Cold Body, Warm Heart

A Castle Story By

HCBalwayshappy

Esposito wished it was one of those 'time flies' moments, but it wasn't. The minutes dragged on and each ticking of the clock pounded in his head. He paced back and forth along with Ryan as they waited for the doctor to come out to give them the good, or the bad news. They hoped it was good.

Katherine Beckett was in critical condition, they said they've never heard of anyone being stuck in a freezer of that temperature for that long, and still live. It causes them to wonder why Castle wasn't in the same boat. They cared for him, yes, but when it came to him or Kate. Kate was their first choice, though she'd tell them to save him, if they had a choice, to save him. They'd try to save both, but they wouldn't willingly let her go and they weren't going to let her go now.

"Javier Esposito, Kevin Ryan?" A doctor stepped into the waiting room and asked. Both of them stuck their hands up and ran over to him.

"Here!" They yelled and in unison said, "Is she okay? Where is she? Can we see her?" They were nearly jumping up and down trying to get a good look at the clipboard he was holding.

"Calm down, I'm not telling you anything until you calm down!" The two detectives immediately fell silent. Thinking about strangling the information out of him, if he didn't tell them soon.

"First I must know your relationship with Katherine Beckett before I give you a bunch of info. She listed you under family along with her father."

"She's our sister," They both said. They could tell that Dr. Need- to- know- it -all didn't believe them, but then sighed, shook his head and looked down at his clipboard. "Okay, well she pretty much is, and if you don't tell us I swear we'll hurt you." He smiled, but then looked into the detectives eyes, gulped, then read off the information.

"I'm sorry, but Ms. Beckett is still below the okay temperature. We're slowly warming her body up, but we really need her to wake up, the longer it takes her the less likely she'll live."

"Can't you just stick her in a heater?" Kevin asked.

"No, you see this is like washing your hands with warm water after a snowball fight. It burns. We don't want to damage anything, so she'll have to slowly heat up. Unfortunately that's not always the best, it can't take too long, or not enough blood will get to her."

"So she doesn't have much of a chance," Javier said.

"No, but you can see her now." Both of them nodded.

"One question?" Ryan said. The Dr. looked at him patiently waiting for him to ask.

"How come the guy that was with her was still awake and conscious by the time we got here? How come he's not here?"

"Well he probably was smar-" he stopped, "more conservative of his energy. Also woman are more likely to give into the cold before men, considering their body temperatures are lower than ours. You probably notice that most girls hands are cold when you touch them. That's the reason." Still confused they nodded and followed him to Kate's room.

The minute they entered the room, seeing her pale face, her small body, her shield in ruins, they felt sick. Sick to their hearts. Walking over they sat on the chairs to both sides of her. Taking her hands in theirs. Still cold. A few minutes later Esposito looked up.

"Why bro? Why now? Why like this?" He asked.

Ryan shrugged, "I don't know man, but I swear I'm going to kill the guy who locked them up in there."

"Agreed."

Kevin watched as Esposito stood up and left to get them some coffee. It was then that he turned to Kate, he loved her...like a sister, and he would do anything to protect her, they both would.

"Kate, I don't know if you can hear me. I just wanted to tell you...thanks. Thanks for being there each time I needed you, thanks for watching my back. When I first met you, I didn't know what to think. I had only one question, the one you hated. The 'why does someone like you, have a job like this.' I still don't get it sometimes, but I realize now, it's because your good at it. Your the best I know. You're my sister Beckett and I love you, I'm sorry I couldn't watch your back. I'm sorry I failed. I need you to fight for me, okay?"

He felt better getting it all out, but he wished she could have heard it. Wished she would've known. Esposito came back, took one look at Ryan's tear filled face and told him that maybe, taking a step outside would help and that it helped him. Taking his coffee he nodded and left the room. Knowing that Esposito wanted to have Kate to himself for a little bit.

