A/N: Wow, okay, I guess you all DO want to read this. The reviews continue to inspire and motivate me. I really can't thank you all enough. Keep up the great work and I'll try to keep up my mediocre work. :)
So, I had some minor surgery last year and I had the whole anesthesia and morphine experience, which is a real adventure. So, that's what I'm basing Beckett's reaction off of. Also, the Cannula I speak of is the tube thing that goes up your nose and delivers pure oxygen to breathe, in case you were wondering.
Ok, enough from me. Enjoy (I hope).
Disclaimer: I would LOVE to own Castle, but I don't. I just play with the characters sometimes.
Before today, Richard Castle would not have described Kate Beckett as small. The way she commanded a room and the way she stood tall on those ridiculously-high heels gave her the illusion of being an unstoppable force. Today, that was not the case. When he crossed the threshold of her hospital room door, family in tow, he gasped at how small she looked lying there.
She wasn't hooked up to many machines, he noticed. The breathing tube had long since been removed but she was sporting a nasal cannula that was surely supplying her with cool oxygen, and a heart monitor that was beeping steadily, but incessantly.
He settled in for the long-haul in a chair he had pulled up to her bed. He made idle conversation with his mother and daughter, he ate whatever gruel Alexis had brought him from the cafeteria downstairs, and he sat next to Kate's bed with his hand resting dangerously close to hers. He wanted to reach out and grab it, but he didn't want to risk it with his family hanging around. Logically, he knew that he should have just done it; that his daughter and mother knew his not-so-secret feelings for the detective; but he couldn't bring himself to display it just yet.
Around ten o'clock, a nurse came in to check Kate's vitals and surveyed the trio in the room.
"Hi, I'm Maureen." She smiled, "It's getting pretty late and visiting hours are over. They start again tomorrow morning at nine."
Martha and Alexis nodded and went to stand but Castle stayed put.
"I'm not leaving." He stared at the nurse.
"Mr.-?"
"Castle, Richard Castle," He replied in a clipped manner, "and I'm not going anywhere until she does." He gestured to Beckett to his left.
"Look, Mr. Castle, I understand your concern, but I assure you she's in the finest hands in New York when it comes to medical care."
"I have no doubt that is the case, Maureen." He smiled tightly, "but she's a detective with the NYPD and there is an entire precinct that will have my ass if I let her out of my sight; which I have no intention of doing."
"Richard, darling…" Martha tried to intervene but Castle cut her off.
"No, Mother. I'm not leaving her."
The nurse looked like she was unsure of what to do with the situation. So, she did the only thing she could think of… she left, stating that she would get her superior to advise him to leave.
"Dad, maybe you should go." Alexis reasoned, "You don't want to get on the nurses' bad side."
"I have no intention of doing that, pumpkin, but I'm not leaving Beckett." He explained. "I'll do whatever it takes to stay."
When Maureen returned, she had the Chief of Surgery and the Head Nurse with her and Castle knew just how to get himself out of this situation. He did what he wanted to do hours ago… He turned on the charm.
"Mr. Castle, I'm Dr. John Statham, the Chief of Surgery here." The older doctor introduced himself.
"and I'm Miranda Baker, Head Nurse."
"It is an absolute pleasure to meet you both." Castle charmed. "You've all taken excellent care of my friend; especially, Dr. Howard and the nursing staff." He motioned to Maureen standing behind the two newcomers.
"Mr. Castle, I appreciate the compliments, but I'm afraid we're going to have to ask you to observe the visiting hours." Dr. Statham was having none of Rick's charms, but if Richard Castle knew anything in life, he knew how to get to the heart of a matter and get exactly what he wanted.
"Oh no, Dr. Statham, they aren't compliments, they're facts, and I intend on letting the Mayor know about those facts as well as making a substantial donation to your facility as soon as my friend, Detective Beckett here, is released." Castle smiled as the doctor's eyes grew wide. He had him right where he wanted him.
"I see." He exchanged glances with the head nurse who nodded and he turned back to the Castle clan. "Well then, if there isn't anything else, I'll have Maureen bring in some blankets to make your stay a little more comfortable."
"That would be so generous of you, Dr. Statham." Castle shook the man's hand. "I really appreciate everything you are doing here in this hospital and the nursing staff, Nurse Baker, has been absolutely fantastic."
He knew that if Beckett were awake her eyes would have rolled out of her head by now. She always hated when he laid the charm on thick, especially to get what he wanted. When the hospital staff had said their goodbyes, he turned to his family.
"Ok, I need you both to go home," Castle commanded, "and when you come back tomorrow, make sure to bring me some clothes."
He kissed his daughter on her forehead and gave his mother a hug. The "you did good, kiddo" she whispered in his ear made him smile.
