A/N: So happy I finally found some time to finish this chapter! It's been forever, I'm sorry for making you wait so long! I like leaving my readers hanging, but not for this long. Very sorry, please forgive me.
I hope you like this chapter, it didn't turn out quite they way I would have liked it, but it's done and posted, and I know that if I drawl over this anymore then it won't ever get posted. Enjoy. :)
Ch. 28
Survival
Kiley sighed and ran her hand along her neck. Turning the corner she stopped shocked at the sight before her eyes. The wall had at least six or seven large holes in it, chairs were overturned, there was something red (that she hoped wasn't blood) on the floor, as well as strips of some sort of fabric.
Castle was curled in a tight hug with his daughter, and one of the detectives was stood by with the M.E. at his side. They looked just as confused as she felt. Stepping over to them weary, heartbroken, frustrated, and confused she asked softly, "What happened?"
Esposito looked at her, "Castle happened, that's what."
Raising her eyebrows she shook her head unsure she had heard right, "Excuse me?"
Lanie nodded, "Yeah, Castle blew up sometime after you took Kate away. We don't know quite when or everything that happened because we weren't here." She frowned before asking, "What happened with my girl?"
"She was crashing, the drugs she was given while she was away damaged her body, apparently more then we thought. During whatever happened an artery behind the small intestine was weakened so badly that when she moved after she woke up it burst open in three places…"
"How was this missed? Was there any indication that something like this would happen?"
"No not at all. With all the activity she's been doing there wasn't any sign this much damage had been obtained. It's a wonder that they didn't burst earlier, and a miracle they burst while fast medical attention was available. Had she not been here the chances of her survival would have been very slim."
Lanie had concern, and shock written all over her face as she questioned, "Well, how is she now?"
"Stable, and alive, in ICU. Heavily sedated and we have to start weaning her off the morphine to try and not get her addicted to it."
"So she'll make it? Right?"
Kiley shook her head, "I can't say. I want to say yes, but then if she doesn't make it, I would feel awful for saying she would." She looked at the two figures still sitting on the floor, "So, Richard really did all of this?"
"Yeah, he was trying to go see Kate. Said that he had already let her down enough and didn't want to let her down again by not being there for her. He was mad, and the poor security guards probably never imagined someone like him beating them up. Detective Esposito got a hit too while he was trying to pin him down. Alexis came in and it was like giving him a massive sedative, he was calm almost immediately." Lanie ran a hand down her face and sighed, "Oh, and Castle will pay for any damage inflicted."
"That's go-"
"Oh dear, what happened here?" Martha interrupted Kiley as she saw the destroyed hallway.
"Your son had a melt down, a huge melt down that consisted of destroying things and beating up a few security guards be-"
"He didn't…" Martha cut her off words trailed off and she stalked towards her son, "Richard! You broke your promise. Alexis, you know what the deal was, you're coming to live with Chet and me from now on."
Lanie and Esposito looked at each other simultaneously, raising their eyebrows, "What the hell?" Lanie whispered.
"I have no clue."
/ "No, Grams, he didn't mean to. Kate, she was crashing and he didn't know what was going on. He's going to make it better. He said he's going to pay for any damage. Please Grams, he won't do it again. It's been so long, he's done so well. The stress from Kate's condition threw him overboard. It won't happen again I promise, he promises," Alexis moved out of Castle's lap and basically bowed down to her grandmother while she pleaded.
"He broke his promise, and I'm not going to break mine."
Castle stood up and stared his mother in the face, "I didn't drink. Yes I got mad, but no booze. Don't take her away, I may already lose Kate, I can't lose my daughter."
"Richard Alexander Rogers, you swore that this would end. You swore that the damage caused would be left at your old house."
"It has been mother. I can control my drinking now, I control my anger. Don't make me lose Lexie, don't take Lexie from me," His voice was even and sincere but his eyes were distant, remembering, and filled with pain.
"You are the one who's causing her to be taken. Richard, we made a deal and that deal has been broken."
"I didn't drink. The deal hasn't been broken. Don't take my Lexie away."
Alexis had tears streaming down her face from the continuous use of her old nickname, "Daddy stop. No more. I'll go ok, I'll go and then come back. Ok? I'll go with Grams, just no more."
