RECOGNITION AND ACCEPTANCE

Exiting the hospital and walking toward the parking lot, Kate passed a street-side newsstand. Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of one of the book jacket pictures of Rick topping a stack of the evening edition of the Sentinel with a reference, 'Check out Page 6 for the latest on the famed Mystery Writer'.

GOD DAMN IT.

Grabbing an edition off the top of the stack, Kate handed the newsstand attendant a couple of dollars. She quickly opened the paper to page 6 and scanned the page in search of Dewey Henderson's column. Famed Mystery Writer hospitalized? Over the past twenty-four hours, noted murder mystery novelist, Richard Castle's mother, daughter and NYPD Homicide Detective Kate Beckett (the inspiration for Castle's best selling Nikki Heat series) have been seen entering and exiting New York's Presbyterian Hospital. Is the author ill, or has he met with some type of injury during his shadowing of the police detective? We'll keep you posted.

Damn it, just enough to get tongues wagging, but not enough to call somebody out on it. How has he put up with this shit all these years? If he decides to give me a chance, how will I deal with it?

Kate closed the paper and folded it, placing it under her arm as she walked toward the parking lot. She got into her car and headed toward the Tribeca loft. Entering the building, she exchanged pleasantries with the security guard and took the elevator to the Castle loft. After knocking on the door, Alexis greeted her, "Kate, come in. Grams has been on the phone with Paula and she's now talking to Gina. She should be done soon. Is Dad still doing okay?"

Kate cautiously responded, "Yeah, Lex, he's doing fine."

Noticing the guarded response, Alexis asked, "Did something happen, Kate? You look worried."

"No, Lexie...well nothing regarding your dad's condition. When Martha gets off the telephone we need to talk about something."

"Okay. I put together a salad, and I thought we could just have some pasta for dinner. Is that alright with you?"

"Sure, that's fine. Anything that's simple. Let's go finish it up while we wait for your grandmother."

As Alexis put the finishing touches on the salad, Kate took a pan from the overhanging rack, filling it with water and placing it on one of the stove top burners. When it had reached it's boiling point, she dropped the penne pasta tubes into the pan. After searching the cupboards and finding olive oil and garlic cloves, she pressed the garlic cloves, poured the ingredients atop the drained tubes and mixed them together. Plates and silverware were laid out on the dining room table, and Kate found an open bottle of a Cabernet and two wine glasses for herself and Martha.

With a furrowed brow clearly noticeable upon her face, Martha came out of the study, patted Kate on the shoulder and sat down at the table to join the two, "Oh, darlings, thank you for taking care of dinner. That last call took a little longer than I thought it would. This looks delightful."

As they ate, Martha shared the conversations that she had with Paula and Gina, "Well needless to say, Paula was shocked. I gave her all of the details and she is putting together a press release. She's sure that Presbyterian will not divulge any information regarding Richard without him giving explicit instructions. The only thing of real importance is that we make certain the release contains certifiable findings that state an absence of alcohol and/or any controlled substances in his system. I know that to be the case because Patty informed me about it, but we still need to make that inquiry so we can state it categorically. She's going to email me a draft of the press release and I'll print it out and take it with us so that Richard can approve it. Other than that, it just boils down to being an unfortunate accident."

Those words still gave Kate a sinking feeling in her stomach. An accident. He'll never say anything different. He'd sooner make himself look like a clumsy oaf than to interfere with what he thinks is my private life.

Rising from the table, Kate goes to where she dropped her purse on the couch and retrieves the newspaper she had brought with her. Setting it beside Martha, she states, "You better read page 6, Martha."

Scanning the Henderson column, Martha replies in frustration, "Wouldn't you just know. Drop a little speculation, and goad people to run wild with it. I'm sorry, Kate, that they mentioned you. Alexis and I are used to this sort of drivel, but you shouldn't have to deal with it. We probably need to let Paula know that we also have to make it clear that Richard's involvement with shadowing you had nothing to do with how he got injured. Stupid Dewey!"

