Before Castle could even register what was happening, Beckett was being hauled in to the quarantine, still unconscious. He hurried towards the clear plastic wall, trying to see her, but the medics had set upon her like locusts, all crowding around, piercing her skin with needles, stripping her clothes and dressing her in a hospital gown.
"Kate," Castle breathed as he watched her through the window. As the medics dispersed, she finally came back in to view. She looked pale and small as she lay limp in her hospital bed.
Just then, his phone rang. It was Alexis.
"Daddy?" she said, the second he answered.
"Hey kiddo," he said, trying to sound confident, unable to tear his eyes away from Beckett.
"Are you okay? I've just heard about the precinct!" Castle's stomach twisted in to a tight knot when he heard the fear in his daughter's voice.
"Of course I'm okay." He had always tried to tell Alexis the truth, but in this case he decided that a white lie would be better. "I'm safe, I just need to wait for them to decontaminate the building and I'll be home."
"Okay," she said, sounding relieved.
"Just stay at home with Grandma and I'll see you soon,"
"I love you, Dad,"
"I love you, too. And tell your Gram I say hi and I'll see her later,"
"I will,"
"Bye."
"See ya."
He hung up feeling very guilty and a little sick. Perhaps he should have told her the truth. But there was nothing to be gained from letting his mother and daughter worry about him.
Castle didn't know what to do. He stood like a deer in headlights staring at Kate. It felt wrong to see her so vulnerable. It reminded Castle painfully that she was not as invincible as she liked to make out. After several long minutes, she began to stir. She sat up slowly in her bed, looking rather unsure about how she had got there. Her gaze lingered on Ryan, who was now vomiting in to a bucket, and Esposito who was rubbing his friend's back, supportively. She brought her knees up to her chest, looking frightened.
Castle knocked on the glass that separated them. Kate turned around to see him standing there. She stood up shakily and approached him.
"Castle," she said, her voice muffled. She put her hand on the glass as she stared at him.
"Hey," he said, quietly, putting his hand over hers, half an inch of glass separating them.
"Castle, I'm scared," she said, running her free hand through her hair.
"You're going to be fine," he said, with what he hoped was a confident smile.
"I don't want to die," she whispered suddenly. Castle felt his heart break as her eyes filled with tears.
It was almost more than he could bear to watch his strong, independent, brave Kate crumble like this. If only he could hold her, just to comfort her. She was standing less than a foot from him and he couldn't even touch her. He felt a lump rise in his throat.
"You won't die. Lanie is working on the cure right now," he said.
She didn't reply, she just shook her head, biting her lower lip to stop it from trembling.
Castle couldn't do it; he couldn't just hang around helplessly while Kate stood scared just a few inches from him.
In a moment of determination, or perhaps a moment of madness, he made a decision. He pinched the inside of his cheek between his teeth and bit down. Hard. He tasted the metallic tang of his own blood.
He started coughing, perhaps a little theatrically, covering his mouth. When he brought his hand away from his mouth, it was spattered with his blood.
"Hey," he said, waving at Ware, showing him his hand and doing his best to look worried. "Look! I'm coughing up blood!"
Within seconds, Ware grabbed him and led him rapidly in to the quarantine zone.
"Don't worry, Mr Castle," he said, firmly, "you're going to be alright, I'll make sure of it."
He was stripped down to his underwear, given a hospital gown and escorted to a bed beside Ryan. Esposito was sitting on the edge of the bed, watching his best friend intently who was now nearly unconscious. When Esposito saw Castle come in, he shot him a sympathetic glance as though saying 'you too, huh?'. The Captain was pacing at the other end of the room, looking exasperated. Their suspect, Greg, lay unconscious on his bed, drenched in sweat, his chest heaving.
Just a few seconds later, the monitor beside Greg started beeping frantically. Some of the medics ran to Greg's bedside, shouting something about his breathing. Checking his pulse, they started CPR. Castle felt terrible for the young intern. He had only been trying to make a little extra money and had managed to get tangled up in something much more sinister than he could ever have imagined.
As soon as the medics had turned their backs on Castle to tend on Greg, he ran over to Beckett.
She may have been unwell, but she still managed to punch him hard enough in the chest to make him stumble a little.
"Are you out of your mind?" she hissed. "You've probably just infected yourself!"
"I know," he said, rubbing his chest, "but I had to be here for you."
"You should have gone down to the morgue where it's safe," she said angrily.
"But you know I would never have left you here."
The anger melted from her, only to be replaced by a deep sadness.
"You could die," she whispered.
"Nah, I'll be fine," Castle said. "And so will you."
Beckett said nothing, but crossed her arms in front of her, almost hugging herself. She was frightened.
"Come here," Castle said, stretching out his arms. She immediately fell in to his embrace with no consideration, no doubt, no reluctance, and buried her face in to his chest.
Castle held her close, never wanting to let her go. As long as she was here in his arms, he felt like everything would be alright. He rested his head on top of hers and caught the faint scent of cherries in her hair.
They stood, holding each other for several minutes before Beckett made a feeble attempt at returning to her usual independent self. But as she pushed herself away from Castle, she swayed a little. She tried to reach for the side of the bed to steady herself, but missed, almost falling to the floor before Castle caught her around the waist and sat down, holding her flush against him.
"I've got you," he said, holding her in a sitting position with his arm around her shoulders.
"I know you do," she said quietly, resting her head on his chest. "If I'm going to die, Castle," she started, ignoring him as he tried to interrupt, "I'm glad I'm not alone."
"You'll never be alone," he said, pulling her tighter against him and kissing her forehead. Truthfully, he was terrified for her, but he was doing his best not to let his fear show.
How often he had dreamed of holding Kate in his arms like this, but he hadn't imagined it would ever be in this kind of situation. It was as though the Universe were taunting him by giving him exactly what he wished for, but in dreadful circumstances.
He glanced over to Greg's bed and saw to his dismay that the medics had stopped CPR and were covering his young face with a white sheet. A trickle of blood was leaking from the corner of his mouth. The poor kid hadn't stood a chance. He was the first to have died in the precinct, and hopefully the last. But what if he wasn't the last?
Castle looked to Ryan. He had been infected as quickly as Greg. What if he died next? It didn't bear thinking about, but Esposito was obviously thinking the same thing. He was staring, horrified, at the shape of Greg under the sheet. Esposito reached blindly backwards, unable to tear his gaze away from Greg, and grabbed the first part of Ryan he could find; his arm. Castle saw him gripping Ryan's arm, hard, as though he could stop Ryan slipping away from him if he held on tight enough.
Castle looked down at Kate and realised he was doing exactly the same thing, clutching her tightly to his chest. He watched the gentle rise and fall of her chest, feeling her heart beat against his own, taking comfort in these little things. As long as she kept breathing, as long as her heart kept beating, everything would be alright.