Disclaimer: I do not own Castle or the characters. I simply borrow them for my own enjoyment.
AN: Thank you so much for the words of encouragement. V, I appreciate your help and your support! Hope you guys are still with me. Enjoy.
Hospital rooms had a way of drowning out all light some times.
It was precisely that which allowed Beckett to sleep well into the early morning hours. There was no hint of sunlight despite the large window beside Castle's bed. If it had not been for the rustling of hospital bed sheets she might have slept a while longer, away from the reality of everything that was happening, and in a dreamland where she and Castle exchanged holiday gifts in front of their Christmas tree.
"Kate?" Rick's voice was rougher than he anticipated when he felt the dryness in his throat.
Beckett jumped immediately to attention and moved to offer him the cup of water that sat on the side table. "Hi, babe." She smiled down at him as she rubbed a soothing hand on his shoulder.
Her husband returned the smile, although his dripped with the haziness of the medication. "What happened?" He croaked.
"How much do you remember?" Beckett asked to gauge the damage.
His eyes scanned her face before he shook his head. "The engine wouldn't start. Then everything went black." He shrugged.
With a gentle nod, she sat at the edge of his bed. Mindful of his IV line she grasped his hand in both of hers to feel his warmth. "Lanie and the guys are working on figuring out what happened, but someone rigged my car to explode in the parking lot. Somehow you triggered it and that's how we ended up here." She smiled at his look of disbelief. "You took it like a champ." She winked before she dropped the smile and replaced it with a serious gaze. "I thought I had lost you, Castle. I was so scared."
He understood why her voice shook and her eyes reddened. Rick had been in her shoes before, afraid that he had lost her. Empathetically he shook his head slowly and turned his hand in hers to squeeze. "You will never lose me. I will always fight to stay where you are, Kate. Always." He smiled tenderly at his wife.
No longer able to fight against the urge, Beckett leaned forward to kiss him. They broke apart shortly after to rest their foreheads together.
With her eyes closed, the detective sighed. "I love you."
"I love you, too." Rick responded with another squeeze of her hand.
They shared a few minutes of silence, their fingers laced, and their eyes closed before Kate pulled back. "Listen, I need to meet with Roy. We need any information he might have been able to gather so far, especially now that this happened." Rick knitted his brows disapprovingly at her.
Kate shook her head in return. "I'll be careful, I promise."
"Can't it wait until I'm released?" He rebutted and frowned when his wife shook her head again.
"No. We need to get to the bottom of this, Rick." She paused to pick her phone out of her pocket. "Martha and Alexis will switch shifts with me, and hopefully I will be back in time for your release."
Castle sighed.
"Kate I don't like this." He grabbed her hand in an attempt to coax her into waiting for him.
Beckett allowed a small smile to break out on her face. "Won't work this time, babe. I am going. I will be back safe, I promise."
"Loksat?" Kate furrowed her brows in concentration as she read over the paper in her hands. "So he's not a detective?" She looked up at Roy who stood by a frosted window in the forgotten and rundown mall building.
"No. Alan Smith is not a detective. He works security detail for this company called…Loksat."
The man shook his head and finally turned to look at his former detective. "We're still trying to run background checks on this man, but a few of the names on the list have no identification photos. He is doing a pretty good job of staying out of the light." He finished.
Beckett nodded, but glared at the paper with purpose. "But eventually he will make a mistake, and I will be there when he does." Roy grinned at her with a sense of pride. "Now what else do we have on Mr. Alan Smith?"
Roy walked to the nearest sitting situation, an empty concrete tree pot, and leaned on the rim before he looked back at Kate. "My team was able to narrow down vicinities for each of the names listed, but I would start with the faceless ones first. Nothing is more suspicious than not having a photo on file." Beckett nodded in agreement.
The young woman finally tore her eyes from the paper, awkwardly moving her gaze to her former boss. Unsure of what to say, she nodded again. She wished she could just turn back time to pick up from where they left off, but so much had happened since his 'death'. So many events that could have happened, so many that might have never happened, and she had no idea how to move past that. Not yet. "Thank you, Roy." She paused to clear her throat. "We appreciate the help."
Roy shared a sad smile with her, sensing her emotional struggle before he nodded. "How's Rick?"
Beckett moved to look around the abandoned area for the first time. She forced her eyes to stay focused on the rundown walls, and stripped paint, anywhere that was more comfortable than his stare. "We got lucky." Was all she said.
The man sighed before he stood tall. "Well, I won't keep you from him. Give him my best." He knew she was battling with many feelings, and feared holding small conversations would only heighten her discomfort. As a result, he said goodbye first.
