Chapter 8

So, I started writing this on the last day of me being 14 years old. To a new chapter in life. Hopefully a better one than the last decade.

And: to my best friend, may this be the first, but definitely not the last birthday we celebrate together.

Rick was sound asleep when Kate woke up from passing out. He was laying with his head on his arms, on the bed, while still sitting in the chair. His hand was holding her right one. "So cute" she mumbled out loud.

"Yeah, you're right, it is." Kate heard someone say. She looked up from her hand, and met eyes with her best friend. "Lanie!" she exclaimed happily. But then remembered sleeping Castle, and whispered, "Lanie…"

Lanie let out a laugh. "Hey girl, glad to see you up again."

"I'm glad too, we didn't really get to talk last time didn't we?" Kate softly smiled as she put her arm out, motioning for Lanie to come hug her.

"No, but let's change that today. So…" Lanie started as she hugged her friend as tight as she could without hurting her.

Kate looked at her, and Lanie sighed. "Girl, do I even have to ask?"

She realized what Lanie was referring to, and blushed. "Yeah well… what exactly do you want to know?"

"Uh, well… what, when, how… let's start with those."

Kate took a deep breath as she started explaining everything. The message Rick left, how she had a nightmare and called him up. How she asked him to come. She told her everything but what the nightmare was about.

"Oh honey, I'm so glad you finally came to your senses. Both of you, but right before that, I could have killed the man. Be glad I didn't." Lanie smiled, but only got a soft smile back from Kate.

"Hey, what's bugging you?" Kate just continued to stare at her hands. "Kate, I know it's not nothing, I mean, it must be something big if you're down after getting together with the man you wanted for so long. What's bugging you?" Lanie took Kate's hand. It wasn't easy with writer boy on the other side of the bed, sleeping, and sometimes distracting her, but she got her attention.

"It was just a dream Lanie."

"One hell of a dream if you're so down like this. Tell me hun, you know you can tell me anything." Lanie smiled as she looked for eye contact.

"I had a nightmare Lanie. The worst one I've had in years… I saw you guys, all of you, how it would have been if I died. I saw Ryan and Gates breaking down next to my body, I saw Rick drowning himself in alcohol, and I saw you… your empty eyes… I tried to talk to you, and you heard me, you felt me, but you were so sad… you had no idea that I was around to tell you I love you, and watch over you. Javi was taking care of you as you cried. You would have been broken if I died…" Kate's voice had cracked, and tears were clear in her eyes.

Lanie tilted up Kate's head. "Honey, it was just a nightmare. It's not real. You're still here, and we're all okay. It was just a nightmare."

"That's the thing Lane, I don't think it was just a nightmare. I saw her Lanie, I saw mom… Right before I woke up, and was pulled away from you, I was in a place with no walls, and my mom was in front of me. She said things she had never said before, she couldn't have said before, like: 'Be grateful you didn't die Katie.' Of course she never said that to me before. And I don't think my mind made it up. She was in her favorite clothes, but different colors and she glowed… like, around her… And before I could say anything, I woke up…"

Lanie sat there for a moment. "Honey, it was a terrible nightmare, yes, but it sounds plausible to me. If you had died, I would have been broken because Kate, you're my best friend, and though we barely see each other out of work, you mean the world to me, and I wouldn't be able to cope without you. I've known you for so long now. So yes, it may have been a nightmare, but sweetie, people live nightmares every single day, and we escaped it. And we should be happy that we did, because otherwise, you two wouldn't be together right now, and yes, maybe the nightmare would have come true, but it didn't. And that's the most important thing. You're alive, and well. We all are, and so, the dream was just a nightmare, just that." Lanie sighed and looked at Kate again.

"About the mom thing? Now I'm not sure about that hun, but maybe it was her, and maybe she is around, isn't that a nice thought? She's looking out for you sweetheart. Always."

Kate looked up and smiled as a tear rolled down her eye. Others threatening to do the same.

