DISCLAIMERS: No. I own many things, but 'Castle' isn't among them.
A/N #1: I'm overwhelmed by the response to this story. Thank you, all of my loyal readers.
A/N #2: To the guest reviewer who warned me that too much angst is depressing; I promise that I will include moments of joy. After all, in the immortal words of Kate Beckett, 'Even on the worst days, there's a possibility for joy.'
A/N #3: This chapter will backtrack slightly.
Chapter 2: Revelations
"Are you and Jenny taking Sarah Grace to see Santa Claus?" Esposito asked as he and Ryan walked toward the elevator in the parking garage.
"We tried," Ryan shook his head at the memory. "But the instant that Jenny put Sarah Grace on Santa's knee, she took one look at him and began screaming like he was murdering her. I guess we'll try next year."
"Yeah, I guess I'd be freaked if—" Espo stopped talking when he noticed that Ryan was looking at something in the distance. "What's wrong?"
"Hey!" Ryan shouted, running down the rows of cars. "Stop! Police!"
That was when Esposito saw what his partner saw. A pair of shoes and a figure kneeling over the shoes. At Ryan's shout, the figure got up and bolted. Esposito took off after him, shouting at him to stop. The man, dressed completely in black, ran down the street and down the stairs toward the subway, Esposito about half a block behind him, but quickly catching up.
Down in the subway, both the man and Esposito dodged commuters as the man ran toward the subway platform, neatly leaping over the turnstile and toward a waiting train. Esposito cursed when the train doors slid closed and the train exited the station.
Back in the garage, Ryan approached the pair of shoes and was shocked to find Kate lying on the cold concrete floor, unconscious, her scarf wrapped tightly around her neck. "Beckett!" He pulled out his phone. "This is Det. Kevin Ryan, badge number 42344. I need a bus at the parking garage across from the 12th Precinct. I also need CSU! Officer Down!" He ended his call and focused his attention on Kate. He loosened the scarf and felt for a pulse. He breathed out a huge sigh when he felt her pulse under his fingers. "Beckett, can you hear me?"
"He hopped on the subway. I never got a look at him," Esposito returned to the parking garage, out of breath. "Beckett! Is she—"
"No, I got a pulse, but he tried to strangle her."
Soon, the area was crawling with CSU and paramedics. After getting her vital signs, the paramedics immediately loaded her into an ambulance. Capt. Gates showed up at the same time as CSU, who were processing the scene.
"What happened?" The captain asked.
"We were coming across the garage and I saw a pair of shoes sticking out into the aisle and a man dressed all in black kneeling over. It didn't look right. I didn't realize it was Beckett until I got closer."
"I chased the suspect, but he hopped on the train. I never got a good look at his face."
"Did Beckett say anything?"
"No, sir. The guy wrapped her scarf around her neck and tried to strangle her."
"Get to the hospital. If someone tried to kill her, he might try again. I'll put guards on her."
"Yes, sir."
***CCC***
"Detective Beckett? Kate?"
Kate could hear a voice calling her from far away. But it was safer where she was. But the voice above her head was so insistent. She slowly opened her eyes, closing them quickly when the bright light over her head penetrated her brain. She tried to talk, but no sound would come out. She took a deep breath and tried again. "Nails," her voice was barely above a whisper.
"Detective, you're at New York Presbyterian Hospital. The police are anxious to talk to you. Do you feel like answering some questions?"
Kate took a deep breath and slowly nodded her head. Moments later, she heard footsteps and Ryan's familiar voice. "Kate, do you feel like answering some questions?"
"Nails," she mouthed the words, no sound emerging from her throat.
"I'm sorry, Beckett, I can't hear you."
"Her windpipe and vocal cords are swollen due to the attempted asphyxiation," a nurse explained. "Detective Beckett, would it be easier for you to write your answers?" Kate nodded, so the nurse pressed a pen and a small notepad into her hands. "Please be brief."
"I will."
Kate wrote one word in huge block letters before shoving the pad toward Ryan. 'NAILS' was all she had written.
"Kate, I don't under—Wait! You scratched your assailant?" He asked as Kate nodded. "Okay, I'll get someone from CSU down here. Can you describe him?"
Kate scribbled and handed the pad back to Ryan. 'ALL IN BLACK. BLACK SKI MASK. PULLED IT & SCRATCHED HIM. VOICE WAS FAMILIAR.'
"You recognized his voice? Do you know from where?" Kate shook her head, closing her eyes against the light.
"That's enough, Detective," the doctor pulled Ryan aside.
Kate hit the pad against the bed to get Ryan's attention. "Kate, what is it?"
'CASTLE.'
"I'll call him. You relax and get some rest. Gates is going to station guards outside of your room." Ryan stepped aside with the doctor. "I'm going to go and call her husband. I'm also going to have CSU come down here and scrape her nails. Hopefully the guy is in our database."
