Castle was rather proud of himself for staying at home last night. He fought the urge to run back to her for hours, but eventually fell asleep. He even managed to stay home late enough to make Alexis breakfast and see her off to school. It was about 8:30 when he got to the hospital.

"Good Morning, Detective," He greeted.

"Hey Castle"

"How are you feeling?"

"A lot better," she answered. Beckett hadn't let on how tired and drained she really was the night before.

"Good," he said with a smile and took his seat by her bed.

"Yeah, 14 hours of sleep should do something for me."

"Hey, don't think about it like that. Healing takes a lot of energy."

"I know," she admitted. "But, I forgot to ask you, did you take pictures of my apartment?"

"Can I show you later?"

"Why?"

"Beckett," he sighed.

"Can we just get it over with?"

"Yeah, I guess." Castle took his phone out of his pocket and handed it to her.

"Wow."

"Yeah."

"Take it. I'm done," she said after only seeing 3 of the pictures. It was too much.

"Ok," he replied sadly and put the phone back in his pocket.

"Can you do me a favor?" Beckett asked after a moment.

"Yeah, of course."

"Help me shuffle to the bathroom?"

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I was a lot more stable on my feet yesterday than the day before. The first day was terrible."

"Ok, should I get Amy too?"

"No, she said as long as I had someone to help I was fine. I just need help walking to and from bed. I can handle it after that."

"Ok," he said nervously.

"So I'm going to scoot to the side, and then I need you to help me stand. Up and Down is the worst."

"Got it."

She pulled the blankets down and scooted to the edge of the bed. She was struggling, but Castle knew she had to do this on her terms. She made it to the seated position and dropped her feet to the floor. It was becoming increasingly hard for Castle to watch though because it was obvious that it was painful for her. She sat with her head slung down, but he could tell her eyes were tightly squeezed shut, and she was breathing heavy.

"Kate?" he questioned after a moment.

"Gimme a second." She took a deep breath. "Probably shouldn't have done this with you the first time I got up today. I'm stiff."

"Not a big deal. Take your time."

"I'm ok."

"I know you are," he said gently and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Ok, let's get this over with," she responded lifting her head.

"Where do you want me?"

"Just stand right in front of me and put your hands out. I'm going to push off the bed with one hand and kind of pull up using your arm with the other. Just... um, be ready."

"I got you, don't worry."

"I almost fell the first time," she admitted timidly.

"You didn't tell me that."

"Yeah, well I didn't really want you to know."

"What happened?" Castle asked.

"Nothing really. It just hurt a lot more than I expected. There was like 3 people in here to help. I was fine. I didn't actually fall."

"Ok, Ok. I'm right here. I'll make sure you don't," he said with a feigned confidence. Inside Castle was terrified. He knew he could catch her. She weighs practically nothing. That wouldn't be a problem, but he didn't want to hurt her.

"Ready?" he asked sticking his arms out, palms up, in front of her.

"Yeah"

Beckett did just as she said she would. Her grip was fierce on his arm as she slowly pulled herself up, and he gripped her arm near her elbow in response. Her movements were jagged, and it definitely did not look comfortable. Castle stood solid in front her trying his best to guide her. He took her hand after she pushed off the bed and helped her balance. Beckett was completely silent the whole time. He gave her a moment to just stand before he said anything.

"Ok?" Castle couldn't see her face because her head was down. He had not realized how much shorter she was than him, or maybe she just looked small in this moment.

"Yeah," she let out still not looking up. It was obvious she needed to catch her breath.

Castle tightened his grip on her in hopes of making her feel more secure. She seemed far less stable on her feet than he liked. After a few more long seconds, she still hadn't made any attempt to move or say anything.

"Do you want to sit back down?" Castle asked.

"No!" she said quickly. "Sitting down is almost as awful as standing up. Let's walk."

"Ok, I'll just um... do you want me in front or back?"

She picked her head up then and gave him a cheeky grin.

"Katherine Beckett!" He laughed.

"It was too easy."

"Yeah, yeah. I walked right into it. Now answer my question please."

