Chapter 12

Here you go. I know you've been waiting a long time for this reunion!

"Agent Logan, I think you should leave. Mr. Castle is looking really tired." Sophia the nurse told the agent, since Castle didn't know how many more questions he could answer.

The agent had gotten there and explained that he was at the well site, which was only about ninety miles away, versus coming from DC, which was twice that distance. He longed to see Kate, Martha and Alexis, but now he was hardly able to keep his eyes open, even though he was lying down.

The agent had come in and started off with routine questions. Castle didn't think it would take that long, but an hour later he was so glad to see Sophia he almost kissed her.

The agent wasn't arguing. He put his pen and pad away. He looked at Castle one last time before walking out. "Mr. Castle, I stopped and looked in the hole you came out of on the highway. I have to say, I saw the crater that was created over at Lynn's Meadows, the fact you came in one side and out the other, it's extraordinary."

Caste wasn't usually humble but he couldn't help was used to using that word to describe Beckett. "Lynn's Meadows?"

"Oh, that's the name of the area you were, um, left in." With that the agent left.

His words sunk in while Castle sat alone in his room. The impact of what he had fully accomplished hadn't set in yet, and the time it took him wasn't something that registered. He only knew it was five days earlier because the agent had told him. He went on to tell him some other details he already knew from his father, but he tried to act surprised at hearing the information the second time. It would be too complicated to explain who Jackson Hunt was.

The agent had asked how he got through the cave. The camera Castle had torn out had recorded his early movements, so it was verified Castle at least had been down there at the beginning. No one dreamed he had managed to get out of there before the room collapsed. Apparently some kids had been joy riding on four wheelers and tripped the charges. They were lucky they weren't directly over the spot since they probably would have been killed going down.

Castle told Agent Logan as much as he could remember from pulling the camera cable, which revealed the start of his journey to the sunlight streaming from the sunrise that morning. Of course, Castle didn't reveal the people who were with him during that time. He was so tired he was worried he would slip out one of their names, but luckily that didn't happen. Castle wasn't even sure if he should tell Kate, mainly because he didn't know what to think about seeing Johanna. Kate was so protective of her life back then and he felt like he had stolen some memories from hers. He wanted to be careful on how to handle it.

His eyelids were growing heavy and he almost gave into sleep but noises out in the hall got his attention. He heard steps of people who sounded like they were running and before he could call out, the door burst open and in came Alexis, Martha, and Beckett.

Alexis threw herself at him and Castle was happy to have her, except he had a face full of red hair. She was still crying and he wondered if she had ever stopped after his phone call to her. "Dad, I thought we'd never get here. It took forever."

He heard Martha's voice in a gentle tone, "Now Alexis, sweetie, he's not going anywhere. Give him a chance to breathe."

"Oh," she said, and her arms released him. She stepped back and his eyes followed the women: Alexis was in front, his mother next to her, and then Kate standing at the foot of the bed. The brunette didn't say anything, but Castle's eyes traveled down her form and he saw how she was gripping the bed brace very strongly. She was doing her best to hold it together.

"I'm so glad to see you. I'm sorry I worried you." He flinched at the lameness of his words.

Martha put her purse down to his side, and she leaned into him. "Oh Richard, darling, couldn't they have given you a razor? You look so unkempt."

Normally her typical Martha reaction would have annoyed him, but now it just felt so comforting. "Sorry Mother, there wasn't time to stop at a barber shop before coming here."

"Well, no matter, we'll make sure to get you some supplies so when you leave here you won't look like Grizzly Adams."

She stepped aside and he had a clearer line of sight to Kate. She now approached him, almost shyly. "When did they say you could get out of here?"

"Oh," he forgot he was supposed to be annoyed at being forced to stay at the hospital, but the bed felt so good he really didn't want to go anywhere. "They wanted to have me take tests, make sure I don't have any infection—"

"Infection?" both Alexis and Kate repeated simultaneously.

"Just a precaution. I have been underground for a few days and might have picked up some unwanted bacteria or something."

Martha had moved to the other side of the bed. She was nodding along to his statement like she had visited cave dwellers for years. "Yes, you can never be too careful. When will we know you're clear?"

"Hopefully tomorrow."

Kate mouthed the word 'good' but she voiced no sound. Now that she was closer Castle could see plainly she had been crying and she looked even more exhausted than he felt. He longed to hug her.

Alexis pulled up a chair and sat down, noticing his hands. "God Dad, look at your hands."

He had become so used to them he forgot what they must look like the first time. "Yeah, they put some medicine on them before and after they let me shower."

"They let you shower?" Kate asked. She looked like she had a million things to say.

"Well, they were wary of letting me do even that, but I offered to make a generous donation to this clinic. Please, will one of you remind me later?"

Martha smiled, glad to have something practical to do. "I'll make a note."

Castle's eyes went back and forth from Kate to Alexis. Alexis's expression began to change from relief to concern. "What's wrong, pumpkin?"

"Nothing," she didn't get into it. Then suddenly she changed her mind. "Dad, you have a lot of gray hair."

Maybe he should have found a barber. "Yeah, well, that's from being underground too long."

"What?" Kate asked, her voice rather hoarse.

Taking a breath, he tried to explain, "When you go days without sunlight, your hair and skin can change color. Some people have emerged from being trapped in caves with completely white hair. Remember, Alexis, we learned that at Cumberland Caverns."

