"Oh, that's wonderful news!" Martha exclaims.
"He'd lost a lot of blood when he came in but nothing a couple of transfusions couldn't fix. There were no major complications during the surgery either. His shoulder will be in a brace for a while and he'll have to go through a bout of physical therapy to get full mobility back in his right arm, but if everything goes as planned, the doctor said he'd be as good as new in a few months."
She feels her heart pound within her chest, the intensity of it leaving her short of breath. Castle is alive. He's okay. Or, he will be.
He'll make it.
Oh God. the relief coursing through her system, alleviating the weight from her shoulders has her tightening her grasp on Alexis' hand, which she realizes she's still holding. The girl doesn't let go either.
They follow the nurse to the room. When she opens the door to let them in, Alexis lets her go and rushes to her father's bed side. Kate is stunned for a moment, her body feels heavy, rooted to the spot as she takes in the sight of him in the hospital bed. Even from a distance he looks frail, his face pale and she can see he's hooked up to an IV.
"He looks worse than he is," the nurse assures him, encouraging her to step inside the room, her lips forming a gentle smile.
This is good. He's okay, she reminds herself. Kate takes slow steps until she makes it to his bed side. Alexis is in the chair on the far side of the room, closest to the wall with a window, and she clings to Castle's hand. Martha places a quick kiss to her son's forehead and sits in the large chair in the corner of the room, keeps watch over all of them.
Kate yearns to touch him, wishes he would open his eyes and look at her, really look at her the way he did before he left five months ago. She knows it won't be that easy, that they'll have things to work through before they get to that point again. But at least… At least now they have the chance.
She pulls up another chair on the opposite side of his bedside and mirrors Alexis' position. She takes his other hand within hers and tangles their fingers, runs patterns with her thumb along the back of his hand, traces his knuckles. She examines his hand, takes note of every crease, fold, the whorls of each fingertip. He wrote their story with these hands.
His fingers twitch and her head snaps up, half expects him to be looking right at her but his eyes are still closed. She can wait. For four years he waited. She put him through this misery for an entire summer, radio silence after he'd spent hours worrying she wouldn't make it off the operation table. She knows that she needed that time to heal, that it was a question of her health but looking back at it now it feels so selfish, so cruel. She's not sure how she'd manage if he disappeared for three months now.
She'd go back and change it if she could but she can't. She sure as hell can wait, though. She'll give him all the time he needs. And she'll be there when he's ready, when he's done healing.
She steps out for a moment. She's been in Castle's hospital room for over four hours and so far no sign of him waking up. The nurse said it shouldn't be too long now. She gets a call from the precinct, the boys telling her that Gates has been briefed on the case and what happened during the night. Needless to say, her captain wasn't happy about the amount of paperwork this entailed but relieved both she and Castle are fine.
Well, she is fine. Castle will be, in time. She'd stepped out for only a moment and that's when she hears it. Barely makes out Alexis' exclamation of "Daddy" from behind the door and her blood runs cold. She hangs up the phone and pushes the door open frantically.
"What happened, Alexis is, he okay? Is he-" The words die in her throat at the sight of him, eyes open, sitting up slightly in the cot, a tentative smile on his lips. He's awake. For some reason her mind had jumped to the worst conclusion, to his heart monitor going flat when she'd heard Alexis' voice, but… He's awake.
And she... has no idea what to say, finds herself tongue tied at the surprise she sees on his face as he takes in her presence. She doesn't know if he actually wants her to be here. She surely isn't his favourite person right now and he probably just wants time with his daughter, his family. She should just-
"Kate," he manages, his voice so faint it has Alexis reaching for a cup of water on the bedside and handing it to him, but the sound of her name leaving his lips has a nervous flutter erupting in her abdomen. He's… Happy to see her. She can see it; it's in the smile he gives her and in the way he nods his head towards the chair she'd been camped in for the last 4 hours. He wants her to stay.
