Chapter 3

Sorry that it's been so long.

Also: I know some medical stuff, but not enough. So I'm keeping it simple, and from what I've heard, what I wrote is kind of logical.

Kate called out to Rick before she felt her leg hit something and her world went black.

She opened her eyes when she heard someone call out to her. She could see things moving around her but her vision was blurry from tears and her mind wasn't working properly.

"Kate? Oh thank god you're alive!" she heard someone, but didn't know who, say. She could feel her body being moved, but the pain was unbearable. The last thing she heard before all the lights went out again was, "We're taking you to the hospital Kate. Hang on."

Lanie sat in the waiting room, with Esposito and Ryan by her side. Rick was pacing the floors. They had fought with him, they had. But when a doctor came towards them telling them if they wouldn't break it up, he would call security, they broke it up and just gave angry looks. They didn't want to get kicked out.

They sat there for 30 more minutes. Them with their minds racing, thinking about all possibilities that might have happened and how she was now. They had never been more relieved than when a doctor came out asking for the family of Katherine Beckett.

All of them said yes at the same time while Rick realized Jim didn't know anything about this yet. "We haven't called Jim yet!" he said, but Lanie stopped him there. "We have, he's on his way. But now, let's listen to what the doc has to say."

The doctor nodded and started her explanation with: "She's alive, but she had internal bleeding, that we've fixed in operation. But there were too many broken bones to fix in one operation. Her body wouldn't be able to handle the stress." Esposito and Ryan nodded, as Lanie pulled Esposito towards her for a hug. Rick nodded along and asked, "Can we see her? Is she awake?" he wanted to ask more questions but the doctor, names Torrez, was ahead of him.

"We're keeping her in a coma for now because the pain would be too much for her and her body to handle." Doctor Torrez seemed to know what question came next and gave them an answer before anyone could open their mouths. "We'll be keeping her this way until we can operate to fix more broken bones. If we would awake her, her body wouldn't get the rest it needed, and she would be in pain."

They all understood, but Rick couldn't resist asking. "Do you have any idea when this might be? When she might be ready for surgery?"

"At least a few days, 2 or 3 for the first one. We'll take X-rays in the mean time again of her fully body. For now we did only were we needed to operate. And if there is a second operation needed, we'll probably wait another 3 days. We might even be able to take her out of the coma between the first and possibly second surgery, but we'll have to see that as she heals."

"Okay, but… can we see her?" Rick asked. He just had to see her, to believe she was actually still alive.

"I think it's best that if you want to see her, you wait a day. She has a lot of bruises and is connected to a lot of tubes. But if you really want, yes, but one or two at a time."

The 4 friends, or more 3 friends and Rick, nodded once again and Doctor Torrez excused herself when she got a page saying she was needed. "She's in room 407" Dr Torrez said right before she left.

Esposito, Lanie, Ryan and Rick all turned towards each other. "I don't care what the doctor said, but I just have to see her. I can't get that image out of my head until I see for myself that she's okay." Ryan said and Espo and Lanie just nodded.

"Of course man. I want to see her too, want me to come with you?" Espo asked his partner. Of course he wanted to see Kate, but as the doc said, he rather see a healthy Kate than a broken Kate, but if his partner needed him, he would be there.

"I want to see her too, but I think I'll wait a day. She needs to heal, and we need to sleep. She's okay; that's what matters right now."

Rick was just standing there, absorbing everything doctor Torrez had said. "I don't think she would want to see me. But I do want to see her." Rick said when they calmed down.

Lanie put on her bad side again. "It might not be your fault, but you ran and broke your promise. You don't get to see her." She poked Rick in the chest and he took it. But he wouldn't take it for long, until Kate was better, he would stay away. But as soon as possible, he would go and visit her. He just wanted to know she was alive. And now that he was thinking about it, what exactly had happened? He just realized he still didn't know. All she knew was that she broke a lot of bones, and almost died.

He decided to go for it. "How did it happen?" he asked to everyone and no one in particular. Rick knew from the second he had asked the question it wasn't the right time or place to ask, but he didn't take it back either. He had to know.

