A/N: FIRSTLY… YOU GUYS! OVER 100 REVIEWS! I LOVE YOU ALLLLLLLLLL! (sorry, I'm excited) Thank you, that's all I can say. I would send you all hugs if I could.

Holy wow, Last night's ep? Yeah, it was fantastic. Frankly the previews made me more anxious for next week than the actual episode did. Yeah, the US one was great but our neighbors to the north? They got it right. If you don't know what I'm talking about I won't spoil it for you just youtube it.

Ok, Story-time. So, there's a little delay in this update and I have a reason. My A-key on my laptop just popped the hell off and broke. It totally sucks because I need to keep snapping it back on and it's making it very difficult to keep a coherent thought every time I have to stop and curse at it. Anyway, I have an order in for another one and I hope that will speed the typing process up a little when it arrives.

A couple of you guys had concerns and ideas for this story and I totally appreciate them! I promise though, a lot of them are already on my list of stuff to address. Someone also asked about the kiss… don't worry, I have plans :)

There isn't too much action in this one, but I feel like it's important to future events. Let me know what you think.

Don't own 'em…

Castle had dreamt of holding her many times but it was never like this. This was not something he ever wanted to experience. He never thought the first time he would hold her could be his last as well. He felt his eyes burn and a traitorous tear leak from his right-eye.

"Don't, Rick." She whispered. "I counted on you… I trusted you. How could you do this to me?"

"Kate, what are you talking about?" Castle stuttered.

There was no trace of pain in her voice when she spoke. She looked up at him with clear eyes and a sneer upon her beautiful face.

"You let me die, Rick. This is all your fault. You have no right to cry over me."

He looked at her face and she slowly disappeared from his arms. He was left sitting on the cold diner floor alone searching the area as he called her name repeatedly.

Richard Castle woke with an incredible start. He was lying on the small couch in the corner of Beckett's hospital room; well, almost former-hospital room. It was four days since she first landed here and four days since he had slept nightmare-free.

Happy, doped –up, Kate Beckett had long since gone. She had gone back to the gruff detective that refused pain medication and demanded to be released every time her doctor came by. If it wasn't for Lanie and Captain Montgomery, she might have signed herself out Against Medical Advice, but the two of them put her in her place.

Lanie, from the best-friend and medical professional angle:

"Beckett, you'd be a damned fool leaving this hospital room before you're ready! Don't you know what your body has gone through? Do you know how many people were worried about you? Hell, Kate, you nearly died, and you want to put all of us through that again!" The tear that had leaked from her eye that punctuated her statement hadn't hurt her cause, either.

Captain Montgomery went for a different approach:

"I swear to God, Beckett, if you even THINK of getting your ass out of that bed before your doctor says so, I will put you on professional leave and ban your sorry ass from the precinct for a month! Do you hear me!"

As for where she would be staying when she managed to heal enough to leave the hospital, well, Castle left that up to the charm of his daughter and mother. He knew that Beckett had incredible soft-spots for the red-headed pair and it would be more difficult for her to say no with the two of them backing him. He didn't mind using them for good instead of evil.

The exchange happened two nights ago when he had Alexis and Martha visit. Alexis and Kate were playing a rousing game of Go Fish on her tiny bedside table while Martha filed her nails. Castle, meanwhile, just sipped on his coffee and watched and waited for his moment.

Beckett was losing horribly to Alexis but she didn't seem to care at all. She was sitting up in her hospital bed and she looked better than she had in days. She still grimaced at some movements and when she laughed, Castle could tell that it hurt, but she was careful not to let it scare his daughter.

He bit the bullet and prepared himself for Beckett's wrath as he took a deep breath and started speaking.

"So, is this what it's going to look like for the next few weeks?" He asked, light-heartedly. "You two are going to be leaving me out all the time?"

Kate looked up from her cards with a puzzled expression on her face. Thankfully, Alexis answered first.

"Nah, Dad. We'll let you watch movies with us sometimes, and you're going to be the one doing the cooking, of course." She smiled.

