Author's Note: Thank you to those who have decided to follow, favorite and review my story! Sorry for the delay for the new chapter, but I've been sick the past few days. Feeling better now!

Disclaimer: Castle characters are not mine.

Chapter 4

Beckett managed to get showered, properly dressed, and a few hours of restless sleep, before she arrived at the hospital once again.

As she was walking through the sliding doors and toward the elevator, her phone rang.

"Beckett."

"How's Castle doing? Is he awake yet?" Detective Esposito wondered.

"I'm on my way to his room right now. Did you guys find anything?"

"We looked at most of the street camera footage in front of the apartment building and found the clip where Castle was shot down." Kate closed her eyelids to shield herself from the awful memory. "There isn't any footage of anyone else walking around. But there's this, uni's and CSU found bullet casings and gunpowder residue while canvassing the fourth floor of the apartment building across the street from Castle's. They're running ballistics now and are continuing their canvass.

"Right, keep me posted."

"You got it."

"Thanks." At the end of their conversation, Kate found herself standing in the hallway outside Castle's room.

Martha and Alexis's things were in the room. They must've gone downstairs for coffee or food, Kate concluded. His skin had returned to his natural pigment, and his hands felt warmer.

"Hey, Castle," Kate greeted. She carefully picked up his hand, scooting the chair next to his bed slightly closer. "I know you like to sleep in late, but this is ridiculous." She could have sworn she saw his lips twitch, which made her smile and give his hand a stronger squeeze. In a split second, she felt his fingers tug at hers. "Castle? Castle, it's Kate. Wake up. Please!"

He continued to lye completely still. Crouching to reach her lips to his ear she whispered. "Wake up, Rick. I need you to wake up. Did you hear me? I need you." He head gently rocked. "That's it. Wake up."

She looked intently at his eyes. "Let me see those dazzling blue eyes."

"Kate, darling, would you like some coffee?" Martha offered.

"We have muffins too," Alexis added.

Turning around, Kate burst, "Alexis, get the nurse. I think your dad is waking up. His eyes are starting to open!"

Alexis ran out of the room, her heart swelling with hope. Martha walked to the other side of the bed, picking up her son's other hand. "Rise and shine, Kiddo. We're all waiting for you."

Castle slowly fluttered his eyelids open. The room was so bright. His whole body felt heavy. He squinted his eyes, waiting for the blurry surroundings to become clear. He saw ceiling tiles and heard loud beeps.

"There you are." Now that was a familiar voice. He shifted his eyes to his side and saw his beautiful angel standing there with her amazing smile, eyes glistening. He wanted to smile back, but something wasn't letting him. He went to speak, but instead began to gag on the tube that was going down his throat.

The nurse entered the room just in time to press some buttons and begin removing the tube. "We need everyone to stand back." A few moments later two more nurses entered the room, stepping around the Castle family. Kate immediately noticed Alexis's expression and grabbed her hand.

"It's ok. He's just caught of guard by the breathing tube. He'll be alright in a minute." Alexis squeezed Kate's hand in response.

Just as Kate promised, the nurses began to slow, the beeping of the heart monitor returned to its even rhythm, and everything was returning to normal.

"He should be much more comfortable now. I'll let Dr. Braden know he's awake," said the nurse as the hospital staff left the room.

"Where's my…girl?" Castle rasped, taking everyone by surprise.

"Dad!" Alexis sat on the side of his bed, kissing his cheek and resting her head on his shoulder.

"Pumpkin," he drawled slowly. She pecked his cheek again as he pulled her softly into his famous daddy bear hug.

"I love you, Daddy."

"Love you."

"Hey, Kiddo, welcome back," said Martha her usual upbeat motherly tone.

Castle smiled warmly at his mother, yet again melting her heart. "Kate?" he spoke out to the room, unable to see her.

"I'm here," she said soothingly stepping into his view at the foot of the bed.

"Do you remember what happened?"

Castle lifted his hand and rested it over his wound. "Shot."

The barely audible response made the Detective ache for him. "That's right. Ryan and Esposito will stop by later. They're already looking for the person that did this to you."

Castle's neck could no longer support his head being raised, and his head fell back toward the pillow.

"Can we get you anything?" Alexis asked.

"Water."

"Be right back." She gave him another kiss.

"I'll go see what's keeping the doctor," Martha added, making her way out the door.

