A/N: When I wrote the story Somewhere In Time I did not intend it to be long multi chapter story. It was just a time travel story idea that I simply ran with and that was the result. However there were some people who pointed out to me the potential for such a story. There were some who wanted to know what happened to the lives of Rick, Kate and everyone else after Rick's meeting with Johanna Beckett. Well it got me to thinking and I began to see what they were getting at and I did make the promise that I would get around to writing the story. Well here it is. It is a companion piece to the original story. For those of you who have not read Somewhere In Time, you might like to read it, it's not very long. However this first chapter is taken from a chapter from Somewhere In Time.

So without further ado, I present for your reading enjoyment my latest offering.

Moments In Time

Chapter 1

Johanna Beckett paused at the entrance to the alley way. Gazing into the alley she found that it was not very well lit. There were only a couple of street lights providing some illumination. Most of the alley was cloaked in darkness. She could not help but wonder if this was the right place.

Johanna turned her gaze from the alley to the wall of the shop on her left. High on the wall was the name plate of the alley. It was hard to read in the growing darkness of night fall but after a moment she could read the name. She reached in the pocket of her coat and pulled out the folded piece of paper which contained the name and location of the alley that she had written before she had left her office. Unfolding the paper she read what she had written. She nodded her head slowly. This was the right place.

She put away the paper back into her pocket and then looked at her watch. A small frown creased her face when she saw the time. She was going to be late for dinner she realised. Waiting at the restaurant was her husband and her daughter.

A warm smile smoothed away the frown on Johanna's face. It was a special dinner. Her daughter had come home from college for the holidays and in the next couple of days she would be heading back. This dinner was a sort of a farewell dinner for her daughter, Kate. Johanna did not want to be too late getting to the restaurant. She would not be able to forgive herself if she got there very late.

Johanna glanced about to the street behind her and saw that there were not too many people out and about and those who were did not take much interest in her as she stood. A few cars made their way along the street.

Better get it over and done with, Johanna told herself as she turned and faced the alley. She entered the alley slowly. She could feel her heart beating a little rapidly. If she had really given it a great deal of thought, walking through a darkened alley in Washington Heights at night and alone would not have been considered the smartest of ideas. Yet this was the only free time she had to investigate the alley. She had several court cases coming up in the days ahead which would consume her time. Tonight was the only time she had to take a look at the place.

As she walked slowly she was assailed by the thought if she was doing the right thing. Had she done the right thing by taking up Pulgatti's case? In the very next moment she assured herself that she had done the right thing. Was doing the right thing. This case was the kind that the Justice Initiative had been set up for.

The letter that Pulgatti had sent to her had sparked her curiosity and kindled her sense of justice. Joe Pulgatti was certainly no angel, nowhere near that. A look through his file showed that. He had a list of convictions as long as one's arm. Yet she decided to take up his case. A cursory look into his case had raised enough questions that had convinced her that she had done the right thing. Meeting with the man himself and hearing his story convinced her all the more that she had done the right thing.

There were some people at JI who were opposed taking up Pulgatti's case. He was a mobster, a hood, he belonged where he was, in jail, they told her. Johanna dug her heels telling them he was not squeaky clean and he deserved to go to jail for crimes he did commit. He did not deserve to go to jail for something he did not commit. No one did. If JI did not take up his cause then they were nothing but a group of middle class do-gooders who paid lipservice to the cause of justice in the hope of assuaging their consciences.

Johanna reached a lamp post and paused. The light seemed to blind her after having coming out of the shadows. She waited for her eyes to adjust to the light. She turned and looked behind her. Satisfied that there was no one behind her Johanna resumed walking. Once more the darkness of the alley enveloped her.

Johanna came to a stop under another lamplight and looked at the wall on her left. This was the spot Joe Pulgatti had told her was where the FBI agent had been murdered. He had told her that this was where the back entrance of The Sons Of Palermo Club was.

