Chapter 8

Josh's Surrender

He had been woken up in the middle of the night to go to the hospital. He was needed to perform an emergency heart operation. He had tried to get someone else to do it, but all other cardiologists had either just come out of making an operation or were not available, so the hard task fell to him. He grumbled the whole way to the hospital, but after having a large cup of coffee – which reminds him of her – he is ready to get into the operating table.

The operation took two and a half hours to complete. He was really tired, and did not want to risk his neck by going back home on the bike, especially when he had to come back to work the next morning, so he just went to the hospital break room and laid down on the sofa, where he fell asleep.

Now, he awakens, and the first thing he notices is that someone has covered him with a blanket. He silently thanks whomever cared for him like this and attempts to brush off the sleep from his eyes, standing up and folding the blanket in eight, before putting it into the drawer.

As he serves himself a cup of coffee, two of the nurses enter the break room.

"... saw Richard Castle!" one of them almost shouts.

"Where did you see him?" the other one asks.

"I saw him at the ICU wing, he was grinning like he ate a canary, and then he entered one of the rooms. I heard something about a policewoman being shot, and he is here watching over her."

He pays no more attention to the nurses, and walks out of the break room, intent on going to the ICU wing. There is only one policewoman he knows that Richard Castle could be watching over. He is very worried about this. If Kate has been shot, he wants to know how she is. They broke up a couple of days ago, and the pain of doing it is still fresh, but he knows she was right. He cares about her much, and wants to make sure she is alright.

It does not take him much time to find the room. He actually manages to catch Castle as he goes from the bathroom towards what he guesses is Kate's room.

"Castle," he says, trying to keep his voice down. He turns around and seems surprised.

"Davidson. What are you doing here?"

"I work here. And I just heard about Kate being here. What the hell happened?"

"She was shot during Montgomery's funeral," he replies in a clipped and slightly nervous tone.

"What?" he asks.

"Nobody told you?" Castle asks, surprised.

"No. I heard it by chance just a few minutes ago, I heard some nurses talking about you and someone who had been shot and thought it was Kate. How is she?"

"She got a couple of ribs broken, and her lung was harmed, but they got her into surgery and they managed to repair everything. She woke up about half an hour ago."

He sighs. If she has woken, that means she is alright. That makes him glad.

"Do you want to see her?" Castle asks, nervous.

"Well, I am not sure..."

"Come on, Davidson, this is your girlfriend, aren't you going to make the effort to see her."

"My girlfriend? Didn't Kate tell you?" he says, surprised.

"Tell me what?"

"We broke up three days ago."

His face is one of surprise, and a second later of happiness mixed with curiosity. "Why did you break up?"

He sighs again. "It was mutual. You know, with all my traveling around the world, and her job which can call her at any hour of the day, even if it is at 4 AM, we realized our relationship was not something that could actually work. I am glad that I got to enjoy the time I had with her, but I know when I have lost the chance. Especially given that you are here."

"I beg your pardon?"

He chuckles. "Look, Castle, I am not blind. I have seen the way you look at Kate. I know how much you care about her. I know lots of things about what the two of you have been doing these three years. I would have been surprised if you did not like her."

"Yeah, it is impossible to dislike her," Castle replies, a smile on his face.

"Thing is, right now, both of us are just friends. I admit that I would have loved to hook up with her again, because I really like her, but I know she likes you a lot, and that I would not have a snowball's chance in hell of going out with her again. And I am sure that she trusts you with things she never told me. So I hope that you are able to hold on to that trust, Castle. Because if you don't, I may just have to throw you out of the window."

"Hey, no worries, Davidson. First, if you threw me out of the window, Kate would arrest you. And second, there will be no need for those threats. She is far too important for me to harm her in any way or form."

"That is all I can ask from you, then, Castle," he says.

"Rick."

"What?"

"Call me Rick." Castle offers his hand, and he stretches it.

"Then, call me Josh." A moment of awkward silence happens between them. "Can I see Kate? Even if it is for a few seconds. Unfortunately, I have to get back to work real soon, and I need to freshen up a bit before that."

"Sure. I'll tell you, she is deep asleep, so try not to wake her up, please."

