Alexis left a few hours before Kate back to sleep, leaving Castle and Beckett alone. Castle tried to sleep, but he couldn't. He had the need of protecting her.
He didn't understand what happened, though. Beckett did really well , what changed ? What went wrong? He knew nausea is the biggest part of Hepatitis A, probably because of the liver, but she hadn't had fever for days. What's wrong?
And then he found out that she wasn't eat any of her food when he left that morning. He was...what to say, disappointed? Yes. He was really disappointed. She promised to him, why broke it ?
So, when Kate finally awoke, Castle couldn't help but mad at her.
"Kate, the nurse got a report that you didn't eat your food this morning. Is that true ?" His voice soft, but cold.
She didn't answer.
"Kate?"
"It's true." She sighed, searching for excuses. "My stomach wasn't really good back then."
"Well, you're sick! What are you expecting?"
Castle, unexpectedly, rolled his eyes. That made her wanted to yell at him, but she held it altogether.
"Usually food doesn't affect much on me."
"But you studied biology before, right ? Hell, 2-years-old kid would know that everyone need to eat."
"Well, I'm sorry if I'm bothering you. You can always go home."
"Don't throw me that look. It's for your own health, you know ?"
"Sorry." She tried to not looking at Castle's eyes.
"Sorry ? 'Sorry' not gonna change your condition. You're a detective, you know 'I'm not guilty' not gonna release a prisoner." He yelled at her.
And then she stopped talking to him. She looked in pain, he wanted to comfort her, but she refused.
"Castle ? Can you give me an hour ?"
"For what ?"
"For you to leave me alone. Please."
Castle laughed at her. "Of course I will. No need to beg."
He left her alone in that room. Castle was going to the hospital's canteen to grab some food, wanted to fill his empty stomach. But all he did was going to the bathroom and punched the wall.
Stupid Castle, he muttered.
He looked at his watch, surprised to see that he left her for almost one and a half hour now. He quickly ran to her room, knocked the door gently and opened the door. He wanted to say sorry. He wanted to hug her. He wanted to feel her. God, he was never this attached to someone before. But the bed was empty.
He found nothing.
She wasn't there.
He quickly pushed the emergency button, and in no time, the nurse was there.
"Where is she ?"
The nurse was looking at him in confusion. "You don't know ?"
Castle shook his head. "No I don't. Where is she ?"
"She was transferred to the ICU. Her temperature was up again, and her skin was getting yellow. She was shaking when we found her, she felt cold but her temperature was 103.8. SGPT and SGOT still high."
Castle's jaw dropped. "What ? Which room ?"
"447. But she can't have any visitor by now. Wait 3 more hours and you'll have 30 minutes."
"Listen to me. I have to see her now, and I'll stay there. I will give you anything to make it happen."
"Well, you can sign a few papers. I'll bring it to you in 30 minutes.."
"Can you just bring it to her room ? I have to be there now."
The nurse sighed. "Whatever. I'll see you there. And Mr. Castle, please get her to drink or eat something."
Castle nodded in agreement and walked to Kate's newest room. He opened the door nervously, scared about what he would see.
And there she was, lying on the bed with her green eyes staring blankly to the door. Yes, the color changes of her skin was really noticeable. But what broke Castle's heart wasn't her condition. But her full-of-tears green eyes. They were like a swimming pool.
She was waiting for him.
" 'm sorry, Castle. Won't do that again." Tears were finally falling from her eyes.
"Oh, Kate.." He rushed to be on her side. Kate started to sob as Castle held her tight like he won't let go. He felt his eyes were burning too.
He couldn't imagine how it feels like to receive the bad news alone. He couldn't imagine how scared she was.
"Forgive me ?" Asked Kate. Her voice was barely audible.
"Shh, Kate... You're not doing anything wrong. No need to apologize."
Kate cried even harder. "You left."
"Yes, I do, and I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He kissed the top of her head.
"They injected me things, Castle. You weren't there." She said the words in disbelief. She knew he won't leave her. He's not that kind of guy.