Alexis laughed, "Dad, that was one guy who came out after being trapped on the edge of a cliff like, for weeks. And it wasn't because of lack of sunlight. It was due to shock and stress and oh, I forget the disorder. It's caused by the loss of melanin … but I doubt it happened to you. You stopped letting that one day stubble happen because you saw gray h—"

"SSSSHHH!" He checked the door to make sure a nurse wasn't coming in. "And that isn't true."

The expressions on his three favorite women told him they believed otherwise. "Fine, but it's going to be gone before I leave here."

"What is the IV for?" Kate pointed to the device.

"Oh, they are giving me something to help supplement the missing nutrients of my body. They aren't letting me eat very much. I had some water since being here but only a small amount. I keep asking for more, but Nurse Ratchett won't budge."

"Nurse Ratchett was over a mental hospital, Dad. You're not there," Alexis said dryly. "Yet."

He grinned. It was a good sign she was joking. Kate still looked humorless and he remembered how they all thought, at least for some time, he was dead. "Listen, I'm so sorry about what you guys went through, believing me to be … I can't imagine how that must have felt."

Martha rubbed his shoulder, 'We're just glad you're back, that's what is important."

He smiled at his mother and everyone smiled back. His head dropped and Kate responded. "You need to rest, Castle, God, how long has it been since you slept?"

"I slept this morning!" He didn't add he was half submerged in water. "Besides, you just got here."

"No, Dad," Alexis said, pursing her lips. "Lean back, you can barely talk to us now."

"I just …" he scooted down so he could be more comfortable. "Okay, but just a little while. I worked really hard to get back to you." He was asleep before he said the word back.

Opening his eyes, Castle noticed sunlight was still streaming through the windows. Castle figured it was later in the day, probably afternoon. Looking around, Kate was sitting on the other side of him. He didn't know where his mother or daughter were.

"Hey!" The smile she gave him would have been bright enough to light up that cave.

"Hey yourself," he said. "Where is everyone?"

"They went to get breakfast."

"Breakfast? Did you skip it when you came here? Must be sort of late to have that now."

Kate's slightly frowned, "Castle, you've been asleep for almost eighteen hours."

His smile faded. "I haven't!"

"Yes, you have. The doctor said it was good for you, that your body was recovering on its own."

He sat up. It was hard to believe so much time had passed. He honestly felt like he just closed his eyes. "Wow, that's so weird. Um, what have you been doing this whole time?"

Kate reached for his hand and absentmindedly stroked him arm. "Well, Martha went to the store and got us some things. We ran out of the house so fast we didn't take any overnight clothes."

"You all slept here?"

"We didn't really sleep. We took turns on the couch in the waiting room." Kate brushed hair out of his eyes.

"You didn't have to do that. You could have taken a hotel room or …"

Kate leaned into him where he could feel her breath on his cheek. "Castle, we weren't about to go too far from you."

"Oh." His mind went blank with her so close. She leaned in closer and their lips brushed, then again. She started to pull away but he reached for her cheek and brought her back. This time it was a real kiss, though gentle and soft, he could feel the stress of the last few days leave him by its power.

When she broke away, he was surprised again at the tears in her eyes. "Don't cry. It's okay. I am so sorry…"

"For what?" Kate said, she reached up and took his hand off her cheek. She turned it and kissed the back of it. "You're not responsible for a crazy, psychotic fan deciding to make you his victim."

Castle found it hard to concentrate when Kate resumed her kissing. "Yeah, well, I probably should have told some people. He gave me the heebie jeebies and I should have sensed …"

She shook her head. "No, Castle, I don't want you dwelling on that. You got out alive; that is the most important thing."

He couldn't argue with that. "I guess. I just … it seems so obvious now, I suppose."

She didn't respond, but kept holding his hand. Castle was content watching her hold his hand. He could do that the rest of the day. "It's gone public that you went through an undocumented cave."

"They going to name it after me?"

The look she gave him told him it was too soon to joke. "It's gotten the interest of some national organization in charge of documenting caves. But first the FBI thought they would try to retrace your steps from where you ended up."

Castle's mouth dropped., He hadn't thought they would do that. "That isn't a good idea. I mean, unless they are some professional cave explorers."

Kate leaned back, her face unreadable. "They aren't. They ran into some underground stream you were in and couldn't get past it., They don't know how you got in there."

"I told him—" Castle stared them realized he might have left some things out when he was speaking to Logan earlier. "Oh, I guess I forgot. I thought I told him I swam down the river or whatever it was, but I had to go underwater for a long time. It was risky but I had no choice—"

"God, Castle," Kate stood up, frustration evident in her body language. "What other crazy stunts did you do down there?"

He didn't reply. He didn't really know what to say. He knew she wasn't that angry at him, that she was just realizing how very close he was at dying. "It's not like we haven't done our share of stupid things to get out of dangerous situations."

"Yeah, but when we do it we are together." Kate said, "I don't like you jumping in head first when you're alone."

"I wasn't—" he stopped before he finished. He almost said he hadn't been alone.

Before he had to answer, in came Martha and Alexis, "Look who is finally up!" The older woman exclaimed.

"Yay, we can get out of here now," Alexis said happily.

Castle forgot about what he almost revealed to Kate. "Oh, does that mean I'm clear to go?"

Alexis hugged her father. "Yup, your tests came back all clear."

"Good!"

He started to get out of the bed but realized he needed clothes. As if reading his mind, Martha grabbed a sack and handed it to him. He took them while getting up. When he passed Kate, he looked her straight in the eyes but he couldn't tell how much of what he accidentally let slip out registered.

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