Too Close

Chapter 1

Swimming to the surface as rapidly as he can cut through the water, Castle can feel Kate limp in his arm, too limp. It seemed to take forever to find her gun and even longer to pull it loose from entrapment under his seat. It was only minutes, but minutes when Kate was submerged.

He surges toward the dock as soon as he breaks the surface, hoping someone will summon help - or better still, already has. A crowd of gawkers is staring intently at the water, and Rick can hear sirens in the distance - too far in the distance. A sturdy shaved-head giant reaches out a tattooed arm to pull Castle and his precious burden to land.

Checking for pulse and breathing, Rick finds neither. Recalling the lifeguard training he took to ensure Alexis' safety at his beach house, he starts CPR. Since his undercover kiss with Kate, he'd dreamed of having his lips meet hers again, but not this way.

Rick works desperately, hoping to see Kate expel some water and start breathing on her own, but she is unmoving beneath him. Splinters of wood from the dock dig into his knees, but he can't feel them. There's only trying to force life back into Kate, nothing else matters.

The pressure of a hand on his shoulder is persistent, even as Rick tries to shrug it away. He turns his head just enough to see a head and a patch on an upper arm. An EMT, thank God. The medic brings his hands in to replace Rick's while another tech runs up with oxygen. Rick can only watch, wait, and pray.

Even as he clings to Kate's hand in the ambulance, Rick knows he has to make a call. His cellphone is soaked and useless, but when they get to the hospital, he can borrow one from the cops forming an escort. He could even search out a modern dinosaur, a payphone, but that would mean leaving Kate's side. No way does he want to do that; he's not even sure that he could.

"When is she going to wake up?" Jim Beckett demands from the physician who comes into Kate's room to monitor her condition.

The resident purses his lips. "Mr. Beckett, if I knew that, I'd tell you. Unfortunately, cases like this are unpredictable. There's danger of pneumonia, and from what Mr. Castle has been able to tell us, your daughter was without oxygen for a period of time. If the brain is deprived for too long - we'll just have to see. She is stable and breathing on her own and responding to stimuli. That's a good sign." His gaze sweeps over Jim and Rick. "Talk to her, both of you. Play her favorite music. Read from her favorite books. In some way, she may be able to hear you. Give her a reason to come back."

Alexis treads hesitantly into Kate's room as Rick is reading hoarsely from what Jim Beckett told him is Kate's favorite Derrick Storm adventure. "Where's Mr. Beckett?"

Rick attempts to clear the grunge from his throat. "He's trying to catch a couple of hours of sleep in the family lounge. I hope he succeeds. He's exhausted."

"So are you, Dad. I brought you another change of clothes. I can read to Detective Beckett for a while if you want to clean up a little."

"Is that your polite, daughterly way of telling your father that he reeks?"

"I'm just trying to help."

Rick forces his stiff joints out of his chair and leans down to kiss Alexis on the forehead. "I know, Pumpkin. And you're right. Give me whatever garments your superior fashion sense has dictated that I don."

Alexis hands over a tote bag. "There are some bacon brownies in there too. Detective Esposito sent them."

"Bless you, my child, and Esposito, too."

Kate's sodden mind could ignore the perky teenaged voice in her ears, but Rick's raspy tones carry a plea that urges her to fight her way to consciousness. She feels as if she's backstage at a theater, trying to make her entrance but having to get past a weighted blackout curtain to reach her mark. Inch by inch, she struggles to push it aside.

"Castle?"

"Kate! Oh, God! Kate, you're awake!" Rick hits the call button as he turns toward Alexis. "Go get her father!"

"What happened?" Kate asks as a nurse rushes into the room and pages a doctor.

Rick stares into the puzzled hazel eyes. "You don't remember?"

"Pigeons! I remember something about pigeons."

"That's right! Blakely mentioned them - right before he was shot."

"Shot? What?"

"The threat, Kate. He was about to tell us about Pandora, and the pigeons spooked him. He left the car, and someone shot him. Then a car shoved your unit into the water - with us in it."

"I don't remember any of that." She looks up at the doctor striding into the room. "Why don't I remember?"

Pulling a penlight from his pocket, he checks her eyes. "Pupils equal and reactive." He extends his hand to Kate. "Can you squeeze my fingers?" He nods as Kate's digits curl around his. "Good, good. Ms. Beckett, it is not uncommon for patients to be unable to recall events directly preceding a trauma. You experienced a near-drowning. That can be extremely challenging to the body."

"Dad saved you," Alexis interjects trailing a running Jim Beckett into the room.

"Thank, heaven!" Jim Beckett adds. "How are you, Katie-girl?"

"I'm OK, Dad," Kate assures him before fixing her gaze on Castle. "Thank you."

Rick brushes a strand of hair from Kate's face. "Almost lost my partner once. Wasn't about to let it happen this time. And Kate, whatever Sophia says or does, you are my partner."

Giving Jim Beckett some time with his daughter, Rick searches out the Java Hut franchise in the hospital lobby and spots a familiar figure. What the hell is Sophia doing here? "You really screwed up this time, Rick," the raven-haired beauty declares stalking up to Castle and urging him into an unoccupied corner. "You need to come with me."

"Screw that!" Castle retorts. "I'm not going anywhere but back upstairs to sit with Kate. I'm an American citizen on domestic soil. You have no authority here. You've said that yourself. That's why you needed Kate and me to do your dirty work. Well, we did it, and Kate almost died."

"You did it all right!" Sophia throws back. "You figured out the code to find Blakely and didn't tell me. That got him killed. You owe us, Rick. I need to know everything Blakely said before he walked into a bullet."

Rick's jaw tightens. "Most of it sounded crazy, but I'll send you a memo."

"Cute, Rick. No memos. Nothing traceable. You knew that from the first day you started trailing around after me like a worshipful puppy."

Rick spews air through closed lips. "More like a dumb puppy. Well, this dog's grown up Sophia and learned a few tricks. I can tell you what you want to know, such as it is, but Kate is going to have to know where I am - in your black-hooded way - and when I'm coming back."

Sophia smirks. "She must be really good in bed."

"I have no idea. We've never slept together, but she is probably the most remarkable woman I've ever met, present company included."

Sophia shakes her head. "So you're not in it for the thrill, like you were with me. You really love her."

"Yeah," Rick admits, "I really do."