Bridging the Gap

By Michael Weyer

I don't own Castle or such. This hit me out of the blue, a turn on 7X06 and hope you enjoy.

Failure was not an attitude Richard Castle enjoyed but one he'd put up with . In a way, he supposed it was inevitable. He couldn't keep riding the high life forever, after all. He'd lucked into Richard Storm, it'd been his choice to kill the cash cow in hopes of becoming a "real" writer. He'd have to live with the consequences of it. He'd never suspected said consequences were living with his mother like a college dropout but that's how it was.

In his heart, Richard knew he couldn't keep this up. The endless parade of women…well, okay, that sounded great but he wasn't getting any younger and losing himself to becoming one of those elder guys going for younger women wasn't something to look forward to. Plus, there was Alexis. The girl was doing great but Castle wanted to be…more for her. Not just a pal but a real parent to look up to and inspire. Of course, inspiration was hard to come by lately.

It was why he needed a break, get out of the city, visit the Hamptons. Sure, he might not own the house much longer but as long as he did, he could enjoy it. Maybe getting out of the city was a good thing, recharge the batteries, maybe get something creative going. It hadn't worked too much but you never knew when some inspiration could strike and he was long overdue for a hit.

He opened the door, tossing the keys on the table and lowering his bag to the floor. "Mother? I'm home. Well, technically yours but still…" He saw Martha and Alexis both turning to face him, the former in one of her usual flashy dresses, his daughter in just jeans and a shirt. He wasn't thrilled with her new attitude and hair color but he shrugged it as just her way of growing on her own. "I know, I should have left a note but just had to get out of the city."

He moved to the nearby bar to pour a quick drink. "I was at the Hamptons, hoping inspiration might hit, didn't but just had to try it." He turned to face them and paused as he saw them both staring at him with blank expressions. "What? What's wrong?"

"Dad?" Alexis asked in a voice that came out as a squeak. "Is…that you?"

Richard frowned. "Why wouldn't it be?" He glanced to Martha. "Mother, something wrong with Alexis?"

Martha didn't answer but just stared. Before Richard could ask her what was going on, the sound of footsteps echoed and a man in a light shirt and slacks came out, flipping through a book. "I'm telling you, there has to be something here…Artifact, magic maybe or…" He stopped and looked at Richard, who just stared back.

Richard Castle was used to some odd stuff but seeing an exact double of himself was something else. He was dressed a bit differently, more high end but still street clothing, but the hair, the face, it was all the same. The other…Castle…just stared right back before his face broke out into a huge grin. "I knew it," he whispered. He thrust his fists up into the air and let out a loud whoop. "I knew it!" He laughed broadly. "Alternate reality, baby!"

Richard just stared blankly at his double, then at Martha. "Mother…is there something you'd like to tell me about a certain event 43 years ago?"

Alexis was staring from one to the other in astonishment as the other Castle grabbed his phone. "Oh, oh, I cannot wait to tell her this!" He dialed a number as he grinned more at his double. "Rick Castle, author of the Nikki Heat series."

"The who?"

Martha moved to the man she now realized was her true son. "Richard, darling…I think you need to sit down."

Captain Kate Beckett wasn't sure why she was there. She had a full case load already, why bother with some writer who was either having a mental breakdown or going for publicity? She should have just hung up the moment Castle's cast was made. And yet…yet something in his tone, gleeful but knowing, it was something that got to her.

She mulled over that as she knocked on the door but was unable not to let a sigh of annoyance out of her lips when it opened to reveal Rick Castle. He'd changed his outfit but still appeared the same man, holding a glass in one hand as he stared at her. "Mr. Castle," she began in a hard tone. "I have wasted more than enough time on this game of yours and I don't want to have more. So this had better be good."

He blinked at her. "You're…Captain Beckett?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Is this part of this game, Mr. Castle? Now you pretend you don't know me?"

He sighed as he backed up. "Come in." Beckett frowned but did so, taking a moment to admire the place. Martha was coming to her, offering her a glass. "Sorry, still on duty."

