A/N: Here we go - something to get us through the hiatus! Not quite sure how many chapters this one will be . . . enjoy chapter 1!


Kate opened her eyes and listened.

Nothing.

She couldn't hear Rick rummaging around in the kitchen, or the grunting of Julian over the baby monitor. She also couldn't smell coffee brewing or bacon cooking. Glancing at the clock, she saw it was just after seven but she knew there was no way in hell she should have slept so late unless. . . .

She smiled as the events of last night came back to her. Julian had slept through the night for the first time – but she had still woken up for his middle of the night feeding. When she had checked on him and found him sleeping, she came back to bed to find an equally wide-awake Rick.

"Cosmo's asleep?"

She rolled her eyes. "Our baby's name is not Cosmo – Julian is still asleep, yes."

Rick reached out and pulled her back into their bed, into his body. "Well, since we're both up and he's asleep-"

Kate moaned. "We've done this before and he always interrupts us-"she bit back a scream as Rick latched onto her pulse point and sucked. "Don't leave a hickey, Castle."

Rick pulled back to look at her."Why not? You can wear a turtleneck tomorrow."

"It's summer – it's supposed to be ninety degrees-" she laughed as he wiggled his fingers under her flimsy tank top.

"Kate, I need you. We haven't made love since-"

She placed a finger on his lips. "I know."

"So-"

She trailed her hands down to his boxers. "Lose the shorts – now, Castle."

Kate grinned and buried her head in her husband's pillow, inhaling his scent and wondering where her boys had gone this morning. Something crinkled under her cheek and she rose up to see a piece of paper pinned to the pillow, Rick's familiar scrawl across the page. She pushed her hair back with one hand as she sat up to read his note.

'Good morning, gorgeous – I didn't have the heart to wake you this morning. Cosmo woke up at five-thirty so I gave him a bottle and wrote a chapter while he was in his swing. We're going out to grab breakfast so don't panic if you wake up before we get back – you can call me if you want. Love, your boys. P.S. Last night was amazing. I especially loved the part where you….

Kate laughed and felt the heat rise in her cheeks as his words brought to mind more images from last night. She knew he had deliberately left that last sentence hanging – and it reminded her of the morning after their very first night together. They had come so far since then, married with a baby – how did she get so lucky?

"Kate?" The front door slammed. "You up?"

She threw back the covers and gasped as the cool air hit her skin. Reaching quickly for the robe that her husband had left on the foot of their bed, she shoved her arms into it and tied it around her waist. "I'm up, Rick. Be right down."

"Morning, gorgeous."

She jumped as she turned and saw her husband lounging in their bedroom doorway, Julian bouncing in his arms. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" she mock glared at him as she moved forward and took her son into her arms. "Good morning, JJ – how's my Castle Jr. doing?"

Julian gave her a grin as he batted her face. Kate caught one of his waving hands and kissed it several times, cuddling him close. She looked up in time to see Rick looking at them, his expression soft.

"What is it?"

"Nothing – I just-"

"Rick, tell me."

He exhaled. "You don't like it when I bring up Meredith-"

She shrugged. "You can tell me anything – well, I'd rather you not tell me about your sex life with her-"

He chuckled as he moved into the room and wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing the top of her head. "I'd never do that, Kate."

"Then, what is it? You were giving us a really funny look a minute ago."

He sighed. "I was just thinking about how different things were this time around – and how glad I am. Meredith was hardly ever around, you know? And when she was, she was more interested in bedding me than cuddling and bonding with Alexis."

Kate winced. "That had to hurt you, Rick."

He nodded. "It did. And then, when we had the case with Cosmo and you said you were uncomfortable with babies-"

"Hey!" Kate protested and Julian whimpered. She bounced him gently. "I told you it would be different when I had our baby!"

He cupped her face. "And you were right – from the minute the nurse placed Co- Julian in your arms, I knew you were a goner."

Kate smiled and kissed Julian's dark fuzz. "Me too. I didn't know I could love someone so tiny so much-"

"I love you, Kate." His lips covered hers hungrily and time seemed to stop as they moved together – until Julian protested.

Kate broke away, laughing. "Sorry, little man. Your parents forgot about you for a minute, there."

Rick took Julian back. "Are you hungry again, Cosmo? What about you, Kate?"

She looked him up and down, licking her lips. "I could eat."

He groaned. "Don't look at me like that, Kate. We don't have time – you have to get ready for work and I have a book signing in a couple hours, remember?"

She frowned. "Who's watching Julian?"

