Author's Note: First of all, thank you to everyone who has reviewed/favorited/alerted this story so far. You guys rock! Second, while I've taken quite a few human biology/anatomy classes, I have no idea how long it takes to recover from something like this. I've done some research online, but if my timeline is off...well, oh well. Hopefully it's still realistic. And finally, here is the next installment!

Chapter 2

"You've got one hell of a partner there," Jim said as soon as Castle left the room.

Kate smiled. "I know."

"He cares about you, Katie," he said straight-forwardly. "He hasn't left the hospital since you've been here."

"I know," she said again.

"Josh stopped by a couple hours ago while you were asleep. He said he'd try to come back tonight." Jim looked less than pleased.

"Yeah, he's working a double shift today," Kate said, ignoring the voice in her head that was adding, again. He had done surgery on his girlfriend less than two days ago and he was working a double shift. As a homicide detective, Kate was usually fairly understanding of Josh's crazy work schedule. But here, now, as she was lying in a hospital bed, she was having trouble with the fact that Josh would still willingly cover for his coworker on such short notice when he should be taking care of his girlfriend.

They sat in silence for a moment before Jim changed the subject. "How are you feeling today?"

"Like crap," Kate replied honestly. "Everything hurts. I can't move my left arm and it hurts to lift my head."

Jim shook his head. "You gave all of us quite a scare, Katie," he said. "When you fell to the ground I thought…." He trailed off and Kate could tell he was fighting back tears. "You can't ever do this to me again."

"I'm sorry, Dad," she said softly.

"I'm serious, Katie," he said. "You can't let yourself get shot again. You've got to stop chasing this guy."

"Dad…."

"Way too many people have died at his hand and you know you're next. And I can't deal with that."

"Dad, they killed Mom!" Kate exclaimed. "I can't believe you're telling me to let him get away with it."

"Because they're going to kill you too," Jim said firmly. "And it's not worth it."

"Mom would want me to…."

"No, she wouldn't," Jim interrupted. "Your mother would be proud of you for what you've done. And I know she would have appreciated how hard you've tried to find justice for her. But she wouldn't have wanted you to get yourself killed in the process."

"If I don't catch him, I will have failed her," Kate fought back. She was not going to back down that easily.

"Katie…."

"Dad, please," she pleaded.

"No." he said. "I'm not backing down on this one, Katie. You need to stop."

"I…."

"Everything okay in here?" Jim and Kate looked up to see Castle hovering awkwardly in the doorway, balancing two coffees and a bottle of water, and clearly wondering how to proceed. When neither of them responded, he spoke up again. "Alright, I'll give you two a minute."

"Castle," Kate called before he had a chance to leave again. "It's okay. Stay."

"No, you guys clearly have some things to discuss."

"They can wait," Kate said, hoping to avoid any further arguments right now. She knew she and her father were never going to agree and, quite frankly, she just did not want to deal with it at the moment.

Jim seemed to catch on and stood up reluctantly. "I was just leaving," he said to Castle. He shot his daughter a pointed look. "We are not done talking about this."

"Dad…."

"I'll see you later, Katie." He took the coffee Castle had brought for him. "Thanks, Rick." And before Castle had a chance to reply, Jim was gone.

"You okay?" Castle asked as he set down his coffee and water and reclaimed the chair by Kate's bed.

"Fine," she mumbled. If there was anyone more protective of her than her father, it was Castle and she knew that she was going to have the same argument with him at some point. Actually, she already kind of did, before….all of this.

"Liar."

"Castle, I'm…." Kate Beckett was anything but fine right now. She was in the hospital recovering from a shot to the chest. Her captain was dead. Her last connection to her mother's case-Hal Lockwood-was dead. And the sniper who shot her was in the wind. She could lie again and say she was fine, but she knew he would see right through it. He always did.

"Talk to me, Kate," Castle said softly. "I'm not going anywhere, okay? I'm here to help you and if that means listening while you unload on me then I'm okay with that. You've been through more in this last week than most people go through in their lives and it's okay to be upset about it."

"I'm not upset," she said honestly. "I'm frustrated. I'm frustrated with this case. I'm frustrated that both Lockwood and Montgomery died before I could find out what I need to know. I'm frustrated that I'm stuck in a hospital when I should be out chasing down the guy who shot me. I'm frustrated at…." She paused, wondering if she really wanted to admit what she was about to say. "I'm frustrated at my dad for telling me to back off."

"That's what you were fighting about?"

Kate nodded. "He told me to give up, that it wasn't worth my life."

"He's right," Castle said tentatively. "It's not. Your mother wouldn't have wanted you to die for her."

"Are you going to tell me to walk away again too?" Kate challenged.

Castle sighed. "I don't know," he said honestly. "I should, but I know you won't, so I'm not sure what to do anymore."

"What do you mean, you should?" Kate asked.

"I promised Montgomery," he admitted. "And your father."

"You….what?" Kate asked in shock. "Castle you ha…."

