Chapter Three

Rick ran to keep up with Kate's gurney as bags of fluids swayed. He knew these were keeping her alive for now and he took comfort in that.

Finally a nurse stepped into his path just outside the operating room. "Please Mr. Castle, we need you to wait outside. The doctor will let you know about Detective Beckett's condition as soon as we can. She's heading right into surgery. Dr. Westing is one of the best surgeons in the city. Don't worry, we'll take good care of your detective."

"Kate, her name is Kate." Although every nerve in his body told him not to let Kate out of his sight, Rick stepped back with his hands raised.

"We'll take good care of Kate."

"Thank you-" He paused to read her hospital ID. "Ah, Nurse Rush, is there somewhere I can wait?"

"Over there, first door on the left, is the waiting room, but drink the coffee at your own risk." She winked at him. "I'm warning you because I love your books and I don't want you to die on my watch."

The older woman's hero worship made Rick smile despite the circumstances. He watched the woman disappear down the hall, promising himself that he'd buy this wing, no the entire hospital coffee machines to make sure they always had great coffee. These people deserved it.

He watched the doors for a moment longer even though he knew it could be hours before the doctors finished. With a heavy sigh, he headed down the hall to the small cramped room with decade-old magazines to wait.

Dropping into one of the hard chairs, he placed his head in his hands, wondering if there was a way he could have prevented this. Should he have have been more firm with Kate the other night? What if he'd said he loved her in her apartment before Roy's death, would she have backed off this case or would she still have thrown him out? Most of all, would she forgive him for not letting her stay to help Montgomery?

"You were supposed to stop her!"

Rick lifted his head, ready to jump to his own defence, but when he saw the harried look on Jim Beckett's face all words froze in his throat. This man had a right to be angry, he'd lost his wife and now he'd been witness to his own daughter's shooting. It wasn't right and Rick decided to take the brunt of the anger.

Finally, he spoke. "I tried. I told her to stop, that her life wasn't worth solving this case, but it wasn't what she wanted to hear. She's hiding in this thing and she pushed me out. This is my fault. If I had left well enough alone we wouldn't be here. She asked me to stay out of it but I had to..."

Jim seemed to deflate. "You were right to do that. She would have come back to her mother's case eventually. She told me she'd moved on but I know she still had her mother's file in her apartment. It was on the bookshelf stuffed between her two favorite books. Two of yours, if I recall correctly."

A slight grin crossed Rick's features but it vanished quickly as his mind replayed that horrible moment in the cemetery, and he dropped his head back into his hands.

Jim sat down beside him. "It's all right, Rick. I know how you feel. When I saw my little girl go down, I lost ten years off my life. No man should have to bury his wife and his daughter."

Rick closed his eyes. "I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that doesn't happen. Kate means..."

Stepping away, Jim slapped Rick's back. "I wouldn't have it any other way. She needs you Rick; you keep her grounded." Turning away, he chose a magazine but didn't really seem to be looking at it. "As soon as I know she's all right they're sending me away, for my own safety and Kate's. The new captain's worried that I might be a target as well he's the one who drove me over here." Montgomery's been dead all of a couple of days and they already have a new captain?

"So they replaced Roy? I wonder who it is? Can you remember his name?"

Not looking up from the glossy pages, Jim shrugged. "Nope. Only that he already worked at the precinct; they promoted from within. He said he new Katie."

A silence fell after that and the minutes ticked by. It was only broken when Ryan, Esposito and Lanie appeared.

Ryan looked sheepish. "Sorry we took so long but the captain made us give statements before we could leave. We got here as soon as we could."

Lanie rushed over to Rick. "What do you know? Any updates?"

"Nothing other than they took her right into surgery." Rick stopped, searching for the name the nurse had told him. "Dr. Westing is the lead surgeon."

Relaxing slightly, Lanie nodded. "Kate's in good hands then. We might as well dig in since we'll be here for a while."

Ryan stepped forward. "Your mother and daughter are gone. They're safe. Just don't ask me where they are or try to contact them."

Rick tapped his nose. "Good to hear. Anything on our shooter. He must be a pro to even attempt that shot. So why not go for the kill? I understand not taking the heart, Kate's badge was in the way but why not the head?"

Esposito motioned for Rick and the others to step away from Jim Beckett before speaking. "He was gone before anyone got there. Uniforms were there just after the shot but he'd scrambled. I'm not sure he wanted to kill Beckett. I think this was a warning; he could have killed her easy as breathing."

Shuddering, Rick tried to erase the mental image of Kate with a bullet hole between the eyes as he dropped down into a chair feeling so weary. "I know it just doesn't make sense." Wishing this day would just end, Rick placed his face in his hands.

Both detectives shook their heads. "The new captain, Demming, seems to have hit the ground running on this, but he's still got a huge mess to wade through."

Rick choked on his coffee, spraying it across the floor and causing everyone to jump back. "Demming? As in the robbery detective? Curiouser and curiouser. Who's man was he?"

"Not sure. Either the commissioner or the mayor's most likely but sometimes an alderman will call in a favor to get a say."

"I need you to find out for me, but keep it discreet. Montgomery said the dragon took the ransom money from the botched kidnapping and rose to power. So I think it's time to stop looking inside the NYPD and look at City Hall. That's where we'll find our man."

Before anyone else had a chance to comment on Rick's revelation, they heard someone leave the OR.

In sync, the small group and Jim headed down the hall toward the man dressed in scrubs and waited silently for the surgeon to speak.

"Detective Beckett is out of danger. We've repaired the damage to her kidney but we want to keep her here under observation for a few days. Barring infection, we expect she'll eventually make a full recovery."

"When can we see her?" Jim asked, stepping in front of the others.

"Soon, she's being moved into recovery until she wakes up from the anesthetic. Then she will be moved to a private room. Please remain in the waiting room and Nurse Rush will show you to the detective's room once she's ready for visitors. When you're allowed to see her please remember not to crowd her, she needs her rest. You should be able to see her later this afternoon."

Ryan pulled out his phone. "I'll make sure the guards are in place and she's being protected." He looked at Castle. "We won't let anything happen to her."

All heads nodded and they slowly made their way back to the waiting room to continue their vigil.

There you have it leave a review and make me smile, I'd love to hear from you. More on the way next Wednesday, but chapter three and four are up on my website. You can google me or head to my profile to find the link.

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