Thanks to everyone that alerted, favored, and reviewed on the first chapter.
Chapter 2: A New Day
She awoke to the sun streaming through the window. She shifted and then winced, it hurt to move.
"Kate, honey, you're awake."
"Yes Castle I am."
"Castle? You never call me Castle."
"I do it all the time. Where am I?" She hadn't completely opened her eyes yet.
"Do you remember anything from last night? You're in the hospital," with that statement her eyes flew open and she sat up, or tried to. It was too painful, "Let me go get a nurse," he rushed out of the room.
'What the hell is going on?' she thought.
"Good morning Mrs. Castle, how are we feeling today?" The nurse Rick brought into the room asked.
'Mrs. Castle?' Her eyes grew wide. Internally she was torn between something that resembled a victory dance or hyperventilating. Unfortunately she was still attached to the heart monitor which started going crazy as soon as he internal conflict started.
"Kate?" Rick asked worried.
"Mrs. Castle, Mrs. Castle, calm down," she paused to give Kate a moment to collect herself, "according to your chart you had a bit of a nasty tumble yesterday. Can you tell me what you remember?"
"Well I remember entering the warehouse and chasing after our suspect. Did Ryan and Esposito get him?" She asked towards Rick.
He looked at her for a moment before turning to the nurse, "Could she have amnesia?"
"Excuse me I'm right here and I'm fine."
Before the nurse was able to say anything they were interrupted by a mass of brunette curls yelling 'Mommy!'. Rick caught the small child before she could jump on Kate.
"Inside voice young lady," he said sternly before smiling, "do you remember the talk we had yesterday," she nodded her head, "ok, carefully give mommy a hug." He put the girl down and she tentatively made her way to Kate's bedside. Kate patted the bed beside her and watched as the girl climbed up. The door opened again and Alexis walked in.
"Hi dad," she said walking over to Kate, "Hi Kate, "she kissed her cheek, "how are you doing?"
"Ok, I guess," Kate answered quietly embarrassed she didn't remember anything. She looked over to Rick. He quickly took his cue.
"Alright girls I think the nurse has a few tests she wants to run, how about we go get some breakfast. What do you think Sophie?" Kate looked at the little girl and then at Rick. He gave her a small wink and she mouthed thank you to him before he picked the little girl up.
"Will we come back?" Her tiny voice asked.
"Will we come back? Will we come back? Of course we will," he said tickling her, "who else is gonna help mommy if we don't," he put her down and squatted in front of her, "but in order to do that we have to go have Sophie's favorite breakfast."
"Pancakes!" She said excitedly.
"Of course," Alexis chipped in. Sophie grabbed Alexis's hand and started pulling her towards the door, "Let's Go! Let's Go!" laughing Alexis walked out with her younger sibling.
Rick walked over to Kate, "We'll talk later," he said looking at her closely. He watched her nod and then quickly kissed her cheek and squeezed her hand before leaving.
"Ok, honey everything seems to be fine. I've paged the Doctor; he should be in here soon. My name's Nancy, by the way, and I'll be at the nurse's station right out there. So you just push that button there and I'll be right in."
"Thanks," Kate said turning towards the window. She was just trying to figure out what was going on.
The next day was cloudy, which was fine with Castle. A sunny day would have been mocking. Even the sounds of the city were subdued as he made his was to Beckett's side. Once again a breath was knocked out of him when he saw her lying in that bed.
"Hey, Beckett. Kate. I think this situation is bad enough to warrant a first name," he started the moment he sat down, "Ryan and Esposito got him; well you did too, once in the shoulder. Apparently he confessed almost immediately they way they talked," he grew silent watching her. He had almost forgotten that she was surrounded by machines when the one monitoring her heart rate began emphatically making noises but just as quickly as it started her heart rate went back to normal.
"Kate!"
"Kate, wake up Kate," the voice permeated her sleep, "honey, I brought you coffee, but you have to get up," reluctantly she opened her eyes, "there she is."
"Don't patronize me Castle," she snapped, "sorry," she quickly apologized after.
"It's ok, here," he handed her the coffee cup. She took it and cautiously took a sip. Realizing it was exactly how she liked her coffee she took a larger drink, "I talked to the doctor, "he looked at her and she nodded, "he said that it appears you might have a mild case of amnesia."
"No, I remember everything that happened."
"Ok then tell me."
"We had finally gotten a lead on our suspect. He was seen going into a warehouse. You, Ryan, Esposito, and I entered the building and there he was, the man that killed Kelly Boston and Lenora Harding, right in the middle of the warehouse. He heard us enter and ran off. Ryan and Esposito took off around the warehouse and I started chasing him, you following behind. I turned the corner and I fired two shots and I don't remember anything else." She looked at Rick as he tried to process her story.
"Wow, that's a story. Were you reading Heat Rises again?" His question visibly upset her. 'How could he not believe her; he was there' she wondered.
"Fine, Rick what happened?" She asked using her interrogation voice.
"According to Kevin as you were leaving for the day you slipped and fell down the stairs. How many times have I told you that would happen if you don't stop reading and walking," he said playfully.
"Where did I fall down the stairs?" She was trying to get all the facts.
"At the school."
"School?"
"Where you teach, 5th grade, Kate," he looked at her seriously, "Do you remember how we met?"
'Yes' she said in her mind, "No," she said aloud looking down towards the blanket that was over her. The second she looked up she saw the hurt in his eyes.
"That's ok, we met on back to school night. Alexis was in you class," and for about the next hour he told her about how she didn't say yes to going on a date with him until after the spring back to school night. And they dated for two years before he proposed. He pulled a picture of them on their wedding day out of his wallet to show her. It was beautiful, they were looking at each other and you could almost feel the love between the two people in the photo. He then pulled another picture out, "that's Sophie," she nodded for him to continue, "She's 4," he then spent another hour telling her about Alexis and Sophie. She listened intently trying to absorb every detail. A knock at the door interrupted them.
"Good afternoon Mr. and Mrs. Castle," they said hello back to the doctor that entered the room. He picked up her chart and briefly read through it. "Well everything looks good here. How are you feeling Kate?"
"I feel fine."
"Does anything hurt," she shook her head, "alright then I see no reason why you can't go home."
"Doctor, what about the memory loss?" Rick asked.
"It doesn't appear to be anything too serious. She remembers dates, presidents, people, current events; she just seems to jumble some details. And everything will probably resolve itself, just don't overwhelm yourself, let it come naturally," he told Kate, "and don't try to push her. It'll be hard for a little bit but it'll get easier. And come back in if you need to, ok." They both nodded their heads in understanding. "Alright Mr. Castle if you'll come with me we'll start on the discharge papers."
"Ok," Rick stood up and leaned down to Kate, "I'll call Alexis and have her bring you some clothes," she nodded and he quickly kissed her cheek.
The nurses didn't bother the man sleeping in the chair next to Beckett's bed as they made their way through their rounds. He had been there for almost two days, never in the way and always polite, when he did leave he returned with two coffees the second one he'd inevitably drink in the end.
Castle shifted in his chair. It was uncomfortable and he would regret sleeping there in the morning, again. But he couldn't leave her side for more than a few hours. Martha and Alexis came by earlier bringing a few items for him and a large bouquet of flowers for Beckett. Alexis sat all but on Castle and Martha held Beckett's hand and told her a story of someone from one of the plays she worked on ended up in a similar situation. They left after two hours and Castle promised he'd come home later. Seven hours later a nurse was putting an extra blanket around his shoulders while he slept.