A/N: Falling behind, I am falling behind. But just for the record, I don't intend on letting any of my stories go incomplete, so if any of you read Blinding Love or Small Bump, they will be updated soon enough. Sorry about that.

For this chapter, I am not a doctor, I have no medical history so I'm bound to get something wrong, so don't attack me if I do okay? Thanks.

Everything after that was a blur. She didn't register him taking the phone from her shaking hands and setting it down, she didn't register him pulling her to her feet, getting her moving, she didn't register him calling for his mother to stay with Alexis while he huddled her into a cab and headed off to the hospital.

The words of the caller just rang over and over in her head, the heavy feeling of dread settling in her stomach. Her eyes were stinging and she couldn't see much out of them, didn't even wipe them away as they fell down her face – she didn't register when he wiped his thumb across her cheeks, stopping the tears in their tracks.

She let him pull her into his side in the cab, let him wrap his arms around her and comfort her as she cried silently, she didn't even know why she was crying. She was mad at her father, didn't want to see him even, but the thought that he was in a life threatening situation had her thinking of the worst and imagining life without both parents was definitely not something she wanted to be doing, not when she had gotten so far out of her sinkhole.

She heard him thank the cab driver, pay him and allowed him to pull her out of the car. She didn't say anything as he sat her down and went to the front desk, seeking out information. Her hands shook in her lap as the tears continued to fall down her face, silently. When he returned, he didn't sit, instead he knelt down in front of her, taking her hands in his, she looked up at him for the first time, noticing the worry lines on his face, contrasted by the soft, caring look in his eyes.

"Hey," He whispered, trying to get her attention.

She blinked, hoping he would figure she was paying attention, she didn't really trust her voice at this point.

"Receptionist said a nurse should be here soon to talk to you to soon." He told her, his voice soft. He let his thumb trace circles on her palm, squeezing her hand tightly, trying to give her some comfort.

She nodded, ducking her head again. He hated to see her this way, hated knowing she was hurting over something she had no control over and that he couldn't do anything about it. He felt the overwhelming need to protect her from this, but he didn't know how, didn't know where exactly he stood with her to know what to do. He did know, however that she would need the company, need the comfort and if that's what she needed, well that's what he would give, he would be here for her.

A few moments passed when a nurse came out and called for Ms. Beckett, he stood, gently tugging on her hand, drawing her attention back to the present and she stood, hastily wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. She let Castle take her hand in his, ignoring the feeling it gave her – now was not the time – and walked over to the nurse.

She looked young and friendly, her black hair tied back into a messy ponytail a small, but sad smile on her face as he imagined she would have for any persons in the waiting room of the ICU.

"Mr. …?" She asked, looking up at him and back to Kate.

"Castle," He told her, smiling and the nodding to Kate, "This is Ms. Beckett."

She smiled kindly and turned her attention to Kate, who was staring at her blankly, no longer crying, just staring, if it wasn't for her hand clutching his tightly, he would have had no idea how she was feeling – that and the fact that she had been crying before, so her eyes were red and puffy.

"Ms. Beckett, I'm sorry to inform you that your father was involved in a terrible accident," She started off sadly.

He felt Kate tense beside him, waiting for the rest of what the nurse had to say, expecting the worst. He prepared himself for the worst as well.

"He is alive, in critical condition, but stable. He is in surgery now and should be out soon, I'll take you to his room to wait for him, if you'd like?" She asked, her eyes flitting from hers to Castle, and then settling on Castle's, as it seemed he was the more stable one here.

He just nodded, pulling Kate closer to his side as the nurse gave them a small smile and turned for them to follow.

She took them to a small room at the end of the hall, there were a few chairs by the wall that he set Kate in and took one beside her. He thanked the nurse as she departed.

He looked over at Kate, she was staring down at her hands, twisting them together, her face still blank.

He took the liberty and draped on arm over her shoulders, surprised when she in turn leaned into him, sighing deeply and shutting her eyes.

He didn't speak, didn't know what to say in this situation, he could only hold her, let her take his comfort as they waited for someone to tell them what exactly what was going on. The nurse had only told them he was still alive, but now they were left to wonder what his injuries were.

She had almost lost two parents.

It suddenly came to him, she had lost her mother and now she had almost lost her father too. He fought against the sting in his eyes and held her tighter, wanting to just take away all the hurt out of her world, she didn't deserve this – no one did.

He was just about getting uncomfortable with the silent room when the door swung open and a doctor stepped inside, followed by a few nurses rolling her father in, setting him by the window, before nodding at the occupants and leaving.

Kate's eyes were trained on her father, eyes wide in shock, she had blindly grasped for Castle's hand, holding on tightly, just staring at her father.

