Within the Script (A Stanathan Fanfiction)

Chapter Two: Waking Confusion

At one in the morning, phone buzzing on the nightstand beside her, Stana wanted nothing more than the ability to sleep through the night. Still, if someone was calling this late, something had to be urgent. She lifted her phone only to see the number wasn't recognized. She then slid the answer key and questioned, "Hello?"

On the other end, a young woman's voice soothed, "Is this Stana Katic?"

"Yes, this is she."

"Hold on one moment please," the friendly woman politely asked.

Next thing she knew, a more familiar voice was in a panic. It was Molly. "Stana, Nathan's been in an accident. I'm at the hospital. He's in really bad shape. You have to get down here now!"

She instantly shot out of bed. "What?! What happened?!"

"Best guess is he was mugged. His wallet and watch and key were missing. So was his phone. It's- really bad. He was hit in the head a lot." Molly was panicking. It was evident through every word.

As she flung her hair up and threw off her nightgown, Stana attempted to sooth Molly with, "I'm sure he'll be alright, Molly, sweetheart. I mean, Nathan's a big guy. I'm sure he'll be telling us we should see the other guy in no time." A hard swallow from Molly wasn't an answer to Stana, but it was enough to let her know she needed to change the subject. "Have you called anyone else?"

"Well, they called his family first and then me. I didn't make any calls until I got here, but- you were the first person I called."

Finally in sweats and a teeshirt, Stana told the kid, "Don't worry about it then, alright? I'll call everyone else."

"Everyone? Does that mean you have to call... her?"

Stana laughed a tiny bit under her breath. "She is his girlfriend."

"Yeah, but we all know that's not going to last, right? I mean, Nathan will come to his senses, right?"

"Again, he's a big boy. If she's who he wants, she's who he will get," Stana replied, a small sting beneath her breath. Molly wasn't too keen on the idea, but once she hung up, she didn't really have a say in the matter. Still, that woman was the last person Stana called. By the time the final ring came and she didn't answer her phone for a third time, Stana was at the hospital. She left a message that she was seriously doubting would be returned.

As Stana hauled through the doors, barreling into the E.R to find out what happened, she was instantly greeted by Tamila's concern. Somehow that woman had beat her friend to the hospital and information, but it was probably a good thing Stana wasn't one of the first to arrive. "How is he?"

"We don't know. They haven't told us anything," Tamila replied. She then helped her friend round a corner where Molly and her father were sitting. Molly lifted herself out of her chair and into Stana's arms almost immediately.

"It will be fine, Molly. I promise," Stana soothed. When her dad got up and joined them, Molly turned back to him and held more tightly to him. "We really know nothing?"

"Only that he was mugged," the man said softly.

Stana shifted and thought for a moment before an emptiness forced her to slump into a chair. Silence shadowed over the group as it slowly grew in numbers. Andrew, Terri, Seamus, Julianna, Jon, David, and everyone else waited all the same. Nothing was said. Not a single mouth was opened. No sound was made. Then, a man in scrubs approached the team with a stoic air about him. "Nathan Fillion?"

"That's us," Molly's father raised his hand.

The man strode over. "Are any of you family?"

"He doesn't have family in the States," Stana answered with a hoarse tune. She then coughed and continued, "Molly's his Emergency Medical Contact, basically his next-of-kin."

"Who is?"

"I am," Molly raised her hand. Even to the doctor, it seemed strange that a kid so young was this man's EMC, but he didn't say a word. He knew her (through internet bios) well enough to know she was over 18.

He then took a breath, seeing the many faces around him, and spoke directly to her. "Nathan received several blows to the left side of his rib cage, and three to different places on his head. He has severe skull contusions, his lung collapsed, and there was internal bleeding. Now, we went in to fix the bleed, and we've re-inflated his lung, but he's unconscious right now. We've put him in a medically induced coma in order to let his brain heal. He's stable, but in critical condition."

"Does that mean he's alright?" Molly questioned.

He hesitated. "It means that, for now, Mr. Fillion is alive and breathing on his own, heart beating and healing."

"But he'll be alright eventually?"

"That's the hope," he stated honestly.

Stana then questioned, "Can we see him?"

Again, the man hesitated. "If one of you wants to go back at this time, I'll take you, but- I'm just cautioning you all that he has been severely injured. He has severe injuries to his face and side and the bruising is... evident."

They all looked to Molly first, but, "I- I can't go in there. Not yet."

"Jon? Seamus?" Stana questioned.

"Nah, Stana, you go ahead," Jon replied. "I'll call his family and- Seamus has a little woman to watch over."

Stana let a quick flash of a smile drawn up over her lips before it fell. Shifting in her place, she nodded and followed the man toward her destination. When she got there, everything was so much worse than she imagined. His eye was swollen shut. His arms were scraped and bruised. His body was completely still. He was hooked up to machines that monitored, not only his heart beat, but his brain waves as well. An I.V was placed in his arm over the only spot on his exposed left side that didn't seem bruised. As she pulled up along side him, slipping her hand in his on his right side where less damage was done, she gently stroked his upper arm with a tenderness she held special for situations like this. He was in bad shape, there was no doubt about it. So, in the beating air, she whispered a simple tease, "At least you get to sleep until noon, huh?"

He would have liked that. He would have laughed at that.

Noon was an understatement, however. Three days passed, and every day people were in and out of his room. As Stana took her turn again, sitting beside him in a chair, holding that same hand and reading his twitter feed to him, his right eye began to fight for sight. At first, she didn't realize he was waking up, which gave his eyes enough time to focus on the room. The moment she heard him moan, her eyes shot up to his and she stood over him, face a foot away from his. "Nathan?"

He groaned and focused entirely on her, hand slowly raising from the bed, trembling as he attempted to rest his palm on her cheek. Even through the pain, he fought to just hold her in some way. Once it reached it's place, she held his hand to her cheek and commented with a laugh, "Still a flirt I see."

"I can't be happy to see my fiancé," he questioned with a pain-filled mumble.

Her brow instantly furrowed. "Fiancé? Nathan, what are you talking about?"

"Who's Nathan?"

"You are," she said, concern growing in her chest.

"Kate, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Stana's heart sank. "Kate?"

He then looked up at her with confusion swirling through him. His eyes then lit up, "Oh, I get it. This is just a little payback for kind of putting a dent in our wedding plans, isn't it."

She then breathed, face still distraught and disturbed. She did the only thing she could think to do. "Castle?"

"See, I knew you knew who I was," he answered. Her heart sank. She was mortified. The only thing she could do was drop his hand from her cheek and turn to leave, ignoring the calls she was getting from the injured, confused man behind her.

She walked directly to the nurse's station and demanded, "Get Doctor Green down here now."