After Ryan stepped out, the doctor stepped up to the gurney. "We're going to get some x-rays of your knee. Did you hit your head?"
Kate just shrugged before writing. 'VOICE?'
"Your windpipe and vocal cords are swollen from your assailant trying to strangle you. Your voice will return in a day or two when the swelling goes down. Det. Beckett, the whites of your eyes are blood red from the blood vessels breaking. This might take a while to heal. It'll make your eyes sensitive to light, so you might want to wear sunglasses until it heals."
'PETECHIA.'
"Yes. Get some rest and I'll send your husband in when he gets here."
Kate closed her eyes against the blinding glare of the overhead lights. She felt a sting in her right hand, followed by something being inserted. Shortly after that, all of the pain started to fade away, being replaced by warmth and safety. It felt the way that it felt when she was with Rick; warm and safe.
***CCC***
Rick was busy in the kitchen, making the tortilla soup that Kate had requested earlier. "Hello, darling," Martha breezed into the loft, closing the door behind her. "Something smells wonderful."
"I talked to Kate at lunchtime and she asked for tortilla soup."
"It's a good day for it. It is positively ghastly out there. It feels like snow. Where is your lovely bride?"
"She should be home any minute now. Let me ask you something, mother. What do you think of the idea of being a grandmother again?"
"Richard, is Katherine—"
"No, no," Rick quickly shook his head. "We're just in the talking stage right now. Kate feels that she's ready, so she's going to talk to her cardiologist to make sure that it won't put any strain on her heart."
"I thought that she made a full recovery."
"She made a full recovery to return to work. That's very different from carrying another human being. Kate said she never discussed that with him because at that time the thought never crossed her mind."
"Well, I have a feeling that everything is going to work out just fine," Martha assured him as Castle grinned widely just as his phone rang. "You might want to get that. It's probably Kate."
Castle grabbed his phone, frowning when he saw Ryan's name on the caller id. "Ryan, what's up? Beckett isn't home, yet."
"Castle, Kate got attacked in the parking garage across from the precinct."
"Attacked? Is she okay?"
"She's at New York Pres."
"I'm on my way!"
"Richard, is everything all right?" Martha was alarmed when she saw Richard go to the closet and grab his coat.
"Ryan said that Kate got attacked in the parking garage. I'll call when I know more!"
When Castle got to the hospital, he saw Gates and Esposito. "Espo, what happened?"
"Ryan and I were walking through the first floor of the garage. Ryan saw someone kneeling over something. He realized that someone was being assaulted. I chased after the guy while Kevin took care of Beckett. I didn't even know it was her, at first."
"Did you get the guy?"
"No. He jumped on the subway. We didn't even get a good look at him. But Beckett told Ryan that she scratched the guy, so CSU got scrapings from under her nails and we're running him through CODIS."
"So, she's okay?"
"Mr. Castle?" Castle looked over and saw Gates standing beside a man dressed in scrubs. "I'm Dr. Garner. I'll take you to see your wife. We can talk on the way." Castle quickly fell in step beside the doctor as they walked down the hall. "Your wife's attacker attempted to strangle her. If her friends hadn't shown up when they did, he would've succeeded. Kate also has a badly bruised knee and some bruises to her torso, probably from being pummeled during her attack. Her windpipe and vocal cords are swollen, so right now she's not able to speak. Her speech will return in a day or two when the swelling subsides. I'd like to keep her a day or two for observation."
They stepped onto the elevator and went upstairs to the room Kate had been moved to. "How long can I stay with her?"
"Stay as long as you'd like. She's been given a sedative, so she's going to be in and out."
"Thank you," Castle opened the door and stepped in.
He couldn't help remembering the first time he'd seen her in a hospital bed, looking so small and frail. Once again she was in a hospital bed after enduring yet another fight for her life. Castle was shocked by the purple bruises to her face and around her throat. He pulled a chair over and sat down, taking her cold hand in both of his, rubbing it to warm it.
Kate felt the familiar warmth of Castle's hand and opened her eyes, smiling wanly into his concerned blue eyes. 'Hi,' she mouthed.
"Hi," he leaned forward and softly kissed her. "Thank god you're okay. Kate, do you know who did this?"
She nodded toward the notepad and pen by her bed. Castle handed them to her and watched as she raised the bed. She wrote a few lines and handed him the pad. 'VOICE WAS FAMILIAR. BUT I'M FUZZY. DON'T REMEMBER WHERE.'
"Was it someone that you had arrested?"
She took a deep breath and wrote again. 'CASTLE, I DON'T REMEMBER!'
"Okay. I'm sorry. I don't mean to upset you. Thank god the boys stopped him."