"Back, kinda to the side. Keep your hands how they are now, one on my elbow and one holding my hand with your arm supporting it underneath. I'm just going to kinda shuffle, but slide me the IV pole. I have to take it with me."

"Ok, take your time," he said handing her the pole. Castle was glad she was down to one pole of medications from the original 3.

They slowly moved over towards the bathroom. The room was pretty small so it wasn't a far walk. Castle did his best to help, but he wasn't really sure what to do.

"Are you sure you'll be ok be yourself?" he asked when they got to the door.

"Yeah, and there is a call button in there."

"But with ... getting up and down. You don't need me to get Amy?"

"I'll be fine, Castle," she bite out.

"Ok, sorry."

"Just wait right there, ok?"

"I won't go anywhere." He gently closed the door behind her.

Beckett stood in the tiny bathroom for a minute before she even attempted to do anything. No way was she going to admit how badly all of that had hurt. It wasn't that bad yesterday. Yes, last night she was really sore, but she still had thought she had made progress. Progress. Damn. Walking was considered progress. She snapped from her thoughts quickly because she knew she had to be fast because Castle would panic if she was in there too long. Beckett had never really envied men before, but she would kill to be able to pee without the hell of sitting down and standing back up. She went about her business as fast as she could which really wasn't fast. When she opened the door, Castle was standing right outside, square in front of the it.

"I was just going to knock," he said quickly slightly embarrassed.

"It's fine," she answered.

He took her arms again and helped her shuffle to bed. They stopped at the side, and she let out a sigh.

"You ok?"

"Yeah. I just don't want to sit yet."

"We can stand for a few minutes if you want."

She just nodded and leaned more of her weight on him. He took a half-step so he could be more in front of her and adjusted his grip on her forearms. Her head was bent down again, but she seemed to be breathing normally.

"I wish I could make the pain stop," Castle whispered after a moment.

"You have helped so much," she replied shyly.

"Um, would it hurt you if I hugged you?"

"I don't know, but I think we should try."

"Kate, I don't have to-"

"Shut up, and put your arms around my shoulders," she cut him off.

He did as he told, but he was careful not to let their chests touch. She snaked her arms around him, but she couldn't really hold them up for very long.

"Thank you," Castle said as he pulled back, but he kept his grip on her.

"Why are you thanking me?" she smiled.

Before he could answer, they were interrupted.

"Look who's finally out of bed," Esposito said from the doorway.

"Hey guys," Beckett greeted him and Ryan. "I should sit back down though," she said looking back at Castle.

"Good idea, what do you want me to do?"

"Just make sure I don't end up on my face," she answered quietly.

"That I can do."

He dropped his arms from her shoulders to her elbows and guided her over to the side of the bed. She lowered herself slowly and sat down with her feet still on the ground. Castle wordlessly gave her a few seconds to gather herself, he was about to ask if she was ok when she scooted back and brought her feet back into bed. Beckett gave him a small, grateful smile. He knew the last thing she wanted is him to make a big deal out of anything in front of Ryan and Esposito. She would never want them to see her struggle. Castle was impressed. He knew that maneuvering on her own had to have hurt, but she kept in check well.

"How are you feeling?" Ryan asked.

"Good. A lot better today."

"Good, good."

"So what's up with you guys?" she asked.

"We have some news for you," Esposito said after a minute.

"Ok."

"We found the man that broke into your place," Esposito uneasily informed her.

"Why do I get the idea there's more to this story?" Beckett asked.

"There is," Ryan added.

"Tell me."

"There's two things. First, the guy is dead," Esposito said.

"And the other?"

"He broke into Montgomery's house last night before he was killed."

"What?" She asked shocked.

"I'll start at the beginning. We were able to get a DNA match from the hair we found at your apartment. Lanie pushed it through late last night. Esposito and I went to go arrest the guy, but his apartment was empty. We put an ABP out and left a unmarked watching his place. We got a call this morning that he was found dead. It was in the 12th's jurisdiction, so Espo and I were called in pretty quickly. Everyone knew who he was. We hadn't been at the scene long, when I got a call from Evelyn Montgomery. Her and the kids had just woken up and gone downstairs to find Roy's office trashed and some broken windows."

"Damn it," Beckett whispered.

