The Castle is Breached
Chapter 10
Disclaimer: See chapter 1

A couple more hours passed before Alexis went back to see her father. Martha was with her, but allowed the teen to enter the cubicle first. She knew the young girl needed a moment to see that her father was still very much alive and to put to rest the horrifying images of her last visit with him.

Alexis moved slowly this time, hating that she was almost afraid to touch her father. The pink tinge of his cheeks was gone, replaced with an almost normal coloring, though still slightly pale, it was nothing like he had been before. The sheen of sweat was gone as well; her father's hair was pushed back from his forehead like someone had taken a wet cloth and wiped his face. Alexis noticed the breathing tube still in place, but the absence for the rhythmic operation of the machine was noticeable. However, as she watched, she noticed her father's chest slowly rising and falling on its own.

Martha stepped forward when she saw the confused look on Alexis's face. "Dr. Reynolds had the respirator adjusted so that it would only come on if your father needed a little extra help breathing, but for the last few hours he has been doing most of his breathing on his own."

Wordlessly, Alexis looked at him again. Slowly she moved her hand, laying it on his chest as it moved up and down. Under her fingertips she could also feel the steady beat of his heart. A sob escaped as she laid her head down on her father's shoulder, finally releasing the fear she had felt since witnessing the seizure.

Throughout the rest of the day, Martha and Alexis or Alexis and Kate would visit Rick during the allotted time. Kate made a point to keep a bit of distance from Castle, allowing Alexis time with her father. However as they would leave the room, Beckett would reach out and touch his leg or his arm, giving a gentle squeeze before leaving, she would never speak to him, she couldn't bring herself too, she just took in the comfort that he was indeed alive and on the mend, though he could still be a day or so away from waking.

As evening came Dr. Reynolds again approached the waiting room, quickly putting up his hands in a calming motion at the emotions that quickly played across the women and teen's face. "Everything is fine." He stated as he motioned everyone to sit down. "I just wanted to let you know, that for most of the day Mr. Castle has been breathing on his own so we are going to go ahead and remove the breathing tube this evening. We will also be cutting back on the sedative and allow it to work it's way from his system, hopefully giving him the chance to start waking up sometime tomorrow morning or afternoon, that part will be totally up to him." The doctor watched relief passing over the faces of those before him before he continued. "I'm going to allow one more visitation then I must ask that you all go home and get some rest. Once he wakes he is going to need your help and support and he won't have that if you all are too exhausted. Plus, this gives us a chance to keep him here in the ICU overnight to monitor him once we have removed everything and reduced the medication to make sure he is continuing to heal without anyone sneaking back who shouldn't be."

Dr. Reynolds gave Alexis a small smile as she glanced down toward her hands at the reminder of what she had done. The older man continued, "If all goes well we will move him to a regular room by tomorrow afternoon and hopefully home in the next week."

Alexis's eyes lit up at that, "Really?"

This time the doctor truly smiled, "Really, as long as he has help and doesn't overdue it. I believe with a little physical therapy his complete recovery should only take a couple of month."

"Oh, he'll have plenty of help; he won't have to do anything. I can take care of everything and if I can't, Gram can. He won't be left alone for a minute." Alexis started to ramble as Martha started laughing at the enthusiasm coming from her granddaughter, the girl turning toward her, "When we get home, I'll move his things into the living room, he won't have to go into his office and sit in that uncomfortable desk chair, he can write from the couch. I'll get his books and notepads ready. We'll have to buy his favorite foods, and ice cream, chocolate ice cream with all the stuff he likes…"

Kate could see Alexis's mind working a million miles a minute as the teen tried to think of every single thing she wanted to do to get ready for her father to come home. Again, as she watched, the guilt washed over her of what the young girl before her could have lost. Beckett made a mental note to talk with Captain Montgomery; she needed to figure out a way for this type of thing to never happen again. It broke her heart to think she was going to have to put a stop to Castle shadowing her, but if the past few days had shown her anything, there was no way she could possibly live with the guilt if Castle died because of her.

