Hello faithful readers! Well, here we are, the final chapter of this installment in the 'Cake-Crumbs-verse' of Castle! But not to worry, this is barely a start to the stories that will be up coming! The next one is going to involve Alexis solving her own mystery of the 12th precinct players after a New Years Eve party (and no, no-one dies, it's a fun and funny story with lots of laughs and happiness) So for the last time on this particular story, go nuts kids!
She relented to go to the hospital, if for no other obvious reason than the superficial one of shutting her boyfriend up. As they'd followed the ambulance in the car, she was spared that indignity, but was given priority as a patient and was immediately escorted into a trauma room to be given a work-up as the nurse ran off her vital info.
'Patient is Meredeth Coleman, age thirty, was found by police in an altercation with a man trying to poison her. Field stats were stable, heart rate is in the one-tens, blood pressure one-twenty-one over sixty-two. No outward signs of trauma.'
'Meredeth I'm Doctor Greyson.' A tall man with a shock of red hair in a cowlick and steady hands gave her a quick eye-exam to check for signs of head trauma, found none. 'Can you tell us what happened?'
'She was having lunch with a colleague who, unbeknown to her, was a suspect in three homicides and had made her a target for his fourth,' Esposito supplied, his back ramrod straight as he stood beside the gurney. He had to smother a laugh of relief when Meredeth's eyes went to slits and she bared her teeth at him.
'Is your name Meredeth?'
'Sorry. Just trying to help.'
'Thanks.' Meredeth sighed deeply, as the adrenaline slowly ebbed from her system. She was feeling cold but that could have been because her clothes had been soaked with poison-laced soda. 'Javi? You know what would really help? Fresh clothes. I'd rather not go home in these.'
'Well, he'll have time. You've got some bumps and bruises and a knock to the head so I'd like to keep you here over night just to be safe.'
'Over night?' The doctor's words suddenly drove home the point Esposito had been making since he found her in Stuart's office. What if this triggered one of her episodes? She gripped the rail of the gurney, pressed her lips together when she felt Esposito's hand close over hers. Craning her neck, she looked into his face, saw the understanding in his eyes. 'Javi?'
'Would you be giving her any medication?'
'We can give her a sedative if you're concerned she won't be able to sleep.'
'No.' Now there was fear in her voice. Meredeth loathed sleep-aid drugs of all kinds, even night-time cold tabs; they always screwed with her brain and made it more likely she'd waking up screaming in the middle of the night. 'No sedation, no drugs.'
'She has night terrors,' Esposito explained to the doctor, who folded his arms over his chest.
'Meredeth do you take anything for them?'
'Not anymore. My shrink says because they're so sporadic now it'd be impossible to get the dose right.'
'Okay.' Greyson scribbled a note onto the clipboard. 'I'll get you admitted for overnight observation, and I've prescribed a muscle relaxant IV to help you sleep. You've been through a lot and you need to rest.'
Greyson left the room, and Meredeth was taken upstairs to a room that was empty but for a few tired sunflowers in a blue glass vase on the window sill. Once the nurse had left to check on the status of Meredeth's prescription, Esposito dragged over a chair to sit beside her, knowing it was where he'd be for the rest of the night. When he link his fingers through hers, she brought them up to her lips. 'I'm sorry for yelling at you.'
'No, don't apologize Mere, not for this. This was not your fault.'
'Never thought it was; it just didn't really sink in that you were only looking out for me by making me come here. I'm glad you did. I mean, if my grandmother moving to Florida can trigger them, then I doubt we'd get any sleep tonight, and not in the fun way either.'
He laughed, then glanced over when the nurse came in and he smiled broadly in recognition. 'Hey Honey-Milk!'
'I was in the ER when I heard the call come in, thought you might like to see a friendly face. I brought you my spare scrubs,' she added, 'instead of one of those drafty hospital gowns.'
'Thanks.'
'Are they keeping you here for long?'
'Over night, so they can watch for any night terrors.'
Honey-Milk nodded, sighed when her pager went off. 'I'm sorry, I have to run. I'll stop by later before I'm off shift, okay?'
She left them alone again, but not for long, as Beckett and Ryan marched in. 'Raines is going to make it,' she announced, 'they've got him up in the OR digging those bullets out of his shoulder. You did well, Meredeth. Most people would have cracked in situations like that.'
As compliments went, Esposito knew it was one of the highest on Beckett's list and nodded appreciatively. 'They're keeping her here overnight for observation, just make sure she gets some sleep.'
'Ah, good plan.' Ryan rubbed his thumb over his nose, reading between the lines perfectly. 'Anything I can bring?'