"Trust me, darling. You are going to need it." Something in the elder woman's tone struck Beckett was being through an ordeal.

"Kate!" A familiar voice came from the other room. Bounding in with a huge grin was Castle, still in that outfit from before. "Check it out!" He pointed at the other man before him. "Alternate universe!"

Beckett stared at him, then to the other Castle, then back to the first. Automatically, she raised up the glass to down the drink in a single gulp as she tried to wrap her head around what she was witnessing. "Wha…what is…how….?"

"My questions exactly," said the…Castle…behind her. "Guess we haven't really met, Richard Castle."

"Captain Kate Beckett," she automatically responded. She shook her head. "Wait…what is this? Who is that?"

"Apparently…me."

"Now wait a minute…"

He held up his hands. "I don't believe it any more than you do. But we talked and…he knows…." He coughed. "Let's just say, he knows certain things that no stalker fan, no matter how much he studies, could possibly know."

"You're trying to tell me…"

"I can't even say it…" Richard looked to the other man. "And that's before he started in on my dad…"

"Your father?" Beckett frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Apparently, he's a spy." He saw Beckett's look. "Oh, yeah, my reaction exactly." His eyes narrowed at Martha. "And that is a topic to discuss a lot, Mother."

She sighed. "Richard, you have to understand…"

A knocking echoed at the door to break through their talk. With a sigh, Martha went to answer it. "My luck, Richard's father is back from the cold," she muttered as she opened it. On the other side was a woman with dark reddish hair, a smile on her face, clad in a dark jacket with matching pants. "Hello there. I'm looking for Richard Castle?"

"You have come to the right place," Martha couldn't help saying. "But right now isn't the best time…"

The woman held up an ID badge, Martha's eyes widening as she saw it. "Oh…Oh, my." She backed up as the woman entered. "Mr. Castle?"

The cop and the two authors immediately shared glances as each instantly noted how this woman showed absolutely no surprise whatsoever at there being two identical men standing before her. "Ah, depends on who's asking," Richard said.

The woman held up her ID. "Olivia Dunham. I'm with Fringe Division."

"What's that?" Castle asked. "Some secret government thing?"

He saw the stares from his doppelganger and Beckett. "You've never heard of Fringe?" Richard asked.

Dunham smiled. "Guess that answers the question as to who's who." She put her hands behind her back. "So, Mr. Castle….Can I call you Rick? Makes it a little easier."

"Sure."

"Rick. You've been in town for a day or so, busy but didn't get a chance to look at things?" She nodded toward the nearby window. Frowning, Castle backed to it, looking through the blinds. It took a moment for it to hit him what was wrong with the New York skyline. He yanked the blinds up, staring outward in wonder at the two huge towers standing proudly some distance off. "Oh my God…" he whispered.

"What?" Beckett moved behind him, staring out. "What is it?"

"The World Trade Center," Castle breathed. "It's…there."

"Shouldn't it be?"

"9/11." He glanced over to see the baffled looks on the faces of everyone except Dunham and took a deep breath. "September 11th, 2001. Some terrorists hijacked planes, rammed them into the Towers, brought them both down."

"Holy shit," Alexis blurted before she could stop herself. Martha seemed stunned at that as well. Castle was focused on Dunham. "You know, don't you? You know what's going on?"

Dunham nodded. "I do. As hard as this may be to accept…"

"He's from an alternate reality," Richard said, staring at Castle.

"You got it," Dunham said. She peered at Castle. "Funny, most people don't take that with absolute joy like you do."

Beckett stared at Dunham. "He's….he's really from…another world?"

"It happens." Dunham shrugged. "The exact science and reasons would be pretty intense to explain and go over your heads but suffice to say, there's a world out there, an Earth like ours. Most of it's the same but a few differences, some major, some minor. Ever hear of Casablanca?"

Beckett and Richard shook their heads but Martha cocked her own. "I think...I caught that years ago. Ronald Regan, some sort of forgettable WWII romance."

Dunham motioned to the amazed Castle. "On his world, it stars Humphrey Bogart and it's one of the most acclaimed movies of all time."

