Chapter Thirty-Seven

The sterile smell of alcohol and the general scent of 'hospital' clung heavily to the air. It was a strange combination of cleaners, medicines, and various bodily fluids, that somehow made up the distinct smell that every hospital had no matter what part of the country you were in. The stench seemed to grow thicker as the three of them made their way down a wide corridor. Kate was leading the way, having had more than one trip to this particular Emergency Room over the years.

She knew what to expect. The ER was laid out in four sections; aside from the triage area, the other three sections were glass walled, where room numbers were more an indication of which bed to find a patient in. The small spaces allotted for patients were separated by curtains on metal rings that made a distinct sound as they were pulled back. She knew the sound, but having reached the bed that would contain the man they had been so worried after, that sound seemed to shoot straight through her.

Nervousness and trepidation warred for her dominant emotion, though she had just had a brief conversation with the man. She couldn't put the sound of his voice into context of the situation, though she knew it was ridiculous to think the worst at this stage.

Her heart rate quickened as the metal rings of the curtain jangled as it was pulled open. Despite having heard his cheerful voice, Kate still couldn't reconcile the vision of him lying panicked and bloody on the floor of a rundown house with the new image of him grinning and waving excitedly at them.

It didn't make sense, none of it.

What was he still doing in the ER; shouldn't he be up in surgery? Instead he was lying in a standard emergency room, bed propped up, apparently in a fabulous mood. Certainly thanks to the drugs in his system.

Kate found herself grateful for the presence of the teens, namely Alexis who shot to her father's side and clung to his neck tightly for several minutes. She watched the shift in him, it was almost instantaneous. He'd gone from grinning, apparently glad to have the company, to looking almost stricken to have his daughter, normally tough and well centered, falling apart in his arms.

She watched him wince briefly when Alexis shifted against him, but he didn't push her away. If anything, his arms tightened around her, trying to hold her closer and Kate heard his slightly slurred whisper of reassurances.

She was certain it was the third time the same or at least similar words had been spoken to the teen in less than two hours, but Kate knew it was the only ones that really sank in through the girl's fog of fear and heartache.

She found herself feeling more than a little out of place in the small space allotted to him. Ashley was crowded close to Castle's bed, Alexis having still not relinquished her death grip on his hand. His fingertips were an unnatural shade of red, but he made no move to get free and showed no hint of distress in his features as his free hand trailed soothingly up and down his girlfriend's arm.

Beckett felt uncertain, uncomfortable, like she was intruding on a family moment, though she was far from being in the way from where she stood at the foot of Castle's hospital bed.

Feeling useless, she looked around and found the board where each patient's chart was clipped. She was careful to only grab his and started to flip through the papers. There wasn't much in the way of notes there, but having something to review as she returned to stand beside his bed made her feel like she was at least doing something.

She scanned the chart with the practiced ease of someone who had spent plenty of time in and out of emergency rooms either for herself, co-workers, or victims. Her eyes scanned first for the document that had a generic outline of a human body and a rough sketch of the injuries impacting the patient. This was something the hospital did for trauma cases, especially when they were crime related and she had always wondered if that was because most cops weren't versed in medical jargon. Interpreting and identifying the injuries with descriptions like perforation to the posterior, proximal to the scapula when cops would just say that someone had stabbed their victim in the back, made for a unique language barrier.

She hadn't been one of those cops that allowed herself to feel talked down to by the hospital staff more than that first time and had done plenty of her own homework on human physiology and anatomy. Which was why, with a quick glance at the 'injuries for dummies' page, she began to scan through the doctors notes.

Most of it was indecipherable because it was handwritten. She wondered, not for the first time, if it was a requirement of admission to medical school to fail a handwriting course. She did manage to pick up enough that she felt comfortable with Castle's status.

