HOLY FREAKING CRAP! You guys are amazing! The reviews got up to 74! I'm sorry I haven't updated in a few days, but I just couldn't keep up with the reviews.
Disclaimer: I don't own Castle, unfortunately. I would not be handling 8 dogs this weekend if I did.
Previously on Help Me:
"Family of Richard Castle?"
Martha, Kate, Alexis, and Lanie stood up.
"I'm afraid I have some bad news."
The four women were stunned, but Kate was the first to recover, "What's wrong?" The surgeon sighed, "His spleen ruptured, and his left lung collapsed."
The redheads and Kate had tears in their eyes, blurring their vision. Lanie, however was going over the things that could have caused that to happen. The surgeon looked back at Kate, "We fixed the spleen and he currently has a chest tube to keep the lung inflated. Unfortunately, when we opened up his chest, we discovered that the damage to his lung is far too extensive for us to be able to fix."
The group looked bewildered at the doctor's words. Martha spoke up, "What are our options?" The surgeon looked at Martha and she said, "Well, we have two options. We can either get him a new lung and we do a transplant, or we leave the chest tube in, keep him on a ventilator, and hope that it repairs itself."
Alexis couldn't hold in her emotions any longer and tore into the woman in blue scrubs, "How the hell could you even suggest the second option? That is my father, and I'll be damned if I let you leave him there!" Kate and Lanie hurried to rein in the angry redhead. While Kate and Lanie drug Alexis back to the seats to get her back under control, Martha said, "Do the transplant. I'm sure Kate would agree, and we know that Alexis does." The surgeon nodded and walked back through the double doors, leaving the four women alone again.
Kate looked to Martha with a questioning expression. "Transplant," was all she said to the distraught detective. Kate nodded and turned to Alexis, stroking her hair, trying to get her to stop crying.
After three more hours, the surgeon came out again, and the four women flocked to her. "The surgery went well. He is in the recovery room right now. He should be waking up any time now. But before you all go in to see him, I want to warn you, he doesn't look like himself. He is very pale and has several things in casts. But the thing I want you to remember is that he should recover just fine. He will probably be back to his normal self in about four months, maybe longer."
The women nodded and the surgeon made a "follow me" gesture with her fingers. She led them to Castle's room, and Martha, Alexis, Kate, and Lanie all gasped at the way Castle looked.
Rick's head swam as he became conscious again. He felt a throbbing pain in his chest and abdomen. He looked at the door because he heard voices coming from that general direction. He registered five women walk into his line of sight. He looked at each one individually. He saw an older red haired woman, a pretty brunette, a young redhead with blue eyes, and another brunette.
"Oh my god, Rick!" Kate exclaimed. Rick looked at the tall one who just spoke to him, "I'm sorry, but, who are you?"
Okay, let's get the reviews up to 85. You guys think that's possible? And thank you to all of you who review, and again, I'm sorry I didn't update right away. Remember, 11 reviews until you can find out why Rick doesn't recognize any of them.