House of Cards
Summary: What if the events that Castle remembered in Sleeper were a lie? What really happened to him during the 2 months he was missing? SPOILER WARNING – This story will go into season 8. None of the spoilers have said what path Beckett takes, but I'm going to choose one. And of course, this is totally AU.
AN: Thanks for all the favorites, follows, and reviews. Those really make my day. I'm not sure if I'll add Haley to this; it depends on the way the story wants to go. And as usual, my plot bunny is a little off the wall, but here goes… Rated T for swearing.
# # # # # # # # # #
Chapter 4 – STP Big Time
The safe house was a small private hospital on the outskirts of Montreal. It was almost midnight when the RV pulled up to the delivery entrance in back and the weary travelers unloaded.
During the 5 hour trip, Castle and his father had talked the few times that Hunt had been awake, but all that did was to leave Castle with a lot of unanswered question.
The silence in between left him with the sinking feeling that his father's death might be imminent and he wasn't sure how he felt about that. After their last meeting, he didn't consider Hunt family any more, but his father had just saved his life.
And the silence also left him time to brood about what had happened and have his writer's imagination spin hundreds of possibly unrealistic scenarios in response.
Did some maniac want him to suffer endless agony, and if that maniac was after him, would they go after his family when they realized they didn't have him? Was Bracken behind this, showing them that he could still hurt them from behind bars? Was this 3XK, punishing them for ruining his plan? Or someone else they had put away?
He shook his head, quickly quelling his writer's imagination, and put into practice what he had learned from Beckett over the years. He needed solid evidence to go on now, not wild speculations as to what was happening and why. He couldn't go down the rabbit hole if he wanted to make his way back to his family.
Kate – he squeezed his eyes closed and thought about her again for the millionth time since this crazy trip in Wonderland had started. What must she be going through? And Martha? And Alexis? He would give anything to be able to reach out to them now, to let them know he was safe.
"Mr. Castle," said an older woman in a slight accent, stopping in front of one of the doors. "You're in here for now. You should have everything you need, but it's important that you stay in this area at all times."
Castle nodded as he remembered the rules that the nurse had told him after they crossed the border.
"Don't go outside, don't go near a window, don't use the phone, don't send a text or an email – in other words, be dead – like I died in the car crash and I'm a ghost now," Castle said sarcastically.
The only display of emotion that the woman allowed was a lift of an eyebrow and a slight tilt of her head, as if she expected to be automatically obeyed by a recalcitrant child.
Castle deflated slightly. "All right," he said and then looked at her with a worried expression. "But what happens now? How long do I have to stay here? I need to contact my family. They need to know—"
"Nothing right now," the woman cut him off. "It's much safer for them until we find out what happened."
"And how long is that going to take?" Castle asked worriedly.
The woman shrugged. "We have feelers out. Hopefully not too long – a week or two at the most," she said with a slight smile. She turned to go and then paused and looked back at him. "Just think what a good book this will make," she quipped.
Castle made a slight face. If only this was a book and he could rewrite the chapter…
"Excuse me, Miss?" he asked almost hesitantly. "Hunt – what happened to him?"
How much could he say about his father? Did they even know Hunt was his father?
The woman pursed her lips and took a breath. "He was poisoned," she said simply. "If he had ingested the entire amount, he would have died within a matter of hours. As it was, he only ingested enough to send him into liver failure."
Castle's eyes opened wide in alarm. "Can you do something? Is he—?"
The woman put up a hand to stop him. "That's why we're here. As soon as the donor gets here, he'll have a liver transplant. The doctors are confident that he'll make a full recovery. Not that he'll ever go out in the field again."
Castle nodded, eyes misting over. "Let me know if there is anything I can do."
The woman smiled slightly. "I will. Just press the call button if you need anything."
Castle walked into the room and plopped down on the edge of the bed, slumping over and holding his head in his hands wearily. Could this day get any worse?
# # # # # # # # # #
The sound of running footsteps in the corridor roused Castle from his too early in the morning non-meditation and he walked to the door and opened it slightly to see what was going on.
Several nurses and doctors were clustered around his father's room, as well as the woman whose name he had never been told.
Had the donor gotten here? Were they taking his father into surgery now? Why hadn't he been told?
Castle stepped into the hallway and looked at the grim-faced crowd. No, the news obviously wasn't good. He paused. Had his father died before the donor got here?
He quickly walked up to the woman. "What's going on? Is my…Is Hunt dead?"
The woman looked at him and shook her head. "No, but he might as well be. The donor has been delayed by weather. He's not going to make it here until tomorrow morning at the earliest. The doctors say it will be too late by then. Hunt won't survive that long."
