A/N - Thanks for all the comments and reviews - you all are kind and generous in giving your time to write and the encouragement it brings to me. :-) Thanks again goes to my serial reviewers (I sincerely hope no one is Patricia) hfce, gostopow, TOROTOSUN & wendykw. Be warned - things are getting serious. Not only has Patricia come out of the shadows, but I freaked out today when my daughter wanted to use my murder board. Just kidding, it was a notebook. I think I may need some counseling after this story ends. Enjoy & Cheers!

The Castle Wall

Chapter 9

Patience

She was resourceful. She was also smart and patient. Thomas had been a disappointment. Why is it that every time she trusted she would be betrayed? She shook her head. She moved from the shadows to the front of the hospital and lingered on the steps, facing the street. She took several deep breaths of cold October air and formulated a plan. She walked up the steps and into the hospital.

"May I help you?" The question came from the round African American woman at the reception desk.

Show time. Patricia began to cry, silent but real tears treaded down her cheeks.

"Oh, honey, what's wrong? Can I get you something?"

"My…my brother has been brought here." She sobbed. "He was in a fight. Oh, God, he is always getting into trouble and it's my fault. Our parents died when we were young, I did the best I could."

The woman was trying to sooth her. She came around the counter to put her arm around her. "It's okay, honey, let me help."

Bingo. People were so gullible. She kept up the act. "I…I just want to see him. I want to tell him I love him and that I'm sorry."

She headed back around her desk, eager to help this poor distraught woman. "What's his name, I'll look up his room number."

She drew in a long shuddering breath. "Thomas. Thomas Wagner." She sniffed. The woman handed her a tissue.

Patricia dabbed at her eyes while she waited for the information.

"He's in room 407, but that's the secure ward. No visitors. I'm so sorry sweetie."

Patricia sobbed again. "That's okay. I understand. Thank you so much for your kindness." She began to walk away, but then turned back. "Oh, when will he be released to go to jail?"

"Well, it's up to his doctor, but probably tomorrow or Monday."

"Thank you, I think I'll be able to visit him there." She sniffed again.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be more help." She called as Patricia walked out the front doors.

Patricia mumbled under her smile, "No, thank you, you've been very helpful." She had what she needed.

Kate dropped Kevin at the precinct to pick up his car. He leaned in the passenger door as he got out. His blue eyes earnest as he said. "Hey, we'll get him to roll tomorrow and then we'll take down this psycho Patricia character too."

She smiled reassuringly at him. "I know, thanks Ryan. Goodnight." He waved his goodbye and closed the door.

Kate drove her cruiser across town to Castle's loft. She had planned on going to her apartment in Gramercy Park tonight, but given the day's events, she needed to check on him first. She was pretty sure he'd be asleep or, if their earlier conversation were any indication, he'd actually be out cold. She parked her cruiser, picked up the case file and headed for the lobby.

Eduardo opened the door for her. "Good evening, Miss Beckett."

Smiling, Kate answered, "Hi Eduardo. I thought I asked you to call me Kate."

"It's still not my place miss." He gave her a shy smile then asked, "Mister Castle, is he okay? He looked pretty hurt when he came home, but not feeling any pain, yes?"

Kate raised an eyebrow and smirked. "That's what I understand. Thanks for helping to get him upstairs."

"Oh, no, miss. I could not help. Henry was on his break, but the cab driver helped Miss Alexis."

Kate looked alarmed. "Is he..."

"No, miss, he came right back down. Nice man."

Relieved, Kate thanked Eduardo as he pushed the elevator button for the fourth floor for her. The door opened and he said, "Goodnight, miss."

She rode up to his floor in silence. She reflected that silence didn't happen very often when she was with Castle. She smiled. He was so excited about everything all the time. She wondered how that would feel. Kate loved life but differently than he did. She held life in reverence, a thing to be observed and taken slowly and cautiously. She had seen so much pain. Castle wanted to feel everything, be a part of everything, and experience all that life had to offer, including the pain, fully. Hmm, she thought, that was a fundamental difference. She hoped that they could learn from each other. The elevator rumbled to a stop, noisily and she wondered, not for the first time, why this very high-end building had such a sub-par elevator. She stepped out and again it was silent, she smiled and enjoyed it. She got out her key and was about to put it in the lock when she heard it. A noise, definitely electronic. Her eyes swept around the hallway. Castle had it decorated similarly to the loft; it tied in, he told her. He said it had to do with first impressions. The building owners did not seem to mind and it was tasteful. She explored and listened until she spotted the source. There was a surveillance camera at the top left corner of the floor to ceiling window outside of his door, partially hidden by the draperies. Huh, she thought. Its position allowed it to capture the elevator doors and his door. "I wonder when they had that installed." She said it to herself, but aloud. Kate turned back to the lock and continued into the loft.

