A/N: Sooo..I haven't written anything in over two years! However I'm currently rewatching Castle and have started using tumblr more again, when I saw a prompt on castlefanficprompts and kinda liked it. I'm so happy that people have still been writing even though the show has ended now and decided I'd get back into it with this. May be a little rusty, but I hope you enjoy it.
Prompt: In Rise, when Beckett wakes up after the shooting, she thinks she's married to Castle.
"Hey, you're awake," a voice said softly somewhere in the room. It was familiar, but Kate couldn't quite put her finger on who it was. Opening her eyes slowly, Kate blinked a few times until the room came into focus. It was a hospital room, she could tell that much just by the smell, and there were flowers, dozens of them scattered around her bedside. Searching the room for the source of the voice, her gaze landed on a figure perched at the end of her bed.
"Where's Castle?" she croaked out, swallowing a few times to bring her voice back properly. She could put a name to the voice now - it was Josh. Though she wasn't entirely clear about why he was here.
Josh looked a little put out at her question, his brow furrowing into slight confusion. "Uh..I don't know, he hasn't been here since the shooting." Josh replied, trying not to let his frustration show. "How are you feeling?" He was trying to change the subject. Sure, Castle was her 'partner' and all but seriously? She'd just woken up from major heart surgery and the first thing she wanted to know was where writer boy was?!
"Like a sumo wrestler is sitting on my chest," Kate replied, breathing out a laugh. "Ouch," she winced, gritting her teeth as she pushed herself into a sitting position. "And what do you mean, he hasn't been here since the shooting?" Kate asked, her memory flashing back to the incident. She remembered it all..standing up there giving the speech at Montgomery's funeral, saying how lucky she was to have someone like Castle by her side day in, day out. The gunshot echoing around the cemetery, Castle rugby tackling her to the floor in an effort to save her.
His whispers of how he loved her as she fought to stay awake, stay alive.
Her sweet Castle.
"What did you expect him to do, sit around here at your bedside until you woke up?" Josh scoffed, his annoyance becoming clear now. His girlfriend had nearly died, he had watched the life slip away from her when she lost consciousness on that operating table. His hand had been inside her chest as he tried his hardest to save her damn life and she was asking about the man who had got her into this in the first place?
Kate frowned at the doctor. She had no idea why he was acting like this. Her and Josh had dated for a while a couple of years back and she appreciated that he was here now, checking she was okay. Well, when your ex-girlfriend gets shot and ends up going to the hospital you work at, it'd be a little rude not to check in but there really was no reason for him to get so angry with her now. They'd broken up a while back, when he was too busy off saving the world to ever have time for her. Sure, it was admirable what he did, working for Doctors without Borders but relationships took compromise - and it was always Kate compromising to his demands, always doing what Josh wanted to do.
"Well yeah," Kate replied sarcastically. "I'd like to think my husband would be sat here after I got shot, waiting for me to wake up."
Richard Castle was bored. The new captain had kicked him out of the 12th Precinct the second she'd arrived, the files Ryan and Esposito had thrown at him as he was being kicked out had produced a hundred dead ends, and he couldn't concentrate enough to write.
It had been four days since the shooting and Beckett still hadn't woken up. They'd kept her in an induced coma to help her heal better, after the operation she needed to rest and knowing Beckett, she'd be on the case the second she woke up.
He hadn't visited the hospital since the incident with Josh, deciding it best to leave it until Beckett had woken up and he could talk to her then. But now, Alexis and his mother had gone shopping and he was sat in his office staring at a blank document on his laptop.
His thoughts filtered back to the moment Beckett had been shot. He had been so close to getting to her in time, from preventing all of this. If he'd just seen the rifle a second earlier, Beckett wouldn't have been shot and they'd be at the precinct together now, chasing up any lead they had on her shooter.
After a call to the mayor, of course. He'd need to get his way back into the precinct somehow what with a new captain and all.
Castle was contemplating heading out to grab some food and get some air when his phone rang. It was an unknown caller, but he answered anyway with a brisk "Castle."
The voice on the other end was the last person he was expecting to call him. "Hey it's um..it's Josh."
Josh. As in in Beckett's boyfriend. The same boyfriend who had blamed the shooting on Castle just a few days ago.
