Kate Beckett woke to the sound of something beeping. She was in the hospital? Confused, she opened her eyes only to slam them shut again at the bright light filling the room. Slower this time, she cracked her eyes open and peeked at her surroundings.
It seemed to be a standard hospital room, nothing out of the ordinary, until she realized that there was someone beside her.
As she recognized that it was Richard Castle sitting beside her with her hand clasped in his own, his head resting on the bed at her hip, the memories of what had happened flooded back to her. Montgomery's sacrifice, the funeral, her eulogy, the gunshot. She clearly remembered Castle tackling her and his whispered confession as the darkness closed in on her.
Castle loved her. She supposed deep down she had known that for some time, but now she knew for certain that it was true. What she didn't know was what she was going to do about it. She knew she loved him and that she was falling harder every day, but she couldn't get the memory of Castle tackling her to the ground as the gunshot went off out of her mind.
Someone was out there gunning for her, and Castle had tried to take that bullet for her. He had a family, a daughter. He couldn't do things like that. She couldn't be the one responsible for Alexis losing her father like she herself had lost her mother at a similar age.
As much as it pained her, Kate knew she had to keep him safe, and that meant keeping her distance from him until this was over, until her mother's killer had been brought to justice. Until that happened, she'd never be safe, and she wasn't taking him down with her.
Her decision made, Beckett's mind quieted again and she slowly drifted back to a dreamless sleep.
When Castle woke, he realized that weak sunlight was now filtering through the curtained window. He had fallen asleep with his head resting on the hospital bed beside Kate, her hand still clutched between his own. He looked up and noticed that she was still sleeping, but her color seemed much better than it had the night before.
He sat and toyed with the ring on her finger, daydreaming about spending the rest of his life with this extraordinary woman.
A soft sigh brought him back to Earth and he looked down at her in time to see her eyes blink open.
"Kate?" he asked excitedly, squeezing her hand a little tighter.
"Can you hear me?"
She blinked rapidly a few times, adjusting to the bright lights of the room.
"C-Castle" she spoke as her eyes finally remained open and their gazes locked together.
Her voice cracked and broke even on that simple word and she winced as she cleared her throat to try again.
"Water?" she asked causing him to jump up, nearly knocking over his chair.
"Right, yes, I'll get you some. Wit, can you even have any water? I should get the doctor, yeah that's what I'll do." Castle spoke so quickly that she had a hard time keeping up with him.
She couldn't help but let a small grin stretch across her face as she watched the writer dash out of the room towards where she guessed the nurses station was.
Castle returned a few minutes later carrying a cup filled with ice chips and noticeable calmer.
"The doctor will be in soon and the nurses said you can have some ice." He informed her as he regained his seat next to her once again.
He slowly fed her ice chips until a man she didn't recognize, but she assumed to be her doctor based on his white coat, entered the room.
"It's nice to see you awake Detective. I'm Dr. Carter and I'll be in charge of your recovery." He spoke, reaching out to shake her hand which she took tentatively, feeling a pulling in her chest and realizing she must be on strong painkillers not to be feeling anything else.
The man then shook Castle's hand in greeting before continuing, "Do you remember what happened to you?" he asked kindly, picking up a clipboard that was hung from the bottom of the bed.
"I was shot at a funeral." She replied, her eyes losing focus as memories washed over her once again.
"That's correct," the doctor's voice regained her attention, "the bullet passed through your chest and shattered several of your ribs. One of those fragments then punctured your lung. You also had severe blood loss from the bullet itself ricocheting within your ribcage but luckily it missed all other major organs. You are a lucky woman Detective."
The man gave Castle a meaningful look that was not missed by the cop but she decided to let it go for the time being. Unbeknownst to her, the men had decided that it would be up to Castle to inform Kate of her pregnancy. Everyone involved thought it would be better received coming from him than one of the medical staff.
"What does that mean for my recovery time?" she asked, cringing at the idea of how long she would have to be out of work.
