Comfort Kiss (Caskett Fanfiction) - DISCONTINUED

Chapter 14

"NO!!!" Castle cried and all I could hear was a shot reverberating off the walls. I reflexively closed my eyes tighter waiting for the cool metal to slice through my skin and bled out onto hard concrete floor.

But the moment never came.

I slowly opened my eyes only to see Josh lying on the floor in a crumpled heap, the scalpel a few feet from him, which Esposito quickly flicked away with his foot, a gun pointed at Josh's head.

"Go ahead." He warned, his face hard with a menacing look as he fought to control his temper. "Move. I dare you." He growled. "See what happens." Espo crouched down and forcefully shoved Josh's hands behind his back and cuffed them, yanking him up by the cuffs, shoving him forward by his shoulder, walking him out of the room before I could even seem him.

"KATE!!!" Castle yelled as he ran towards me. The second my eyes settled on him, I started sobbing. "Oh, Kate." Castle sighed, wrapping his arms around my torso, his face resting on my chest, my heart practically slamming against his ear.

"It's ok. You're ok." He tried to soothe me, running his hands over my face, keeping my eyes trained on him so I didn't see Josh. All I could do was let out muffled cries as I leant into his hand. "Here." He whispered softly, carefully getting an edge of the duct tape, carefully pulling it off her mouth until it was lying on the floor, the rag in my mouth soon lying next to it. With my mouth now free of everything, Castle quickly replaced it with his own lips and I kissed him back as passionately as I could. I could feel Castle pulling back, but his hands on me told me he wasn't leaving my side any time soon.

"Ryan." He called, my face resting in the crook of his neck. "Can you hand me a knife please." He asked, extending his hand. Ryan quickly walked up to us and handed a knife from his vest pocket to Castle, which he proceeded to cut through the ropes till my hands were finally free and immediately wrapped around his neck.

"I'm gonna get you outta here baby." He told me as he carefully lifted me up into his strong arms. I wrapped my arms tighter around his neck, not willing to let go any time soon. He carefully carried me out of the horrors of the room I was held captive in and to the paramedics waiting outside.

"She's got several cuts to her arms and thighs from a scalpel." He told them, carefully climbing into the back of the van, me still unwilling to let go, even if it meant that I was making myself bleed more.

"Ma'am, I'm gonna need you to let go." The female EMT informed me, trying to pry my arms from around Castle's neck.

"Kate?" Castle called softly. He carefully took one of my arms and slowly brought it down by my side so the EMT could examine it. The cuts were just deeper than I first imagined and needed a few stitches. Rick carefully lowered my other arm, all the while holding onto me tightly, allowing the male EMT to examine my left while the female EMT worked on my right. In total, I had around seven cuts on my left arm, four of which needed a few stitches, and one of which was so long and so deep it needed thirteen stitches. The male EMT was still stitching up my right arm, the female EMT was already finished and bandaged my arm from shoulder to wrist, she turned her attention to my leg, which had left a small puddle of blood on the ambulance floor. My eyes started to feel heavy and my brain started getting foggy as the loss of the blood started to affect me.

"Kate? Are you ok?" Castle asked, his voice coated with concern.

"Yeah." I mumbled, my head lolling against his shoulder.

"Ma'am, I'm going to have to cut you out of your pants. Is that alright?" I nodded against Castle's chest, the male EMT finished up with the stitched, which I was shocked to learn equated to five cuts, all of which needed stitches, one which went on an angle halfway up forearm to my elbow which needed twenty three stitches. The male EMT expertly bandaged my arm and turned his attention to my still bleeding leg, watching as the female EMT cut me out of my pants, leaving my sitting on Castle's lap in noting but my rather unflattering underwear.

"You're lucky it wasn't any deeper." The female EMT told me, examining the wound with expert eyes. "It is going to need a few stitches though. And you are going to need to not do anything that might make the stitches stretch or they will bleed."

"That's ok." Castle spoke up for me. "I'm taking care of her." He punctuated the statement with a lingering kiss to my forehead as I nuzzled further into his neck.

"This is going to sting a little." The male EMT warned me as he prepped the needle with the local anaesthetic. I scrunched my eyes tightly shut as I felt the needle sting and the cool liquid flow into the affected area. He poked the needle into a few more times into the area around the gash. I heard him put the needle down shuffling as he undoubtedly switched places with the woman who had already threaded the needle and was preparing to start on the stitches. Castle peppered kisses in my hair and my forehead the whole time, trying to keep my calm as they worked. When she finished the final suture, I had two different rows of stitches, one of which had eleven while the other had thirty six. They carefully gauzed the wounds and bandaged them while Castle asked;

"Should she walk or is it ok for me to keep carrying her?"

"It's probably best if you carry he, sir. She should refrain from putting pressure on her leg for at least two weeks." The male EMT informed him. Normally I would have protested, but right now I was coming down from the rush of emotions and I was essentially falling asleep in Castle's arms. The EMT wrapped a blanket around me, seeing as I was basically sitting there in nothing more than a bra and my underwear, carefully placing my torn clothes on my lap so the boys could take them into evidence.

"Thank you for all your help." He told them as he carefully climbed out of the ambulance.

"Just make sure that she has regular pain medication and takes antibiotics for the one on her leg." The male EMT told Castle, tearing off a prescription and handing it to him. I felt Castle nod in thanks before walking over to Ryan.

"Hey Kev, can you call a taxi for us please. My hands are kinda full." I rolled my eyes at the dumb joke.

"Why don't I just drive you guys home?" He asked.

"It's ok Kev. Thanks though." Castle assured him. Ryan nodded in understanding and quickly dialled up a taxi.

"Nice shot Castle." Esposito told him, clapping him on the back as he helped me into the cab car. "If you had of hit him anywhere else he might not be going to jail right now."

"Where did you get him?" I asked softly.

"In the shoulder." Espo grinned. "Shot right though all the muscles and tore his tendons right off the bone. He won't be using that arm for a very long time. But I don't think he'll be lasting very long in jail anyway."

"What do you mean?" I asked, completely confused. A cheeky smile made it's way onto his face.

"Let's just say I made a few calls and I don't think he will be around for much longer."

"Javi..."

"No," He said, raising a hand to stop me. "You are like my sister Kate and if someone does that to you again, I won't be shooting him in the shoulder." He said with conviction. Leaning down into the car, he placed a gentle kiss on my forehead. "You get some rest, ok. I'll see you soon."

"I was aiming for his head." Castle said weakly, making me flash back to the Nikki obsessed serial killer, Scott Dunn. Turning back to me, he carefully got in beside me and rambled off his address to the driver, taking me back to the place where this whole mess started in the first place.