Kate was asleep when the doctor came with the result. "Mr. Castle , this is a good and bad news."
Castle sighed. "Start from the good one."
"Your wi - partner is not having Hepatitis B or C. Hepatitis A is very curable." The doctor read the report with this serious face that made his heart pounding. He just didn't want to hear the bad one.
"The bad news , is , your partner is having a really , really , serious case of Hepatitis A. Her SGOT is 2000 when the worst is 800."
Castle frowned. "I'm sorry , what ? 1200 differences ?"
"Unfortunately. She has to stay here at least a week. Will she has any company to through the week or we will hire personal nurse ? This is a really serious disease and attacked her liver, one of the most important organ ever. Someone have to control-"
"I'll be with her." Said Castle. His ears are sick of the medical explanation he would never understand. But be there to protect,taking care of her, entertains her... That was his first priority at the moment.
"Perfect. Any request or question ?"
"Is she allowed to drink coffee ?" Castle can't even imagined how's Beckett without coffee.
"I don't think her stomach even accept a sip of water."
Castle confused and the remembered how she threw up.
"My nurse will be here to run allergy-test on her,but we have to wake her first. They'll be here in 10 minutes. You wake her."
-
"Kate, wake up. Come on, sweetheart. Wake up."
That 'sweetheart' thing woke her fast. That word - it made her feel safe and annoyed at the same time.
"Hey,Rick."
"Hey,Kate." He kissed her forehead.
Kate tried to remember things before she fell asleep. Oh - the result. How's the result ? Why did he stared at her with this concern face ? Will - will she leave the world anytime soon ?
"How - how's the result ?"
"Hepatitis A."
She smiled. It was like the weight of the world on her shoulders just gone. She still had a chance to caught her mother's murderer.
He smiled. Because she smiled.
She tried to sit, but he pushed her back to the bed slowly. "No,Kate. Don't. You have to run allergy-test first so they can give you the infuse."
Kate frowned. "I- I have to stay here ? It's just Hepatitis A, one day here should be enough !"
This thing about staying in hospital made her remembered the days...the days without Castle after her shooting. How badly she wanted to call him,just to hear his voice or ask him to come over, eat ice cream with her, hug her and calm her every time she have panic attack. The feeling was exactly the same. How she's struggling to breath, searching oxygen - it was really hard - it is hard. Wait - is she having panic attack ?
The next thing she knew, she crashed her head to Castle's lap, crying like a baby. She can felt him soothing her back.
"In and out. In and out. You can, Kate, you can breathe. Come on, breathe with me."
She was so close with him, and shaking. Castle just noticed her eyes' color – it's a bit yellow. But he won't tell her now, not with she's having panic attack.
"You've got me, Kate. You've got me."
That magical sentence calmed her in a second...again.
"I'm sorry,Castle. Sorry I didn't tell you earlier. Sorry I lied." She cried...for the third time that day.
"Sssshh,Kate. It's the past. I love you, and I mean it. Hold on to that."
"I love you too,Rick. It's just... I'm sorry." Kate sniffed. Castle kissed the top of her head.
"I know you are." But then the nurse interrupted them.
"Ready for the allergy test ?"
Kate nodded. She gave the nurse her hand, and it took only 3 minutes to know the result.
"You're clear. Now your left hand please, for the infuse." The nurse showed them a bag full of white liquid that made Castle confused. He never saw something like that before.
"What's that ?"
"Glucose. Her stomach will hardly accept food , so glucose is for the food and her energy , because you know, she'll throw up a lot and that will use a lot of her energy. We don't want her to faint again." The nurse explained.
"Not that she's allowed to sleep without a big bowl of porridge. Foods are so important to her recovery." The tone of the nurse's voice made Castle and Beckett wanted to laugh.
Kate whispered to Castle's ear. "Wow, we got the scary one."
Castle laughed a little and kissed Kate's cheek slightly,again.
"This might be hard for both of you, but you guys are not allowed to kiss each other with mouth until she's totally recovered which took 6 months. I'm sorry."
Castle and Beckett both nodded, but well, their heart weren't.
He was the one who closed his eyes when the needle tore her skin. Kate hissed a little, but then she laughed because of Castle's action. "Really, you close your eyes ? What's with you, Castle ?"
He didn't want to see the woman he love in pain. "I just wanted to."
Figured out she's done with the infuse thing, he opened his eyes.
"How do you feel ?" Castle took her hands.
"I feels sick, but I'll be okay." She whispered – not strong enough to add her voice volume.
" dad will be here in 10 minutes."
"You – you called him ? I don't want to worry him , Castle, what the hell did you do ?" He was surprised by her reaction, he thought Kate will feel pleased to have her dad here.
