This is another idea that sicced itself into my head since watching 'Hunt'. I didn't think we had enough of Lanie, Esposito and Ryan in this part of the 2 parter & this is the first part of a potential 4 chapter story that tweaks the ending of the episode and shows more of the three I mentioned. Chapter 2 is all but finished, but i'm a little unsure of how it reads, so I may need re-tweak it further before I update it. As with my last posting, this is unbeta'd and is posted via my IPad.

Disclaimer - the people that own Castle are the people that own Castle, I am not one of those people.

'Sit down Kate,' Lanie grabbed her friends hand as she paced, pulling her down onto the uncomfortable sofa, 'pacing isn't going to help him.'

Kate's butt barely touched the seat before she was up pacing again, 'I can't just sit here Lanie, Rick is out there running about Paris looking for Alexis. You didn't have to sit there and listen to his phone call cut out with a gunshot.'

'I need to do something,' Kate's voice broke, 'Anything, to make them coming home unhurt a more likely outcome.'

'Sweetie,' Lanie shifted her butt to the front of the seat as she ran a hand through her hair, 'you've done everything you can here. I know it's not something you wanna hear, but for now we just have to hope and pray that they come home safely.'

'I can't do that Lanie,' Kate sniffed, 'Maybe Gates will let me interview the girlfriend again?'

'No she will not,' The woman in question dryly answered from the doorway, 'There's not a chance in hell that I will be letting you near that woman again. I gave you a inch to interrogate her earlier and you took a damned mile. I've only just managed to get her to back down on a complaint. I'm not letting you throw your career away for them Beckett.'

'What if it were your husband?' Kate snapped, 'out there looking for your daughter. You wouldn't be sat here doing nothing...'

'Don't you dare finish that sentence detective,' Gates' expression went arctic cold as she barked loudly, 'Now I've given the two of you a heck of a lot of freedom these last few months what with you two sleeping together and all, don't make me rethink ignoring your relationship now.'

'Yes Beckett,' Gates nearly chuckled at the shock on Kate's face, 'I've known since I saw you grab his crotch in the elevator after you requested your job back,' Gates leant forward slightly and stuck a finger at Kate, 'which is something I never, EVER, want to witness again, do you hear me?'

Kate nodded wordlessly.

'Katherine,' Gates sighed, seemingly deflating slightly, 'I cannot imagine what you are going through right now, but Dr Parish is correct. As maddening as it is, the best thing for you to do right now is go home and wait.'

'I can't,' Kate's voice was thick with emotion as she started hugging herself, 'I can't leave here without knowing...'

'Then you need to stay calm,' Gates reached out and wrapped a hand over Kate's arm, 'that man has survived a heck of a lot over the years and he's still here. He's going to waltz back through those doors and start irritating me again before you know it.'

'Why?' Kate whispered, 'why does he irritate you so much?'

The frown that had graced Gate's face at the question shifted into a mildly irritated look, 'He reminds me of my idiot brother. Always the joker, never takes life seriously. When Castle speaks I hear him and remember all the times he pissed me off.'

'He can be so irritating at times,' Kate chuckled waveringly, 'but...'

'Thats why you love him,' Gates finished as Kate swallowed a sob before nodding.

'BECKETT!' Esposito bellowed from the doorway of the conference room across the bullpen. The three women shared a worried look before turning and sprinting out of the break room and across the half empty bull pen.

Crashing through the half open Conference room doors, Kate came to an instant halt as she realised what was being shown on the large monitor set up in the room.

'This broke about ten seconds ago,' Esposito turned to Gates, worry shining from his eyes as Ryan stared silently at the monitor, 'CNN, Fox, MSNBC are all reporting this, as are the BBC and Sky News groups in the UK. Around fifteen minutes ago a large amount of gunfire rang out in a Paris suburb. Reports were that it lasted for around ten minutes and it included a series of explosions. One eyewitness took a video on his phone and uploaded it to YouTube. I'm counting numerous AK's blatting away, and what sounds like a single M164A replying among the explosions which sound more like flash bangs than actual grenades or explosives to me.'

'This has to be Mr Castle,' Gates watched in horrific interest as the footage repeated itself on the screen.

'I hope not,' Ryan answered, turning his face away from the monitor, 'but the likelihood of it being someone other than him in Paris is highly remote.''

'FREEZE IT!' Kate suddenly screamed, her finger pointing at the screen, the sound making not only the group in the room flinch, but a number of the concerned detectives in the bullpen stop what they were doing and turn towards the conference room in worry.

Scrambling to work the system, Ryan it took a moment to switch for live footage to the recording of the stream he was running in the background.

'Wind it back slowly and freeze it when I tell you Kevin,' Kate ordered, her detective mode slipping back on for a brief few moments.

For what felt like ages to the room, silence reigned as Ryan slowly tracked back on the images until Kate shouted to stop, before bursting into sobs and flinging herself onto her best friends shoulders.

'My God, Ryan breathed, echoed in Spanish by Esposito as they stared at the frozen image before them.

The image showing a middle aged man hunched over a young girl as they ran from the chaos, the young girl's long red hair flailing behind her.

'He did it,' Gates whispered in elation, 'He actually did it!'