Chapter Ten
Interlude In England Part Two

Previously

"I have to go, Katie-bug, I'll be back as often as my duties permit."

Kate could not find the words to reply, merely nodding her head, looking like she was going to cry as her father brushed a kiss to her forehead. Jim Beckett turned to leave, stopping to look Rick Castle In the eye, taking his hand.

"Thank you, Major for saving my daughter. For bringing her back to me. I have no words for what it means to me. Look after her for me, while I'm gone."

"Of course Mr. Beckett, I'll do my best." Castle replied, he watched the two men depart before he sat in the chair Kate's father had vacated only a few moments before and took her hand.

"Goodbye Daddy." Kate whispered sadly at the closed door. Her voice choked with emotion. He was alive...and he was sober. She wasn't an orphan anymore. Her tears finally broke loose and fell. Rick did the only thing he could do in this situation.

He held her.

Major Rick Castle woke in an army issue cot three paces from Kate's hospital bed, not knowing how he'd come to be there. When Kate had finally fallen asleep, he had been sitting next to her holding her hand. He wasn't even sure when he'd drifted off, only that the last time he distinctly remembered getting any shut-eye up until now was in France. And it had only been briefly, as he'd been at a loss...consumed with guilt over what happened to Roy Montgomery.

When he swung his feet off the bunk and started pulling on his army issue jump boots he was met with a steaming cup of black coffee in the hands of Army Nurse Lanie Parrish.

"How the hell did I get over here?" Rick groaned.

"When I was making my rounds last night, you were out cold draped over my patient." Lanie replied, handing him the very welcome steaming cup of double strength Joe,

"I had a couple of corpsmen help me move you so I could take her vitals. Dr. Davidson's orders were to make sure you both got some sleep."

Nurse Parrish stopped for a moment, thought a beat then went back to her cart,

"Oh, your mail got redirected here." Lanie pressed an air service envelope into his hands then turned and headed for the door.

"If you need anything I'll be at the nurse's station down the hall, look after my girl here." With a smile and saucy wink, Lanie was out the door to finish her rounds.

Rick recognized her from the photo that Esposito had shown him back in France, when they all sat around trading stories from home over a bottle of French wine shortly after his episode in the wine cellar. He now knew what the man saw in her, she was a real firecracker. The racism of many in the service obviously hadn't dulled her spirit in the least.

Rick finished his cup of coffee, planted a soft kiss to Kate's forehead before grabbing the shaving kit from the valise he'd brought with him from France and walked quickly to the bathroom not far from the nurse's station. One look at his face in the mirror told the whole story.

He looked like hell. He hadn't shaved since the morning of the operation in Laurient and it showed. His eyes were bloodshot with deep bags under them. Like it or not, Brigadier Hunt had been right. He needed to look after himself if he was going to do Kate any good, he'd been shot before and knew that surviving the bullet was only the beginning. Especially if she insisted upon going back, as he was quite certain she was going to once she was off the drugs.

Rick went back out to the nurse's station and a word to Nurse Parrish was all it took to get him what he needed. A fresh uniform had been sent to the hospital for him, (along with a dress uniform for the private audience with General De Gaulle ) complete with all of his rank insignia which Lanie had been happy to retrieve along with a tube of shaving cream and a towel. She had promised that if Kate woke when he was gone that she would come find him.

The shower and shave had done him a world of good, not to mention the fresh, crisp uniform. Lanie had even been kind enough to have the old one sent out to be cleaned in town. He felt almost human again when he returned to Kate's room.

He was met at the door by Doctor Davidson. By the set of the man's jaw he could tell this was not going to be good news.

"Miss Beckett can't stay here, Major."

Rick had to hold himself back from decking the man, keeping his fists balled at his sides and his expression as neutral as he could. He could tell from the look on Davidson's face that he didn't like it either, but something else must be going on since Kate had been shot only thirty-six hours ago.

"Her bullet wound was clean and she's stable enough to be moved," Davidson said by way of explanation, "I don't like it either, Major, I'd rather keep her another day for observation, but a bomber strike left before dawn and we'll need every available bed for the wounded when what's left of it comes back. Goddamn daylight bombing raids."

Rick nodded, his expression softening a fraction. Doctor Davidson had a point, this was still a military hospital and those boys coming back from a daylight bombing raid to either Northern France or Berlin would be flooding this infirmary within the next few hours. He wasn't looking forward to wading through another flood of the wounded and dying so soon after the Laurient mission, neither would it do Kate any good to be stuck here with them, it was gonna be a rough few days for her as it was.

"Your commanding officer must have a lot of pull, because he's managed to carve out a private space in officer country for the two of you and have Nurse Parrish assigned to monitor her condition for the time being. She's one of my best, but I can't spare anybody else. We should get Miss Beckett moved there in the next three or four hours so I can get the ambulance back here for to greet the bomber crews."

Shortly after the arrangements had been made, there was a commotion inside Kate's room, the sound of Kate screaming jolted him into action propelling him through the door into her room. To see Kate backed into the back corner of the room, his .45 caliber sidearm in her hands pointed at his head.

Her eyes were glazed over, seeing Rick could only guess what as she pointed the shaking pistol at him. He waved everyone back and Lanie took his cue, clearing the room as he moved forward slowly, doing his best to be as soothing as possible.

"Kate," Rick said softly, "It's me, it's Rick. It's okay Kate... you're safe... it's okay."

The gun shook even more in Kate's hands as Rick carefully reached out for it, wrapping his hand around the barrel, pushing down on the magazine release, thankful he never left a round in the chamber. The magazine dropped from the grip of the pistol and onto the floor at her feet with a quiet clatter as he gently tugged the weapon from her shaking hands and pulled her into him, wrapping his arms around her.

"It's okay, Kate... it's okay... you're safe." he whispered into her hair over and over again as the tension and panic eased out of her body and she slowly relaxed sobbing into his arms. Suddenly the thought of getting her out of a crowded, noisy Army Air Corps field hospital about to be inundated with emergency traffic didn't seem like such a bad idea after all.

The drive over had been mostly uneventful as they arrived at the small farmhouse on the periphery of the airbase. Rick didn't know what what had been going through General Hunt's mind but he'd cleared the entire house. He wasn't complaining, but he was certain quite a few junior officers would be... loudly at being dispossessed.

It wasn't a large house to be sure. It was only marginally larger than the pool house at his summer place in the Hamptons, but it was a lot of space for three people. He wondered what Hunt was getting at as he helped Kate out of the back of the staff car he'd appropriated instead of the ambulance.

Once they got Kate ensconced in a bed on the second floor she was asleep again, Doctor Davidson had given her something to help her nerves for the short drive to the other side of the base. He was just about to sit down with a glass of scotch when the phone rang.

"Castle." He stated into the line when he picked it up.

"Major Castle," Hunt stated on the other end of the line, "my driver will be there shortly with a few things to make your stay during Miss Beckett's recovery a little more bearable. He should be there shortly. James jumped at the chance to look in on his daughter again."

As if on cue, a car horn sounded outside.

"That would be him. I'll let you go for now. Have a pleasant evening." Hunt stated before hanging up.

Castle shook his head as he got up to open the door, making sure the hall light was out before opening the door and was met by a small red blur that launched herself into his arms.

"DADDY!"

**Author's note** Before any of you hate on me for this turn of events, try to remember that Castle's mother, Martha Rodgers is a famous Broadway actress, so a USO trip is not completely beyond the pale. Castle and his mother will have words about her bringing Alexis with her into a war zone, trust me.