"I know, I know, she needs her rest. Just give me a minute with her. I promise I won't do anything to her."

"Well, if you are really not doing anything to her... go in. Remember, I am going to be watching you, and if I see you doing something funny, you are going to wish for some real fast flying lessons."

He smiles at the joke Castle has made, and slowly opens the door.

There she is, lying on the bed. She is as beautiful as ever. She might have an oxygen mask on her, but it cannot mask her beauty. He is really jealous of Castle right now. He can stay with her the whole time. When she is awake, he will be the one that keeps her company. And when she is released from the hospital, he will be the one that takes care of her – well, as much as she allows him to.

He would love to fight for her, but, as he has just told Castle, he knows that the gig is up, and that he has lost the race. He is a gracious loser, and wishes both of them well. He leans over Kate and kisses her forehead.

"Hey, Kate. I just heard about what happened to you," he whispers. "And I am sorry. I wish I could have been there to help you, but that is not important. The important thing is that you get well soon, so that you can help your partners find the man that shot you and kick his ass to push him into a cell. And... well, I know about Castle. I know we have had our differences about our opinion of him, but, even if I feel he is taking my girl from me, I am glad he is here, because I know he is going to take care of you, and that he is going to make you happy. I hope you will let him in, more than you did with me, because you deserve to be happy." He kisses her again, this time on the cheeks. "Take care, Kate. And let yourself be taken care of."

He turns around, and sees Castle waiting next to the door.

"Did you hear something?" he asks.

"Not a thing. I just was watching out, in case you attempted to do something funny."

"Well, as you can see, nothing funny happened. It was only to tell Kate to be careful." His beeper sounds. "Damn. I have to get back to work. Rick, take care of her, and make sure that she doesn't have to come back to a hospital."

"I'll do my best to insure that," Castle replies. "Good luck, Josh. I hope you get the luck you deserve."

"Thank you, Rick." He stretches his hand again and leaves, ready to work again on the hospital and trying to save lives.

And, on the way, he feels as if a weight has been lifted from his shoulders.

A/N: I hope that you liked this chapter as much as the previous ones. I feel that Josh is a character a bit maligned in the scene of fanfiction. I think that he is a nice guy whose only "sin" was to become Kate's boyfriend during the third season and preventing the Nth chance of Rick trying to tell Kate what he felt for her, and this is my take on it, trying to offer Josh the chance to shine even if it is for a few moments, and to show his nobility of character (OK, that one I admit I pulled it out of my ass, but you can't deny the rightness of it). Just trying to push the treatment of Josh a bit towards the good part.

In regards to reviews, I am glad that you heeded my advice. Chapter 7 is the one with the most reviews so far. Now, let's see if you guys can bet the previous record and get Chapter 8 to have even more reviews!

And now, messages for certain reviewers!

My muse: I liked your message. Loads. And I also miss you a lot. I wish you were here, so that I could talk with you, so that we could go on a walk to the park, and so that we could enjoy a film together. Remember that you are, for me, my Kate Beckett, and I hope that that never changes ;).

stonegnome1: Huh. I had not thought of that. Say that, in this chapter, the guard was doing a short patrol around the place.

bones35: I also prefer "clean" stories. Seriously, it makes me ashamed to see English-speaking people commit elementary mistakes that I would never get caught doing.

Sean: Your critique, like all constructive criticism, is welcome here. I share your hate for poor spelling and grammar. Sometimes, I am ashamed to see people that clearly are English-speakers commit horrendous grammar mistakes, when I, a Spanish-speaker, can write in English much better than those people do. As to what you wrote, I guess you are somewhat right when it comes to the tense thing. In Spanish, "to be sitting down" can have two translations, one being that the action is in course (she is going from standing up to sitting down) and the second being that she has already done that. And the reason why certain sentences are separated with dots instead of semicolons is because it gives (to me) the feeling that those are the character's thoughts, slightly uncontrolled and else. I hope that this answer satisfies you.

agah14: I didn't know whether Castle would actually send a message re: their declarations of mutual love, but I think it would be quite in character for him. And I wasn't sure if he would say "Kate loves me" or something like that, but I think it would be a bit better to put up something more... bi-directional, so to speak.