Chapter 14

Rick woke with a start as he felt someone sit down next to him. He turned his head to see Jim Beckett lowering himself into a chair. Castle rubbed his face and blinked his eyes a few times. If Jim was just getting here he had probably only been asleep for a few minutes, but his eyelids were heavy and his brain was screaming for more rest. "Hey Jim." He managed to say weakly.

Jim smiled at the writer. "Hey Rick." There was a silent pause as both of them men tried to think of something to say. Jim finally settled on "You look like hell."

Castle looked over at the man in the chair next to him. After a second he started laughing, which got him an inquiring look from Kate's father. Rick stopped laughing and got a serious look on his face. He wondered if it was the stress or lack of sleep talking, but he wanted Jim to know how he felt. "Your daughter is truly amazing. She has such passion, and commitment. These past few days…I've gotten to see a glimpse of how she must have been after Johanna passed away, how consumed she can get by a case. The first night I got her to come home and get a few hours of sleep…but last night…we slept at the precinct. I've done it for one night, and who knows how many times she's done it. She's one of the strongest people I know Jim."

Jim Beckett stared at the writer for a second, taking in the way he talked about Kate, the way his eyes seemed to light up. "Rick, I'm only going to say this once, so listen up. You're a good man, and you and Kate are better than good together. I know how she used to be, and I know how she's been since you came along. It's all over your face Rick, you love her."

Castle returned the older mans' gaze without faltering. After a second he nodded silently.

Jim continued talking. "She's going to pull through this. And when she gets out of here I want you to take care of her. She doesn't admit her feelings easily, but I know her. When she's serious about someone she takes her time, but her eyes light up even brighter than yours when she talks about you."

"I planned on taking care of her sir. I would do anything for her."

Jim seemed satisfied with Castles' response and nodded. Both of the men leaned their heads back. There was still nothing to do but wait.

The two men didn't talk much except for the occasional comment and eventually Jim looked over to see that Rick had dozed off again. A minute later he heard the writers' phone go off but thought it best to let the man sleep. Jim looked at his watch. It was almost 11:00 and he decided it was time to see if he could get any information.

He got up from his chair and walked over to the nurses' station.

"Can I help you?" the young nurse asked in a friendly voice.

"Yes, I'm the father of the police officer that came in this morning with a gunshot wound. I was wondering if there was any news. She's been in there for almost an hour and a half."

"Let me see if they're still in surgery." She said, hitting a button on the computer. "What's her name?"

"Katherine Beckett."

The nurse hit a few more buttons. "He made quite a scene when she came in." she said, nodding in the direction of the sleeping writer.

"Did he?"

"Oh yeah. He tried to follow the stretcher into surgery, yelling about how he promised her he wouldn't leave her. it took two security guards to stop him."

Jim turned and looked at the man asleep in the waiting room chair. He shook his head as he turned back to the nurse. "Sorry…he can be a bit…intense."

"Oh don't worry about it. I've seen worse. And it looks like they still have your daughter in surgery. From the look of it they could be anywhere from another 30 minutes to another couple of hours. It depends on how it goes. I'll let you know if there are any updates." She smiled.

Jim nodded and started back to his seat. He lowered himself into a chair that was almost comfortable and turned his head to the writer as he heard the mans' phone going off again. He contemplated the man sitting next to him. He really would do anything for her.

Castle was suddenly awoken by the sound of an angry New York accent. "Richard Castle if you don't wake your ass up I'm going to do it for you and believe me you do not want that."

He sat up and shrank back into is chair when he saw the look he was getting from the medical examiner. "Lanie…what are you doing here? I thought Esposito was taking you to his place to get some rest?"

She took a step closer and Castle wished he could just melt through the back of the chair. All he could do was shut up and listen. "Rest? You thought I was actually going to rest while my girl is in there with a bullet in her shoulder? No way."

Esposito took a step forward and out a hand on her shoulder. "Sorry man, I tried to keep her at home for a little while."

