Reborn in Castle (TV show)

Sound came back before sight.

At first, Kate thought it was rain.

A steady rush around her ears. A distant roar. Voices pushing through water. She tried to move toward them, tried to answer and tell whoever was calling her name that she was awake, but her body felt buried beneath something heavy and cold.

The world drifted in broken pieces.

Light flashed above her.

Someone shouted for a backboard.

Someone else yelled that the ceiling was unstable.

A siren wailed somewhere far away, muffled and stretched thin like it belonged to another city.

Kate tried to open her eyes, but the darkness dragged at her again. It felt like drowning in a river where the water was thick with smoke, mud, and memory. Every time she pushed upward, something pulled her deeper.

Travis.

The name cut through everything.

Where was Travis?

She could recall the explosion. The intense heat, the crushing pressure, and how the tunnel itself appeared to collapse around them in a single, violent surge. She remembered Travis turning back toward her, moving faster than anyone should have been able to move.

Then his voice.

"Don't worry, Beckett. I'm here with you."

Kate forced her eyes open for half a second.

The tunnel ceiling swam above her, broken and uneven through drifting dust. A flashlight beam swung wildly somewhere nearby, throwing shadows across the ruined maintenance room. People were shouting, but none of it mattered because Travis was above her.

He was braced over her like a shield.

A massive chunk of concrete had come down across his back, pinning him in place. Twisted metal rods stuck out through his torn jacket, and blood ran from his mouth and nose in thin lines that fell against her face while he kept trying to hold himself up.

Kate tried to speak.

Nothing came out.

Travis looked down at her, and somehow he still smiled.

It was small, strained, and barely there, but it was still him.

"Stay awake," he whispered, his voice rough and wet from pain. "Come on, Kate. Stay with me."

'Why?'

The thought floated through her broken mind before she could stop it.

Why would he go that far for her?

A gloved hand reached past him. Someone shouted that they had to lift the slab carefully. Another voice said the female detective was losing pressure. A third voice shouted Travis's name, then swore when he did not answer fast enough. Was that Ryan or Esposito? There was also a female voice... Lanie?

Kate felt hands on her shoulders.

The world tilted.

Travis vanished from above her.

Panic tried to rise, but even that felt weak.

"No," she tried to say, though her mouth barely moved. "Travis."

A paramedic leaned over her, face blurred behind a helmet light. "Detective Beckett, can you hear me? Stay with us. We're getting you out."

Her eyes rolled toward the side.

Through the dust and chaos, she saw Travis still trapped beneath the concrete. Two rescue workers crouched near him, speaking fast, hands moving with careful urgency. His head had turned toward her, and even from across the ruined area, she could see him fighting to keep his eyes open.

He was looking at her...

...Still looking at her.

Then the darkness swallowed him.

The next time Kate surfaced, the ceiling above her was moving.

No, she was moving.

Bright lights passed overhead in broken flashes. Her body rocked against a stretcher while someone squeezed air into her lungs through a mask pressed over her face. She heard the clatter of wheels, the scrape of metal, and the fast footsteps of people running beside her.

"Female detective, gunshot wound to abdomen, blast exposure, major blood loss, altered consciousness," a paramedic said somewhere near her head. "Pressure dropping again."

Kate tried to lift her hand.

It did not move.

Her chest tightened with helpless anger.

'Travis.'

She needed to ask. She needed someone to tell her where he was. She remembered concrete on his back, blood on his face, and that awful smile he gave her like saving her was the only thing in the world that mattered.

Her lips moved beneath the oxygen mask.

"Travis…"

A paramedic leaned closer. "Don't talk, Detective. Save your strength for us."

She tried again anyway.

"Travis…"

The ambulance doors slammed shut.

The siren screamed above her.

The ride became a nightmare of light, pressure, and voices. The paramedic kept one hand pressed near her wound while another secured lines and called numbers Kate could not understand. Every bump in the road sent pain flashing through the fog before the numbness rushed back in.

