Author's Notee: OH MY GOSH! Ok, so this is it. This is the last chapter (OMG two chapters in one day! Yay!). I thank you all that have read this story and liked it and written your amazing comments so much. This is my first multi chapter story and there were some spotty sections, sorry about that, but I thank you all so much for dealing with my long lengths of absences and also apologize knowing that it's never fun to wait for an update. You all are really and truly amazing and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Disclaimer: As stated in all the previous chapters, I do not own Castle in any way. The only thing I own having to do with Castle is season 1 and 2 on DVD and the Nikki Heat books. Other than that, the rights go to Marlow and ABC.
The gun shot rang out in the abandoned warehouse and she felt something warm hit her. Kate opened her eyes to see the people who had surrounded her and Rick were now scattering. She looked to find Bracken and her eyes widened when she saw his dead body on the ground, his own eyes wide, frozen forever in shock. Kate then figured that the something warm that had hit her was his blood and though she had been in this career for years, she still felt a part of her retch at the feeling of a dead man's blood on her. "Beckett? Castle? Are you alright?" a voice asked, shocking her back to the present.
Ryan and Esposito were over to them in seconds, untying them from the chairs that had been their prisons. "I'm fine, but Rick's been knocked out for days. The last time he woke up fully was our fourth day here and since then he's been hit with the butt of a gun and injected with something to knock him out," she explained, her body shaking as Ryan tried to wake him up, but nothing worked. Ryan called back for a paramedic and after a few moments, there was a stretcher brought back and he was loaded onto it, the paramedics carrying him back to the ambulance after checking his vitals, "He's alive, but his pulse is slow. Whatever they've injected him with, it seems they put him in a slight coma," the paramedic explained.
Kate bit her lip as her eyes burned with tears. Was it only a few months ago that it had been her in his place? That she had been the one who was lifted into an ambulance and almost died. This wasn't good. It made her heart clench and her stomach drop as she worried. What if he didn't wake up? What if all of the injections over two weeks, as Ryan and Espo tried to explain to her, had done worse damage than the paramedics had thought and he wouldn't come back to her? That scared her worse than anything.
She convinced the paramedics to let her ride in the ambulance and when she got there, Rick being taken to a room to be checked over by a doctor, she went to the bathroom and quickly washed off her face of Senator Bracken's blood. She didn't want any lasting evidence of what had happened. It already made her want to empty her stomach, though it wasn't so full as they had only fed herself and Rick the minimum of what would keep them alive over the last two weeks.
With the water dripping down her face, she let herself cry from the mixture of worry and relief. The man who had killed her mother was dead, his network would be taken down after a while, but her boyfriend was in trouble. He was in a coma she wasn't even sure he would wake up from. After a few moments, she fell to the ground, pulling her legs up to her chest and laying her head on her knees. She was so scared. Was this how Rick had felt when she was in his place after her shooting?
"Kate?" Ryan asked, popping his head in the bathroom with his hand covering his eyes.
Kate smiled a little and wiped her eyes quickly, "Yeah," she croaked, her voice hoarse from crying, "you don't have to cover your eyes, Ryan," she teased, smiling a little.
Ryan smiled and came in, sitting across from her in the bathroom, "How ya doing?" he asked, looking her over. Kate had noticed in the mirror that underneath the blood, there were a few bruises from being hit as well when they got bored which seemed to be often. She had a bruise underneath her eye, a busted up lip with a cut in it that stung when her tongue ran over it, and there was a faint red mark around her neck from a bit of rope that had cut off her air supply when hitting her wasn't enough. She hadn't noticed yet if there were others, figuring that any other bruising would take a little bit to form completely on the rest of her body, but now that she was relaxed, her heart not pumping so madly in fear and anxiety, she felt the weight pulling down on her body. Her body felt like it was covered in lead pulling her down and her body was sore, but she knew she would have to get up soon. She had to see Rick and know that he was alright.
"Kate?" Ryan asked, raising an eyebrow and looking at her anxiously, "Are you alright?" he asked.
