So this is a bit of a on-shot, but there will e others that sort of layer on top if that makes any sense.
-Anya
I quietly excused myself from the meeting, answering the call. I don't recognize the number, nor does the caller introduce themselves. My guard is up instantly.
"Who is this and how did you get this number?" I demand harshly.
I didn't just give people this number. It was emergencies only.
"My name is Richard Castle. I was told to call this number if Kate Beckett was ever in trouble." The person on the other end says.
I freeze.
"Where are you?" I start walking towards my office, slinging my blazer over my arm.
"12th Precinct Homicide Dept., New York City." He answers, confused.
"I'll be there in three hours. Don't move. "I hang up, throwing things into my briefcase.
I poke my head into my boss's office.
"I'm taking an undetermined leave of absence. Ask my assistant for all of the papers." I duck out before he can argue with me.
I drive home, and prep for my three hour drive to New York.
Pencil skirt and blazer off, black jeans and leather jacket on. I pack a duffle bag, and pick up a blue backpack I keep hidden under my bed.
I lock up the flat, my boots thunderous in the stairwell.
New York City, here I come.
I weaved through the throng of police, flashing my badge to everyone and anyone who tried to stop me. I get to the Homicide Dept. Floor, and flash my badge to one of the officers. "Where's Richard Castle?"
He points me in the direction of a rather handsome man sitting on a desk staring at a white board.
"Richard Castle?" I break him out of his reverie. He stares at me.
"You called me earlier this morning. Kate's contact." I explain.
"Oh. Hey." He nods.
"What have we got?" I ask.
"Katherine Beckett disappeared from her home around one. Neighbors called police after they heard a gunshot, which had been preceded by screams, breaking glass, and etcetera." A Latino man appears to my right. "Javier Esposito." He introduces, offering his hand. I ignore it. He knows who I am.
Kate would have briefed them. If anything ever happened to her, I was the one to call. They could ask my name all they want, but I wouldn't tell them until I saw Katie.
"Crime scene photos?" He pulls the packet off the board and hands them to me.
I flip through the photos, noticing something odd. "That's weird."
Castle turns to me. "What's weird?"
I tap the picture of her living room. "The carpet. There's pink nail polish on it."
"And?" He shrugs.
"Katie owns one bottle of pink nail polish. The pink nail polish she stole from me in college." I drop the photos into Esposito's hands.
"I'll be back." I walk towards the stairs, Castle running after me.
"Where are you going?" He asks, curious.
"Katie hated that polish. So what is it doing on her favorite rug?" I storm down the stairs, Castle still running after me. Wisps of black hair escaped my braid and I cursed the heavens. The braid took forever to do.
"I'm coming with you."
"Go ahead." We reach my FBI issue SUV, and I peel into traffic, throwing on the siren. My knuckles were clenched on the wheel, my fair skin going whiter with the pressure.
"Turn right here." Castle tries to direct me towards Katie's apartment.
"I know the way. And my route is faster." I deadpan. And it was. We got there within five minutes.
I reach over into the glove compartment and pull out a purple key. We hop out, and I lead the way to her level, unlocking the door and bee lining for the living room. I roll up the rug, and stare at the bright pink message.
Castle balks. All he can see are symbols painted on the hardwood.
I see something very different. In college one summer, Katie and I created our own language so we could pass notes in class.
Where Castle sees shapes, I see words.
Him. Cabin. Tree.
Meaning nothing to everyone, but everything to me.
I stare at the picture taped to the murder board, my translation written underneath.
"Why isn't it sloppy?" I ask, confused.
"Beckett has incredibly neat handwriting." Castle points out
I sigh and roll my eyes. "I know but that's not the point." I gesture to one of the symbols. "Look at the lines. If this was minutes before she was attacked, the lines wouldn't be this straight. Her hand would have been shaking. Katie would have been worried that her attacker would find her writing the message."
He stares at me. "So what you're saying is..."
I nod my sharp blue eyes connecting with Castle's (also) blue ones. "Katie knew she would be attacked sooner or later. She left this message for me as soon as she figured it out." I lean against the desk, crossing my arms. "She knew you'd call me, and I'd get the clue. But one thing I don't understand."
I point to the word at the end. "These symbols. By swapping the position of two of the shapes, the word can also be translated to "castle"." I turn to him. "She always mixed them up. Writing "tree" when she wanted to talk about a castle."
"What does that mean?" The man asks.
"She could be talking about a tree or a castle, and I have no idea."
"Do we think she means a castle or the Castle?" Esposito's partner asks.
That's when the light bulb goes off. "Your key words." I turn to Castle. "When Kate told you to call me if something ever happened to her, she gave you a word. What was it?"
I can see the gears turning in his head.
