699Flu
Chapter 1
Enjoying watching Kate sleep, Rick hesitates to wake her but knows she'll be pissed at him if he doesn't. He gently shakes her shoulder. "Kate, you slept through the alarm."
Confusion clouds Kate's sluggishly opening eyes. "What?"
Rick brushes a strand of hair out of her face. "The alarm. You slept through it. I can't remember you ever doing that before."
Kate draws herself up on her elbows, her head still supported by her pillow. "I think the last time it happened, I was at Stanford. I was binging with – never mind. What time is it?"
"Almost six-thirty. Alexis has been getting herself up and out to the lab at an obscenely early hour, so my internal clock wasn't set to feed-the-teenager breakfast duty."
Kate kicks at the light summer blanket covering her legs. "I've got to get going. My shift starts at 7:05."
"As I've been uncomfortably aware," Rick acknowledges. "If you want to jump in the shower for a minute, I'll start the coffee."
"You can start some for yourself if you want to," Kate allows, "but I don't feel like having anything. I think I'll just rinse off, get dressed and go. You can join me at the precinct whenever you're ready. Don't you have a chapter to finish this morning?"
"Yeah, I do," Rick admits. "All right, prepare for your quick exit. I'll see you later. And if you want me to bring you some nourishment, let me know. I suspect some of the cookies in the vending machine have been there for months."
"Years," Kate replies, dragging into the bathroom. "But I don't think I'll need anything."
Rick frowns at his computer screen. He hates writing the chapters where he throws obstacles in the path of Rook's relationship with Nikki, but he's well aware that it's part of the formula the powers-that-be expect. He can't make a couple blissful and write from there – unless maybe he's writing a script for a reboot of Hart to Hart. Somehow Jonathan and Jennifer managed to be happily married and solve mysteries at the same time, much like he and Kate do. But Black Pawn would scream at a lack of male-female conflict, so he has to create some. Still, he gets an unpleasant feeling in his gut every time he comes up with another excuse why they can't be together – except for the bullet Rook is going to take for Nikki at the end of this book. Rook can't show much more love for her than that. Unfortunately, Rick has to get the couple to that point first. That's the tedious and frustrating part. He's relieved when his phone rings until he notes the caller I.D. Montgomery? Why would the captain be calling him, when Kate's desk is a few feet from his office? "This is Castle."
"Castle, good. Listen, Beckett is practically falling over. I want to send her to Health Services, but she's in no condition to go alone, and I have too many people out sick to spare someone to take her. Can you get down here now?"
"On my way," Rick replies, already striding toward the door.
Kate has her head pillowed on her arms at her desk when Rick arrives in the bullpen. Her limp hair covers her face, and she doesn't stir at his footsteps. "Kate, Hon, I'm going to take you to see the medics, OK?" He lifts her in his arms and carries her toward the elevator.
"I should check out," she protests.
"Montgomery can deal with it," he assures her. "Let's just get you better."
The waiting area at Health Services is full to overflowing, but someone brings out a metal folding chair for Kate. Rick stands behind her, letting her lean against his body. To him, it seems a lot longer, but Kate's name is called after a half-hour. He helps her onto an examining table.
"Are you her partner?" a nurse inquires.
"Yes, but also her husband," Rick informs her.
"Then you can stay with her. The doctor should be in soon. We're a little backed up this morning."
"I can tell," Castle responds.
"Did someone get the license plate number of that truck?" Kate mumbles.
"I'll get her temperature and her vitals, and we'll try to make the wait as short as possible," the nurse promises.
After another 20 minutes, a young doctor with shadows under his eyes and "Latshaw" on his nametag comes in, scanning the notes on a clipboard. "One hundred and three degrees, no wonder you're not feeling well." He looks in Kate's throat and feels the glands in her neck. "Looks like that new flu, the H1N1. We've had about 25% of the force come through here with it."
"But Kate had her flu shot," Castle protests. "We both did."
"The seasonal shot doesn't work against this strain," Latshaw explains. "The labs are working on a new one, but we'll probably be past the peak of this thing before it's available."
"How come I didn't get it?" Rick asks. "We've been exposed to all the same people."
Latshaw clears his throat. "You're somewhat older than your wife, aren't you, Mr. Castle?"
"About ten years."
"Normally, flu tends to hit the senior population hardest, but this one isn't. In fact, people over 60 are being impacted the least.
"I'm not that old," Castle protests.
"There was a strain years back that was related closely enough to H1N1 to confer some partial immunity on people who contracted it. Do you remember having flu as a young child?"
"I do," Castle recalls. "My mother had it too. At least half the cast of the play she was in at the time did. I think performances were shut down for a couple of weeks because there weren't enough understudies. I remember Mother saying something about the producers taking a bath. That was a hilarious image to me at the time. Not really so funny, I guess."
Latshaw nods. "There's a good chance that if you or your mother do catch this virus, you will have relatively mild cases."
Rick rakes his fingers through his hair. "How about my daughter? She's 16, and she lives with us."
"She may already be exposed, but she's going to want to keep her distance from you and your wife and wash her hands a lot. The incubation period for this flu is very short. You'll know within a couple of days whether she'll be hit or not. I'm going to give Detective Beckett some medicine to fight this thing. It won't cure it, but it may shorten the duration of the illness. No aspirin, but she can take Tylenol for fever."
"I know the drill," Castle acknowledges. "Take her home, and put her to bed, lots of rest and fluids."
"That's correct," Latshaw agrees, "and we'll give you a list of possible complications to watch out for."
"I want to watch Temptation Lane," Kate demands muzzily.
"You can watch all the Temptation Lane you like," Rick assures her. "But, let's get you home."
Rick stirs a pot on the stove. He could easily feed Kate canned chicken soup, assuming she'll agree to eat anything, but by promising a healthy upcharge, he managed to get a messenger to pick up a gallon of the good stuff from the Soupmeister. All he has to do is heat it. That's if he can get his wife to accept it. He's been able to get some of his mother's old fallback when he was sick, ginger ale, into Kate, but not even much of that. She's also fallen asleep during three steamy love scenes on her favorite soap opera. That's scaring him. He'll recheck her temperature before he tries to tempt her with the soup. A racking cough rattles through the loft, and Rick feels his own stomach lurch. Hell! He'll worry about the soup later and get the thermometer now.