"Beckett," she answered her phone the same way every time it rang, it wasn't because of where she worked, she thought that it was less person that way.
"Hey Beckett, we found where the Zinicki has been hiding," he gave her the address and she wrote it down on the notepad next to her.
"Alright, thanks Esposito we will see you soon," she hung up the phone and looked at her partner. "They found him, let's go." Before she finished talking she was out of her chair and heading towards the elevator.
This case has been especially hard for her. A middle-aged woman was murdered, she was a lawyer and Kate couldn't help, but think of her mother. Everything about the case reminded her of her mother. She was at the precinct day and night trying to solve this woman's murder and this was her only lead.
Castle ran to join her in the elevator and stood next to her. He looked over to her and stared for a moment. She could feel his eyes on her, but didn't look she just said "What, Castle?" he looked away quickly embarrassed that she caught him staring.
Things had been weird between them ever since he left after they diffused the bomb from killing most of New York City. He gave up trying to win her over, he just thought that he couldn't win, he just couldn't win her over and he began to think he would never have her. He was in love with her, but he just lost all hope.
"Oh, sorry, I just wanted you to know that you are going to get this guy, you will." He sounded so confident towards her, that it made her feel good that he believed in her.
"Thanks Castle, but we," he look confusedly at her as she spoke.
"What?"
"We, Castle. We are going to get this guy," she looked over at him and a smile lit up his face. She wanted things to go back to normal between the two of them. She missed the old Castle; the Castle she had now was a lot more quiet and serious than he used to be. She just wanted him to make her laugh and make her feel better, but it's like he was zoning out all the time and never fully there. She still wondered what he was going to tell her that night, but she was too afraid to ask.
"Thanks," he said as he looked away. The elevator doors opened and they walked out of the elevator and exited precinct.
They got into Beckett's car and rode to the address Esposito gave to them in silence. Everything was so awkward between them ever since that day but neither of them were willing to confront it.
They pulled up to an old warehouse and Esposito and Ryan greeted them as they pulled in. He gave them the rundown of the place saying that he was most likely in a room towards the back of the warehouse.
Beckett and Castle both put on their vests and followed Esposito into the building. They took the long route to the room and Beckett and her two brotherly like detectives led the way with their guns and flash lights.
The detectives and the writer were making their way to the room when a shot rang out and echoed throughout the warehouse. The three detectives turned around and seen Zinicki running away in the darkness.
Beckett ran after him in her high heels, she was determined to get this guy. She rounded the corner and seen him running towards the exit door of the warehouse. She shouted at the man "Stop! NYPD! Put your hands up!" He wasn't listening to her; he just kept on running towards the exit. She raised her weapon, aimed and fired at him. She missed him slightly so she fired off another and hit Zinicki in the left leg.
She got him, he fell to the ground as soon as the shot hit, and she could hear him crying out in pain. She ran to him, still holding the gun in her hand and cuffed him. After she knew she had him she called in a few guys that had come in with her to take him in custody.
She was taking a few deep breaths of confidence, that she finally caught the guy, when she heard a loud scream calling her name.
"BECKETT! GET OVER HERE NOW!" It was Ryan, he seemed like he was panicking. She didn't know what to assume when she ran to the room.
She entered the room and seen the two detectives kneeling down helping a body, she didn't know what to think. She got closer to the detectives when shock and horror came across her face. It was Castle. Castle was lying on the surrounded by a puddle of blood. She ran down to Castle, still dumbfounded at what she walked into. She pushed through the two detectives and knelt at Castle's side, pulling his head up to rest on her thighs. She saw a bullet hole right below his heart and a circle of blood forming around it. She applied pressure to the bullet wound and heard Castle cry out in pain. She looked down at him with sorrow in her eyes. She looked up and turned to Esposito and Ryan.
"How the hell did this happen?" she cried, how had the bullet gotten through if he had his vest on? How did it pierce his skin?
"It must have been one of those hollow-point bullets used to get past this kind of stuff," Esposito said as he pointed to his vest.
"Cop killers?" Beckett said as she looked down at Castle, "Castle you need to stay with me! Stay awake! Everything is going to be okay, we are going to get you out of here and get you back to Alexis and Martha!" Tears started to fill her eyes as she spoke those words. This was Castle. Castle was shot and on the ground in front of her, this was one of her worst nightmares, how had she let this happen? Castle's eyes started to close as she looked at him.
"Castle! Come on stay with me! The ambulance are coming Castle!" Tears were pouring down her face; she didn't know what she would do without him. He needed to stay alive.
A weak voice whispered to her as she sat there in tears. "Take care of Alexis for me, tell her I love her." No, she couldn't believe she was hearing this, it's like he was giving up, she needed him to fight, and she needed him alive.
"Rick, you are going to be okay, you are going to get past this and go home to Alexis and Martha, and you are going to be okay!" She looked into his eyes as she spoke these words. He looked up at her, she seen small tears coming from his eyes.
"You… promised… Kate," she faintly heard him say, his breath was becoming shorter and she knew this might be the end. As he spoke those words she remembered when she promised that if anything happened to him she would take care of Alexis. They were working on a case with a mummy, and he thought he had been cursed. She couldn't help, but look at him a let out a small laugh as the tears kept coming down her face.
