"Beckett!"

Kate immediately found herself in Esposito's arms. He'd been the only other person at the precinct when she had gotten the phone call. The only other person who had seen her face drop when the news had been delivered.

The only other person who knew that Rick Castle was currently on an OR table, fighting for his life.

God, she needed to call Martha.

"I..."

Esposito forced her to take a seat.

As soon as she had hung up the phone, she had raced down the stairs, to her car and drove as fast as the New York traffic would let her, all the way to the hospital.

He had followed her, at the time not knowing what was happening, but knew that wherever she was going, she shouldn't be alone. Thinking it might have to do with the case they were working, he knew he couldn't let her go without back-up. He knew he would have gotten shot. Castle would have killed him...

"Kate, breathe."

However, when she pulled into the hospital's parking lot, he was overly confused. He saw her jump out of her car, and he quickly pulled into the next closest spot to the door. He made it into the building just in time to hear Kate talking to the receptionist.

"Castle, Richard Castle."

Shit, he thought to himself.

"Beckett!"

And then she crumbled.

"What happened?" he asked, as calmly as possible.

"There was an accident. He... he was hit... A drunk driver... And now... he's... Oh god, they... They don't know if he's gonna wake up..."

Esposito brought her in again and cursed the sky for doing this to them.

"Kate, you know that Castle is strong and stubborn. He's not going to let this be the end. Tomorrow morning, he'll probably be in there telling all the nurses his life story."

Kate couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah, you're right... I... I need to..."

He took her cell phone that she had been playing with.

"I'll call Martha," he said. "You just stay here."

Stay here, she thought. You better stay here Castle.