Wow…I cannot believe the response to this fic! I want to thank everyone so much for reading and reviewing, especially to the anonymous reviewers whom I could not message back to thank personally. I love all the theories and comments you all have made, and I hope I can continue to live up to what you want!

That said, angsty Beckett has extended her lease in my head, so apparently there is more to write on this story. For those of you interested in my other story, no worries! I promise I am working on that as well, but angsty Beckett is pushy…and louder.

I have absolutely none of this story planned out, so it's up to the characters and the muse to speak to me to see where this one goes.

I still do not own Castle or the characters.

xxxxx

Beckett didn't stop on her way out of the hospital, didn't wait for the boys to follow her. She'd meant what she said; she was going to hunt down the shooter, and then she was going to put a bullet in him. Even though she hadn't asked them to, Ryan and Esposito exchanged a look after seeing the look on her face and quickly followed, catching up with her outside.

"Beckett, what are you doing?" Ryan asked.

She simply gave him a determined look. "Exactly what I said. I'm hunting him down," she answered in a dangerous tone. "I'm not asking either of you to risk your life in this."

Ryan's eyes met Esposito's. "You don't have to. We're a team. You just tell us the plan. We've got your back," Esposito stated firmly, to which Ryan also nodded his confirmation.

Beckett's eyes traveled between the two of them and she nodded. "I need to see the cemetery," she stated calmly, but she was anything but calm on the inside. A raging inferno burned inside; whomever was behind the shooting was about to find the full wrath of Katherine Beckett at their doorstep. If they wanted a war, she would bring them a war.

"Car's this way. Let's go," Ryan gestured to her then, leading her toward the parking garage. Both of the men accompanying her knew they couldn't come up empty on this one; they would do whatever they needed to in order to have her back and get this guy. Beckett was their leader, their friend; this case was different. They also knew that they were going to have to make sure Beckett didn't do anything that might cost her her career…or her life.

After a solid day of almost no leads and very little to go on, Beckett pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to massage away the headache she had. "Why don't you guys go home," she suggested with a deep sigh.

The two men exchanged glances. "What about you?" Ryan was the one who was brave enough to ask.

"I'm going to go through it again; maybe I missed something," she replied. Sensing reluctance from the boys to leave her alone made her temper flare. "I said go home!" she said much more firmly. She didn't need a babysitter, and she wasn't going to break. If anything, she was more focused now than she'd been since the shooting.

"If you find something, you call us before you do anything," Esposito stated firmly, not looking away from her.

Seeing that they weren't leaving until they had that promise from her, she gave them a nod. "Yeah…yeah, okay." She breathed deeply, turning back to the murder board then to begin reviewing the evidence from the beginning. She went through all the information she had for what must have been at least 3 hours before leaning back in her chair and rubbing her eyes. Once again, she had nothing more than when she had started.

Her gaze moved to the empty chair by her desk then. What she wouldn't give to hear one of his crazy theories now, to bounce ideas off him, to try to make something in the evidence make sense. It was well past midnight by now, and she was basically alone in the precinct, so she didn't bother to hide the stray tear that slipped down her cheek as she couldn't bring herself to look away from his chair. Wiping it away after a moment, she stood and grabbed her things, striding toward the elevator; she needed to see him.

xxxxx

She stopped at her apartment to shower and change into some real clothes that were not NYPD issue sweats. Between the shower and being able to slide into her own jeans and shirt, she felt much more like herself. Grabbing her black leather jacket, her badge and her gun, she headed back to the hospital.

Having no trouble finding her way back to his room, she stood outside for a moment before taking a deep breath and slipping in quietly. Alexis was sleeping in a chair with her head resting on top of her folded arms on a table, and Martha was asleep in a chair with a spare blanket pulled over her. She remained silent, moving closer to Castle's still sleeping form, quietly pulling the last chair up to his beside. Taking a deep breath, she sat down and ever so delicately took his hand in hers. "Rick…" she breathed as a few tears slid from her eyes, her thumb delicately sliding across the back of his hand.

She didn't have a chance to get anything else out as Martha stirred. "Katherine?"

"I'm sorry, Martha. I didn't mean to wake you," Beckett apologized, keeping her tone low so as not to also wake up Alexis.

"You didn't, dear. This chair is hardly made to be slept in," the redhead waved her hand dismissively.

Releasing his hand then, Beckett sat back slightly in her chair. "How is he?"

"The doctors assured us he's as stable as they can expect, given the damage. They aren't surprised he hasn't woken up yet," Martha explained to her.

Beckett did her best to not react to the word "damage." He was damaged because of her, trying to protect her. "I'm so sorry, Martha…if I'd known…"

"Nonsense," Martha interrupted. "Let me tell you something about Richard. He was exactly where he wanted to be." She paused for a moment to let her words sink in before continuing. "He wrote 22 best sellers before he met you, dear. You're a smart woman, Katherine…" she explained in a softer tone, giving the detective a look that would allow her to connect the dots. "And I'm sure you are familiar with my son's stubbornness and persistence. He wouldn't have been dismissed quite so easily," she added in a slightly lighter tone.

