CH4
It was hell. Since Kate was taken, he felt like he wasn't even living. He had killed 3XK, she had killed Kelly Neiman, they had found Kate, and yet he was still living in hell. He was currently in a hospital room, sitting next to his wife and waiting for her to wake up. She should have woken up after her surgery, but she hadn't.
He was still kicking himself that they didn't find her in time when she was still conscious. They found Kelly on the floor and Kate on what looked to be an operating table. Kate had been stabbed in her side while Kelly was stabbed multiple times. Kate defended herself, but he just wished they had found her before she had to.
He hadn't left her side since they found her. He carried her out, placed her on the stretcher, and rode in the ambulance. It brought back those painful memories of when she was shot. He reminded himself that this was different, that she would pull through this and they would go home together. She was the strongest woman he knew. The only time he left her was when she was in surgery, but from there he met her in her room and that's where he stayed.
Alexis and his mother brought him his clothes and some other necessities. Lanie, Esposito, Ryan, hell even Gates alternated in seeing them and bringing him food. Jim came every day and kept Castle company as they both waited for Kate to wake up. They were getting pretty good at playing chess. Each night, he told him that he should go home, but each night Castle refused. He knew Jim was just looking out for him, but there was nowhere else that he would rather be. If he were at home, he would be awake, thinking about Kate.
The doctor was hopeful the first few days, but now that they reached day four it was getting disheartening. He recommended Castle speak to her, like she was there with him. He said it wasn't proven to work, but it wouldn't hurt.
So that's what he did. He told her that he couldn't do this without her and that she needed to keep fighting. Today, he figured he would do something different. He asked Alexis to bring in 'Flowers for Your Grave', 'Heat Wave', and a few other of his books. He knew his words had helped her in the past, so who's to say they wouldn't help now.
"Alright, Kate. Let's start with the book that brought us together. I know you've read this one many times before, but I hope you don't mind hearing about Leroy Fine one more time."
They sat in the coffee shop and discussed their next moves. She was getting frustrated and Will took notice.
"Kate, I know Penny said to keep looking, but you're going to drive yourself crazy."
She was about to speak when she saw a man enter. He was carrying a bundle of sunflowers and roses. It caught her attention. "Is there a Kate here?" She quickly got up from her chair, knowing they were for her.
"Hi, that's me." She saw the tag on his shirt. 'Leroy.' She didn't have to think twice. Castle. "Do you know who sent these to me?" She knew who, but she was trying to see if Leroy had any information for her.
He looked at his list. "Doesn't say besides R.C"
"Is there an address?"
"Hm, looks like a building on East 5th."
Kate smiled, knowing exactly what building that was. "Thank you." She accepted the flowers and headed back over to Will. "I have a lead."
"Where?"
"We're going to the 12th precinct."
"Is this where you work?"
She nodded. Finally, a place that felt familiar. There was obviously something here that Castle wanted her to find. Maybe an old police file. She knew it was going to take forever, but she'd go through each box if she had to. She was going to find her husband.
"Listen, I might need your help. Can you get me into the records room?"
"How do you know that's where we need to go?"
"I don't, but I figured that's a good place to start."
"What about the homicide floor?"
She smirked. "How do you think we're going to get the key to go in there?" She still had the flowers in her hand, she could pull it off as she was delivering them to Kevin Ryan. From there, Will would ask about an unsolved case he was working on and needed to go down to the records room.
She went over to the desk and was prepared to state why she was there, but it looked like she didn't have to. Kevin Ryan was approaching her with a smile….and in a wheelchair. How the hell did that happen? "Kate! Those flowers for me or are you just here to tell me that another murderer has been convicted? Either or I'll take."
Looks like she didn't have to pretend too much. She was glad that she was still working in a sense with Ryan and Esposito. There was some familiarity here. "Yeah, they're from Esposito." She hoped that they still bantered as they did before or else this might be awkward.
He laughed. "What are you here for?" He looked at Will. "Or is it you that is looking for some information?"