Kate bowed her head desolately as she heard his footsteps diminish in the empty space.
Kate had made it back to the hospital in time to see Castle back home.
His hand lay warmly on her leg as he slept in the passenger seat. She had moved her eyes off the road a few times and onto the ring that rested on his finger, thankful that his injuries were all very minor. If anything happened to him, she was sure she would never forgive herself.
After some playful banter about dinner, they had agreed on Chinese take-out, which they now ate in the comfort of their home. The fireplace crackled and popped as they each twirled chopsticks into the other's box of food.
"So, what did we Roy say?" Castle asked nonchalantly hoping Beckett was ready to share.
She in turn smiled at him, knowing his game plan, but decided to play along anyway. "We have some information on a few Alan Smiths in the area. None are detectives. A few are ghosts. And one works security detail." Her smile returned as she moved some noodles to her mouth.
"So when do we start looking into them?" He continued despite the fact that he realized he was pushing his luck.
His wife shook her head before she took a sip of her drink. "We don't do anything. You get better. I will look into them tomorrow." She ignored his pouting face. "I can't have you half-injured running around playing detective, Castle. Once are fully healed, I promise you can help." Castle did not like her proposal, but he nodded anyway.
They continued to eat and talk when Beckett's phone rang. Without hesitation she answered, knowing only her team would call her so late, and placed the call on speaker. "What's up Espo?"
"Yo, Beckett. We've got something." He went right into the conversation, not allowing time to be wasted on hello's. "One of the pieces of shrapnel gathered at the scene show evidence of tampering. Looks like whoever sold, or even assembled the device ground off the markings on the metal."
"That's not good news, Javi." Castle deadpanned.
Both Kate and Rick could feel Esposito's eye-roll. "Yeah, Sherlock." He retorted. "Except that they didn't grind off enough to stop Lanie from getting the lab to pull the markings for us. The manufacturer is overseas. Russia to be exact."
The partners looked at each other with knitted brows. The wheels churned in their heads. "Russia? Can we get into the manufacturer's system or logs to see who purchased the device?" Rick asked.
"We could inadvertently start a war, Castle." Ryan was heard in the background. "We don't want to meddle with that."
"Then I still fail to see what we found, guys. This information is only as good as what it does for us." Castle commented with frustration. Kate did not fail to miss the fact that his usual playful demeanor was gone at the moment.
"What else do we have?" Beckett asked, moving the information about the manufacturer to the backburner...for now.
"Still looking into facial recognition for this guy John." Ryan responded. "No hits yet, but it's only a matter of time."
"Great you guys keep on that. I'm staying with Castle for the next couple of days. Do you guys think you can handle yourselves?" Kate asked her team, ignoring Castle's wary glare.
"We got this." Esposito responded. "We'll call you when we get any hits."
"Thanks guys." Beckett finished before she disconnected the call.
Castle never tore his eyes from his wife as she placed the phone on the table and continued to eat casually. "Kate - what are you doing?" He asked in a vexed tone.
"Eating." She smiled dismissively.
He shook his head. "Going at this alone, again, is not the answer. Please don't shut me or the guys out. We want to help."
Annoyingly she dropped the chopsticks on the table and looked him square in the eyes. "I'm not shutting anyone out. This is not me going down the rabbit hole either." She paused as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "You could have been killed. I'm sorry if I don't want you anywhere near the case. At least while you recover."
Rick moved to take one of her hands in his. "What about the guys? You know they have your back." He asked. "Let them go with you to track this guy Alan down."
Kate shook her head as she looked down at their joined hands. "I can't tell them. They'll ask questions as to how I got the information. I can't lie to them about Roy. I much rather not have to go there with them." She responded.
"Then wait for me." He shrugged. "I know you can take care of yourself, and I probably get in the way half the time, but it would make me feel better if I went with you as your back up." He flashed her his grin.
Beckett contemplated her choices for a while as she rubbed small circles on his hand with her thumb. She wanted to get this done immediately, but she also knew going alone would only get her into trouble. She had vowed never to go alone ever since that fateful day she hung from the roof of that building. On the brink of death, with her last thoughts focused on the man she loved more than anything.
So, she decided to agree with Castle's plan. "Fine." She rolled her eyes playfully. "As soon as you're better we'll go after this lead." She continued. "In the meantime, I have an idea on how to get information about the Russian manufacturer."
"Roy?" He questioned with a curious look.
She nodded. "Roy."
...
I felt much more inspired writing this chapter. I am going to do this for Beckett! She deserves it.