So here is the next chapter, told you it wouldn't take long. Please excuse my slightly bizarre writing style, just trying out something new but it looks like its making the paragraphs look a little weird, I'll figure it out soon enough. In the mean time, enjoy!
An hour passed and nothing had happened, the elevator hadn't moved any further and Esposito hadn't called back. Kate checked her watch, it was nearly 10pm and she was trying to ignore how hungry she was getting. Usually she could handle it, forget about it for a few hours, run purely on caffeine, but after thinking about the burgers she was about to have and saving a little room for that shake she had been planning to get, her stomach was beginning to growl at her. She was bored, she was hungry, she was freaking out about her still unconscious partner and she was cold. She had pulled her coat on but at this hour, with next to no one in the precinct, they had turned the heating off.
She was sitting in the corner beside Rick with her arms wrapped around her tightly, if it got any colder she would have to say it was freezing and she knew where her mind went when she was freezing. She didn't want to get there, she didn't want to let herself think about being trapped in that freezer, wrapped up in Castle's arms as they slowly slipped away. She had slipped first, but he had woken up last and there was no way to describe how scared she was when she was standing there waiting for him to open his eyes. If he had died trying to save her life...she wouldn't be able to handle that.
She did it, she let herself get there, and without thinking about it she reached out and grabbed Rick's hand, squeezing it tightly for comfort. Even though he couldn't give comfort back, just holding his hand was making her feel a little better, just knowing that he was there even if he was asleep. Because that was it, he was just asleep, he hit his head and now he was just being lazy and childish trying to sleep in on a Saturday morning...she had to keep telling herself that or she was going to lose it again.
"Ow...I know that holding my hand is a dream come true for you, but I would really like to keep the blood circulating." His voice was low and quiet, but it was enough to make Kate almost leap into the air with joy.
She sucked in a deep shaky breath and rested her head back against the wall. It felt like something had been gripping her heart tightly and at the sound of his voice it had suddenly let go. Her free hand shot to her chest, covering her scar as it pulled painfully at the sudden movement. She continued to breathe heavily while fighting back tears of relief. After sitting here for so long in the dark, no movement from him at all, her mind had begun to start believing that it was a possibility that he might actually be dead. She wanted to slap him across the face now for scaring her so much.
She didn't register what he had said and ended up holding on tighter. "Ow! Wow, that is some grip! Could you just...just a little bit please?" He whimpered and she immediately let go.
"Sorry Castle, I-I..." She couldn't get her thoughts in order, her mind was reeling from the stress of the past hour. Her whole body ached, as if she had been being suffocated for the past hour and all of a sudden she had room to breathe again. She had been so still and so tense that once she relaxed her body was screaming at her. She cringed as pain shot up her spine when she tried to turn her head, maybe she would need to take some time off work after all.
"Oh, it's no problem, just...where are we? What's going on?" He asked as he tried to lift himself up into a sitting position, but the moment he lifted his head it screamed at him in protest. "Ow! God damn it! My head is killing me; did I get hit by a bus or something?" He heard a sudden sharp intake of breath and immediately regretted his joke. How long had he been out? Had she thought he was actually dead? He used the wall as leverage to sit up and he looked over at Kate who was right beside him. She was looking straight ahead, barely blinking, and focusing entirely on breathing in and breathing out, in and out, once and again.
He reached down and took her hand in his own and she held on tightly suddenly, he could feel her trembling although she was really trying to hide it. He lifted her hand and placed a kiss to the soft skin. "Hey, easy, easy Kate... just breathe, it's ok, you're ok...take it easy, breathe." He hummed soothingly to her. He wasn't sure why she was reacting like this exactly, all he knew was that she was trying to balance on a thin wire right now and there were only two directions that she could fall in and neither of them were good. She was either going to panic again and start hyperventilating until she drove herself crazy, or she was going to break down. She started to breathe a little slower again and he thought she was getting control of herself again.
"It's ok, that's it Kate, just breathe...you're ok, everything is going to be ok." He kissed the back of her hand and stroked her thumb with his own. He brought up his other hand and brushed a few loose locks of curls out of her face that had fallen out of her bun and tucked them behind her ear. She was still trembling, but she was getting calmer and calmer as every minute passed by. And then she broke.
She couldn't fight it anymore, she broke down in sobs and collapsed against him. Castle quickly swapped his hands over and wrapped his right arm around her while still holding her hand only with his left hand now. She buried her face into his shoulder and just cried. Rick tightened his hold around her and she turned towards him so that she was seated comfortable on his side. He rubbed her shoulder, trying to bring her some comfort and he kissed the top of her head between his calming words. She curled into his hold even more and grabbed a fistful of his shirt with her free hand, tugging at it, trying to get closer to him.
Kate didn't care anymore, she had been playing a balancing act since the shooting and now she was too tired to fight it any longer, it had only been a matter of time before something like this would have knocked her over the edge and now that it had happened she was glad that he was here with her for it. She didn't want to deal with all of this by herself anymore, she was sick of being alone and she was sick of always being in pain, she needed him right now and he was willing to be there for her so why say no.
