Chapter 3.

Alexis was hyperventilating as she knelt next to Ryan on the ground.

'How badly are you hurt?' she whimpered, as her hands darted across his chest and face.

'I'm ok Lex' he groaned trying to move his shoulder. She ripped at his jumper and pulled the buttons off as she desperately tried to see the wound. His white shirt was starting to turn to red from his left shoulder. She shakily started to undo his dress shirt buttons

'It's ok, I'm fine' he tried to stop her.

'Let me see' her voice was emotional; she pulled the shirt away to reveal toned abs and a crimson covered shoulder. Being Castles daughter she was not squeamish at blood, the number of horror movies they had watched!

'How's it look?' he asked, still laying on the cold ground, she scrutinized the wound, the bubbled flesh and small glint of silver and steady trickle of crimson from around it. She ran a clean hand over his cheek

'It's good, shallow, easy enough to remove, not too much damage I think' she looked into his calmer eyes with her panicked but slowly settling ones.

'You saved me…' She smiled weakly at him, he smiled back.

'Thank you' she said from the bottom of her heart, and lent in and placed a soft kiss to his lips.

.Castle.

'Can you hand me the gauze?' Alexis asked, they were in the precinct medical room. Ryan sat on the examination bench with the first aid box next to him. Alexis had insisted that she help him first, he'd argued until she grabbed his arm and pulled him painfully to the bench, forcing him to sit. He felt shaken, but still very much alive. He was panicking about Beckett and Castle, but at least Alexis was safe. He'd refused to go to the hospital, not until they knew more about the kidnappers.

'Here' he place it in her hand while she continued to swab around the wound.

'Do…do I remove the bullet?' She looked at him with a this-will-hurt look.

'Yeah' he nodded.

'O..okay' she looked in the medical kit and pulled out a pair of sturdy tweezers and an extra wad of gauze to stopper any extra bleeding. She stood in front of him, his knees on either side of her hips, hands grasped around the blue plastic mattress.

'Ok… um how should I…' she looked at him.

'Just grabbed the bullet and yank, better then drawing it out slowly'

'Ok…' with trembling hands she tried to grab the metal in his shoulder, the yell of pain made her whip her hand away 'Sorry! Sorry!'

'Alexis its fine, I need you to get it out' he said panting, no anger in his eyes.

'I…I…ok, brace yourself' she pulled his right hand up to just above her hip bone, an anchor for them both. That way he could indicate how much pain he was in and she could tell. She steadied her hand again; her left one holding his shoulder firm while the other slowly wrapped the tweezers around the bullet. His left arm jerked up and grabbed her right forearm tightly. His fingers dug into her waist, as she had to twist the bullet to ease it from his skin. He gasped a few pained breaths and she whispered apologies over and over again. When she finally dug the pelt from his shoulder she quickly placed the gauze to the hole to block anymore bleeding, making his growl.

'You did great Lex' he said reassuring her as she dropped the bullet into an evidence bag.

After a short while, regaining both of their breathing Ryan said,

'Ok let me fix your shoulder now' he got up and walked up to her.

'It's fine Ryan, really, we need to get somewhere safer' she said becoming weary.

'You are hurt'

'It's fine' she said firmly

'You're bleeding, I can see it'

'I'm fine, really, just a scrape' she said not looking at him.

'Alexis, sit down' He used his healthy arm to turn her and place her on the examination table.

'Fine' she sat there stiffly. He looked at the gash; the metal had torn through her flesh like butter.

'Well it's a bit deep… really should get stitches' he admitted.

'No' she said firmly.

'I'll take you to a hospital, this doesn't have 'crime' written on it, it will be fine' he said calmly.

'No its fine, a few bandaids.' She said trying to get off the table, adding 'you didn't go so neither will I'

'Lex…'

'Ryan it's fine' she looked at him.

He shook his head and opened up the medical kit to the second layer to find a needle.

'Ok, there is a small bottle of anaesthetic, I am rather adequate at first aid' he said while pulling out all the equipment he would need.

'I don't need a needle, really my arm is fine'

'Alexis, will you listen to me, it needs stitches and if you refuse to go to the hospital…well this is the next best option. I promise once the anaesthetic kicks in, you won't feel a thing, won't even leave a scar if you treat it right'

'I don't need a needle' she looked sulky.

'Wait that's what your afaird of? The women who bolted down fifty flights of stairs to chase after armed men and it's a needle that scares you?'

She nodded not looking at him, he took her hand and rubbed his thumb across the back of it

'Lex…you need to be brave ok, and I'll be gentle and efficent' he said honestly.

She nodded in agreement.

'Dad used to cry more then I did, when I got shots' she chuckled sadly.

'Hated seeing his precious girl hurt, I understand that.' He said filling the syringe with the needed liquid.

'Um it's better if you look away…' He wrapped his left hand around her the base of her upper arm, taking a final observation of the cut across her skin just below her shoulder. She wrapped her right hand around his steadying bicep. He started talking to her, just saying random things to try and keep her mind off what he was about to do. She tried talking back but wasn't really saying words. When he pierced her skin with the needle she sucked in a breath and her free hand seized his shirt. The now constricting fabric, along with her inhalation told him that she'd felt it.

'Sorry Lex, almost done' he said reassuring her as he squeezed the anaesthetic into her surrounding flesh. She was staring at the wall, jaw clenched, knuckles going white.

'You're doing great…all done' he removed the needle and placed it safely in the disposable box. He took her hand in his and squeezed it.

'Ok, my arm is going numb' she admitted.

'Do you want me to make your stitches spell your name?' he joked, making her smile.