She couldn't even be annoyed at what might have sounded like a very self-absorbed comment. When Lanie had mentioned her going home she hadn't felt like jumping for joy – even with the thought of a long hot bath. Instead she'd felt a flash of concern. Concern for herself, but mostly for him. Which was dumb, really, since there was no reason to worry. They were back in New York, now, where they didn't have to worry about freezing or being eaten by a wandering bear. They didn't have to gather wood and eat packaged food – unless they counted Twinkies or something like that. She wondered if that was how he felt, too. Worried.

She shook that off and her hand slid down his arm to take his hand. She was good enough at reading him that she knew it wasn't concern. Not for himself anyway. There was no disguising the naked vulnerability in his expression and her hand tightened on his in an effort to ease whatever it was that had him so upset. She was so used to him being confident that it was unsettling to see him this way.

"I'm not leaving you, Castle. I'll be here every day to check on you until they let you go, too."

He nodded, but she could tell he didn't look convinced. Before she could say anything else the door opened and a couple of nurses came in with a cart. They smiled to see her up and on her feet, and were doubly relieved to see that Castle was awake as well.

"Sorry to interrupt," one of them – a man – told her with a shy smile. "I need to do some tests on Mr. Castle."

Beckett nodded and let Castle's hand go with a final squeeze before she stood up.

"What kind of tests?" Castle asked.

"The doctors want to see how you're doing," the other nurse told him. She was actually cleaning off the table by Beckett's bed; setting the latest batch of flowers and vases on a shelf that ran along the wall by the door where they'd be out of the way but still visible. "We're also going to take out the catheter."

Castle looked over at her, and then over to the male nurse.

"Tell me you're going to be doing that?"

He smiled.

"Yes, sir. If you'd prefer."

"Um. Yeah."

The woman nurse rolled her eyes and she fluffed Beckett's pillows to make sure they were going to be comfortable.

"I put it in."

Kate smiled, both because of Castle's discomfort and because it was also helping to lighten the mood and make him smile.

The male nurse closed the curtain between the two beds and the nurse asked Beckett a few questions about how she was feeling, and took her blood pressure and temperature and jotted everything down in the computer that she plugged into the monitor that Beckett had been attached to.

"We can take the IV out," she told the detective, making it more of a question to see if it was okay that they did it then.

"That'd be great."

It didn't take long and it was quite a relief to not be tethered to the IV any longer. Beckett was holding a cotton pad against her arm when the door opened again and Castle's mother and daughter entered as well, both carrying armloads of flowers and bears.

"Another bunch of presents for you, dear," Martha told her, putting them on the newly cleared table for lack of any place else to put them. Alexis put hers down as well – clearly they were all Beckett's – and looked over toward the curtain.

"Don't go in there, yet," Beckett warned her.

Alexis nodded; quickly grasping that something was going on in there that she didn't want to see.

"How are you doing?" she asked, instead.

"I'm feeling pretty good," Beckett assured her. She looked at all the flowers with a little exasperation. While she really did enjoy flowers, she didn't have a clue what she was going to do with them all. "Are these all for me?"

Martha nodded.

"The dangers of being famous, my dear."

"What about Castle?"

"What about him?" Alexis asked.

"Yeah, what about me?" came the question from the other side of the curtain.

"Where are his flowers? He has to be getting more than I am."

Alexis smiled.

"Tons of them. You wouldn't believe all the stuffed animals and flowers and cards."

"And candy?" came another question from the other side of the curtain.

"Some. I ate it all."

A groan was the only reply, and Martha chuckled.

"We take the cards and everything else with his name on them and then pass the flowers and balloons on to other people in the hospital who don't have as many. The stuffed animals go to the children's ward where they'll do far more good than they will filling up his shelves and bed."

Beckett smiled, impressed at that.

"What a wonderful idea."

"It was Dad's," Alexis told her, proudly. "The last time he was in the hospital he decided it would be better to spread the cheer around."

"Why don't you do that with these, too?" Beckett asked her. "There really are a lot more than I expected."

Martha nodded.

"We can do that, but you should keep the ones from your friends – at least until they aren't visiting any more. That way no feelings get hurt."

Beckett had to agree with that, too. Martha was a genius at that kind of thing she realized, and wondered if it was a talent she had before Castle became famous or if it was something she learned along the way from soothing hurt feelings during those times when his enthusiasm got the better of his manners.

The curtain opened and the male nurse moved the cart out of the way as Alexis went over to greet her dad, clearly relieved to see him more upright and awake than the last time. He smiled and hugged her, still wincing at the motion but ignoring that in favor of spending time with his baby.

"You look better," Martha told him, coming over as well and pressing a kiss against his cheek.

He smiled.

"Thank you, Mother."

"How are they doing?" Martha asked one of the nurses.

"Much better," he assured her. "We just need to feed them up a bit."

"Dinner is coming soon," the other nurse told them.

"Can we eat with them?" Alexis asked, hopefully.

"Can they bring us something besides hospital food?" Castle asked, just as hopefully.

Neither nurse was offended by the question.

"If you'd like," came the amused reply.

"Good," Martha said, pulling out her cell phone. "What shall we have?"

"Pizza," Castle said, instantly.

"Chinese," Alexis suggested.

They both looked over at Beckett, who hesitated. She had really expected them to want to spend some alone family time together, and it gave her a warm fuzzy feeling when she realized that both of them had included her automatically and probably hadn't even considered leaving her out. She smiled.

"Pizza sounds good to me."

Castle gave a triumphant nudge to Alexis who just rolled her eyes. He could have his little victory. She'd eat pizza with him and then they would stop and get Chinese on the way home if she wanted any.

"Pizza it is," Martha said, already looking up the number.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Author's note: more alone time coming…