Heres this next chapter! Thank you to everyone who is reading & those who are reviewing!

Disclaimer: Castle is not mine :(

Five Months Ago

Castle took a deep breath as he stepped through the door to his fiancés hospital room. She was still in the ICU, and it was a single bed room, but the curtain was pulled halfway closed, blocking most of his view of her. Castle could only see one of her feet, as Kate's right leg was in a traction brace, as the doctor had mentioned while guiding Castle and the others to her room. Castle stepped forward the rest of the way, bringing Kate fully into his line of sight. If it wasn't for the tube coming out of her right chest, and the bruises on the right side of her face, Rick could've pretended she was sleeping.

Stepping around to Kate's left side, as to not disturb the many wires and tubes on her more injured side, Castle grasped her hand and slid the sole chair closer so he was as close as possible without actually being in the bed.

He leaned forward and murmured against her temple, "Kate, babe, I love you. You have to be okay, because I will most definitely not be fine if you aren't." He pressed a kiss to her forehead and settled back in his chair to watch her while she slept in her sedated state.

She could hear a beeping noise that seemed to get louder with each beep, and was increasing in its annoyance by the second. Then she started to feel pain. It seemed to come in waves. She could feel a warm pressure on her left hand and near her left hip. She was distracted by that by the sharp pains radiating from her right hip to her foot. And then she felt the intrusion in her mouth in throat.

Struggling away from whatever it was in her throat, she could hear the beeping get louder, and what sounded like someone yelling. That same person has grasped both her arms when she went to grab for the thing in her throat. Where is Castle? He'll make the pain go away. Was all she could think when the voice that had been yelling had ceased and was talking softly to her. As it moved through her muddled mind she realized it was Castle and stopped thrashing around, immediately feeling safer now that she knew he was here.

Her eyes opened slowly as she felt his fingers stroking her face, and she moved her left hand wildly trying to find his. She gripped his hand tightly when he moved his to hers. She tried to communicate how much she hurt, how much she wanted the tube out and how much she loved him with the tight squeeze, hoping he didn't care that her grip was most likely hurting him.

He seemed to know what she was trying to tell him as he squeezed back and leaned right next to her ear, "Kate, love, I know it hurts, and I know you want the tube. Just please, stay calm and the doctor will take it out and give you more pain medication. I'm so glad you're awake."

His eyes looked up at the door, and Kate's followed as a doctor and two nurses rushed in, the doctor immediately moved to the side opposite Rick and began speaking. "Good to finally meet you, Detective Beckett. I'm Doctor Jefferson and I'm going to see about getting this tube out, something I'm sure you're looking forward to."

He checked her monitors, and talked quietly with the nurses at the foot of the bed while reading her chart. After placing the chart back in its slot, he smiled again spoke to Kate.

"I'm going to go ahead and remove the vent as it looks like you're breathing just fine. You'll be on an oxygen mask for a few hours while we make sure your levels hold steady and then we'll switch you to the nose cannula. Mr. Castle, if you'll please step out for a few minutes, this isn't a very pretty procedure to watch."

Kate eyes immediately became panicky, and she refused to release his hand which was still in hers. She began shaking her head, and tears started to leak out of the corners of her eyes. Castle gripped her hand harder and shot a look at the doctor.

"No, I think I'll be staying right here. I'll be fine, and obviously Kate is against me leaving, and as a matter of fact I am too."

The doctor sighed and nodded, seeing his patient calm back down now that her fiancé wasn't leaving. "Okay then. Detective Beckett, this is going to be very unpleasant. When I remove the tube, I'm going to need you to breathe out as hard as possible. When the tube is out, we'll be able to up your pain meds, but you'll need to cough every so often to help keep your lungs clear. Also, speaking is going to be painful to do, just a warning."

Kate nodded slightly, and stared at Castle as the doctor began unhooking the tube. He began to pull it out, and Kate blew out as deep of a breath that was possible, and finally the tube was out. Tears were streaming down her face, and she was coughing hard. When the coughing subsided, Kate fell back against the pillows of her hospital bed and croaked out, "Water?" while trying to not go back into a coughing fit.

The nurse handed Rick a cups of ice chips and he fed a few to Kate as the doctor checked her monitors and nurse prepared the oxygen mask.

"Alright Detective, keep this on for the next few hours, and we'll see about switching to the cannula. Get some more rest, and try to speak very much until your throat feels better. We should be able to remove the chest tube tomorrow, but for now rest. The nurse is going to put some more pain medication in your IV and set up the self pump."

With that the doctor walked out and left the nurses to getting Kate settled, and Castle set the ice chips on the bedside table. He lifted up the mask and quickly placed a soft kiss on her lips before sitting back down. Her eyes were already fluttering closed, and has just fully closed when he heard a raspy, quiet, and slurred, "Love you 'astle" before she succumbed to sleep.

Castle kept his hold on her hand, but sat back in his chair and ran his hand through his hair, exhausted and happy all at once. He slid his phone out of his pocket, and sent out a quick text to everyone: She woke up & they took out the vent. Gave her meds & she's back asleep. Come tomorrow around noon.

Hitting send and looking at the clock on his screen, he realized it was four am and it had only been roughly eleven hours since they had left the precinct that evening. Shoving his phone back in his pockets and leaning his head forward on the bed, he kept his hand in hers and quickly fell asleep.