He smiled. "Mother and Alexis are taking him for the day."

"So – maybe after your book signing, you could come by the precinct and we could grab a late lunch."

Rick leaned in and gave her a lingering kiss. "I like the way your mind works, Detective."


72 Hours Later

Kate stared at the murder board, her eyes bloodshot and her vision blurry but she couldn't rest. Not with the smiling picture of her own husband staring back at her. Three days. Three fucking days since he had kissed her good-bye at the loft and promised to see her later at the precinct after his book signing was over.

He never arrived.

Instead she had gotten a panicked call from Gina saying that the driver from Black Pawn was waiting for Rick outside the loft and that he had been waiting for over twenty minutes. Where was he? Kate called Martha who said that the driver had called while she was picking up Julian and Rick had walked out the door while she was still there. Kate's heart dropped to her toes – if that driver wasn't from Black Pawn, who was he?

That had been three days ago and there had been no leads. They had found out that the car that had picked up Castle had been rented from Blue Moon but the car had been bleached and dumped by the time they found it. No prints, and no trace evidence of any kind were found inside. It was found just four blocks from the loft, so it stood to reason that the kidnappers had switched cars after knocking Castle out and disappearing into the city – if they were still in the city.

Kate rubbed her eyes and reached for her tea. She wished it was coffee but since she was still breast-feeding Julian, she stuck to her one cup a day. The rest of the time she drank the herbal crap that did absolutely nothing for her other than the fact that it was hot and she drank it in a mug, so maybe she could fool herself into thinking it was coffee. Yeah, right. Just like if she closed her eyes, she could pretend this was all a nightmare she would wake up from –

"Detective, why don't you go home? Get some sleep."

Kate looked up into the concerned eyes of her Captain and shook her head. "I can't, Sir. It's been three days and you know that with every hour that goes by, Rick's chances- I have to be here."

Gates nodded.

"This just doesn't make any sense. There hasn't been a ransom demand – and we all know Castle can get together quite a bit of money."

"What about the time his daughter was kidnapped? Could there be a connection?"

Kate swallowed her tea, trying to think of an answer to that question. No one outside of his immediate family knew the truth – that Alexis had been the intended target to flush out Castle's father. God help them all if this again tied to his father.

"I don't see how – she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Castle on the other hand, has made plenty of enemies over the years through his association with me and this precinct."

Gates laid a hand on Kate's shoulder. "Don't blame yourself, Detective. Castle's a grown man-"

Kate's lips quirked as she fought a smile to hear those words coming out of Gates' mouth; her Captain held up a hand.

"I know, I give him a hard time most of the time but he does have his good points and he has helped us close cases. In fact, and if you tell him this I'll deny it, I miss having him around now that he's Mr. Mom."

Kate's eyes filled. "He doesn't want Julian to be raised by a nanny – but what if he – Sir, if he doesn't-" she choked.

"Don't even think like that, Kate. You'll find him."

"It's been three days and we've had no leads."

My desk phone rang and I leapt up to answer. "Beckett."

"I have information about Richard Castle."

I grabbed a notepad and pen. "Who is this?"

"A concerned citizen. Do you want to know where your husband is?"

"Yes."

"Then listen carefully."


"I don't like this, Beckett." Ryan protested as he strapped on his vest.

"Man, it's Castle. We've got to go in," Espo shot back as he checked the clip of his gun.

"But what do we have to go on? Some voice on the phone directs us to an abandoned warehouse and we're just going to storm the place? What if it's an ambush and they're waiting to pick us off, one by one?"

"They?" Espo scoffed. "Who are you talking about, bro? You've been watching too many conspiracy movies again."

"Hey, they're the only thing on in the middle of the night when Hunter can't sleep-"

"Are you girls done?" Kate interrupted, her voice crisp. "I'd like to go in there today and see if this is a wild goose chase or not."

"Let's go, detectives," Gates ordered.

Kate and Gates took the front with some uniforms while Espo and Ryan took the back. The warehouse was huge; it had several hallways and multiple rooms that had to be systematically searched. The building was empty – too empty, which gave Kate hope that maybe, just maybe the abductors had been here. Kate was searching rooms at the other end when she heard an expletive echoing down the hall from Espo and Ryan's shout.

"Kate! We found him!"

Kate ran toward the sound of their voices and as she turned the corner, she saw Ryan standing guard in the doorway, his face unnaturally pale. "Wait – before you go in, I think you should prepare yourself."

She slid to a stop in front of him. "Is he dead?"

