I do not own anything from the original creation of Castle!

Chapter 1

Castle opened his eyes slowly, leaned back in his chair, legs on his desk and laptop in his lap. He had his phone beside him no messages or missed calls. He must have dozed off while writing the night before. Another story involving his sexy detective Heat, based on his lovely muse, Kate Beckett. He knew he loved her, he hoped she felt the same. He was feeling more and surer that she had some sort of feelings for him recently with the way she looked at him, talked to him and even the comments she shot at him.

He sighed; the last few weeks they had been working together after hours or meeting with the team at his loft or her apartment. Gates was losing her patience, especially after almost dying on a case, then there was the case when Esposito had been shot a little over a six months ago. She was not allowing him to work with the detectives as much, and so Castle and Beckett had decided that he would work every case to the fullest but only at the precinct occasionally until they were able to find a way to get Gates to accept him. So far, that was not going so well.

He put his computer on the desk before standing up and stretching. He sighed looking at the time. 6 AM; much too early to be awake. He walked into the kitchen and started the coffee pot before walking up the stairs to his daughter's room. After the last few cases, he seemed to need to see his daughter as soon as he woke up. Between the cases and his writing he need to make sure, he wasn't in one of his dreams. He needed to make sure everyone was safe, even if everyone were still sleeping.

Pausing briefly, he peeked through the crack in the doorway to his mother's room, finding her sound asleep in her bed. He walked down a bit farther passing a bathroom and a closet, coming to stop at the closed door to his daughter's room. He turned the knob opening it as quietly as he could, just enough to peer through at the bed. He froze. The bed was empty. He walked in farther to see if she had gone to school early, but her books and her bag was still to the side of her desk. Turning quickly he went back down the hall, checking the bathroom before he went in waking his mother.

"Richard." She whined barely cracking her eyes. "What are you doing?" She asked not happy to be woken early. "Not everyone can fall asleep whenever they want."

"Mother, was Alexis here when you came home?"

"What?" She asked opening her eyes more to see the worry on his face making her sit up. "Richard, what's wrong?"

"Alexis isn't here." He said quickly.

"She must have had to go to school early today." Martha shrugged.

"Her books and bag are still on her desk. Was she here when you came home?" He asked again and Martha looked at him as worry crept across her face. She shook her head and Castle took a slow breath.

"Did you call her? Maybe she went to meet some friends before school." She offered another explanation. Castle looked at her a second before he turned making his way down the stairs, back into his office to grab his phone. Dialing his daughter's number, he heard it ring and ring and ring until the voice mail kicked in. He hung up and turned to look at Martha who had pulled a robe on and was now in his office doorway. "What?"

"She's not answering." He said softly. "She always answers." Martha moved quickly across the room as Castle sat down into his desk chair heavily. She wrapped her arms around him as she tried to hold her own fear back, knowing what her son must be feeling. Every motherly instinct jumped forward wanting to comfort and protect him as she heard him take a slow deep breath before getting up, grabbing his jacket from the back of his chair.

"Richard, where are you going?" She asked as he pulled his keys and phone into his pocket and started for the door making her follow him.

"The precinct. They might be able to track her or something." He said as he walked out the door leaving Martha alone.

Castle ran from the elevators and over to Beckett as she walked to her desk holding a cup of coffee. She looked at him confused as to why he was there. "Castle." She said but the look in his eyes stopped her from asking anything more.

"Beckett, I need you to trace Alexis' phone." She furrowed her brow, walking around him shaking her head.

"Castle didn't we go over this when you had that ridiculous app on your phone? She has a right to her privacy. I'm not going to use the police to spy on your daughter. Why don't you just use that app of yours?"

"Because I deleted it and…. I don't know." He said rushed making her glance at him curious as to why he was so flustered.

"What's going on?" She asked completely facing him.

"Alexis isn't home."

"She probably went to school early. She always does. You tell me that all the time."

"Her bag and books are still there…" He trailed off and the intensity and fear written all over his face began to worry her. "She didn't answer when I called."

"Castle-"

"Kate, she always answers. She calls or at least sends me a message when she's not coming home. She always checks in. I haven't heard from her since she went out last night with one of her friends." Beckett looked at him a minute before giving a small nod and turning to her computer to enter the girl's number.

Alexis and Beckett had become very close over the years, meeting for lunch or even dinner on several occasions. Sometimes to just talk and others it was for Alexis to ask her advice on various problems that she didn't feel completely comfortable going to her father or grandmother for. Beckett froze looking at her screen.

"Did it ring when you called it?" She asked, looking up at him to see his nod as the boys walked over with smiles seeing Castle back at the precinct. She put her desk line on speaker and dialed.

"You've reached Alexis. Leave a message and I'll call you back as soon as I can!" The teen's voice said happily. The boys looked between Castle and Beckett as she looked at Castle. He was frozen, knowing what it meant before he ran a hand through his hair and turned walking off to the break room.