She turned around and glared at him before turning her gaze back to the writer. "I send you four text messages and call you twice and you don't pick up. What do you expect me to but show up here? I know you guys have been through a lot to get me out of there, and I owe all four of you a hell of a lot more than I like owing people but I ought to smack you."

Castle opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, looking for something to say. Nothing came out. Jim had been watching the interaction and spoke up. "It's my fault. I heard his phone going off but let him sleep. I've just talked to a nurse however, and there's no news except that she is still in surgery. She could be in there for another 30 minutes to an hour and a half."

"At least someone knows what's going on." Lanie said as she walked over to Kates' father and wrapped him in a hug. "How are you doing Jim?"

"Oh I'm alright. As good as can be expected I guess." He said with a weak smile.

Lanie sat next to him and they began talking quietly. Castle assumed they were catching up and he turned to Esposito, who had sat next to him. "How is she doing?" Rick asked the detective.

"She had some bruises, but she's alright. She's handling it a lot better than most people do, but she won't talk to me about exactly what happened. We haven't showed her Gunners' file yet. She doesn't want to see it. "

Castle nodded and then thought of something. "There's…a good therapist I know. He's helped me and Alexis out a lot over the years and he owes me a favor. I could…get her a couple of sessions with him if she wants it, free of charge."

Both men looked down at the woman talking to Jim Beckett. "We'll see what happens. But thanks man." Esposito said.

The group passed the next half an hour or so in relative silence. They took turns going to get coffee from the stand down the hall. Lanie and Esposito had gone to get a refill and were on their way back to their seats when they saw a doctor walk up to Castle and Jim. Without hesitation Lanie rushed over to stand next to Castle and linked her arm with his for support. Esposito was only a second behind her.

Castle glanced over at the two new arrivals and squeezed Lanies arm before turning back to the doctor. None of them could find the words to ask the question that was on their lips. They all stood and looked at the doctor, waiting for him to speak.

The doctor looked around at the four faces looking back at him expectantly. He took a deep breath and began. "Right now she's stable. Her surgery went as well as can be expected. The bullet went all the way through, which is usually good, but in this case it grazed bone in the process, which…isn't as good. Small fragments of bone became lodged in the surrounding muscle and tissue and we had to make sure we got them all out."

"Well she's stable…that's good right?" Castle asked.

Lanie picked up on the doctors' hesitation and spoke up for him. "Just because she's stable doesn't mean it's a good kind of stable." Everyone looked at her questioningly, even the doctor. "I'm a medical examiner." She said by way of explanation.

The doctor nodded and turned back to address the whole group. "Stable is a good sign, but we aren't completely out of the woods yet. We were able to remove all the bone shards, but she's lost a lot of blood. Her blood pressure is too low and her pulse is weak. She's being moved to a room now, but the anesthesia won't wear off for another half hour or so. You can go in and see her then, but she could be asleep for almost a full day. As long as nothing goes wrong she should be fine. She's either really strong or she has one hell of a reason to hang on."

As the doctor walked away all eyes turned to Castle, who simply walked back over to his chair and sat down.

"What? No snappy comeback?" Esposito joked.

Castle looked up at the group. "In half an hour I get to see her again. We get to see her. We get to see that she's ok." He paused as a huge grin spread across his face. "She's going to be ok." His voice betrayed that he almost didn't believe it, but he stood back up and embraced the group.

Castle then took a few steps off to the side. His phone had gone off while they had been talking to the doctor and he wanted to let the captain and Ryan know what was going on. To his surprise though, the message on his phone was from his mother. It appeared that the captain had called her and told her what happened and when she hadn't heard from him soon she had gotten worried. She didn't say whether or not she had told Alexis, but Castle knew the redhead would want to know. She would be in school but he pulled out his phone and sent her a text. Hey Sweetie. I'm ok but…something happened and I need you to call me as soon as you get a chance. Love dad. When he was done with that he called Martha. He filled her in on the details of what happened and told her that he was fine. He let her know that Kate was out of surgery and would be sleeping for a day or so but that she would be fine.

