So here's the next chapter I promised you guys. Hope you like it, I wrote it on my way home from school on Friday lol, yes it takes a long time for me to get home.

Anyway, please review, because I only have a few ideas of how to continue this story, so please come with ideas, and just tell me if you still like it so far

xo Beca


Alexis, Jim and Martha stayed with Rick and Kate everyday. Although Alexis had college, she had talked to her professors about studying from the hospital for a few weeks until her father would regain his strength, and she was allowed to as long as it wasn't longer than three weeks, which was fine with her.

The others usually came in the evening. Martha and Jim had told them to go back to work. They didn't want to at first but they insisted that if Rick and Kate couldn't solve any murders Ryan and Esposito had to do it for all of them until they recovered.

And they were going to recover. They had to. Everyone was holding on to a little shred of hope that their friends and family were going to be okay, and get to come home soon.

Six days after the accident, Rick was stable enough to be taken into surgery one more time to correct his spine.

The digital clock at the end of the hallway had just struck 7 a.m. as the nurses rolled him into surgery. Alexis held her fathers hand until the nurses told her that she couldn't go any further.

"But do you really have to cut into him again?"

Tears were forming in her eyes and she looked pleadingly at the nurses.

"If we wait another day, he might become paralyzed from the waist down, and we don't want that to happen now, do we?"

"No, but…"

She wiped away the tears from her face.

"Please just be careful and get him out of there alive."

"We wouldn't want it any other way."

The nurse smiled at Alexis.

After six hours Rick was rolled back into room 0347.

Alexis, Martha and Jim immediately stood up, welcoming him, even though he wasn't awake.

"Why doesn't he have those scary tubes down his throat anymore?"

Martha looked at the nurse.

"Since the swelling in his brain has gone down now, and he can breathe properly on his own now that we've fixed his spine, he doesn't need it."

"Oh thank god!" Martha exclaimed. "Does that mean he is going to be okay?"

"Yes it does, he should wake up in a couple of hours."

To Martha and Alexis it felt like a 100 pound weight had been lifted off their shoulders, but as they turned around to Rick's bed, they saw Jim in tears by Kate's bed.

"What's wrong, Jim?"

Alexis was worried.

"He is going to be okay… He is going to be okay, but Kate isn't. She's not going to wake up in a couple of hours. She's still hooked to this damn machine."

He was overwhelmed with emotions.

"Look, she is going to be okay, Kate is going to be okay, but it might take some more time. Remember, she has to recover for two people."

"I know, and I'm happy for Rick, and you guys, but I would give anything for Kate to wake up, hold my hand, and tell me she's fine."

"We know, and she will wake up. It just might take a little more time, so we have to be patient."

Jim knew she was right, so he sat down on the sofa next to him and decided to take a nap to relax his stressed body.

Both Jim and Martha had fallen asleep but Alexis had been staring at the clock in the room ever since her dad had gotten out of surgery. She had been counting the seconds, minutes and hours, just waiting for her father to open his eyes.

It had been four hours since she saw his father being rolled into the room again, and she hadn't let go of his hand ever since.

Shouldn't he be awake by now? Please wake up, please wake up. Come on.

As she was deep in thought, she felt pressure on her hand. It caught her off guard so when she looked back at her father she raced up from her chair.

"Oh my god dad! You're awake!"

She was so happy that she yelled causing Rick to frown.

"Sssccchhh Alexis, please… Could you close the blinds? I have a massive headache."

He talked in a deep, scraggly voice.

"Oh yeah, sorry. Sure."

As she closed the blinds she asked if she should go get the nurse.

"Mhm, yeah that would be great."

He had never felt his amount of pain before. His head was throbbing and it felt like someone was slowly stabbing him in his lower back.

What happened? Where am I? Why am I in the hospital?

So many questions were going through his head that he became confused.

He looked around the room, puzzled as to why he was there, and as as his eyes were searching around the room, he saw another hospital bed.

Oh my god, Kate!

Tears were streaming down his face, he wanted to reach out to grab her hand, but he couldn't move. He was connected to so many wires that he would just get all tangled up.

He felt something itching on his back. He slowly tried to sit up, but quickly falling back on the bed screaming.

Jim woke up from Rick's heart-wrenching roar, but Martha was still asleep, she didn't even flinch.

"You're awake!"

Jim ran over to his son-in law's bed.

"It hurts…. My back hurts so much."

"I know, you just had back surgery."

Jim tried to talk in a calming voice but he felt so sorry for him.

"What? For wh…"

He was interrupted by Alexis running in the room with a nurse close behind her.

"Oh good Mr Castle, you're awake."

She walked closer to him and looked at the monitors that were connected to him.

"Everything looks fine, are you experiencing any pain?"

He looked at her as if it was obvious.

"Yes, my head and my back are killing me."

"Okay, well I can help you with that. I just need you to sit up for me please. I need to check your incisions."

"Please, before you do anything. Can someone please tell me what's going on?"

"Dad, I will soon, can you just please do what she asks you to do first?"

Alexis looked at her father with her puppy-dog eyes.

"Okay, sorry honey."

He tried to sit up one more time, this time screaming even louder, and Martha woke up.

"Oh god, too lou… You're awake, kiddo!"

She looked happy, with a smile bigger than the sun. Then she looked at the nurse who was trying to help Rick sit up.

"Should I help you?"

"Yes please, could you hold up his gown while I check the incisions?"

Martha took a firm grip of the gown covering her son, and she saw the incisions on his back.

The lower half of his back was covered in a sterile dressing which was stained a pinkish-red color.

"Okay, I'm going to change the dressing and give you some morphine to make you comfortable. And just ring the bell if you need anything."

She was done after five minutes and hurried out of the room, seeing they needed to talk privately.

"Okay listen dad, I want you to not go into shock now and die okay?"

"Seriously, somebody tell me what's going on! Why am I in the hospital and why is Kate connected to a breathing machine?"

Alexis looked at her grandmother and Jim, who nodded back at her.

She started to tell her father what had happened to him and Kate.

When she was done, the room went completely quiet.

To Rick, it felt like his heart had been torn out of his chest.

Tears started to stream down his face and he didn't even bother to wipe them away. He just laid down on his bed, and asked them all to leave.

"Sorry, but I need some time for myself. I need to talk to Kate. Are you sure she can hear me Alexis?"

She nodded and then they all exited the room.

He started to talk to Kate, quietly and soothingly, just as Alexis informed him to do.

"Kate…"

He cleared his throat. He had a lump in his throat that he couldn't get rid of.

"Kate, you're going to wake up. I'm going to sit next to you, and beg you to wake up, and until you do, I am never letting go of your hand. I'm going to stay here with you and the baby. I'm going to wait for you okay? I'm right here Kate, you hear me? I'm right here. I love you so much."

He started to sob again, he had never cried this much, not even the time she was shot.

"I love you, just please wake up."

He started to calm down, the morphine had kicked in and his pain went away and he quickly fell asleep.

Martha called Esposito, Ryan and Lanie and told them that Rick had woken up, and that they should go to the hospital the first thing in the morning.

"And could you be a darling and bring some food? I wouldn't really call the sludge they serve here at the hospital food."

Laughter was heard from the other end of the phone, and Martha hung up the phone.

She, Alexis and Jim walked back to the room, and went to bed.


Yes, this chapter was more centered around Alexis, Jim and Martha, but the next chapter will definitely be more about Castle

Please R&R, it's like food to me haha

-Beca