Johanna studied the wall. It was about ten feet long and about eight feet high. There was no sign of an entrance of any kind. Moving closer to the wall she saw that it was of recent construction. The club was no longer there. The land had been sold off and a new building had been put up. The wall had been recently been given a coat of white paint and this had seemingly been an invitation to the local graffiti artists to use it as a canvas for their artistic expressions. The entire length of the wall was covered in graffiti. As she had been walking through the alley she had noticed all the fences and walls abutting the alley were covered in graffiti.

She stepped back from the wall and turned her attention to the far end of the alley. It was a dead end. A frown came to her face again. There was only one entrance into the alley. Pulgatti had been right. A number of questions sprung up in her head.

Johanna heard the sound of approaching footsteps. She spun around, her heart beating rapidly. She felt frightened but forced herself to remain calm. The footsteps continued approaching. The footsteps not fast but measured almost cautious, hesitant even.

The man emerged from the shadows of the darkness and stood at the edges of the light of from the lamplight. He raised his arms up with his hands open as if to show that he was not holding any weapon, to show her and assure her that was not a danger to her.

"Mrs Beckett?" the man said, hesitantly.

"Yes?" Johanna replied, surprised that her voice sounded firm despite her rapidly beating heart.

"Mrs Johanna Beckett?"

"Who are you?" Johanna demanded.

"I'm a friend of your..." The man paused, "...I'm a friend."

"Do I know you?" Johanna regarded the man carefully.

"No, but I know you."

Johanna took a couple of steps toward him. She might be frightened at his sudden appearance but she was not going to let him see it. She stared at him with a defiant look on her face. She studied this man carefully. He was a tall man aged in his late thirties or early forties, with light brown hair, with a face that had some appeal. He was broad shouldered. He was wearing a nicely tailored jacket and a blue buttoned down shirt. Though she did not know him Johanna could not help but feel that she had seen him somewhere before.

"You look familiar." Johanna said.

That statement brought a small smile to the man's face which reached all the way to his blue eyes. It was a nice kind of smile, Johanna thought to herself. The smile did not last long. It vanished quickly.

"You're not safe here." The man announced. "You're in danger."

Johanna tilted her head and continued to look at the man standing before her. She saw that the man was about to smile again but the smile never appeared. He fixed her with a serious look and spoke.

"You're investigating the case of Joe Pulgatti, who was convicted of the murder of FBI agent Bob Armen. The murder took place right there." The man said, and pointed to the wall where the club had once been.

"You have been digging into his case and have found things that don't quite gel." The man added. "And you believe that Pulgatti has been framed."

Johanna was stunned at what the man had just said.

"How...how...do..." she stammered.

"Doesn't matter how I know. I just know." The man said hurriedly. "Pulgatti is innocent but right now that doesn't matter. What matters is your life is in danger."

Johanna could not disguise the look of shock from appearing on her face. She stared at the man. She opened her mouth to speak but the man spoke again.

"The people who covered up the murder and made Pulgatti the patsy are worried about you digging around. They have hired a hitman to kill you. The man's name is Dick Coonan and he is due here any minute. He will stab you and make it look like a random act of gang violence."

Johanna could not believe what she had been told. It had shocked her deeply. How did he know that she was investigating Pulgatti's case, was the first question that had sprung up in her mind. She lifted her chin as she looked at this man.

"How do I know you're not the hitman?" She challenged.

The man ran his hand through his hair and let out a sigh. He dropped his hand.

"Mrs Beckett, my name is Richard Castle."

Johanna's eyes widened. No wonder he looked familiar.

"The author?" she said.

Castle nodded his head.

"You look younger in your pictures." Johanna said with a smile.

"I can explain that but not right now, not here." Castle replied. He paused to take a breath and as he did he glanced over his shoulder to the opening of the alley before he turned to look at Johanna. He took a deep breath before he spoke. "I know I'm asking a great deal of you to place your trust in me, to trust someone you have never met before but you have to believe me that your life is in grave danger and you must get away from here."

