Kate's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Castle's cell phone ringing. She knew by the ring tone exactly who it was.
"Hi, pumpkin," Castle said into the phone.
"Dad! Are you ok? And Kate, I mean Detective Beckett, is she ok? We saw you guys on the news," Alexis said all in one breath.
"Slow down, sweetie! I'm going to put you on speaker, hold on."
"Dad! You didn't answer my questions!" Alexis' voice filled the ambulance. "Is Detective Beckett ok?"
Kate could hear the worry in Alexis' voice and it touched her to know that Castle's daughter was that concerned for her well being. It surprised her at how close Alexis and her had become over the period that Castle had been shadowing her and even more surprising was how Castle had told her that Alexis looked up to her.
"Hey, Alexis," Kate croaked, her throat still stinging from the smoke.
"Kate! Oh, thank god! I'm so glad your ok!"
Kate felt an unusual rush of emotion and tried to blink back the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes. She never cried in front of people.
Castle gently squeezed her hand giving her a reassuring smile.
"You can thank your father for that, Alexis. He's the one who came and got me out," Kate replied returning Castle's smile.
"You did what, Dad? You know if you had gone running into a burning building for anyone else I would be absolutely furious with you right now but because it's Detective Beckett we're talking about that's a totally different story. That and you probably owe her over a hundred times for saving your own life,"
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Castle said although he had a smile on his face.
"I think it means that you now only owe me ninety nine more times, Castle," Kate answered with a laugh.
They heard Alexis giggle. "I am really glad that you guys are ok. Which hospital are you going to?"
"St. Vincent's and we actually just pulled up so I've got to go, pumpkin. Kate needs to get checked out."
"Ok, Gram and I are going to come down there. We'll see you soon. Love you!"
"Love you too, sweetie."
The ambulance pulled up to the hospital and the paramedics quickly wheeled Kate inside with Castle in tow.
"Well, Detective, looks like you have minor smoke inhalation and a sprained wrist. You should consider yourself pretty lucky. However, you will have to take it easy for a few days," said that Doctor.
Kate started to protest but the Doctor held up his hand.
"I know you are working on some kind of case right now, your Captain filled me in and warned me that you would put up a fight. So I'm just going to say this. As long as you don't physically exert yourself, you can go back to work."
"Thank you, Doctor. And you said my Captain filled you in?"
"Yes, there's a bunch of people waiting outside in the hall right now. Did you want to see them?"
Kate nodded.
Kate's eyes widened as Castle, Alexis, Martha, Montgomery, Esposito, Ryan and Lanie all piled into her room.
Hugs were exchanged and soon laughter filled her room and it felt like old times.
The carefree attitude in the room suddenly turned serious when Esposito and Ryan started filling Beckett in on what happened.
"We called Agent Shaw as soon as we heard that we had got the wrong guy. Her team is still at your apartment sifting through the mess but they've determined that the bomb was set right outside your apartment door. It was similar to the one that we found in Conrad's apartment. Everyone was surprised that you managed to get out ok," Esposito finished quietly.
Beckett looked towards Castle who as usual had been staring at her. She didn't know how she would ever be able to thank him for saving her life.
"If it wasn't for Castle I wouldn't have made it out," she began quietly. "I had been in the shower and had left my phone out on the table across from the door. I heard it ringing from the bathroom and went to grab it. I was still standing right by my front door when Castle was yelling in my ear that the real killer was still out there. The last thing I remember is hearing that awful recording and running for the bathroom. I must have blacked out for a moment because the next thing I remember is hearing Castle screaming my name and then us making our way outside," Beckett said softly.
The room was silent for a few minutes.
"How did everyone get to my apartment so quickly?" asked Beckett.
Castle spoke up. "I had tried calling you from my house first. When you didn't pick up I asked my mother to call Montgomery at the precinct and I made my way to your place."
"Ryan and Esposito were still at the precinct when I received the call," added Montgomery. "So, naturally we sent everyone we could spare over to you. We didn't know what the guy was planning but we knew it was something big. So, all the units were already making there way over to you before the bomb went off."
"And once we got there we called Agent Shaw," Ryan added.
"Thanks, guys," Kate said looking around the room. This was her family and she knew that each and every one of them had her back.
"Sorry to interrupt," the Doctor said poking his head into the room. "But I just wanted to let Detective Beckett that we have her discharge papers all done up and ready to go."
"So I can leave?" Kate asked, hopefully.
"You may leave, Detective, but remember what I said about taking it easy."
"Ok, thank you again, Doctor."
"I'll go take care of those papers for you, Kate," said Lanie.
Once Lanie had left the room Montgomery spoke up again.
"Given the circumstances, Beckett, we need to find some place safe for you to stay. This guy is fixated on you and once he finds out that you're still alive he may try and come after you again."
"There are a couple hotels close to the precinct that I could stay at," Beckett said slowly.
"A hotel, Beckett?" Castle said. "This guy got into your apartment building. You really don't think he could get into a hotel?"
"Do you have a better idea, Castle," Beckett said glaring at him.
He glanced at Alexis before answering and saw her nod her head slightly. She really was her father's daughter.
"Come stay with us," he began but Beckett cut him off.
"Castle, I can't stay with you. I'll ask Lanie if I can stay with her or something."
Castle then turned to the Captain. "Captain, my building has the best security in the whole city. Plus, I have extra body guards on my floor to keep an eye on things. I have the room and the means to keep her safe."
"Beckett, I'm going to have to agree with Castle. Our first priority is keeping you safe and you can't beat personal security."
"But, sir," she protested.
"Kate," Alexis suddenly spoke up and all eyes turned to the youngest in the room. "Please, come and stay with us. We have the extra room and we would love to have you. Everybody in this room is concerned for your safety and nobody wants to think about what would have happened had that psycho succeeded. Please don't give him another chance. Plus, my dad does make amazing pancakes for breakfast!"
Everyone laughed. Kate looked at Alexis and then at Castle who was doing his best puppy eyes expression.
"Fine," Kate said. "But I will be expecting those pancakes!"
Castle laughed and watched as Alexis leaned in to hug Beckett.
"Thank you for making that very hard for me to turn down," Kate whispered teasingly to Alexis before she pulled away.
Alexis just smiled at her before turning to her father. "Dad, you better promise her there's going to be pancakes or else I'm going where she goes."
"Me too," said Martha suddenly.
Castle chuckled. "I promise you that there will be pancakes," he said staring directly at Beckett.
"Ok. If you guys don't mind, I'm just going to get changed and then I'll be ready to go," Beckett said to everyone in the room.
Everyone, except Lanie who had come back with Beckett's discharge papers, left the room to give Beckett some privacy.
"Wow," Lanie exclaimed when everyone was gone. "That girl is hard to turn down."
Kate glanced at Lanie quickly with a small smile playing on her lips.
"Tell me about it."
Thank you all for the reviews! I'm hoping that I can finish this before the new episode! Please tell me what you think so far, it's much appreciated!
