Chapter 8

Castle practically ran into the side of the cab he hailed to take himself, Beckett, and Martha to the hospital, handing the driver a bunch of bills to hurry. The cabdriver expertly wove through midtown traffic to the emergency entrance and Castle had the door open before the cab stopped. He handed the driver more bills and ran to automatic doors that seemed too slow and down a hallway to where Buttons Dutton was waiting.

Words flowed out of Button's mouth as soon as she saw him. "Mr. Castle, Alexis is still in emergency and they won't tell me anything because I'm not next of kin. She was in so much pain and she was bleeding. I didn't know what to do. I called 911 and they brought her here. Someone should talk to you. I told them you were coming."

Castle took only a second to say a quick thanks to Buttons, before going in search of information. Beckett followed close behind him. Martha put an arm around Buttons and took her to some chairs to sit down.

Castle buttonholed a nurse and told her who he was. "Mr. Castle," Nurse Martin told him,"Dr. Osborne will be out to talk to you in few minutes. Just take a seat in the waiting area."

Beckett took Castle's arm and led him back to where Martha and Buttons were waiting. "Richard, what's going on?" Martha asked.

Castle paced up and down shaking his head. "I don't know. The doctor is supposed to come out here and talk to us."

It seemed like hours to Castle, but in a few minutes a red headed woman in a lab coat emerged from Emergency. "Mr Castle," she called.

Castle ran to her with Beckett at his side and Martha and Buttons close behind. "I'm Richard Castle," he told her.

"I'm Dr. Osborne. I've been treating your daughter Alexis. Can I talk to you privately?"

Castle looked puzzled but nodded. Dr. Osborne led him into a small room off the waiting area. "Mr. Castle, your daughter has what is known as an ectopic pregnancy. That means that the embryo implanted somewhere outside the uterus. In Alexis' case, one of her fallopian tubes. The tube burst. We're taking her to surgery now."

"Is she going to be all right?" Castle asked.

"A condition like this is very serious," Osborne explained, "but we'll do everything we can to take care of her."

Castle stood, eyes welling and shoulders sagging. Osborne patted his arm as she walked away.

As Castle returned to the waiting area, Beckett could see immediately that something was very wrong. She threw her arms around him, holding him close. Castle swallowed. He held her tightly for a moment and then went to explain what Osborne had told him. "Oh Richard!" Martha cried, as she too put arms around him. Buttons sat looking miserable.

In a few minutes a volunteer came to take the group up to another waiting room closer to surgery. Castle alternately paced the floor and sat with one arm around Beckett and one arm around Martha. After a couple of hours, a different doctor, male this time. came to talk to Castle.

"Mr Castle, I'm Dr. Clark. I performed the surgery on your daughter. There was internal bleeding and she lost a lot of blood which we had to replace and we had to remove a fallopian tube. She came through the surgery fine, though. She's been taken to recovery and as soon as she is settled in a room, someone will come to take you to her."

Castle thanked Dr. Clark and began pacing again. Beckett led him to a chair and held his hand until a volunteer showed up to take Castle and the rest of the group to Alexis', room.

It shouldn't have been possible for Alexis to look much paler than she normally was, but she did. Her hair was in tangles on the pillow and there were deep shadows under her eyes. Castle and Martha went directly to the bed, each taking one of Alexis' hands. Beckett and Buttons hung back to let the family in close.

Alexis' lashes slowly lifted and she saw Castle. "Hi Dad."

"Hi yourself," Castle answered. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired," Alexis answered, her eyes drifting shut again.

Castle kissed her forehead. "Then go back to sleep. I'll be here."

"I'm going to stay," Castle told Martha, Beckett, and Buttons. "You should all get some rest and I'll call if anything happens."

"I'll stay with you," Beckett told him.

"Beckett, no" Castle protested. "You just got back on the force. You don't have any vacation time and you're in the middle of a murder investigation. I'll be fine." Castle reached out a hand to Beckett and she took it. "Love you," he said.

"I love you too." Beckett answered.

"Richard," Martha said, "I'll be back here in the morning."

"All right Mother," Castle answered. "Now everyone, go get some rest."

Alexis slept until the sun was peeking through the blinds on the windows. Castle had dozed on and off in a chair by her bed and was immediately awake when she opened her eyes.

"Hey Pumpkin," he said.

"I'm sorry, Dad," Alexis told him.

"For what?" Castle asked.

"For being stupid. For being careless. For not believing what I knew was going on."

"Those all sound like family traits," Castle told her. "Unfortunately for you, you come by them honestly. I should probably be the one apologizing. Seriously, I'm just glad you're going to be all right. So is your Gram and Buttons and Beckett."