"Oh Rick I'm so sorry. I'll be there as soon as I can." She said.

"No mom, there's nothing any of us can do right now except keep her company. And there can probably only be one of in there at a time. You don't need to rush down here. I'll let you know when she wakes up and you can come see her then."

She finally agreed to stay home until he called her and Rick hung up the call. He knew she cared about Kate a lot, but she didn't need to be there right now. He had one final call to make. He dialed Ryans' number and waited for the detective to pick up.

"Castle! Any news?" he said, without saying hello.

"As long as there are no more complications, she's going to be ok."

There were voices in the background as Ryan told the captain what was going on. "Anything else?" he asked a second later.

"The anesthesia should wear off in about half an hour and we can go in and see her after that but the doctor said she should stay asleep for the next day or so. Oh and Lanie and Esposito are here."

There was more muffled talking before Ryan said "alright, the captain and I will be over shortly."

Castle tried to tell them the same thing he had told his mother, but it didn't work on the detective and he gave up after a minute. He decided that standing up felt good and decided to go for a walk to blow off the half an hour until he could see Kate. He also hoped that Alexis would call him back before then. He wandered around the hallways, peering into some of the rooms. After a few minutes he felt his phone go off and picked it up without answering.

"Hello?"

"Dad? It's me. What happened? What's going on?"

It was Alexis. "Hey honey."

"Dad tell me what happened."

"Alexis I…It's Kate. She…got shot this morning, after we found Lanie. I'm at the hospital with the team now waiting to go in and see her. she just go out of surgery."

"Oh my god dad! Is she ok? Is everyone else ok? Are you ok? Does grandma know?"

"As long as nothing else goes wrong she should be fine. She's going to be asleep for the next day or so though. Everyone else is ok, including Lanie, who is here with the rest of us. I'm…" he tried to think of how much to tell her. the truth had always been his policy when it came to his daughter, but he didn't know if he wanted her to know this side of him. "I caused a bit of a scene when we brought her in, worthy of the Castle name, but if she's going to be ok then so am I."

"I only have two classes left today, I can skip them and meet you at the hospital. I'll take a taxi or something."

"No sweetie, don't worry about it. She's just going to be sleeping anyways. Plus you don't want to ruin your attendance record."

She seemed to consider the remark. "Ok, but I'm coming over right after school."

"Deal."

They hung up the phone and Castle managed to find his way back to the waiting room. Three sets of eyes turned to him as he walked back to his seat. "What?"

"The doctor just came out again. We can go in and see her now, but only one at a time." Esposito said.

They all stared at the writer who, in turn, stared at Jim. "You should be the first to see her." he said. "She's your daughter."

Jim seemed about to argue but took one look at Castle and simply nodded. He walked down a hallway and turned a corner and out of sight. The three remaining took their seats and waited. There was nothing else for them to do.

A short while later Jim emerged from the room and walked slowly back to the waiting room. Castle let everyone go before him, getting more and more nervous about what he would see when he walked into her room.

Finally it was his turn. The walk down the hallway and around the corner to a small room on the right was the longest walk he had ever taken. His feet seemed to weigh a ton each and with every step he took his heartbeat became louder and louder within his chest. Suddenly he was at her door and his hand was on the handle. He took a deep breather and pushed the door open.

The soft beeping of machines greeted him as he stepped inside. His breath caught in his throat at he saw her lying there. He walked slowly to stand beside her, barely registering the fact that there were tears sliding down his cheeks. If she was awake he had the feeling she would be making some smartass comment about him seeing her like this.

He reached out and took her hand. It was still limp, but it was warm and soft, just as it always had been. "Kate…" he whispered, his voice hoarse. "Oh god Kate, I thought I had lost you."

He lost track of time as he stood there, watching he chest rise and fall, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered except that she was alive, she was breathing, and she was going to be alright.