Kate closed her eyes, wincing against the persistent throbbing in her throat. It still felt like her scarf was being wound around her neck. She wanted to go home to the safety of the loft, where it was quiet. Here in the hospital, every small noise set her nerves on edge. She opened her eyes and once again picked up the pad. 'MY DAD?'
"I'll call him in a little while. I wanted to see you first."
'HOME, CASTLE.'
"They want to keep you for a couple of days, Kate. You got pretty banged up." She shook her head. "Kate, come on. I want to make sure that it's okay for you to be released. I don't want you coming home early, only to have to be readmitted."
'NOT SAFE HERE.'
"Kate, Capt. Gates has stationed guards outside of your door. I can hire somebody to watch out for you once we go home. At least until they catch this guy."
She put the pad and pen down, once again reaching out for his hand. He took it, wrapping his fingers around hers. "Sleep, Kate. I'm not going anywhere."
Her eyes closed and she went back to sleep, keeping her hand in Castle's. But he noticed that her body tensed at every noise outside of her room, especially footsteps.
***CCC***
"Do we have anything on who attacked Det. Beckett?" Capt. Gates asked, as she approached Ryan, who was sitting in front of his computer screen.
"DNA is still going through CODIS. How is she?"
"Lucky to be alive. Mr. Castle is with her now."
"We've got a hit!" Ryan said as Gates came over to stand behind him. "Wait, this can't be right."
"Who is it?"
"Russell Ganz. But he's supposed to be in prison."
"Who's Russell Ganz?"
"In 2011, Beckett arrested him in L.A. for the murder of her former T.O., Mike Royce."
"It says here that he's out of prison after winning an appeal on his conviction," Gates read over Ryan's shoulder. "Let me call the D.A. and find out what the appeal was based on. Meanwhile, let's get a BOLO put out on Mr. Ganz."
"Yes, sir."
***CCC***
Ryan had texted Castle and told him that there was a lead on Kate's attack. Making sure that Kate was still soundly sleeping, Castle slipped out of the room. Moments later, Ryan and Esposito stepped off of the elevator. "What did you find?" Castle asked.
"It was Russell Ganz who attacked Beckett, Castle," Ryan told him.
"Ganz? That isn't possible," Castle argued. "Russell Ganz is in prison."
"Not anymore. He's out on appeal. Gates talked to the D.A. He told her that Ganz won his appeal based on Beckett's trip to Los Angeles. She wasn't authorized to go after him," Esposito added.
"He crossed state lines to kill someone," Castle reminded them.
"And when Ganz went back to L.A., Beckett should've let the authorities out there take care of it. Montgomery told her as much," Esposito threw back at him. "She let her personal feelings get in the middle of her common sense."
"Have you guys found Ganz?"
"No, he's in the wind," Ryan said. "There's a BOLO out on him. TSA and Border Guards have also been notified. He's not going anywhere, Castle."
"How's she doing?" Espo nodded toward the room.
"She's scared. She wants to go home. You know, the usual 'Beckett's Struggles with PTSD' type of thing," Castle said bitterly. "I'm sorry. I'm just worried about her."
"We'll let you get back in to her. We'll keep you updated," Espo told him.
"Thanks, guys."
When he walked back into the room, he found himself face to face with Kate, who was holding her I.V. pole in one hand and the wall with her other hand. Her face was a mask of rage and pain. "Ganz attacked me?" She mouthed.
"Come on, you shouldn't be out of bed," he slipped one arm around her waist and helped her back into bed, pulling her sheet over her. He handed her the notepad and pen before he continued. "They're going to find him, Kate."
Kate wasn't listening. Instead her mind had gone back to that early morning when she'd learned that Royce was dead. She thought of how different her life could've gone if only she had allowed him in to her heart. She finally picked up her notepad and pen. 'I HAD TO GET JUSTICE FOR ROYCE. I DON'T REGRET ANYTHING.'
"I know."
'CAN YOU DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE LIGHTS?'
The whites in both of Kate's eyes were very red, obscuring the whites for the most part. The doctor had warned him earlier that her eyes would be extremely light sensitive for six to twelve weeks. He walked over and flipped the overhead switch, leaving her room illuminated by the light above her bed. "Better?" He asked as she nodded. "Do you want me to stay tonight?"
She patted the space beside her. He grinned before sitting on the edge of the bed and toeing out of his shoes before slipping into the narrow hospital bed. Kate quickly settled into her usual spot with her head on his chest, willing sleep to overtake her once again.
Falling asleep, Kate remembered those few days in L.A. with Castle while they tried to find the mysterious man who'd killed Mike Royce. But mostly she remembered that night when she'd almost slept with Rick. She stroked his chest, smiling when she felt his lips brush the top of her head. She knew that she couldn't have found Royce's killer without him and now it seemed that Royce's killer was out to seek revenge on her.
A/N #4: I promise that Kate will start speaking again in the next chapter. I will also return to the family thing.
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