Chapter One

There was a muted alarm somewhere in the background. Groaning, she turned over and opened her eyes. Too bright... She thought to herself. The alarm was still going. Groggily, she lifted her left hand to slap it shut only to find it no longer there. She found herself hitting the ground instead, and felt a wet, sticky substance on her hands and fingers.

It was red.

Suddenly all in a flash, it came back. She had been chasing a man at the shipyard when he disappeared and a shipping container exploded, sending fire and shrapnel in all directions. Pull yourself together Kate, you've been in worse situations… She thought to herself. She opened her mouth to yell for the boys only to find nothing able to come out except for a violent cough. Ryan and Esposito had taken the route left. She had to find them. Damn it Castle, you had better stayed in the car this time. In her haste, she got up too quickly and found herself tumbling back onto the rough concrete. She groaned again and cursed inwardly, hoping her colleagues had better luck catching him than she did. She closed her eyes and counted backwards from three, trying to control the unmistakable anger and frustration that was building up within. She was far from a vindictive woman but even she had her limits. She looked around slowly at the scene, kicking her detective training into high gear.

Something was off. She could feel it down to her bones.

A blur came into view, unsure who it was, she fumbled for her gun and pointed it in its general direction. It seemed to be yelling something... She couldn't make it out at first. It was saying something about... brackets? Ate brackets? It came closer and she could focus a little more. It was a man who had a vest on with the word 'WRITER' plastered across. Confident that he was not going to kill her with anything but his childish jokes, she lowered the gun.

I have to get up. Trying again, she stumbled and winced in pain. The sticky stuff was spreading. She seemed to have got some on her shoulder and elbow too. She didn't remember wearing a dark red shirt today. That man reached her and concern was written all over his face.

Fuck.

She closed her eyes and tried to regain her bearings. It was almost impossible to get out the ringing that echoed in her ear. The writer was really close to her, gently feeling her head to check for bleeding. "Castle, I'm fine." She croaked. It was still difficult finding her voice. He offered her a hand and said something that she wasn't able to make out. He was waiting for her to answer and so she shook her head. "I can't hear you Castle."

"Where. Is. Ryan. And. Esposito?" He shouted at her finally. "Kate, you're bleeding."

"They went the other way, right behind that damn shit head." she coughed, trying to get the soot out of her throat.

"What is up with you and explosions? Dear god, Beckett, that's a lot of blood, we have to get you to a hospital." he said frantically.

"What I can't… Castle, we need to find Ryan and Esposito." She grimaced as she pushed herself up again, the gravel and debris pushing into her palm. She bolted towards where the boys were last seen. She wiped the sticky red stuff on her pants, staining her jeans dark. As sticky as it was, it was difficult holding a gun with it smeared on her palm.

They found them together.

"Oh my..." Castle trailed off as he appeared at her side, gaping at the injured detectives. Ryan was bleeding from his side. Meanwhile, his partner had blood trickling down his temple and his arm.

"The one time he runs faster than me..." he was muttering while he put pressure on Ryan's wound with one hand. "Castle, I think I dislocated my shoulder... you've got to help me with this." The writer rushed to the young detective's side and pushed on his wound.

When he looked up, a surprise caught his eye. He was far away, lying on top of a few shipping containers. Before Castle could say anything, Beckett already had already left his side and ran left, gun drawn. "Castle, stay!"

She ignored the searing pain as she pounded the pavement, adrenaline rushing through her veins. She leapt up one of the containers, and disappeared on the top. When Castle looked back to Esposito, he was already gone and yelled: "Stay with him, Castle. Stay with him." He felt helpless as he applied more pressure on his friend. Groaning, Kevin Ryan finally came around.

"Castle?" he said and blinked slowly, his blue eyes reflecting the discomfort he was feeling. "What the hell are you doing on top of me?"

"Ryan. Thank god. Okay there's a bus coming. Kate wouldn't listen to me and she ran after that lunatic and Esposito went to flank her." His words came tumbling out. He needed someone to talk to before he went crazy with worry. "But you're going to be fine."

"Right… Jenny is so going to kill me." The young detective's words came sporadically.

"And Esposito. So what do you say? Stop moving and hold still until the ambulance comes and gets us? I mean-

The two heard gunfire from afar and the echo from a vibrating steel box and Castle's heart stopped. Kate. He fought the urge to run to her but Ryan needed him to stay and help him stop the bleeding.