He looked horrible, there was gauze wrapped around his head, his left eye swollen shut and a deep cut coming from his forehead to his jaw, which looked like it had more stitches than he had gotten in his lifetime. His neck was in a brace and his head, his entire face was black and blue and swollen in various places.

His left arm was in a cast, another gauze wrapped over his chest and his right leg in a brace. He looked pretty much like death.

He tore his gaze from her father and looked to the doctor in the room, who was attaching him to the necessary machines, the room filling with the sound of his heartbeat, he could feel Kate relax a bit at the sound, some indication that he was definitely still alive, despite how he looked. The doctor hooked him up to the rest of the machines, the respirator, jotted some things down on the patient chart and replaced it at the foot of the bed.

He turned to them, eyes going between him and her, as the nurse's did. His eyes were kind and sympathetic as they took in Kate, who had stood and slowly made her way over to her father's side.

"You must be Ms. Beckett," He said looking at Kate and then turned to Castle, "And Mr. ?"

"Castle," He supplied again.

He noticed the hint of recognition in the doctor's eyes, but it remained as that, which Castle was thankful for.

"What –"She spoke, her voice hoarse, she paused and cleared it, "What happened to him?"

The doctor sighed, running his hand through his blond hair, "Mr. Beckett here, was driving while intoxicated, about two times the legal limit. We figure he passed out and drove headfirst into an oncoming semi. His car flipped over a few times, before running off of the road into a ditch." The doctor told them, Castle focused on Kate as the doctor filled them in, her face only filled with horror after each detail as she searched for some part of her father to hold on to. His body itched to go over to her and hold her, but he remained where he was.

"The driver of the semi called it in and they brought him in, he was bleeding out profusely and was unconscious. We took him into surgery immediately, a portion of his liver was damaged and had to be removed and he lost a lot of blood, so a blood transfusion had to be done, there is swelling in the brain, so we're watching that, with hopes that it will go down and the more obvious injuries, cracked ribs, broken arm and fractured leg. One of his ribs punctured his lung, so he has to be on the respirator, until he can breathe on his own."

"Is he going to be okay?" He heard himself asking, tearing his gaze away from Kate to the doctor.

"The brain swelling is what we're most concerned about, we managed to stop the internal bleeding, his liver should be okay, but we have to watch for the swelling to go down, which we hope it will. He's currently in an induced coma, we want him to stay that way until the brain looks better, that is our main concern."

Castle nodded numbly, taking in the list of injuries Jim had sustained, imagining just how Kate was feeling about all of this. He looked over to her, she was now leaning over the bed, crying, gripping his less injured hand tightly, her body shaking as she tried to keep control.

"I'll leave you two." The man spoke, glancing over at Kate.

Castle nodded and offered a grateful smile, "Thank you doctor –?"

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't introduce myself before, I'm Dr. Chase." He said, extending a hand, which Castle took.

"Thank you Dr. Chase." He said, releasing his hand.

"The nurse will be by in the next hour or so to check on him, if anything goes wrong, there is a button by his bed you can press." He informed him, before walking out, closing the door behind him.

Kate was sobbing now, the room filled with the steady beat of her father's heart and her sobs, her body quivering as she hunched over the side of the bed.

He stood and crossed the room, coming over to her, not wanting to push, but at the same time, he needed to comfort her, needed to do something. He couldn't just stand and watch her fall apart alone, she wasn't alone and she would never be alone again.

He hesitantly reached out and touched her shoulder, he didn't have to do much else before she was turning and collapsed again him. His arms automatically wrapped around her, holding her up, she buried her face into his chest, her hands fisting in his shirt, a position they had been in many times before at the beginning of their time together.

He couldn't help but imagine that this could have been a repeat occurrence for her, being told a parent had died. She had lost one and had partially lost another to alcohol, he couldn't imagine what she would do if she lost him permanently.

"It's okay Kate, he's okay." He soothed, running his hands up and down her back as her body shook with sobs.

He felt her shake her head against his chest, "No, he could have died." She mumbled, "He could have died and the last words I said to him, were said in anger, I would have never forgiven myself."

His mind flashed back to the first time he had met her father, he was drunk and she was angry. She had yelled at him, packed her stuff and left, he would imagine she would beat herself up for a while if that was the last interaction she had with her father. All the progress she made would have most certainly been wiped out, he was so sure she would have spiralled right back into her black hole, but this time, at least she wouldn't be alone.

His arms wrapped tighter around her as the thought came into his head that she could have lost her father today.

She could have lost her father and he could have lost her.

End A/N: I'm slacking, slacking, slacking, I know, I'm so sorry D:

Mistakes are mine, so sorry.