It was quiet and there were only a couple of lights on. She dropped her keys in the bowl on the table next to the door. She glanced at her Dad's watch. It read 11:35. She bent down to remove her shoes. She didn't want to wake anyone with her footfalls across the hardwood.

She started towards the office, but stumbled over something on the floor; she reached down and retrieved his wallet and its contents, which had emptied onto the floor. The cop in her made her check the contents. Credit cards, a ridiculous amount of cash, she sighed; honestly, who needed eleven hundred, seventy dollars with them. There was also pictures of Alexis, Martha and a goofy one of her, she squinted her eyes, screwed up her lips and groaned. She would have to replace that. There were a couple of Gina's business cards with numbers and notes on their backs and one of Paula's. It was not his writing on card and from the note; she could only assume it was from Paula. She wrote, "Dear Rick, Always remember, get your head out of your ass, and get back to work!" It was signed with a heart. There were red ink marks where he had corrected her grammar. She chuckled. She picked up his driver's license. The picture showed him grinning that lop-sided grin and the eye sparkle was there in full force. Kate wondered if he was flirting with the poor woman who took the picture or was it for the benefit of any female traffic cop who had the honor of pulling him over. Probably both, she laughed and put it away. There was a tiny slip of paper still on the floor. A fortune from a fortune cookie and from the looks of it, it was pretty old. It was just like him to put credence in a fortune cookie fortune. Probably lucky numbers, she thought sardonically. It was well worn and she could barely make out the printing in the dim light, 'The humble man knows that within every success there is the reality of failure.' "Hmm," she hummed aloud and put it back in his wallet. He was always surprising her. She had so much to learn about him. She walked silently through the office, stopped at the safe to lock up her shield and her gun and then continued to the bedroom. She placed his wallet on the dresser, by the mahogany box where he kept his cuff links. She cocked her head to the side as she took in the scene on the bed, humor, and affection playing on her features.

He was lying across the bed, mostly on it, but she knew his legs would be aching from hanging off the side. He was still fully clothed except for his shoes. He was out, sleeping hard on his back and tangled up in the extra blanket he normally kept on the armchair. He was snoring and it was not his adorable little boy snore, this was window rattling. Kate hadn't heard him do that before now. Oh, it had certainly been a day full of revelations. She went to the bed to try to position him a little more comfortably but stopped as she looked at his face. The bruises were in full bloom. Even in the semi-darkness of the room, she could see what he had been through today. It made her heart ache. He was hurt and she could not stop it or prevent it. She smoothed his hair off his face and started to untangle him from the blankets.

He was instantly awake. "What? What's going on?" He yelled it, loudly. He sat up but grimaced as he twisted his bruised ribs. "Ow!"

"Rick, it's okay, it's Kate." Her voice was low and calming.

"Kate?" He focused on her, but was distracted trying to get his arms free of the blanket. She put her hands on his shoulders and shushed him. She unwound the blanket and tossed it onto the chair.

"Kate? I don't feel so good." He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands, flinching when the bandages rubbed together.

"I know." She looked at him with compassion. Her writer boy should not be getting into fistfights and having to deal with the consequences. "I don't think the pain pills are doing you any favors. You are going to have a hell of a hangover tomorrow. Let's get you ready for bed." At her last statement, he leered at her and waggled his eyebrows. She said, "You've got to be kidding me. I don't think you're in any condition for sex."

"Detect…Detecti…Kate, I am in complete control of my…um…my…" She started undressing him. He stared at the wall. "What was I saying?"

She raised an eyebrow and smiled at him. "Uh huh, complete control." She took off his dress shirt and pants. The former made more difficult by him spinning around and insisting he could do it. He finally relinquished control and she had him stripped down to his boxers and tee shirt and lying, with his head on his pillows, this time, all the way on the bed. She pulled up the duvet over him and sat down on the edge of the bed. "I'm really glad you're okay," she whispered in his ear.

He was looking at her, but his eyes were unfocused. "Did you see the…"

"Did I see what?"

"Nothin…there was juss someone here…Lexiss didn't see him either," he slurred and then, in seconds, was back asleep.

