Castle and The Originals

Chapter 21

At the sound of the crash, Rick was wide awake; halfway through his wife's string of expletives he was clambering across their bed. "Honey, what's..."

His breath caught in his throat at the sight of Kate's left hand covered in blood. Her bedside lamp was on its side; it cast an eerie shadow on the ceiling as it rocked back and forth having been upended. Her right hand gripped her right calf desperately clawing at her own flesh.

"Leg cramp. Water. Broken glass..."

Rick jammed his feet into his slippers.

"Don't move, let me." As he rounded the end of the bed he was surprised at just how broken the glass was. It had practically shattered into a million pieces. Every step he took crunched the tiny shards into the drenched hardwood, but he was too focused on the blood dripping steadily from her palm to care about scratching the floor. He wanted to take care of her hand, but with the way she was holding her leg the cramp seemed to be Kate's immediate concern. He reached past her; she was half sitting half standing with nowhere to go that wasn't covered in glass, he grabbed a pillow and removed its case in one motion. "Wrap your hand in that; give me your foot."

Kate did as he asked; she was powerless to do anything else. She had been having leg cramps for the last few evenings, hence the glass of water on the nightstand. Increasing her intake of fruits was supposed to help, but it hadn't yet.

"Rick, please it hurts." She hated to beg but the pain was intense.

"Shh Babe, just relax and let me flex it."

Rick cupped her calf in his left hand and applied counter pressure against the ball of her foot with his right. He could feel the muscles clenching angrily in his palm. After a few seconds of constant flexing the stubborn knots begins to ease and with them her breathing eased as well. Not until she stopped hissing through clenched teeth did he dare stop however.

"Manageable?" She nodded at his questioning. "Okay, let's get that hand taken care of."

Rick leaned forward and scooped her up; there was no way she could walk without getting cut to pieces. Once he reached the threshold of the bathroom he stepped out of his slippers; no sense dragging the shards in there. He sat her on the toilet lid and crossed the road to retrieve the first aid kit. Kate couldn't help but laugh when he knelt down in front of her wearing a miner's light strapped to his forehead.

"What is that?"

Rick smiled but went straight to work with a pair of tweezers; she had two large chunks of glass embedded in her palm.

"Don't knock it; I've liberated many a splinter, piece of glass and even a raisin from various parts of a toddler's body with help from this little baby." He tapped the light with the tweezers. "Seriously, how in the world did you manage this?"

"I'm not really sure, I think I reached for the nightstand, grabbing the glass by accident and it broke in my hand; don't know my own strength I guess. Raisin?" She had to ask.

"Don't let that kid fool you. She wasn't always the picture of maturity and grace she is now." Rick wrinkled up his nose. "This might hurt."

He begins to dig away at the wound but she barely noticed. She was too caught up in the story he continued to spin about a young Alexis and her tendency to stick things up her nose. Kate leaned forward and laid her cheek on her forearm that had been resting on his shoulder. Her eyes were transfixed on his mouth; her ears to his words. She could so clearly picture every scene in her mind's eye; he left no detail unpainted. She became so mesmerized that she didn't even notice the sting of the peroxide as he dabbed the cuts. When he stopped speaking long enough to blow on her palm, she lifted her other hand and begins to trace his ear with her fingertips. Her mind traveled forward in time; she imagined years of skinned knees; a lifetime of hurt feelings and broken hearts all complete with a doting father healing wounds and kissing away the tears. How she had picked not only the perfect mate for herself, but also the perfect father for her children she would never know.