She was going to do it! She wasn't going to spend the rest of her life sat in a hospital bed. Glancing around the empty room, Kate sighed to herself at the emptiness before swinging her legs off the bed and biting into her lip. She could do this! She could walk, she'd been healthy before the accident and she wasn't going to wallow around like she'd done for the last five days since she'd remembered and learnt the truth about the writer. Forcing herself onto her feet, Kate rested her hand on the nearby cabinet before smiling. She was standing on her own, she could this! She was going to do this! Slowly moving her foot forward, Kate stared down at her feet before she moved the other foot forward. She was going to walk!
"Come on Beckett, you can do this," she hissed to herself as she continued to force herself to walk forward, a laugh leaving her lips when she realised what she was doing. She was wobbly and she knew she couldn't stay up for long but she was doing it. Reaching the other side of the small room, the brunette sighed as she fell against the wall and breathed out in exhaustion. "Come on Kate, you have to get back into the bed," she insisted, using the wall to help herself turn around before she slowly began to approach the bed again, knowing that the door was slowly opening. Falling onto it, Kate smiled to herself before looking across to see an older redhead standing in the doorway. "You're not a nurse," Kate quickly observed as the woman shook her head.
"No, my name's Martha Rodgers," she stated as Kate shut her eyes, knowing that name. "From that expression, I'm going to guess that you already know that I'm Richard's mother," she sighed as Kate nodded slowly, opening her eyes to look at the woman. "I'm not here to try and persuade you to talk to my son; I was just worried about you. Both my son and granddaughter are worried about you and I guess I'm here because they can't be," she stated as Kate nodded. "Can I come in?" she asked as Kate nodded again, not knowing what to say. "I saw you walking."
"It wasn't brilliant," Kate muttered.
"It's still something, its progress," Martha commented as Kate nodded, unable to stop herself from smiling. She'd been alone for five days; she was enjoying having some company. "How are you darling? I'm sure it's all been a big shock to you," Martha stated as Kate bit into her lip and nodded, unable to stop herself from crying at the fact that her mother was dead. "Do you want a hug?" she asked, not knowing what else to do as the woman sat crying on the small bed. She looked tiny, her body like a skeleton and it shocked her to see how shaky she was. "Miss Beckett," she said quietly, not knowing what else to say.
"Please call me Kate," the brunette sobbed as Martha smiled weakly.
"Kate," Martha said as Kate glanced across at her in tears, taking in the brightly dressed woman.
"Can I have that hug?" Kate asked as Martha nodded and moved to sit on the bed slowly, her arms wrapping tightly around the sobbing who she was holding. "I can't believe she's gone," Kate sobbed as Martha continued to hold her, understanding now why her son had felt so bad for the younger woman. "I keep thinking that it's all been a bad dream and she'll come through the door apologising for being late," Kate admitted. "And I even know I'm being stupid thinking that."
"It's not stupid," Martha promised as she held Kate close. "It's scary and I can't imagine what it was like to have witnessed that," she admitted as Kate shook her head, not wanting to think about her mother bleeding to death in front of her! "But you can't keep punishing yourself," she quickly added as Kate glanced up at her. "You've not been eating," she stated.
"How?" Kate asked as the redhead sighed before removing her arms from the brunette who slowly relaxed back and stared at her. "Did the nurse tell you?" she asked as Martha looked at how skinny the young woman was.
"I heard the nurse talking to the doctor actually, I've always been nosy," she admitted, unable to stop herself from beaming when a small smile covered Kate's face for a second. "You're punishing yourself Kate and it's not good for you."
"It's my fault she's dead, I should have helped her," Kate responded as Martha shook her head.
"Kate according to what my sons told me you were already injured and there were two men, you were a teenager and you were probably terrified. You couldn't have saved her without getting yourself killed," Martha declared as Kate shut her eyes, not wanting to think about that night. "Your mother wouldn't have wanted you to die trying to save her Kate, she'd be happy to know that you're alive."
"Alive? I've spent the last twelve years in a hospital bed," Kate sighed as Martha continued to watch her nervously, not wanting to upset her more. "My mother wouldn't be happy about that, about me spending twelve years of my life in bed. She wouldn't even let me lie in on a Sunday," she muttered as Martha laughed.
"No but now you're awake so she'd want you to start living your life. She wouldn't want you to make yourself worse," she declared as Kate bit into her lip. "She'd want you to be strong like you were a minute ago when you were walking, she would want you to take control of your life Kate and make something of yourself."
"I don't have a life Martha. I have no qualifications, no friends and no family. How am I supposed to get a job or start a career?" she questioned as the redhead smiled.
"You fight," Martha stated simply. "You learn to walk again, which you have started. You get out of here, you find yourself something you're interested and you work hard and Kate, you're a lovely person Kate you'll make friends quickly," she explained as Kate bit into her lip for a moment before nodding slowly. "So are you going to eat something?" she asked as Kate slowly nodded, realising that Martha had given her the encouragement she needed.
"When I get out of here, where am I going to go?" Kate said quietly, Martha realising that was one of her major concerns. "They're not going to let me go home with my dad, not with how he is at the moment and I don't want to live with him again. Not when he's continually drunk," she admitted as Martha nodded.
