Kate goes to the park and sits on the swings wiping the tears from her face. She can't believe he's gone, her fiancée gone forever. She stares at the empty swing beside her. Then her phone rings, it was Lanie, she ignored it, then Javi rang, once again she ignored it and then Alexis rang. Her dad was killed in front of her eyes, there was no way she could ignore this call. "Hullo?" Kate says in a dull voice. "Kate?" Alexis says "Yeah?" Kate said wondering why Alexis wasn't bawling her eyes out, "Its dad, he's alive, come down to the Hospital now!" Kate hung up and ran. She ran 28 blocks to the hospital. The receptionist gave her the room number. As she turns the corner she spots Javi, Ryan, Martha, Alexis and Lanie all sitting outside a room. Kate panics, there were so many people, she didn't want everyone to see her like this, she darts into the bathroom and checks herself in the mirror, her mascara ran down her face, her eyes were puffy and her hair was a mess. After ten minutes she looked more presentable, no mascara and her hair was tamed. She takes a deep breath and rounds the corner. "Kate!" Alexis said and jumped up to hug her. "Hey" She said and smiled weakly, "How is he?" Alexis sighed, "The doctors said there's a 30 percent chance he'll live, he's in surgery now" 30 percent chance, Kate thought to herself, that's low. Alexis sits back on the floor as Kate sits beside her.
The hours past, Ryan had to go home to Jenny and Sarah-Grace, half an hour later Javi and Lanie left leaving Martha, Alexis and Kate. "I'm getting coffee" Martha says leaving the corridor.
"Thank you" Alexis says to Kate, "For what?" Kate says in surprise, "For being there for dad. And for me as well" Kate smiled, "Your welcome." There were a few minutes silence and it was pretty obvious to Kate that Alexis wanted to say something to her. "Kate?" she says in a small voice, "Hm?" Kate replies turning to look at her. "In my life" Alexis pauses, "I never had a motherly figure to look up to, I hated Gina and I rarely saw my mum. But when I met you for the first time I knew that dad would continue to work for you and maybe we could get closer." She takes a breath. "For the first two years we hardly knew each other but when you and dad became closer so did we, and I knew that you were the motherly figure I had been wanting to look up to." She stops and turns to look at Kate, "Alexis, I at the moment do not have a child of my own, but I do have you. You are the most amazing person I have ever met, and I have met quite a few extraordinary people, but you're at the top. And I am honoured that you look up to me and even some times when I'm going through a crisis I wonder what would Alexis do, and that always helps me get by." Alexis smiles and leans her head on Kate's shoulder quickly falling asleep. Martha returns with coffee handing me a cup, "Thanks" Kate mouths to her not to wake Alexis up.
The hours continue to pass, Rick still in surgery. Martha stays awake while Kate and Alexis sleep.
"Family for Richard Edgar Castle?" A doctor asks opening the door of the room. Kate quickly wakes up and so does Alexis, All three of them jump to face the doctor. "We have managed to remove the bullets that were lodged in his chest, they caused quite a lot of damage, as for his cuts they will heal but there will be scars. Any questions?" The doctor says looking at the three women. "Is he awake?" They all ask in sync, "No not yet. Mind you he was dead for 30 minutes." The doctor leads us into the room. There were 3 chairs beside the bed, so all women took a seat looking Rick. He had an oxygen mask on, stiches on his face and two bandages on his chest where the bullets entered.
After an hour Martha took Alexis home, she tried persuading Kate to go as well but Kate wouldn't budge. She wanted to be beside Rick when he woke.