"Lexie I didn't drink. Daddy didn't drink, so there is no reason for you to be taken from me. Daddy was just angry, I didn't drink baby, so you can stay with me,"
/ "This is messed up. He's treating her like she's five. Do you have any idea about what's going on?" Esposito asked the two women standing next to him.
"I've never heard him call her Lexie before, and no, I don't have a clue." Lanie answered.
"This is the most intense I've ever seen Martha get. I mean, sure I haven't talked with her often, but she was always a big party person, not a stickler."
"She didn't even ask if Kate was ok. Something is not right here and it's starting to scare me a little. Look at his eyes, God I've never eyes that look that hurt in my life. All his defenses are down, he's so vulnerable.."
"Maybe that's why he's calling her Lexie. But what's this about Alexis being taken away and drinking?"
"I haven't a clue Javi. Castle's always drinking something at one time or another. If he were an alcoholic he wouldn't do that."
"This is the first time I've ever seen him so aggressive. Man, my chin still hurts and I bit my tongue pretty hard."
"Was there something in his past maybe? Has he ever mentioned anything he did once that involved drinking?" Kiley asked.
"No, not that I can remember."
"Yeah, same here, not a thing."
/ "Dad, please, I'll go with Grams for the night, and come home tomorrow. That way you don't have to worry about getting me fed or getting me anywhere I may need to go. You can then have all the time with Kate, and I won't be here to complicate things."
"I can't let her take you if I didn't break the deal Lexie."
"Right now Kate needs you, and me going with Grams gives you that time to be with Kate and not worry about anyone else. Grams will drop me off at home tomorrow afternoon. You'll have almost a full twenty four hours to take care of Kate. Please Daddy? For Kate, and for me, can you please just let Grams take me back with her?"
Castle glared sharply at his mother before speaking, "Tomorrow, four o'clock, she's back at my loft. No later."
"Fine," Martha replied coldly before turning on her heel, "Come on Alexis, let's leave your dad so he can take care of Kate."
"Don't forget to make this right Dad, you promised to pay for all the damage you caused," Alexis gave her father a hug before following behind her grandma. Before she got out of sight she turned and air texted, then pointed to herself. When her father nodded she blew a kiss before jogging to catch up with Martha.
"Castle, what the hell was that about?" Esposito asked.
"None of your concern Javier. Where's Katie, can I see her? What happened?"
"She's stable at the moment, an artery burst unexpectedly. For now no visitors until we know that nothing else is going to go wrong. I know that we did allow her to put pressure on her wrist wounds by letting her use crutches. We also allowed her to drive, but after whatever happened the injuries have gotten worse and to use the crutches now, or drive, would not be the correct thing to do especially because we shouldn't have allowed it when we first released her. If she's to go anywhere it's to be in a wheelchair," Kiley said professionally.
Castle took in a deep breath before speaking, "She's not going to like being stuck in a wheelchair. Let me know as soon as I can see her. I'll write a check for the money to repair all the damage I inflicted, unless you want cash, I can work that out too."
"No, um, a check is fine. I'll take it and hand it off for you, take some more stress from your shoulders."
"Thank… you, Doctor Anderson."
"Mr. Castle, please, call me Kiley. Any man in Kate's life is a man who I am most willing to get to know, and if not you then I, need the comfort of someone who knows her during this time."
Castle sighed before smiling softly and putting out his hand, "It's nice to make your complete acquaintance… Kiley. Call me Rick, and I'm most certain that my fiancé, and your friend, is in the best of hands."
Kiley accepted his offer and shook firmly, "It's a pleasure to get to know you, Rick."
/ Castle ran a hand down his face for the umpteenth time. Looking at his watch he sighed noting that she hadn't given him a time she'd arrive. Cool it Richard, take a deep breath and relax. Katie's fine, there's no reason for saying she isn't. All she's doing is a drive-by, in her civilian car. See, nothing to worry about…
"Mr. Castle, would you care for a drink?" Rick looked up from his watch to see the waitress he always had on Saturdays standing there.
"Jessi, I didn't know you worked these hours? What about school?"
"On break for a week. Need the extra cash to help pay the rest of my way through this semester, so I took some extra hours. It's nice to see you out and about this fine day. Waiting for Miss. Katherine?"
Castle chuckled, "Sure am. Hey, you know what?"
"What?" Jessi smiled.
"I am cordially inviting you to our wedding. Though no dates have been set yet, I want to make sure our wonderful waitress is there."