"Come," he waved over to Kate, still clenching on the railing at the foot of the bed. He patted for her to sit next to him on the bed.

As her body weight shifted the mattress, she could tell he was holding back a grimace. She stood back up. "See, I don't want to hurt you."

"It's ok." He patted the same spot again.

Again she sat, only more slowly. "I'm so sorry, Castle."

"Shhh." He held his palm up to the side of her face, cupping her cheek.

"You…love me." He smiled, attempting to display his charming expression.

"Always," she breathed, holding his soothing hand in place.

He closed his eyes to savor the words, letting them seep into his mind, body, and soul. Kate allowed warm tears to flow freely in relief and love, trickling in the palm of his hand.

Kate felt a twinge of guilt every time she thought of Castle lying in that hospital bed with out her near him. When Castle was asleep or having tests ran she had watched him, silently trying to piece together evidence to find the shooter that almost made her world fall to pieces. But she knew that the only way she could really help him is by bringing his shooter to justice.

Now at the 12th Precinct, Kate sat at her desk, reviewing the newest leads for the tenth time. The gunpowder residue was from a sniper rifle typically used in the military, as Esposito had pointed out. It was shot from the fourth floor of the building across the street, shot from apartment 416. No prints or physical evidence other than the bullet casings were left at the scene and the security camera footage was hacked into and forced into a loop, showing no one new in the hall or entering the vacant apartment.

As Kate stared at her almost completely empty whiteboard, she stared at photographs of the crime scene on the sidewalk, and apartment 416, hoping to find some sort of connection or clue that was overseen. She made a mental note to bring the photographs of the apartment to Castle when she was going back to visit him later. He was always good at seeing subtle clues that were obvious to most.

Deciding to change her thought process, she uncapped her marker, writing "Suspects". She specified the suspect would have military training or have the resources to hire someone with military training and have a motive to kill Richard Castle.

Just as she began listing names, Esposito walked up next to her.

"I thought you said 3XK was dead. Castle shot him," he said.

"He did, multiple times. But Castle seemed to believe that he was still alive. They never found his body, so it's possible."

"Do you think it's," he looked around to make sure no one was too close to hear, "Bracken?" he whispered.

"We have an agreement. If he doesn't want to be exposed, he leaves everyone I care about alone."

"What if he found out you don't have the complete file?" Javier pointed out. "The man has the connections."

"Who has connections?" Ryan asked coming around the corner of the bullpen.

"Did you guys get anything from the canvass?" Kate asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah. Whoever the shooter was, knew the schedule of the people on that floor of the building. Most of the tenants in the rooms adjacent were out of the building at that time. Some people from other floors heard the faint sound of a gunshot, but had no idea where it came from. Evidently, either their television was on or there was too much background noise. No one saw anyone different or new enter the building. There were the same maintenance workers and even the same delivery guys, but we got their names and a tenant list from the Super and we'll start running them now."

"Nice work, Ryan. Keep me posted." Ryan nodded and headed for his desk.

"Do you want me to look into…"Javi whispered to Beckett as Gates stood in the doorframe of her office.

"No. I made the arrangement. I'll look into it. For now, just help Ryan run the names of the tenants and maintenance workers for that building. If nothing pops, I'll arrange a meeting with him."

"Ok. Let me know if you need anything else," he offered.

Kate smiled and nodded as Captain Gates approached her.

"Any leads yet, Detective?"

"No solid ones yet, Sir. Detective Ryan and Esposito are running names of people who have access to the building Castle was shot from."

"How is Mr. Castle?" the usually straightforward Captain asked with sympathy.

"He's hanging in there. His spirits are high," Kate said truthfully.

"That's good to hear. Tell him that the 12th wishes him a speedy recovery."

"I will. Thank you, Sir."

"With that being said," Gates continued, "I've put a security detail on Mr. Castle and his family until his shooter is in custody." Taking a step closer to Kate, she added, "I know this case is already personal, Detective, being as that he is your partner. I want you to know that I will be watching you and your team very closely to ensure that you are following where the evidence leads and is remaining objective."

"Understood, Sir."

"I hope so, Detective."

Kate watched as Captain Gates made her way to the other end of the bullpen and could only think about two things: catching the SOB that shot her partner and how there was no way Captain Gates was going to stop her from meeting that objective.