Kidnapped Ch.13
Her breathing began to slow down as she started to relax. The soothing sound of her husband's voice speaking to her softly began to register in her mind, and she listened, clinging onto every word like a lifeline.
'Everything is going to be alright, Kate. I promise,' Castle murmured to her, as he felt her body grow limp in his arms.
Just as Kate was about to return to normal, the doctor came into the room with a grim expression on his face. Castle felt Kate immediately stiffen beside him, and he gently rubbed her back, letting her know that he was still there for her. Kate snuggled up closer to Castle as she drank in his comforting presence.
'Mrs. Castle, are we feeling a little better now?' The doctor asked kindly, taking in her pale and disheveled appearance.
'I still can't feel anything in my legs,' Kate admitted softly, as her grip on Castle's arm tightened.
'We have the result of your most recent blood work back. The drugs that your captors gave you do not work well together, which can cause this kind of side effect,' the doctor told her and Kate frowned slightly.
'What drugs? They didn't give me any drugs,' Kate told him, and the doctor shrugged.
'I'm not sure. They could have given it to you when you are unconscious, which would explain this needle mark here,' the doctor told her, gesturing to the area of her hand which was bandaged up. 'Or it could have simply been mixed in your food.'
'It will get better, right?' Kate asked, desperate hope shining in her eyes, and the doctor hesitated slightly.
'In this condition, your muscles are completely weakened. You will need a lot of physiotherapy, and it will not be easy, but there is a very high chance that eventually you will regain full use of your legs,' the doctor answered.
At his words, Kate sat up straighter. She was a fighter, a strong woman who strived on beating the odds. If anyone could take on this challenge and regain full use of her legs, it would be Kate Beckett-Castle.
'What were you thinking?' He hissed at Antonio sitting in front of him. The small lantern in front of him provided a dim source of light, enough to see the ashamed look on his face. 'Did you know how risky it was to get you out of there? Hell, did you even get rid of her?'
'I couldn't. The guy spotted what I was doing,' Antonio defended himself weakly, and the man in front of him gave a mirthless laugh.
'How stupid are you? I've told you countless times: watch out for them. Now the detective is alive and talking, and we have no idea what was in the journal. Now tell me, how do we fix that?' He said quietly, a deadly cobra lying in wait for the moment to strike.
'I will get rid of her,' Antonio promised, a touch of anxiety in his tone, but the man chuckled.
'You've failed twice already. When are you going to do it? Today? Tomorrow? Ten years later? You are already a fugitive. Knowing her friends, your face is already out in the media. Hundreds of thousands of people are on the lookout for your face,' the man told him.
'Then what do you want me to do?' Antonio asked. 'I'll do anything, anything at all –'
Quick as lightning, the man slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a Glock 19. Pressing the trigger with deadly accuracy, the bullet lodged itself between the eyes of Antonio Bolstolk. His eyes were open in terror, and he was dead before he had a chance to utter a single word or make a single sound.
'I need you to be gone so I will have less trouble,' the man told Antonio, staring coldly down at his now lifeless body as he pocketed his gun once again and strode off, leaving Antonio lying where he was. The prey was gone.
'How did the guy manage to escape without anyone knowing?' Castle asked indignantly. 'I thought that the precinct was always swarming with cops.'
'There's a mole in the police department,' Kate answered, her eyes fixed on her bed as she picked at the edge of her blanket listlessly.
'Bolstolk told you?' Esposito asked, and Kate nodded, still refusing to catch their eyes.
'When I catch this son of a bitch, he'll wish that he was never born,' Esposito thundered.
'Don't do anything too drastic, Espo. The baby needs an Uncle to spoil him to bits,' Kate told him, looking up slightly for the first time with a small smile on her lips.
'Don't you worry about that, Beckett. Take care of yourself and the little fella and let us take care of you,' Ryan told her. Kate began to protest, but Ryan held up his hand and stared at her.
'Kate, this does not mean that you are weak. You've done your part, survived and told us about the diary and everything that you know. Now, you need a much-deserved rest, and let us deal with everything else,' Ryan told her firmly, knowing that the one thing that Kate hated more than anything was to appear weak in front of anyone.
'I know,' Kate answered, and Castle hugged her tighter, glad that she was finally agreeing to slow down a little. 'But I get bored with nothing to do.'
Looking at the satisfied smirk on Kate's face, Esposito laughed, and reached into his bag, pulling out a thick, pink book. Kate's eyes lit up as she saw it, recognizing it as the diary that the kidnappers kept asking her for.
'We figured you will be, so we got you something to keep you company. You can go through the diary with Castle, if you want to,' Esposito told her, smiling as she literally snatched the book right out of his hand.
'Don't let her work too hard, Castle, or we will come after you,' Ryan threatened, pointing a finger jokingly at Castle.
'Oh, I definitely won't,' Castle answered seriously, and the boys nodded, knowing that Kate was in safe hands.
As soon as the boys left, Castle gently took the diary out of Kate's hands, ignoring her whimpers of protest.
'Kate, you need your rest, go to sleep,' Castle told her, and Kate glared at him half-heartedly, the glare failing miserably as her eyes began to droop. She felt like someone had managed to tie a brick to her eyelids; no matter how badly she willed herself to stay awake, her eyes refused to cooperate.
'The diary will still be here when you wake up, and your body is exhausted. It's trying to repair itself, and take care of the little bundle in there,' Castle told her, tapping her stomach gently with his finger. 'Go to sleep.'
'Stay with me, Castle?' Kate asked, as she began to drift off.
'Always,' Castle answered, dropping a small, loving kiss onto her forehead.
Looking through the window, the man sneered slightly. Kate Beckett was becoming more and more of a hindrance as time went on, and she must be stopped.
She had not been cooperative at all when it came to information that he needed, but he knew enough about her to know that she will not cease investigating into her own kidnapping, regardless of whether she was allowed to do so.
Glancing at his watch quickly, he strode off with only one thought in his mind.
Kate Beckett must be taken care of. The loose end must be snipped off before it can ruin the whole picture.
A/N: Since there were two cliffhangers from the last chapter, I decided not to end this chapter on one, and made it a little nicer than my last chapters. I really hope that you all like it, and that you all enjoy it. I know that I really should be studying for my maths test, but oh well, right now, fanfiction trumps school work. :D
As usual, PLEASE REVIEW. Criticisms are much appreciated, but no flamers please.
Special thanks to Bianca tabbycat for betaing this chapter for me.
Zoe tabbycat