Rick alternated between rubbing her shoulder and stroking her head as she soaked the shoulder of his jacket with her tears. He hated seeing her like this, so weak and vulnerable, it broke his heart. All he wanted to do was brush the hair out of her face and kiss away her tears, but even if she was crying on his shoulder right now there was still that damn line that he couldn't cross; not until she wanted him to and doing something like that would cross it for sure. Maybe 40 minutes later, Kate fell silent and began to breathe much slower; she had cried herself to sleep. Rick rested his head against hers and continued to run his fingers through her hair. She had pulled it out of the bun a little while ago, briefly explaining that it was becoming really uncomfortable.
She snuggled closer to him and he squeezed her shoulder with a sad smile. She was in his arms now, but what would happen when she woke up or when they got out of here and she became Beckett again? Would anything have changed between them or would she just act like it had never happened? What did it really matter? As long as she was ok, he was happy. Now that she was asleep, he started to think about the injuries he had. His head hurt like hell, but he didn't think there was very much damage done. He brought his hand up to inspect the wound and twisted his face in disgust when he felt the dried blood on the side of his face. How the hell did he not notice that before? Well, it didn't matter anymore, the blood had dried and there was no more leaking from the cut. He might need a stitch or two but for now he was alright.
Then his phone started ringing. He swiped it up quickly from beside Kate and flipped it open, sighing thankfully when Kate didn't wake up. "Hello?" He whispered, wondering who was calling him at this time of night.
"Castle? Is that you? Oh, thank god you're alright, we've been so worried. Kate said you were out cold and your head was bleeding, Javier called me and Kevin and we've been trying to figure out how to get you out of there. Maintenance is working on the elevator right now, but they took their sweet time getting here, and we think you guys are between the second and third floor. The fire department is on its way to come and get the doors open."
"Lanie, slow down, I did hit my head rather hard and you are making it very difficult for me to keep up with you."
"Right, sorry, I've just been really worried about you guys. How is Kate doing?"
"Keep it down ok, she's asleep right now. If you guys are planning to get us out soon, let me know so I can wake her up, I don't think it would help for any sudden noises to shock her awake."
"She's sleeping? At a time like this? Why is she asleep?" He could hear the suspicion creeping into her voice and he wanted to put an end to it before she started getting any ideas.
"It is dark and cold and she is exhausted, ok? Just cut her a break, she's really stressed out right now." He kissed her head and placed his cheek over the top of it.
He could swear that Lanie was about to make some sort of suggestive joke about the two of them being trapped together, but the seriousness in his voice made her realise that this wasn't the time for jokes and teasing. She decided to let it go and get back to helping get her friends out of there.
"Well, I think Javier is busy yelling at maintenance right now and Kevin is working on keeping him from hitting anyone. Oh, I need to go and let them know that you're ok, they're both worried that you might be bleeding to death in the elevator while the guys are taking their sweet time fixing the damn thing."
Lanie didn't speak for a bit as she made her way to the rest of the team. Rick listened to her explain to Ryan and Esposito that he was fine and then heard Esposito snap at someone for not moving fast enough. He heard some bitter words and a little complaining and then Lanie telling everyone to shut up. Rick held the phone away from Kate so that all the voices wouldn't wake her up. A few minutes later he heard a single voice coming through clearly so he brought it back to his ear.
"Could you say that again, please?"
"I asked if there was anything you guys needed."
"Maybe some food, we were on our way to Remy's for dinner when this all happened and now we're both starving."
"Sure, I'll go and get everyone some dinner, the boys haven't eaten either, I'll get them to work on getting the doors open wide enough to get it through to you two."
"Thanks Lanie."
"No problem, you just keep taking care of my girl there, ok?"
"Sure thing, bye."
Lanie hung up and Rick went back to watching his partner sleep on his shoulder. The torch was still sitting on the floor, the white light was playing gently across her face and he thought it looked like moonlight, it made her look like a sleeping angel. Her nose was still pink and her eyes were still a little puffy from all the crying, but she looked relaxed now, peaceful. He felt a warm glow in his chest and he smiled, how was it that he could fall anymore in love with her? He didn't know how it was possible but as he looked at her now with love and adoration, he knew he loved her even more.
He just couldn't help himself, he kissed her head once again and whispered so quietly it could barely be heard. "You are so beautiful, Kate, why don't you remember how much I love you?" His gaze turned sad as he felt that familiar ache in his chest. Why didn't she remember? How could she not remember? He knew it wasn't her fault, but it still hurt like hell.
"I do." Her voice was so quiet it was almost unheard, but he had thought she was still asleep so it surprised him anyway.
"What?" He looked down at her but her eyes were still closed and she still appeared to be sleeping. That was until she drew her lower lip between her teeth and but down.
"I do remember."
Don't you just hate cliffhangers? I know I do, hate em, worst, most terrible thing ever invented, it is a cruel form of torture, well on the show it is, here it it the perfect time to end a chapter without losing an section of the readers to bordem. So, how am I doing for my first Castle fic? Did I write Kate alright? Was a bit worried about trying to keep to her character as much as possible. There will be another chapter up sometime soon, can't say if it will be later tonight or tomorrow but since my exams are over and my holidays start now I have plenty of time. Reviews always do make things go faster though *wink, wink, nudge, nudge*