AN: Thanks for sticking with this story everyone. I'm so glad you're all reading it. Enjoy!
Chapter Fourteen
She was about to turn and acknowledge them when a very different, but glaringly familiar voice filled the room.
Beckett was slightly hesitant to turn around and greet the intruder of her quiet moment with Castle. The room certainly wasn't going to be quiet for much longer. But without looking she couldn't gauge the reaction of the room's newest occupant so she shifted her body away from Castle – refusing to realise her grip on his hand. She wasn't sure how smoothly this conversation would go. In fact, she was fairly certain she was in for tongue lashing. She just hoped Castle wouldn't wake up when things got heated.
"Err, hi," she started.
"Girl!" Lanie's voice was high-pitched and anything but suitable for the silent hospital room. Beckett raised a hand to quiet her, gesturing at Castle, a spark of anger in her eyes. "Uh-uh, you don't get to shush me right now, Katherine Beckett. Your writer boy is abducted and I have to find out from Gates! Why the hell didn't you call me? You are in so much trouble." Her tone was anger and irritation but her eyes were dancing with amusement and relief.
"Gates?" Beckett drew out, confused as to why Gates had called Lanie to tell her Castle was missing. That really was out of character.
"Yes, Gates. I think you took the wrong thing away from that statement though, girl!" Lanie sighed in mock exasperation.
"Right. Castle should be fine by the way," Beckett intoned sarcastically.
"Oh, I know he's fine, I ran into mini-Castle and mama-Castle out in the hallway. Do you want to hear my story or what?" Beckett shrugged, then nodded with a wry grin. Lanie softened. "Seriously though, I'm glad Castle's okay. I wouldn't have come all storming up in here if I didn't know he was gonna be just fine." She was met with another small smile and nod of acceptance from Beckett. "A body dropped this morning and I was looking forward to your beautiful morning breath and rampant sexual tension but then one of the other teams shows up. So I finish up down at the morgue and figure I'll deliver the results to homicide myself, just to see what's going on with your team. I find Ryan and Espo in the interview room with a couple of creeps and you and Castle strangely absent. Then I notice something about Castle on the dang murder-board and I'm about to burst into the boys interrogation and get some answers when Gates comes out of her office and sets me straight." Lanie finally paused to take a deep breath. "Spill," she added. "I need to hear your version," she eyed Beckett's hand tangled with Castle's, "I think it will be much more enlightening than Gates'."
"My story, hey?" Beckett started softly with a glance at her hand entwined with Castle's. "So, after I finished up at the precinct last night, I went around to Castle's for dinner…" She was interrupted as Lanie let out a little squeal. "What?" Beckett sighed.
"Nothing, just, I like your version of events much better already! Gates was far too clinical, plus she didn't mention you showing up at Castle's house at all hours of the night – I know what time you like to finish up at the precinct," Lanie laughed.
"Lanie," Beckett chided. "It was a perfectly reasonable hour. Besides, it's not like I've never done it before," she added with a teasing grin. "Anyway, do you want to hear my version or not? If you're going to keep interrupting I don't think we're going to get up to the part where I kissed Castle – on the cheek – in front of two criminals and Ryan and Espo." Lanie let out a genuine squeal at that. Beckett was surprised a nurse hadn't come in to forcibly remove her from the hospital. Surely there were other patients on this floor.
"I think I'm going to like this story, a lot. Does it include any passionate declarations of love?" Beckett responded by reaching over and slapping her best friend lightly on the arm.
"That's it, you just revoked your right to hear my story," she said with a mock huff, sticking her nose in the air in fake indignation. "Besides, knowing Castle, he's probably faking unconscious just so he can listen to the conversations going on around him. I don't really envision telling him anything important for the first time while he's merely eavesdropping, so no declarations of love for you," she added dryly. However, her eyes were still sparkling with jest. She was enjoying this conversation immensely, she adored Lanie and she did feel kind of bad for neglecting to tell her about Castle. After all, Castle and Lanie were friends too. She gestured to the chair Alexis had vacated. "Get comfortable, you're in for the extended version of events."
She told Lanie practically everything, omitting some parts about her constant internal monologues about missed and future opportunities with Castle. As she shrugged, and said, "That's pretty much it," Lanie let out a low whistle.
