Well . . . you have every right to hate me . . . I guess the horribly horrible length of time it took me to post this was caused by a mix of writer's block, apathy, and lack of school classes to write in. Apparently summer makes me lazy, and I cannot possibly apologize enough, but I really am sorry. And if you're still reading this, thank you for your patience and loyalty. I love you all!

Anyways, I won't make you wait any longer, and will do my very best to post another chapter soon. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Sorry, I'm pretty sure Andrew Marlowe is much more efficient at writing and updating on time. Deadlines and all . . .

She woke in the ambulance, but by her dreadful moaning, Castle wished she hadn't. She was on the gurney, with one EMT attending her, and the other navigating the wailing vehicle quickly through traffic. She already had an IV delivering fluids into her, and the attendant was currently inspecting other wounds

"Where-" she cut herself off with a grimace, her face going white when the medic touched the protruding bone fragment on her right ankle.

"Kate?" Castle called from the far wall of the ambulance, wishing he could hold her hand. "Kate you're in an ambulance. We're on our way to the hospital. You're gonna be fine. I'm here, Kate."

"I- I don't know anything," she cried, clearly caught between a nightmare and the waking world. "Please. Please just kill me already."

Tears rolled down Castle's face as he witnessed her terror. The bus drove over a large bump, and Kate's eyes rolled up into her head. Castle prayed that unconsciousness was a relief for her.

"Shit," said the medic, as Kate's body temperature dipped dangerously low.

He turned to scavenge from a drawer, and as he did so, her breathing got even louder and more rapid, and her heart monitor beeped faster.

"Uhh," Castle nudged the EMT as he noticed yet another complication. "Is that normal?"

Her lips were blue. The EMT swore again, and tossed the emergency blanket he had fetched at Castle.

"Hang on to that for a minute," he said as he pulled out a stethoscope, and lay the cold metal flat on Kate's bare chest. "Damn," he said after listening for a moment.

"What?!" Castle asked, panicking.

"Wrap that around her. Tightly."

The medic opened another drawer and pulled out a nasal cannula, which he placed quickly under Kate's nose.

"Step on it!" the EMT called to his partner. I think she's got pleural effusion, but we've gotta get her to a CT first to be sure.

The vehicle sped up, but Castle didn't think it was enough as he looked at Kate's ever paling face and rapidly rising chest. The beeping on her heart monitor got faster and faster.

"Uh," Castle said nervously. "I don't think we can wait."

"How far?" the medic asked his partner.

"Traffic jam."

Kate flatlined.

"Right," the EMT took control. "Do you know CPR?"

Castle nodded, "yes."

"Well get started then," the medic ordered as he pulled out an AED and began charging it.

Castle tilted Kate's head back, pinched her nose, and breathed air into her as deeply as he could. He did it once more before shifting down to start chest compressions, first moving the blanket aside. He'd only gotten to 25 when his hands were pushed aside. The EMT placed paddles on her chest, and held them down as they shocked her heart. Her body jolted and the monitor flickered before flatlining again.

"Kate?" Castle called desperately.

"Again," the man ordered Castle, and he resumed CPR.

As he alternated between breathing for Kate and pumping her heart, Castle watched as the medic pulled out a large syringe and long tubing with a bag on one end. He knelt next to Kate, looking carefully at her bare side, before shouting at Castle to stop. He jammed the syringe into Kate's side, and Castle grimaced in sympathetic pain. He taped the sides of the syringe to Kate's skin to hold it in place before pulling out the back half of the syringe, inserting the tubing into the now open end, and taping those together as well. All this was just in time, as fluids burst out of the syringe and into the tubing.

The AED beeped, and the EMT went to shock her heart again. This time it not only brought her back to life, but also to consciousness. Her eyes were wild and panicked.

"Castle?" she gasped. Though better than before, her breaths were short and rapid. "I can't . . . . can't breathe."

She tried taking a deeper breath, but her face scrunched up in pain and she grasped at her chest, where the paddles still lay in wait. The EMT swiped her hands away. She shivered, and Castle pulled the emergency blanket back up as far as he could without covering her chest.

Kate whimpered.

"Kate? What is it? What hurts?"

"My chest," she whispered breathlessly. "It burns."

Castle frowned deeply. He had seen her chest earlier. It was red and inflamed, with some spots nearly black. The burn was nasty enough that he could just barely make out the scar from her shooting underneath. He imagined that the defibrillation hadn't soothed the burns.

"Please!" he turned to the medic. "Can't you give her anything?"

The younger man shook his head sadly. "Until we know the full extent of her injuries, it's not safe to give her any drugs. There's a salve that will ease her burns, but I can't remove the paddles in case she goes back into cardiac arrest. Once they take care of the more urgent problems at the hospital, they can soothe her pain. I'm sorry."

Kate squeezed her eyes shut in an effort to decrease the throbbing in her head. "Are we . . ." she started weakly. "Are we close?"

Castle grasped her hand, and she squeezed tightly.

"Just two blocks away," the driver called back.

Kate's eyes began to flutter closed before the shot open in a sudden realization.

"Wait! Castle!"

"What? Kate, what is it?"

"The boy," she squeezed his hand. You've got to call Esposito."

"What?" Castle asked, confused.

"He needs to put the boy in a safehouse. He promised to tell me everything. He promised . . ."

"What?"

But she had already faded out, so Castle flipped open his phone and called Esposito.

Ryan answered the phone. "Castle?! How's Beckett?! Is she okay?!"

"We're almost at the hospital," was all Castle could say on the matter. "Where's Esposito?"

"Oh. He's putting one of the perps in lockup."

"Which one?"

"The kid. The other guy took a through and through to the shoulder, and is on his way to the hospital with a couple of uniforms. Why do you ask?"

"Stop!" Ryan shouted.

Castle heard Esposito's response faintly over the line. "Why?"

"Why?" repeated Ryan.

"Because Beckett said . . . she said to put him in the safehouse. Something about him promising to tell her everything?"

Ryan repeated it to Esposito. "Everything about what?"

"I'm not sure," Castle shrugged, forgetting that Ryan couldn't see him. "Well it's possible that-"

"Wait! You don't think it's about . . ."

Castle sighed. "C'mon Ryan. Of course it's about that. What else could it be. And isn't it always?

"I guess it was just wishful thinking. Okay. Espo and I will get a couple of clean guys to get him to safety until Beckett's well enough to talk to him. "

"Give me the phone!" Castle heard Esposito say, and there was a slight jostling before his voice became clear. "Okay, Castle. Spill. You tell me how Beckett is or I swear-"

"She's fine!" Castle cut him off desperately. "I mean she's . . . well she did . . . and she's in . . . they really did a number on her, Espo."

"Is she going to make it?" he asked matter of factly.

"I- I don't know. Listen, I gotta go. We're pulling up to the hospital now."

"Okay, man. You just stay with her. I'll call Lanie, and then we'll all get our asses up there quick as we can. Do you want me to call your family?"

"No. I'll call them later."

Esposito clicked off his phone, and Castle did the same as the back door of the ambulance was swung open, and two doctors rushed to help the EMT pull Kate's gurney to the ground.

Let me know what you think please! Constructive criticism is perfectly welcome!