"Castle!" Beckett shouted as she watched him fall backwards. "Stay down, Stay down!" She added as he struggled to sit up.

"We got him!" Esposito yelled as he and Ryan took off around the side of the building.

Beckett dropped to her knees next to Castle looking over his body. She didn't find any blood and quickly spotted the bullet embedded in the side of his vest. Castle was just lying completely still trying to catch his breath. Beckett looked up and met his eyes."I'm gonna get this off. I think the bullet's stuck in your vest," she said gently running her fingers over his cheek before reaching for the Velcro strips.

"Kate," he whispered barely audibly.

"It's ok. You're going to be fine." She undid the straps and started to gently tug on the vest. "Can you sit up a little bit?" Beckett put her hands on his shoulders and helped him up just far enough to pull the vest from underneath him. She tried to help him back down, but he struggled to sit up completely.

"I want to sit up," he wheezed out coughing.

Kate set the vest aside and ran her hands gently over his ribs. "I don't feel any blood. I think the vest caught it."

"Esposito's got the guy. Ambulance is on the way!" Ryan came running over panic all over his face.

"Thanks, it's lodged in his vest," Beckett said looking up.

"I'm ok," Castle chimed in. His attempt to keep his voice strong failing.

"Yeah, yeah you are. Just relax, deep breaths," Kate said turning back to him and offering a small smile.

"Can you take care of this?" Kate asked handing the writer vest to Ryan.

"Yeah, of course. You sure you're ok?" Ryan asked

"Yeah," Castle said sounding a little stronger that time.

Ryan nodded and took the vest to get an evidence bag. Esposito was handing the suspect off to a uniform.

"I can't catch my breath," Castle said bringing Beckett's full attention back to him.

"Just try, Rick. Help's on the way," she said gently rubbing her hand up and down his arm on the uninjured side.

"Damn, it hurts."

"You probably have a few broken ribs, maybe a collapsed a lung."

They heard the sharp sirens of an ambulance approach, and the medics were quickly at their side.

"What happened?" One of the them asked.

"Bullet got stuck in his vest, but he is having trouble breathing," Kate answered, but she made no effort to move away from him.

The medics crowded in on his other side, so she had to take a small step back to give him some room.

One medic gave him an oxygen mask, and the other started taking his vitals. Once the medic was done taking his blood pressure, Kate grabbed his hand, and he gave it a firm squeeze. She offered him a small smile.

"Mr. Castle, can we see if we can get your shirt off? "

Kate let go of his hand and started unbuttoning his shirt gently swatting his hands away when he tried to do it himself. She helped him take it off and started to pull off his under shirt, but he gasped when he tried to lift his arm above his head.

"It's ok, we can just roll it up for now to get a look," the medic interjected. He pushed up Castle's shirt as far as it would go revealing a darkening, purple bruise over his ribs. "Sorry this is going to hurt." He started poking and prodding the tender skin. Castle took a sharp breath as soon as the medic touched it. Kate took his hand again in support.

"Ok, I'm done. Good news, it doesn't seem like there is blood pooling, but I definitely think you have some broken ribs based on the amount of bruising."

Gates walked over just as the medic finished talking.

"Mr. Castle?" She asked kneeling down next to everyone.

"I'm fine, Captain," he said with confidence removing the oxygen mask to speak.

"What happened?" She asked in possibly the gentlest voice Beckett had ever heard her use.

"Put that back on," Beckett scolded Castle and stood up gesturing for the captain to step away with her, so she could explain. Gates rose and they walked a small distance. "We were here to arrest Kuhn, saw him fleeing just as we approached the building. He ran down the alley, right when Esposito got close to him, he turned and pulled a weapon. We all stopped and drew our guns, told him to drop his weapon. He fired and took off. Castle took it to the vest. Esposito and Ryan were able to catch up with Kuhn quickly and took him down." She explained in one quick breath eager to get the story over with.

"Where is Kuhn now?"

"Uniforms took him to the 12th."

"Ok, stay with Mr. Castle. We will need his statement once he gets checked out."

"Yes, Sir."

"I trust the vest is already collected as evidence."

"Detective Ryan is taking care of it."

Gates nodded. "I'm glad everyone is ok."

"Me too, sir"

"We're all ready to go, Detective." A medic came over and looked expectantly at Beckett.

"Ok thank you." She turned back to Gates who gave her the go ahead.

"You ok?" Beckett asked Castle as she climbed into the back of the ambulance.

"Yeah, I'm getting better."

She reached out and grabbed his hand. They rode in silence to the hospital.

"Someone will be right over." The doctor said rushing off once Castle was settled and hooked up to a monitor.

"Thank you." Beckett said with a smile.

As soon as they were alone, Castle reached up and took the mask off. He wanted to able to talk and didn't like how it felt on his face.

"Put that back on," Kate scolded getting up from her seat near his bed to help.

"I'm fine. I can breathe. It just knocked the wind out of me at the beginning."

