'You promised me always. You promised me always.'
Martha shares a brief glance with Alexis and then reaches forward to place a reassuring hand on Kate's back. Kate quickly jerks upright and stands face to face with Martha and Alexis. Kate's eyes are red-rimmed and bloodshot so Martha decides to pull her in for a tight hug.
Kate doesn't relax within the hold or even wrap her arms around Martha's waist. She just doesn't have the energy or heart to be comforted.
As Kate escapes Martha's grasp she goes to sit on the sofa by the wall.
Alexis moves to go and sit next to Kate. She sits right next to Kate and then turns her body towards the detective. What Alexis does next surprises both Kate and Martha.
Alexis places her right hand beneath Kate's chin and lifts Kate's downcast head upwards so she is looking directly into Alexis's eyes. Alexis still doesn't utter a word but moves her thumb over Kate's cheek to swipe away the drying tears. She rubs beneath the detective's eyes to remove the smudged eyeliner and tucks several of Kate's stray hairs behind her ears.
A few more tears escape Kate's eyes at the kind and gentle nature of Castle's daughter. 'Sorry,' Kate whispers, her voice very gravelly and hoarse.
'Kate, you've nothing to be sorry about. It's ok to be upset about Dad; it shows me how much you love him.' Alexis replies and Kate's lips upturn ever so slightly.
Alexis continues, 'did something happen last night?' Alexis asks.
Kate looks nervously at Castle, she has never really opened up to anyone other than Castle and Dr Burke about her nightmares. She knows that Castle will be very proud if she found comfort from Alexis in his absence.
'I had a dream last night,' Kate begins slowly. Alexis has her hand resting on Kate's knee but then Kate reaches down for it and they interlace their fingers. 'It was about your Dad. In the dream he started waking up and he was doing great. He could understand me and respond to questions and they removed the breathing tube.' Kate takes a deep breath. 'I told him I loved him and he was about to reply but… but…' Kate begins to struggle but Alexis gently squeezes Kate's hand to urge her to continue. 'But then I woke up and Castle wasn't awake.'
Alexis understands why they walked in on Kate in that manner this morning. She pulls Kate in for another hug but this time Kate tightens her hold on Alexis. They hold each other for about a minute but then break apart.
'Thank you Alexis.' Kate say truly gratefully.
'That's ok, we're family now. It's what family do.' Alexis says clearly.
The next few hours are spent quietly discussing Alexis' school work and Martha's drama school. Kate also heads down to the canteen briefly to pick up breakfast which pleases both Martha and Alexis enormously.
'Kate, do you want to try and sleep with us here. Then if you have any nightmares we can wake you up before they get too bad. We'll wake you if anything happens and when Dr Reynolds comes around.' Alexis asks.
Kate nods meagrely and then goes to lie on the couch with her legs scrunched up at the end. Alexis reaches across to run her fingers through Kate's hair soothingly. It is not long before Kate has drifted into a peaceful slumber. Alexis continues her ministrations for a while as it was also giving her comfort from being able to help the older woman.
Martha whispers quietly to Alexis, 'Your father would be very proud of you Darling. Not many people can get Katherine Beckett to sleep on request.' Alexis smiles brightly then picks up her textbook to begin studying.
The next two days pass by relatively quickly and Kate can barely contain the tension she is feeling as to why Castle has not woken up. She has spent time looking up the specialists in this field of medicine and any techniques that are available to encourage Castle to wake up.
Kate has already organised with both Martha and Alexis that if Dr Reynolds doesn't have a plan to proceed with Castle's care as he is unsure then they will call one of the specialists to come down.
Dr Reynolds still doesn't understand the reason for Castle not waking up yet and agrees that an expert in the field may be beneficial. Kate spends the next three hours on the phone trying to arrange for Dr Wilding to fly from Seattle soon and review Castle's case. Kate has to use some of Rick's connections and her badge to persuade him.
Dr Wilding is set to fly to New York in two days so in the meantime, Kate tries out one of the techniques she has found online: Music.
Firstly, Kate begins by creating a playlist of all of Castle's favourite songs and plays them throughout the afternoon. Kate remembers times when she would come back to the loft after work and hear the music from down the corridor. She would walk in and see Castle playing the songs on Guitar Hero whilst he jumped around and pretended that he was actually on a stage.
When this fails Kate decides that he needs to possibly hear a familiar voice too. The next day, Kate asks her Dad to pick up her guitar from her apartment.
Kate decides that to save her from any embarrassment she won't sing in front of Martha or Alexis. Kate had never told Castle that she could play the guitar. He knew that she could sing a bit because he had heard her in the shower one morning. Instead of mocking her, he kissed her sweetly as she stepped out of the shower and told her that her voice was beautiful.
Kate sings sweet lullabies whilst playing the guitar and sits right next to his head so it will be easier for him to hear her.
As a surprise for after the wedding, Kate had learnt how to play 'In my veins' by Andrew Belle on the guitar and she thought that this may be the most effective song as it was so important to the two of them.
Unfortunately, none of the music seemed to work but Kate kept hopeful as Dr Wilding would be arriving the next morning.