Not Your Mistake

Previously on Not your mistake: Josh and Castle confront each other at the hospital and Josh's words make Castle think maybe Kate is better off without a certain writer in her life. He decided to see her one last time to confirm she is alive and safe before walking out of her life forever.

Disclaimer : Nope, still dont own them

Chapter 2

Walking down the hallway towards the ICU, castle felt like that scene in the film volcano where a guy tries to put one front of the other on molten lava floor. Would she still look the same? He prayed that there werent any visible needles poking into her arms. He really did not want that to be the image of her he wanted to carry in my mind and heart for the rest of his life. He knew he was being over-ambitious but a part of him wished that he could say something that made her give him her patented eye-roll. Now that would be an image to cherish. Just as he reached the ICU, another thought struck him, and it struck him hard enough.

"Rick! You freaking idiot!" he muttered slapping a palm to his forehead. He was going to see the love of his life for the first time after he made a honest though cowardly death-bed confession and he was going empty handed. He might as well return his gentleman card on his way home.

'Wait! Wasnt there a florist stand right outside the hospital?' he remembered it distinctly as he almost knocked it down on his hurry to scramble in after Kate. Major oops! Would that lady sell him any flowers now?

'Ofcourse she would you doofus! Now go get your girl some flowers before doctormotorcycleboy shows up with a whole garden!' his brain screamed at him, and he took off in a sprint much to the security guard's amusement.

Well Richard Castle slapping his forehead in the corridor and talking to himself isnt a site you get to see everyday now is it?

A minute later, Rick Castle was standing outside the doors of the ICU, his hands cradling a bouquet made of all the flowers on the stand that caught his fancy. The florist lady was sweet enough to forgive him and sell him flowers provided he paid double. Needless to say, he paid triple plus gave her a kiss on the cheek before running back in with his purchase.

He was about to knock on the door when he realised you DO NOT knock on ICU doors. Ofcourse, Kate was extraordinary to him, but that didnt mean the whole world would treat her so royally as to give her the whole ICU ward now would they? By that line of thinking he would probably disturb 9 other patients in there by knocking, wouldnt he?

'Ok Ricky! Enough with useless thinking to stall time and work on your nervousness. Just get in there already!' his mind screamed at him.

He gingerly pushed open the doors and poked his head in, turning it left and right to spot her.

"In here castle!" a weak voice called from next to the door, so low that he would have missed it if he wasnt waiting to hear it so eagerly.

"Kate!" he exclaimed, tumbling into the room in his hurry to get to her bedside.

"Watch it jerk!" a stronger, less appealing voice called out to him. Less appealing? Who was he kidding! It was downright annoying. Ofcourse it was, Castle thought as his now slow running mind caught up to the scene. It belonged to doctormotorcycleboy(dmb, as rick renamed him, much to his satisfaction when he found out it could very easily be interpretted as dumb!).

For crying out loud, didnt he have any other patients in the whole hospital to tend to? Werent there some kind of rules against spending every minute next to your injured-detective-girlfriend whose love-sick-non-detective-partner was waiting to meet her?

'Wow dude! And you call yourself a writer?' his mind smirked. 'Hey watch it!' he internally told his mind while ignoring dmb, his eyes only for the tired yet stunningly beautiful detective.

Wait a minutre, was it just him or did she look a little upset? the thought automatically making him halt in his steps. Fear crept through him faster than anything he ever felt. Did she hear him? Did she hear him and regret it? Did she hear him and feel the same? How would he know?

'Well ask her!' his mind prompted again. 'I remember asking you to shut up!' he answered it. And before he could begrudgingly heed its advice, the detective in question voiced out the reason for her disapproving look.

"Josh!" she reprimanded her boyfriend sternly before turning back to Castle and giving him a smile.

"Are those flowers for me?" She asked eyeing the bunch in his hands.

'Oh no! He just brought them for your oh-so-polite boyfriend. Duh! Kate' her heart told her. Ok, that was a lame question, she agreed internally. But what was she supposed to say?

'Hey Castle guess what? I remember your confession and I'm gonna pretend like I didnt because my boyfriend is right next to me?' Yeah that would be smooth.

"ofcourse, I heard you were opening a flower store, so i thought i'd pitch in" he answered giving her his best castle smile and glancing at all the flowers that already occupied her bedside. Wow, how long had he gone for? Two hours, tops? He had just run home, tore open his blood-drenched clothes that he never wanted to see or remember again, scrubbed himself clean, twice and then run back equally fast hadnt he? How come the whole freaking world managed to bring in flowers in the mean time?