"Don't worry about me being part of it, Martha. I'm just sorry we weren't able to get out in front of this. Everything happened so quickly that Ri...Castle just didn't have the opportunity to instruct people as to what he wanted to have done."

Martha responded, "Well, we'll have to make sure that Paula points out his true condition. There's nothing to be gained by complaining about what gossip mongers choose to write."

"Gram, is Black Pawn going to put out a statement as well?"

"Oh, Gina, uh... she agreed to have Black Pawn simply endorse the statement that Richard releases. She felt that would simplify things. No use in having a number of statements out there that people would have to pick and choose as to which one they think is more accurate. My conversation with Gina dealt more with other things."

Kate knew where this was headed, but it wasn't her place to ask for further information. Alexis, however, was another matter, "What else did she say Gram?"

Eying the pensive look on Kate's face, Martha replied, "Gina was of course concerned about your father's condition, but...oh hell, Kate has Richard had the opportunity to tell you that he had ended their attempt to have a personal relationship?"

"Yes."

"Well then what I'm going to say is nothing that we all don't know, or should know anyway. Gina said that he ended their personal relationship because someone already had his heart and it wasn't fair to her to think it would be otherwise. She said that she knew it was you, Kate, but Richard had told her you were already with someone else, so it wasn't like he was dumping her to go to someone, it was just the fact that if someone else had his heart, no one else was ever going to get there."

"Martha...

"Just let me finish, and I swear I will never say another word unless you ask me about something. I've already put my foot in my mouth a couple of times today, so I might as well just go ahead and put both feet in. Those two do a fairly good job of working together on a professional level. On a personal level, in the past and now, they were haphazardly trying to make something out of nothing. On the other hand, you and my son could turn something into everything. Everything that any man and woman would kill for. Richard is gun shy because he feels that he has failed in the past, and he fears he won't measure up to what you want... Okay, that's it, I'm done. Lets clear these dishes away and I'll check to see if Paula has emailed me the draft of the press release. Then we can get back to the hospital."

As Martha moved toward the study Alexis and Kate carried the dishes to the kitchen. Alexis could tell that Kate was distracted as they went about cleaning the plates and placing them in the dishwasher. As the two stood side by side at the sink, not knowing what to say and actually not wanting to say anything, Alexis simply moved closer to Kate until the sides of their bodies were touching one another. Accepting the sign of comfort and support from the young girl, Kate quietly tilted sideways and kissed the top of Alexis' head.

They took Kate's car to the hospital. Parking in the adjacent lot, they walked toward the entrance. Although Martha and Alexis seemed to make no effort to look, Kate scanned the surroundings to see if they were being watched. She spotted a man across the street from the entrance who had what looked to be a notepad in his hands. He may have been the same man that she had seen right by the entrance earlier this afternoon. She made certain not to make her actions noticeable, and she didn't share her observations with other two.

Entering the VIP waiting area, Alexis approached the receptionist desk and asked if it was alright for them to see her father. The receptionist buzzed the nurses' station and soon Debbie Chandler entered the waiting area, "Good evening ladies. We can only give you about twenty or thirty minutes, but I can take you straight through. Mr. Castle has been dozing off and on, but I'm sure he will be glad to see you."

As they entered the room, Rick seemed to be somewhat slumped shouldered. It was difficult to tell whether he was sleeping, or just resigned to his confinement. Becoming aware of someone's presence, he lifted his head. Although the smile on his face was restricted by the wiring, the light in his eyes could not have been brighter. His fingers moved quickly across the keyboard.

Ah, three beautiful women have come to see me. It's great to see you again. This place is nice, but it's a drag.

Walking up to his bedside and reading his greeting, Alexis kissed her father on the top of his head, "It's good to see you to Dad. It doesn't hurt when I kiss you like that does it?"

Never.

