Genre: Drama, Crime, Romance, Family, Humor

Rating: M for sexual situations and language

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters featured on the show Castle, they belong to the creator of the show, ABC, and the others who do own them.

A/N #1: A quick note before I get to the main reason for this note, this story brings the series past the epilogue of the story Save The Last Dance For Me. And since this prologue is so short I'll be posting the next one in a few hours after this one. So if you'd like to continue then look out for that one!

A/N #2: The title of this story is a lyric from the song Abandoned Love written by Bob Dylan, the version I have taken it from is a demo sung by George Harrison. The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Thriller which was sung by Michael Jackson and written by Rod Temperton, from Michael Jackson's album of the same name.

Nowhere Left To Run

The skirt of her dress billowing around her as she came to a stop at the shore of the pond Beckett looked through the tree line searching for sight of anything. Her panting breath plumed in front of her as the chill of the night surrounded her, holding her in its embrace. She tried to stifle the sound and listened for any signs of someone with her in the woods.

The crack of a branch to her left made her begin to run that way but when she heard a shout to her right she nearly skidded to a stop in the dirt. Whirling around she held herself still, trying to decide which direction she needed to go in.

But all that she could hear were the sounds of the woods themselves; an owl hooting, a squirrel scampering out from behind a tree and the soft breeze that made Beckett shiver and hug herself for warmth though her dress was thick fabric. She turned to her left again but her instinct told her to turn back around and head towards the shout.

Going around the pond and walking she hoped she might be able to hear something that time besides her heels pounding on the ground. But all that came to her was silence yet again and she began to feel she was on a fool's errand, pausing in mid step and wondering if she should turn around and get some help for them both.

As that thought ran through her mind Beckett heard a sudden yell and that time there was no mistaking it. "Rick!" she called to him.

"Kate! Help!" Castle yelled back to her.

Hearing in his tone a struggle Beckett realized that he had found who they'd been searching the grounds for and she took off at a run again through the trees and to her husband's voice. She had no idea how far away from her that he was but she pushed on even as she felt like the trees were beginning to close on her in the dark. Just as she was sure she was getting close something grabbed her skirt and she stumbled, turning to fight them off.

As she looked at them Beckett was able to see in the light of the moon that it was only an overgrown shrub, the branches snagging on her dress. She broke them off and stood up before she ran right into someone. "Rick, god, where is he?" she asked when she quickly realized it was her husband as he grabbed her.

"I don know he 'it me and got away," Castle said, holding a handkerchief up to his nose with his free hand.

"Wait you're not going to be any good with that," Beckett said, taking over to try and stem his bloody nose. Luckily he hadn't been hit too hard and she was able to pull the handkerchief away from him soon after. "Which way did he go?" she then asked. When he winced and wouldn't look at her she said, "You didn't see?"

"I was almost bludgeoned, what did you want me to do?" Castle asked in protest.

Sighing Beckett said, "At least show me where you were."

Looking around the woods, Castle shook his head saying, "I'd be lucky to find it in the day. But I was walking this way."

Letting him take her hand Beckett followed him while she was still trying to listen for anything unusual. And with the way her husband sounded like he was barely breathing she had a feeling that he was too. They eventually came to a clearing and the clouds cleared in front of the moon just long enough for her to spy something in the dirt. "You were here," she said, pointing out the blood to him.

"I was," Castle said, frowning slightly as he then looked around. "I think he would have taken the more difficult path, likely to confuse us."

"We probably should split up," Beckett said, going over to another path she could see that wasn't exactly easily navigable.

"You want-" Castle started to say before he was abruptly cut off.

"Hey!" Beckett yelled, seeing her husband being dragged off by a figure that had suddenly come up running to them. She raced after them but since the figure was taking the more overgrown path her pace was impeded by the branches in her way. She had no clue why Castle wasn't fighting against his kidnapper and as the two got further and further ahead of her she had a sickening feeling in her chest that he had been injured. So it was a surprise when she ran into a clearing and nearly into her husband who was standing rigid; grabbing him by the arm before she turned to the attacker in front of them.

The near silence of the night took over the woods once more until it was broken by a yell, a shot echoing against the trees that swayed in the cool October wind before everything was still once more.