Disclaimer: I do not own Castle

Chapter 5

Castle stopped by at a café before taking a cab to the address Kate had texted him. He bought coffee for her, De-cafe of course. She was in such a hurry this morning, he knew she must have not gotten a chance to grab a sip of anything.

When he reached the address, he saw her car parked out there in the street, along with Ryan and Espo's vehicle and another cop car. He thought it would be better if he waited outside for them. So he leaned back against her car and waited. 15 minutes later, he saw them walking out of the building.

"What's wrong, did you get him?"

Espo came up to him and said "No no, he disappeared"
Castle noticed his frustration.

"That's strange, I didn't see anyone leaving the building, and this is the only exit."

Ryan and Kate had now reached them too.
"Castle, how long have you been standing here?" Ryan asked.

"A good 15-20 minutes"

"And you're sure you didn't see anyone leave the building?"

"I've had my eye on that exit ever since I got here, there's no way I would have missed him"

"guys, have uniforms go through the building once again. He's got to still be in there somewhere" Kate said and she stepped forward, closer to Castle.

The two of them nodded and went about to instruct the other uniforms.

"Castle, thank god you're here. We need to talk"

"Kate, it's alright, you're in the middle of a case, we can talk later."

"No, I don't want to put this off any longer. Rick... I've been acting so irrational, fighting you every time you suggested…"

And that's when something caught Castle's eye. A tiny spark in his periphery vision. Bile rose in his throat as he looked straight at the source, and without thinking he knew what he had to do. And his next move was so swift and everything happened so fast.

Kate saw it, the moment Castle's body went stiff, the moment his eyes widened and panic filled him, and he yelled "Kate!"

And the next thing she knew, she was pushed down to the ground by his hands. She fell on her side and a shock of pain went up her body, originating from her pregnant belly. But that was the least of her worries, because what she saw next was two bullets go through her husband's chest, and he fell back against her car and down to the ground beside her.

"Castle!" she screamed. Her pain taking over her entire body. And even that pain was numbed by the sight of her husband, bleeding out before her.

Immediately, there was chaos around her, Esposito and Ryan were the closest, both on their phones, calling an ambulance, calling cops, she didn't care who, she had dragged herself closer to him, she put her hand on his bleeding wound, the tears from her eyes wouldn't stop falling. He was struggling to keep his eyes open.

"No!" she cried out and then a shrill scream sounded out of her, the pain in her womb getting unbearable.

She held on to his shirt "no… don't..." she was struggling to fight through her own pain. He was looking at her, a tear rolled out of his eye when he blinked and he didn't open his eyes again.

Suddenly there were paramedics around them. Someone was telling her to breathe deeply, to calm down.
She wanted to punch him. She was in pain, her husband was dying and her baby might be too, why would she be calm!?

They lifted her onto a gurney and she cried out loud. She didn't want to leave his side, but the last thing she saw was them putting him into another ambulance. And his name was the only thing her lips could manage to say... like a prayer that she kept repeating to herself.

All of this, this was a nightmare. 'This can't be real' she tried convincing herself, oh but the blood on her hand told a different story.

She closed her eyes again and screamed. Her baby was in pain. And her Rick was in pain too. And both of them, her lifelines, were now facing death… all because of her, and she knew now, this was not a nightmare she could wake up from.

The paramedics around her were saying something to her, but she couldn't hear. Her ears felt blocked, and suddenly, her vision began to blur too. And she shut her eyes tight. The excruciating pain, becoming more and more unbearable.

And the last thing she saw behind her eye lids before entering a state of unconsciousness was the image of Castle and their little baby girl, pale, and not breathing.

Everything was dark around her. And that bitter smell of blood filled her nostrils. She began to shiver; it was cold, freezing cold. And that's when she felt it. Rather, didn't feel it. It was emptiness. She felt empty.

Like some part of her was missing. And that's when she moved her hand down to her waist, she couldn't see anything, everything was so dark. But she could feel it. Her stomach. It was flat. Her baby? And even before she could think it, she heard a voice whisper to her

"Murder" it said.

And she shut her eyes tight at the sound of the word

"my baby..." she whispered.

And that voice spoke again. A little louder this time.

"Murderer" it said.

"No…" she cried. A tear rolled down her skin as she tried to fight the voice at her ear, calling her a murderer.

Then there was light somewhere and she squinted her eyes to look at it. It was too bright. And she saw an outline of someone. It was Castle. But she couldn't be sure.

"Murderer" he said. That was his voice. She was sure then, that was him. But he was calling her a …

"Castle… our baby…" she cried out to him.

"You killed her Kate, you killed me too"

"NOOO..." she cried out. "Nooo... please..."

Castle disappeared and now she saw an outline of a crowd before her. Why was everything so bright? She thought.

And then all of their voices resounded in her ears "You're a killer, a murderer" and she cried bitterly.
What had she done! Her baby, her love. She closed her eyes and tried to hold her breath, she didn't want to live this life, she had killed them. She deserved death too. She deserved pain, the same pain she had put them through.

She held her breath until her lungs ached and tired and she allowed herself to drift into the darkness too.

Leave me a review maybe? :)