"Well, as you have a very physically demanding job, we don't want to put too much pressure on that lung to soon. I would say, realistically, that you're looking at around three months before you'll be able to go back to work. I'd like to keep you here for the rest of the week just to monitor for any complications or infections."
The man didn't miss the look of horror that passed over the woman's face when he gave his verdict.
"Three months?!" Kate asked. It was worse than she had thought.
"I can't be out of work for that long. We're going to have a new Captain and-"
"Kate" Castle cut her off.
"You have the best closure rate in the precinct. Your job is safe, but you need to take care of yourself."
She sighed in defeat, knowing that she wouldn't be able to talk herself into getting back to work sooner yet. Maybe once she began healing she could talk them into allowing her back.
"Thank you Doctor" she spoke.
The man nodded in acknowledgement before shaking her hand once again and taking his leave with the promise to be back to check in on her again the next day and a reminder that the nurses would be in later to change her wound dressing.
"It won't be all that bad Kate." Castle tried to reassure her, "You can come stay with us at the loft. I'm sure that will at least help keep you entertained." He tried but she didn't even crack a smile.
"Castle, Rick, I'm not coming back to the loft with you." She told him sadly reaching out to take his hand in her own. Her heart aching as she prepared to break the news to him.
"What? Why wouldn't you?" he asked in confusion, but she didn't even register his question as a flash of color caught her attention.
Beckett's eyes zeroed in on the ring that now adorned her left hand.
"Castle, what the hell is this?" she asked in a dangerously low voice.
Having forgotten about the ring in the excitement of her waking up, he now looked like a little boy who had gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
"Well, um, it's a ring. An engagement ring actually." He said cringing slightly at the look on her face.
"And why is there an engagement ring on my finger? Why is my mother's ring on my finger?" she asked in that same icy tone.
"Because I love you" he blurted out taking in the way her eyes widened at his admission, "I want to marry you Kate."
She shook her head as tears gathered in her eyes and took a long look at the ring on her finger before she removed it from her hand.
"No, Castle, I can't. I can't marry you." Her voice broke as she whispered the words that broke both of their hearts.
"What? Kate, what are you doing?"
"Castle don't do this. We can't keep doing this, it won't work." She tried to keep her tears in check but they began to spill down her cheeks despite her efforts.
"Why won't it work? We've been doing great, everything has been perfect. What did I do?" he implored her not even bothering to try to hide the tears in his own eyes.
"You tried to jump in front of a bullet for me!" she screamed at him, finally losing all control. "You can't do that Rick! You have Alexis and Martha. I can't be the one responsible for your death." She continued, no longer able to look at his face and see the heartbreak written all over it, staring down at the ring in her hands instead.
"And you think I wanted you to die? I couldn't just stand by and let that happen!" he yelled back, images of her laying broken and bleeding in his arms playing through his mind.
"Better me than you," she whispered brokenly, "It's over Castle. I can't do this anymore. I'll go to my Dad's place to recover. You should leave now."
"I'm not going anywhere Kate. I'm not leaving you." He answered stubbornly, reaching out for her hands again but she pulled them away from him.
"Castle don't you get it? I don't want you, I don't love you!" she choked out, barely able to force the lie past her lips but she knew it was the only way to make him leave. She had to protect him from herself and the men who wanted her dead.
He recoiled as if she had slapped him before a look of determination took over some of the hurt shining out of his eyes.
"No Kate, you don't get to do that. You don't get to decide what is best for us anymore. It doesn't even matter if you love me because I'm not going anywhere."
As he spoke, she chanced a look up at him, confused as to why her cruel words weren't enough to make him leave her side, but she soon got her answer.
"You're pregnant Kate. We're having a baby and I would never leave my child. Whether you want me or not, we're connected now, and you're just going to have to deal with it."
A/N: Uh oh, looks like trouble in paradise. I promise not to leave you all hanging for long though, the next chapter won't be far being. A little angst is necessary in any story and these two can't possibly get along all the time. No worries though, this isn't the end of our couple and there will be plenty of fluff yet to come.