Dangerous

Chapter Twenty-Three

Heyo, sorry for disappearing off the face of the earth. My life's been kicking me in the ribs about as hard as Frank's life is kicking him and I've not had a lot of time or energy or emotion for writing. 

To top it all off, I also fell into a Star Wars hole for like a year so Frankie's been being neglected. On the bright side, I'm on my last leg of real-life legal-assistant classes so here's to hoping I can finish and graduate.

Do not give Castle anything. Do not take anything from him. At this point in my life I'm pretty sure I'd take anything from him and demand more.

Bekah, hun... stop drooling.

He's your friend, you nutjob. Get your head outta your crotch.

Getting metal-detected was aggravating, to say the least. I'm not stupid enough to bring any sharp objects or weaponry of the sorts into a hospital, and I don't have the patience to stand still and have a wand waved over me.

Everything's been removed from inside the room. He's tied down, but keep your distance and mind the tape.

Mind my foot up your ass, Mahoney. I was grinding my teeth back and forth, boot tapping on the linoleum. Waiting for him to shut the fuck up so I can land my eyes on Frankie myself. I think Foggy could sense my agitation, because he slid a comforting hand onto my bicep and gave it a good squeeze as Mahoney finally opened the fucking door for us.

Matt stopped, turned on his heel before entering the doorway, and gently pressed his hand to my sternum, "Miss Hall, I think it best if you stay out in the hall."

"Why?"

Matt gnawed on his lip for a good little while before finally opening his pretty lips again – finding a believable lie, "Your services as our firm's legal investigator are unneeded at this time, until we convince Castle to take us on as his defenders. Miss Hall," he started again, feeling me tense up. He straightened to his full height, "You have to understand, we don't want to overwhelm Castle with too many people in the room while we have this discussion."

"I understand, but I feel like it's imperative that I come in with you." I argued back, my voice holding just a smidge of a tremble. A small enough one where I hoped Mahoney didn't notice it.

"It will be," Matt agreed, "After we speak with him."

Then leave Karen out here, too. I flared my nostrils at the man, even though he couldn't see the passive-aggressive action, "Agreed. Now go." I refrained from physically shoving him into Frankie's hospital room.

The guard shut it behind them with a definitive click and narrowed his eyes at me, "Step away from the door, Ma'am."

"Please," I added on, stepping further back into the hall, "And thank you."

Mahoney came up beside me to hover, "Didn't let you in with 'em?"

"No, Brett," I sneered, "Obviously not, since I'm still standing out here with you brain cells."

"That's Detective to you. Why not bring you in with them? Surely you're important to the narrative?"

"I am the narrative," I corrected heavily, leaning my full weight on my bamboo stick as I pressed it into the toe of my boot, "Matthew didn't want any more people inside pressuring Castle and making him uncomfortable."

"How long have you worked for Nelson and Murdock?"

"Long enough."

"I expect a better answer than that."