Espo's voice came from inside the room. "No, but he's been tortured."

"What?" she shrieked as she pushed Ryan to the side and entered the dim room only to stop still in shock at the sight that met her eyes.

Espo was crouched beside Rick, who was curled up on the cement floor in the fetal position. There was so much blood, she couldn't tell exactly what his injuries were – but she could see the shallow rise and fall of his chest and for now it was enough to know that he was alive. She bit her lip, hard, to keep the sobs back as she crossed to Espo's side, falling to her knees.

"Ryan's already called the paramedics – they'll be here soon."

Kate reached out a shaking hand and pushed a lock of hair from his sweaty, blood smeared face. "What did those bastards do to you? I swear, I'll make them pay, Castle."


"Katharine, darling, don't you think you should go home – get some sleep in a real bed?"

She looked at Martha and gave a tired smile. "I can't leave him. Maybe after he opens those beautiful blue eyes and calls me 'gorgeous' and I know he's okay – then I can go home." She nuzzled her nose in Julian's dark fuzz.

"Of course he's going to be fine – my son's a survivor. He has so much to live for now. There is no way on earth he would ever willing leave you and little JJ."

Alexis came into the room carrying a tray of food. "Who's hungry?"

Kate grimaced. "Maybe later."

Alexis frowned. "Kate, when's the last time you had something to eat?"

"Um, yesterday?"

"But you're not sure, are you?"

Kate shook her head.

Martha picked up half a sandwich and thrust it at her as Alexis took Julian. "Eat – now."

Kate gave her a small smile. "Yes, mom."

Martha beamed. "I love it when you call me that."

"I'm sorry it took me so long."

"Nonsense, Katharine. I know that you and your mother were very close and I would never try to replace her – but I've always wanted to be a second mother to you."

Tears welled in Kate's eyes as she bit into her sandwich. "I know – thanks for waiting until I was ready."

Martha waved her words away."It's a family trait."

Alexis bounced her brother on her knee and tried not to laugh. "Grams is telling funny stories again, JJ. I'll explain it to you when you're older."

Kate ate the rest of her sandwich in silence, keeping her eyes on her husband. It was amazing that he wasn't on a ventilator – that his breathing wasn't compromised after his collapsed lung. She mentally catalogued his injuries: four broken ribs, one collapsed lung, one dislocated shoulder, two broken fingers, and one broken leg. She shuddered as she thought of the long road of recovery that lay ahead for him – not just physical but emotional as well. Ryan and Espo were still looking for his abductors and if she ever got her hands on them, she honestly didn't know that she would be able to hold herself back from inflicting some pain of her own.

Rick groaned and instantly all three women crowded around his bed.

"Rick?"

"Dad?"

"Kiddo?"

His blue eyes fluttered open and then instantly shut again as the light and pain flooded his brain. Kate sat on the edge of his bed, taking his hand in hers. "Rick, it's okay. You're safe – you're in the hospital. I'm here – and so are Alexis, your mother, and Julian."

He swallowed and whispered, "Water."

Martha poured a small amount into the paper cup and handed it to Kate. She held the straw to his lips and helped him take a sip. When he greedily sought more, she took the cup away. "No, that's enough for now – more later, all right?"

He groaned and opened his eyes, looking at her in confusion. "Who are you?"

Kate's smile slipped.

"Dad – now's not the time to be funny," Alexis chided softly as she moved closer to the bed.

He swung his head in her direction and waited for the pounding to decrease. "Hey, pumpkin."

"Oh, dad!" Alexis smiled. "I'm so glad to see you – we were all so worried."

He frowned. "Why?"

Alexis bit her lip and glanced at Kate. "Because-" she fell silent as Kate shook her head at her.

Martha jumped in. "What's the last thing you remember, Kiddo?"

"I – I was at a launch party for 'Storm Fall' and then – and then it all goes dark." He frowned.

Kate felt herself growing cold as she stood up. Needing reassurance, she walked around the bed and took Julian out of Alexis' arms, cuddling him close.

"Darling, that was eight years ago."

Rick looked at his mother in shock. "Eight years ago? But that – I can't-" he looked at Kate in confusion. "Do I know you?"

Kate bit her lip. "I'll just go tell the nurse that you're awake." She pulled open the door and fled the room, Alexis on her heels.

Martha shook her head at her son, worried more than she could say.

Rick rubbed his forehead. "Who was that woman?"

"Your wife, Katharine."


A/N - Castle's forgotten the past 8 yrs? What the ** is going on? Want to find out? Reviews are LOVE!