Esposito's jaw stiffened, Lanie's eyes went sad and full of pain and all color drained from Ryan's face. Ryan just reached behind him for a chair and almost stumbled over his own feet. The vision of Kate falling down the side of the building fresh in his mind. Her eyes… so painful and screaming for help. He had reached for her, but just felt the wind from her falling on his fingers. Her cries for help made him shiver, and as he saw her body turned and break, he reached for the trashcan and he couldn't help but empty his stomach.

Rick saw this and just felt even worse. He didn't think he realized how bad it actually was until now. Lanie went to help Ryan with calming down and cleaning up himself as Esposito dragged him away from Ryan, into a corner of the waiting room, where no one was.

"What the hell Castle! Not now. Not here." He hissed, not wanting to yell and get thrown out but wanting to make his anger clear.

"I have the right to know!" Castle said back. "You three know, but I have no idea of what happened. So what did happen?" he was pushing and Esposito didn't like it. But somewhere he knew Castle had to know, not just because he was allowed to know, but Esposito also felt like it would make Castle feel bad about himself for not stopping her. But then again… it's not like he himself didn't stop her. He even went with her.

He was still mad at Ryan for telling Gates about it, but now that he thought about it, it was the right thing to do. If he wouldn't have gone with Kate, she would have been okay right now. She wouldn't be in a hospital bed with about two dozen broken bones.

He sighed and decided just to tell Castle.

"We found out where Maddox was staying and went there. The place was clear but when Beckett walked out the door, he hit her or something like that, I didn't see. She chased him up the stairs to the roof. The next thing I know, Ryan and Gates are passing me by, I ran after them, up to the roof." Castle is already putting pieces together, but he still has to hear it.

"We can hear Beckett calling out, for you." Castle's diverted eyes suddenly widen and he makes eye contact with Esposito. He just goes on explaining. "We all ran towards her but didn't see her, Ryan realized where she was and reached out to her. She was dangling from the roof." He swallowed. "Ryan reached out but was just a second too late…" He didn't have to say the rest.

"Oh god…" Castle mumbled with tears in his eyes, looking for a chair with his hand, eyes still locked on Esposito. He find a seat and just plops down. That is how the she got that many broken bones…

There was a long silence between the two of them, and he noticed Ryan was gone, so was Lanie. They must have gone to Kate. He didn't blame them. From what he got from Esposito's explanation, Ryan saw Kate fall… now he got why he was so nauseous before.

He would just wait and see here, until they were all gone, and then go and see Kate.

Ryan walked into room 407 with Lanie by his side. His breath hitched when he saw Kate laying in the hospital bed, her skin too pale for his liking, and with tubes connected to… everything. It made his feel sick, but he also felt reassured in some way, just seeing her chest rise up and down.

"Thank god she's alive." He sighed as he took the chair next to her bed. Lanie stood at the foot of the bed, watching her best friend breath with the intubation tube down her throat, and the machine blowing air into her lungs. It was hard to see, but she could have never imagined what Ryan had been through. Seeing Kate fall, 20 stories, and hitting the ground… She felt sick just thinking about it.

Ryan took Kate's hand, that was laying above the sheet, and clamped his both hands around it. "I'm so sorry I was too late."

Lanie understood why he felt that way, but he shouldn't. "Hey Kevin, it's not your fault. I know you want to protest, but it isn't." She walked towards him and placed her hand on his hands holding Kate's. "She's okay, she'll be okay. She's a fighter. Now why don't you go home, let Javi take you home and get some sleep. You need it. We all do."

Ryan sighed but nodded. He felt like crying, and he was too tired to argue with Lanie. He stood up and walked back towards Javi and Rick.

Lanie lingered for a second longer. She let out a small puff of air and sighed. She turned, before reaching the door, and mumbled something before really making her way back to the boys. "I'm just glad you're still alive."

This one took a while… I'm sorry. My other stories had to be updated, and homework didn't help.

Review? They cheer me up! Btw, I have a week of vacation so I can write more, after I finish the pile of homework.