"Oh..erm hi, Josh. Is everything okay? Is Beckett okay?" Castle replied, a little confused and also a little worried. There was only one reason he could think of why Josh would be calling him and it wasn't one he wanted to even think about.
"Er yeah, she's fine..she's awake, actually," Josh revealed, not sounding quite as happy as he should that his girlfriend had woken up after being shot in the chest. "She's um, asking for you."
Castle barely suppressed a smirk at that. Beckett had woken up, which flooded him with relief, and she was asking for him. "Oh that's great news!" Castle exclaimed. "Give me an hour and I can be there to see her?"
"Sure," Josh replied. "Oh, one more thing? She thinks the two of you are…married."
The line went dead before Castle could even comprehend Josh's last comment.
Josh shoved his cell phone back into his pocket, letting out a frustrated sigh. He needed to talk to Kate again before writer boy showed up. He wasn't about to tell her she wasn't actually married to her favourite author, but he wouldn't be a good doctor without figuring out what she was thinking and why she was confused.
Of all the people she could wake up thinking she was married to, it was him. Kate had told him time and time again that Castle was just her partner at work, there was nothing between them and he had believed her. Of course he'd seen the way Castle looked at her and her him, and yeah he'd admit he got a little jealous of their relationship sometimes, especially when he had to work away and he knew they'd still be spending time together, but still, her waking up and thinking she was married to the guy was a step too far.
Knocking softly on the door to Kate's room before entering, Josh took a deep breath to calm himself. He wasn't going to shatter her illusion right now, she'd just woken up from major surgery.
"Hey," he smiled, heading to the foot of her bed, "I called Castle, he'll be here within the hour." He tried not to let it get to him how happy that seemed to make her. "Just need to check how you're doing first though..can you tell me what year it is?"
"2011," she shot back quickly. "I got shot in the chest, not the head. I know what year it is."
"And who's the president?" Josh asked, ignoring her comment.
"Obama," she sighed, rolling her eyes, "seriously, what is this?" She couldn't understand the need for his incessant questioning on current affairs.
"Okay, fine," Josh said, throwing his hands up in defeat. "Castle will be here soon." And he left the room, leaving her to wonder what the hell was going on. She clearly didn't want to speak to him, he'd let writer boy bring her up to date.
Castle arrived at the hospital 45 minutes later, a bunch of flowers from the florist in one hand. He was still slightly concerned at Josh's comment about Beckett thinking they were married but his need to see her outweighed any concerns. He took the elevator up to the fourth floor, stopped at the nurses station to ask what room Beckett was in, and then made his way down to room 447. He needn't have asked - there were two uniformed officers stood guard outside her room.
Taking a deep breath, Castle smiled at the officers before making his way into Beckett's room. It wasn't until he actually saw her, sat up in bed with her hair in a french braid, that he let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. He knew she was okay, the boys had told him that, and Josh had called just an hour ago letting him know she was awake, but it wasn't until he saw her with his own two eyes that he knew for sure that she was okay.
"Hey you," he smiled, making his way into the room and placing a kiss on her forehead. "How are you doing?"
"Hey!" she beamed as he sat down in the chair next to her bed. "A little sore but the pain meds are helping. I'm so happy to see you!"
"Oh yeah?" Castle replied.
"Yes, of course," Beckett frowned. Why was everyone acting so weird? "Why wouldn't I be? I was expecting you to be here when I woke up.." she let her voice trail off, wondering why exactly he hadn't been here when she woke up but her ex boyfriend had been.
Josh had been telling the truth then. The shooting had obviously distorted her memory somehow, leading her to believe they were married. "Erm..look, Beckett, the thing is," Castle began but Kate interrupted him.
"Castle, where's your ring?" She was staring at his left hand, in particular his fourth finger which was empty of any jewellery, a look of hurt crossing her face.
"Beckett...Kate," Castle sighed. "The thing is...we're-" but Castle was interrupted again before he could finish his sentence. This time, it was due to the arrival of Josh, poking his head around the door to check up on them.
"How're things going in here, then?" Josh asked with a pointed look at Castle.
Beckett looked from Josh to Castle and back again. What on earth was going on? Why was Josh still hanging around? "Does someone wanna tell me what's going on here?" she asked into the silent room.