"I'm sorry, what?" Beckett asked. "I'm clearly missing something here." She looked toward Martha, who was the most bluntly honest one of the trio.

"Oh, Darling, Richard hasn't told you?" Martha asked, leaning forward and pressing her hand to Beckett's forearm. "You're going to be staying with us for a little while until you get back to full-health."

Castle cringed and prepared himself as he watched her eyebrows disappear into her hairline and she stared him down.

"Oh, am I?" Castle could swear her voice went up an octave. "That's interesting news." She nodded and gave a small smile to the ladies in the room. "Alexis; Martha, could you give us a second?"

"Uhh… sure…" Alexis put her cards down, went to stand and Martha joined her.

Castle was glad that she didn't have her gun, for he was sure that he would have been dead by now. He had the strong urge to flee the room and call Lanie for back-up but his daughter, once again, saved him.

"Detective Beckett, before you kill my Dad, just know that we all care a lot about you." She started. "When we heard you were hurt, we were so worried… and I know you keep saying you're fine, but you'll be more fine, faster, if you just come home with us and let us help you." Alexis said, staring at the Detective.

"One more thing, dear," Martha added, " Since you will need someone to look after you, It's either us, or we call your Dad home early to stay with you since your friends are working on that case. They won't let you leave the Hospital otherwise."

Alexis had softened the detective, but Martha struck the final chord in Beckett's mind. When Castle had told her that they were trying to contact her father, she had a minor meltdown and demanded they stop. The last thing she wanted to do was give him a reason to worry about her and she wanted to keep him in the "happy fishing bubble" he was currently in. The boys had reluctantly agreed and Beckett looked genuinely relieved at their decision.

Beckett's fury diminished and she looked at him with a look that said "Unfair, Castle."

"So, we going to finish this game, or what?" Kate asked Alexis who smiled big enough to light up the entire room and she happily returned to her seat.

He knew that she hadn't necessarily agreed but she didn't fight it either. She had resigned to a fight that she knew she just couldn't win. They hadn't spoken of the conversation since.

Beckett had made him go home the last two nights. She refused to sleep until he went back to the loft to sleep himself. She was concerned about his health, citing that he "Looked like crap." He couldn't say he disagreed.

When Castle had gotten home he had all intentions of going to sleep but he wound up staring at the city out of his study window. His mother came in and questioned him and he sighed in return.

"I don't know, Mother." He shook his head. "I feel like I should be happy that she's ok and she's going to be fine, but I can't help but think that this nightmare is far from over."

"Richard, Roy, Kevin and Javier are looking into the shooting. They'll find whoever did this." She reasoned.

"That's not what I mean." He responded, tearing his eyes away from the city to look at his Mother. "She gave up."

Martha looked puzzled at his words and he realized that he had switched topics to what was actually on his mind.

"Right there in the diner, Mother. She looked up at me and she gave up; asked me to take care of her Dad. I don't even know if she remembers it, but it haunts me." He sighed, "Every time I close my eyes, it haunts me."

"Oh, Richard." Martha cried, opening her arms for him and he gladly fell into them, feeling like a little boy again.

He had attempted to sleep after they parted, but to no avail. Every single time he shut his eyes he woke up with a start. His imagination was running away with him, and for the first time in many years, he didn't embrace that part of himself.

Pure exhaustion had put him on the couch in this hospital room, waiting for Beckett and Nurse Maureen to exit the bathroom where she was currently getting ready to be discharged. He, as well as Alexis and Martha, had been briefed on how to care for her wounds and when she should take medication by Dr. Howard hours before. Alexis and Martha had gone to fill prescriptions and return to the loft to make up the guestroom. Minutes after he awoke, Beckett exited, dressed comfortably and casually in a button-up shirt and sweatpants with NYPD printed vertically on one of the legs.

"Ready to go?" He asked, standing, offering a small smile.

"Absolutely. Never been more ready for anything in my life." She replied.

Castle grabbed her bag of clothes that Lanie had packed up for her and followed his limping and leaning detective out the door; the both of them thanking the nurse on the way out.

Click iitttt…. Please? I'm a little insecure about this one.