Heart pounding, blood coursing through her, refusing to think of the possibility that her fear had just come true, Kate Beckett, gun and flashlight in hand, swiftly walked through the now exploded bank. She was just about to break. The thought that Richard Castle might be dead…she couldn't take it. What would she tell his daughter? Alexis trusted her to save him. How could she tell her that she wasn't able to rescue him? How could she live with the fact that she was never able to tell him how she felt? He had risked everything by telling her that he loved her hen she was shot, and then she pretended not to remember. He deserved to know that she loved him too. But now, he might never know. She might never see him again,
"Castle!" Kate continued to walk, eyes darting everywhere, searching for any survivors.
"Castle" She swore to God, if he didn't answer soon, she didn't know what she would do.
"CASTLE!" She could hear her voice getting rough and shaky, emotions taking over.
"Beckett?" Kate's heart raced. He was alive. He was alive.
She followed his voice and she froze when she finally laid eyes on him, huddled in the back room along with the other twenty hostages. However, she only had eyes for him.
"They're here!" She yelled to the rest of the team storming the bank.
She opened the gate and kneeled in front of Castle. She smiled at him like she never had before. She had given him playful, feigned annoyed smiles, grateful smiles, flirty smiles. This one, however, was a genuine, overjoyed smile. Castle could see something else in it too. Something that made his heart freeze. He couldn't place it. He just continued to smile at her while she cut through the ties on his hands. She looked back up at him, that big smile coming back while she grabbed his lapel.
"How are you?" Kate asked, sincere concern and care etched on her face. Castle was still frozen, not knowing what to say. Kate had never looked at him this way before. Their eyes were locked, neither of them knowing what to say. Castle started to move in.
"Uh-Hem" Martha, Castle's mother, cleared her throat next to him. "He's not the only one here, you know." She gestured to her still tied hands, looking at Kate.
Kate reluctantly looked away from Castle. "I'm so…" She looked back at Castle for a split second to catch the look on his face as he rested his head up against the wall in defeat. She smirked a bit, knowing exactly what he was thinking.
"I'm so sorry Martha." Kate turned back to the woman, "Here you go," and cut the ties on her hands.
As they walked out of the room, Kate asked the head officer of the SWAT team, "Sir, what happened to the robbers?"
"They blew themselves up." He answered.
"What?"
"Seems the C4 was a part of their escape plan. The bomb blasted a hole through the floor of the vault leading to the subway station below. Smart plan if they hadn't screwed it up. They must have triggered the C4 too early and didn't have enough time to escape."
"That's not possible."
"I've got an assortment of body parts that tells me otherwise.
"These guys were professional. There's no way they would have set off that bomb prematurely." Castle thought out loud.
"Something else is going on here." Kate answered.
That would have to wait a few more minutes, however, when the realization that there people outside still thinking that everyone inside the bank was dead. Including Alexis. As the hostages got escorted out of the building, Alexis eyes searched frantically for her father and grandmother. She saw Kate first, and saw no signs of panic or fear, meaning that her family was alive.
Castle saw his daughter in the exact second that Alexis finally found him. "Dad!" Alexis sprinted toward her father and embraced him. He smiled into her shoulder. Martha soon joined in on the hug, relief etched on all of their faces. Alexis caught Kate's eyes again and wordlessly expressed her gratitude to the detective. Kate smiled and nodded. Then, she walked over to the rest of her team, Ryan and Esposito, knowing there was still a murder to solve.
They soon discovered that one of the hostages was actually the one behind the whole heist. He had faked a seizure and was sent to the hospital, but had checked himself out thereafter. The whole thing was to get to a safe deposit box that was used as a form of communication between his not-so-dead wife and son with his mother-in-law. He killed his mother-in-law for the key so he could see where his wife and son have been hiding for a year. Turns out they faked their deaths to escape his abuse.
"You know what he's going to do when he finds them." Kate told her team.
"He's going to kill his wife and kidnap his son." Castle concluded.
"We have to figure out where they are hiding." Kate replied.
They found the information they needed from a priest who was helping them. Turns out, the killer was headed to Ithaca, which was about four hours away, and odds were, he was already there by now. Kate immediately got the Ithaca police on the phone and told them everything that was going on. They all prayed that they would get there in time to stop him. The team waited silently for the answer. Finally Kate said into the receiver, "What. Okay. Thanks." She hung up the phone.
"They are all okay." The team all exhaled in relief. Ryan and Esposito soon left to go pick up the killer.
Kate sat back in her chair and rested the back of her head on her intertwined hands.
"Even as a hostage, I help you solve murders. Beckett, I think you have the perfect partner." Castle said playfully.
Kate heckled, "Yea except he doesn't like doing paperwork."
"Touché."
"So, The Old Haunt? I'll buy you a drink." Kate offered.
"No. I'll do you one better." Castle stood up and held his hand out to Kate. "You can come to dinner with my family and I. Mother's cooking." Castle smiled.
Kate smirked at him. "I'd love to." She grabbed her coat and took his hand. Her eyes never left his as she laced their fingers together. He smiled at her as they walked to the elevator still hand in hand.