"Good night." She said as she leaned down to kiss him. Puzzling. What was that about? Kate went into the en-suite bathroom to get herself ready for bed, she took off her makeup, shrugged into his 'Ruht Ro' Scooby Doo tee shirt, but his final words were gnawing at her. "Someone was here?" She told herself that she was just on edge. She sighed and went to the bed. She lay down, but quickly realized that it was going to keep her awake. 'There was someone here.' The statement hung in the dark space above the bed mocking her attempts to put it out of her mind, let alone sleep. He probably was imagining things, but she decided to walk through the loft. After the couple of days they had, no one would blame her. Kate got up and quietly retrieved her gun from the safe and began her exploration.

He turned on lights in his office, walked all the way around the desk and headed out into the living room. She checked and double-checked all the shadowy places that the darkened loft held. When she turned to the steps, she thought of calling it off. It was late. It was her nerves. She was being over-protective. Her mind was trying to reason with her instincts. Kate usually let her instincts win. So she continued. She crept up the stairs, acutely aware of every sound, and every distortion of the reflected light and shadow she saw, real or imagined. Breathe, Kate, just get a grip. She walked down the hall to Alexis' room and opened the door. Alexis was on her bed, but not sleeping.

"Kate?" Alexis sat up. "What's…" She noticed the gun and got out of bed. "Oh, my gosh Kate, what's going on?"

Kate put her fingers to her lips to shush her and finished her sweep of the second floor. She went back to Alexis' room. "I'm so sorry, Alexis. I had to be sure that the loft was secure. Your dad mumbled something about someone being here and I'm a little bit on edge."

"Kate, it's okay. Yeah, Dad had me going too. He seemed so sure he saw someone. "Um…Kate? Are we in danger?" She asked apprehensively.

Kate smiled at the girl. "No, I don't think so. I think we'll be fine." Kate debated about whether she should tell Alexis about the crazy fan, but decided that she would only upset her. "I think we should both stop listening to your father's drug induced paranoia and try to get some sleep."

Alexis sighed. "Okay." With that, she walked back to her bed. "Good night, Kate."

"Good night, Alexis." She called and then she shut her door.

Kate walked down the steps and over to the front door, double-checked that it still was locked, and went back into the office to stow her gun. She made her way back to the bedroom and snuggled in next to Castle, who was still snoring. She was settling down when he murmured, "Zombies…Beckett…CIA zombies.." She smiled and tucked in for sleep.

Patricia waited outside of a delivery entrance to the hospital. You see, hospitals have rules about which doors can be opened and which ones shouldn't be opened, you know, for security, but the people that work at hospitals aren't really concerned with security, they're care givers, they always think the best of humanity. She just had to wait until someone came out for a smoke. It wasn't a very long wait. A nurse came out and lit up. This was Patricia's lucky day. The nurse was roughly the same build and height as Patricia. She smiled, two birds, one brick. She hefted the brick up over her head as she quickly came up from behind the unsuspecting nicotine addict. She hit her once across the back of the head causing her to crumple to the ground. She dragged her behind the dumpster and began undressing her. She put on the scrubs over her skinny jeans and sweater and took her ID and keys. She studied the ID and drew her hair back into a ponytail, just as Nurse, she checked the badge, uh…Creasey wore hers. She quickly went inside; there was not much time. The delivery entrance was located near an elevator and a stairwell. She opted for the stairs; even on the graveyard shift when there were fewer people working, most people would ride the elevator. She hurriedly ascended the steps to the fourth floor and peered out of the reinforced glass in the door. There was a nurse at the desk on the far end of the corridor. Thomas' room must be the one with the guard. Security, she noted, not NYPD. She calmed her breathing. Patience. She had patience and would only need to wait a few minutes.

Her break came when the night nurse asked the guard for help moving the vending machine away from the wall in the break room. It seems some papers had slipped behind it. The guard looked around and decided that at one-thirty in the morning he could help her. She smiled, her eyes cold, "They are making this too easy," she thought as she silently prowled down the hall to room 407. She opened the door, slipped in, and locked it behind her.

"You are weak and pathetic." She snarled at the sleeping figure. Wagner stirred under the influence of his medication. Patricia approached the bed with an extra pillow left on the chair. "Thomas, you hurt him. I told you not to hurt him." She emphasized each syllable as she brought the pillow down over his face. He opened his eyes just in time to see her there. He struggled, but she held it tight. Then he lay still. She removed the pillow and closed his eyes. She unlocked and then peeked out of the door, the guard had yet to return, but she could hear him laughing in the break room. She exited his room quietly and left through the stairwell. She discarded the scrubs, keys and ID in a waste receptacle on the first floor and exited out the delivery entrance.

Patricia breathed in the clean cold autumn air as she walked down Fifth Avenue. It was time for bed.