"I'm sorry I didn't ask you. But I'm a dad, Kate, if anything happened to Alexis...Wow, I can't even think about it. But at least , with seeing her, feel her, it makes me feels better. And sorry, but you can't just think about your own. If your dad hear about your condition from anyone else instead of us, that would be unneccessary."
Kate stared at the empty glass beside her.
"You're right. Sorry for my words. I don't understand what's wrong with me, Castle. I just can't handle it." Kate bowed her head.
"That's okay. Now sleep,okay ? You need to rest." Castle brushed her hair.
"Wake me when daddy is here ?" Kate's sleepy eyes stared at Castle's. Daddy ? He never heard she called her dad with 'daddy' before.
"I will." He kissed her forehead one more time before she fell asleep. She looked so beautiful when she's asleep. 3 months ago, this is he's allowed to kiss her forehead, take care of her... And there she was, looked so vulnerable and fragile.
Kate's eyes squeezed tight, suddenly. She mumbled something and then he realized she had nightmare. Castle sang lullaby to her , the song he used to sing to Alexis every night. Castle was so tired,too. They both were fell asleep until someone knocked the door. Castle woke up, and ran to the mirror, fixed his hair. When the knock became faster and harder, he quickly walked to the door. He expected Jim Beckett on the other side of the door. But when he opened the door, an officer was there with that big bowl of porridge the doctor told him. The last thing he needed to tell Beckett was she had to eat that much when she feels like puke her guts out.
"Sorry it took so long."
"It's okay. Just make her eat this, okay ? We will inject six kind of drugs to her infuse every night, and this porridge is so important to her empty stomach."
"And if she puke her guts out ?"
"It's okay. Stomach won't throw all the food. But she has to eat all of this. For her own good."
He nodded. "Okay then. Thank you. But sorry, can I have one too ?"
The hospital officer looked confused. "For you ?"
"Yes. Cover it with the worst ketchup you got. The salt one, or the sweet one, I don't care. "
The officer gone for a minute and then came back with another bowl of porridge.
"It won't be your favorite taste after all."
"It's okay, really. Thank you."
Castle closed the door.
"What is that, Castle ?" Oh. She's awake.
"A bowl of delicious porridge, sweetheart. You ready to eat this ?"
Kate shook her head quickly. "No, Castle. My nausea just past. Please."
"I know, but you have to."
"Castle, no. I worked so hard to make the nausea past and this porridge will ruin the whole things." Kate hid her face under the blanket.
"Kate, you want this to be over, you have to eat the porridge. Come on, let's do this together. Spoon by spoon. If you feel sick, we can pause it for a second and then start to eat again. Understand ?" He placed the bowls on the table.
"Look, Kate, I will eat one too. And look, mine is covered by ketchup... And you know how much I hate ketchup. So we'll eat this together, okay ?" Castle pulled the blanket off from her body and then sat beside her, rubbed her back. She still looked upset, but she nodded slowly.
Castle brought the sickbag.
He feeded her , and she swallowed it slowly. He loved that she was still really strong , still managed to give him the smile he adored. She already ate half of her food when he suddenly saw Kate squeezed her eyes tightly, tried to make the nausea past.
"You okay,Kate ?"
Kate nodded in silence.
"You ready for the next round or you want a little break ?"
Kate didn't answer.
"You want to throw up ?"
She nodded weakly.
Kate covered her mouth with her hand, waited for Castle to give her the sickbag, but well, she can't handle it. She vomited on his expensive clothes.
He knew that Kate felt guilty, and it makes him sick.
"It's okay, babe, just let it out. Do not cover your hands on your mouth, I don't want you to swallow those shit. They'll get bitter and bitter." He said reassuringly.
His right hand rubbed some warmth to her neck while his left hand tried to reach the sickbag on the nightstand.
She shook her head and tried to get up so she can go to the bathroom, but he held her even tighter. Her hands still covering her mouth whilst she puke to her hands again.
"Let it out, Kate.. Just let it out. It's okay,love."
Three seconds later, after he reached the sickbag, he decided to use his left hand to hold the sickbag while his right hand began to brush off her hair from her face and gave some push to her neck as she throw up. Her hot tears began to slide as she vomited to the sickbag.
"Let it out, love. Let it out."
A/N : For you who asked me via PM about the story – I started this before "Always", but this is a story after "Always". Why are they still "partner" ? Next chapter. Anyway, sorry it took so long to update, school things are asdfghjkl right now . If you have time, check my other fic (one-shot) 'That One Thing'.net/s/8084561/1/That_One_Thing . Click the review button, please !