Chapter 2: Worried Writer

"Kate?" Castle calls worriedly, stepping through the wide open doorway into her apartment. Looking frantically around the room, he spies her lying on the ground, silver encircling her body. He rushes over to her, "Kate!"

Her eyes are closed, and her mouth is sealed shut by the tape. He feels her neck for her pulse and is immensely relieved to find that her heart is still beating, though somewhat slower than it should be. As gently as he can, he peels the tape from her mouth. "Kate, wake up," he lightly hits her cheek, hoping she wasn't seriously hurt.

After a few moments, her eyelids flicker. She blinks rapidly, the lights bright and her vision blurry from the trauma to her head. "Castle?"

"Yeah, it's me. You're okay, Kate," he says, relieved as he tries to help her sit up. She closes her eyes, suddenly dizzy. "What happened?"

"I don't know. There were two men… in masks. They wanted… information about the case we're working on. What was her name?"

"Sara Moore," he supplies.

She looks at him for a long moment, "Yeah. And they took the file. And then they duct taped me and said I should just forget about solving her murder."

"Let me get this tape off of you," he says, trying to peel the tape away from her skin.

"Go get a knife."

He complies and then returns to her, looking uncertainly from the tape to the knife. "I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't, Castle. And if you do, I know it's just an accident, and I'll forgive you. Just get this stuff off of me."

Rick looks up at her face before starting to slice the tape around her upper body. Upon pulling that away, he finds a second layer covering her forearms. His hands shake a little as he tries to cut the tape between her arms. She winces, letting out a soft gasp. "Kate, I'm so sorry," he sets the knife aside and looks up to meet her eyes, but they are closed.

"It's fine." He tries to pull the tape from her bare forearms gently, but it can't be done. "Just rip it off."

After an uncertain look at her face, he does as she asks. "How did this happen? Why didn't you try to fight them off?"

"They had guns and knives. And… they threatened to hurt you if I tried anything."

"And how did you end up unconscious? Did you try to move after they left and fall over?" he watches a drop of blood trail down her arm.

"I honestly don't know. One minute I was standing there staring at him and the next thing I remember is seeing your face above me."

"Do you… want to free your legs and I'll go get something for that cut?"

She looks over at him and hesitates, biting her lip. "Actually, Castle… my vision is a little blurry right now so you'd better do it."

"Okay," he says, leaning down to cut her legs free of the tape and trying not to think about her never being able to see properly again.

"I can pull the tape off. First aid stuff is in my bathroom."

He treats the cut he had made on her forearm, covering it with a piece of gauze as it was a little too long for a band-aid. "I'm going to call Montgomery, okay?"

"Yeah, I guess we'd better tell him about this."

"You want to move up onto the couch?"

Before she can respond, her phone starts to ring. Castle retrieves it and answers upon seeing that it is Montgomery. "Captain, we have a problem. Beckett was attacked, and she doesn't seem right." He is surprised to find that she does not protest at this statement, but the captain starts to talk, and he can't dwell on this for long. When he hangs up, he sinks down beside her on the ground. "Two masked men broke into the precinct tonight. They stole everything on the white board and broke into evidence lock-up to get everything we had for this case."

"The same two that got me?"

"Probably not since they couldn't have been attacking you and raiding the precinct at the same time."

"Was anyone hurt?"

"A couple minor scrapes and bruises. Montgomery's sending an ambulance over for you."

"I don't need to go to the hospital."

"Yes, you do."

"Do not. I'll be fine in a couple hours," she tries to stand up, but she ends up toppling over into his lap.

Before she can move off of him, he grabs her, "You're bleeding, Kate."

She reaches up to touch the top of her head, wincing as she does so, and looks at the sticky red liquid on her hand. "I hit my head, Castle. Obviously I'm going to be bleeding."

"There's nothing on the wall or the floor for you to hit your head on that would cut you open. They must've hit you over the head with something."

"I've already told you I don't remember."

"You probably have a concussion."

"Do not. I just hit my head."

Worried, he studies her face, "Kate, that's how you get a concussion."

"I just can't concentrate right now, Castle. My head feels like it's going to explode from all of this pain."

"Why did I have to stop for food? If I hadn't, I could've gotten here before they hurt you. Now you're going to have brain damage or die or something, and it's all my fault."

"I'm not going to die."

He opens his mouth to speak again, but the paramedics rush inside her apartment. He is shoved aside as they begin to examine her and ask her questions about what had happened. While they are busy, he takes the bag of Chinese food that he had thrown on her couch upon entering her apartment to the fridge and washes his hands to get rid of the blood and duct tape adhesive on them.

"I hate hospitals, and I'm not going with you," Beckett yells stubbornly.

"Detective, you need treatment. We need to make sure that you didn't suffer any internal damage when you hit your head."

"I'm fine."

Castle walks back into the room and sees the paramedics holding her steady as she stood; clearly she wasn't fine. They look at him for help. "Kate…" he slowly walks over to them. "Please do this for me. You need to take care of yourself. Let them make sure that you're actually going to be fine."

"You'll go with me?" she asks timidly, looking up to meet his eyes.

"Of course."

A/N: You guys sent so many reviews so I couldn't say no to updating today. Glad for all of the feedback on the first chapter. Maybe you could do the same for the second? Thanks.