She turned and looked at the monitor."Yeah, ok," she sighed not wanting to fight.

"Look at you, reading the monitor," Castle said with a smile trying to lighten the mood.

"I got shot in the chest, Rick. I know what I'm looking at."

That shut him up real fast.

"I'm sorry," he said after a silent minute or so had passed.

"No, I am. I shouldn't have snapped. It's just..."

"I know"

"Do you want me to call your mom or Alexis?" Beckett asked realizing she should have asked earlier.

"No, no. I will after the doctor comes in, so I know what to tell them. No sense worrying them."

There was a knock at the door before she could answer.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Pearson. Sorry about the wait, we had a bad patient."

"It's fine. Rick Castle." Castle said extending his hand.

"Kate Beckett" She offered her hand as well.

They explained what happened, and Dr. Pearson did a full exam.

"I can get you something for pain. It says the medics didn't give you anything," he said as he inspected the bruising clearly not a comfortable process for Castle.

"Oh, um yeah, I didn't really want anything then, but now maybe I will."

"I'll be right back, and then I'll take you for an x-ray."

"When did you refuse pain meds?" Kate asked when the doctor was gone.

"You were talking to Gates."

"Why?"

"It really didn't hurt that bad then. Just when it first happened. Once I caught my breath, I was fine."

"But now?"

"Yeah.. um... It hurts."

"Don't be a hero, ok?"

"Oh, Kate. You know me better than that. I'm going to milk this for all it's worth," Castle replied giving her a mischievous grin.

"Your chart said you're not allergic to anything, that's correct?" The doctor returned.

"Yes"

"Ok, this should help," he said handing him a small white pill and a cup of water."

"Thanks"

"We can go get some x-rays, if you're ready. It won't take long. You can just wait here," Dr. Pearson said turning to Kate.

"I'm ok," Castle verified when she looked at him slightly panicked.

The x-rays showed Castle had 2 broken ribs, but thankfully the doctor didn't find anything else wrong, so he was fine to go home. He was given some pain killers and instructed to come back if he had any problems.

"I should call Alexis," Castle said once they were in car heading to the loft.

Beckett nodded keeping her eyes on the road.

"Hey Dad," she answered.

"Hey pumpkin. You busy?"

"Not really, what's up?"

"I need you to know that I'm fine, and there's no reason to worry."

"What happened?" She asked quickly.

"While we were out making an arrest, the suspect pulled a gun, and I got hit in the vest. I'm fine. The vest did its job."

"You're sure? Did you go to the hospital?" She questioned.

"Yes, I'm on my way home now."

"What did the doctor say?"

"I have 2 broken ribs and some bruising, but nothing to worry about."

"Dad!"

"I promise, Alexis. I'm ok."

"I'm coming home."

"Ok, we'll be there soon."

"Beckett's with you?"

"Yeah, she's driving."

"Ok, good. I'll see you in a bit."

"Love you"

"Love you too, Dad."

He hung up and put his phone back in his pocket. He looked over and saw Beckett was entirely too focused on the road. She was avoiding him.

"That went well," Castle offered after a second.

"Is she mad I'm with you?" Kate asked quietly.

"No, no. She sounded relieved."

"Ok, good."

"She likes you, you know."

"I do, but this is serious. You were with me, and you got shot. That's enough to change her opinion."

"This isn't your fault."

"I know."

"Kate"

"I know. It's just..."

"Just what?" He asked gently .

"I worry about you. You would never be in situations where things like this could happen if it wasn't for me."

"I choose to work at the precinct. Yes, part of it is to spend time with you, but I could see you outside of it. I do this for so many other reasons. I care about bringing people justice, maybe that wasn't my focus at the beginning, but it is now," Castle explained.

"I know you care. That's one of things I love about you, but I still worry."

"I worry about you too," he said reaching out to put his hand on her thigh.

"Sometimes I hate my job."

"We're going to be just fine."

"Come on. Let's get you inside," Beckett said pulling into parking garage.

They weren't home long before Alexis got there. Rick explained everything to her and his mother. Alexis asked a lot of question, but Castle was proud of how maturely she handled everything. However, Castle was pretty well exhausted from the day and the pain meds. He decided to go take nap and after Kate assured her that her dad would be well taken care of, Alexis left to go back to school. She had an exam the next day and really needed to study. Kate wasn't entirely comfortable leaving him alone, so she headed into his room grabbing his iPad off his desk on the way by. She often used it when she was at the loft and knew he wouldn't care. He was sound asleep and after watching his chest rise and fall for a few minutes. She sat down in the chair next to his bed and pulled up his Kindle app.

It had been about 45 minutes when her phone rang and startled them both.

"Sleep. I'll be back," Beckett said as Rick grumbled something unintelligible.

She walked out to the living room. "Beckett"

"Hey, we have a problem." Esposito said calmly.

"What?"

"Kuhn lawyered up right away."

"I figured he would, but we have plenty on him."