"What's going on?" Ryan asked as Beckett watched Castle walk into the break room, he sat on the little couch and ran his hands over his face.

Beckett looked at the two men. "Keep a trace on Alexis' phone. If it pops back on the grid I want to know."

"Beckett-" Ryan started but was cut off.

"She went out last night with a friend and she never came home."

"Why did he wait all night?"

"Just keep an eye on her phone and get what you can on where she was last night." She ordered before walking over to where Castle was sitting. The two detectives watched Beckett sit next to Castle before they started talking. Ryan turned with Esposito to get to work.

"She went out with an old friend from school. Said they were going to see a movie and maybe some food and then she would be home by 11 since it was a school night. If she would be later she would have called." He shook his head sitting back, still staring at nothing. "I should have called her last night. I should have stayed awake until she was home."

"There's no way you could have known." She said softly reaching out, putting her hand over his that was resting on his lap. "The boys are getting a trace going. You and me will go to the school and see if the boy is in class. We'll talk to him if he is and if not we'll go to his house." He tightened her grip on his hand. "You know we'll get her back." He nodded and took a deep breath.

"How are you going to do this? You're homicide and I guarantee Gates isn't going to let you freelance."

Beckett smiled at him. "This isn't the first time we've worked behind her back." She stood up and pulled him with her. "Do you know what movie theater she would have gone to?"

"The one in the village." She nodded and led the way out to the two men.

"See if you can get footage from the IMAX in the village. Castle and I are going to the school. Let me know what you find."

"And Gates?" Esposito asked.

"Tell her whatever you want; I'm taking lead on this."

"We're not going to hand this over so easily." Esposito reassured her. Beckett nodded and led Castle, who hadn't been paying much attention, to the elevators.

"He's really out of it." Ryan commented. Esposito nodded before they both turned back to finding out what happened.

Beckett and Castle walked into Alexis' school to find the students all walking around talking. Several stopped to look at them, a few recognizing Castle and the others stared at Beckett's cuffs, badge and gun hanging at her waist. He led the way to the principal's office not even taking a moment to say hello to any teachers or students who greeted him.

"Mr. Castle." The secretary smiled. "Are you dropping Alexis off? I saw she was absent today." Castle shook his head.

"No, Jean. That's why we're here actually."

"Detective Kate Beckett. I need to know if James Terrett came to school today." Beckett cut in placing her badge on the counter.

"What's going on?" Jean asked looking between the two. Castle shook his head.

"Can you just tell us if he came to school today?" Beckett asked. She knew Castle was having a hard enough time holding together let alone having to explain to everyone. His daughter was his world and with Alexis missing and maybe even in a life-threatening situation, he was falling apart inside. It was only a matter of time before it showed.

"I'll… I'll check." She turned to go through her computer as Beckett stole a glance at Castle.

"Mr. Castle." A heavy man with black hair walked from his office to the side as he spoke. "What can I do for you today?"

"We're not here socially." Castle told him and glanced at Beckett's badge still on the counter.

"Oh, I hope one of my students didn't do anything too bad."

"We're actually looking into James Terrett." Castle told him pushing everything to the side as much as he could. If he was going to help get his daughter back, he needed to stay in control. "He and Alexis went out last night…"

"And she never came home." Beckett finished and gained and small nod of appreciation from Castle.

"Detective, Mr. Castle." Jean said walking over to them with a paper. "James is not in school today."

"I'm going to need his address." She nodded and handed her the paper as Beckett's phone rang. "Beckett." She answered. "Alright thanks, Espo." She hung up as Castle's phone rang out with a familiar voice 'Dad! Dad! Dad!' He looked at Beckett quickly as he pulled his phone out. "Esposito said the phone came back online a few minutes ago they are trying to get a mark on it now." She moved closer so she could look at the screen.

"Beckett…" He trailed off as she took the phone and he took a step back.

'We get what we want in 24 hours or we will make her beg for us to kill her.' Was all that was written. She looked over at Castle as he leaned against the wall.

"What are they talking about?" She saw him shake his head.

"I don't know." She picked up the paper and her badge from the counter. "Let's get her back, Castle." She turned to look at him, pushing her own fear back. He nodded as he stood straight, taking his phone back from Beckett.

"Let us know if there's anything we can do." The principal said. Castle only nodded and followed Beckett out to the car. Beckett started the car and looked at Castle as he sat back into his seat. She reached over grabbing his hand and holding it tight. He looked at her and saw a small smile tug at her lips. Her brown eyes now a bit more wet as she looked into his blue ones.

"We'll check out the kid's place and then go back to the precinct and see what we can dig up. You don't have anything to do with people wanting something so they must think they have someone else's daughter." She paused looking at him. "We'll find her and we'll make sure this bastard fries." He nodded as she let go and started to the boy, James', address.