Kate's attention was drawn back to the man's family, the man that she was slowly realizing she loved, as they stood, following the doctor. "All three of you can come back if you'd like, then I'll meet you around eight tomorrow morning to go over how he is overnight and decide on moving him." Dr. Reynolds moved toward the doors, Alexis and Martha followed.

Kate hung back, her emotions again gaining ground until she felt Alexis take her hand, "You coming?"

Beckett gave her a weary smile, standing, "Of course," allowing the teen to pull her along through the silver doors.

An hour later had Detective Kate Beckett pulling into her parking spot at the 12th. She closed her eye's a moment; she had just dropped Martha and Alexis off at Castle's place with the promise to be back in the morning. Then with the thought still clear in her sleep deprived mind, she headed toward the precinct to speak with the captain. A few officers stopped her between the doors and the elevator inquiring on how Castle was doing. He had quickly made friends among the rank and file and it was clear to Beckett that what had happened to the writer was clearly felt among everyone who had met him, not just those who knew him personally.

Stepping into the elevator she closed her eyes as the doors closed. How was she going to do this? How was she going to find the strength to remove him for this part of her life? This was the largest part that kept them together. He was always at the precinct and when he wasn't he was with her on the way to or from a crime scene or an interview or, as with this last fateful time, an arrest. This was literally all they had. Yeah a few times they had gone to lunch or dinner, but that was because they had just wrapped up a case or were working on one. Cutting him out of this part of her life was removing him from nearly her entire life, because her job was her life. Could she really do that?

As the elevator stopped and the doors slide open, revealing the bullpen they had all walked out of just days ago. Now she was walking back in alone, she knew this wasn't about what she wanted. She wanted him around; she wanted him in her life more than anything, which was something she didn't realize until she felt him stop breathing on the floor of the suspect's house. But she needed to think of him, of Martha, but mostly of Alexis. She had promised Castle she would take care of Alexis if anything happened to him and now that that very thing had almost happened, she realized she didn't want to take care of Alexis, she wanted Castle to take care of Alexis.

So with the image of the terrified redhead in her mind she slowly moved around the corner that brought her into view of Esposito's and Ryan's desks. Both men hunched over doing one of the crappiest parts of police work, the paperwork. "Glad to see you guys are doing something while I'm not here." Kate had to laugh as both men jumped up at the same time, talking together.

"How's Castle?"

As both men looked at each other a moment, then back to Beckett, she noticed Captain Montgomery come from his office, approaching the three of them. "Sir…" She nodded.

"Beckett." He responded, watching her a moment. The expression on her face wasn't one he could readily describe, but a hint of sorrow was in her eyes. "Is everything all right?"

Clearing her throat she looked at the worried expressions of her friends before her. "Yeah. Castle's doing really good. The doctor sent us home for the night, he said they were going to take the vent out and start cutting back on the sedative. With any luck Castle might wake up sometime tomorrow and hopefully be home within the week."

"Really? That soon?" Ryan asked. Beckett could still clearly remember the haunted expression on Kevin's face once she and Alexis made it to the hospital. He had been there during both times that the writer's heart had stopped.

Nodding she answered, "That's what they are saying. Alexis was so excited she started naming off everything she was going to do to get the loft ready. It…" Kate took a deep breath, emotions inching their way closer to the surface again, "It reminded me of when Castle get's excited about something, the girl gets her excitability honest." Beckett glanced down as she felt tears well in her eye's, blinking rapidly to keep them from falling.

Esposito broke the emotion-charged silence, "Sure has been quiet around here. Forgot what it was like without Castle around. Can't wait till he's better."

"Yeah." Kate mumbled as she looked up, all three men watching her close. Clearing her throat she looked at the captain, "Sir, can I speak with you a moment?"

Again the older man was unable to completely read the expression on the young woman's face, but honestly he had a very good idea of what she wanted to talk about and he had already formed his own opinion on the subject, he just didn't know how it would coincide with hers. "Of course Detective." He stepped aside, motioning her into his office as Ryan and Esposito sat back down, both watching as the captain closed his office door.