Castle's partner

Then Came the Night

I can't go back to sleep, I don't want to risk seeing that again.

At around five, Beckett places a hand on my forehead.

She hasn't gone back to sleep either.

"Baby your temperature is still really high, you're running a fever. You're staying in bed, we're not going to the precinct."

I don't respond.

I pull the covers up to my chin.

I close my eyes, but those moments keep replaying in my head.

I hate life. I hate what it's done to me.

Then, I see a man walking towards us in bed, and he grabs Beckett. He starts hitting her, and I scream.

Wait, my eyes aren't open. How am I seeing this?

I fly out of bed. I have to be hallucinating.

But I see it again. The same man grabs her, and I slide against the wall, shaking and crying.

----------------------------------------------------

Beckett pov

I scramble to her side, trying to calm her down.

She's awake, these aren't nightmares. What's happening?

Then it hits me. She's hallucinating.

"Samantha, it's not real. You're sick, it's your fever. Whatever you're seeing isn't true."

I take her in my arms. What did she see?

"What are you seeing?"

"He's hurting you!" She chokes out.

"No, no I'm fine. No one's hurting me. C'mon, we need to cool you down and drop your fever."

I help her stand, and she stumbles, so I pull her waist closer to mine, and wrap her arm around my shoulder.

I guide her to the bathroom and pull out a thermometer.

I take her temperature and it reads 106.2 degrees.

"Shit Samantha. I'm calling Lanie."

I lay her down gently on the rug, and she starts laughing.

"Lanie, Lanie help me! Samantha's fever is at 106 and she's hallucinating! What do I do?"

I know I probably woke her up, but the urgency in my voice makes her wake up quickly.

"Kate you gotta take her to the hospital if her fever doesn't go down soon she could get brain damage! I'll meet you there but you have to leave now!" She hangs up.

I look at her, still on the floor laughing.

"We have to go okay? We're going to make you feel better."

Her smile turns to a frown.

"I don't want to go."

Her forehead glistens with sweat.
I try to make her stand up, but she fights against me weakly.

"Please Samantha!"

By now I'm in tears, she was just in the hospital. I can't lose her again.

"Do you want to go see Auntie Lanie? And Uncle Ryan and Tío? And Castle? If you come with me you can see all of them. I promise."

She looks at me with sad eyes, and starts shivering.

She nods, and stops fighting me.

We make our way to my car, and I lay her in the back seat.

I turn on my lights and sirens and fly through the city.

I pull up to ER where Lanie is waiting outside with a bed on wheels and two other doctors.

I open her door and we all get her on the bed.

"What took you so long?" Lanie yells at me.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! She wouldn't come, she wouldn't let me!"

She races down the hall, and I follow her.

They roll her straight into a room and hook her up to an IV and start pumping medicine and liquid into her system.

After a few minutes she calms down, but still shakes. We cover her with blankets, and slowly my Samantha comes back.

Her pupils dilate, and her crazed grin turns into the soft, philosophical look she usually has on her face.

"Hey baby," Lanie whispers, moving her hair. "You're okay now."

Then Lanie starts to sing.

"Hush little baby don't say a word, mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird, and if that mockingbird don't song, mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring."

Although she tries to fight it, her eyes close.

"You can go to sleep. It's okay." I whisper.

She quickly falls asleep, and Lanie and I slip into the chairs next to her bed.

"Is she going to be okay?" I ask quietly.

"She should be. She's a fighter." Lanie sighs. "I'm sorry I yelled at you Kate. I was scared."

She puts her face in her hands.

"She keeps ending up here, and it's my fault."

"Lanie how is it your fault?"

"When she was kidnapped, she died in my arms. I must've been doing the CPR wrong, and I shouldn't have let her go, I knew something was wrong, I knew she could have gotten sick after being in that storm."

"None of that was your fault Lanie. You helped her. I've taken the blame for it too, I think every time something happens it's my fault, but she tells me it's not. We have to believe her."

I look at my best friend, the one that's helped me through so much, and wrap my arms around her.

"The only reason she stopped fighting me was because I said she could see you guys."

"I'm surprised she stopped fighting. She reminds me of you, she's so stubborn and bull headed sometimes."

"I'm not stubborn and bull headed!" I exclaim.

"Girl, I'mma slap you."

I have to smile. I guess it's true, I can be.

"Alright whatever. Are you staying, cuz I am."

She nods. "Of course. I'll call the boys so they can come later."

"Okay. Lanie can you do me a favor?"

"Of course Kate."

"Check on her one more time? I want to make sure her fever's going down."

She slowly approaches Samantha and places a hand on her forehead and neck, covering her purple bruises.

"It's dropping Kate. She's fine. She'll wake up later and be better."

I breathe a sigh of relief.

She's fine.