Chapter 1

The love of her life is missing and she had no idea where he could possibly be. It had been 5 days since Kate's and Rick's wedding day and it had been the worst 5 days of her life. She's worked every minute of the day trying to figure out what happened to Rick. She was informed by one of the officers when she arrived to the scene of her fiancé burning car that Rick's body wasn't in there. Relief washed though Kate knowing that there was a possibility that he was alive somewhere. Her relief quickly changed to fear knowing that Rick had been taken from her on what is supposed to be the happiest day of her life. She thinks who could have possibly pulled this off and the one name that repeatedly came to mind was Tyson.

Kate had barely slept since Rick's disappearance and only ate when she was forced to by Lanie or the boys. Kate looked like hell but she didn't care. She needed to find Rick that's all that mattered to her now. Sleep and food were a distraction but having everyone nagging over her was more so, so she ate when they forced her and told them she would head out shortly after they left for the night.

Kate had exhausted all her leads and now she had nothing, no leads, no clues, and no trace. She was mentally exhausted but she wouldn't give up, she couldn't, but it was getting harder and harder as the days past to believe that they would get their happy ending. She missed him with every fiber of her being. She missed his crazy theories as they worked cases; she'd give anything to have him bug her with one of his insane ideas right now.

Everybody at the precinct was working on the case 24/7 for the first few days but now it was just her and boys. Javi walked up to Kate's desk and pleaded with her to go get some rest. "You won't be very helpful in getting him back if you can't function. Go home get a couple hours of sleep and come back with a full battery." Kate reluctantly packed her things and headed home knowing that if she didn't go willingly she would probably be forcibly removed.

Kate still lived at the loft with Martha and Alexis, she was tempted to stay at her apartment but she knew Rick would be disappointed if he found out she left his family. However she would always come in very late when she knew both were asleep and would leave before either of them got up. She felt guilty but she couldn't handle seeing their faces, she was barely hanging on as it was. Sleeping in one of Rick's shirts and having his scent envelop her each night kept her motivated to find him. She knew that his smell would eventually disappear and she knew she would die when that day came.

Another few days had past and still nothing; Kate was frustrated and felt her heart crack a little more with each passing day. The boys now had other cases to work on but would help Kate whenever they had downtime or were off shift. Gate's let Kate continue working Rick's disappearance knowing that she would be useless with anything else that was put on her plate.

That's where Alexis found Kate at 10:30 at night staring at the white board from her desk with her dad's face in the right hand corner. "Kate?" Alexis's voice sounded unsure almost scared to interrupt Kate while she was working on her dad's case.

"Alexis? What are you doing here?" Kate was clearly shocked seeing the red head standing in front of her.

"I needed to see you make sure you were doing okay, because I'm not. I've lost my dad and now it feels like I'm losing you too." Alexis's voice cracked. Tears ready to fall.

"Alexis, I'm right here trying to find your dad to bring him home. Isn't that what you guys want me to do?" Kate was frustrated with this whole thing, it was her job to keep him safe and she failed. She failed to keep him safe and now she's failing at finding him. Having Alexis here interrupting was only frustrating her more.

"Of course I want him home, but I want you home too. I need you. I want to be able to talk to you about dad, cry on your shoulder and I want you to do the same. You can't keep everything bottled up or it will destroy you before you can find him. Please come home." Alexis was desperate to get Kate home. She wanted her dad home but she also wanted Kate and she needed Kate to believe her that she thought of her like family. It took a while for her and Kate to get their relationship back on track and Alexis was desperate to keep it that way.

Kate looked deeply into Alexis's sighed and eyes closed her eyes "Alexi..."

"No!" exclaimed Alexis knowing that Kate was about to tell her she needed to stay put so that she could find her dad. "Don't you dare say you can't come home. You and grams are all I have, and you're pulling away!" Alexis was angry but she softened her voice added "You are like a mother to me and right now I need my mom. Everything is falling apart grams is trying to help but it's you who I need."

Kate's heart broke, she knew that Alexis would be hurting from losing Rick but she didn't fully think about how her decision to keep her distance was causing Alexis more distress. Kate stood up from her desk and walked up to Alexis and hugged her. "Okay, let's go home" Kate whispered into Alexis's hair.

The ride home was quite. Kate could tell that Alexis was drained from their confrontation at the precinct so she kept quiet and kept stealing glances at her every few minutes to see if Alexis would say anything. Once they arrived at the loft Alexis turned to Kate with tears in her eyes that were about to spill over. "I'm really sorry about how I acted at the precinct; I should have been calmer about the situation."

Kate brushed a tear that slid down the red heads cheek. "I love you Alexis; I love you like you are my own daughter. I'm glad that you came in tonight, I clearly needed some sense knocked into me." Alexis visibly relaxed a little and leaned over the center conceal to hug her dad's fiancé, "I love you too Kate."

Both women went up to the loft clutching each other's hands knowing that each of them needed the comfort. Once inside Alexis turned to Kate and asked "Would you watch a movie with me? I know I should probably head to bed but I just need to be around you to know that you aren't leaving."

Kate hugged Alexis again and then looked at her "Of course Alexis and for the record I'm not going anywhere. I'll make sure I'm home by dinner from now on and here when you get up." Kate made this promise knowing that she would set up in Castle's office and still work the case while keeping Alexis happy.

Kate moved to the couch while Alexis picked out a movie. Sweet Home Alabama was placed in the DVD player and Alexis took a seat next to Kate. It wasn't long before Kate noticed that Alexis's eyes were starting to drift shut. Gently Kate guided Alexis's head to her lap and stated to brush her hands through her hair hoping it would sooth her.

Kate knew she belonged here in the loft even if Rick wasn't by her side. His little girl needed her and she needed the young red head right back. They were family even if there wasn't a piece of paper stating so.

Kate was starting to drift to sleep when she heard a noise come from the front door. Kate looked at the clock and noticed that it read 12:35 am. She carefully removed Alexis's head from her lap and grabbed her gun and quietly moved to the front door to look out the peephole. Not seeing anyone she slowly opened the door. There in front of her was an envelope with her name scribbled on the front in Rick's handwriting.

TBC