She wants nothing more than to stay. So she does. Kate makes her way back towards his bedside, takes a seat in the chair, her chair, and reflexively takes hold of his hand. She backpedals almost immediately because she remembers they don't do this. They don't hold hands, don't touch, but she'd been doing it for hours and she's suddenly self-conscious. His grip tightens on hers, his eyes shining with comfort, with gratitude. With genuine happiness. Only Richard Castle could make her smile that way only mere seconds after having woken up from being shot and nearly bleeding out.
"Hey, Castle," she starts, her voice soft, so grateful that he's here. "I told you I'd get you out."
He chuckles and raises his eyebrows at her mockingly. "Didn't realize your plan involved me getting shot and almost dying, Beckett." Kate nearly chokes, ends up coughing to cover it up.
"Dad!" Alexis gasps in horror. He laughs.
"Sorry, sweetie. Too soon?"
"You must really be on the good stuff to be laughing about this already, Castle. Definitely too soon." Kate says and Alexis nods her approval.
"I've always had a thing for gallows humor." He squeezes her hand, the one she's still holding on to and grins at her. She laces their fingers together and squeezes back. He almost looks surprised, like he expected her to drop his hand and leave. She's got a lot of making up to do.
"I'm really glad you're okay," she tells him, meeting his eyes. They hold a light she hasn't seen in so long, genuine feeling and emotion. Love.
"Didn't think I'd let you off of that coffee date so easily, did you?" he asks and she laughs. She shakes her head because he's him, he's Castle, still making jokes while on morphine and he hasn't forgotten their date. She loves this man so much. Not even afraid to admit to herself anymore. She's known for a long while that she's been in love with him.
He looks from her to Alexis and his eyelids begin to droop, his blinks getting heavier by the second.
"Rest up, Castle. We'll be here." She watches him fade, he tries to fight it but his body surrenders to the call of sleep.
"M'kay…" he manages to get out on a sigh before his face goes slack, exhaustion and the drugs in his system overtaking him.
She doesn't let go of his hand.
"Hey Kate?" Alexis asks a few minutes after Castle has gone to sleep. They all feel much better, like they can finally relax, finally breathe now that he's opened his eyes and talked to them, if only for a few minutes. They finally believe he'll pull through. "Just…Thank you."
"For what?" Kate asks, genuinely perplexed.
"For going to him. Being there when it all went down and making sure he got here. For not giving up on him." Kate can see she's sincere but there's an underlying layer of shame in her tone. She needs to fix this.
"Alexis, I need you to know something." She doesn't let go of Castle's hand but she turns her body slightly in the chair, faces his daughter until she knows she has the girls full attention. Her eyes are wide with worry, almost like she's expecting to be scolded. She looks so much younger. "Your Dad and I have never had an easy relationship. I never meant to hurt him, never meant to hurt any of you. I made a mistake a few months ago. I should have fought harder, like you said-"
"Kate-"
"No, Alexis, you were right. This was on me. I've always known your Dad was special and I let him slip away." She's feeling brave for some reason. Showing her complete deck to the girl who called her out. "I won't make the same mistake twice. I'm going to fight for him."
Alexis looks at her and her eyes are still guilt-ridden.
"I'm so sorry, Kate. I practically attacked you a few days ago and it wasn't my place and I just… I was so scared but it was no excuse for being rude, I shouldn't-"
"Alexis it's okay. You were looking out for your Dad and it's okay. I understand that. I just want you to know I'm looking out for him too. We're on the same team," Kate tells her and Alexis gives her a watery smile. It's forgiving.
"Thank you," she says again.
"Anytime," Kate tells her and she hopes Alexis believes it. Her heart stutters at the realization that she wants to be a part of this family. She wants him and the whole package deal. She looks back at Castle and resists the urge to smooth the lines of his face with her fingertips. This man. He makes her want things she never thought she'd want. She's more when she's with him. And suddenly she's a little giddy with it. He's going to wake up and they have a date to plan.
A/N: Happy Thursday everyone! Thanks again for all your support!
Twitter: ZoeKeller
Tumblr: zkalways