"But how will that help?" Esposito asks gruffly.
"Katie knew there would only be one time you would ever call me. If this happened. I know who has her, just not where."
"You know who has Beckett?" Esposito's partner, Ryan I think, blurts.
"None of his information will help you." I say. "Castle. What was your key word?"
"Um, chateau, I think actually." He says.
"Tableau. It was tableau." I say, bewildered.
"Yeah. That." He nods vigorously.
I laugh/sigh in relief. "Katherine Beckett I could kiss you!"
I see Castle's eyebrows go up in my peripheral vision.
"Get a retrieval team ready. We're bringing her back."
I turn to Castle as Esposito and Ryan scurry off. "Get your vest, writer boy. You can have one of my Tasers."
He pouts, but looks excited at the chance to handle a weapon. I meet Esposito and Ryan in the lobby. They have a retrieval team behind them.
"Listen up!" I holler.
Every eye is on me. "This is a simple retrieval. Get in, remove the target, and get out. Minimal casualties. I want paralysis shots, anything to incapitate your opponent without killing them. If they've shot at you, however, kill shots are permitted." I rub my arms. "But please, deaths mean paperwork and I hate paperwork."
The team nods.
"Our retrieval target is Detective Katherine Beckett. I want her out safely. We are up against a man known as Charles Knightly. He will have around twenty or so men patrolling his property. A cabin in a pine grove is the only building. The property border is approx. half an acre, with the cabin directly in the middle."
"Let's bring the Detective home. Follow the SUV." We march out onto the street, and Esposito, Ryan and Castle all file in.
Castle is in shotgun, and the other boys get stuck in the backseat.
"We still don't know your name." Castle remarks. "I don't know what to call you."
"My title is Agent, and you may address me as such until I am standing next to Katie." I remark, siren blaring, the ten patrol cars trying to keep up as I weave through NY traffic.
"How do you know Beckett?" Ryan asks.
"School." I say simply
"How long have you known her?" Castle asks
I shoot the man next to me a scathing glance. "What the fuck is this? Twenty bloody questions?"
"Yes." He says simply.
"Look. I've known Katie for over twenty years. She trusts me explicably. She knows I can get her out of anything. Kidnapping included. So right now, I'm going to concentrate on getting my best friend out of trouble." I snap.
"Sorry." Castle holds his hands up in surrender.
"No, I'm sorry. I'm just really worried about her. I don't understand why she didn't call me when she first found out." I sigh, turning a sharp corner, hearing the boys in the back thrown to the right.
The property edge looms up ahead, and I take a deep breath.
I'm coming, Katie.
[I didn't feel like writing the battle scene so time skip]
"KATHERINE!" I scream into the bunker, looking around wildly.
"OVER HERE!" She screams back, and keeps talking so I can follow her voice. "I'm back here. I'm okay. I'm not that hurt. Nothing you can't fix easy."
I finally locate her tied to a pipe above her head, blood dribbling down her left temple. She was awkwardly standing/hanging, her wrists bound above the pipe. Liar. She's hurt bad.
"Oh Katie." I pull a knife off my weapons belt, sawing off her restraints.
She collapses, partially weak from the blood loss. Her jeans are torn, and I see a bad gash down the side of her leg.
I replace the knife, and wrap my arm around her, hold her up.
"Can you walk?" I ask.
She shakes her head a bit before wincing. I smile softly, before picking her up. She's a lot lighter than she looks, and I've always been rather strong. She wraps her hands around my neck, leaning her head against my chest.
I slowly walk out of the bunker-cabin-thing, trying not to jostle the woman in my arms. Castle is waiting back at the car, having decided that storming a crumbling building was not in his job description.
He gasps at the sight of Kate in my arms, and stand up.
"Open the trunk." I order, and he does as told.
I set Katie down, holding her steady.
"I'm going to have to clean your wounds, Kate." I say quietly.
"Hurry up already." She breaths, and I bust out my massive medical kit. I first grab the towel, and a bottle of water, handing them to Castle.
"Clean the blood off. Don't touch her cuts." I say, watching as he tenderly wipes away all the sticky red.
I grab another towel, pouring a bit of rubbing alcohol on it I nudge Castle away, silently treating Kate's injuries, assessing the damage. I finish with her head, pressing a pad to it then wrapping it in gauze.
"I hope you don't like these jeans." I joke, pulling out my knife again. I cut the leg so I can properly get to the slash.
A sharp intake of breath tells me Castle has seen it. A long, jagged cut stretches almost all the way down her thigh.
I clean the blood away and disinfect the cut.
"It's going to need stitches, Katie." I look at her. "I'm going to wrap it, hold off the bleeding until we can get you to the hospital."
