Chapter 25: Shot in the Heart
Rick rushes into the precinct, practically jogging over to the Beckett's desk and the murder board, which she is currently staring at. "I know who did it," he says as he stops in front of her.
She focuses on him, "Who?"
"The neighbor."
When he does not expand on this idea, she questions him. "And what makes you think it was the neighbor? What motive does he have?"
He explains his theory, and she patiently listens to him, having realized long ago that some of his conjectures ended up being correct. "So can we go arrest him?" he asks after he finishes explaining.
"I don't think we have enough for a warrant, Castle."
"I can call my poker buddy judge; I'm sure he'd be willing to sign a warrant for you."
"Castle, you can't do that. Warrants were invented for a reason. You can't use your friends to bypass the justice system."
"I've done it before."
She sighs, "Well I'm not going to let you do it again. We'll find enough evidence for a warrant soon."
Ryan and Esposito come over to the murder board. "Guess who has motive?"
"The neighbor," Castle says before she can ask who.
"How did you know?" Esposito asks. "Did you become psychic like Lanie?"
"No. Just writer's intuition."
Beckett glares at him for a moment before turning back to her detectives. "Have you gotten a warrant?"
"It's being signed as we speak. We can pick it up on the way and meet you there."
CB
"Put the gun down, Mr. Anderson," Detective Beckett calmly tells him. "It will be a lot easier for you if you cooperate with us."
"I'm not going to jail."
"If you didn't want to go to jail, you shouldn't have killed your neighbor," Castle says.
Anderson moves his gun to point at the writer. "Shut up," he yells at the same time as Beckett tells him the same thing.
"Mr. Anderson, put the gun down," Beckett demands, desperation seeping into her voice now that Rick is in danger. "I will shoot if that gun is not on the floor in five seconds."
"You shoot me, I shoot him. You don't want that, do you?"
Out of her peripheral vision, she can see Ryan and Esposito trying to get closer to him from the sides. "One," she cautiously takes a step forward, trying to move in the path between him and her partner. "Two."
"Stop moving," he demands, quickly aiming his gun at her. "Tom deserved what he got. And if you try to put me in jail for that, I'll kill you too."
Somehow she finds that the gun pointing at her is less scary than it pointing at Castle. "Three," she tries to take another step, but the gun instantaneously aims at Castle. "Four."
The word barely leaves her mouth before he shoots. The bullet flies past her shoulder and penetrates Castle's 'writer' vest. A second later she fires her own gun, the bullet hitting him square in the chest. She lets Ryan and Esposito handle him while she turns to Castle, trying not to panic. "Rick?"
"I'm okay," he assures her.
Kate holsters her gun as she approaches him, studying the bullet hole in his vest directly over his heart. "Take your vest off."
He quickly complies, feeling pain when he moves his body. She gasps at the blood stain on his shirt, and when her detective instincts return, she tries to cover the wound to slow the bleeding. "It's okay," he repeats, holding his vest up to show her the bullet still embedded in it. "It's just a flesh wound."
She unbuttons part of his shirt, trying to see the wound better. "It's not too deep. It'll probably hurt for a few days, but it should heal okay," she informs him as she presses on the wound.
"My first battle scar," he gives her a small smile in an attempt to cheer her up, but she doesn't react. "Pretty soon I'll have as many as you."
"How bad is it?" Esposito asks, coming up beside the couple.
"Just a flesh wound," Castle says as Beckett lifts her hands for him to see it.
"You're a lucky dude. That vest saved your life."
"How's Anderson?" she asks.
The detective gives a slight shake of the head, "Hell of a shot. Identical location as Castle's, but he wasn't so lucky. We've called for an ambulance and for the morgue van."
She nods once in understanding before turning her attention back to Castle. When she applies pressure to his wound again, he winces, "Ow."
"Battle wounds aren't as fun as you seem to think they are."
"What isn't fun about this? Now I can show everyone how I defeated death. Poker buddies, fans, Alexis. I'll even have the cool scar above my heart to prove it, won't I?"
