The press conference was going to be televised live, and while Castle and Alexis were occupied with comforting each other, Kate Beckett was bored. And maybe a little curious. Bored and curious enough to actually wonder what was going to be said. She reached over and picked up the remote to the TV that was suspended from the ceiling in front of her bed. Not surprisingly, the first local station she turned to was showing it. She made sure the volume was low to avoid disturbing the others, but they weren't paying attention to what she was doing just then.

There was a long table, with Martha and her father seated in the middle of it, and with National guardsmen in uniform flanking them on either side. Flanking the National Guard were a few doctors, and Captain Montgomery. Standing off to the side, watching the crowd were several police officers in uniform, and Esposito and Ryan.

She'd missed the very beginning, because the reporters in the crowd were firing questions at the people at the table with Montgomery being the one who chose who was allowed to ask the questions.

Most of them were about the plane crash and where they were found, she noticed, but she was pretty sure that one of the doctors had given a statement about their general health at the beginning, which would make sense. And save a lot of questions. The National Guardsmen – and Beckett thought she might have recognized the one on the right, although her memory of their rescue was pretty fuzzy – weren't really giving out a lot of details about what they found at the crash scene, or at the makeshift campsite. Perhaps because of an ongoing investigation by the FAA, or maybe because they were just being tightlipped until Beckett and Castle made their own statements, she didn't know. She had no intention of telling the world about their ordeal, though.

And she'd kill Castle if he even considered writing a book about it. After he was feeling better, of course.

OOOOOOOOOOO

She dozed off during the press conference but woke up when a nurse came in to clear their meals. Beckett thanked her – especially when she offered her another cup of coffee – but she didn't stay longer than it took to clear the dishes. She didn't even disturb Castle and Alexis, both of whom had fallen asleep. Beckett flipped through the channels and looked for something interesting to watch while she savored her coffee.

When Martha arrived after the press conference, Castle and Alexis were still asleep. Him because his body needed it more than anything else, and her because she'd had a rough couple of days and was now in the safest place she could be. The older woman smiled when she saw the two of them, and set a vase of carnations onto the now crowded table by Beckett's bed.

"How are you feeling, Kiddo?" she asked.

"Tired."

"And sore?"

"A little," she admitted. "Does it show?"

Martha shrugged.

"I know how you normally look," she reminded her. "You look good, though, all things considered."

Beckett gave her a tired smile.

"Any landing you can walk away from and all that, right?"

"Exactly." She looked over at her son and granddaughter and Beckett saw her eyes soften. "Alexis was worried about him from the first night when he didn't check in. I downplayed it and I shouldn't have. I should have known he'd have checked in with her – no matter how distracted he might have been."

"He worried about her the entire time," Kate told her. "His phone was ruined in the crash, and mine was in my bags – which are probably still in the lake."

"They pulled the plane out this morning, from what I understand," Martha replied, sitting on the edge of her bed.. "The FAA is very curious how the wreck happened and anxious to find out what they can from the wreckage."

"I thought I'd done it at first," Beckett admitted. "I was flying when everything went out."

Martha nodded.

"I heard. But I was told that that kind of thing doesn't happen so easily. Richard would have known it wasn't you and should have told you."

"He did." She looked over at the bed Castle was sleeping in. He looked like he was sleeping much better than he had the night before. Undoubtedly the company he was keeping. "That was after we crashed."

"It must have been terrifying…"

Beckett nodded.

"It was. Everything went dark at the same time and we just started dropping." She shuddered at the memory, and Martha squeezed her hand. "Castle was amazing though."

"Oh?"

It was clear Martha wanted to hear more, but didn't want to upset her by asking questions that might bring back the memory of the crash. Beckett thought it better that she know, so she nodded again.

"He didn't look scared at all. A bit stressed, but not scared. He made sure my seatbelt was inflated – I didn't even know that they did that – and managed to keep the plane out of the trees when we went down."

"Thank God."

"Yeah." She remembered the nightmare she'd had about them crashing into the trees and hurried on with her tale to keep from reliving it – and to keep from letting it show. "Then he managed to keep his head and grab the emergency gear from the back seat while the plane was filling with water and get it to the shore with us. Without that we would have been in a lot of trouble."

Martha started to say something, but there was a light tap on the door and it opened. Jim Beckett poked his head in and smiled when he saw his daughter was awake.

"Can I come in?"

Beckett smiled, feeling a rush of love toward her dad and understanding how Alexis felt when she'd seen Castle earlier. She felt Martha squeeze her hand once more before the older woman stood up.

"You most certainly can. I've been monopolizing your daughter, but now I'm going to wake my grandchild and we're going to go find something for lunch."

Beckett entered the room and both women smiled when they saw the very large teddy bear that he was carrying. Obviously a gift for his little girl. He set it down in the chair that was near the bed, and took the place Martha had just vacated.

"How are you feeling?"

Kate shrugged.

"Better."

"Good."

They watched Martha as she went over to Castle's bed and gently woke Alexis with a careful touch, trying very hard to keep her son asleep. The girl turned sleepily but woke up and understood immediately what she was doing. Looking at her dad to make sure he was okay, she slipped carefully out of his arms. His expression had been calm, but as soon as she left his arms he started to stir in his sleep, almost certainly aware subconsciously that she was leaving him. Alexis hesitated, looking at her grandmother to see what she should do.

"Can I borrow this, dear?" she asked Beckett, gesturing to the bear.

Kate nodded, and smiled when Martha took the bear and slipped it carefully into her son's arms and then covered him back up. The room was silent while they watched him to see if it would work, but after a moment he settled again with a sigh, and they saw his arms tighten slightly around the bear.

Alexis grinned, leaned over and kissed his cheek carefully and then did the same with Beckett to her surprise.

"Need us to bring you anything when we come back?"

"A burger would be nice."

Martha shook her head.

"Detective Esposito already planned on doing that. We'll find something else."

With that she and Alexis left the room, closing the door behind them and leaving Kate a chance to chat with her father in peace for a while.