I wrap her entire thigh, and it looks like she's part mummy.
"Castle, call an ambulance. Stay with her until it comes. I'm going to get any of the officers that got injured." I order, grabbing the kit and leaving the two partners sitting in the trunk of my car.
I've just wrapped my sixth gunshot wound when I hear the sirens.
"Gunshots, head traumas, large cuts that need stitches!" I point towards the three ambulances coming down the road. Ten officers trudge down over, where paramedics are on to them in seconds.
I walk back to my SUV where Castle is trying to get Kate to the med truck, and I roll my eyes.
I simply pick her up, and walk over to a gurney, setting her down. I walk over to a paramedic. "She has a cut on her left temple and an eight inch gash on her right thigh. Assorted cuts and bruises and a possible injured rib." I say, point towards her.
His eyes widen, and he barks something to three others, and the haul Kate into the back of the ambulance.
She glares. "Don't you dare fucking leave me."
I roll my eyes, but dig around for my car keys. I throw them to Castle.
"Not a scratch, writer boy. That's my baby." I warn. Before hopping into the ambulance next to a medic.
He stares as the truck drives away, the unreadable expression on his face getting smaller and smaller.
I sat in the chair next to Kate's bed, waiting for the anesthesia to wear off. She had been in surgery for forty three minutes, all of which were spent pacing outside the doors. Eighty-seven stitches that should leave only a pale line.
"Natalia?" My name is soft on her lips.
"Right here, Katie." I squeeze her hand, sighing softy. "You knew he'd come get you."
"Talia..." She groans.
"No, Katie. Why didn't you tell me? I could have helped you. I could have stopped him." I say, tiredly. The day's events were catching up to me. It was closing in on ten o'clock at night. I had left DC around eight am, having been in the building for a seven thirty meeting.
"I wanted to do it on my own." She mumbles.
Same old Kate Beckett. "But you don't have too. You have me, writer boy even." I smile at her. "We love you, Kate. God help anyone who tries to take you from us."
She smiles back. "I know."
"Beckett!" Castle practically barges in, worry etched all over his face.
Kate tries to sit up, but quits at my glare. I push the upright button the control, and help her reposition.
I stand up, patting her hand. "I'll be back. I'm hungry." I walk out of the room, but poke my head back in.
"Oh, and Richard Castle?" He looks at me. "I'm Natalia. Nice to meet you."
I head out the door, and in the direction of the hospital cafe.
Castle sits down in the chair previously occupied by Natalia.
"How are you feeling?" He asks.
"Like the living dead." She laughs, wincing as pain twinges through her bruised rib.
"You scared us all, Beckett." Castle says, sighing. "When we realized you were gone, everyone was frantic." He chuckles. "I thought Ryan was going to Taser me at one point."
Kate smiles. "Thanks for saving me."
Castle seems to deflate a bit at. "It was all your agent friend. She found your clue and your message. She led us to the cabin and went in and pulled you out." He rubs his face. "Seeing you being carried like that- which was incredible, that woman does not look that strong- I thought you were dead. I thought we were too late, and it was awful."
"I'm not dead, Castle. You saved me. Talia wouldn't even have known to come to New York if you hadn't called." Kate soothes.
"Yeah." Castle nods, looking at Kate all wrapped and stuck in a hospital.
"How long do you have to stay?" He asks.
Kate shrugs. "I woke up like ten minutes ago. You'll have to ask Talia."
"You were more than just friends, weren't you?" He asks suddenly.
Kate turns sharply, eyes having traveled to look outside the small window.
"She was my best friend." Kate's holding back information. "She helped me through my mother's death. She actually introduced me to your books." She smiles, probably thinking back to the day.
"Just tell him, Katie." Natalia says, leaning against the open door. "He won't judge you."
"Tell me what?" Castle asks suspiciously.
"It's nothing, Castle." Kate says.
"You asked who I was to Katie." Talia folds her arms, and stops leaning. "I was her girlfriend. I told you I'd known Katie for over twenty years. We met on the very first day of Kindergarten. It wasn't until we were in college together that I managed to convince her to date me."
She grins, patting Castle on the head like a puppy. "Don't worry your precious head off. Katie's girl days are over." She throws the injured woman a look. "At least, I think so."
Kate nods. "Woo boys."
"Woo girls." Talia counters, sticking her tongue out.
Castle watches the two woman banter, and understands why Natalia had been so frantic. Kate was everything to her, even long after they weren't together anymore. She had fallen in love, and had never fallen out.
With a jolt, the puzzle Castle had been trying to figure out solved itself.
He was just like Natalia.
Madly in love with one Katherine Beckett.
So this is a bit of a one-shot, but there will be others that layer onto this one, if that makes any sense.
-Anya