"I'm lucky to have you all," Alexis said.

Castle gave a lopsided grin. "Yes. You certainly are."

Martha swept into the room in a brightly colored blaze. "You," she told Castle,"Get out of here! We have things to do. Find yourself some coffee and some unhealthy pastry or something."

"Go on Dad," Alexis urged. "You have that 'I need intravenous caffeine' look."

"All right," Castle agreed. "I'll be right back."

As soon as Castle left, Martha pulled a hairbrush out of her purse."How about we get rid of those tangles and you tell me what happened." Martha began gently brushing Alexis' hair.

"Gram, I was on the pill but I stopped because it gave me migraines. So we used.."

"Condoms?" Martha asked.

"Yes," Alexis agreed, but there were a couple of times, you know..."
"I do remember," Martha told her, "witness your father. It only takes once."

Alexis continued. "I couldn't really believe I was pregnant. I thought I had a bug or something and then I started to bleed and I thought everything was all right but it wasn't."

"You'll be fine," Martha told her, "but I don't know about Buttons or your father. You almost scared both of them to death. Katherine too."

"I know," Alexis said. "I was really lucky to have them here for me. And you too."

"You know it kiddo," Martha told her.

Castle found a Java Hut off the lobby of the hospital and wrapped his hands around a latte as he sat at a small table. As was his writers habit, he listened to conversations coming his way. One was particularly poignant. "We've done MRI's, EEG's, sleeping EEG's. We've tried just about every seizure medication and the ketogenic diet. Thousands and thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours and nothing seems to help. His brain is being slowly destroyed and we can't stop it." The voice sounded familiar and Castle turned his head to look for the source. He saw a sweaty man with a bad comb over. It was Dave Morgan.

Beckett dragged herself into the 12th to be immediately hailed by Ryan. "Where's Castle" he asked.

"Alexis is in the hospital," Beckett told him. "Castle is with her."

"Is she going to be all right?" Ryan persisted.

"I think so," Beckett answered. "Castle's going to keep me updated. What have you got?"

"This is traffic video four blocks from Maggie Burns' apartment during the kill zone. See this car? It's the same make and model as the one Roger Donnegan drives."

"Is there any way to get a plate?" Beckett asked.

"No," Ryan told her. "That's all we have."

Beckett called Esposito over to join them. "Guys, Maggie's phone is missing, she told them. "The killer may have it, or may have dumped it. Set up a search in the area and talk to Tori and see if she can think of anything we can do to locate it. I'm going see if I can figure out what could have kept Maggie from taking her clotting factor."

Beckett called Ruthie Gilchrist and asked if she could talk to her again. Gilchrist was not on shift, so she was willing to come to the 12th. They sat in the interview lounge together. "Nurse Gilchrist, can you take me through what Maggie would do with her clotting factor?"

"Maggie used a factor concentrate. She always had it with her in case of a bleed. She kept some at home and always had some in her purse."

"Who would have known that?" Beckett asked.

"Roger, of course, all her friends, her sister, and probably some of her co-workers. It wasn't a secret."

After the Gilchrist interview, Beckett called Castle. "How's Alexis?" she asked.

"I think she's doing better than I am. Buttons is coming to sit with her in a little while and I think I'll head back to the loft to get a shower and some clean clothes."

"That will make it nicer when I see you," Beckett told him. "Tonight?"

"I think so," Castle said. "I don't think Alexis wants me hanging around that much."

"OK," Beckett told him. "See you then."

Beckett decided to go back to the murder scene to see if there was anything that was missed. Maggie had a special container to cut and dispose of hypodermic needles, which had already been checked by CSU. Right next to it was a container for vials, which was empty, but Beckett saw something peeking out from the edge of a dresser next to the box. It was an empty vial. Beckett took it to Lanie for analysis.

Beckett met Castle at the loft that evening, picking up Chinese food on the way. Castle was very quiet over the food. "What's going on Castle?" Beckett asked.

"I heard a very unexpected conversation today," Castle told her and related what Dave Morgan had said. "I really passed judgment on the guy," Castle said. "because I thought he was stealing from children. But it turns out that he was trying to save a child, his child. I understand being willing to do anything for your child, doing anything for your child. Been there. Done that. What does that make me?"

"Someone who understands more of the story than he did yesterday," Beckett told him, "and someone I love for caring about it."

"I'm not always sure why you do," Castle told her, "But I love you too."

A/N Some of you were a little bit upset with my cliffhanger yesterday. Sorry about that. Now you know. You got an extra long chapter this time as penance.