A/N: I started this a long time ago during History class when I was wondering what would happen if Sophia told Kate about the board …

Yeah … I really am.

"You just can't stay away from a good story, can you?" Sophia's cold voice cut him through like a well-sharpened blade. He tore his eyes away from the black SIG pointed at Kate's head and stared at his ex-muse, panic starting to show on his face. There was no way - "The urge is too strong, right? You simply have to tie the loose ends no matter what … isn't it Katie?" She asked with a sickeningly sweet voice, while poking the detective's shoulder with the weapon, urging an answer.

"I suppose sometimes he could be a little annoying, yes." Beckett stated tightly, still looking firmly in front of her: she wasn't going to give that bitch more attention than she absolutely needed. Meaning, just enough not to get her partner and herself killed right away.

"Just a little bit?" Sophia replied in mock amazement. "Well, you really must be something special … I don't know what I'd do if my partner," she smiled viciously at Castle while he silently (and uselessly) begged her not to go on and ruin everything he and Kate had just before killing them, "sneaked behind my back to look into my personal life … unless I asked him to, of course."

Upon hearing her words, Kate averted her gaze and met Castle's guilty expression. "What is she talking about?"

The KGB agent didn't give him a chance to answer and went on, chirpily as if sharing some great gossip. "What? Hasn't he told you?"

"Told me what, Sophia?" Beckett snapped, in annoyance and confusion. "He's been shadowing me for four years. To write books. This implies a certain level of poking around, don't you reckon?"

"Yeah, but in your mother's murder too?" Why did Kate had the feeling that what's-her-name knew more than she did?

"Castle and I decided to let it go for now." She cautiously said, making it sound more like a question than a statement.

"I see … then I suppose that he keeps a … how does he call it?" The agent pretended to think for a moment, her long, manicured left finger tapping her chin. "A murder board with all of the evidence you've found and more, in his study just to lighten up the place, right? Nothing like a stabbed body can spin the creativity of a mystery novelist."

Kate tensed visibly and turned stiffly towards Castle. "Is it true?" her voice was angry and hard but, as she watched her partner struggling with words, she felt tears starting to pool. She willed them away not to give Sophia the satisfaction, and then she realized something. "How come does she know about it?"

"Oh, I just came by yesterday night to apologize for my rude words. For the sake of the good ole days, you know …" she slyly added.

Kate's heart stopped for a moment, every ounce of hope drained from her. That woman had won on every front: she had her linchpin a few yards away, the detective trying to stop her at shooting range and had even enjoyed one last night with the man she wanted.

"Kate, I swear nothi-" His partner's hollow expression stopped him dead on his track.

"Are you done now?" Beckett asked the woman, tiredly, averting her gaze and fixing it on the bright white linoleum.

"Not a chance." She said, coldly. In the spark of a second she had the security guard released.

Kate closed her eyes. This was it then right? A bullet like she always-

Shot.

...

Everything started to move very fast: still bracing herself for the pain that never came, Kate felt her body being thrown to the ground and, in a matter of seconds, she heard another shot boing fired. The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes again were Sophia's glassy ones fixed on her, her curly black hair a curtain hiding part of her face. As Agent Dunberg ran past them shouting to follow him, she realized that Castle's body was draped across her back, keeping her down on the ground without making an attempt to get off. And breathing was becoming kind of difficult.

"Castle, move." She breathed through gritted teeth, already trying to use her arms as leverage to turn around and stopping midway due to the pain in her right wrist. Great, sprained. "Castle, get off me, please, we have to follow-" Was that blood on her shoulder?

No. No … "Castle, are you ok?" she worriedly asked, trying to move as fast and kindly as possible until she had his head nestled on her thigh: there was no answer but for whimpers leaving his mouth on and off. Her eyes trailed his back until they found a small bullet hole just below his right scapula: she couldn't make out the actual extent of the damage but she was somewhat relieved by the lack of burnings along the edges of the wound. At least it hadn't been as close-ranged a she thought. Upon hearing his pained cries she started urgently applying pressure on his shoulder, quickly realizing the bullet had probably grazed the bone. Another cry went out when she took her phone out of her pocket to call a bus.

"I'm Detective Kate Beckett, 43527". She quickly said while giving the reassuring man at the other end of the phone their location. "I need a bus as soon as possible, there's been a shooting. Officer's down … bullet in his back … yes, still breathing."

"Castle help is coming real fast, ok?" She said, turning back to him. This wasn't looking any good: from where she knelt she couldn't put nearly as much pressure as she ought to, and certainly the fact that his spine was arched wasn't helping. "Ok, I'm gonna move now. Tell me if it hurts." He nodded and she slowly slipped away, carefully placing his head on the white surface.

"I think she broke at least one rib." He croaked out, his eyes opening for the first time.

She couldn't help the relief flooding her when she heard him speaking: she moved a gloved hand from the wound and gently caressed his hair. "You idiot … why did you do that?" She asked, softly, probably more to herself than to him.

"I'm sorry … about the murder board." He replied feebly, taking a shuddering breath and winching in pain.

"Shh … it doesn't matter now." She stated, one hand still soothingly stroking the nape of his neck in a vain attempt at doing something that could keep the worst-case scenarios already forming in her head at bay. What she'd do, something should happen to him, she refused to think about. He was there with her, seriously injured but still alive and breathing. And help was coming.

"No, Kate, really …" He tried to protest but she cut him short.

"I know Castle. Don't worry about this, just hold on." Because help was coming, right?

"But I need to explain! I did it to protect you, I-" She stopped him mid-way as he tried to turn around and look at her, thus causing himself another wave of pain.

