Short but I have to be somewhere but didn't want you all wallowing in anticipation of some massive physical trauma maiming Castle.
She Learned the Truth at 17 by Oldest Man
Chapter 22
Westside Emergency Clinic
They wanted to transfer him for admission to Mercy West but he put his foot down and said 'No' rather loudly. The .22 caliber bullet had passed through the 'fleshy' part of his upper arm, tearing a minor vessel as it made it's way almost out the other side.
It had been lodged less than ¼ inch under the skin and the ER doctor made an incision and dropped into an evidence bag that Rick conveniently had in the pocket of his jacket along with two pairs of latex gloves.
After several stitches, a long-overdue tetanus booster and an injection of antibiotics, he was good to go but Dr. Do-gooder, who looked to be a year or two older than Alexis, had other ideas and wanted him admitted for 'observation'.
He signed his paperwork, gave them his insurance information and walked slowly out of the ER treatment area in search of Nikki Heat. The EMT had swung by to check on him before leaving on another run and had filled Rick in on how Natalie was still in the bathroom frantically washing blood, real and imagined, from her hands.
He banged on the ladies' room door and told her to get her ass in gear or he'd leave her to do her Lady Macbeth imitation while he returned to the precinct.
Natalie was the very image of contrition when she walked out and saw Castle leaning against the wall with his arm in a blue sling and his jacket half on.
They caught a cab and finally made it back to the precinct. Natalie had helped him out of the cab while carrying on a constant stream of commentary about the afternoon.
12th Precinct
"Natalie, shut the hell up. You need to calm down and…"
He thought about it and continued in a nicer tone. "You need to calm down, center yourself, let the experience soak in and use it to play Nikki Heat the way I know you can. This, after all, is the very essence of the 'immersion acting method' you follow, right?"
"You're so right, Castle. Yes! That's exactly what I need to do – absorb the experience, let it ooze into my very being and – "
"Exactly. Now, when we get upstairs, I need you to do two things for me. Can you do that? Will you?"
"Anything, Rick, and I mean anything."
"Get me a cup of coffee and then go sit at Beckett's desk and write out a statement of everything you did or saw from the moment we left the restaurant until we got off the elevator, okay?"
"Yeah, sure. It'll be part of my immersion. Thanks, Rick! You really know your stuff!" She was now happy as a pig in a wallow and sat down and began writing, totally forgetting his coffee.
Castle was glad she finally had something to do other than hang on his every movement or word. It was really annoying. All he wanted was to find Kate and make sure she wasn't alone when interrogating her attacker.
"Yo, Castle! Where have you been? Beckett's about ready to tear Coonan's face off. You need to ask her to take a break and look at what we've put together so far. It's – it's frightening, Castle, how far this shit goes up the ladder. We're going to have to be very careful in the future."
"Ryan, I'd kill for a cup of coffee but I need to see her, Kev. Is she – is she in there alone? She shouldn't be."
"Nah, Esposito's in with her. She's too close, Castle, and she needs to step back and take a deep breath. He killed someone this afternoon and he shot another and he's in critical condition. He's not going to walk away."
"Make that 'he shot two people' and only one's in critical condition." He raised his sling as evidence.
Ryan followed him into the break room and they both got coffee and sat at a table. Rick pulled the evidence bag from his jacket pocket and handed it to Kevin who whistled when he saw the iPhone with the imbedded .22 caliber 'accessory'.
"Man, Rick, just – you are the luckiest sumbitch I ever met. What's with the sling? It can't be too bad if you're here and not in the hospital – wait – you left, didn't you? Beckett's going to crap her pants and then smack the hell out of you. She worries, man. She cares about you."
"Well, since we're getting married some day I would hope so." He tried to make light of the conversation. He didn't want it getting back to Kate that he'd checked out AMA. She'd hurt him when he was feeling better.
Ryan stood and put his hand on Castle's shoulder forcing him to remain seated. "I'll go check on them and see if she wants to take a break. They've been going at it for almost two hours. We're waiting on his file from Central Archives but from what we pulled from the computer database, he's got a lot of history and not a single damned conviction."
Rick just nodded. He was tired. Bone tired. The pain pills were in his jacket pocket but he just couldn't muster up the energy to dig around for them. It wasn't that bad.
He'd never been shot before. His arm throbbed but it wasn't all that bad. His ribs hurt where the cell phone had slammed against his chest but it was funny. He hadn't felt a damned thing until they started digging around for the bullet.
Interrogation Room #4
"I need a break, Esposito. See if you can find a clean shirt for our guest and get him cleaned up. I don't enjoy staring at his lunch while he lies and deflects my questions. I'll bring you a cup of coffee as a reward."
She smiled at Esposito but it didn't reach her eyes. The look she shot Coonan would have killed bacteria in a Petrie dish 20 feet away. He just looked through her and that was pissing her off and so she needed a break.
Ryan was in the observation room and moved to intercept her but he was too late. She'd already spotted Natalie Rhodes sitting in Castle's chair writing furiously on a legal pad and headed towards her.
"Natalie, I told you to stay with Castle. What are you doing?" She glared at the woman who was sitting in his chair.
"I'm doing what he told me to do. I'm making a statement. Look, don't get on his ass about it but he checked himself out AMA because he thought you needed him. He's in the break room with Ryan and he's really beat."
"Wha – checked himself out of where exactly, Natalie?"
"The ER. They wanted to transfer him to some hospital but I didn't catch the name. Should I put that in my statement too? He told me to write down everything from when we left the restaurant until we got off the elevator."
She was talking to Beckett's back. She made a beeline for the break room. What had he done to himself? Had he hurt his knee again? Was he all right?
Ryan finally caught up with her and made her stop and listen. She hardly heard a word he said after he handed her Castle's 'evidence bag' and she saw a mushroomed bullet in gauze and his cell phone with it's unauthorized accessory.
"Process this." She pushed the bag into Ryan's hands and almost ran to the break room. She opened the door and saw him sitting at the table looking tired and worn. The bruise under his eye had swollen and he would sport a beautiful shiner the next morning.
"Hey, Kate! Coffee?" He could see he was about to get a personal serving of 'Beckett's wrath' and he was mentally preparing himself for her telling him to go home and forget about her. She was twisting the engagement ring around on her finger – a definite sign that she was making a personal decision. He was afraid she was going to break off the engagement.
She wanted to throw herself into his arms but they were in the Precinct. She wanted to take him home and baby him. She wanted to wrap him up in bubble wrap so nothing would ever hurt him again.
"Rick, let's get married. Too many times…too many times…" She started to cry. Big bad Kate Beckett, Scourge of the 12 Precinct, the 'real' Nikki Heat, knelt down beside him on the floor and put her head on his leg and cried.
Somehow she ended up sitting on his lap with her face buried in his neck. She was an emotional wreck. Finding Coonan but almost losing Rick was like an ice water enema.
They didn't have all the time in the world to 'get it right'. They didn't have a guarantee of many tomorrows. All they had was today and she was not going to piss it all away just for the sake of 'closure'.
There would be time enough for that later. And if there wasn't, then they'd make the most of the time they did have – together.