Kate looks away from him, thinking about what could have happened, how she could have had to tell a daughter that her father had been killed. It had been her job to protect him, and she had failed, even if he was still alive and annoying her. "This isn't funny, Castle. You were this close to dying," she holds her thumb and index finger a centimeter apart in front of his face.
"But I'm fine. I have to order myself another one of those vests."
She glares at him, unsure how he could not get how serious the situation was. As the paramedics enter, she stalks away, leaving them to fix him up. While they do that, she gives her statement to the detectives investigating the shooting. Montgomery calls her and tells her to take the rest of the day off even though it is still relatively early in the afternoon as the writer gives the detectives his version of the shooting.
CB
Alexis opens the door and enters the apartment. She spots Kate in the living room, curled up in one of the chairs with a cup of hot tea. "Hi," the teenager smiles, oblivious to the events of the day. She sets her book bag down on the couch, "Isn't it kind of early for you to be off work?"
Kate doesn't respond, focusing on the steaming liquid in her cup as she remains deep in thought.
"What's wrong, Detective Beckett?" Alexis takes in the melancholy look on the detective's face before realizing that her father was no where in sight. This combined with the detective's gloom suddenly frightens her. "Kate, where's my dad?"
"He's fine," Kate finally looks up at the teenager. "He's in his office writing."
"Did you have a bad case today?"
She hesitates before answering, "Kind of. Alexis… I need to talk to you. I know your dad probably won't be too happy with me for breaking the news to you but… I think this is something that I need to be the one to tell you about."
"Kate, what's wrong?" the red-head repeats.
"Your dad… was shot today when we were trying to arrest our suspect."
"Is he okay?"
"He's fine. It's just a flesh wound. The bullet was lodged in his vest. Of course he thinks this is all a big joke and wants to go around bragging about his battle scar."
"So there's nothing wrong with him?"
"He's in a little pain, but other than that there's nothing wrong with him that wasn't wrong this morning."
A tear of relief runs down the teenager's cheek, and Kate has to fight to keep her own tears back. "Why did he shoot my dad?"
"He was trying to avoid arrest. I was pressuring him to put his weapon down, but he didn't listen."
"Is he in jail now?"
"No… he's gone." The detective gives the girl a moment to let this all sink in while she tries to think of what to say to her. "Alexis, I'm really sorry about this. I know that it's my job to protect your father. I should have stayed in front of him or made him wait in the car until the suspect was apprehended."
"Kate," Alexis slowly approaches the detective and wraps her arms around her. "What happened wasn't your fault. I don't blame you for this, and I'm sure he doesn't either."
Kate slowly puts her arms around the girl, "I'd understand if you didn't want me around anymore."
"Are you kidding? The fact that you told me all of this shows me that you not only care about Dad but me too. All that matters is that he's still alive."
"Thank you, Alexis," the detective says, a tear escaping and trailing down her cheek.
Castle comes out of his office and, upon seeing the embrace, asks, "Did someone forget to invite me to this party?"
"Dad," Alexis yells, running over to him to embrace him.
He tries to hide his wince as she hugs him. With a smile, he puts his arms around his daughter, grateful to have this time with her. "I take it Kate told you about what happened."
"Yes."
"I'd show you my wound but it's all bandaged up."
"Dad?"
"Yes?"
"Can we play laser tag tonight? With Detective Beckett?"
"Sure, if she'll join us. And don't think that this minor injury is going to hold me back. But don't you have tests to study for? Normally you have a lot of tests on the last day of school before Thanksgiving."
"I only have two. I'll go study now so that we can play later." Alexis turns to Kate, "You will play with us, won't you?"
Kate bites her lips before answering, "Okay."
"Good," the teenager smiles. "I'm really glad you're both okay."
A/N: Thanks for all the reviews. Sorry for not updating sooner; I've kind of felt a little overwhelmed with stuff since we got back from Montreal. I decided to update before trying to figure out acid-base reactions for chemistry... fun stuff. About last chapter, it wasn't that Castle isn't a good shooter; Kate just doesn't want him to have a gun because she'd have to deal with the paperwork if he shot someone and she doesn't want him to have kill people 'cause that's supposed to be her job. Anyway, three chapters to go.