To the person who PMed me asking if Kate was going to die, that would be a big fat
NO!
That would ruin the story plus it wouldn't make sense! Jeez I'm not that cruel and morbid!
Lol sorry for the rant. That one just caught me off guard.
Enjoy!
"Family of Katherine Beckett?"
Rick's hazed state lifts when he hears that. Alexis has no idea what's going on, but her confused and tear stained face turns up as she hears the familiar name and her Dad springs out of his seat, taking her with him. Rick walks to the doctor with fervor and halts, just barely knocking the five foot scrawny physician to the floor.
For a second the man stands intimidated by Rick's size and stature. The man's nostrils flair with irritation and impatience and surprisingly, even his daughter is giving him the stink eye. Medical school hasn't prepared him for this and there are things he wants to do in life that he won't get to if he doesn't spit out the results for Katherine Beckett. For a second, just a second, the doctor's mouth quirks into a smile at how loved this woman has to be. He didn't see a wedding ring, but there's no way this man isn't a devoted husband. He must at least be a fiance. At least.
Rick is ready to place his baby down and pummel this man for information about Kate when he sees the small man crack a smile. Is this some sort of sick joke to him? Making someone's family wait for the life or death results they so urgently need? She has people depending on her and they need to know how she is, yet this man is insistent on toying with the situation, prolonging the results like a bad episode of American Idol.
"Mr..."
"Castle."
"Right, , I can assure Katherine Beckett is fine. She had a slight bout of food poisoning which caused a nasty case of appendicitis. Her appendix was removed and you'll be able to get her home in two, three days tops."
Rick breathes a sigh of relief. "Can we see her now?" The doctor nods and by the time he gets the room number out of his mouth, Rick is speeding down the hall.
He stops once he reaches her door and takes a breath, finally assessing the situation. Kate is fine. She's alive and healthy, sorta. She's coming home with them and soon, they'll be back to normal. He quickly glances down at his baby girl who is still doe eyed and confused and seeing this gives him the final push to enter her room. They walk in and the lights are dimmed very low, due to the fact that she is most likely sleeping. Once rounding the bed, he turns Alexis to see her and immediately regrets it as she lets out a high pitched "Momma!" that echoes around the room.
As of some other worldly miracle, not even heavy doses of sedatives and drugs can hold Kate under when her baby needs her. Her eyes blink open and she peers around confused before her eyes land on her little girl and her... whatever he is and her heart immediately smiles. The little girl hurriedly scrambles out of Rick's arms and crawls into bed with Kate.
"Alexis! Don't-"
"No, no. S'okay. Feels good." She slurs as the girl snuggles into her side. Rick gives them both a lazy smile and thanks God once again that they're all alive and safe and together. She's drifting off to sleep when she hears him speak.
"When I came in," he says shakily "when I saw you passed out and had to rush you to the hospital... it felt so much like Meredith all over again. Like I was being left alone with this little girl that I have," he lets out a humorless chuckle "yet to figure out." She somehow finds the strength to reach for his hand and he picks up the slack, squeezing her small one in his.
"Before, it was only about keeping you there for the purpose of Alexis. To help her, to- to help us. But now? Now we've grown so attached, both of us, that losing you is no longer an option." He breathes deeply and then lets it out. "I love you Katherine Beckett and don't ever see myself letting you go."
Her eyes tear as she unconsciously wraps her arm tighter around Alexis. The sedatives are pulling her stronger under and she barely has time to slip out the words before she's going completely under.
"Marry me."
Rick is... surprised would be a gross understatement. She through him for a loop and had she said it maybe two days earlier, he would've been elated. But that's not how things went. She said it under a drug induced haze while in the hospital, after he'd said he loved her and she most likely wouldn't remember it by tomorrow.
So, he sits. He marvels at this woman and the enchantment she has over both him and his daughter. How cohesive she has become into their little tight knit family. The mother she's become to his baby girl, their baby girl, giving her a sense of normalcy and stability that children need. So, yes he's in love with this woman and yes he would marry her in a heart beat. But for now- for now, they are just them.
Not broken, just slightly damaged, but completely okay.
Yay! New chapter.
That's all I have to say so...
Love Always, XOXOX