Disclaimer: I own neither Castle nor Firefly.
A/N: Ok, I apologize for how short this is but I really needed to show what happened during Castle's fit before they talked about it. It took longer than I expected. I know it doesn't advance the story much, but I don't have the energy to write their conversation tonight. I do have it planned out so I should have it written in the next few days. Until then, I hope you guys enjoy this little snippet!
Kate Beckett doesn't know what to feel as she watches her partner fight for his life.
Terror is there, certainly. She hadn't been kidding when she had told him that she had gotten used to him. If she were to be honest (for once), she'd gotten quite a bit more than used to him.
But mostly, she is just pissed.
Incredibly pissed.
Because there is no one in the 'verse who can piss her off quite like Richard Castle.
And she is pissed, she is. It's anger that is causing the tremble in her hands and the sick twisting in her gut, and if he would just wake up, she'd tell him so.
He looks so small, lying there in that overglorified hospital bed, so still silhouetted against those silk sheets. The craftmanship of the restraints has not protected him, and his wrists are rubbed raw. His chest rises and falls much too slowly to her mind, but that's better than the gasping she witnessed not an hour before.
Damn it, she almost lost him.
Her mind replays the images over and over, the struggle to get him on the bed, the scream of the instruments as his body goes berserk, the litany of curse words he spews at them, in both English and Chinese, some of which even she hasn't heard before.
Why the hell would anyone want to "fuck the universe to death" anyway?
He kept trying to get up, yelling and then pleading that he needed to "fix her". He favored his left side, as if it pained him, but that didn't prevent him from ripping his robe open as he struggled. She grins a little at the memory. Even in such dire circumstances, Rick Castle can't pass up a chance to get naked.
Not that she minds.
Much.
The vejjae* have been very professional, and have earned her grudging respect. They watched Castle like a hawk and she is certain that they have saved his life several times over. She does wish that they didn't look quite so perfect doing so but...
Castle moans, the first sound she's heard from him in over an hour. Her heart leaps.
"Come on back to me Castle," she whispers, taking one of his hands into her own. She fails to keep the tremor out of her voice. His head turns towards her and he slowly opens his eyes.
"Did I go somewhere?" he mumbles, drunkenly, his face even more childishly open than usual.
He's back, and she's NOT crying, because she is not the kind of girl who gets weepy over any man, even Richard Castle, but she does smile. She'd been so worried, not only that he might die, but also about who he might be when he woke up. She's seen a lot of eyes in her time, but none have matched Castle's. They somehow manage to be both innocent and sexy at once and she's never been so glad to see anything in her entire life. They've lost that cold, hard, almost dead look that they took on during his fit. Those eyes belonged to someone else entirely.
He tries to reach out to her and is stopped by the ornate cuffs. He stares at them blankly for a long moment before uttering a single word.
"Kinky," he says.
And there's the twelve year old again. She can't even bring herself to roll her eyes.
Of course, his wit returns.
"How long was I out?" he asks, as if this happens to him all the time, and maybe it does, but that means he's hidden it from her and now she's angry. Again.
"What the hell was that Castle?" she explodes. He flinches and does his best to look innocent. Unfortunately for him, his movement dislodges the sheet that the vejja wrapped him in.
He is still naked.
I've been wrangling this all week, I even worked on it on my birthday! That means that every one of you needs to leave me a nice, shiny review for my birthday, right? Or you could read some of my other stories and review them, I'm not picky. Yes, I'm abandoning all shame at this point, why do you ask? ;)
Seriously, I love you guys. I'm amazed and humbled at the number/quality of reviews I've received. If you've left me a review and I haven't thanked you, I'm sorry. You guys keep me writing!
*I have no real knowledge of this language, I simply looked up the term on the internet and liked the way it sounded. I have no clue how to properly pluralize it, but I figured that languages have melded enough in 500 years that the -ae plural might be accepted. That's my rationalization, and I'm sticking to it.