"I can't be at your wedding! I'd make a total fool of myself. Mr. Castle, as you can already tell, my career as a singer is not picking up like I would like it to."
"Then come sing at our wedding, even if it's just one song. Please, Jessi, I bet if Katie were here she'd think it was a great idea."
"I would just make a fool of you because you chose me instead of someone famous."
"Trust me when I say, you need to have more faith in yourself. You would do a terrific job, and in return for singing at the wedding you would be on the news and have more fans, and from there your music career would pick up and you wouldn't have to work here to pay your way through school."
"But who's going to serve you?"
"I think Katie and I would be able to train a new waitress to remember our usual orders." Castle laughed before continuing, "Just think about it, you have a while to decide and maybe you won't be able to make the date we choose, but if you ever want to practice singing, I would love for you to come and sing for me. That time I heard you sing here, you have a beautiful voice and I would love to help you get to do what you love. Now then, back to your very first question, Jessi, I would love my usual martini please."
Jessi smiled and shook her head as she laughed a little, "Sure thing Mr. Castle, and I'll think about your offer. See you in a bit with your martini, Kara should be by with your food in a while."
"Thank you very much." Castle smiled before she walked back into the restaurant. He looked at his watch again and sighed. Relax Rick, she'll be here.
….
It's been over thirty minutes… all she was doing was a drive by… where is she? Castle felt a bead of sweat forming on his forehead and a lump of fear growing in the pit of his stomach. Pulling out his phone he called Esposito.
"Hey Castle."
"Esposito, have you heard from Beckett?"
"No, I thought she was with you at Remy's."
"I'm at Remy's but she is not… unless she's invisible… which actually would be awesome… but that's besides the point."
"Hold on, let me ask Ryan." Javier said, "Hey, bro! Have you heard from Beckett?"
Castle heard the clicking of a phone and then Detective Ryan's voice was speaking, "Castle how are you?"
"Ryan, just answer the question I asked, he doesn't need two people speaking to him," Javier spoke.
"Nope, I haven't heard from her either. Thought she was with you."
"She was supposed to show up after driving by the address Esposito gave her, but she hasn't showed or called yet."
Esposito let out a sigh before speaking, "Here let me try her cell."
"Yeah, smart idea, and I'll try her home," Ryan agreed.
Castle listened to them say two different things as they called her with their cell phones, only to be even further discouraged when both of them announced that they had reached her voicemail.
"Look, we'll wait a while and see what happens. If she doesn't show up in the next twelve hours we'll start sending out search groups and follow any tracks she could have taken from the station, to the address and then to Remy's. She's been working herself so hard I bet she pulled over somewhere and took a short nap," Javier said in efforts to give Castle some sort of comfort.
"Why can't we send out groups now?" Rick asked.
"We'll already be sending them out early if she doesn't show up in twelve hours or contact us in some way, and we don't want to look stupid if we send people out and she just got caught in some crazy traffic or something," Ryan answered.
"Yeah… sure… right, I'll talk to you later then."
"Talk to you later."
"Later bro."
Castle hung up and sighed, running a hand down his face as he picked up the smoothie he had ordered for Kate and began drinking it. She's fine, don't worry… she just lost track of time… yeah, that's what happened. He let his eyes drift to the street and watched the cars speed by… I hope…
/ "Hey Mom!" Dr. Anderson looked up from her paperwork to see her daughter run in.
"Hayley? Hi, I wasn't expecting you to be here, Pop picked you up right?" She asked as her daughter came over and kissed her cheek.
"I asked Pop-pop to bring me down so I can have dinner with you tonight. He's coming up with Mexican but needed to get some writer's autograph first."
Kiley smiled at her daughter and laughed as she stood up, "You know, how about we go find Pop? The writer he's getting an autograph from is in fact Aunt Kate's fiancé."
Hayley squealed and clapped her hands together, "Auntie Kate's getting married! No way! Why didn't I ever hear of this?"
"She's good at keeping secrets huh? But I'm surprised that you don't know since you're always in the loop of things going on, it was all over the news for a whole two days, and you missed it."
"Maa-om! I have more important things to do then just watch the news."
Laughing again she linked her arm with Hayley's and stuck her tongue out, "Yeah, like painting your nails black, caking on layers of eyeliner, and making your lips a dark cherry red."