Castle said nothing. Normally, he'd love this - the woman he was crazy in love with thinking they were married, that would be a dream come true. However, when her current boyfriend was also in the room, it made things slightly more difficult. As much as he wasn't Josh's biggest fan, he had to hand it to the guy - he was taking things pretty well. Though Castle suspected that partly had something to do with the fact that he was meant to be in there setting the record straight, and telling Beckett they weren't actually married..
Which, from Beckett's question, Josh realised still hadn't been sorted.
"Josh, I appreciate you hanging around to check I'm okay," Beckett said when neither men answered. "But still, unless there's something medical that needs doing urgently, I'd quite like some time with Castle."
Castle shot an apologetic look in the doctor's direction. "Beckett, look, we need to talk," Castle began. "You and I, we're not married. I'm your partner but at work only. You and Josh..you're together." For how much longer, he wasn't sure, but for now he knew they were.
Kate seemed to be having trouble understanding this latest revelation. Her brow furrowing in confusion and her gaze switching between the two men. After what felt like forever, she finally spoke. "No...that can't be right," she stated. "I remember..when I got shot and you..you shoved me to the ground, you told me you loved me." Why would he say that if they weren't even together, never mind married?
"You did what?" Josh growled from his position by the door. That much he hadn't been aware of, and he'd be damned if he was going to let some other guy tell his girlfriend that they were in love with her. "I think it's about time you left." Josh announced, his gaze fixed on Castle, who was looking helplessly at Kate.
"No." Beckett shot back quickly. No, Castle wasn't going. He was her husband and he was going to explain what the hell was going on. It was like she'd woken up and they'd all decided to play a trick on her. Not a very nice thing to do to someone who had just been shot in the chest and it wasn't funny.
Castle tried his hardest to not get his hopes up when Beckett told Josh she wanted him to stay. And ended up failing miserably. Despite her confusion from the trauma of the events that had unravelled over the past week or so, a small part of him hoped this could be the turning point. The point where they both stopped denying their feelings for one another and gave them a go.
"Beckett," Castle began softly, the sensible side of him forcing himself to say the words he really didn't want to say. "Josh is right, we aren't married. You and him are together, have been for a good few months now. I should go.."
"Richard Castle don't you dare walk out that door."
Castle stared at Beckett in surprise. He was hovering in mid air, halfway between getting up to leave and sitting back down again. Josh stood silently by the door still, his expression giving true meaning to the saying 'if looks could kill'. Directed towards Castle, obviously.
"Josh, like I said, I appreciate what you've done, checking I'm okay and everything, but things ended with us a while ago..now, can you please leave, so I can spend some time with Castle." Beckett was getting annoyed now. The last person she wanted hanging around right now was her ex boyfriend. Hell, why not invite Demming over, and maybe Sorenson too.
Castle remained silent, still in his halfway leaving/halfway staying position. Josh laughed, despite nothing about what was currently happening being remotely funny. "Kate, listen to me," he pleaded. "You and writer boy are not married. You're with me. And we're good together..great even. Now I'm willing to forgive your mistake given the circumstances right now but I'm sure your memory will come back soon. I would imagine it's just temporary amnesia due to the trauma, happens all the time." He couldn't be mad, not really. He was just grateful that she was alive. But he just needed her to realise what she was saying, for her memory to sort itself out and remind her what really was the case.
Beckett sighed - this was getting tiring now. "Josh, please. Just leave, you and I have nothing to talk about. We ended things well, please don't ruin things now."
Josh couldn't believe what was happening. "If I leave now, Kate, I'm not coming back." It was childish and he knew it, but desperate times and all that. "I mean it, I've watched from the sidelines for months, watching the two of you laugh and joke about things I don't get or wouldn't understand and I've had enough. You can tell me all you want there's nothing going on between you, but now you wake up from heart surgery and it's him you want?"
Kate's silence was the answer Josh was looking for.
"I can't believe this," he muttered, opening the door to leave. He glanced back at the two of them, as if waiting for them to jump up and say it was all a joke, but neither did. So, without another word, Josh left, leaving Beckett and Castle alone.
A/N: So, I decided I might turn this into a two-shot, with the next chapter following on and Castle and Beckett discussing what's going on! I haven't written in forever so reviews would be very much appreciated! But please be nice ;)
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