"Yeah the murder charge isn't the issue."

"We all saw him shoot Castle plus we'll run the ballistics. There should be no problems."

"You were planning on filling as if Castle was a cop, right?" He asked.

"Yes. He was with us and wearing a vest, Kuhn had no idea he wasn't a cop."

"He wasn't armed."

"What?"

"Castle didn't have a gun."

"Esposito, just tell me," Beckett said frustrated.

"First thing his lawyer said after meeting with Kuhn is that we better not file assault with a deadly weapon against an officer because he is prepared to fight it."

"We'll fight back. I'll talk to the DA."

"The DA who thought Castle killed someone and escaped custody a matter of months ago? Even if we get the charge to stick, the uproar could very well get Castle get kicked out of the precinct. And I'm not sure we really have a case."

"So what are you suggesting we do, Javier?"

"We treat Castle like a civilian. We already have his statement and evidence. It will stand up in court no problem. Hopefully, it will stay out of the lime light."

"That's a lot lesser of a charge. Castle is one of us. He should be treated as such."

"You know I feel that way too, but if we do that, if Gates and the DA even let us, it will just cause trouble."

"Esposito-"

"Kuhn is already going to jail for life. We got him for two counts of Murder 1. He's done." He interjected trying to reason with her.

"Let me talk to Castle. I'll call you back."

"How is he?"

"He's good. He's going to be fine."

"We have to make sure he gets to come back."

"I know, I know. We'll figure it out."

"Who was it?" Castle asked when she came back into his bedroom.

"Esposito."

"Kate?" He questioned seeing something was clearly wrong.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine. What's wrong?"

"There's a problem with the charges against Kuhn. We were planning on treating it as if you were a cop, but his lawyer is apparently 2 steps ahead of us. He's already making a big deal about it and threatening to get the charge thrown out of court and get you thrown out of the precinct in the process."

"What? Kate?"

"We don't have a lot of options. We could proceed as we planned, but now that doesn't seem like a good idea," she explained sitting next to him in bed."Or we can file the charge as against a civilian not a cop. NYPD has all the evidence necessary."

"And if Kuhn still fights it?"

"He has nothing to fight. We have ballistics and Ryan, Esposito, and I's testimony. He can't get out of it."

"He could still get me thrown out of the precinct. The media is going to be all over this. If they turn on us, Gates' hands are going to be tied. She'll have to kick me out."

"Well what choice do we have?"

"Maybe I shouldn't press charges at all."

"He shot you!"

"But I'm fine, and he's already going to jail for life. There's no problem with the murder charges, right?"

"Right. 2 counts of murder 1 and resisting arrest."

"So is my added charge really going to add anything to his sentence?" He asked reaching out and taking her hands in his.

She thought for a moment and then shook her head, "With his priors, I really doubt he's not getting life in prison with no parole."

"Ok, so if I don't do anything, I get to come back to the precinct, and he still goes to jail for life."

"You really want to let him get away with this?"

"I'm not. You just admitted adding more charges wouldn't affect his sentence. This way I'm not letting him hurt me anymore."

"Castle"

"I want to keep working with you."

"I want that too, but...," she trailed off.

"What?" He asked gently squeezing her hands.

"I can't just let someone shoot you."

"You're not. We're doing what has to be done so I don't get kicked out of the precinct. You're protecting me in a way."

"And if the issue still comes up?"

"Then we'll deal with it. If I end up out any way, I won't hesitate to press charges."

"Ok."

"Come on, I'm ready to get up. You want to order something to eat?"

"You pick somewhere. I'm going to call Esposito back real quick. You're sure this is what you want to do?"

"I'm sure."

"Ok. Order us something, and I'll have Esposito tell Kuhn's lawyer.

They ate and chatted about anything but the events of the day. It was light and honestly, Castle wasn't really in pain. It was all pretty normal. He suggested a movie when they were done, so they ended up curled up on the couch with Kate careful not to lean on his ribs in any way.

"Let's go to bed," Castle said nudging her when the movie was over.

"Yeah, I'm sorry you're probably exhausted."

"I'm fine. You're the one that was yawning during the whole thing."

"Funny. Do you want a pain pill?" She asked.

"Um yeah. It's going to be awful in the morning."

"I took tomorrow off."

"What? You didn't have to."

"I know. I wanted to," she replied with a smile

"You know what the worst part of this is?" He asked once they were settle in bed.

"Hmm?"

"I have to order a new vest."

"Seriously, Castle," Beckett laughed sitting up to look at him.

"Come on that thing was awesome"

"Well after today, I don't think awesome even begins to cover it," she said leaning over and placing a gentle kiss on his lips.

A/N: Hope everyone liked it. I would love to hear your thoughts. Comments, concerns, criticisms, let me know :) This has been sitting on my computer for months. I finally finished it. I got all the legal stuff from watching crime shows so I hope it's accurate enough. I'm premed not prelaw lol. Thanks for reading! Please review