Martha approached his bed as well, "Richard, darling, we're only allowed to stay a short time, so I want you to read a couple of things and get your thoughts. The first is, unfortunately, something that appeared in the evening paper, and the second is a draft of the press release that Paula put together."

Rick took the two items from her and scanned the newspaper column first. His eyes stared directly at Kate as he gently tossed the paper aside and typed his response.

I'm sorry, Kate. Mother and Alexis are used to this kind of thing, I'm sorry you got included.

"Rick, forget about it. I can handle it. We'll take care of this situation," Kate replied to his words.

Somewhat stunned by her words, Alexis and Martha exchanged questioning glances. Rick picked up the printout of the email from Paula. After studying it for a while, he typed his thoughts.

Mother, make sure that you have Debbie tell Patty that I will authorize any release of information should it come to that. Have Paula state without question that my injury had nothing to do with my association with the NYPD, nor with my shadowing of Kate. She doesn't need to put it in the statement, but if she is questioned by reporters about when I might be out and about, tell her that in the next week or so, I will be permitted to try to talk through clenched teeth, but having people understand me might be difficult. That being the case, I will have to forgo any book signings and readings until such time as the jawbone has healed and the wiring has been removed. Other than that, have her go with it.

Kate spoke up, "Rick, there was a guy across the street from the hospital entrance when we arrived this evening. I think it was the same guy I caught sight of this afternoon. I can only assume that there will probably be another page 6 mention tomorrow."

Mother, tell Paula to get this out this evening to the appropriate media. Maybe we can avoid further speculation. If not, at least this can serve as a rebuttal. Did Gina say what Black Pawn wanted to do?

"Sweetheart, she said that they would just join you in your press release, as opposed to doing a separate one. She also wanted you to know how sorry she was that you have been injured, and that she would be thinking of you."

After yesterday, I'm sorry you had to talk to her. You know I wouldn't have asked you to do it if I was able. If you happen to speak with her again, thank her for her words.

"Kiddo, think nothing of it. As Kate said, we'll take care of this situation. Well, our time is about up. I'll talk to Paula as soon as I get home. Sleep well, Richard. I'll see you in the morning."

Alexis smiled brightly, kissed him on the head again and whispered in his ear, "Kate called you Rick, Dad. Love ya."

Good night you two. Sleep well.

As Martha and Alexis approached the door, Kate turned to them, "Could you all wait for me downstairs. I'll only be a minute."

"Sure, darling. We'll stop and talk to Debbie on the way downstairs."

As the door closed, Kate pushed the bedside chair across the room and braced it against the door. Confused by her actions, Rick typed.

What's wrong? What did you do that for?

Moving to sit on the edge of the bed so that she could look directly into his eyes she began, "First, nothing will be wrong if you respond properly. Second, I'm sick and tired of one of us trying to say something to the other and we get interrupted. So I want to share something with you...I can't tell you how sorry I am about the fact that your hurt and you had to go through surgery and you have to put up with this for so long...I hate it...I have stopped seeing Josh...I didn't end it because he hit you, although I can't say that I wouldn't have just for that reason...I ended it because it is not what I want. I have finally recognized that after all of this time that I truly want you, I want us...I'm scared to death, but I'm going to quit trying to deny it and accept what is in my heart...I know you might be mad at me right now, and you might feel you can't trust me to be honest with you, or about you, but I will show you that you can...You said that you loved me and that you wanted me. I'm hoping that you will take that out of the past tense and make it present and future tense because I love you and I want you. We're going to have to deal with a great many issues, but I'm ready to get started and I'm hoping that you are. So there, I've bared my soul to you. Just as you said that someone already had your heart, I hope that is me because you have mine."

Tilting forward she kissed the top of his head. His eyes had never left hers until she had leaned forward. When she leaned back she could see a single tear escape his left eye. She wanted to wipe it away, but she was afraid to touch that side of his face. As he began to type his response, she wasn't certain as to whether the tear was a good omen or a bad one, as his typing was so brief. He turned the screen for her to read.

Properly.