Thanks for the few reviews and alerts I've received. I am not a writer, nor do I pretend to have any skill at it. I do, however, appreciate the confidence boost from you readers. :)

4 hours and 27 minutes later, Beckett pulled into Mount Sinai's parking lot. The drive had been a drive filled with tears, regrets and self-loathing. Luckily, the drive had also been almost devoid of highway patrol which allowed for slightly illegal speeding.

She rushed to the floor Castle was at. Due to the insane amount of times their team had been to the hospital, it wasn't difficult to find. Kate hurriedly found a nurse and asked for information regarding Rick Castle.

"Mr. Castle has just been wheeled into the ICU unit after an 8 hour surgery. We were unaware his family had arrived yet. Take a seat and I'll get Dr. Marshall to come talk to you about his condition."

"Great…. ya, great. Thanks. But um, please, can you tell me how he is. Please?" Kate shakily asked the nurse.

"I'm sorry. I haven't seen him yet. Just take a seat and the doctor will be out shortly."

Of course. From the time she got the call until now, Kate had been in action. She hadn't had to sit and wait on someone else. So, now that she was waiting for Dr. Marshall she was getting antsy and the fear of losing Castle began to creep up even stronger.

What felt like hours, but was only 20 minutes later, Kate stood as Dr. Marshall entered the small waiting room.

"Hello Detective, I'm Dr. Marshall. I was told you are here for Richard Castle?"

"Yes, Castle is my… uh, ya… here. Call me Kate." she stumbled. Smooth, real smooth.

"Well Kate, Mr. Castle was brought in here at 4:32 am with a GSW to his back. The bullet entered just a few millimeters away from his lower spinal cord. During the surgery, we were able to repair as much of the damage that we could, remove the bullet, and keep him alive. When he arrived, he had severe blood loss and was unconscious. Unfortunately, we won't how this will affect his mobility until he wakes up."

Dr. Marshall paused momentarily, letting Kate soak in the details he had just shared with her. He continued when she looked like she was following.

"We currently have him in a medical induced coma. He will need a lot of rest and minimal movement until the swelling has gone down and we can better assess the damage. Mr. Castle is in room 603, down the hall, if you'd like to go sit with him. Our policy is 10 minutes a visitor, but for New York's finest I think I can make an exception."

With that, he winked and looked at Kate. This was her time to ask questions, find out any more information the doctor might have about Castle, but she couldn't care less. She needed to see him with her own eyes before she could clearly think.

"Thanks. Really… Thanks for saving him." Kate said, stronger than she felt.

After a brief goodbye, Kate made her way to Castle's room. She was terrified to see him in that hospital room. She was terrified that he wouldn't want her there when he wakes up. She was terrified she'd have to leave him again.

'Come on, Beckett, pull it together,' said the annoying voice in her head that sounds suspiciously like Castle. His voice had become the voice of reason in the bag of weird that is her brain lately. Ironic, since the man himself was rarely reasonable.

Room 603. She found it with ease, but opening the door with her shaky hand proved to be more difficult. With a deep breathe she entered the cold, sterile hospital room. Immediately her eyes filled with tears as she took in her Castle, lying in that bed all alone. In all the years she was with him, she couldn't recall ever seeing him in a hospital bed. It was usually her lying there, unconscious.

She gets what it's like to be in Castle's shoes now. It sucks.

She moves slowly towards the bed, almost as if she expects him to jump off the bed and yell "Surprise!" at any moment. Her eyes rack his body, taking in all the details she can see as to how he truly is. His torso is bandaged, she assumes because of the gunshot wound. What she wasn't expecting was to see how skinny he looked. His skin was paler than it normally was, even for being washed out for the blood loss.

Maybe he was taking the break up just as bad as she was. After all, she had to shop for a whole new wardrobe after the move… all of her clothes were too baggy on her now.

Finally, her eyes traveled up to his face. His eyes were closed, and he looked like he wasn't in any pain. As she reached out to move the piece of hair out of his face, she finally realized what was happening. Castle, Rick Castle, the love of her life, almost died today. Alone.

She broke.

To Be Continued