"Richard would let you stay with us," Martha commented as Kate groaned. "I know it's not ideal but it would be a roof over your head."
"He lied to me about my mom," Kate responded.
"He did what he thought was best for you at the time," Martha argued as Kate bit into her lip. "He was stupid and he knows he should have told the doctor where to stick that idea but he thought the doctor knew what was best and he listened. He cares about you and the friendship you built after he promised was based on the truth," she explained.
"But he promised me he was looking into the case. He told me he was looking for her Martha," Kate said quietly.
"And he was. He spent every night looking at her case," Martha explained as shock covered her face, she hadn't known at. "Every single piece of information you gave him he gave to the detective's and he went over your file a million times. Kate he wasn't just stringing you along, he was desperate to tell you, it was driving him insane," she stated as Kate remained silent. "He cares about you Kate and I've never seen anyone look as miserable as my son does at the moment."
"He's working on her case," Kate said quietly as Martha nodded.
"Never stops working your case Kate," the redhead muttered as Kate shut her eyes for a moment. "I know I said I wasn't here to plead Richard's case…" she began.
"But you're his mother," Kate commented quickly as she opened her eyes just in time to see Martha shrugging. "How on Earth does he cope with you and Alexis bossing him around?" she asked as Martha laughed. "Two strong women in his life," Kate yawned as Martha nodded, watching as Kate began to relax.
"Richard really does care about you and I think there's a small part of you that cares about him," she admitted as Kate looked at her in shock while Martha's smile grew, knowing that she'd hit a nerve now.
"I don't know what to do," Kate admitted. "I can't forgive him for what he did but part of me is desperate to just have him back because he's my friend and he means the world to me," Kate sighed as Martha watched her shake her head. "I can't just let him back into my life can I?" she questioned.
"You can do whatever you want with your life. I can't tell you what you can and can't do," Martha smiled before glancing down at her watch. "I need to go darling, are you going to be okay?" she asked quickly.
"I'm going to be fine," Kate smiled as Martha stood up and smiled down at the younger woman.
"Think about it Kate," Martha whispered as she hugged the brunette. "And eat a proper meal tonight, I'll be calling the doctor tonight to make sure," she explained as Kate laughed, moving away as Martha slowly walked towards the door. "You can do anything with your life Kate; you just have to start believing in yourself."
"You'll come and visit again?" Kate asked as Martha turned to look at her.
"Of course I will, I'll bring Alexis next time hopefully. If you'd like that?" she declared as Kate smiled and nodded, saying goodbye before Martha disappeared out of the room as quickly as she'd arrived.
XOXOXOXOXOXOX
"Where have you been today?" Rick asked as his mother entered the apartment and approached the couch which he was currently lying across. He'd clearly gone out because he wasn't in his pyjamas but he looked exhausted like he hadn't been sleeping. "Mother you left early and you've only just got back, you never go out before midday unless it's something important."
"I actually went to the hospital," Martha admitted as worry covered his face.
"Are you okay mother?" Rick asked as she nodded and laughed while her son remained in confusion. "Why were you at the hospital then?" he asked.
"I went to visit Kate Beckett actually," she declared, smiling when he sat up in shock.
"How is she? Is she doing okay?" he immediately blurted out as he patted the space beside him, his mother slowly moving to sit down beside him. "Come on mom, is she okay? Is she really angry about it? Is she coping with the news?" he asked, Martha smiling at his obvious concern for the young woman. "Mother," he moaned.
"She's fine. When I turned up she was actually walking on her own," Martha smiled as a small smile covered his face. "She hasn't been eating Richard but I've convinced her to eat something and I think she's starting to realise that she needs to get on with her lie," the redhead explained, a laugh leaving her lips when her son tightly wrapped his arms around her. "She's doing okay Rick, so you can stop worrying."
"And she talked to you even though…?" he asked as she nodded.
"She was a bit nervous at the start but I even managed to hug her," Martha smiled as Rick nodded.
"She liked you then. She doesn't let just anyone hug her," Rick sighed before relaxing back and shutting his eyes. "She was walking on her own mother?" he asked quickly as the redhead nodded. "Completely on her own?"
"She did everything on her own Richard. She was still a bit shaky and she fell on the bed in the end but she made it across the room and back," Martha explained as he stood up and ran his fingers through his hair. "She's grieving at the moment but she's going to be okay Richard. I think she's starting to realise that she needs to start taking control of her life," the redhead admitted as Rick nodded, both of them falling silent when the phone started to ring. "I am going to get ready for my date this evening," she explained before disappearing upstairs while Rick reached across for the cell phone to silence it.
"Hello," he smiled, unable to get over the fact that Kate was starting to walk by herself.
"Mr Castle," a familiar voice stated as he remained still. "It's Kate, Kate Beckett."
I don't know why I decided to have Martha visit Kate but that's what my brain wanted to do. I hope you like this chapter. I originally wasn't going to have Kate talk to him this quickly but I couldn't really write a long separation because she's basically stuck in a hospital room and that would be boring to read. They still have a long way to go though before they're back to Caskett normal in this story.
Anyway please review, I love hearing from you and it literally makes my day so much better!