171. Chapter 171

After Under Fire

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I have this burning desire to own Castle, but, I don't. Rating: K Time: See above

Author's note: The ABC/Castle website just put Under Fire up, so I decided to write this. I'll get to Sucker Punch later.

"Detective? Can I see you in my office for a second?" Captain Gates motioned for Kate to come into her office.

"Certainly, sir." Kate replied, somewhat mystified as to why Gates would want to talk to her now.

"Sit down, please. I know you've had a long day and I'm sure you're anxious to get back to your fiancé and unwind."

Kate smiled. She had much more than unwinding in mind. "Thank you, sir."

Kate thought that Gates looked slightly embarrassed. "Detective, I don't care a great deal for your fiancé, as a person." She held up her hands to stop Kate from defending the man that she so loved. "I know that you have a different opinion. I find Mr. Castle to be unfocused. Undisciplined. Disorganized. His mind seems to fly from one idea to the next without…" She stopped. "But that's not why I called you in here. Whatever I find to be…troublesome with Mr. Castle, I have found him to be a value to this precinct and an excellent, if unorthodox, detective. We talked over the phone about the arsonist and we somehow managed to discover that the arsonist must have had a hidden exit to his lair. I've seen the two of you do that sort of thing before, but I hadn't experienced it before myself. It was quite…different."

Kate smiled. "Castle is…different." She decided to say no more.

"I just wanted you to know that, Detective."

"Thank you, sir. And I won't tell Castle what you told me. He might think you were getting soft, or worse, becoming friends with him."

"Mr. Castle is a very lucky man to get you."

"I'm equally lucky, sir." Kate thought for a second and decided to tell Gates a little more. "Sir, you never knew me before Castle came into my life. You didn't even know me until after my relationship with Castle was a positive one. A very positive one. But before Castle, as Captain Montgomery once said to me, I wasn't having any fun. Ever. I don't think I even realized how unhappy I was before Castle. It all just seemed normal to me. But he's changed my life for the better. He's the best thing that ever happened to me."

Gates let out a long, dramatic sigh. "He's changed my life as well, Detective. Now, you grab Mr. Castle and get out of here."

….

"How long do we have to stay here?" Ryan griped.

"Until the ER doctor says you can go." A tall, heavy set blonde nurse barked at him. "And you won't be leaving a second earlier no matter how much you bitch, so quiet down. This is an ER. We have sick an injured people here."

"Thank you, Nurse Brunhilda. But I have a wife and newborn daughter here. I want to see them. Now!"

The nurse leaned into Ryan's face. "You can see them when the ER doctor says you can." She said slowly and distinctly, then turned and walked away.

"I should just get the hell out of here." He muttered.

Epsosito laughed. "What? Covered with soot and ashes and…" Espo sniffed "…and other stuff? Sarah Grace will run away when she sees you."

"She's too young to run."

"You planning to have more kids?" Espo asked.

"Probably. Why?"

"If you have a boy and you name him Javier, you'd better teach him to run, not walk. Otherwise he'll get his skinny Irish ass kicked by every kid in school."

"You did okay, Javier." Ryan drew out the pronunciation of his partner's first name.

"In my neighborhood, Javier was an acceptable name. Javier, Pablo, Enrico, Jesus, Luis, Juan, Julio, were all perfectly acceptable names. But if I had been named Wolfe Tome Daniel O'Connor Patrick Pearse Esposito, I'd have never lived through my first day of school."

Ryan laughed. "With those names, you'd have been fine. No one would have messed with you for fear of arousing the Irish heroes of old."

"You were never in my old neighborhood, bro."

"One of these days, I'm going to track down some old retired cop who used to walk a beat in your neighborhood and see it you were as badass as you say you were."

Before Espo could reply, a friendly white haired doctor walked in on the two detectives. "Detective Ryan? I'm Doctor Borelli."

Ryan stood up. "That's me."

"Well, I'd better check you out now. Nurse Mullins has been giving me hell because you have a wife and a newborn daughter you're wanting to see. Come with me, please."

"Mullins?" Asked Esposito. "Is she the…statuesque blonde nurse that's been in here?"

"That's her."

….

"I hate this." She said.

Rick looked down at Kate who was resting her head on his lap. "Whatever it is, I'll make sure it never happens again. Whatever the love of my life wants, the love of my life gets. What is it? Do you want me to repeal the law of gravity? Teach pigs to fly? Provide toilet paper in the woods for bears? Just name it."

She grinned up at Rick. "I'm serious. We could have lost Ryan and Esposito today. Every time I'm at a crime scene, a tiny part of me says, "That could be Rick. I could lose him." Since it was two people that are like family to me today, I feel even worse right now. I just want to be here with you and never let you go."

"Sounds good to me. I never want to let you go. And don't worry, I'm never going to leave you. Never. Ever. Ever."

"If you get attacked by some killer?"

"After I repeal the law of gravity, the killer will just float away to be captured by my aerial porcine army and my well groomed ursine friends."

"I should have known." She said, giggling. She sat up so she could face him and put her arms around his shoulders. "When we first met, I said a lot of nasty things to you. I threatened to shoot you and break your legs, and I told you I hated you. And lots of other things. I was unhappy with you, but I never really meant any of it. I wish I had never said any of those things. Forgive me?"

For just a second, Rick thought about teasing her, but thought better of it." Forgive you?"

She nodded.

"Always."