"Rick, I don't care about my mom's case now! I just want you to be very still, ok? We'll talk about it later."

"But I want to see you when –" When I'll close my eyes.

"Castle, you're gonna be fine." The panic in her voice became even more evident when she spotted a few teardrops on the back of her glove: she'd been so focused on Castle (even though she was probably doing more damage than anything, every single ER procedure learnt during her last course erased from her mind and replaced by an irrational anguish she was so desperately trying to keep in check: was she supposed to turn him around? To keep pressing? What if he stopped breathing? How many seconds between compression and the other during CPR? Where the hell was the bus?) that she hadn't even realized she'd been crying the whole time.

"Kate, please … I'm so cold …" His eyes were closing again, his voice nothing more than a whisper, now.

She was losing him. "Rick don't you dare closing your eyes!" she panted heavily, applying more pressure to the wound. ""Please, stay with me!" This was all a big joke, right? Was the Universe really punishing her by making her live his side of last May's shooting? Well, there's no time like the present, she thought. And she knew exactly what she was supposed to say now. "Rick, I love you. I love you Rick, stay with me!"

His pained smile made her heart clench: Castle looked like he was about to tell something himself when the paramedics burst in, running and shouting; they placed the gurney next to him and pushed Beckett away ("Detective let us do our job, we've to stabilize him.").

Kate reluctantly stood, hands in front of her mouth to cover the lip she was biting into, and watched them work, adjourning them on him and the shooting, until she saw another group of paramedics checking on Sophia Turner "She's dead." She stated in a cold, matter-of-fact voice. "There's nothing you can do to that traitor. Or should, for that matters." The sarcasm dripping from her every word seemed to go unnoticed, making Kate even more angry: why was everybody fumbling around the corpse? "Go and help my partner instead!"

"Detective, calm down: we're doing our best here and we have an obligation to check on every victim." Said a blonde thirty-something woman, holding a stethoscope. "I'm Dr. Grew. Would you like to come with us?" She asked calmly: Beckett fought the tears back and thanked. "Ok on my count," the doctor added. Addressing the man in front of her, already holding the handles of the gurney. "One, two, three. C'mon, c'mon!"

Kate climbed in and shut the door the moment the other woman shouted the driver to go, and fast: she sat down beside Castle and took his hand while scrolling down her list of contacts to find Martha's number. "Which hospital are you taking him to?" She asked over the beeping of the machines, the engine roaring and the blaring siren.

"Bellevue." Kate nodded and her heart dropped when her call went straight to voicemail. "Martha it's Kate. Listen, Richard's been shot; we're taking him to Bellevue. I need you to be there as soon as possible, ok? He's unconscious but breathing on his own. Come fast, please. Bye."

"His wife?" The doctor asked, tilting her head toward Castle.

"His mother … she's not picking up. I'll have to call his daughter though." And I don't have Alexis' number … I hope she's still with Lanie.

"You care a lot about him, don't you?"

"That wouldn't even begin to describe it … I …" God knew her mind was playing strange tricks to her: was she (Kate Beckett, lonely tough cop extraordinaire) really about to spill her guts to a complete stranger? "I'm Kate by the way."

"Shirley." The woman smiled.

They shook hands: at least they were on a first name basis now. "I … I made a promise to his daughter to keep him safe, always … but he's thrown himself in front of a bullet meant for me." A single tear broke down her cheek and Kate wiped it away hastily. "He wasn't even wearing his Kevlar … we were caught by surprise and …"

"He saved your life." Shirley stated simply. "He must be one hell of a cop."

Kate laughed bitterly. "That's what hurts the most, you know? The fact the he looks like this," she said pointing at his pained face covered by an oxygen mask, "and he hasn't even signed up for it."

The doctor looked at her with a puzzled expression. "You mean he's a civilian?"

"A writer." She confirmed, too concentrated on conveying to him all the support she could by gently drawing circles on the back of his hand to see the realization click.

"Is he the Richard Castle?" Kate nodded, waiting for the inevitable fan girl squeal. "So that makes you-"

"The extraordinary KB." There was no use at stopping the tears now.

"I'm sorry Kate … I'm sure everything is gonna turn out to be just-"

Castle was crashing. While she'd been chatting and making friends, his body had decided that he couldn't take it anymore and had gone crazy. Seizures were passing through him making his muscles strain and his back arch, shattering him while the monitors were beeping uncontrollably adding noise to noise in a carnival that made Kate's head spin and ache. She couldn't watch this. She couldn't just sit and look at him in agonizing pain, she thought, but maybe, just maybe, Shirley was right: he could still hear her. So she forced herself to do as commanded and kept holding his hand, whispering comforting nothings in his ear as the other woman injected him with a tranquillizer and the male nurse next to her stuck a piece of cloth in between his clenching teeth, to prevent him from biting his tongue off.

Eventually, after what had seemed to be hours, she felt rather than saw his body begin to calm down, and the oxygen mask was placed again over his mouth, helping him breathe and relax further. Then the bus stopped, signaling them that they'd reached their destination: she followed the gurney in, running beside doctors and paramedics while they were exchanging data and assessing the situation, still holding Rick's hand in silence. She had to let go, though, when they entered another corridor and she was forced back. It broke her heart, but not as much as what she had to do next did.

She took a deep breath and dialed.

"Hi Alexis … no, I wanted to talk to you … listen …"

A/N: Well, that's what I came up with … there's more to follow (that is, if Andrew won't kill me with the next episode) … hope you enjoyed

Ciao!