Beckett woke slowly, feeling a little fuzzy and muddled, and with a headache that didn't let up even when she closed her eyes again and tried to will it away. A sound from the other side of the room made her open her eyes again and this time she looked over, concerned about Castle. And found that Lanie was sitting on the edge of his bed, leaning over and doing something that Beckett couldn't see.

"Lanie?"

Parrish turned and smiled when she saw Beckett was awake.

"Hey. Good morning."

"What are you doing?"

"Covering up your handiwork," Lanie told her, holding up a small make up kit. "I figured I'd take care of it before the guys saw it."

Beckett frowned, trying to figure out what she meant through the throbbing in her skull. Then she realized what she was talking about and closed her eyes again.

"It wasn't what you think."

She heard her friend chuckle, and opened her eyes in time to see her get up and walk over to the bed Beckett was in.

"You don't have to explain it to me, Kate," Lanie told her, sitting on the edge of Beckett's bed, now, and closing the makeup kit. "You know I've always thought you and Castle make a good connection. Did he give you a hickey, too?"

"We woke up," Beckett said, flushing just a little at the reminder of their position when they'd woken. The increased blood to her face made her head hurt even more, and she winced. "It didn't go any further."

"Too bad." Lanie hadn't missed the pained expression on her friend, and knew it didn't have anything to do with their conversation. "Are you okay?"

"My head's killing me."

"I bet. You've got a nasty bruise. Want me to get a nurse? You can probably have some painkillers."

Beckett shook her head.

"Not right now. I don't want them to medicate me so much that I won't get to go home later." She looked over at the other bed in the room. "How's he doing?"

"The swelling is down, but he looks like someone's been painting his face with all the colors of the rainbow – mainly black and blue and purple. Did he sleep at all last night?"

Beckett nodded.

"All night, I think. They kept coming in with icepacks all night, but he never woke."

Once he'd started to, obviously hurting because he'd groaned and started thrashing – maybe having a nightmare – but the hospital staff had been right on the ball and had immediately dosed him again to put him under so he'd sleep. It had worked, and he'd settled, allowing Beckett to go back to sleep, too, reassured that he was okay.

"The icepacks did their job," Lanie told her. "Aside from the bruises he looks much better than he did yesterday."

Beckett couldn't see him well enough to judge, but she was willing to take Lanie's word for it. She checked the clock on the wall and saw that it wasn't as early as she'd thought. She'd slept much longer than she usually would – no doubt with the help of the pain medications that the doctors had prescribed for her headache.

"Good."

"When is his mom coming home?"

"A few days, still, I think," Beckett said.

"Someone's going to have to watch him, then, if they release him."

"One of the nurses told me that they were planning on releasing him today – after they get an x-ray of his face to make sure there are no broken bones. They had to wait for the swelling to go down, first."

"I can take him home with me if you're tired of his company."

Beckett was surprised at the little glimmer of jealousy she felt with that offer. Lanie wasn't even interested in Castle beyond as a friend, but Kate found that if she was honest with herself – and just then she was, since she was still a little out of it from her own pain medications – she didn't want to share him even with Lanie at the moment. What if he had a nightmare? Lanie wouldn't be able to comfort him the same way she could. Trying to figure out how to decline the offer without letting any of those inner musing show she hesitated, and Parrish smiled, knowingly.

"Never mind. We can send him home with you."

Kate flushed again, aware that she'd exposed thoughts to her friend.

"I just… I don't know…" she gave up, and closed her eyes again. Blushing hurt just then and her head was pounding. She pressed her hand against the bandaged area trying to rub out the pain and only making it worse.

"I'm going to get you someone to take care of that headache," Lanie said, realizing that it probably wasn't the best time to tease her friend. "They can give you something that will keep the pain down and still let you function enough to go home. Not to mention, you should probably eat something."

Beckett nodded. If she could get her head to stop pounding, she'd almost certainly eat something.

"Thanks."

Lanie left and Beckett took advantage of the lull to go to the bathroom and change from the clothes she'd been sleeping in to clothes she could wear home. By wearing them before the nurses and doctor came in, she'd be sending a message that she had no intention of staying another day. She was back in bed by the time the first doctor arrived – not Cutter, who wasn't a residential doctor for the hospital – but one of the first to have checked her and Castle when they'd arrived there.

"Detective," the doctor greeted her, picking up her chart on the way into the room and then coming over to her bed. Since she was sitting up, he had no trouble pulling the mobile lamp over to get a better look at her pupils when he started checking her thoroughly for any side affects of the accident she'd been in and the head injury. He asked her several questions, which she answered as honestly as possible, and ran her through a series of tests, checking everything. Then he made a couple of notations on her chart and stood up. "You look good, Detective," he told her. "I think we can release you today – once you've had a chance to eat and we get the pain under control a little."

"I don't want to be heavily drugged," Beckett told him.

"Understandable. There are alternatives to the really potent medications. I'll advised against you doing anything that might require holding a weapon, but you should be able to function somewhat."

"Thank you."

"She's going to be all right?"

They both looked over and saw that Castle had opened his eyes and probably had been able to follow along as the doctor had run Beckett through her tests. The doctor looked at Beckett, obviously asking if she wanted him to answer that. Patient confidentiality and all that, after all. Kate nodded.

"She's going to be fine, Mr. Castle."

"Good." He looked hung over and still somewhat stoned, and once the doctor put the light on him, Beckett could see that he looked more bruised than he had the night before – although Lanie had been right and the swelling on his face was definitely down. He didn't look as puffy. "Do I get to go home?"

"Not yet," the doctor told him. "I'm going to feed you and see about getting some x-rays. Once we know if there are any broken bones in your face, then I'll know if we need to keep you here or if we can let you go – with supervision."

Castle looked at Beckett.

"Do you get to go?"

Kate nodded.

"Yes. And if they feel safe releasing you, I'm going to bring you home with me until your mom and Alexis get home."

He brightened at that.

"Really? You won't mind?"

"No. I can use the company."

"You need groceries, too," Castle told her, still looking stoned.

Lanie grinned.

"We'll make sure there's food before you get there."