"Okay, I promise, Rick. But you are going to get through this, Alexis needs you, Martha needs you, I need you!" she screamed as his eyes started to close, she looked around at the pool of blood they were both in, there was so much blood, she thought. How could there be so much blood?
She bent down and brushed her lips against his, she knew she might never get a chance to do that again. She heard him whisper "Kate…" she didn't want him to talk, she didn't want him to do anything so she said. "Shh… everything is going to be okay, Rick, you just have to stay with me, Rick, don't let go, I need you to stay with me!"
She heard the paramedics rush in as she spoke those words, but she never took her eyes off of Rick. There were so many things they hadn't done, so many things that they were never going to be able to say to each other. She was so scared, she didn't know what to do, she seen Rick's eyes close as they approached him.
"Get out of the way Ma'am," they told her, she didn't want to leave his side; she wanted to stay with him. "No pulse, get an AED," she heard the paramedic say. NO! She thought, this couldn't be happening, not now, not yet, not this soon.
Tears streaming down her face she ran to Castle, but before she could reach him somebody had their arms wrapped around him holding her back. "NO!" She screamed, she turned around and Esposito had a firm grip at her waste. "NO! LET ME GO!" She kicked and screamed as she watched them shock Castle. "RICK! STAY WITH ME!" she cried as her tears were only coming down harder. They shocked him a third time, until the paramedic called out. "We got a pulse, let's go."
Kate cried out in astonishment, he was alive, Rick was alive. She watched them lift Castle onto the stretcher and watched as they ran out of the room with him. Esposito slowly released his grip on the detective and she fell to the ground sobbing with relief. She had never been so scared for anything in her life; it felt like she was losing her mother all over again.
Esposito knelt to the ground beside her and put a hand on her back. "We need to go, Beckett. He needs you." She was ready to tell Esposito "Not as much as I need him," but she was sobbing so hard she couldn't speak so she just shook her head rapidly.
They got up from the floor of the warehouse and they walked out, Esposito's arm never leaving her back. They were out of the warehouse as she seen the ambulance ride away with their lights and siren blaring. She looked at Esposito and Ryan and ran to her car. She needed to get to the hospital now.
She jumped in her car, tears still pouring from her eyes. She needed to get to Alexis first though; she got out her phone and dialed Alexis' number. She didn't know how to tell a teenage girl that her father had been shot, lost his pulse and they had to shock him back to life. Kate put on her sirens, this was a rule she never broke, but she needed to get to Alexis and then the hospital and thought this was an exception. She left the warehouse and made her way to Castle's house.
"Hello? Kate?"
"Alexis!" Kate cried out, "I'm coming to your house, you and Martha need to be ready outside, we are going to the hospital, I am so sorry." Kate felt terrible she blurted everything out, but she was too frantic to think of a calm way to say this.
"Kate! What happened to my dad?" Alexis assumed that it was her dad, because Kate wouldn't have acted like that if it wasn't. Kate could sense the tears in Alexis' eyes forming so she was trying to prevent saying anything until they were face to face, but she couldn't hide anything for very long.
"Alexis, I am almost to your house, we will discuss it in the car; I am a minute away." Kate hung up the phone as she pulled in front of Castle's building. She saw Martha and Alexis running to the car, they whipped the car door open and got in. They were both in tears as they got in the car and they slammed the doors shut as Kate was already pulling away.
"Kate, what happened to my dad?"
"He was shot Alexis, I'm so sorry," as she said this Alexis and Martha let out a gasp as they began to cry even harder.
"What about his vest, wasn't he wearing it?" Kate was too worked up to go into detail so she summed everything up the best she could.
"Yes, but the shooter made special bullets that could get through the vest, I'm sorry, he was shot right below the heart." She felt more tears coming to her eyes as she gripped her hands tighter on the wheel. She needed something to hold onto she needed some support. She looked into her review mirror and saw Alexis and Martha in draped in a hug with tears pouring down their eyes too.
How could she have let this happened? How could she have let Rick get shot?
She raced her way to the hospital, she wasn't sure that she had ever driven to fast, she was close to the hospital now and was getting more and more anxious. They pulled into the hospital parking lot. As soon as she parked they all jumped out of the car and raced in the door. They flew to the first desk they saw.
"Where is Richard Castle?" Martha cried out. The nurse looked at her a little annoyed, but turned to her books and looked back up at the three girls standing there in tears.
"They just rushed him to emergency surgery; there is a waiting room on the fourth floor where you will be able to wait for the doctor with any updates." The nurse looked from one girl to the next expecting an answer, but saw none. They girls walked away frantically and found the nearest elevator.
The elevator felt like it was the longest elevator ride Kate had ever been on, and she could sense that Martha and Alexis felt that way too. None of the girls talked they just looked at each other with thoughts racing through all of their heads each of them afraid to see what would happen outside of this elevator. The elevator door opened and everything became a little more real. They stepped out carefully and walked to the waiting room as they sat there in silence.