"He was found in an alley. We're assuming he went to give whatever he stole to whoever hired him, and the person took the stuff and then shot him."

"No witnesses to the murder?" She questioned.

"No. Lanie is doing the autopsy as we speak. Maybe ballistics will pop."

"What do we know about this guy?"

"Not much. We haven't had time to dig into his life too much yet. He's an ex-gangbanger with a record, but he joined the military and seemingly cleaned up," Esposito explained.

"Financials could help. We'll run them as soon as we get back," Ryan added.

"It's probably a situation just like Officer Riker," Castle spoke up for the first time.

"Let me know what you find." Beckett told Ryan and Esposito.

"You said you didn't want to know details. We just wanted to tell you we found the thief and figured you would want to know about Montgomery's," Esposito said.

"Thanks guys, but I'm feeling a lot better now than I was then. I can handle it." She turned to Castle, "I'm not investigating myself, and I'm not going to do anything stupid. I just want to know what's going on."

Castle just nodded. In all honesty, he was kind of expecting this. He knew her well enough to know she wasn't going to completely back down. He was kind of surprised it took this long after surgery for her to want back in on the case.

"We should head back to the precinct and get to work," Ryan said.

Castle and Beckett thanked them for coming and the guys left.

"Are you mad?" Beckett asked after a moment.

"Mad?"

"I know you and my dad don't want me anywhere near this investigation."

"No, I'm not mad. I wish you would stay completely out of it, but I know you," Castle replied.

" I just don't want to be out of the loop. I need to know what's happening. I promise till I am back at work, I'm not working."

"Good," he nodded.

"It's not like I really could anyway."

"Kate."

"I hate that I can't handle this myself. I trust Ryan and Esposito. I know they are smart and good at their jobs, but this is my case. I should be running it."

"I know, and I'm sorry, but Kate, it's too dangerous. Despite how important it is, it's not nearly as important as your life."

"I should have had my vest on," she nearly whispered.

"At the funeral? Kate, come on. This is not your fault. Everything was over. Lockwood was dead, and we were stuck just like in January. No one could have predicted that the guy behind this was going to keep going."

"I've been trying to figure that out, why now? Why this time? What did we learn that put the guy over the edge? What am I am supposed to know that made it necessary to kill me?"

"I think Montgomery knew the guy behind everything's identity. He probably thinks Montgomery told you before he went to the hangar that night," Castle offered.

"That's why Lockwood broke out of prison when he did!"

"What?"

"Montgomery was going to retire. The guy behind this thought Roy was going to come clean to me just like Raglan tried to. So he got Lockwood out of prison to take Montgomery out and just in case I already knew they had to kill me too," Beckett explained.

"Makes sense."

"But Montgomery wouldn't give me a name."

"I know."

"I begged him, Castle," she said as she tried to hide the emotion on her face.

"I could hear. God, Kate, I was shocked when he told you everything. He just called me that night and said that I needed to meet him there. He said your life depended on it. When I got there, all he said was that you were on your way, and I needed to hide until he called for me. He knew we were fighting and thought you would leave right away if you saw me. He said he had to talk to you first, but I had no idea that's what he was going to say."

"Me neither. I replay that night almost every time I close my eyes. I'm either back in the hangar or at the funeral and you're the one that gets shot instead," she quietly admitted and looked away.

"Kate," Castle gasped and reached for her hand.

"It's ok. I'm fine."

"The nightmare you had your third night here, you keep having it?"

"It varies but yeah. I wake up usually though before it gets too bad."

"I didn't know," Castle said quietly.

"It's not a big deal."

"You shouldn't have to deal with that. We should tell Dr. Kovacs."

"No, Castle, I'm fine!" Beckett answered quickly.

"I have them too, you know."

"You do?"

"It's a lot easier when I can wake up and see that you are ok right in front of me."

Kate just nodded. She understood. The first thing she did when she wakes is look for him, and if she was real quiet she could hear him breathing. She wasn't quite ready to admit that to him, but he probably already knew.

A/N: Thanks for reading. Drop me a review :) Next chapter will be up Thurs/Fri

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Thanks,

Meagan