Got a great response from the last few chapters! So, I did a little happy dance. Thanks you guys so much for just being awesome!
Last Chapter: Rick comforts Kate and eases her worries on the case. Castle meets his doctor for the first time and they run him through some preliminary tests to see how he's doing. The doctor tells Kate that he's doing very well (Yay!) . After the nurse gives Castle his pain medication she told Kate that she would have to leave because she isn't family, but Kate kind of freaks out and insists on staying. Nurse Sarah has left to get Beckett some pillows and blankets.
Chapter 25: Coming Clean
Sarah returned shortly thereafter with Kate's pillow and sheets.
Kate thanked her and apologized for her outburst.
"Don't worry about it. I can only imagine the stress you're under …. And for the record, he's lucky to have someone who cares about him as much as you do." She said graciously, accepting Kate's apology and leaving the room.
Exhausted Kate yawned and quickly made up her bed next to Castle's.
She placed her weapon and badge under her pillow and then climbed under the covers.
Moments later she was fast asleep.
Rick woke up a few times throughout the night.
Each time he was a little disoriented, trying to figure out where he was and how he got there, but when he looked over and saw Kate, he felt grounded.
Just as he had promised Dr. Walert returned in the middle of the night to rerun his tests.
Fortunately Rick had woken up just a few minutes beforehand. So, at least his tests wouldn't disrupt his already difficult night of sleep.
He pressed his fingers to his lips and motioned to Kate when the doctor came through the door.
He nodded at Rick in acknowledgement, and walking up to the side of the bed he whispered, "How are you feeling?"
"A little bit better, more clear headed than before." He said.
"Excellent." Doctor Walert replied before running Rick through the same exact set of tests.
After finishing up he quietly said, "We'll repeat these tests two more times tomorrow, but try to get some rest for now."
"Thank you." Rick said.
"The pleasure is mine." The doctor responded and he quietly left the room.
Rick looked over at Kate who was still sound asleep.
He had always her to be a light sleeper, probably because of the nature of her job. So, he figured she must have been really exhausted if she slept through the whole thing.
He envied her peaceful slumber. With a headache this bad he didn't think he'd be sleeping anytime soon. But then it dawned on him that they had meds for that.
He hit the call button, and during the minute or so it took the nurse to arrive, Rick watched Kate's sleeping form.
The nurse came in and Rick quickly told her what he needed. It wasn't until after she gave him his pain medication that he finally got back to sleep.
But much like the previous night it wasn't at all restful.
His nightmares were more vivid, probably a side effect of the medication. It was all the same as before, him not being able to help her, he could feel her pain.
His dreams flashed forward to seeing her body at the crime scene, in the morgue, watching her funeral, and finally sitting at her gravestone and talking to her, as if she was still there answering him. And he couldn't make it stop.
He finally managed to drag himself out of his drug induced slumber and sat up with a start.
Kate started to wake up when she heard the rustle of his covers.
She looked over to see Castle sitting up with his legs off the other side of the bed, "Rick what are you doing?" she asked sleepily, throwing off her own covers and walking to the other side of his bed.
"Nothing." He said, avoiding her gaze.
"It's not nothing." She said firmly and crouching down in front of him, giving him no choice but to look at her, "Now tell me."
"It's just the same nightmares as before." He muttered, "I can't sleep."
"Come on." She said pushing his legs back up onto the bed. He scooted over so she could lay next to him.
She let him get comfortable first so that she wouldn't hurt him.
And feeling settled he pulled her down next to him and pulled her flush against his side.
She grabbed his hand and put their clasped hands on his stomach.
Rick kissed the top of her head and enjoyed her physical presence next to him. He hated the fact that he had to ruin it, but he couldn't put it off any longer.
She had to know before it got too out of hand.
"Kate." He said quietly.
"Yeah" she said, toying with his fingers.
"There's something I have to tell you, and you're not going to like it." He said seriously.
"Okay." She said, biting her lip.
He felt her jaw clench, but she kept her head on his shoulder.
"Kate, I'm sorry I kept this from you, and I understand if you're mad, but I want you to know that when I did all of this I thought I was protecting you." He paused and Kate remained still against him.
"The other morning, when we were making pancakes, and I told you it was Alexis who called. Well it wasn't Alexis. It was him ….. And he said if I didn't leave you that he would come after me, and that he would come after you before the week was up."
Kate didn't say anything. She just sat up and hung her legs over the side of the bed, refusing to even look at him.
"I'm so sorry." He continued, trying to get her to see why he did it, " I just thought that if you had known I was in danger you would lace left me. For me it was worth the risk. We are safer together than we ever are apart… Please Kate, say something."
Kate moved her gaze from the wall in front of her down to her lap. She stayed there for a moment gathering her thoughts before she stood up to face him.
"How could you do this? How can you say that? 'It was worth the risk' Did you think about me at all, what I would want. Did you think, even for a second, that there was anything I wouldn't do to keep you safe? I thought you were dead Rick. And you of all people should know what that feel like, to watch the person you love die. I thought we were starting a relationship, but maybe you didn't get that memo, because last time I checked, people in relationships made life-altering decisions together." She practically shouted at him before turning around and running her fingers roughly through her hair.