'Honey-Milk stopped by, lent Mere her scrubs but some fresh clothes for the morning would be good. I'll lend you my keys to get into her place. Oh and someone needs to call her grandmother and let Arturo out.'
'I can speak for myself, you know,' Meredeth chipped in.
'Boys, can I have a moment with her, alone?' Beckett sent her a soft smile as her favourite two-headed monster left them in privacy. She pulled up the chair Esposito had vacated, put her hands on the gurney. 'Esposito's way of dealing with things like this, when he's really worked up, is to talk. And I don't mean like a therapist's kind of way, I mean he gets trots of the mouth and answers any question even when it's not directed at him.'
'Oh.' Meredeth tugged at the edge of the sheets. 'I didn't know.'
'Well, to be fair, most couples' idea of trauma in the first month of a relationship is meeting friends or family, not putting a stalker in their gun-sights.'
'True say.'
'I'm just saying cut him a little break. Not much scares big bad wolf Esposito, but the notion of you in danger turns him to jelly, Meredeth. I've seen you two together, the connection there and the only other people I've seen like that are Ryan and Honey-Milk, and that's saying something.'
'Is that why you wanted them out of the room? To dress me down for being a bitch?'
'Not being a bitch, I've just heard from Esposito you're a very stubborn woman and being one myself I know how hard it is to swallow your pride and take orders you don't agree with in the slightest. So I figured one hard-head to another might do the trick. That plus you'd have a little more privacy to change so you wont' have those two cavemen peeping at your goodies.'
'Esposito has seen me naked before, you know,' Meredeth pointed out as she began to strip in the semi-modest way women had around other women and tugged the scrubs on. They were soft and fresh, navy blue pants and top with green cartoon aliens dancing over them. 'And he quite likes my goodies.'
'There's sexy naked and there's hospital naked. Trust me, I speak from experience with Castle. There's a difference.' Beckett opened the door to let the men back in, not at all surprised when Ryan had his hand politely shield his gaze. 'Ryan she's fully dressed. No need for Esposito to kick your ass. That aside, we've got medical staff to goose, so we'll leave these two alone.'
In private again Esposito stripped off his jacket and toed off his shoes, put his badge and phone on her bedside table. He could see from the look on Meredeth's face that she was feeling just miserable, and knew exactly what cure she needed. 'Move over.'
'What?'
'Move over,' he repeated; when she obliged he peeled back the stingy hospital bedsheets and crawled in beside her. He wrapped his arms around her pulled her close. 'Thought you could use a hug.'
Meredeth said nothing, just let out a shaky breath. His simple understanding of what she needed, when she was so turned inside out she didn't what that was, made her want to cry, but there were no tears welling up. Instead she draped her arm over his waist, let her hand rest on his hip. 'I guess now would be the wrong time to tell you that you've never looked sexier as when you were holding that rifle on Stuart this afternoon.'
'Yeah, it is.'
'I figured.'
'Mostly because I don't think the hospital staff would appreciate you thanking me the way a white knight should be thanked for slaying the dragon and saving the princess' life.'
Meredeth balled her hand into a fist, gave him a light rap. 'Is that all you ever think about with me? Sex?'
'Nah, I think about sex with you when you're not around too.'
'Pervert.'
'But I'm your pervert.'
'Yes you are.' Meredeth sighed as she left her head fall against his shoulder. How had he managed to do that, she wondered, worm his way into her heart so that the thought of being without him was almost incomprehensible? It shouldn't have been possible and yet here she was, five days away from celebrating one-month anniversary with him and six from her birthday he'd already dropped hints about. His pretty-boy looks she'd first seen at Cecil's had belied a sharp, intuitive brain, and the gorgeous body that coated a passionate and generous lover. Combine all that with a love of the Blackhawks, chocolate and a wicked sense of humour, and it was no wonder she'd fallen so hard and so fast for him. He was, in simple words, her love. Her Javi.
Turning her face into him a little more, she breathed deeply. The scent of him - his clothes, his soap, even his sweat - was a better sedative than any lab-created concoction. 'Do you have your costume all picked out for tomorrow night?'
'I wanted to be a soldier again but Castle nixed that, claiming it a cop-out. So I decided on a pirate. What about you?'
'French maid,' Meredeth said drowsily, making Esposito uncomfortable hot under the collar. Now was most definitely not the time for naughty thoughts to brew, he chided himself. 'You have to go back to work soon?'
'No. I'm staying right here.'
'No nightmares, not tonight,' she mumbled as she fell into the sleep she hadn't realized her body was begging for. When she was out, Esposito kissed the top of her head, still holding her close.
'No, not tonight. Javi's here. I won't let anything happen to you, my love.'
FIN
R&R&Enjoy.