Then the tunnel returned.

She was back beneath the city, lying on cold concrete while Travis hovered above her. Only this time the dust had become snow, soft and gray, falling over his shoulders while he smiled at her through bloodied lips. She had no idea how in the world he was holding that massive chunk of concrete on his back. But she felt safe.

"You still owe me that movie premiere, Beckett," he said with a painful smile.

Kate blinked slowly.

"What?"

"Nebula 9," he reminded her. "VIP seats. Remember? Our second official date?"

Her throat tightened.

"I... I don't think..."

"Don't you say that," Travis said, though his voice sounded far away now. "Arg! We're going on that second date. Then third and fourth... And there are too many things we gotta do together. Like some wild experiments involving a threesome or foursome. Of course, only girls will be involved. I'm too young to die. What about you? You got some wild fetish that I should know of?"

She tried to smile. Even in this situation, he was making jokes, or maybe he was serious. "You talk too much."

"Haha..." He coughed blood. "Fuck! I just want you to know something... You know, just in case we..."

Kate tried to reach for him.

Her hand would not move.

The dream shifted again.

The ambulance doors burst open, and cold air hit her face. People moved around her in a rush, lifting the stretcher down while someone shouted ahead into the emergency entrance.

"Trauma team waiting. Female, early thirties, GSW abdomen, severe blood loss, possible internal injury after blast exposure."

Kate caught pieces of white ceiling lights, blue scrubs, swinging doors, and polished floor beneath fast-moving wheels. Her badge flashed somewhere near her hip before someone cut through her jacket and pulled it away.

A nurse appeared above her. "Detective Beckett, you're at the hospital. We're going to take care of you."

Kate wanted to say she needed Travis.

Instead, her eyes slid closed again.

Voices layered over each other.

"Pressure is still low."

"Get blood ready."

"Page surgery."

"Where's the wound track?"

"Keep pressure right there."

"Detective Beckett, stay with me."

The words turned liquid and slipped away.

For a moment, she was twelve again, standing in her old kitchen while her mother laughed at something from the stove. Then she turned toward Kate.

"Mom!" She whispered as she ran toward her.

But her mom simply smiled and said, "You shouldn't be here, sweetheart. It's not your time."

The world stretched around her...

"Nooooo! MOM!" Kate yelled.

Then she was in the precinct, watching Castle wave a stupid theory around like a flag. Then she was in the gym with Travis, pinned under him on the mat while he told her she would be dead six different ways.

"You're annoying," she had told him.

"You keep showing up anyway," he had answered.

Kate wanted to laugh, but the memory cracked apart before it reached her mouth.

The hospital returned.

Bright lights burned above her. Someone cut away the rest of her shirt, and another pair of hands attached monitors to her chest. A doctor leaned over her, voice calm and firm in the way doctors sounded when everything was worse than they wanted to admit.

"Kate, my name is Dr. Halpern. You lost a lot of blood. We need to get you into surgery now."

Her eyes opened just enough to find his face.

"Travis," she whispered.

The doctor looked toward someone outside her line of sight.

Kate heard footsteps. Heard a familiar voice asking too many questions too fast.

Castle.

"Where is she? Is she okay? Tell me she's gonna be okay."

"Sir, you need to stay back."

"That is Detective Beckett. I'm with the NYPD."

"You still need to stay back."

Then another voice cut through the chaos.

Montgomery.

"Castle, move. Let them work."

Kate felt the stretcher move again.

The lights above her blurred into long white lines.

"Travis," she whispered again, weaker this time.

A nurse squeezed her hand, and Kate hated that it was not his.

"He's here too," the nurse said gently. "They're working on him."

That should have helped.

It did not.

Kate remembered him over her, pinned under concrete and still trying to hold himself up. His blood falling on her cheek. His voice telling her to stay awake, like his own body had not been breaking above hers. He was saying something to her, but she couldn't hear his voice anymore.

Her eyes burned.

