what caused Kate to black out and if any permanent damage had been done when she struck her head on the step.