He held up a hand to stop her. "Let me explain, okay?" When Kate nodded, he began. "Your father came to me, last week. He was worried sick about you, Kate. He asked me to try to get you to back down. He told me that I needed to convince you that your life was worth more than your mother's death. His words, not mine," Castle clarified. "I went to Montgomery the next day, right before I came to your apartment. I was scared for your life, Kate, and I wanted him to take you off the case. He admitted that if you had your mind made up, there was nothing he could do, so he placed that responsibility on me. He told me that I was the only one who could make you stand down. That's why I came to see you that night. That's why I wanted you to walk away."

"Castle, you of all people should know that I'm not going to give up just like that. Did you really think you were going to convince me?" she asked.

"No," he said honestly. "I didn't. But I made a promise, so I had to try. And I'm going to keep trying. Kate, your father wouldn't survive it if you were killed. Montgomery died to save your life."

"I…."

"No, hear me out," Castle interrupted. "Whatever else was said in your apartment that night, I'm still your partner and I'm still going to stand by you, whether I like your decision or not, because that's what partners do. I'm not asking you to make a decision right now, but I am asking you to really think about this….about what this case is truly worth to you. And I want you to think about what your life is worth to the people around you, because I'm willing to bet that it's worth a hell of a lot more to them than you think it is."

Kate wanted to fight back. She wanted to come up with some snappy retort. She hated losing arguments, especially to Castle. But in all honesty, she had nothing to say. There was nothing that she could say, not after that. Because Castle was right, and she knew he was right, but she was not going to admit it. Absolutely not. So she settled on the only option. "Okay," she said softly. "I will."

"Thank you." Kate did not miss the look of relief that crossed Castle's face. He was well aware that this was far from over. He was sure they were going to have this argument many more times in the near future, but for now she had backed down, and that was a start. He was her partner, it was his job to keep her safe, and he fully intended to fulfill that duty.

After their conversation, Kate eventually drifted back to sleep. Esposito and Lanie came by after a couple of hours, but she was still fast asleep so they said a few soft words to her resting form before promising to be back in the morning. Meanwhile, Castle pulled out his laptop and continued working on his next Nikki Heat novel. The emotions of the last few days were turning out to be very conducive to writing, and while he had no intention of having Nikki get shot, he now had a much better insight into how Jameson Rook would react if anything happened to her. Before he realized it, four hours had passed and he had outlined the better part of five chapters.

Kate had been asleep the whole time, and while Castle desperately wanted her to wake up again-so he could remind himself that she was alive and on the mend-this was the longest uninterrupted sleep she had gotten since waking up from surgery, and he knew that was important to the healing process. She showed no signs of waking anytime soon and he did not want to leave her alone, but at this point, his stomach was screaming for food.

He exited Kate's room and headed down the hall to the small waiting room that had been set aside for the family and friends of Kate and the two patients in the neighboring rooms. It was empty save for one chair in the corner, and Castle was surprised to see that it was Jim Beckett.

"How's she doing?" he asked as he saw Castle approach.

"She's been asleep for a few hours," Castle said. "I figured I'd go grab some food really quickly and try to be back before she wakes again."

"If you don't mind, may I come with you?" Jim asked.

"Of course." Jim stood and the two men made their way downstairs to the hospital cafeteria. It was not the ideal choice but neither one had eaten much in the last three days, so at this point, any type of food sounded pretty good.

"Katie's not going to back down, is she?" Jim asked as they sat down with their meals.

"Probably not."

Jim shook his head. "I tried," he said. "I tried to talk her out of it but she just won't listen."

"I know," Castle agreed. "I did too."

"She's so stubborn….just like her mother," Jim said, and there was an odd quality to his voice that Castle could not quite place.

"I'll keep trying," he promised. "I don't think I'll ever win, but I'll keep trying."

"And if she goes after him again?"

"I'll go with her," Castle replied without hesitation. "I already told her that. Like it or not, I'll be by her side the whole way. She's not going to throw me out this time."

"This time?" Jim was instantly curious.

Castle blanched. He had not meant to bring that up, especially since he had not yet apologized to Kate for the things he had said that night. "We fought," he admitted, deciding it best to skirt around the details. "I tried to get her to back down. I said some things I probably shouldn't have and she told me we were through. But Montgomery…." Castle paused, fighting the words past the lump in his throat, "he called me back to help her, to keep her safe the night he….the night he died. I know she's forgiven me, at least partially, but I never got a chance to apologize before…." He trailed off. The next words did not need to be spoken, as it had been the scariest moment of both of their lives.

"In time, I'm sure she'll forgive you completely," Jim said.

Castle nodded. "I know, I just….the whole ride to the hospital, all I could think about was that our last real conversation was a fight. I never would have forgiven myself." He looked down and shook his head.

"Rick," Jim's voice was soft and Castle raised his head. "You can't think about 'what-ifs.' Trust me. The 'what-ifs' can take over your life. You both made some mistakes, but don't focus on those. Focus on the fact that you've been given a second chance to do things right and take advantage of that."

