Sorry for the long-ish wait there, but I totally got stuck on this. You'd think it'd be the easy chapter to write, but apparently not. Anywho, I'm not entirely pleased with it...tell me what you think!
"Kate?"
Everything in the room seemed to have frozen. Alexis was staring at the bed, her eyebrows raised. Gina's breath was coming short and shallow, and her eyes were piercing the floor. Kate stood silent and still, shock hitting her like an avalanche. She couldn't move. She could barely process what was going on, she was so surprised. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Kate. Kate, turn around." Alexis' voice rang out from the corner of the room, timid and anxious.
Slowly, the detective looked back over her shoulder. Castle seemed to be coming to his senses, his eyes squinting open and his hands gripping the sheets. Throwing all caution to the wind, she turned completely and walked over to him, taking one of his hands in hers.
She was, silently, freaking out. Her mind was racing, along with her heart, as she tried to grasp what she wanted to say next. Tightening her grip on his hand, she rubbed her thumb against his palm in small, soothing circles and looked into his eyes.
"Hey, stranger." She gave him a weak half-smile.
"Mmm…Kate?" The writer's eyes shot open then, surprise evident all over his face. "You're…you're here!"
This actually threw Kate for a loop. He must have been dreaming, or lost in thought, when he'd uttered her name. He obviously hadn't known she was really there. She furrowed her brow at him, trying her best to keep the joking light in her eyes. "Yeah, I'm here. Always."
He smiled, then sucked in a sharp breath of pain. "Th…thank you."
She gave him a tight smile and let go of his hand. Stepping to the side, she revealed Gina, who was looking particularly sour.
His eyes widened as he realized that she'd seen their whole exchange. "Gina…hey." He gave her a tight-lipped smile, wrenched with pain and frustration. "C'm 'ere."
She sucked in a gulp of air and looked away. "Why, Rick? So you can fool me with your words and wit again? You've done it before. I just…" She trailed off, staring at him.
He sighed, beckoning her forward. "Listen, can we talk about this later? I'm…not really…"
She sighed. "Yeah. I'm gonna…um…go get a coffee." Her heels clicked on the linoleum tiles of the hospital.
When she was gone, Rick turned his head toward his daughter, smiling at her. "Come 'ere, pumpkin."
Alexis shot up from her place on the sofa, rushing over to him and sitting on the edge of his bed. "Dad!"
He chuckled. "Hey, sweetie. It's okay. I'm here. I'm fine."
The teen shook her head, tears spilling down her cheeks. He expected her to say she loved him, or that she was glad he was okay, when: "How could you have been so stupid!"
He laughed. "Not too sure. But that reminds me; where is Jasmine?"
Kate turned her head, her brow furrowed, her eyes questioning. "Jasmine?"
A sheepish look crossed her partner's face, and he fidgeted under the sheets. "Jasmine is, um, the girl I was looking into a guy for. I…kind of figured he wouldn't be too bad, and that I could just talk him out of bothering her…and…this happened."
Her eyes flashed. She knew it wasn't this mystery girl's fault; she couldn't have known he was going to get shot. But it still made her angry that she'd asked Castle at all, without going straight to the police like she should have done. She looked at him. "I'd like to talk to her."
He sighed. "She won't talk to you. She's afraid of this guy, and she thinks the cops will just make the situation worse." He paused to look around the room. "I'm guessing that's the reason she's not here right now."
Kate sighed. "Phone number?"
"I have to respect her wishes, Kate. I can't."
Frustrated, the detective ran a hand through her hair and shook her bangs out. She sighed. "Fine. Not even a last name?"
He raised his eyebrows.
She made a small, irritated noise and moved for the door. "I'm going to go down to the Starbucks across the street. Alexis, do you want anything?"
"Whatever you're having."
Nodding, Kate left the father/daughter duo and made for the elevators, knowing full well that a certain handsome writer was staring after her.
Across the street, Kate was standing in line, ordering two lattes and an oatmeal brownie. The coffee shop was packed, people standing near walls balancing laptops and trying to shuffle into already-filled booths. The line almost went out the door into the summer heat.
The barista smiled at her, taking out a Sharpie and marking the coffees. She handed her a paper bag accompanied with a standard, cliché 'Have a nice day!'