"Ryan, I need you to look at me." He struggled to keep the panic out of his voice. "What were you and Honeymilk going to do this weekend? Kevin! Damn it." He searched his jumbled mind for something to keep him wide-awake but before he could blurt the first thing that came to mind, he heard sirens and the paramedics took over. Making sure they were going to be fine with him without his help, he darted towards the direction of the shots.

He found Esposito with his knee on the unconscious perp's back and cuffing him with his uninjured arm. Beckett was crumpled against a red container, gritting her teeth, with her gun ready to fire.

Then Castle remembered to breathe.

After an excessive amount of testing at Bellevue hospital, it was concluded that they suffered no internal bleeding. Esposito suffered only a few cuts and bruises along with his dislocated shoulder, but they kept him overnight just in case. After a few hours of surgery, Ryan was wheeled back into the hospital room he shared with partner. Esposito was thankful that he was happy he didn't have to break in a new partner. This prompted his girlfriend Jenny to give him a look and slapped him on his uninjured arm.

As for Kate Beckett, she was holed up in a separate room with Captain Montgomery and a Dr. Ivan Grant. Castle paced outside, back and forth, looking through the window and trying to figure out what they were saying. She was getting into a heated argument with the captain, showing her frustration with her hands. Then suddenly, she stopped, squeezed her eyes together and rubbed her temples. The good doctor checked her over and made sure that she was going to be fine. He wrote something down on the clipboard and readjusted her IV drip before turning to leave. The captain followed.

The door opened and he could hear Montgomery: "Beckett, it's just one week. We can handle it without you for a week. I'll be back to check on you."

"Captain." Castle went towards him, "How-

"She'll be fine Castle. She needs some rest and a lot of quiet. I've ordered her to take a week." the older man placed a hand on his shoulder. "Take care of her."

"Yes sir." he nodded and went in. "Kate?"

"Castle." her voice was strained. Her left arm from her shoulder to elbow was wrapped in a thick bandage, as was her right hand. She had a cut on her temple and another on her cheek. As for bruising, she was mostly black and blue. "It looks worse than it is."

"Uh how? You've been wrapped up like the mummy." He was concerned than he let on.

"Lanie's at my apartment right now gathering some clothes. My old ones have holes in them... Or just has too much blood. I'm going to run out of clothes again."

"Well if you stop trying to blow yourself up..." he said, trying to maintain some levity to the situation. He picked up her charts and flipped through them. "No idea what this all means."

"It means that there is no cases for me to investigate for a week."

Esposito appeared at the doorway with his banana bag. "Captain enforced the same with you, boss? One week, no work?"

Beckett gave an exasperated sigh and collapsed back to her bed. He took it as an affirmative then updated the two of them on Ryan. Lanie had came by a little later and dropped off her bag. She didn't leave until she checked her charts and her EKG monitor hooked up by her bedside. By that time, her morphine was taking hold. Unable to struggle against it, she quickly fell into darkness.

'Castle, stay in the car!" she yelled as she ran towards the cluster of shipping containers. Her gun was drawn and then she saw his smug face smirking at her. 'NYPD!'

Flanked by the two detectives, she ran through the maze of boxes, carefully paying attention to her surroundings. A shadow ran through in front of her and she pulled the trigger, only to have the bullets bounce off one of the containers. Beckett signaled the two behind her to corner him from the other side.

Then the shipping box in front of her exploded.

She shot up from the bed and recoiled. She looked around. The chair Castle was in was left with a blanket and a pillow. The man himself was outside in the hall talking into his cell in hushed tones.

"No mother, she's fine. Yes I'm fine too... I'm going to take her home when she gets discharged..." he paused, "Well mother you don't have to come home. It's fine. I have it under control. I'll call you if I need... Sure. I'll call you with an update. Bye mother."

"How is Martha?" she said quietly when he walked back into the room.

"Good, fine. Asking about you." he went to her bedside and tucked her back into bed.

"You didn't have to stay you know?" she looked up at him. He had a day's growth on his chin and his blue eyes betrayed the exhaustion he was trying to hide. "You're tired. Go home."

"And let you skip out on me and check out of this hotel without letting me know? I don't think so." she was too tired to argue with him and simply nodded and fell back asleep.