'No! Dmb must have bought them all, no wait, he must have picked them from all over the ICU when she was still unconscious and put them next to her claiming he brought them' he thought, his thought seeming totally mature to him. 'No wonder all the other patients were looking so sad. He stole thier flowers'

With a thin, fragile hand she reached over to take them from Castle, but he wouldnt let her do that. She already looked so delicate, he didnt have the heart to burden her with heavy flowers. Instead, he pulled out one white lilly and handed it to her, placing the rest on the bedside table.

'Ha! In your face doctor-boyfriend!' he thought, doing a little victory dance on the inside as he watched Kate smell the flower and smile, while Josh made a face.

Face! that reminded him, his face was bruised. He had scrubbed down all the blood on his lips but his jaw still had a purple tinge to it. Oh crap! Oh crap! he thought wondering what could he possibly do to hide it from her. It wouldnt look suspicious if he just pulled the flowers back up from the table and covered his face with them would it?

'Yeah right!Just pray that she is tired enough to not notice it, genius' his mind shot back. He really had to get it to shut up, hell it was coming up with better anecdotes than him these days.

Turns out, he was totally out of luck today. No sooner had he prayed that she wouldnt notice, she did.

"Castle, what happened to your face?" she asked her voice full of concern.

"I...umm" Castle fumbled for words as his eyes slid towards Josh out of thier own will.

It took Kate barely a second to put two and two together. Afterall, she was Newyork's finest.

"Josh" her voice was dangerously low now, and Castle couldnt help but be amazed that she could pull it off in her current state

"Please tell me you did not do that to him" she continued, her eyes locked on his face.

Doctormotorcycleboy looked like a deer in headlights for a second before his face crunched in a combination of defence and disgust.

"He deserved it!" he spat, his eyes daring Kate to deny it. Katherine Beckett was never one to back down even when she was wrong, let alone when she was right to the dot.

"The hell he did! He is the reason I'm even alive Josh. How could you be so childish?" she said, her voice raising slightly.

As much as Castle enjoyed watching her take dmb down, he was also concerned for Kate's health as her heart monitor started beeping slightly. Hadnt the doctor said she wasnt supposed to get excited? Ok, time to step in.

"Beckett, its OK. He was angry at me, we both were" he said trying to play the peace-maker.

"Shut up. You and I are gonna talk soon." she said shooting him a deadly glare before turning back to her boyfriend. "But you, what on earth were you thinking hurting him like that?"

"Kate, I cant believe you are siding with him. Ofcourse I hit him, I was mad, Im your boyfriend for crying out loud!" he said standing up from the seat next to him.

"Kate relax please!" Castle tried again, fighting hard to keep the grin off his face. He loved it when she got all badass like that.

"I told you to shut up Castle" she shot back, not turning her eyes away from Josh.

"Were" she said, her eyes locked with Josh's. He stared back at him dumbly.

"Excuse me?" he asked, confused.

"You were my boyfriend. Not anymore. Its over Josh. We're done, I'm done" she said, calming down a little. Breakups were hard, but atleast a burden was off her shoulders.

"You are breaking up with me? For him? Kate I just saved your life. You owe me for that" he snarled.

Kate just couldnt believe he pulled out the you-owe-me card. That was a low blow. Ok he was hurt, she understood, but that really was a low blow. He was being mean to her, to her annoying-writer-too. And she wanted payback.

"I'll make sure I settle the debt when I pay the hospital bill doctor" she spat back, stressing on the word doctor.

"Screw you!" he said pushing the seat away and storming out the door, making sure to give Castle a 'i hope you rot in a stinking sewer' look on his way out.

After he left, Castle let out a breath he didnt realise he was holding.

"Tha..." he had just begun when she cut him of.

"Dont! Just dont. Come here and sit your butt in that chair. Now" she ordered, and he couldnt help but be reminded of a cute librarian telling him off for speaking in a silent-zone. He obeyed instantly, pulling the chair a little close so that the whole ward wouldnt hear his dignity being stripped layer by layer.

"Explain yourself Richard Edgar Castle!" she said, her voice low again.

'Oooo...You are in trouble!' his mind sang at him. 'Im not in trouble!' he answered it quickly before thinking to himself.

'Im so busted!'

Authors Note: I told you the story would take a lighter note. I know that wasnt how wrote it, but comeon, do you really think Rick Castle could be serious and broody for long? Especially when he was with his favorite detective? So, how was it? Reviews are like a delicious cup of coffee!