a/n – Thanks to everyone for the reviews and favorites, they mean so much to me.

That episode last night made me want to write some drama, and this is where that led. Not sure how I feel about it.

Disclaimer: Nope.

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Chapter Five

He was so still. She knew this man. He was never still. It almost seemed like he wasn't there at all. Sitting there at the side of his hospital bed, her only reassurance that he was indeed alive was the slow and steady rise and fall of his chest.

She had been sitting there for about 20 minutes. The doctors had placed him in a medically induced coma in order to prevent further damage, so she talked to him. She could do nothing else.

"I'm so sorry, Castle. This is all my fault. You have to get better, please, Rick, I need you. I should have never pushed you away. I…I love you, please, please wake up so I can tell you the truth." Tears continue to flow down her cheeks as she stifles a sob. "Please," she whispers, "please."

She leans forward and lays her forehead on his arm and lets the grief of what has happened wash over her. She is so engrossed in her feelings, in her grief for the man she loves, she doesn't hear the man who enters the room, she doesn't hear when he closes and locks the door. It isn't until he's standing next to her that she finally realizes that she's no longer alone with Castle.

She looked up finally and expected to see a nurse or a doctor. Instead she came face to face with the muzzle of a silenced pistol. "Hello, Detective." The man stands about six feet, and is slightly taller than she would be standing up with her heels on.

"Who the hell are you?" she asks, keeping her voice steady.

"Oh, my name isn't important, Detective. We won't know each other long enough for it to matter all that much," he said with a smirk.

"You're here to kill me," she said flatly. Inside she was panicking, but her face showed nothing. Her thoughts raced as she tried to figure out a way both she and Castle could survive.

"Yes. And him of course, though he should have already been dead with what I put him through. He's a strong bastard, I'll give him that."

"Leave him alone. You're here for me, just get it over with and leave him be. This isn't his fight."

"I can't do that, Detective. If he lives he'll keep searching for who killed you. He loves you, you know. I may be cold, but even I can see it. Why can't you?" he asks, thoughtfully. "I guess it doesn't matter now though," he continued. "Now, before we conclude our business, I need to know where the file is."

"What file?" she asked. What the hell is he talking about?

"The file, Detective. Don't play dumb. I don't have all day here." Yeah, I know, Beckett thought. She needed to keep him talking in hopes that someone would notice what was going on.

"Seriously, I have no idea what you're talking about," she said truthfully.

He rolled his eyes, and pulled out another gun from his waistband. He pointed it towards Castle's head. "Now, Detective, or you'll get the privilege of watching him die."

Not taking her eyes off of the gun he had just drawn she said, "What file? Seriously, I can't tell you where it is if I don't know what the fuck you're talking about."

"Mr. Smith gave you a file, Detective. I know he did. He said he gave you and Mr. Castle copies of the file he was using to blackmail my boss. So, I'll ask one more time. Where is the file?"

"I hate to say this, but Mr. Smith lied to you. He had the only copy of that file. Do your really think that I would have sat on that information if I had had it all this time? Your boss isn't that stupid," she said.

"Mr. Smith was pretty convincing. At least until the moment I put a bullet in his skull. Then he was just dead." He fired a shot from the second gun.

"No!" Becket shouted, looking at the bed, expecting to see the worst. Instead she saw a bullet hole in the pillow beside Castle's head.

"The next one goes in, Detective, now where the hell is the file?"

"I don't have it, asshole, I'm telling the truth."

He shook his head and aimed the gun back at Castle's head. "I'm sorry, Detective, but I just…don't believe you. I guess I'll just have to prove-"

At that moment, the door busted in and Ryan and Esposito came in, guns drawn. "Put the guns down! NYPD!"

The man, who had turned towards the commotion when the door busted open, immediately complied with their orders. Kate stood up and kicked his guns away so that he couldn't reach them. She then collapsed back in the chair, breathing hard. The panic that she had done so well containing during the standoff suddenly came on full force, causing her breathing to come in short breaths and her vision to narrow.

Ryan, after clamping the handcuffs on the gunman, knelt beside her and said, "Breathe, Kate. It's okay. It's over now. Breathe." After a few minutes, in which Esposito called in uniforms to take the prisoner, she was able to get her breathing under control.

"It was so close," she whispered to no one in particular. She looked up at Ryan and asked, "How did you know?"

"Nurse came by and saw the door was locked and saw the guns through the window. She came out to call the police just as we came into the waiting room," he answered.

"Thank you," she said. She looked back over at Castle and said, "We need to put a guard on this room. It seems that he is in as much danger as I am. Did you guys find anything about that Mr. Smith? This seems like it has to do with him and my mother's case."

"He's dead. His name is Michael Smith, and his body was found in an alleyway off Lex two days ago."

Two uniforms entered at that moment and after a word with Esposito, took the gunman out of the room. Esposito came and stood next to Ryan and said, "Uniforms swept Smith's apartment and didn't find anything unusual."

"According to the guy that was just in here, Smith told him that he sent copies of the file he had to both Castle and me. That's what this guy was searching for, and why he came here today. I don't get it, guys. It's so obvious that we didn't have access to that information. Everyone knows how I get with this case. No way would anyone believe that I would just sit on that information if I had it."

"So you think he was looking for something else?" Ryan asked.

"Or," Kate said, "something else is going on. We need to find out who that guy is and get him in the box. Maybe he can help us get to whoever is behind this."

"Okay. Are you coming back to the precinct with us?" Ryan asked.

"No. Gates called me earlier and said she doesn't want me on this case at all."

Esposito looked at her with an odd expression on his face and said, "And you're going to listen to her?"

"This time, yes. I'll help if I can, but I need to be here."

The boys nodded and then said their goodbyes, promising to call the moment they had anything concrete. Kate looked back at Castle and took his hand in hers. The truth was she really wanted to work this case. Her instincts were to be in the box getting the gunman to break.

But her heart was calling the shots. I have to fix this. And I can't do that at the precinct. For the first time since her mother was killed, she had found something that was more important. Someone more important. If only she hadn't screwed it up and pushed him away.

She decided then and there that when Castle wakes up, she'll tell him the truth. She'll tell him how much he means to her. She'll tell him she's ready to dive into it together because she's sick of waiting. She's ready.

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a/n2 – First off, I'm sure hospital doors don't have locks, but I used a little license there. Live with it or don't.

Next, I'd love you forever if you would leave a review.