And Castle did what he did best – he opened his mouth before thinking and blurted out, "What about me? I can be the donor."
"Excuse me?" the woman asked as if she hadn't heard him correctly.
"I'm healthy and we might even have the same blood type," Castle said, building his case.
"You do realize this is a serious operation," said the woman. "The doctor would remove part of your liver and transplant it into Hunt."
Castle shrugged. "Hey, it's not like I'm giving him a kidney and then I'd only have one," he quipped. "I've read that livers grow back after a living donor transplant."
The woman studied him for a moment. "Are you absolutely sure?" she asked somewhat hopefully.
Castle took a deep breath. Part of him felt like he owed Hunt for saving Alexis, but another part said if Hunt wasn't her grandfather, she wouldn't have been in danger in the first place.
He shook his head to clear it and then nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I'm sure. It's not like I'm going anyplace until you find out what happened anyway."
"Okay," the woman said, nodding. "Then let me introduce you to Dr. Bajwa."
# # # # # # # # # #
Hunt slowly blinked his eyes to clear his vision as he looked around the room he was in – obviously a hospital room, but the last thing he remembered was being in the RV with Richard. Aside from the ache in his side, he felt better than he had in several days so everything must have gone as planned.
"Good – you're awake finally," said a voice that he knew well. The woman stepped into his line of vision and smiled slightly. "Nice to have you back. Do you want me to raise your head?"
Hunt nodded, closing his eyes and resting his head as the position of the bed was changed. He then opened his eyes and looked at Dr. Bajwa standing at the end of the bed.
The doctor smiled an appropriate bedside smile. "The transplant went well. You may notice some pain at the incision site but it's nothing we can't fix. And we've already started you on anti-rejection medications. We'll be monitoring you for any adverse reactions. And I have to warn you against strenuous activities for the next several months."
Hunt nodded and then coughed slightly. He took a sip of water from the straw that the woman offered him and then closed his eyes for a moment. "Bradley made it in time," he croaked hoarsely.
The woman paused, furrowing her brow before she spoke. "No, he was detained by weather. So we went with option B."
Hunt frowned – option B? They hadn't discussed an option B. He opened his eyes and scanned the room, finding Castle seated on the couch and dressed in a hospital robe with an IV in his arm.
Castle waved slightly with his other hand, offering him a tentative smile.
It took Hunt a moment to process what it meant and when he did, his heart rate monitor sped up.
"Sir, you have to calm down," said Dr. Bajwa, frowning.
"Richard, what in the hell did you do?" Hunt growled. He then looked at the woman. "And why in the hell did you let him?"
Castle was momentarily stunned by his father's response. "Uh, I just saved your life," he responded, hurt and angry. "A 'thank you' might be in order."
"It's not like we had a choice," the woman said, taking Hunt's hand. "Bradley wouldn't be here in time and Mr. Castle was a match."
Hunt closed his eyes and shook his head slightly.
"I don't see what the big deal is," interjected Castle. "You needed a liver and apparently I've got plenty to spare."
Hunt opened his eyes and glared at the woman. "You didn't tell him, did you?"
The woman glanced away and shook her head. "We couldn't take the chance that he'd say no. You're too important to lose at this point."
Castle frowned. "Why would I say no?"
"Questions would be asked if someone found out that you donated part of your liver and the answers could get you killed," said the woman. "So you must stay here for several months until you heal. No one can ever know you did this."
Castle shook his head as he stood, looking as if he was going to make a break for it and grabbing the IV pole. "Several months – no – that's not possible – my family – and why would someone want to kill me for donating part of my liver?" he asked, his voice rising.
"Because you donated it to me," said Hunt.
"I don't understand," said Castle, shaking his head as he looked back and forth between Hunt and the woman.
"Because I was on a covert assignment to find out who is killing older black op agents when I was poisoned," said Hunt.
"So?" replied Castle. "Isn't that something unfriendly governments do from time to time? Get rid of the competition, so to speak?"
"Except that when I was poisoned, I was in a secret CIA training facility here in the United States," replied Hunt.
"We think we know who the person is, but no one can ever know that Hunt survived the attack," continued the woman. "So no one can ever know that you donated part of your liver to him."
Slack-jawed, Castle could only stare at the two people.
"Let's just say that's how older agents are retired," Hunt said with a chuckle. "With extreme prejudice. That is, if they don't do a 'Derrick Storm' and disappear."
"Shit," said Castle as he sat down heavily on the couch and let out a breath. He had really screwed the pooch big time.
# # # # # # # # # #