"Wow," Alexis said. "Sounds like his world might be cooler."

"I don't know about that." Dunham focused her gaze on Martha. "On his…JFK didn't make it out of Dallas." Martha visibly paled at that and downed more of her drink. "Thanks to some…incidents…every now and then, the barriers between our realities…thin, for lack of a better term. And thus, something comes through."

Castle frowned. "So…it wasn't a mystical artifact that brought me here?"

Dunham just stared at him. "The sad part is…I've heard enough that would make that a logical theory."

"I can't believe this…" Beckett said, rubbing her temples.

"Maybe but it's the truth," Dunham said. "We try our best to keep it quiet as you can imagine the chaos if something like this got out. It took a bit to narrow things down but thankfully, we got onto it fast to narrow things down thanks to some…help from another source. That led us to realize it was Mr. Castle who'd made the breach and we had to fix it fast."

"So what now?"

"Now…we take a little trip."

"It's copper." Castle stared at the solid bronze colored Statue of Liberty before him. "Wow."

"Your world sounds pretty weird," Richard noted. "Look, seriously…Nikki Heat?"

"I second that," Beckett called out from her spot in the back seat of the large van. Dunham was driving with a pair of other agents with her, the two Castles in the back. "That's just…stupid."

"It works," Castle insisted. "Come on, think of the titles. Heat Wave. Naked Heat. Frozen Heat…"

"Heat Rising…Raging Heat…Deadly Heat…" Richard intoned, his eyes widening. "Holy damn, that does work!"

"Exactly!" Castle exclaimed. "Now, I'm sure Kate has some good cases to check out…"

"I never…"

"But I made a list of some of the best we investigated." Castle handed Richard a sheaf of papers. "Okay, a few of these may be a bit wild but we did well with them."

"I never…"

Ignoring her, Richard looked over the pages his double handed him. "Okay, some of these you just made up, right? I mean…terrorist attacks? Ninjas? Santa Claus killings?" He shook his head. "Your world sounds like a nuthouse."

"All true, I swear!"

"Even the invisible attacker? Because I really want that to be true."

"It was."

"Awesome."

Beckett looked to Dunham. "This…is very disturbing to watch."

Dunham just smiled as the van pulled into a tunnel. It traveled a distance before pulling before a small garage area where men in dark armor and rifles waited. The group piled out with Dunham leading them to an elevator. "You realize you're going to need to fill out several forms when we're done," she recited. "Non-disclosure forms, agreements, that sort of thing."

"You really think anyone would believe this?" Beckett couldn't help asking.

"You'd be very surprised." Dunham led the way as the elevator doors opened, passing a large command center. She glanced back at Castle. "On your world, this is a rather low-key operation, we get a much bigger budget here." Several hallways followed before coming to a door with a large pad. Dunham put her hand on it to let it be scanned as she entered a code. The door slid open to show a seemingly blank room with just a table and some chairs around it. Dunham glanced at a clock on the wall next to some large lights that were off. "Should only be a minute…"

"What are we waiting for?" Kate asked.

"The Bridge." Dunham smiled at them. "It's our little…gateway, you can say."

"So you have a gateway to another dimension on top of all else?" Castle laughed. "This is so Stargate." He took in the confused looks. "Oh, man, if I were to stay here, I could make a fortune…"

There was a low hum as a red light over the door flashed. "There we go." Dunham moved to the door to open it. The room she led them into was stainless steel on all sides and completely blank of furniture. As they walked in, the door on the other side of the room opened as well to allow two women to enter. Castle felt his heart soar as he saw Kate Becket….his Kate Beckett…in her usual dark pants, blouse and jacket following a woman inside. The woman had blonde hair, her face more serious and was wearing a professional suit with long coat. But her face was quite unmistakable.

"Olivia," Dunham smirked.

"Agent Dunham," the blonde replied in a cooler tone. She looked to Castle. "Mr. Castle. This woman here has been quite intent on tracking you down, couldn't keep her out of our own investigation."