She did not know if it was pain, fear, or the medication rushing through her veins.

The doors to surgery opened ahead.

A final burst of noise reached her from the hall. Castle arguing. Montgomery ordering him back. Ryan's voice somewhere behind them. Espo was there too. Lanie's voice, demanding answers from someone near the trauma desk.

Kate tried to hold onto all of it.

She tried to hold onto anything.

Then Travis was there again in the dark behind her eyes.

He was sitting across from her at Red Lantern, smiling over a glass of wine. He was standing in her kitchen making coffee like he had every right to be there. He was leaning against the gym wall, telling her she was better because she refused to quit.

And then he was back in the tunnel, broken and bleeding, still covering her like the world could fall apart as long as she survived underneath him.

'Why would you do that?'

The question floated through her mind again.

This time, dream-Travis answered.

"Because lately every time I leave, I keep thinking about seeing you again."

Kate's breath hitched beneath the mask.

The surgical lights came into view, huge and white above her.

Someone adjusted the mask over her face.

She wanted to fight it.

She wanted to get up, find Travis, grab him by the collar, and yell at him for doing something so stupid and reckless and brave that it hurt worse than the bullet.

Her body had nothing left.

The world narrowed to the sound of her own heartbeat, slow and uneven beneath the machines.

Just before everything faded completely, Kate heard herself whisper his name one more time.

"Travis…"

Then the dark took her gently, while the hospital lights disappeared above her.

...

[Waiting area]

The hospital waiting area had turned into the one place none of them wanted to be.

Captain Montgomery stood closest to the hallway leading toward surgery, his arms crossed while his eyes stayed fixed on the double doors. Ryan sat with his elbows on his knees, hands clasped tight enough to hurt. Esposito stood beside him, pacing every few seconds before stopping again because standing still felt worse. Castle stayed near Alexis and Martha, his face pale and silent in a way that felt wrong on him. Alexis stood close to her father, one hand wrapped around his arm, while Martha watched the surgery doors with both hands folded near her chest.

Lanie stood apart from everyone else.

She had not sat down since they arrived.

Her eyes kept moving between the two operating rooms. One held Kate. The other held Travis. Every time someone passed through the hallway, her body reacted before her mind did, like she expected answers to appear through sheer panic.

Then one of the nurses came out of Kate's operation room.

Lanie moved first. "How is she?"

The nurse stopped in front of them, face controlled but serious. "Detective Beckett lost too much blood before she reached us. Not to mention the trauma from the explosion. Her condition is critical, and the surgical team is doing everything they can."

Castle stepped forward immediately. "She's still fighting, right?"

The nurse looked at him carefully. "Yes. She is still fighting."

Alexis tightened her grip on Castle's arm. Martha's expression shifted with pain, but she kept herself composed because Castle looked like he was one bad answer away from falling apart.

Ryan lowered his head and whispered, "Come on, Beckett."

Esposito stopped pacing. "She's too stubborn for this shit," he said, though his voice came out rougher than he wanted. "She's gonna wake up and yell at all of us for looking worried."

Montgomery nodded once, but his eyes never left the nurse. "Keep us updated the second anything changes."

"I will," the nurse said before turning back toward the operating room.

The doors closed again.

The silence that followed felt worse than the answer.

Castle rubbed both hands over his face and tried to breathe through it. "She was talking earlier. She was asking for Travis. That means something, right?"

No one answered fast enough.

Alexis looked up at him. "Dad."

Castle swallowed hard and nodded without looking at her. "Yeah. I know. I know."

A moment later, another nurse came out from Travis's surgery room.

Lanie turned so quickly that Ryan stood without thinking. The nurse had barely taken two steps before Lanie reached her.

"Detective Wilson," Lanie said. "Tell me what's happening with Travis."

The nurse hesitated, and that hesitation hit the room like a warning shot.

Lanie's voice sharpened. "Don't sugarcoat anything. I was there when they brought him out. I saw how bad it was. Just tell me."