She read through the bits and pieces that were clear, Patient presented with 14cm laceration to abdomen. . . depth, was that 2.5cm or 25cm?. . . had to be 2.5 or there'd be some kind of internal injuries listed and he wouldn't be sitting around in the ER. . . muscle damage to, was that internal or external abdominal oblique? She squinted at the handwriting hoping that it would become clear, but it was like staring at two slashes that simply became more out of focus the harder she tried to define them. From the fact that he wasn't in surgery, she would assume it was external, but repairing a damaged muscle wasn't an emergency surgery situation and he might be waiting on an operating room.

The doctor came in just as she was trying to determine if that squiggle was the word sutures or sepsis. The first would be a good sign that he could go home soon, that they had patched him up and all would be right again soon. The second, however, put her instantly on edge.

"Hey, you're not supposed to have that." the doctor mentioned as he approached them, but he didn't move to take it from her and she could have sworn he was smiling beneath the façade of righteous indignation.

"Pretty much useless to me, anyway. I can't read a damn word. It's practically written in hieroglyphics." She relinquished Castle's chart to the doctor, "Why don't you interpret it for me, because we have been here entirely too long to still not know what's going on?"

The doctor gave her a smile and she almost felt bad for having taken her anger out on him. "Yeah, I heard about that." he responded.

Alexis had finally pulled away, but she now had an equally tight hold on Castle's hand as she did on Ashley's. All eyes had turned towards the doctor, waiting for his verdict on the extent of the injuries.

Castle interrupted before he could start when Kate's eyes met his for the first time. "Hey." he said in greeting. It was a quiet sound, but it filled the space adequately. She gave him a tight-lipped smile in return, with a little nod to acknowledge his greeting, but she needed to hear what the doctor had to say.

"I'm Dr. Hook."

Castle interrupted him, "No relation to Captain Hook." he informed them in a serious tone just above a whisper as if he were sharing a secret. "I already asked."

The doctor seemed to take his interruption in stride; apparently they had gotten to know the doped up Richard Castle pretty well in the time he was here. "First off, let me inform you that Rick is doing just fine and there's nothing to be alarmed about." he began. It was an ominous choice of wording and she didn't appreciate the subtleties that may be lying between what he was actually saying and what he meant.

She took a moment to shake off the thoughts. This wasn't an interrogation. He wasn't a suspect who had some kind of hidden agenda or reason to jerk them around and feed them half-truths. This was a guy who dedicated his life to helping people, not building them up just to tear them back down again. Forcing off the negative thoughts, she nodded at him to go on.

"Second, and probably most importantly, I want to apologize for Nurse Ratched in the waiting room." his tone was sincere and his smile was a little more guilty than apologetic.

"Whoa!" Castle said, suddenly scrambling to sit a little higher, "You guys actually have a Nurse Ratched?"

"Not literally." Dr. Hook responded easily as he moved to Castle's side and gently helped him get settled back on the bed. "You have to lay still." the doctor informed him and from the way he said it, Kate was sure it wasn't the first time he'd been told that bit of information.

The doctor turned back towards her and Kate wondered why he felt the need to address her and not the rest of the room. Figuring since it was either her, a doped up Castle, or a couple of teenagers, the doctor probably thought she was the most likely to retain the information. "I do apologize for her, but it's either we stick her out there with you guys or we have to deal with her in here with us and the patients. It's not ideal, but with the damn unions our hands are pretty well tied on what else to do with her."

Kate nodded, she didn't really care about the nurse or any of what had transpired. "So, what are we looking at here, Dr. Hook?"

"Arrh!" Castle announced in a very happy sounding pirate impression.

She saw the way Dr. Hook's mouth quirked up just a bit. "He suffered a pretty nasty gash, but luckily, due to the angle, with proper rest and a little time, he should be good as new."

"Good as new?" Castle interrupted again, this time with shock. "Have you seen the size of that cut in my gut?" His face split in a grin as if he couldn't hold it in anymore. "I'm going to have the coolest scar ever."

