Hey everyone! This is Ann, and this is my first chapter of our little tale. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for reading!
Castle sat in the waiting room of the ER, head in his hands. What had he done? Both Kate and Perlmutter had been taken back to be examined, he only hoped his moment of carelessness hadn't caused any permanent damage.
He sat looking at the band-aid on his arm, bright green with Scooby-doo on it. Figures, he would cause an explosion, and be the only one to walk away with nothing more than a scratch.
He looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps. "Doctor, how is Kate? Is she ok?"
The doctor smiled. "She is fine, Mr Castle. A mild concussion, and a few scrapes, nothing serious. A few days of rest and she should be good as new."
"Oh, thank God!" He breathed a sigh of relief.
"Unfortunately, your other friend wasn't so lucky."
Castle looked at him confused. Friend? Oh, right, Perlmutter. "Perlmutter? Is he ok? He talked to me after the accident, he seemed alright."
"It's not anything life threatening, but his injuries were more serious than Ms Beckett's."
"How much more serious?" Castle wasn't a big fan of the ME, but he didn't wish him ill either.
"Mr Perlmutter sustained a sprained wrist when he fell and the lab table crushed his leg. It's nothing life threatening, but he will need to have someone take care of him for a while."
"That sounds like a great job for you, Mr Castle." Castle had never seen Gates look so angry, even after he had smashed her creepy dolls.
"Sir, I..."
"Don't Sir me, Mr Castle. Your negligence caused this situation, you are expected to take responsibility for the consequences." She gave him a glare that made Beckett's look seem like a flirty smile. What was with these women and their death glares? Must be something in their genes that gives them the ability to immobilize you with just one look.
"You're right, Sir, this was my fault. I will make some calls and get him a home health aid right away."
Gates put up her hand as he reached for his phone. "No, Mr Castle, you may want to save your money. You're going to need it to pay for the morgue and expensive equipment that you just destroyed. Besides, it might be good for you to learn that your money and contacts won't always be able to save you."
"So what are you suggesting, Sir?"
"I'm not suggesting anything. I am telling you that Mr Perlmutter will be coming to stay with you while he recovers. Don't look so sad, Castle, it will give you something to do during your suspension from the precinct."
Castle's jaw dropped. "Suspended?"
"Would you prefer banned for life? Because that was my recommendation, but those higher up seemed to have other ideas. You are hereby on suspension until Mr Perlmutter has been cleared to come back to work. Until such time, he will be staying with you, and you will take care of whatever he needs."
"How long will that take?" Castle looked to the doctor, praying it was only a few days.
"With a break like his, I'd say about six weeks at least." The doctor said, as he excused himself.
Castle could have sworn he saw a hint of a grin on the Captain's face. Damn she was enjoying this.
"What about Beckett?"
"What about her, Mr Castle? She didn't blow up my morgue. The doctor has given her a few days off to rest, and then she will be back at work. Don't give me that look. She is a perfectly capable detective, she can do her job without you, you know." She gave him a pointed look. "Now, I suggest you start making arrangements for your new house guest." With that, she headed down the hallway and out of sight, leaving a stunned Castle behind her.
Once he had regained his senses, he made his way to Kate's room. God she was going to kill him for this. What a birthday! She was just fixing her shirt as the doctor finished his exam.
"Well, Detective Beckett, lungs are still sounding good, hearing and vision are ok, and your concussion symptoms seem to be improving, I think we can go ahead and send you home. Do you have someone at home that can check on you a few times tonight, just to be safe?"
She glanced at Castle. "Yeah, I think I can find someone."
Great, now he needed to take care of Kate and Perlmutter. How was he going to explain all of this to her? Better yet, what were they going to tell Perlmutter about them? God, what a mess!
"Good! I'll just go grab your discharge papers, and you'll be all set," the doctor said as he left the room.
"About tonight, Kate..."
"Castle, you blew up the morgue! If you think you are getting sex of any kind tonight, birthday or not, you are sadly mistaken."
He hung his head. Great! One more thing to add to the list of why this was the worst birthday ever. "That wasn't what I was thinking about, actually."
Beckett looked at him, "then what, Castle? My head hurts, I really just want to go back to the loft and lie down for a while."
"See, that's the thing. I've kinda got someone staying with me." He braced himself for the questions he knew would be coming.
"A guest? Who?" Beckett looked at him, clearly agitated.
"Perlmutter," he mumbled.
"Excuse me?" She said, straining to hear what he said.
"Perlmutter is staying with me." He looked at her, with eyes full of apology.
"Perlmutter? How hard did I hit my head?" Beckett stared at him like he'd lost his mind.
"That's my punishment from Gates. Perlmutter sprained his wrist and broke his leg in the explosion. Since it was my fault, Gates has ordered that he stay with me until he's well enough to return to work, and I'm on suspension from the precinct until then." He looked at her with big, sad eyes, like a child wrongly accused of eating the last cookie.
"Are you kidding me? How long?" Beckett was shocked.
He took a breath, "six weeks," he said bracing for impact.
"Six weeks! That's insane! He can't stay with us for six weeks!"
"Calm down please, Kate. It's not good for your head to get your blood pressure up. Besides, I'm not happy about it either, but I have no choice. Anyway, I can see if Alexis or mother can come stay with you at your place tonight, and you won't have to deal with him."
"No."
"No, what?"
"No, I'm not going to my apartment."
"But Perlmutter..."
"I don't care."
"How hard did you hit your head? If you stay with me, he'll know about us."
"I don't care. I'm not spending the next six weeks without you. She may be able to make you stay away from the precinct, but I'll be damned if I'm going to let her keep you away from me for six weeks."
He gave her a soft smile. "I'd miss you too."
She rolled her eyes, and quickly regretted it. Damn headache. "Look, Perlmutter is even more antisocial than Gates. We just explain to him that our personal life is just that, personal, and he is to keep anything that happens at the loft to himself."
"But he hates me. He'd like me gone even more than Gates!"
"Yeah, but he likes me. Plus, I carry a gun, so don't worry about it. However, your birthday plans are definitely going to have to be postponed." She tangled her fingers with his, giving him a sad look.
"I'm sorry. This is all my fault. Who keeps explosive chemicals just laying around anyway?"
"People who don't expect you to be walking around like a zombie. What was with you anyway? That was klutzy, even for you."
He could feel the heat in his cheeks as he answered a bit embarrassed. "I was a bit distracted."
"Are you kidding me? You blew up the morgue because you were fantasizing about us? Castle!" She just shook her head. What was she going to do with this man.
Just then the doctor returned with her discharge papers. "Oh, Mr Castle, I was also asked to have you sign these."
Castle looked at the papers the doctor handed him. "What are these?"
"Release forms for Mr Perlmutter. He is being turned over to your care, this just states that you will be taking full responsibility for him while he recovers. Your Captain asked to have you sign them."
Castle mumbled as he signed the forms. Not even the times he'd done book signings, where he had to sign his name until his hand was cramped and sore, was scrawling his own signature so painful.
As Beckett and Castle stepped out of the room, a nurse came pushing a surly looking Perlmutter in a wheelchair. Castle tried his best to be friendly. "Well, it looks like you're going to be coming to stay at Casa de Castle for a few days." He smiled at the ME, as best he could.
"Lucky me. Survived an explosion, just to be tortured. Can't wait."
Beckett and Castle shared a look. This was going to be a long six weeks.