Castle was moving to hug Beckett hard, the two sharing a kiss. "God, so worried," Beckett said as she hugged him. "I was searching the warehouse and when Dunham…" She stopped, letting out a yelp as she saw the identical woman staring open-mouthed at her.

The blonde Dunham looked to Olivia. "You'd think more people would do that." The dark-haired woman nodded in agreement.

"Oh, yeah, right," Castle broke the hug to wave a hand. "Detective Kate Beckett…meet Captain Katherine Beckett."

"Captain?" Beckett blurted.

"Yeah," Kate replied in the same dull tone. "Montgomery recommended me when he retired."

"Montgomery's alive?"

"Yeah, a few differences in this world," Castle told her. "Kate…The Twin Towers are still here." Her eyes went wide at that. "Yeah, few other things too."

Beckett just stared at her double, moving slightly to the side. The other Kate followed her over, neither taking their eyes off the other. They stood and stared before Beckett reached forward to slowly poke the other woman in the chest.

"Keep expecting more people to do that too," Olivia muttered, Dunham nodding.

Beckett backed up and looked the other woman over. "So…Captain, huh?"

"Yeah. And you're still a detective?"

"I like it."

"No need to get defensive, I've never been into self-judging."

Beckett bit her lip. "Um…is Dad…"

"He's alive," Kate quickly assured her. "But…Mom…."

"William Bracken," Beckett immediately said.

Kate frowned. "What, the senator? What about him?"

"It was him. He killed Mom." Beckett shrugged. "At least…on my world, he did. Maybe here too."

"Bracken…" Kate muttered. "I never considered…why?"

As the two talked, Richard moved closer to Castle. "This has the makings of a very interesting dream tonight…"

"You and me both," Castle had to agree. He stared at his Kate before looking to Richard. "So…this has been an eye-opener."

"Really?" Richard smiled softly. "To be happy about what you have?"

"Yeah," Castle admitted. "But, you know, always wondered how I'd be without her and…" He sighed. "Look…I'm not going to judge because had things gone differently, I'd be right where you are, or worse. But…Throwing yourself into one empty relationship after another and grousing over giving up…That's no way to live, Rick. Trust me on that."

"I know," Richard softly replied. "I'm not getting younger. And the way Alexis looks at me…"

"She loves you," Castle quickly said. "I know that. She hasn't changed that much, still a great smart kid. Course, my world, she still has her normal hair…"

"Oh, that I'd love to have back."

"Anyway…You've still got it in you. I know that. You just need to let it out."

"I guess so." Richard glanced toward the two Becketts. "I just met her but…somehow, I think I know why you enjoyed hanging out with her. Not just research, was it?"

"No. She's…something special."

"Your Beckett is," Richard pointed out. "This one's different. Plus, we haven't had the years you two had to form a connection."

Castle smiled. "Actually, we forged it pretty fast. We just wasted too many years ignoring it. Maybe you can avoid that mistake."

As Richard mused on that, the two Becketts were talking. "At least, that's how it was on my world," Beckett said. "I know difference but at least it's something here…"

Kate took that in with a slow nod. "I guess something to check on." She looked to the Castles. "Still hard for me to believe you and him…"

"I didn't expect it," Beckett confessed. "But…it just happened." She looked at her double. "Never married?"

Kate shook her head. "Too busy, no time for a serious relationship."

"I know how it feels," Beckett said. She smiled. "Look, under that goofball exterior…he's a great man. Warm, funny and…he cares. He's put himself on the line for me so many times, he's helped me amazingly well through tough times and…" She smiled. "He's just…amazing."

Kate looked at her. "You love him. Wow, you really love him?"

"I do," Beckett confirmed. "Did early on, just tried to ignore it but…He's worth it, Kate. He really is." She stepped forward to look her double in the face, trying to ignore how bizarre it was to stare into the same eyes. "Don't be like me. Don't waste time fighting it, trying to say it's not right or such. Let him in. You'll be happier for it."

Kate mused it over. "I have to take him along on cases too?"

Beckett chuckled. "You'd be amazed how well he can offer some insight to things. Just try not to let him get too crazy on things."

