Title: Worst Case Scenario
Author: TracyT
Rating: PG-15
Category: Angst, maybe a little romance
Summary: It all went horribly wrong
Spoilers: None
Archive: yes, please
Feedback to:
Author's note: Don't kill me please! This just popped into my head one day. Not fluffy at all.
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It happened so fast she had no time to react. They had just entered the warehouse and her eyes hadn't adjusted from bright sunshine to the gloom of the building when she heard Castle shout "Beckett!" Then he had her in a bear hug, hunching his body over hers protectively. She started to say his name, to ask him what the hell he was doing, when she felt twin jolts as the bullets slammed into him. Something like fire ran down her arm. Castle grunted once and was silent
"Castle," she cried out.
His dead weight almost dragged her down, but she pivoted and tried to lower him to the ground as easily as she could. The bullets kept coming. Ryan and Esposito were returning fire, but it was coming from everywhere. They were forced to scramble for cover, returning fire, leaving Castle behind.
Kate hunkered down behind some packing boxes, breathing heavily. Esposito yelled out, "Beckett?"
"Yeah." She was telling him she was okay. She wasn't. She looked over to where Castle was lying. "Castle," she yelled. "Talk to me." Nothing. His face was turned away from her and he was completely still. His shirt sleeve outside the ridiculous "Writer" vest was shiny. Blood. Emotion threatened to overwhelm her, but she fought it back. She tried to see if he was breathing but she couldn't tell.
"NYPD, come out with your hands up," Esposito called out. All that did was start the shooting again. She heard Ryan shouting into his radio for assistance, and "Man down, man down. Castle's down." She fought back a shudder and had a brief vision of them in bed this morning. God, she couldn't think about that now. If she did she was done.
Kate aimed her fire to the catwalks above. That seemed to be where the gunfire was coming from. A great vantage point. Anyone below was a sitting duck.
"I count three," Ryan shouted. "10:00, 12:00 and 4:00." For his efforts all three directed fire his way. Well, Kate thought, at least we're evenly matched. She heard sirens in the distance and felt some relief. If Castle still had time.
Kate crept around so she had a better shot at 10:00. She waited until he fired and she fired back, hearing him shout and a sound like a body falling. One down, two to go.
Esposito got 12:00 as he made a run for the exit door. He fell to the ground level like a stunt man in an action movie and was still.
Mr. 4:00 was harder to tag. He moved around without them seeing. They were forced to keep under cover because he was just that good with a gun.
"You're all alone now," Kate shouted. "Put your gun down and surrender and you can be the one who lived."
"No way," he shouted back. "I got your friend, didn't I? How's he doin'?" He fired at Castle again, hitting him in the vest this time, non-lethal, but Castle's body jumped from the impact. Ryan and Esposito were both shouting expletives and shooting toward the source of the gunshots, but Kate felt an icy calm come over her. She moved around to the side and she could just see Mr. 4:00 behind a pillar up above. He was too busy with Ryan and Esposito to have noticed what she was doing. She took aim and when he raised his head slightly, she hit him square behind the right ear. Pink, foamy brain tissue sprayed the wall next to him.
She was on her knees beside Castle immediately. She got the vest over his head and ripped his shirt open. Buttons pinged all around them. She felt for a pulse, and found a thready one. Thank God, he was alive, but just barely. The bullets had gone in at an angle into his neck and shoulder. He was utterly still. She felt Esposito and Ryan next to her. As she applied pressure to the wounds, her eyes filled with tears, but anger fought with grief for the cause. "You listen to me, Castle," she ground out. "I swear to God, if you ever do anything like that again, I will fucking kill you myself." She sobbed once and sniffled. She looked up at Esposito. "Where's that Goddamn bus?" she shouted.
TBC