"We're working on a cold case. Ashley Tisdale. We'd like to go down to the records room."
"Tisdale. Wow, I haven't heard that name in a while. That was one of the first cases we worked on together, Kate." He looked over to Will. "Poor guy we brought in for questioning wasn't expecting his lawyer to be, I quote, "a smoke show" and Kate well I'm pretty sure you know how she handled him and his suggestive comments." He turned his attention back to Kate. " What makes you want to take a look at it now?"
"I have a buddy of mine that's a fed. Told him I was coming by to see Kate's dad and asked if I could either take a look or convince Kate to take a look. They have a similar MO and want to see if there's anything connected."
Ryan gave them a look that said he wasn't buying it, but he trusted Kate. "Come on, I'll take you down." They went into the elevator and Ryan took them down to the records room. He made some small talk with the officer that he informed. She glanced at his badge and saw "D. McAllister." 'In a Hail of Bullets'. Castle, what do you want me to find here? They entered the room and Ryan looked at Kate and took the flowers from her. "Just stop by when you're done."
She nodded and watched him wheel out of the room. She turned to Will. "What happened to him?"
"From what you've told me, he was shot about a year or two ago. It was his last day as a detective and then that happened. Left him paralyzed from the waist down."
"Why didn't I find that when I searched for him?"
"Hush hush from what you've told me. He was shot by another cop and with everything going on in the world they didn't want the bad press."
"That's terrible. He's still with Jenny though, right?"
"Stronger than ever." She smiled at that before she started going through files, starting with Ashley Tisdale. "So what are we looking for, Kate?"
"The delivery boy was named after one of the characters in Castle's books. The officer who Ryan was talking to…"
"Another character." She nodded. "Alright, give me some names."
They looked through boxes, trying to see if they could find anything that would match the clues that Kate was getting so far. She checked the Tisdale file and a few other cases she remembered. She found nothing. She was about to grab another box when her phone started to ring. She reached into her pocket and saw it was her mother.
"Hi, Mom."
"Katie, where are you?"
"I'm.." She couldn't tell her the truth. "Having lunch with Will."
"Oh good. Will knows about the party tonight, so I don't have to worry about you forgetting."
Shit. She was going to have to put her search on hold. "Yeah, mom, I'm still going and I didn't forget. The hangover has worn off." She hated lying to her mom, but she didn't want to have to explain why she was acting so strange.
"Katie, I'm your mother. I always know when you've had too much to drink. Remember Madison's 18th birthday?"
Of course, the one thing that is consistent in both universes is that. "Sadly."
Johanna laughed. "I love you, Katie. I'll see you soon."
She felt tears in her eyes. "I love you too, mom." She hung up the phone and felt Will's eyes on her.
"I'm sorry, Kate."
She put her phone in her pocket. "It's been years since I've heard her say those words."
"I know you love him, Kate, but at least you have this if we can't get you back."
She sighed. "I won't give up. It's just going to be harder to get back the more I hear her voice." With that, they heard another phone ringing. They both looked at each other before looking in the direction of the ring. It was coming from a box.
"How can that be?"
She opened up the box that was labeled 'Sister Mary Grace.' "A Rose for Everafter." She opened the box and took out the flip phone. "Castle?"
"Kate, stay with me!"
"Rick, I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere. Tell me how I can find you."
"I'm right here, Kate."
"Here, where?" The line went dead. "Castle?!" She was getting frustrated and threw the phone back into the box.
"I don't understand why he can't tell me where he is."
"I don't know, but there's an address here. Do you recognize it?"
She nodded. "That's the address of my old apartment."
AN: Thank you for your reviews. I didn't want to tell you all what happened to Kate and during what time this story took place in the description because it would have taken this reveal away. I know the whole one of them is in a coma thing has been done before, but this was one of the logical ways where I figured Kate would end up in an AU. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and thank you to the Castle Wikipedia for the list of Castle's books to help me write this.