A/N: Here's a little taste of the story I was thinking of writing. Let me know what you think. Thanks!

Kate squirmed under the hand of her assailant, desperately trying to get some airflow as her vision was quickly fading. She caught Castle's figure out of the corner of her eye as he was thrown against the concrete wall. Lungs burning, she delivered a swift kick to the shin of the man crushing her windpipe. Cursing, the man only tightened his grip, and Kate's vision began blackening. She heard her name being called before total darkness took over.

3 hours earlier

Castle approached Kate's desk with a steaming cup of coffee and set it down gently. "How're you doing, beautiful?"

"Just finishing up this paperwork," Kate said, not taking her eyes off the screen in front of her.

"I was thinking we could grab dinner before Alexis' speech," Castle suggested.

"That would be great," Kate said, pausing before she began typing vigorously.

"Kate, why don't you take a break? It's after 6," Castle said.

Kate sighed, running her hands through her hair. "I've got to get this done, Castle. I don't know if we'll even have time for dinner. Gates wants everything ready for the inspection tomorrow and this is another hour of work - at least.

"That's ok," Castle said, "I'll go out and grab Chinese food. We can hang out here until you're done."

Kate closed her eyes, squinching them shut.

"What's wrong?" Castle asked.

"It's this case," Kate sighed, "I feel like we hardly made a dent in the real issue."

"We caught the killer," Castle said.

"You know as well as I do that he was only a small part of something much bigger."

"Let's worry about that another time, as it is – we got one more bad person off the streets," Castle rubbed his wife's back.

"I guess so," Kate yawned, "What time is Alexis' speech again?"

"8:30," Castle rattled off, "If you're not feeling up to it, I can go by myself."

"No," Kate said, "I want to be there for her. It's a big deal – the project's she's been working on at school have been really helping people."

"Yeah," Castle smiled.

"You raised a good kid, babe," Kate held Castle's hand. "Let me get back to this so we'll be there on time."

"They haven't left yet?" A man radioed in.

"Not yet. I'm behind their car. They won't be able to leave without me seeing them," Patrick said.

"Make sure of it. This cop has been a pain in my ass for six years. She's locked up twenty of my guys – the NYPD needs to be sent a warning, and now."

"Got it, boss. I'll grab them," Patrick said, peering through his binoculars at the stairwell entrance.

"You brought Mikey with you?" The man asked.

"Yeah, he's here. We got it covered," Patrick said.

"Good. Bring them here, and make sure they're alive."

"Ok babe, I'm done," Kate said, pushing her chair away from the desk.

"Great, we've got half an hour, which should put us at the school by 8:15," Castle said.

"Aren't you starving?" Kate asked as she walked towards the elevator with Castle.

"Yes, I say we hit up Remy's on the way home," Castle said.

"Should we pick up anything for Alexis? Flowers or something?" Kate asked.

Castle pressed P1 on the elevator panel, "That would be nice, maybe some roses."

"A little romantic, don't you think?" Kate teased.

"Alexis loves roses! As do you, if I'm remembering right," Castle said.

"That's very true," Kate said as she stepped out of the elevator.

Castle shouted as a man came out of the doorway swinging a pipe. "Look out!"