She didn't turn around when she said, "I need to go for a walk." And she left the room.
Rick sat there stunned for a second.
He knew she would be angry, but this wasn't the reaction he'd expected.
When the thought about it he wasn't really sure what he expected, but this certainly wasn't it.
He felt the panic swelling up inside of him.
No matter what he couldn't lose her.
He had enough forethought to hit the power button on the monitor, before he pulled off the electrodes on his chest.
He threw off his covers and used his IV stand as a support.
He grimaced getting out of bed, but there was no way he was letting her walk away.
He made it into the hallway and saw her all the way down the other end.
He tried to walk faster to get to her, but it hurt so much to breathe that he couldn't catch his breath.
When he started to feel dizzy and the whole world started spinning, he called out to her, "Kate!"
She whipped around, ready to yell at him some more, but when she saw him clinging on to his IV stand for dear life she started walking quickly towards him
"Castle what the hell are you doing? Get back in bed." She said letting her anger spew out.
"No you can't leave me." He said fading fast as he started to fall over.
Kate broke out to a full on sprint and made it to him just in time to catch his head so it didn't hit the ground.
She looked down at him, lying on the ground and called out for help.
A second later they were both surrounded by doctors and nurses.
Rick was only out for a couple of seconds and he woke up calling for Kate.
"Yeah Castle I'm here." She said, resisting the urge to keep yelling at him for being so stupid.
Rick was moved back to his room and reattached to all of the monitors.
He received a stern talking to from the nurse about knowing his limits and not being reckless with his health.
Ha, Kate thought, If only she knew his recklessness was the reason he was in this hospital to begin with.
Rick listened to her and nodded in response, but he rarely took his eyes off of Kate, who had taken residence in a chair across the room, and spent the last 15 to 20 minutes examining the floor by her feet.
The nurse left and Rick just leaned back onto his pillows, examining the celling. She clearly wanted her space and had no interest in taking to him.
Kate sat there, letting her thoughts consume her.
She was trying to figure out what to do.
If she gave into all her anger, then this thing between them would be over in a heartbeat.
But she didn't want that. She loved him too much.
She must have opened her mouth a dozen times to say something, but couldn't find the right words.
When the silence grew to be too much she finally forced herself to speak.
"You don't get to make decisions by yourself anymore." She said, still staring at the floor, "And you can't lie to me."
She took a moment and then looked up at him and found him staring at her.
He nodded, telling her that he understood, but didn't say anything, afraid she would go back to not talking again.
She got up and sat in the chair closer to his bed, but she made no move to touch him.
"Don't get me wrong. I'm still angry." She said, but she could feel her anger melting away under his gaze.
No, she thought, He doesn't get to just smile and get whatever he wants.
She folded her arms across her chest in defiance.
After an hour of silence they both drifted off to sleep until they were woken up all too soon by the hustle and bustle of the morning shift.
Kate yarned and ran a hand over her face.
It felt way too early to even be thinking about getting up.
Shortly thereafter Dr. Walert came into the room.
Castle and Beckett hadn't said a word to each other since falling asleep.
"Alright Mr. Castle, you know the drill." He said walking him through his tests for a third time.
When they were finished he asked, "So, how do you feel about going home today?"
"Good." He replied quickly. He was more than ready to get out of this hospital.
"As I'm sure your little escapade last night showed you. You need to take it easy." He said.
"Can you define easy?" Rick said jumping in.
"No strenuous activity, like trying to run down a hall." He answered.
"So technically if I were to have a desk job, It'd be okay for me to go to work?" he asked.
"Mr. Castle, don't you write books for a living? Isn't that a job you can do at home?" he asked sounding confused.
"Yes, well my novels involve quite a bit of research…" he started explaining, but was cut off when Beckett harshly said, "Castle, no."
"Kate please. I want to help." He begged her.
"We'll talk about this later." She said closing the topic from further discussion.
"From a medical standpoint, for the record, I see nothing wrong with you heading back to work as soon as you're feeling up to it. Needless to say; you're exams are coming back normal and I'm going to skip the last one so we can get you out of here sooner. Though, I'd like you to have someone stay with you for the next few nights, just to be safe." He looked at Kate when he said that and she just nodded in response.
I'm getting off shift shortly, but I will get your paperwork processed so that you won't have to be stuck here all day. Before you are discharged the nurse will go through all of the detailed instructions with you."
"Thank you Doctor." Castle said, flashing him a smile.
"You're very welcome. Just do me a favor and try not to end up here again." Dr. Walert said with a smile before nodding to Kate and leaving the room.
As soon as the door closed Kate whipped her head around and gave Castle a menacing stare.
So… Chapter 25…. Yeah….. Castle let the Cat out of the bag finally! And he's going home soon. Big chapter.
Let me know what you think!
Elizabeth