"You too," Kate muttered with a small smile, as she started to weave through the line behind her. Just as she placed her hand on the door, she heard a young, raven-haired girl speaking quietly on the phone. The words she was saying drew Kate's ear to the conversation.
"…No, Mary…Oh, I don't know! He was shot, maybe? …I can't go see him! He has friends, cop friends. They'd drag me in! …No! Look, I've gotta go…" Ending the call, the girl slipped her Blackberry into her MiuMiu purse and started to get off of her stool.
She crashed into Beckett, who had advanced to standing in front of her.
"Oh, sorry." The girl started for the door, but the detective caught her arm.
"Is your name Jasmine?"
The girl swallowed hard. She cocked an eyebrow. "Who wants to know?"
Kate pulled her badge from her pocket, where she kept it off-duty. "The law."
Feeling the girl steeling to run, she tightened her grip on her arm, digging her nails in slightly. "Don't even think about it. Come with me."
"She's mad at me."
Alexis sighed. "No, she isn't. She's terrified, and she's worried. Dad, you're her best friend. Not knowing who did this to you is killing her, and she just wants answers."
"No. She's mad at me. She's mad that I won't give her answers."
"Oh my God, dad, are you actually…pouting?" The teenager burst out laughing.
Rick sucked in a deep breath, trying to chuckle along with her, but he felt a sharp, painful stab in his chest. He cringed. Alexis' laughter immediately cleared as worry took over.
"The pain meds are wearing off, aren't they?"
He nodded.
"I'll call the nurse." The teen reached for the Call button, but her father moved her hand out of the way and shook his head.
"No…don't. I don't want to be drugged."
"Dad, if it hurts—"
"No."
Eyebrows raised, the girl sat back, defeated. "Fine. But if it starts to hurt any more, I'll be able to tell, and then I will call a nurse. Got it?"
"Yep."
"Good."
Just then, Kate burst into the room, towing a certain dark-haired woman along with her. The other woman's eyes were wide and defeated.
Jasmine.
"Look who I found," declared Kate, setting the tray of coffee and food down on the table beside her and motioning to Alexis to come get some. The girl sat shocked her seat.
The detective pushed the other woman down into a chair and then swung another around, sitting on it backwards. "Talk."
Rick spoke for the first time since they had entered the room. "Jasmine, you don't have to—"
Beckett threw him a malevolent glare, effectively shutting him up. He just gulped, cringed and looked down at his hands.
"Tell me what you know."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Ha! The hell you don't. This, all of this. I know you know who did this. Give me a name." There was an angry, protective inferno in her eyes, deriving from everything she'd been through and everything she cared about.
Jasmine whimpered, obviously intimidated. "I don't know who did this."
"You think this is a joke?"
"I swear to God, I don't know anything! I don't know who did this! The guy who's been hounding me, the guy Rick went to talk to, I don't even know his real name!"
Kate stopped her next retort short. Even Castle and Alexis were frozen with confusion. "Excuse me?"
"I only know him as 'Rock'. That's what everyone knows him as. But that's obviously not his real name, because he's managed to stay completely under the radar for the longest time and it's also a completely ridiculous name. If it was his real name, he'd be locked up by now."
Beckett stared into her eyes, searching for any signs of dishonour or lying. But, she found nothing. The girl was telling the truth.
She sighed, handing the woman her NYPD card. "Stay in Manhattan," she said strictly. "If you see your little friend again, call me. It'll help, I promise."
Jasmine stood, her hands shaky from the stress she'd been put under. "Okay. And Rick?"
"Yes?"
She paused. "I'm so sorry."
And with that, she was out the door.
Okaaaaay. So. A couple of things.
First off, in relation to this story, I'm not really sure about this chapter, just like the last. Reviews would be appreciated; I like to know how to improve. :) (So to the two people that have critiqued me in a not-so-nice manner, thanks bunches!)
Secondly, I just wrote a new one-shot (or one-shot for now), Superstar. It hasn't gotten the number of hits I would have liked, (I mean, obviously I'm very, very grateful to the people who read it, don't get me wrong...) But if you have time, check it out! It's pretty sweet :)
And, finally, on a totally unrelated note, I just started watching Firefly, and I'm totally in love with it. I do not understand why that masterpiece was canceled.