Kate and Lanie sat and talked for a while longer. Kate calmed down, and they talked about everyday stuff. And then some more about Rick and her. With the mention of his name, Rick woke up, just let the girls talk for a few more moments until he thought it was late enough to put them out of their misery.

"Good morning ladies. Already missing me I hear?" he grinned.

Kate threw a pillow at him and the smirk disappeared from his face almost instantly. Instead, he over dramatically acted like he was hurt.

"Oh, Katherine Beckett, you wound me." And threw the pillow on the chair. Not like he could throw it back at her, she wouldn't be able to catch it properly with just one hand. He was surprised she even managed to throw it in the first place.

He sat down, and they talked some more, about them, about her wounds and health, and finally came to the subject of who would take care of her when she got to go home.

"Well, I thought, that I could come over every day, or stay at your place for a while." Rick stated.

"Yeah, and then I can come over at least once a week too, just to have a girls night." Lanie grinned.

Kate just nodded silently, while thinking.

"I have a better idea." She said, "I could, if you want, stay with you, Rick, and Lanie could come over, and Martha's home too, so if you need to go somewhere, or Alexis needs you, someone will always be around. But I don't want to-" Kate never got to finish her sentence as Rick nodded.

"No Kate, that's a great idea! I wanted to propose it, but well, I didn't think you'd like it. At all…"

"No, Rick, I do. I think it'll be best." Kate softly smiled and took his hand.

Lanie felt like the was starting to become the third wheel. Luckily, doctor Torrez knocked and walked into the room.

"Good morning Detective. How are you today?" she asked as she eyed Kate. She noticed Rick holding her hand and softly smiled.

"I'm good, not too much pain." Kate said, not lying to her own surprise. "Nightmares though…" she admitted.

"That's to be expected, and I'm glad the medication is working. I heard about what happened before." Dr Torrez said as she looked at the chart.

"Yeah… I don't really know what happened. I just, passed out… but I'm much better now." Kate said, still pretty shocked about it though. She never had anything like that happen, passing out from pain? She didn't even know it was possible. And Rick had noticed she still had this, sorry look in her eyes. She never meant to scare him like that. But she did, and she felt so bad about it though it wasn't her fault. Making her believe that? Now, that's the hard part.

Dr Torrez checked her out, before writing something down, giving the nurse instructions, and then turning back to Kate.

"So Detective, from what I see here, everything is good. Still in place, so the surgeries were successful. I obviously can't really say if they're healing well. It's too soon for that, but what I can tell you is that if everything is going well, you'll still be here for about 3 weeks. Normally we'd send you home but with the number of fractures you have, that's not possible. Besides that, there's not much you can do other than sleep, and we'd like to keep an eye on everything for at least 2 weeks. After that, we'll see how everything is healing and we'll discuss it again. But you must understand I cannot let you go home soon."

Kate nodded sadly. "Yeah, I understand. I just don't like hospitals." She softly said.

"I understand that, but we'd like to make you feel more at home. So if there is anything you need, just press the call button and ask a nurse. We'll see what we can do. I know it's not ideal, but Detective, I'd rather be in that hospital bed for a month than to be home and not being able to do a single thing. Alright?" Dr Torrez really cared for Kate. After all, this was one of the most spectacular cases they'd seen.

Kate just nodded again. Dr Torrez had a point. Here she was taken care of, but the feeling of home wasn't there. But at home, she would want to get up and just end up hurting herself all the time.

This was the better option, 3 weeks in the hospital, and then home, still healing, but more mobile.

Right now she was so mad at herself. Why the hell did she chase after that guy again? Oh, right… She was too damn stupid.

She got herself into this mess, so now she just had to accept the consequences.

This isn't as long as I wanted to make it, and I'm sorry.

I'm working on personal projects + back to school and actually having a social life. So, here's the last update before school starts.

Also: I believe next chapter will wrap this story up. So there will be a time jump. I'm even thinking about splitting the chapter up, and making the very last chapter M rated, for the ones that are reading After The Kiss, and tell me I should write more stuff like that…

Your choice to read it or not. But I'm far from sure yet.

As always, I love reviews and try to learn from them.