Rick Castle sat in the waiting room of the hospital with Detectives Ryan and Esposito. Lanie was sitting next to them crying for her best friend who had just been shot. Rick told Alexis and Martha to go home, even though Alexis begged to stay.

Lanie broke away from Esposito to sit by Castle. She put a hand on his shoulder, he jumped, coming out of his daydream.

"It's not your fault, you know. You tried to save her." He was still in shock, eyes not blinking.

"Just a little faster, I promised, I promised to keep Kate safe." He was more talking to himself and the demons in his head than to Lanie.

"You couldn't have known. And if it weren't for you she'd be on my table right now, instead of fighting for her life. For as long as I've known Beckett she's been a fighter, that's who she is."

"I promised." he repeated again.

"You know what else?" Rick turned his eyes toward her. "I heard what you said." Lanie said with a smile. Castle tried to smile but it only brought him back to that horible moment when he thought he had lost her for good. She punched his shoulder lightly. "What the hell took you so long!"

Josh walked into the waiting room from behing the doctors doors dressed in scrubs. Castle jumped from his chair first.

"Josh, what are you doing here?" Josh laughed a little.

"Well for one, I work here. But I requested to be Kate's doctor."

"How is she?" Castle questioned.

"Yeah, is Beckett gonna be okay?" Ryan added.

"Kate should be okay. The bullet just missed her heart, she's out of surgery you can go see her now, but please, only two at a time. Kate's still kind of drowsey from the medication." Lanie put a hand on Castle's shoulder.

"Why don't you go in first. We can wait." His eyes dropped to the floor.

"No. No, you guys can go, I, I um, need some coffee." And with that he was gone. It's not that he didnt want to see her, he really did, but Rick wasn't ready to see Kate like that. Laying helpless and weak, when he had the chance to change it.

Lanie was the first one to go see Beckett, she walked into the room slowly, Tears in her eyes that had not quite fallen. Beckett was only half awake, hooked up to tubes and wires, the heart monitor reporting, that she was in fact, still alive.

"Hey Lanie." Beckett said slowly in a low groggy voice.

"Hey." Lanie answered back. She found a chair and brought it over to sit next to her. "What's wrong?" she said, seeing the tears in her eyes.

"Oh nothing, world hunger, work, my best friend was just shot and almost killed. No big deal though right? How could you even ask me that?"

"Lanie, Lanie, it's part of the job, I'm bound to get hurt sooner or later, right?"

"How can you be so calm? What about the people who love you Ryan, Esposito? Me your dad, Josh? What about Castle?"

"Castle, Rick. Where is he? Is he here?"

"Yeah but he's kind of in shock. Do you remember anything after you were hit?" Lanie asked, probing to see if she remembered what Castle had said. Kate closed her eyes, smiled, and then nodded. "Well what are you going to do about it?"

"Do I have to do anything?" Kate replied, scared of how she really felt.

"Girl, what do you think?" Kate couldn't speak she knew what she had to do and what she really wanted. The only thing stopping her was Josh, he was the safe choice, she didnt have to worry about the safe choice because her heart really wasn't in it. "Well Kate you think about it and I'll send the boys in."

"That sounds good Lanie, thanks." she smiled and Lanie walked out and a few seconds later Ryan and Esposito opened the door.

Lanie went off looking for Castle she found him sitting one a bench next to the coffe machine.

"Castle, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" He couldn;t make eye contact with her.

"Looks like your hiding, Castle. I'm not sure why though, Kate's already asking for you." Lanie grabbed his hand and pulled him up from the bench.

"You know whats going to happen if I go in there? Beckett has Josh, she doesn't need me never has." Castle turned to walk away but Lanie stopped him.

"No, Castle you are going to go in there. Act like a man will ya?"

"Fine." Castle said and followed Lanie into the room. She opened the door to see The three Detectives laughing. Lanie gave the boy a look that told them that it was a good time to go.

"Come on bro, lets give Castle his chance to talk." Esposito said to Ryan and they walked out of the room, followed by Lanie who pussed Castle towards Beckett a little before closing the door.

"Hey Castle." Kate said with a smile.

"How are you feeling?" Castle was still standing a good distance away. He was on the verge of tears, seeing her like that was heartbreaking.

"I think a better question, Rick, is how are you feeling?" He didn't answer and kept his eyes on the floor. Kate leaned over and patted the seat next to her. "Sit." He looked up to see her eyes staring him down, he had no choice. Rick sat down and tried to look at her but he still couldn't.

"Kate, I'm sorry, I'm your partner, I should have protected you. I promised you dad I would." Rick was now rambling, everything he was feeling was pouring out.

"Hey,hey, Rick you did protect me. Do you know how close to my heart that bullet was? An inch, Rick, one inch." She put a hand on his cheek, a tear was falling down his face and she wiped it away with her thumb. "You were willing to take a bullet for me, why?" Kate knew the answer but just really wanted to hear it again.

"Kate, please, this isn't my place, Josh..."

"Forget about Josh for a second will you." she interupted him, her hand still on his check and he was becoming increasingly aware of it.

"He loves you, Kate, but then again, who wouldn't? And if he makes you happy I won't stand in the way of that, no matter how much I love you." That's all she needed to hear. She put her hand on his neck and pulled him towards her. Their lips met and it took him a minute to realize that he was really kissing the one and only Kate Beckett. But when he did, Rick kissed her back passionatly. Both so into the moment that neither heard the door open. Before he knew it Rick was being thrown away from here and punched once in the nose. "Hey!" Rick yelled and looked up to see Josh standing over him, anger clouding up his eyes.

"Oh my god, Rick are you okay? Josh, stop, what's your problem?" Castle pulled himself up and Josh pushed him down once more. He was about to throw another punch when Ryan and Esposito ran in, grabbing Josh by the arms.

"What the hell is going on here!" Esposito yelled.

"Wait, guys, I probably deserved that, it's my fault." Castle said. holding his nose that was starting to bleed.

"Your damn right it's your fault what were you thinking! That's my girl your kissing!" That's when Kate spoke up.

"You don't own me Josh. I'm sorry for what I did, but you can't control me."

"Doesn't matter anyway Kate, I'll go, you and Josh talk this out. Goodbye Kate."

"Why do you care about that douche bag anyway?" Josh spat.

"Because. I love him." Kate said softly. And everyone, Lanie, Esposito, Ryan, and Josh, heard her say it. But Rick was half way down the hall, on his way home, and didn't hear a word.

A/N: So I swear I had very good intentions of this being a happy ending for them when I started but this came to me and I some how liked it better. I might have to write another part with a happy ending but for now this is complete. Thanks for reading, please review!