Kate gave him a small smile, "I'm a bit sore, but other than that, I'm good," she offered, "Has the doctor come to give us any information on Rick?" she asked.
Ryan shook his head, "No, it's only been twenty minutes since we got in here. They called Martha and Alexis and they're on their way over about now," he explained.
Kate groaned. How could she have forgotten to call Martha and Alexis? This call should have come from someone who knew them, not a nurse who was used to making these calls. So, figuring that she should be there to help explain what had happened, she slowly stood up and walked out of the bathroom with Ryan behind her. "Hey," Espo greeted, hugging her gently.
"Hey," she said, hugging back and looking around for Montgomery, "Where's the Captain?" she asked.
"He went to talk to some of the officers that were getting our statements," Ryan explained.
Kate nodded as they went to sit in those terribly uncomfortable hospital chairs, "Thanks, by the way, for finding us."
The boys smiled back, "Of course, Beckett. Like we'd really leave you and Castle behind," Espo said, rolling his eyes and making Kate laugh.
Some time later, Montgomery came in followed by two officers and the other three gave their statements as well, promising to come back when Castle was awake to get his side of events. Once they had left, Kate immediately hugged her friend and mentor, thanking him as well for finding them before stepping back to see Alexis and Martha step off the elevator and look around wildly, "Beckett!" Alexis said, looking relieved to see her and hugged the older woman. Kate smiled and hugged her back, shocked when the younger girl started crying, "Sh.," she whispered, threading her fingers through the younger girl's hair, "it'll be alright. Your Dad will be fine."
Alexis nodded and gripped Kate tighter. Martha came over and laid a hand on Kate's shoulder, "I'm glad you're alright," she whispered. Kate nodded her thanks and slowly walked them over to the chairs, sitting in a double seat that would accommodate her and the young woman clutching her tightly. And Martha explained how they had found out, Alexis interrupting to give her input as well, and Kate told them what had happened. Martha frowned while Alexis hid her face away when they heard what Kate's ex had done to him, both of their eyes glazing over with tears. She hated having to tell them all of this, but she figured they deserved to know.
After everything had been explained, Kate found Alexis now laying her head on her shoulder, her arms loose around her waist and Martha's hand in hers while the boys and the captain paced around. When the doctor called for them, they all looked up and felt a sigh of relieve to see that Rick was with him. Martha and Alexis immediately went to him and hugged him tightly as the doctor explained to the detectives that what they suspected to be a drug that had put Castle into a slight coma had just kept him under too long. He explained that Rick was alright, but if they found anything out of the ordinary to happen to bring him back immediately. And with that and a check over for Kate when Rick saw the bruises, they left the hospital.
Months later, they would find out information linking Senator Bracken to multiple murders other than the death of Kate's mother, Miranda, and others that he had gotten rid of because they stood in his way. Multiple people in his web were found dead in their homes from self inflicted gun shot wounds or with a noose around their neck. They finally faced what they did and saw no other way out.
Victoria Gates and Josh Davidson as well as multiple others in every profession this city had, were arrested and given life in prison, some even the death penalty for what they did.
Two days after being released from the hospital, Kate woke up and turned over in her sleep to see Rick staring at her, "Good morning," he whispered, reaching up to brush a strand of hair that had fallen in her eyes behind her ear.
Kate sighed and closed her eyes, "Morning," she muttered, nestling closer to him.
"So," he offered, pulling her closer as she nuzzled into his neck and breathed him in, "what shall we do today?" he asked.
Kate had been given at least a week and at most two and a half weeks of leave due to what had happened, seeing as their mini vacation had been interrupted by all of this in the first place, "Why don't we just stay in? I don't feel like moving from this spot right here," she muttered, halfway back to unconsciousness.
Rick laughed and pulled her closer, rubbing small circles into the small of her back, "Whatever you say, Detective," he said, kissing the top of her head.
It was a few moment of silence later and she couldn't stop herself from saying it, "I love you, Rick," she said.
"I love you too, Kate," he muttered, half asleep as well, and kissed the top of her head, "now get some rest. You deserve it." And with that, they both fell asleep.