He wakes in a bed, shivering violently under a blanket that feels unnaturally warm to the touch. Images flash through his mind, disjointed and dreamlike. The paramedics prying Beckett from his arms, so gently it was as if they expected both of them to disintegrate at the slightest touch, her hair tumbling free of the hood the only movement he could see as they carried her away.

Kate. Oh, god, Kate.

Panic drives him staggering out of bed on stiff legs. He has to know where she is. How she is. Now.

'Whoa, whoa, hey there, Castle, settle down.'

It's Ryan, hair askew and eyes dark ringed with exhaustion, firmly pushing Castle back towards the bed. Dimly, Castle registers Esposito sprawled in a green faux leather chair by the door, snoring loudly.

'Kate?' Castle rasps, surprised at how hard it is to get even that word out.

'In ICU. Alive. She's alive, Castle. She made it.'

Relief takes his knees, and Ryan does the rest, pushing Castle back onto the warm blankets. 'You gotta rest, bro. It's three o'clock in the morning, they're not gonna let you see her right now.'

'Bomb! There's a-' Again he tries to get up, again Ryan pushes him back.

'Done, disarmed, disposed. Place we found you guys? I guess they weren't too worried about being found out, cause they left their stuff right out in the open. Plans, maps, you name it. We got 'em down in the financial district, about two hours after we got you.

'Alexis?'

'Called her to let her know you're fine. Your mother had to practically tie her to a chair to keep her from walking back to the city in the middle of the night. They'll be catching the first train tomorrow.'

Castle's tongue is suddenly thick and dry and there's nothing to moisten his mouth. Ryan snags a bottle of Coke from between Esposito's knees, uncaps it and hands it to him. The liquid is warm and sickly sweet but it's enough to get his mouth working, even if his hands are still so stiff he can barely wrap them around the bottle.

'Kate. Take me to her. Please.'

'You need to sleep.'

'I need to see her. I'm not going to sleep until I've seen her for myself.'

Something in his face must have convinced Ryan. Or maybe it's as simple as Ryan has a Jenny; he can imagine how this must feel. A kick to the foot to wake Esposito, a quick exchange and somehow there's a wheelchair and a plan.

Castle smiles as they wheel him down the hall like a couple of kids playing war, with Esposito taking up commando positions at the corners of the hall, scoping for nurses before waving them along. Ryan has a Jenny, Esposito has a Lanie. Castle has a Kate, even if she doesn't yet know she's his.

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They can distract the one night nurse in ICU, but not the cameras trained on each bed. Just as well, since neither Ryan nor Esposito are family, so they haven't been allowed to visit Beckett yet, and neither is sure which room she's in. The night nurse is a tiny blonde who hardly looks old enough to drink, let alone left in charge of a unit full of patients on the edge of life and death. After a moment's huddle, they send Esposito off to work his Latino magic on the nurse while he checks the displays for a familiar face. Ryan keeps an eye around the corner, waiting for Esposito's signal, while Castle rolls his chair impatiently back and forth in lieu of pacing.

'Number six,' Ryan finally whispers and puts a heavy hand on Castle's shoulder, as if bidding him farewell before an unwinnable battle. 'We'll hold the whitecoats off as long as we can.'

Castle spins and takes off, rolling as fast as he can considering he's still not too good at gripping the wheels. He's shivering again, clad in nothing but a stupid-looking hospital gown and Esposito's leather jacket, but he suspects the shortness of breath and racing heart he's experiencing have nothing to do with cold hallways or his still abnormally low core temp.

And then he's there, beside her bed, and she's there, pale as snow and slightly frostbitten, the tip of her nose shiny with ointment. Like he was, she's under an electric blanket, but her cheek, when he touches it, feels cool even to his own still-cold hands.

She moves when he touches her, turns her face towards his palm.

'Castle.'

Her voice sounds as it did in the freezer, slurred and thready, supported by only the barest breath of life.

'I'm here,' he whispers.

'They said you were okay.' A momentary argument with her eyelids and then they finally part halfway, and he makes himself smile like everything they just went through was nothing, was part of an ordinary day. And in a way, as long as she's all right, as long as they're both going to walk away from this undamaged, it is just another day, only slightly more exciting than any other that they've shared. 'I'm so glad.'

'Are you okay?'

'Yeah. They just want me here for observation.'

Her eyes are closing again, even as she struggles to keep them open. 'I'll let you sleep,' he says, moving his hand to her hair for a moment. 'I just wanted to say hi.'

'I'm still so cold,' she murmurs. 'Are you still cold?'

'Yeah.'

She opens her eyes again, long white fingers tugging on the covers. She hasn't got the strength to pull the heavy blanket back, but he gets the message, the unspoken need. Carefully, he manages to climb out of the wheelchair and onto the bed, smoothing the covers down over both of them. Kate settles herself against his side, head in the hollow of his shoulder, cradled in the curve of his arm. This time, when she closes her eyes and drifts away, all he can do is hope the boys do their job so well that no one ever finds them at all.

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