Beckett did connect the dots–it wasn't about the research anymore. He followed her because it was about her. Hearing her talk about Castle's stubbornness, she looked down with a small smile. "Yeah, I might have noticed he's a little stubborn." But oddly enough, as infuriating as that could be at times, it was something she depended on; he was stubborn enough to not let her push him away, to make her face things, to keep her going. She got quiet again, letting her eyes move back to study Castle.

"Have you made any progress finding the man who did this?" Martha asked after a few moments, deciding that perhaps a change of topic might be more helpful to the detective. "I assume that's why you left earlier."

Sighing, Beckett ran her hands over her face. "No. Not yet," she admitted quietly. "But I'll find him. I promise you that." Once again her tone took a slightly dangerous edge that left the other woman with no doubt that those words were true. "Do you mind if I stay?" she asked Martha after a few minutes of silence.

"You don't have to ask permission. Richard would want you here," she assured her with a smile. "But you won't get much sleep in that chair."

"That's okay. I'm not planning on sleeping right now," Beckett replied, her eyes never leaving Castle. She didn't think she'd be able to sleep even if she tried. Right now, she just needed to see him, to watch his chest shift as he breathed; she needed assurance that he was alive. It wasn't until she was sure that Martha was asleep that she allowed herself to lean forward in the chair and carefully take Castle's hand in hers again.

xxxxx

Beckett woke up to a few rays of light coming through the window in the hospital room. She'd somehow managed to fall asleep with her head resting on the bed beside where her hand was still holding Castle's. Sitting up, she could feel both her back and neck muscles protesting from the position they'd been in; she'd work the kinks out later. She watched him still sleeping, watched the heart monitor for a moment to make sure he was still stable. After a few moments, she finally released his hand and stood, stretching out her muscles slightly. She left a note for Alexis and Martha to make sure to call her when Castle woke up, and headed out to work on the case.

Just as she was turning a corner lost in her own thoughts as she tried to piece evidence together in her head, she ran…quite literally…into Josh. "Kate, hey," he offered her a smile, hands easily steadying her.

"Josh…hi," she replied with a smile that she couldn't get to reach her eyes. "I didn't get a chance yesterday, but…thank you for saving Castle's life," she said softly.

Josh shrugged. "I'm a doctor, Kate. That's my job."

She nodded. "Right…"

They were both quiet for a few moments. Both seemingly knew what was coming. For Kate she knew she didn't love him…not the way she should considering the length of their relationship; that didn't make it any easier. And for him, he knew everything he needed to know when he'd seen her reaction the previous day.

"Do you love him, Kate?" Josh finally asked her quietly.

She was silent, neither confirming nor denying the words, but the look in her eyes spoke volumes. "I'm sorry, Josh," was what she finally settled on. It really wasn't fair of her to lie to him about it.

Josh nodded. "Yeah…I'm sorry too," he murmured. "I guess I can't compete with a man who literally took a bullet for you."

Those words stung, but she knew she kind of deserved them. She'd insisted to Josh for months that there was nothing between herself and Castle, insisted that they were friends, they worked together, but that was it. She'd insisted he had no reason to be jealous, that there wasn't a competition between them. But during the case she'd worked in LA, she also had realized that although she may have been committed to Josh physically and verbally, she'd never been able to commit to him emotionally; that commitment belonged to Castle. "I need to go…" she stated then. "I really am sorry."

xxxxx

Beckett was surprised to be greeted by both Ryan and Esposito when she walked through the precinct that morning. It was still before the start of their shift.

"How's Castle?" Ryan asked.

"He hasn't woken up yet. The doctors say he's as stable as he can be at the moment," she answered quietly, on her way to the break room for a coffee.

"We got traffic cam footage from around the cemetery. We're starting to go through it now," Esposito offered.

She nodded as she silently waited for the coffee machine to finish.

"Beckett…we'll get this guy," Ryan promised.

"I know," was all she said.

The boys exchanged a look, but didn't really know what else to say to her, so they silently headed back to their desks to work on the traffic cam footage. The best way they could help her was to find something she could go on.

They'd been going through camera footage all day, with nothing to show for it. Beckett finally slammed her hand down on her desk in frustration. "Damn it…there has got to be something. A man cannot just vanish like a ghost!" she stated angrily.

"Hey, we'll find something. If not from a traffic cam, then from something else. Somewhere there will be something," Esposito assured her. But he also knew that the skill set of a professional sniper also included the ability to simply disappear.

She sighed, and leaned back in her chair, trying to massage out a kink in her neck. Her back and neck were both still stiff from the hospital chair, and sitting in a desk chair all day staring at a screen hadn't helped much.

"Why don't you go get some rest?" Ryan suggested. "We can call you if we find anything."

"No, I'm good. I'm not tired, anyway," she shook her head. That was when a text came through her phone. Reading the text caused the first real smile she'd had in days. "Castle's awake," she informed the boys, standing and grabbing her jacket from her chair before heading to the elevator.

"We'll keep looking and let you know what we find," Esposito called after her. Both men were glad she was at least getting out of the precinct; checking in on Castle would give her a little bit of a break at least.

xxxxx

I know this chapter is a little short. And I feel it's slightly weak and a little bit filler. But I hope it's still acceptable! Thank you again to everyone for your reaction to a story that I hadn't even planned to write. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this chapter now that you've all encouraged me to keep going!