Five hours. It had been five hours since they arrived at the hospital ans they still had no news on Kate. Lanie had called Jim and Johanna while they drove to the hospital. Kate's parents arrived right after having dropped Alexis off with Martha. Javier and Kevin didn't go to the hospital, they went to work immediately, asking for the video footage that covered the entrance of the pub as well as the back alley and interviewin all the customers. Lanie had been called into work after three hours of endless waiting and no news. Jenny had stayed with Rick until Jim and Johanna arrived and had left afterwards, not wanting to intrude on a morbid sort of family moment.

Rick lost it and cried like never before when Johanna hugged him, repeating that it was not his fault, that she was going to be fine. Now the three of them were sitting on uncomfortable plastic chairs. Johanna was pretending to read one of the old magazines that were on a table. Rick could tell she was thinking hard and that the magazine was just a cover. She had been on the same page for more than twenty minutes and it was mainly pictures. Jim was … not doing anything. He was staring at the wall in front of him. Rick could see his eyes though. If … no … when they found the person responsible for whatever happened to Kate, he or she would have a very angry protective father to deal with. Rick was taken out of his own revenge plans when the door of the waiting room finally opened.

"Family of Katherine Beckett?" a nurse called.

The three of them almost ran to her, expectation clear on their faces.

"How is she?" Rick asked.

"She just woke up. They did different tests but so far they haven't found the cause of her … problem." the nurse explained, clearly afraid that they would yell at her. "The doctor will be with her in a couple of hours, he was called on an emergency surgery. You can go and see her but don't ask too much of her, she's still very weak. And if she feels the need to sleep, let her. She needs to recover."

"Of course. Where is she?" Rick asked, in a hurry to join Kate.

The nurse led them to her door and repeated her instructions before leaving them. Rick opened the door cautiously, looking forward to see her, but afraid of what she may look like. She always seemed so strong and happy … he didn't know if he could take it if she looked like she had when the ambulance took her the night before.. He felt Johanna's hand on his shoulder and finally entered the room. Here she was, lying in a bed that looked too big and too cold. She looked so small and so fragile …

"Hey." she said weakly, trying to smile.

"Oh Honey, how are you?" Johanna asked, walking in front of Rick to get to her daughter. At that moment, she didn't care that Rick wanted to see her too. Kate was her little girl and she was hurt, she had to be there for her.

"I'm fine mom." Kate smiled.

"You're not fine or you wouldn't be here. Now come on, tell me."

Kate sighed when she felt Rick come behind her more than she saw him.

"I'm sorry I ruined your party." she said, turning her head towards him.

"Don't be silly, you didn't ruin anything. It's not as if you chose to collapse just for the fun of it." he said sweetly, kissing her lovingly, not minding that her parents were watching.

"Can I get my turn to a hug or a kiss?" Jim asked from the door.

"Hey Dad." Kate smiled as Johanna and Rick moved away from the bed.

"How do you really feel Katie bug?" Jim asked.

"I don't know. I feel fine considering, but I don't like not knowing what happened. The last thing I remember is talking with Lanie and Jenny over drinks and then … all goes black." Kate said, confusion clear on her face. She turned to Rick. "What happened?"

"I don't know. Jenny came running to me saying that you didn't feel good and wanted to go home. When I got to you you didn't look good at all and you kept saying that it hurt. And then … then you collapsed. I caught you before you hit the floor and by the time the ambulance was here you were unconscious. You really scared me." Rick admitted, once more forgetting that Kate's parents were there with them. "Please don't do something like that to me again." he asked..

"I'll try not to, I promise." she said, looking at him right in the eyes.

"Jim, why don't we go to the cafeteria and get some coffee? Come on, let's go." Johanna said, pulling her husband by the hand to leave the two love birds alone for a few minutes.

When Jim and Johanna walked back into Kate's room, they saw that both her and Rick were asleep on the bed, cuddled in each other's arms.

"I'm really happy she found Rick." Jim said, looking at his daughter in the arms of her boyfriend.

"Really? You, James Beckett, approve of Katie's boyfriend?" Johanna teased, a big grin on her face.

"Don't laugh at me. It's not easy to see my little girl get away from me. But since I can't do anything about it, it's good that she is leaving for Rick. He is a good man. He will take care of her." Jim said, a bit of sadness in his voice.

"Hey, she's not leaving Jim. She's still your little girl. She will always be your little girl. Even when she gets married, when she becomes a mom; Even when we are old and grey and she need to take care of us 24/7." Johanna reassured him. "But you're right. It's really good that she found Rick. They're good for each other. And they just seem so in love …"

"Don't talk like that. I really don't need that kind of images in my head!" Jim goraned.

A nurse entered to check on Kate's vitals without disturbing Kate and Rick, telling her parents that the doctor shouldn't be long.

True to her word, the doctor arrived a couple of minutes later. Johanna woke Kate and Rick up quietly and the doctor started to explain the situation.

"You are a unique case Miss Beckett, I have to say. When you were brought in, we had absolutely no idea what could have happened. And I am not going to lie, we are still not very clear on what happened. Your blood work came back with some abnormalities but nothing major or particularly dangerous. We are still looking into it. All the other tests came back completely normal. Now, we were told by the paramedics that you had eaten at a restaurant and then been to a bar, is that correct?"

"Yes." Kate said.

"Is it possible that the problem came from something you ate? We are still waiting on the allergic tests results but there is little chance to have any answers from that side."

"Doctor, there were six of us in that restaurant and only Kate got sick, it has to come from someone else." Rick said.

"There is still the possibility of someone spiking your drink at the bar. But we cannot rule out the possibility of a bad interaction from the food. We have to run some deeper tests. We pumped your stomach when you came in so we have enough … ressources … to run the tests." he explained, making everyone cringe at the image. "We'd like you to stay for the day and overnight and you can go home tomorrow. But you will need to have someone with you for a few days, just to make sure that this little scenario does not repeat itself. And you will need to rest. A lot. You cannot go back to work for at least a week? I will also need to see you in a week to run some more tests and see if everything is back to normal. I'll call you as soon as I have some news. Do you have any questions?"

The three Becketts shook their heads. Rick however, had a questions. He would not ask the doctor in front of the others. He followed the doctor in the hallway. He came back a few minutes later, a big smile on his face, marching towards Kate.

"What?" she asked

"You're not contagious" he said before kissing her passionately.

"Oh God. I need some air." Jim said, almost running out of the room., making his wife laugh.

Hey everyone! here is chapter 25. As you can imagine, I'm not going to update for the next two weeks, i'll be to busy with the holidays ^^.

Anyway, merry Christmas to everyone!

Bonnes fêtes!