"I fully intend to," was Castle's earnest reply.

Dinner ended up taking much longer than Castle had planned, and when he returned to Kate's room, she was awake and talking to Josh. Castle abruptly turned around at the doorway when he registered the doctor's presence, but not before Kate saw him and called him back.

"Castle."

"Yeah?" he tentatively entered the room. There were two nurses there too and he immediately became worried. "Are you okay?" he asked, looking around.

"We're just working on sitting her up a bit," Josh answered, shooting Castle a look that quite clearly said 'so get the hell out of our way,' but he refused to acknowledge it.

"Oh, okay." He reclaimed his seat in the chair by the window and opened up his laptop again, pretending to re-read what he had written earlier while listening in on the conversation and casting furtive glances at Josh and Kate.

After a few minutes, the head of Kate's bed had been raised a bit so that she was no longer lying quite as flat. She could now see out the door without having to lift her head and it also allowed them to rearrange the pillows that were supporting her. Josh explained a couple of things to her regarding what positions she was allowed to lay in, promised that he would be back in a few hours, and gave her a quick kiss before once again slipping out of his girlfriend's room.

"Where did you go?" Kate asked after Josh and the nurses left the room.

"To get something to eat. With your dad," he added.

"He's still here?"

"He hasn't left," Castle responded. "And he's probably not going to."

"Is he still mad?" she asked.

"I don't think so," he said. "He's just concerned about you."

"Oh." Kate debated asking Castle to go find him while part of her was not ready to have the same argument again, which was exactly what was going to happen. She would talk to him in the morning. They sat in silence for a while before Kate spoke up again. "Why are you over there?"

Castle had not moved to the chair next to her bed once Josh left, mainly because it was where he had been sitting just before he kissed Kate. And Castle was not sure he could deal with sitting in the same spot without wanting to do the same, to make her realize that Josh was not the one she should be with. "I…." he started, his eyes focused on Josh's figure, standing just down the hall talking to a colleague.

Kate followed his line of sight. "You don't like Josh," she said bluntly. It was not exactly an answer to her own question, but it was close enough.

Castle was taken aback at her straight-forwardness. "No, I…." he stuttered. "I don't dislike him. I just don't like how he's treating you right now."

Now it was Kate's turn to be shocked. "Wh….what do you mean?"

"Well….I guess if I were him, I wouldn't leave your side. I'd take time off work so I could be here for you."

"You haven't left my side," Kate pointed out.

There was an awkward pause as Castle tried to figure out what to say. It was pretty obvious that Kate had missed the significance of what she had just said, but he was not sure that this was the time to bring it up. Especially since she did not remember what he said to her just before she passed out. That and her boyfriend was only a few feet away. So he settled on a safer option. "You deserve to have someone there for you, Kate, especially in a situation like this, and it annoys me that he's hardly around."

"He's an ER surgeon, Castle," she pointed out, ignoring the voice in her head that was reminding herself of the internal debate she had the previous day about precisely the same thing. "He comes in when he can." She knew it was a feeble attempt, especially since she was talking to the man who had not left the hospital since she arrived, but she was not ready to accept the true meaning behind Castle's actions.

"If the situation were reversed, what would you do?" he challenged.

"I'd probably…." She trailed off. She did not want to go there yet. "Castle, I really just don't want to talk about this right now," she deflected.

He could see the stubbornness in her eyes and knew any further effort would be futile. "Okay." There was silence for a moment before Castle changed the subject. "How's sitting up feeling?"

"Better," Kate answered. "There's less weight on my shoulder blade, which is good."

"How does everything else feel?"

"I'm too doped up to tell," she replied. "But I'm sore and my lungs hurt."

"Maybe you should stop talking for a while," Castle suggested softly.

"Are you telling me to shut up?" It was the first real hint of the sassy Detective Beckett that Castle had seen since the surgery and he laughed in spite of himself.

"Never," he said seriously. "But I don't want you to hurt yourself any more."

"Yeah, I guess." She agreed. He was still sitting all the way across the room and, although she would never admit it, she missed having him sitting next to her, invading her personal space. "Will you at least come over here?" she demanded.

Pushing aside his feelings for the previous occupant of the bedside chair, Castle walked over and sat down, resting his arms on the edge of her bed. Without even hesitating, she reached out and took his hand, intertwining their fingers. "Kate, I…." Castle began as he attempted to remove his hand from her grasp. He wanted nothing more than to hold on and never let go, but Josh was still standing in the hall.

"Castle," she interrupted firmly. "Please?"

He looked up at her and caught the hints of pain and vulnerability in her eyes so he settled his hand back in hers. It was a side of Kate Beckett that he so rarely saw and he realized that regardless of what she had just said about Josh, she needed someone to be here with her. She was tough and she was strong, but she was also in a hospital bed after a narrow escape with death, and no matter how hard she tried, Castle could tell that she was struggling to hold herself together. She could not do it alone. And although it was not really his place, if she wanted him here to hold her hand, then Castle had every intention to do so.

Thoughts?