AN: Rewriting and uploading this chapter took a lot longer than I expected…I apologize for the wait but here is an actual chapter and not just a filler chapter. I hope you enjoy!

FYI: Thank you to the guest who pointed out that this story is not consistent with who knew about Emily and who did not...my deepest apologies for that, it is hard for me to write and remember everything about the story after being on a break for such a long period of time. But I'll try harder!

"Emily, you know that your Mommy loves you very much and that she is trying so hard to wake up and to come back home to you. Nevertheless, Mommy also has to rest up so she can get stronger and healthier." Castle stated as he gently grasped Emily's small chin in his large hand and forced her to look him in his eyes. At her nod and the sight of tears gathering in her eyes, he pulled her into a hug and whispered soothing words into her ear, attempting to keep her calm and her sanity intact.

But he was sure that his was already gone.

He holds her hand, listens to her steady sound of her heartbeat as it rises and falls. She's all he can think about, day and night, 24/7. She is still in a coma and the doctor's keep saying that she hasn't shown any sign of improvement, but to him she has because he just knows that she is getting better. He's held her hand, and talked to her, while giving her updates about Emily and during that time he has felt her hand twitch for half a second, and that's it.

He hasn't visually seen her hand twitch so the doctors keep politely telling him that he is going insane, losing his marbles to be exact, but he knows it has. Even though, it won't twitch for anyone else, not even if they talk about Emily to her, because none of them have the connection that they do. The connection that they have always had since the Alison Tisdal case.

He needs to stop thinking like that because he has less than 20 minutes until Emily wakes up from her nap, and if he keeps following those trains of thoughts then he will go back to Emily in a depressed mood. He swore to himself that he would only make the little princess smile and laugh, so he must be happy for her, excited even to play yet another game of Texas Hold 'Em.

Oh, God, love sucks, he thinks to himself as he lets a few tears fall while giving her a quick kiss good-bye on her temple. He whispers his words of love to her as he collects himself and heads for the door to her hospital room. A part of him doesn't want to leave, but he also knows that if he doesn't leave now Kate will surely kill him for herself when she wakes up.

So, he leaves the room of the love of his life and walks down the corridor to the elevator, reluctantly pressing the down button. He tells himself that only then when he is safely and securely alone in the elevator he will let a few tears disgracefully fall down his cheeks. And that he does.

He almost presses the button for the children's corridor, almost. Instead he presses the button for the lobby; he just needs a few minutes to himself. To gather his thoughts and to properly collect himself for nearly the fourth time in the last ten minutes. On a side note, Emily would probably enjoy and be delighted to have a pastry and cholate milk from the café.

He checks his watch to ensure that he still has ten minutes till Emily wakes up. That means he has five minutes to go down to the lobby and find the café to buy Emily's order and maybe something for himself, too. Then, he will walk the insane maze to her room and sit in his seat next to her bed until she wakes up and he can get officially distract himself by an intense game of poker.

The elevator finally arrived at the lobby; and he rushes out of the elevator, straight to the automatic doors that lead to the only bit of freedom that he has left. He's practically sprinting by time he makes it outside; he makes a right and runs around the corner of the building where he knows no one will be at, and only then will he fall to the ground on his knees and cry.

He hates himself for being so weak but it needs to be done, he needs to get it out of his system. He can't get it all out though, even on his hands and knees as he cries but he attempts to not scream he; he doesn't even yell at the world for all the pain that it has caused him in the past month. He did that the other not in secrecy, at his home on his bed and when he was just pleading for his girls to be okay. All of them.

But he must go inside, he must go back to Emily and hold her hand while they check her vitals o and clean her bandages one last time. He needs to be strong for her while the doctors and nurses fill out the paperwork for her release because today is the day that he gets to take her home. Today is the day that his mother and Alexis are adding the finishing touches on her makeshift-temporary bedroom. Even though, he would love for it to be her permanent bedroom and for her and her mom to move into the loft and for them to be a family.

But he needs to go back inside for that to happen and he needs for Kate to wake-up for the final part of his dream to come true. And that even includes Dunn off the streets, once and for all. The last one cannot happen right away, even with all the shutting stars that he has wished upon time and time again. Bu all that he can do right now is going back inside and pull it together for Emily. She will need him more now than ever before and he will need her too.

This will be a new beginning for them all and it should be one that they start together as a family; a real one and he is as sure as hell going to make that happen. He isn't as down as he was before; he feels a little lighter and a little bit more free. All because of Emily and on that note he reminds himself to thank Kate when she wakes up; to thank her for giving birth and for raising such a bright and wonderful little girl who is going to do good when she grows up one day, just like her. mommy.

Once he has finally calmed himself down, he walks back inside and goes through the motions of every task that he swore to himself he would do He even feels like whistling a little tune to himself while he's in the elevator, but from his episodes in the hospital room and outside, he still feels a little too emotionally drained. He softly smiles to himself when the elevator chimes a sweet melody to indicate that he has reached his destination.

He goes all the way around the corridors and follows the 'corn maze' as he likes to call it, all the way to the farthest and last set of corridors. It isn't hard to tell which room Emily is in as there are two police officers stationed outside her door since Dunn is still on the loose. He recognizes them from the precinct and thanks them they both step off to the side, in sync, with one going to the left while the other goes to the right in a manner to allow him to reach the door. He nods his head at them, and judging by the looks on their faces and their stares, he must look like hell, and he probably does.

