She heard the shot and knew the worst. But there was no time to waste. She jumped up right when she knew the shot was coming. She hit it down nearly too late. She watched the bullet in slow motion go to Castle's stomach and put a hole in the direct center; a miss from the heart. If she acted fast, she would be able to save him. But she heard a long scream (in slow motion) permeate from a small door that obviously hid a closet: it was Alexis.

She had to comfort her. She hardly understood the emotion, but it had to be done. "Sweetie, hold on a moment." She heard the silence, allowing her to complete her current task. She reached for the hand that held the gun and she instantly heard a door burst open from below. But she had to ignore it as the gun found its way from the door concealing Alexis to Castle's shuddering form. She had difficulty putting it to the floor, in the process un-cocking it. She gave him a hard shove, and he let go of the gun. In a shudder from Castle, she had the gun on him and shot without hesitation. She dropped the gun to the floor and ran to the door and freed Alexis. "Alexis, go down and get a medic. Then get yourself checked out. I'll take care of your father; I promise I won't let anything happen to him. Go." She was fixed on Castle to notice Deming slip in as Alexis ran out. She ripped off her jacket and placed the right amount of pressure on the wound. "Castle, I need you to look at me." She cradled his ear just the way he did just five minutes ago. He feebly looked at her and tried to give a smile. She saw the pain in his eyes and the same place hurt in her stomach where the bullet had entered his.

She jumped up and began to take things into her own control. "GSW to the stomach. Less than five minutes."

"What blood type is he? He'll need a transfusion on the way there."

"I have O-. Take mine."

"Get down to the ambulance and we'll do the transfusion in there. We'll get your statement later."

"Let me check up on Alexis. She's his daughter, and I promised her his safety." Kate left and went to the area with the blaring lights that hurt her head, but she pushed the pain to the side. She looked up and found the cabbie being cuffed and looking guilty: It was him who informed the police. She nodded her head in appreciation and made a mental note to help him in court. She asked an EMT about Alexis and was told that she was on her way to the hospital. She went to a clear ambulance where she told the EMT that she was going to do a transfusion. He ushered her into the ambulance and he began to clean her wounds and bandage them. As the stretcher was approaching, he began to sanitize the area quickly and roughly (accurately) put a hypothermic needle in her elbow to remove the blood. It soon began to withdraw blood and she realized that she was feeding him alcohol from her blood: It was an emergency and had no choice but to give her blood. When they had taken enough, she fainted into the arms of the EMT.

She woke up with a headache in a hospital room. The sounds of a heart monitor annoyingly beeped slightly above her head. She sighed as a bubbly nurse entered and began to list off a whole bunch of things. It was something that caught her attention that made her sit up straight.

"We noticed that you had alcohol in your blood. In trace amounts, but you still had it. You also had high adrenaline levels, which might have killed him. He is lucky that he reacts well with your blood, and it's lucky that you are a universal donor. But we will have to have him here for a couple of weeks so that we can make sure no permanent damage will be made. By tomorrow, you are free to go, and one week of no active field duty. After that, you are cleared unless you don't make progress."

She had to see Deming. She had finished my shift and was heading down to Robberies when she hesitated. Kate didn't want to see him hurt, but she knew that was the only way to make things right. She continued to the familiar office, slipping the ring off that still hadn't become familiar. She took a deep breath before knocking. She entered upon cue, closed the door, and walked into the room two steps.

"Kate, you don't have to knock on the door. You're always…"

"Shut up. I need you to be quiet."

"How are you doing?"

"I told you to be quiet. There's another person. I've known him for a long time, but it took me some time to figure out exactly what I wanted."

"It's Castle." She paused, invisibly flipping the ring in her hand. "I know. You settled for me because he never asked, but you showed your feelings for each other two weeks ago. It made you realize that he wanted you, too. I knew that it would happen."

Kate paused in the doorway. "This is goodbye." She placed the ring neatly on a spired paperweight and left silently. She managed to look up for a second to get her bearings when she saw Castle. "It's done. But you better make sure that it's worth it."

"I'm fine. And so's Alexis. She's stuck in the house for the summer, which doesn't make her very happy, but she'll be alright. And me? I got released and came to escort you home."

"Which home?"

"Mine. No, ours."