"Sorry about all that." she said, speaking to his doctor and ignoring his outburst. "You know that filter most people have between their brain and their mouths?" she asked, but didn't wait for a response. "He has a hard time finding his on normal days, so heavily medicated he can be a bit much."

"He's really made my day a lot of fun." the doctor responded with a shrug. "Not that I'm glad he's here and I'm happy to be sending him home soon, but it's been a pleasure, really."

"Hear that, Kate?" he asked, cutting in again. "I'm fun and pleasant."

"When chemically altered." she amended for him.

Alexis had a few questions and Kate made a point of pulling her notepad from her jacket pocket to take notes, even though she was sure all of this would be in Castle's release papers. She still wasn't quite sure how they had gotten from blind fear to this place where Castle cracked grade school jokes and was going home as soon as his fluids were at a more reasonable level. Something felt wrong, like she was about to wake up and still be in the waiting room with Alexis.

As the doctor finished up, he turned back to Beckett, "I'm David Hook, if you need anything while you're here." he informed her. "That kid of yours is a hero to this staff today, so believe me when I say, anything you need, Mrs. Castle, anything at all, we'll try and be accommodating."

Kate simply nodded and thanked him before turning back to look at the man who had driven her crazy on so many levels since the day they had met. While today was probably one of the most enervating of those experiences, she was glad to see they had all made it through, somehow.

"I have to go call the boys, let them know that you're alive." she informed him and he gave her a lopsided grin that was so endearing she couldn't quite step away. Having lost so many moments and been handed the gift of hindsight without the tragic repercussions she had worried would swamp them, she stopped fighting it.

Before she walked out of the room she moved over to the side opposite Alexis and reached down to squeeze his hand. "You stay lying down and I'll see what I can do about a getting you a popsicle." she told him with her first genuine smile in what felt like ages. He didn't release her hand when she tried to pull away and she looked down to see he was staring at her intently, something far from a joke hanging in the air between them.

Kate shook her head at him and then leaned over to brush her lips across his forehead, hovering there just a little longer than necessary. "We'll talk about it when you're feeling better." she informed him.

He held a moment longer, as if searching her for the truth in her statement. Finally, after giving her fingers a gentle squeeze and smiling up at her with almost childlike innocence, he released her had.

"Hey," he turned suddenly to Alexis and Ashley, "Do you guys want to see the pictures that Captain Hook's brother said would probably turn stomachs on Twitter?"

He had already swiped his phone up off the white sheet beside him and was scrolling through what was probably dozens of pictures if she knew him. With a final glance in his direction, she headed towards the hall they had passed through on their way to find him. After the calls she had to make a few hours ago, this was one that she was actually looking forward to making.

x.x.x

A/N: Sorry for the long break, I couldn't figure out how to move from where we left off. I know that this story has had a certain feel to it all the way through and I couldn't reconcile this and the coming chapters into that same feeling. Transitioning between the two has proven more trouble than I thought it would be so I took a break over the long weekend to work on my other story and step out of this one for a while.

I hope this hasn't been disappointing as the entire feel of the story for me is different here and doesn't really seem to fit very well with the style in which the rest has been laid out. I guess I'll leave that to you guys.

Oh, btw, yes I intentionally left you all in the dark, but I figured more of you would catch on to what I was trying to pull over on you and realize he hadn't needed surgery. I'm not disappointed, just feeling a little proud of myself for succeeding in my goals.

Review that made my day: Castletasmic, You're the big winner! Never did I expect to see this story get as many comments as it's gotten. I've been floored by the whole thing. Reaching 1000 reviews was amazing, but you, my dear reviewer, were number 1228. Can you feel the balloons and confetti raining down on you? That number has a lot of meaning for me as far as mine, my husbands and my daughter's birthdays. So, if you're so inclined, drop me a note as to what you'd like to see or 'hear' in an upcoming installment and as long as it's not off the wall crazy (though Castle is drugged right now so I could work with that) I will do my best to work it in just for you.

Thanks to everyone for reading.