He has his hand on the doorknob and goes to turn it right as a voice stops him, it's distant but it's there. He turns around and sees Emily's nurse come jogging down the corridor with a smile blossoming across her face. He pulls the door back already knowing by the look on her face that for once she is the bearer of good news and not bad news. There is just something about the way she smiles and the way the twinkle shines in both of her eyes, and then it dawns of him before she can stop gasping for air long enough to tell him.

Kate's awake.

His Kate is finally awake.

He's trying his hardest to not sprint down the hallways to Kate's room. He's already walking about six inches in front of the nurse and without even looking he can tell that she's smirking behind him. But at this exact point in time, Castle could care less because his Kate woke up, not just anybody's Kate, but his Kate.

Arriving on the floor that she is on only makes him feel a lot more anxious, nervous, and guilty about seeing her in the place that she is. He knows that he probably shouldn't feel guilty, at least not the moment because he's about to reach her door, but he can't help wondering what would have happened if he had just stayed for an extra ten more minutes. He's sure that that will be a question that he will continue to ask himself for the rest of his life. His sleeve is being tugged back and the force of it all finally makes him realize that someone is trying to pull him back.

Turning around he sees the look on the nurse's face; only then, does realizes that they arrived at her door but she won't let him in, why? He's about to open his mouth and ask when she holds a finger up to her lips, motioning for him to be quiet. She's telling him to be quiet, but why? Oh…Kate may have fallen back to sleep and she doesn't want him to wake her up.

He doesn't care about the waking her up part, he doesn't really. And it might make him sound selfish but it's the truth because he needs to see her before she does fall back to sleep. He may not be a doctor, but he's done enough research to know that there's no telling when she will wake up again. Nodding his head in understanding, Castle proceeds into the room on the ICU floor that just beyond the metal door holds his Kate waiting for him. He sneaks a look around the corner of the door after he opens it and his breath catches in his throat at what he sees. Her abnormal, pale skin color blends in so disgustingly well with the pearl white hospital sheets and the gown she is wearing. Little scratches, cuts, and marks are still evident on her face, and her arms that are above the sheets while everything else is hidden. Her eyelids are shut closed and she is completely still as if she sleeping. He is more than halfway tempted to shut the door and walk back outside to have a little come to Jesus meeting with the nurse for not finding him fast enough. He is quickly pulled out of his thoughts only once she speaks up which forces him to realize how long he has been standing in the doorway just staring at her.

"What have I told you about staring Castle? For the hundredth-thousand time, it's creepy!" Beckett says startling Castle as he continues to stare at her and a small smile spreads across her lips, while her eyelids slowly start to flutter open. Their eyes lock and faster than Castle thinks he has ever moved before he has the door shut to give them some privacy and he is sitting down in the chair. He was even moving too fast that he almost tripped over the chair, earning a soft chuckle out of her and taking it in stride as a victory for already making her laugh. Finally, he is right next to her grabbing for her hand and vowing to never let go of her for a split second again.

"How are you feeling?" He asks, genuinely curious of her state of wellbeing since she has woken up and he even goes through the basics of checking to make sure that she doesn't need any more ice cubes, or that she doesn't need any morphine, or the doctors or nurses. He knows that he is nervous, can tell by the way she is watching him with the most amused look on her face that she can currently muster in her physical-state. He keeps rambling on though going through the list of things that he can think of to ask her about when the mini version of the women in the bed dawns on him.

"Hey, you won't believe what I was just about to go do, guess what it was?" Castle says becoming more anxious while grabbing the hand that is closest to him as she watches him lace their fingers together and forming their own secret promise of always.

"What Rick, what were you about to go do that I couldn't belie-" She gets cut off by a violent coughing attack, one that has him jumping up about to grab the control panel that has the nurse call button but she grabs his wrist to stop him and is shaking her head 'no' at him so reluctantly just stands next to her as the attack slowly comes to an end.

"Trust me Castle, I think that if I keep bothering them over one of those attacks, they are going to seriously disable my call button, and I am not even joking this time." Beckett tries to joke once she finishes her coughing episode. He nods his head in understanding as he tries to wrap his head around the situation of what is currently going on and that includes Emily's health status and future living arrangements.

"Anyways Kate, what I was trying to say before is that Emily gets to come home from the hospital today, I was just on my way to go sign her discharge papers and go show Emily her new bedroom." Castle finishes while looking at Beckett with a 100-watt-smile on his face.

"Her new what, Castle?" Beckett asks with a confused, disoriented look on her face while she stares at Castle in a way that makes him feel like she isn't exactly staring at him, but through him. He squirms in his seat a little bit, trying to figure out how to respond to this question; with the new turn that everything had just took.

"Her new bedroom Kate, at the loft, Mother and Alexis called me right before you woke up from your little cocoon, and her bedroom is all set up. It's a surprise, I wouldn't tell her what I was going to do, but she's very excited to go see it today. Actually, she was so excited that I could barely get her to go to sleep last night." He answers, looking at her with an anxious look on his face because now he does not know if his plan will be able to go through.

Ignoring the remark, he made about her sleeping habits lately, she answers him with the first comment that comes to her brain and out of her mouth without thinking about it. "Rick? What the heck do you think you are doing? We need to talk, now."

And then his world shattered.

AN: As normal, comments, suggestions and reviews are always welcomed!