"Kate, I know your probably sick of hearing this mushy gushy stuff, especially after hearing from Kevin, but I need you to know some things too. First of all, next time some creep tries to hurt you, I'll personally put a bullet through his head. Next thanks for being there for me. For supporting me. You're my best friend, my sister. I always could count on you. You always knew exactly how to handle thing, and you got me through the worst part of my life. I'm sorry I never could help you with yours. So you better not leave okay, I need to know you heard this, I need you to be here. We all do."

The tough Javier had broken down, the tough homicide team of the twelfth precinct had broken down. No one ever saw them cry, no one understood that they cared so much about each other. Ryan came back and they sat, sat until they heard the one sound, they never wanted to hear. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep! The never ending sound, that made everyone in the whole building heart drop. Wondering exactly who was going to die. Turned out it was going to be the best detective in New York city.

Stepping back the two partners watched as they tried to bring her back to life. To get her breathing again.

"No!" Ryan yelled, he felt as if he was suffocating, the room getting smaller with each jolt. you can't leave! You can't!

"Breath, Dang it, breathe!" Esposito yelled, please. he thought calmly, breathe. Beckett was the nicest, yet meanest person they knew. She cared for people, it's part of what made her a good cop, she had a warm heart. Though such a cold body.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

"We got her, she's okay." the nurse smiled wiping her forehead. For now. Everyone couldn't help, but think.

Forty minutes later, they still sat on those chairs, half asleep. Castle hadn't come yet, because even though with much protest from his side. Montgomery had forbid it, at least until he was completely back to normal temperature. A slight movement from her fragile body, caused both of them to jerk from there slumber.

"Javi, Kev?"

"KATE! Oh my gosh! KATE!" They yelled jumping up off their chairs, Kevin pressing the nurse button frantically.

"What- what's wrong, what happened? the BOMB!" She tried to sit up, but Javier pressed her back down.

"It's alright, they are working to find it, but now it's just a good thing you're awake," he said. The Dr. came in and smiled, to him she live, to them, it was a true miracle.

"When can I get out of here?" she asked the Dr. Jones, after he was done checking up on her.

"I'd like you to stay over night, you are still below temperature, but high enough your body should function pretty well. Though some one will need to sign you out. And monitor you for a couple days," Kate looked over at her partners and smiled, they both started to shake their heads.

"You have to get me out of here, or I might just go crazy. I can help. Come on they need the best Homicide team to help with his case." The look in her eyes told them that either way she was going to get out, whether with consent or not. Reluctantly they nodded their heads and signed the papers.

On the way to her apartment to get her some clothes, Beckett sat in the back seat. Almost asleep. Ryan and Esposito smiled as they pulled up to her home. They both exited the car opening up her side. Esposito gently shook her shoulder. She smiled when she saw them and all three went inside. Soon they were back in the car and on there way to the precinct. Just about to step off the elevator when she turned.

"Thank you, thank you both, for everything. For being there for me, I wouldn't of been able to handle much if you guy's weren't there. You two are the best! You guys are my family. Thanks." With that the elevator door dinged, and she stepped out of the elevator. Katherine Beckett underneath her shield, Detective Beckett ready to do her job and not fail. Both of them stared after her, when she turned around again smiling.

"Let's stop that bomb." grinning they ran to catch up with her as they entered the room. Castle was sitting in her chair, having heard she had been released and smiled when she walked in. Lanie stood tapping her foot in the middle of the room and Montgomery stepped out of his office. The family was there, they were safe, they are all together.

Finally the cold was gone.

Hi! Thanks for the reviews I got! They really mean a lot. Now I guess onto defusing the bomb, I'll leave that up to tomorrows episode! Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it. Sorry for any errors that are in there. I really enjoyed writing this and I hope it was fun for you to read. Also sorry there wasn't much Castle in there. I really just think that we need to show more of Beckett, Ryan, and Esposito friendship. But I totally love Castle/Beckett. Anyway thanks!

-HCB