"Yes, and I'm sorry, okay ? I got you now. I won't ever leave you again. Got it ?" He brushed her hair.
"I promise I'll eat my food. But don't get mad at me and don't leave. Need you." She mumbled to his chest.
He lifted her head. Her face damp of tears and sweat.
"Listen to me. I'm sorry for yelling at you, okay ? I'm sorry. And I won't ever leave you again."
"I really, really don't feel good this morning. It hurts to even swallow them, Rick, and I know I'd throw up if I eat them. It's exhausting. I vomited this afternoon after I drink mineral water. Only mineral water, Rick. What am I supposed to do ?" Asked Kate as she felt Castle's thumb wiped away her tears.
"We'll do it slowly, okay ? We'll figure it out." Castle rubbed her back, and get up to get some water for her.
He came back 5 minutes later.
"Drink this." He handed the glass to her.
Kate shook her head, her face looked in fear as the water was her biggest enemy. "You still don't understand ?"
"I understand, but I don't want you to get dehydrated. Drink it slowly, okay ?"
"What's the matter if I'd only throw it up ?"
"If you want to throw up , then throw up. Once your stomach get settled, you try again. Don't give up. Okay, love?"
She sighed. "Okay."
She drank the water carefully. Sometimes, she squeezed Castle's hand while she closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the nausea to passed. And she did it - she drank much.
But then could see the color drain from her face. "I feel sick." She covered her mouth with her hand. Hot tears were welling in her eyes.
"Take a deep breath." Castle won't let her stomach giving up the water. It'd take hours to make her drink it again.
"I need to throw up, Castle." Her hand pointed at the bucket beside the nightstand.
"No, Kate, take a deep breath. Calm down. "
She took a deep breath.
"Now close your eyes."
"Castle, I really, really need to throw up."
"Shh, Kate, just close your eyes. Come closer."
He pulled her to him.
"Cas, you don't want me to throw up on your chest, right ?"
He heard her mumbled, but he ignored. He kissed the top of her head, and then stroking it back and forth.
"I'll tell you a story. "Once upon a time, there was a princess named Katherine. She loved to ride horse, she loved to do archery, she was a really tough girl. And..."
It's been 3 hours since she fell asleep. The nurse had caught him climbing to her bed.
"There are reasons why she should stay here, Mr. Castle. You're lucky enough to be allowed to stay."
Castle laughed in disgust. "Look at her ! The woman laying there means the world to me. She was in pain. And while there's nothing you could do, I offered her some comfort she needed. She drank a full glass of water. How about that ?"
The nurse smiled cynically.
"You know what ? When we found her shaking this evening, she was crying and asking for you, but you weren't there. Really mean of you to leave your own world, huh ?"
And then the nurse left. But Castle couldn't stop thinking about her words. She's right, he was really mean.
Kate was right, he didn't understand. Seeing her like this – thin, and not forget to mention her whole body was yellow, how in the world he could leave her alone ?
Alexis would kill him if she knew what happened between them this morning.
But after all, the peaceful look when she's sleeping made him forget about what happened earlier.
He loved to watch her sleep, especially to stare at her beautiful lips, because she often bit her lip in her sleep.
Sometimes, she let out a small snore. He found it cute.
It was 10 pm, and he finally managed to get some sleep. But then he awoken when he felt Kate releasing her grip. Kate jerked from her bed, turned her head to her right side and emptied her stomach to the floor.
Castle hugged her from her back to made her steady by one hand, while the other rubbed her back. Her body was wet from the sweat, but he didn't care.
"God, what happened, Kate ?"
She turned to him with a confused look. Castle hugged her tighter as he heard her sobbing hard. He sooth her with everything he could.
He was confused too, he couldn't deny that. Three days ago, he could say that she was getting better, that they're okay. But reality betrayed him.
He lifted her chin to wipe her tears, and he stared at her for a long time.
Something's not right.
There were no tears.
A/N : You guys are seriously amazing. This chapter is not as long as the 5th one, but I don't want you guys to wait too long. So I think I'll keep it short but fast update. Review, please ?