The nurse took a slow breath. "It is difficult to say anything definite at this point."

Lanie's voice trembled. "Give me something... anything."

"He has multiple bone fractures," the nurse said carefully. "There was severe blood loss, blast trauma, and penetrating injuries that reached internal organs. The trauma to his body was extreme, and the surgeons are still trying to stabilize him."

Castle went completely still.

Ryan closed his eyes for a moment before looking the other way.

Esposito muttered, "Jesus Christ."

The nurse continued. "It's a miracle that he's still..." She paused for a moment. "Any other human being would have…"

She stopped before finishing the sentence.

That unfinished sentence did more damage than a completed one ever could.

Lanie stared at her, eyes wide and wet. "Would have what?"

The nurse did not answer that directly. "You should prepare yourselves for the worst."

Lanie shook her head once. "No."

"I'm sorry," the nurse said softly. "They are doing everything possible."

Then she left.

For one second, Lanie stayed standing through pure denial.

Then her legs shook.

Ryan rushed over and caught her by the arm before she could sink too fast. "Lanie, sit down. Come on, sit down for a second."

"I'm fine," Lanie said, but her voice had no strength behind it.

"No, you're not," Ryan replied as he guided her into the chair. "Nobody here is fine."

Lanie sat down hard, one hand covering her mouth while her other hand gripped the edge of the seat. She looked toward Travis's room, and all the control she usually carried cracked wide open.

"I saw him," she whispered. "He was still trying to protect Kate after all that. He was bleeding all over, and he was still trying to stay over her."

Castle looked toward Travis's surgery room, and something in his expression broke. "He saved her."

Esposito turned away for a moment, pressing one hand against the back of his neck. "This is bullshit. Both of them were just at the precinct a few hours ago. Wilson was cracking jokes, Beckett was acting like tomorrow was just another bad case, and now we're standing here waiting for doctors to tell us if they survive surgery."

Ryan sat beside Lanie, still watching both operation doors. "We should've had backup there faster."

Montgomery looked at him immediately. "Do not start that."

Ryan looked up. "Cap."

"No," Montgomery said firmly. "You do not put that on yourself. Kate got the call and moved. Travis followed because that is who he is. The people responsible are the ones who turned those tunnels into a deathtrap."

Lanie let out a shaky breath, then lowered her hand from her mouth. "I told him no."

Ryan looked at her.

She did not look back at him. Her eyes stayed on Travis's door. "He wanted something real. He asked me many times, and I told him no because I thought keeping things casual made everything easier. Then he moved on, and I had the nerve to feel jealous."

Esposito softened immediately. "Lanie, this isn't the time to beat yourself up."

"When is the time?" she asked, looking at him now. "When he wakes up? If he wakes up? What if I don't get to say I'm sorry?"

No one answered because every answer sounded too small for the fear sitting between them.

Montgomery looked between them all and drew in a slow breath. For a few seconds, he was not just the captain. He was a man standing outside two surgery rooms, waiting to find out if two detectives under his command would make it through the night.

Then his phone buzzed.

He checked it, read the update, and his expression turned colder. "ESU is still clearing the tunnels. They found survivors underground. Some are in bad shape. Bomb squad is checking for secondary devices. And the medics cleared our two posted officers. They are good."

Ryan stood up immediately, forcing himself back into the job because the alternative was sitting with fear until it crushed him. "What do you need?"

"Call the precinct," Montgomery said. "Tell them no leaks. Not one word about Keller, Adrian, or the tunnel survivors reaches the press until I say so."

Ryan nodded and stepped away with his phone.

Lanie stared at Travis's operating room like she could drag him back through force alone. Her voice came out small and broken.

"He better wake up."

Ryan lowered his phone just enough to look at her.

Lanie swallowed hard, tears slipping down her face now. "That stubborn bastard better wake up so I can tell him I'm sorry."

--

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[20 advance chs] + [Modern Family: 28 chs Early access]