AN: Wow! Thanks for all the Favorites, Follows and Reviews. It really blows me away.
"Family of Kate Beckett"
Castle immediately jumped up, settling Alexis on his hip as he approaches the Doctor, Martha is close behind. "We're her family."
"Good evening Mr. Beckett, I'm Doctor Josh Davidson"
"It's Castle actually, Richard Castle. My wife's maiden name is Beckett, she uses it at work."
The surgeon raised his brow as he thought 'Fat chance I'd ever let my wife use her maiden name at work, wuss', "Well anyway Mr. Castle, your wife is out of surgery, she pulled through very well considering the amount of blood she lost. The bullet went straight through, no fragments were left inside. Her left lung was punctured and it collapsed. We were able to re-inflate it after we closed the wounds. She should make a full recovery, but it will take several months. Lung injuries can be very painful..."
Rick could barely focus on what the Dr was saying 'She's alright! she's going to be fine, Kate is strong, she's okay...' was cycling through his mind.
"... Your wife was very lucky Mr. Castle. An inch to the right and we wouldn't be here now."
Martha sighed with relief "Wonderful! Thank you for your efforts Dr. Davidson. When can we see her?"
"Yes I want to see Mommy, can we please now" chimed in Alexis.
"She'll be in recovery until the general anesthesia wears off, then she'll be moved to the ICU. You can see her there. Someone will come and take you to the ICU waiting room."
"Thank you Doctor" Castle finally said reaching out to shake the man's hand.
Beep...beep...beep...beep...beep...beep...beep...
'I'm so going to kick his ass out of bed if he doesn't turn off that dam alarm' was Kate's initial thought as she gained the first wisps of consciousness. Her second thought was simply 'OW!'
Beep...beep...beep...beep...
'Hospital? Why am I here?' she tries to draw a deep breath but feels severe pain 'OW! Well I guess that answers that.'
'What happened to me?' Then it all came back to her in a torrent of images and emotion.
Standing in front of a cruiser she turned toward the alcove just in time to see the muzzle flash before feeling the sharp sting in her chest and back as the bullet passed through her. The crack of the gun sounded like a long slow thunder clap to her as time seemed to slow to a stand still. She could see the ground approaching as she crumpled.
She watched with detached interest as the men and women around her seemed to move in super slow motion. She could hear what sounded like yelling and many more thunder claps, but she couldn't focus on any of it. Rick, she could see his deep blue eyes sparkling in front of her, his laugh ringing in her ears, long wisps of red swirled around the blue eyes and the deep toned laughter turned into high pitched giggles, Alexis.
The thunder stopped. She has to call them, her phone, it's in her blazer pocket, she needs her phone. Moving her hand causes excruciating pain to course through her chest. She struggles though, her fingers close around the edges of the device. The pain from removing the small slab from her pocket finally is too much to bare. She groans.
She heard her name, it sounded like Kevin, she tries again to focus.
"OFFICER DOWN" she thinks she hears. She opens her eyes wide and tries to focus on the figure kneeling beside her 'it's Kevin'. He is talking to her, listen "...Beckett...Kate..." is all she catches.
Now others are all around her, touching her 'OW that hurts' she screams but she doesn't actually hear her voice. 'he can call, he can call Rick' she thinks.
"Call Rick and Alexis please" she forces the words out but the pain in her chest is so intense she slowly gives in to the dark.
Beep...beep...beep...beep...
'Oh God!' she slowly opens her eyes trying to adjust to the glaring brightness that surrounds her. A moan escapes her lips as she is again reminded of the pain in her chest. A set of bright brown eyes come into her focus.
"Well good to see you're awake Detective. You're in the ICU, my name is Erin, I'll be looking in on you from time to time throughout the night. Let's see if we can make you a bit more comfortable and I'll call the Doctor to come check on you. Then we have some folks that are anxious to see you, including one absolutely darling little red-head that all the nurses on the floor want to take home." says the cheerful young nurse.