"That's some story, girl. It's going to be interesting to hear Castle's version when he wakes up," she declared as she reached over and ruffled Castle's hair lightly. "Writer boy sure is going to be excited to see you've been sitting vigil by his hospital bed that's for sure."
"Lanie…" Beckett warned, then softened. "Yeah, he is. He shouldn't be though…" she murmured.
"What do you mean?" Lanie asked.
"Well," Beckett said gently running her free hand over Castle's brow, pushing back his hair. "He shouldn't be surprised to find me beside his hospital bed. He should expect it. I know I'd expect to wake up and find him. I just wish he could depend on me like that. He shouldn't be surprised," she reiterated firmly. Lanie nodded and placed her hand on Beckett's.
"He knows, Kate. I don't think he'd keep sticking around if he had no chance at all. He has hope, he knows that you would have kicked him out years ago – and stuck to it – if you really wanted him out of your life," she replied, her tone gentle and soothing.
"Thanks Lanie," Beckett said with a nod and a small smile. "I'm glad you're here," she added after a moment.
"Next you call me and I'll be here sooner, okay?" She shot a cheeky grin at her best friend. "Gates, c'mon! The next time I see Espo he is going to get the exact same talking to," she added with a laugh.
"I'm going to call him and tell him to hide from you. Gotta look out for my team," Beckett joked. Lanie slapped her lightly across her wrist.
"Believe me, I only went easy on you because you're sitting in a hospital bed next to your unconscious man," Lanie sassed. Beckett was about to have a serious conversation with Lanie about her calling Castle her man but Alexis and Martha chose that moment to return from their food run. Besides, in a way, Castle was her man, denial or not, she knew that. She just wished that everyone else elected not to comment on it – apparently she didn't have control over that though.
"Ladies, may I present you with sustenance," Martha shepherded Alexis and a pile of food into the room. The girl laid the food at the foot of the bed, beside her father's covered feet. "Oh darling, I don't know if that's sanitary," Martha motioned with laughter behind her words. Alexis merely grinned and handed Beckett a sandwich.
"Eat," she pushed. "You'll feel much better. We ran into Dad's doctor in the hall and he mentioned that Dad's head scans are looking clear and he should wake up relatively soon," she added with relief painting her every word. As she spoke, her smile was more genuine than it had been during this entire situation. Beckett found herself reacting, immediately feeling happier just knowing that the girl was less worried.
Beckett's phone shrilled and she reached into her pocket to open it, depositing her half-eaten sandwich on the bed, refusing to relinquish Castle's hand.
"Detective Beckett," she answered, listening for a moment. "Oh, hey Espo. What did you find out during the interrogation?...Ah-huh….Yeah….You're right. We'll have to wait for Castle to wake up to get the full story…He's doing good, shouldn't be too long now…Okay, I'll call you as soon Castle's ready to give a statement…Bye." She hung up to find all eyes in the room, apart from Castle's, locked on her. "Uh, that was Esposito…" she started, but Alexis cut her off –
"They're going to go to jail, right? The people who did this to him?" She gestured wildly at her father, venom in her voice. The carefree expression from a moment ago completely removed from her face.
"Yeah, Alexis. They'll pay. I'll see to it with everything I've got. There will be justice for this. It's the least I can do…" she didn't need to add for him for everyone in the room to hear it anyway. They all knew how willing Castle and Beckett were to fight for one another.
X-X-X-X-X-X
Castle slept, his mind whirling with his family, Beckett included. He imagined conversations around him, heard snippets of Beckett and Lanie's girl talk, with him as the focus. He dreamt of quiet moments with his family, heard his mother's dramatic entrance as she made her way into a room. He pictured Alexis and Beckett discussing justice, heard them fighting for him. But his brain was pounding and he struggled to make sense of anything so he simply allowed the blackness to overtake him and fell deeper into nothingness.
AN: Okay, so how many of you were expecting, 'glaringly familiar' to mean Josh? I'd planned on bringing Lanie into the story that way from the beginning; it was only as I was writing the last chapter I thought how easily I could make it Josh. Was anyone looking forward to an awkward Josh scene? Would you like one? I'm sort of leaning towards including one whilst they're still hanging out in the hospital. Let me know if you'd like to see it.