When Maureen returned she gave him a pillow and a blanket as well as a sheepish smile and an "I really love your books, Mr. Castle."
He smiled, thanked her, and as soon as she left the room, he fired up his iPhone and ordered a smorgasbord of food and coffee for the entire floor that he and Beckett currently inhabited. He hoped that would smooth over any hard feelings that the nurses and doctors may be harboring about his rule-breaking. He pulled another chair up, propped his feet up, put the pillow behind his head and blanket over his body, he grabbed Beckett's right hand and watched her breathe in an out.
The night went on with him dozing on and off and nursing staff coming by, checking vitals, checking sutures (as he turned away) and thanking him for the sustenance, before leaving. Around two o'clock, he woke up to a sigh coming from the woman next him.
He was disoriented for a second before he swung his legs off the chair and turned to face her completely.
"Beckett..? Kate?" He asked, gently, "Can you hear me? Open your eyes."
Castle watched as her eyebrows drew together in confusion and her eyelids began to flutter. He felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest. He was so excited to see her eyes-to hear her voice- that he found himself gripping her hand tightly and leaning forward.
"mmm… Castle?" she rasped.
"Yeah, it's me. Can you open your eyes for me?"
Instead of looking at him, she brought her left hand up and started to grab the cannula out of her nose. He leaned forward and caught her hand.
"No, no, leave it in, Kate." He commanded, "You need that."
Becoming more aware, she dropped her left hand, turned her head to the right and looked him in the eye.
"It itches."
Castle laughed in utter relief and her tiny admission. Her voice was raspy and her eyes were clouded with the effects of pain medication, but to his surprise, she looked like the Kate he knew. He leaned back and grabbed the tiny plastic water cup from her bedside and gave her a sip.
"Thanks. My throat feels like a desert and my tongue might be glued to the roof of my mouth… the jury's still out." She sighed and looked up into his smiling face. He really WAS ruggedly handsome. Before the unfiltered thoughts could leave the confines of her head and be turned into sound-waves, he spoke.
"I'm going to get a nurse to check you out now that you're awake."
"Okay."
She closed her eyes again as she felt Castle let go of her hand and heard his shoes on the linoleum as he exited. The room felt like it was fuzzy and she was uncomfortable with the floaty-feeling she was currently experiencing. She knew that she should be feeling some sort of pain but she wasn't. Kate Beckett felt like her head was stuffed with cotton and her head weighed close to a ton. So, she did what she could and relaxed into the pillow until Castle came back with a nurse following close behind.
The nurse asked a million questions and it made her very irritated. Logically, she knew that the nurse was doing her job and making sure that she still had all of her mental faculties, but it didn't stop her from growling out the last few answers to the mundane questions. It also didn't help that Castle was smirking behind the nurse as Beckett got more and more annoyed.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to Kate, the nurse left with instructions to get some rest and the doctor would be by in the morning. Castle took his seat next to her again and smiled at her.
"What time is it?" she asked.
"It's 2:30 in the morning." He replied.
"What are you still doing here? Aren't visiting hours long over?"
"Um… yeah, about that," Castle smiled, "Let's just say they don't really apply to me anymore."
"What did you do, Castle?"
"Me!" Castle put a hand to his chest, "What makes you think I did anything?"
"You know what? I don't even care." Kate shook her head, "Fill in the blanks for me. Just how bad is this?" She gestured to her bed-ridden body.
"Well, you were shot obviously." All semblance of a smile was wiped from his face as he explained. "One of your ribs punctured your lung but if all goes well, you should be fine in no time."
"It's funny, it doesn't even hurt." Castle made a rumble in his chest as a response.
"I'm on a lot of morphine, aren't I?"
"Yeah."
"and this is really going to suck when they let up on the pain killers, isn't it?"
"Most likely."
"Great."
Castle laughed in response to her sarcasm and returned to his half-sitting, half-laying position across his two chairs with his head turned to her. He couldn't help it; his hand reached out and grabbed hers once more. If she was surprised at his action, she didn't let on.
"You scared the absolute hell out of me, Kate." He whispered.
"I'm sorry, Rick"
"I don't want you to be sorry. I'm just so glad you're okay." Staring into her dark-green eyes was becoming too much for him and he started to feel a mist developing behind his eyes. So, he broke the gaze by looking at their intertwined hands for a half-second before looking back up and smiling gently.
"What do you say we get some rest, Detective?"
"I'd say that sounds like a good plan." She replied, her eyes closing already.
"Good. Rest well, Kate."
There was silence in the room until she broke it with a tiny whisper.
"Castle?"
"Yeah?"
"Nice Scrubs, McDreary." He could hear the tired smile in her voice.
He chuckled deep in his chest and smiled before succumbing to sleep.
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