Chapter 1

Kate had been sitting there for what felt like hours, holding Castle's hand, speaking to him, looking at him, listing to the silence of the room. Normal visiting hours would have been over, but because of the severity of the operation, Kate was allowed to stay.

Lanie had come in earlier, to check on Kate and say a few quiet words to Castle. As much as they joked together, she was quite fond of him and this experience had shaken her a lot more than she thought it would.

She left, when she got a call from Javi and Kevin from the precinct, and decided she should go back there and brief them in on what happened.

Martha and Alexis had come back in just before visiting time was over and agreed that it would be best if Kate stayed with him the whole time.

Alexis still was in shock of the whole situation, and Martha was too tired with the stress of everything. They decided to go home a short while after Lanie, and would sort everything out back in the loft.

Kate had been on her own now for about an hour, and was feeling sleepy with the shock, stress and capacity of the situation.

She contemplated venturing out for a walk to wake herself up a bit, but decided against it because she wanted to be awake when Rick first awoke.

It came to her attention that his ex-wife and publisher, Gina, may want to know. Despite their misunderstandings, they still maintained a good friendship, and being his publisher, she though she had a right to know what had happened to him.

Also, Meredith, Alexis' actual mother would want to know. Rick was still quite close with Meredith and Kate and Meredith had gotten on okay when they last saw each other.

She called Martha to tell her she thought they should know, and Martha completely agreed and said she would get to it straight away.

Kate relaxed a little, she now felt that everything had been assessed and was being sorted.

She stared at Castle longingly, wishing that she could just pick him up in her arms and hug the pain away. This wasn't an option for her though so she just had to hope.

The heart monitor had been beeping at a constant rate for the past hour now, so she knew he was stable and this made her heart do a little flip, he would wake up.

That's all she wanted right now, for him to wake up so that it could all be over. She needed him, craved for him to be next to her, snuggling and cradling her.

She heard footsteps from outside the room, coming towards the doors.

She was right, and the door to the operating room opened and a man walked in.

It was the same surgeon as before, a tall, pale man, mid 40's with greying hair and a gentle face. She knew he would be taking care of him well.

He explained to her that after the long procedure he went through, he could have slight memory loss, headaches and occasional nausea.

She was fine with the headaches and nausea. It was the slight memory loss that pained her. After her shooting, she remembered everything, but pretended to forget, which lead to a colossal argument between them. It couldn't happen again.

She so wished it wasn't a side affect. A reminder of what happened, of what could be. She grasped to the longing that castle had squeezed her hand, he recognised her presence. It was all she could do.

The surgeon again left as quick as he had entered, telling Kate that she should also have something to eat and drink because all the worrying would be doing her damage.

Well damn you, she thought. Unless good was brought to her, she wasn't going to eat because she wasn't leaving Castles side.

She sighed to herself, if only everything had been different, maybe nothing would have changed.

"Kate". A soft whisper penetrated through Kate's heart, Castles weak voice calling to her. She had been looking the other way, at a chart on the far wall, and quickly turned around at the sound.

Her heart leapt, he was blinking, trying to adjust his eyes to the surroundings.

"Kate. Kate."

"Rick. I love you. I didn't think I'd see you agin."

She leant over his face, and kissed his cheek, not daring to kiss his lips incase the limp feeling was still lingering on them. It could wait she thought to herself.

She was beaming, her perfect smile ear to ear and a small tear dropped from the corner of her eye onto the mess of hands that was on the bed, squeezing tightly.

"Kate. Before you say anything. I remember. I heard. I love you too. And one more thing," he pulled her hand to his lips, and kissed her finger displaying the new sparkling ring, "I'm so happy."

Happy, Kate thought, the man just got shot, and he was happy. Yet this was the man she was hopelessly in love with. Always looking for the good things in life.

She knew why he had said that. To prevent themselves from the pain of recollecting the past. And she was eternally grateful for it. For everything.

Castle sat up slightly in his bed, but then retreated, the pain searing through him a little too much. He had to stick with lying down, and he felt this could be the case for a while.

Nonetheless he was alive, and sitting with his new fiancé.

Fiancé. He would never get tired of saying that.

They stared at each other. Showing their passion through an intense glare that spoke wonders. It was their life now. Their future. And it would only look up.

Kate relished the moment. She was sat with the love of her life, both surviving death defying situations. If they couldn't beat the odds, then no-one could.