Frozen Love (A Castle Fanfiction)

Because She was Gone

The moment I burst through the doors of the E.R, I was struck with a sense that something was happening beyond what I knew. No one I knew was anywhere in sight as I thought they'd be. When I asked the nurse at the front station, instead of directing me toward Ryan, she sent me to a general opened area where a good number of the SWAT team members I knew were receiving stitches for different lacerations or having their bodies bandaged in different spots. At the very back of the room, looking defeated but annoyed, I saw Espo sitting on bed with a nurse cleaning a wound on his thigh. At the very moment I started toward him, he saw me and called my name. When I got to his side, I didn't have to ask for him to tell me, "It was Maddox. He somehow caught word that we were gathering reinforcements and he set a trap. Ryan and his team walked in and seconds later the building blew."

"Is he alright?" I questioned.

"He's in the burn unit. They said he's got third degree burns over twenty percent of his body, all on his left side." Then, taking the time to look even more deeply into my eyes, he spoke in a straight tone, "It's bad, Kate."

My heartbeat stopped for a single bash at the drum before it became even more rapid than it had been. A sense of guilt and aching loomed over head as I questioned, "Was anyone else seriously hurt?"

"McNeilson and Deseck are back there with Ryan too and their fourth team member, Daniels was burnt, but not nearly as bad. The other three kind of shielded him in a way."

"Was Maddox in the building when it blew?" I hoped.

"Doesn't look like it. It was probably triggered by the door opening or someone triggered it with a bad foot placement. Either way, Maddox is in the wind." Just then, he looked behind be and questioned, "Where's Castle?"

"At a hotel with Alexis and Brayden. I- got this message after I got your calls and I didn't want them staying at the loft."

Javi switched his concern toward me. "Message? What message?"

"Just some threat from the bastard who hired Maddox. Apparently this was a warning because I didn't back off."

Confusion came across Espo's face as quickly as I became uncomfortable with the topic. "What? But- you did back off. We decided to go ahead without you. Besides, they tried to kill you last time. Why go from murder to threatening? It's typically the other way around."

"They're killers, Javi.; they're trained, educated, demented, merciless executioners. Not everything they do makes sense."

Espo then shook his head. "No. If Castle were here, he'd tell you that murder always makes sense. You want someone to stop pursuing you like this, you have two options: intimidation or murder. Most people try for the first so as not to be seen as blood thirsty. But- to go from willing to kill you to suddenly having pity on yo and just using intimidation tactics is nearly unheard of. There has to be a reason."

"There is," Lanie said from behind the two of us. We turned as she explained, "They've realized that Katherine Beckett doesn't value her own life near as much as she values her families. She'll die for her cause. She just won't let anyone else take that fall." I swallowed hard. The air immediately became uneasy.

Espo quickly popped the bubble by questioning, "How is he?"

Echoing Javi's earlier sentiment, Lanie told us, "It's bad."

"How bad?"

She hesitated before saying, "The only other time I can member seeing someone in such bad shape, your heart was failing and your blood was soaking the floor of that ambulance."

Again, silence. Only this time, the silence remained. Not a word was said as we all sat and waited for something substantial to be said. When the first pair of doctors came out, they settled Deseck's family by telling them he was alive and doing well considering. After that, another pair came out to inform Elena and her daughter that Frankie McNeilson was alive, but in critical condition. He was in the ICU's Burn Unit, unconscious but responsive. Then, there was silence. No word. No hope. Nothing.