"Not sure how Esposito would take him. Or Ryan."

"Lanie will be a fan."

"Maybe. Being pregnant is making her moodier."

Beckett's eyes widened. "She's pregnant? Wow, Esposito must be happy."

Kate frowned. "Why?" Her eyes widened. "Oh, you mean on your world…wow."

There was a cough as the two pairings looked to where the blonde Dunham was standing. "I know you'd rather stay a while, talk about differences and such but we have to be going. The bridge can't run too long or risk weakening things more."

"Right…" The two pairings broke off, Castle and Beckett moving to where Dunham stood by the door. Rick paused to look over to his double. "Oh, one thing. Keep the space cowboy outfit, always comes in handy."

"Yeah, it does," Richard replied with a grin. "Course, not like I'm the only one going around as Mal Reynolds."

"Huh, people still remember Firefly?"

"It ran seven hit seasons and two movies, they should."

Beckett rolled her eyes at her fiancée's expression. "We are not staying here, Castle."

"Hey," Kate spoke up. "When you see Esposito…Tell him not to waste a chance with Lanie. They'll both be better for it."

"I will," Beckett replied. "And tell Ryan to give Jenny another chance, don't be wrapped up in nothing but work." She paused. "And…That goes for you too."

Kate just nodded as the two turned to head to the door. "This was…wow," Castle said as they exited the room into a large chamber.

"You do have to keep it quiet," Dunham reminded them. "That means from your family."

"Tell my mother how on this world she's a Tony-winning stage star? I think I'll pass," Castle said.

Beckett looked at him. "How...How was…I?"

"Different. But still so much the same." Castle paused and turned to her. "Marry me."

Beckett chuckled. "We're already engaged."

"No, I mean marry me. Now. Today." He saw her staring and held her arms. "What I just went through reminded me of how much we mean to each other. How much you mean to me. I…I can't risk losing that, Kate. Not now or ever."

"But…marry?"

"No fuss, no crazy wedding or such. Just you me, Alexis, my mom…"

"Lanie, Ryan and Esposito. We do this without them, we won't hear the end of it."

"Good point. Just…I need this. Now."

She kissed him long and hard as Dunham smiled. "You might want to wait until we get back, not sure if it'd be legal on another world."

They ignored her, just kept on kissing as the chamber brightly hummed around them.

"This…was unreal," Kate said at the table.

"I know," Richard replied as he went over the forms before him.

Kate glanced to him. "You're really reading all that?"

"I learned a very long time ago to go over your contracts in full."

There were silent for a long moment, just them in the conference room as Dunham had stepped out to report to her supervisor. "Makes you think, doesn't it?" Richard finally spoke up. "There but for the grace of God and all…"

"Yeah," Kate had to agree. "It does." She tapped her pen on the table. "I have to admit, the other you? He…well, he did have some insight to the case I missed. Sometimes, you're so hard on things because of the job, you miss stuff…"

"I can get that," Richard replied as he looked to her. "I don't know, haven't really done as much mystery stuff lately, I'd be rusty…"

"And I'm not sure I'd want interference in cases."

"Still…Research is key…."

"Wonderful thing called the Internet."

"But first-person knowledge."

"Okay, okay, I'll give a few interviews."

Richard raised an eyebrow. "Really? Ok, cool." He paused. "Maybe…over dinner? I make a mean lasagna. Followed by chocolate-covered sundaes."

"How did you know…" Kate rolled her eyes. "The other you told you."

Richard smiled. "And your double didn't share anything?"

The smile she gave sent a thrill through Richard. "I never said that." She looked to him. "But please…Nikki Heat?"

"It's a good name!"

"Come on, Heat?"

"Not changing it!"

"I can ban you from cases."

"I'll just follow you."

"I'll arrest you."

"I'll gladly let myself be in handcuffs. Wouldn't be the first time."

Outside the room, looking through the monitors at the two, Olivia Dunham smiled as once more a universal truth was proven: No matter how much things may change, some constants could never be truly stopped.

Fringe owned by Fox Television, all comments welcomed.