Another Chance
Chapter 1
Kate cradles Castle's head in her lap as the paramedic injects the antidote. At least Rick's still breathing. For a moment there, she wasn't sure. She was hoping for some miraculous awakening, for his eyes to spring open as he made some utterly inappropriate quip, but he is still unconscious, as two FBI agents help load him in the ambulance. She climbs in beside him. Someone can take care of her vehicle - or not - she doesn't care. She's not leaving Rick's side. If they hadn't been apart so much because of her damn job, this never would have happened.
The emergency vehicle screams down the road to Walter Reed, lights flashing. Even so, the traffic around D.C. is miserable. It always is. Despite the monitoring and watchful eye of the medic, she keeps her hand on Rick's chest, thanking God with every rise and fall.
A squad of doctors is waiting in the ambulance bay. At least the clout of the Attorney General's office is good for something. Or maybe it was the Secretary of Defense. The ambulance carrying Mrs. Reed pulled in just ahead of them. It isn't the poor woman's fault she's married to a murderous jerk, but right now Kate wants Rick to be the priority.
There are enough white coats and blue scrubs to go around as the two patients are rushed into emergency. Kate is urged to move back out of the way to give the doctors and nurses room to work. She doesn't want to, but Rick's life depends on how well they can do their jobs. Dr. Goldberg rushes in a few moments later to join the effort.
Kate sinks down into the closest chair she can find. From the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps, she assumes that Secretary Reed has arrived. She spots the balding official coming down the hall. The overbearing defiance is gone from his face, and the slump of his shoulders belies his military training. After grilling the doctor who comes to meet him, he takes the chair next to Kate.
She wants to feel some sympathy for him. The bastard is responsible for this, and he knows it. That should be worth something. But she isn't feeling that charitable. She hopes for the best for his wife, but as for Michael Reed, she wants to see him driven from his cabinet post and preferably into prison. But whatever happens to the obscene pile of garbage beside her, Rick is all that matters now.
Goldberg is coming toward her. He nods encouragingly. "The antidote seems to be having an effect. His vitals are stabilizing. The toxin upset the balance of a lot of systems in his body. We're working to restore them, but it's still touch and go. You should call his family. It could be helpful to have them here."
Kate dreads making the call to Martha and Alexis. For a moment she considers calling Ryan and Esposito and asking them to do it, but that's the coward's way out, and Kate Beckett is no coward - or is she? Maybe her father was right, and she was using work to hide from the depth of her relationship with Castle. Somehow, she'd managed to convince herself that he wasn't really committed to her - after he stayed by her side when she was standing on a fucking bomb! How much more committed could he have been? She was the one who had wavered and run, even after he proposed. Now they are both paying for that, and a painful installment is due.
Martha already knew something was terribly wrong. It takes only the slightest glimpse of Kate's face on Skype to confirm it. "What's happened to Richard?"
Kate asks her to get Alexis so she can talk to them together. Pi is trailing after his girlfriend. It's probably just as well. Martha has the feeling that her granddaughter is going to need the support. She could use some herself. What the hell? Richard has been poisoned because of Kate's case! When he'd been working with Kate and the N.Y.P.D. she'd always been afraid that he'd take a bullet, but poison? It's pure madness.
She and Alexis need to get to D.C., now. Michael Dorn is in town. They hit it off when they did a production of "Love Letters" together. Maybe she can beg a ride on his plane for herself and Alexis. And if Pi wants to tag along, he can't make things much worse.
Both Martha's and Alexis' eyes are blazing with red-headed fury as Kate meets them in the lobby to take them up to Castle's room. Pi just throws his arms around her. Of course, he would, the boy can be clueless, but he means well. At least he's there for Alexis, and she hates to admit it, but she can use a hug. She wishes her dad could be with her, but he's in Switzerland, investigating some corporate financial misdealing involved with the class action suit he's handling. She indicates the way to the bank of elevators.
Castle looks the same as he did when she left him a few minutes before. The monitor above his bed is beeping steadily. That's a comforting sound, but his skin is pale, and there are reddish rings beneath his eyes. His hair, almost never less than perfect, has fallen unevenly over his forehead. It makes him look like a little boy, a very sick little boy.
Alexis immediately grasps her father's hand, yelling "Dad," as if to will him into consciousness. He doesn't respond.
Pi cracks his knuckles and announces it's time for a healing touch. If what he describes as reikis are having any effect, Kate can't see it, but at least he's doing something. She wishes she could do more than wait.
It's been more than 24 hours. Martha and Alexis have dozed in shifts, but Kate is wide-awake. Castle seems to be in a light but restless slumber, tossing as if reliving the terror of the last days. She gently touches his face. "Castle. Come on, Babe, wake up. Come back to me."
Castle feels like he's swimming upward in mud. Somewhere above him, he can hear Kate's voice. He's been almost aware of it before, with snatches of Alexis, Mother, and ew, Pi. He forces his eyes to open. They are gritty and dry, but it doesn't matter. The image in front of them is Kate. He made it back to her and his family - and Pi too. The line from the Wizard of Oz about a dream seems corny, especially since it was only in the movie. In the book, Dorothy wasn't dreaming. But he has been, and with Kate's help, has fought his way out of his toxic nightmare.
Kate can't believe what Rachel McCord is telling her. She's glad Mrs. Reed is going to be all right. Mary Elizabeth did nothing wrong except for choosing a 24-carat son of a bitch as a husband. But for Secretary Reed to get off Scot free without even an investigation turns Kate's stomach. It's all politics. It's been all politics practically since the moment she arrived in D.C. She thought 1PP was bad, but here she's been hamstrung at almost every turn, and it almost cost Castle his life.
She'll take some leave to take care of him while he recovers. It will be unpaid of course. She hasn't been with the task force long enough to earn any vacation days, and Villante will be bending the rules to allow her that much. Still, she needs it, as much to think about what she's going to do next, as to make sure Rick is all right. She thought she'd be saving the world, but she just barely saved the man she loves.