Prompt from pamelalexandria here on fanfiction: Castle gets shot (just superficial) and is taken to the hospital. Kate is still with Josh and she goes to the hospital and is desperate to know how Castle is and ends up having a fight with Josh when he asks her to choose between them.
She's pacing the waiting room floor and she knows it.
In fact, she knows she's probably paced a hole into the hospital's floor over the past half hour, since she got to the hospital with Castle.
She shouldn't be pacing. There's no need to pace. It's a superficial wound, a cut made as the bullet grazed his body. They found the bullet in the brick wall off a building, Esposito had called to let her know.
He's okay. He might need stitches, which is usually only in worse case scenarios, and they'll give him an ointment, pain killers.
She's had these types of injuries before, the graze of a bullet against her arm or leg. They hurt, yes, but they're far from life threatening. Never has a victim on the morgue's slab died because of a superficial bullet wound.
And yet she's hear, pacing the waiting room floor as if he got shot in the heart and she's just waiting for the doctor to come out and tell her he died, even though that's far from their current situation. But he's still hurt, he was brought here in an ambulance even though the wound is far from an emergency—it's protocol, whenever they have a man hit, an ambulance is called.
Sitting in the ambulance next to him, he was wide awake, joking along with her, only wincing as the paramedic dabbed his wound with a clean, wet towel to clean the wound. He was happy, smiling much more than she was, and looked a lot less worried than she was.
The thing is, she's not exactly worried that he's going to die now, she's more worried that the situation will repeat itself, and next time it'll be more than a graze and he'll die. She's scared that he'll die and never know. Never know that-
"Kate! What are you doing here?"
She turns on her heel at the familiar voice coming from behind her, immediately internally cursing this situation.
"Hi, Josh," she says, voice far less than enthusiastic and she knows it.
This thing, her and Josh, has been going downhill for a while. Ever since that trip to L.A., when she had realized the depth of his feelings for her and, in turn, hers for him, she's been struggling immensely with this thing with Josh.
He's her boyfriend, yes. But she spends most of her time with Castle. She confides in Castle. Castle has a key to her apartment and Josh doesn't. And, if she's being completely honest, she loves Castle, and she doesn't love Josh.
"Is everything okay? Are you waiting for a suspect or a witness? Give me a name and I can find out how they're doing," he says, coming to stand right in front of her.
They have an odd relationship, even it can even be called that at all. The few times where they're both free—and take the time to tell the other, which she often purposefully fails to do—they spend in bed, because that seems to be all he wants. They don't greet each other with a hug or a kiss on the cheek. In fact, she doesn't even remember the last time she hugged Josh that wasn't because he hugged her because she almost died, or when she didn't wish it was Castle's arms around her instead.
Ever since they defused that bomb—well, he defused the bomb—and threw their arms around each other in a heat of the moment, 'Oh my God, I just saved Manhattan' kind of way, she's wanted to feel his arms wrapped around her again, in more ways than one.
"Oh, uh, no. It's actually, uh, Castle," she stutters when she finally remembers his question. Instantly, his face hardens and his eyes grow almost angry. He's never liked Castle, and he's pretty much always had a reason not to. "He got shot, uh, just superficial, though. I'm just waiting to go back and, uh, see him."
"Seriously? It's just superficial and your standing out here pacing like he's in critical condition?" he asks, his voice holding so much incredulity that she wants to slap him for being upset with her over this.
Feelings for him or not, Castle's her partner, and he's not a cop and it's her job to keep him safe. Feelings or no feelings, she's be out here waiting. It's what partners do. He'd do it for her. She'll do it for him.
She's just glad that Josh doesn't know her as well as Castle does, because if he did, he'd notice the fact that, during the first half hour after arriving, and right after the bullet made contact with his skin, she let a few tears fall. She really doesn't need him knowing she cried over her partner, because that part has nothing to do with him being her partner.
And there's no way she's telling Josh that, so she goes back to his question.
"Yes, Josh. I was there when he got, uh, shot. He's my partner. And I'm pretty sure there's no rule against pacing," she practically spits out at him, her voice holding more anger than she had expected, than she had planned.
"Yeah, well, there isn't. But I'd be willing to bet you wouldn't be nearly as worried if that was Ryan, or Esposito or me," he tells her, spitting his own words in her face. And like a slap, it hits her that he's right, even though she already knew that. Hearing him say it just makes it all that much more real. "Would you, Kate? Would you pace this waiting room if that was me?"
She just swallows, can't lie to him, not now, and can't bring herself to tell him the truth. She's giving away the answer with her silence, anyway.
"Didn't think so, Kate? Who do you want, him or me?"
He screams it, bringing all attention to them. Some of his co-workers are watching, Castle's just down the hall and all the strangers await news on their own loved ones are staring. She doesn't care.
"Well, Kate? Who do you want? You have to choose, because I won't stay here while you long for lover boy!"
Everyone is hanging on their every word, awaiting her response, as a nurse calls her name from behind her. She smiles, knowing she can see Castle now, and turns to walk in the nurses direction. Quickly, she turns back to tell him over her shoulder:
"You just made this choice a whole lot easier."
And then she turns and follows the nurse into Castle's room, leaving Dr. Motorcycle boy standing in the middle of the waiting room, alone and dumped.
She smiles and thanks the nurse as she leaves them alone, before turning to her partner sitting to the edge of the bed. A white piece of gauze covers his injury, taped his his bicep. She smiles at him, and he smiles back.
"You okay?"
"Yeah. I'll be fine," he answers softly, his blue eyes meeting hers, shining with happiness until it fades a little. "You were crying."
She finds herself smiling at the confirmation that she was right. Josh doesn't know her well enough to spot the signs of tears already fallen, but Rick does.
Who do you want, him or me?
She nods slowly, any denial she might have would fall on deaf ears anyway.
You just made this choice a whole lot easier.
She takes a step towards him, reaching out to run a hand down his good arm, to circle his fingers his her own.
"We need to talk."