A/N: This chapter may be a bit boring, but it does serve a purpose, please be patient with it. From here on I am speculating on what happened after the credits started rolling. The plot thickens at the end of this chapter, promise.

Chapter 2:

The trip to the hospital goes by in a blur for Kate. All that she keeps thinking is that Castle is alive, thank God he is alive, and praying that it would stay that way. Javier had gotten her back in the car, and then he went to ask the sheriff for directions to the hospital. The sheriff offered them a police escort, which Esposito gladly accepted. As they raced through the streets behind the police cruiser, its siren blaring, Javier phoned Lanie to update her on the situation and tell her where they were going.

By the time they reach the hospital Kate has started to regain her composure, or that's what she tells herself. At least she waits in the backseat until Esposito parks the car and walks around to help her out of her seat. He gently takes her by her elbow and leads her through the doors marked ER. She hates hospitals, and with all that has happened in the past who could blame her? The smell of disinfectant hanging in the air gives her flashbacks to all those horrible times, but she pushes them to the back of her mind – she must focus on Castle now, and that is all that matters.

The nurse at the reception counter looks up as they approach, a flash of "What the hell?" crossing her face before she sets her expression back to non-committal. Kate feels her irritation at the woman rise, then remembers how they must look: A woman in a, by now, kind of dirty and crumpled wedding gown, eyes still puffy and red; the man with her dressed in a tux, his pants still covered in dust where he kneeled in the dirt in front of Kate – and both of them smelling of smoke. "Can I help you?" the duty nurse – her name tag identifies her as Mandy – asks politely.

"We are looking for Richard Castle; he was brought in from an accident scene a while back." Javier informs her before Kate can gather her thoughts.

Mandy's face softens as she asks "Are you family?"

"I'm his fiancée", Kate finally finds her voice.

The pieces falls into place for Mandy "Poor woman" flashes through her mind before she says "Mister Castle was brought in here a while ago, yes. He was taken straight for emergency surgery. If you would kindly take a seat in the waiting room, I will let the doctor know you are here. He will be with you as soon as possible, or send someone out to talk to you if necessary."

"Thank you" Javier says as he turns around. Kate wants to argue, but he is already steering her away from the desk and into the eerily empty waiting room. "Come on Beckett, she doesn't know anything else. Please sit down."

So she sits, not really possessing the strength to fight him on it. He is right anyway; the nurse will not tell them anything else. Then a thought comes to her: Martha and Alexis, she has to call them. She starts looking for her phone, only to realise it is still at the mansion. "Dammit, Kate you promised you would call" she berates herself.

"Don't worry, Beckett. I called Lanie on the way here. They should already be on their way." Javier tells her before she can ask for his phone. "Now try to stay calm, working yourself into a frenzy will not help anybody at this moment."

It is not long before the doors opens to let in a whirlwind containing Martha, Alexis and Lanie. Before Martha can start her inquiry with Mandy, Esposito stands and collects the women from reception, ushering them into the waiting room while filling them in on what little they already found out.

After a lot of hugging and comforting between the women, Lanie holds up a kitbag saying, "Kate, I brought you fresh clothes. I am certain you don't want to sit here in your wedding dress for however long this may take."

"Go on, Katherine. We will be all right here with Javier while you go change. We will come and get you if we get any news." Martha makes shooing gestures while she talks. Alexis simply nods, her green eyes still brimming with tears.

Kate really wants to stay, but she also knows that they are right and this can turn out to be a very long wait. Therefore, she lets Lanie lead her out of the waiting room in search of a place to change. They find a bathroom down the hall and Lanie helps Kate out of her dress and hands her a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a pair of sneakers which she puts on without comment. She also washes her face in some cold water, which oddly enough makes her feel better.

When they exit the bathroom a few minutes later the reception area is filled with cops, the small waiting room also crammed full. Everywhere there is a place to sit or stand is occupied. Apparently, most of the wedding guests have decided to come to the hospital to wait with them, the mayor and Castle's writer friends included. As far as she can gather about the entire twelfth precinct is there, even captain Gates is there sitting next to her husband holding his hand tightly, a worried expression on her face. Kate has only seen this many cops gathered at a hospital at the same time when one of their own got injured – and she realises, even though Castle is not a cop, he actually became one of them a long time ago.

Kate really wants to pace to work off her nervous energy, but there is not really space for this so she takes a seat between Martha and Alexis and settles in to wait. Alexis pulls her into a tight hug, seemingly not thinking about letting her go anytime soon, while Martha takes her hand and holds it between both of her still shaking hands.

After what feels like days, but is in reality about three hours, of waiting with only the soft shuffle of people changing positions are heard Kate looks up when she hears footsteps approaching. When the doctor appears in the doorway everybody in the waiting room gets up with as Kate does – Alexis still holding on to her.

"Family of Mister Castle?" the doctor asks, looking astounded at the large amount of people before him.

"That's us," Martha states, walking closer to him and pulling Kate and Alexis with her. "I'm his mother, Martha. This is his daughter, Alexis, and his fiancée, Kate." Gesturing to each of them in turn as she speaks.

"I am Doctor Allan. Mister Castle is out of surgery. Apparently, his airbag didn't fully deploy, or not at all, as he has a broken nose and what appears to be a severe concussion. His left shoulder is broken and the impact his knees made with the underside of the dashboard also resulted in him breaking the knee that has had previous surgery. We have set the knee as well as we could under the circumstances, but it may require further surgery in future. He also has an injury to his upper left thigh, resulting in severe blood loss. He is stable for now, but we will have to wait until he regains consciousness to ascertain the true extent of his head injury." He waits for his words to sink in and looks around the waiting room again, and behind him into the still filled reception area wondering what exactly is happening in his usually quiet and relatively empty hospital.

"When can we see him?" Alexis asks.

The doctor suddenly looks uncomfortable, "Before you do, I do have something else to add. But I think we should find somewhere more private for this discussion."

"You can say what you need to right here, doctor. They are going to find out anyway." Martha again, her dramatic flair showing when she sweeps her arm to indicate the people around them.

Dr Allan sighs and then lowers his voice when he says, "The broken shoulder and thigh injury resulting in the blood loss did not occur because of the crash… We retrieved bullet fragments from both of these injury sites."

A/N2: Please don't shoot me, this seemed to be the best place for a chapter break. Hopefully more tomorrow.