"Hey… you said that if I pay for my make-up then you wouldn't care!" Hayley said defensively as they began walking from Kiley's office.
"That doesn't mean I can't tease you about it."
"Yeah, so that means I can tease you about burning a spatula to the pan!"
"Touché, touché."
"Hey can I see Aunt Kate?"
"I think we can arrange that, but she may be asleep, so don't get your hopes up on talking to her. She's had a rough time and right now I haven't let her fiancé go in to see her, so he has first visit tonight."
"That's fine, at least I'll get to meet my Uncle."
"Yeah you will. Think it's cool that your Uncle's famous?"
"Oh yeah!"
"You know, I have an idea, it may not be as great as seeing Kate, but if you don't get to see her would you like to come with me to change the bandages of the girl who helped to save Kate's life?"
"Meet my Aunt's savior! Mom, how is that even a question? I owe her my life! I can't wait to thank her!"
"Let me tell you though, she's in a coma, so don't expect any responses."
Hayley's smile faded as she answered, "Well, at least I'll still be able to thank her for saving my Aunt's life. Better then nothing right? Besides, you've talked with Mikeal before that talking to a comatose patient can help them find their way back."
"That's true Hayley, and I bet she would love to have someone about her age talk with her."
Hayley winked and smiled widely, "Then I'm the perfect girl to do just that!"
"Cause we all know how you can rattle off a storm."
Hayley stuck out her tongue and giggled as she bumped hips with her mom, "And I know just how much you all enjoy it."
"Um, that we do. In fact, I bet that Uncle Castle would love to hear you talk, he's a big talker himself."
"Wonderful! Then we're bound to get along!" Hayley smiled as she spotted her Grandfather at the far end of the hall talking with a tall brown-haired cutie, "Kate's caught herself a good one, I can tell."
"She has, just wait until I show you the holes he punched in the wall after we took her away for emergency surgery."
"What happened?"
"Aunt Kate was crashing, an artery burst, but she's stable now and after I look her over, check vitals, and start taking her off the sedative I bet that I can let you two pop in."
Speaking of pop… Hey Pop-pop! Mom and I came to find you."
The older man turned around and smiled, "Well there's my beautiful daughter, come here Kiley."
He put out his arms and Anderson released Hayley to give her father a hug, "Hey dad."
"Kiley I want you to meet Mr. R-"
"Richard Castle, yes father I know. He's the fiancé of one of my patients."
"What?" He asked bewildered, "And you didn't think of calling to tell me? Had I not come down here with Hayley I would have missed my chance to meet such a wonderful man."
"No, Pop-pop, that's just it! Mr. Castle isn't just any patient's fiancé! Pop-pop, meet Aunt Kate's future husband! He's going to be like your son-in-law!"
"Wait, so Kate's your patient? I thought they didn't allow doctors to operate on family?"
Castle furrowed his brow and cleared his throat, "Excuse me, may I please be brought up to speed here?"
Kiley smiled, "I'm sorry. Rick, this is my father Nathaniel, and my daughter Hayley. As I have mentioned, I have known Kate since the second grade, she can read me like one of your books lying open on the counter. Kate was in the hospital room when Hayley was born-"
"I know she's not my real Aunt, but she loves being called Auntie Kate, and since my mom and she are practically sisters anyway, it doesn't make any difference to anyone. Even Pop-pop says that Kate is the daughter he and Nanna never had. We're a big close knit, non-related family. That's what Pop-pop means, she is family to us and doctors aren't allowed to operate on family, but mom and Aunt Kate aren't really family so mom can still operate on her. Not only is my mom a practitioner but she's also a surgeon, so she does both. Sometimes she's here in the hospital, other times she's in the doctor's office. She has two offices!" Hayley piped up, interrupting her mother.
Richard nodded, "I see… it's nice to meet you both."
"Look, we can explain the rest of this all later, how about we go to Kate's room and I'll see how she's doing. If everything looks fine then I'll allow you both to see her. Then I have to go to Cassidy's room to change bandages and check vitals."
"Sounds good to me," Castle agreed as Hayley and Nathaniel nodded.
A/N: Review, review, review! :D Hope you liked it. :) So glad that I got this chapter up. For those of you also reading Bullet Through His Head I don't know how long it will take to get it updated, but I promise that I haven't forgotten about it.
Luv you all!
CrazyBeCat :D