Johanna Beckett stood there staring at Castle weighing up what he had told her. She remained sceptical but she saw the look of sincerity that was on his face, that was in his eyes as he watched her. Could she trust this man? Should she trust this man? He had told her things about the case that very few people knew about. She had been careful not to tell everyone at JI details about the case, only those immediately assisting her and she knew that her colleagues would not have talked to any outsider. And did he not say that a man was coming to kill her? A hitman? After what seemed like an eternity Johanna consented with a nod of her head.

Castle let out a loud sigh of relief. He gave Johanna a brief smile and motioned with his hand towards the entrance of the alley. Johanna started walking. Castle walked beside her but making sure there was a little distance between them as if he wanted to assure her of his intentions. They came out of the alley and Castle pointed to where a man was standing beside a car. At their approach the man opened the rear passenger door.

"This is Mr Smith, my chauffeur." Castle explained.

Mr Smith gave Johanna a welcoming smile and nodded his head.

Johanna gave Mr Smith a nod of her head in return before getting into the back seat of the car. Castle joined her but again made sure to remain on his side of the back seat. Mr Smith closed the door and quickly made his way to the front of the car and jumped behind the wheel. He started up the car and eased into the traffic and drove away from the alley.

Johanna could not help but feel nervous at finding herself in the back seat of a car with the author Richard Castle. She cast a glance in the author's direction and saw him staring out the window in the direction of the alley and she saw the look of relief sweep across his face.

She turned to look out her window. However sincere Castle may have been she was not ready to trust him completely. After a couple of minutes of silence she turned to look at Castle.

"They've sent you to scare me off the case?"

Castle shook his head. "I hope you get the bastards." he said vehemently.

Johanna's eyebrows rose in surprise. She stared at Castle.

"Not what you expected, huh?" Castle chuckled.

Johanna shook her head. "You said you would explain, Mr Castle. Now is a good time."

Castle nodded his head. He looked away from Johanna and glanced out the window. He ran his hand through his hair as he marshalled his thoughts. He let out a sigh before he turned to look at Johanna.

"You are not going to believe me but what I am about to tell you is the truth." Castle said quietly.

Johanna continued to look at Castle not saying anything.

"I am from the future." Castle informed her.

Johanna rolled her eyes and shook her head, wanting to laugh at the statement he had made. She saw Castle grin.

"Hard to believe, I know." He offered.

"You've escaped from Bellevue, haven't you Mr Castle?" Johanna shot back.

"Please call me Rick." Castle said, his smile deepening. "And no, I haven't escaped from Bellevue, though if I was in your place that's exactly what I'd be thinking."

Johanna shook her head and looked out the window on her side. This was becoming surreal, she concluded. She stared at the passing scenery but not really taking it in. After some moments she spoke.

"Let's say for the sake of courtesy I believe you, Mr...Rick?"

"Humouring me, Mrs Beckett?"

Johanna shrugged her shoulders.

"Believe me or don't believe me that's up to you but save judgement until I have presented my case, counsellor."

Johanna turned away from the passenger window and looked at Castle sharply. A small amused smile appeared on her lips. She inclined her head indicating for him to continue.

"You received a letter from a Joe Pulgatti professing his innocence for the crime that he had been convicted of, the murder of FBI agent Bob Armen. He'd written many letters to lawyers but all of them had either ignored him or turned him down. Not you."

Johanna nodded her head.

"In reading his letter you found something that sparked your interest, piqued your curiosity. For whatever reason, you wrote back to him and promised to look into his case. You visited him in prison a few times to discuss the case and even talked to him about family, your family...your daughter Kate to be exact."

Castle paused to look across to her and saw Johanna trying very hard not to look surprised at what he had just told her. Though her face was a mask it was her eyes, her hazel eyes gave her thoughts away. She had never mentioned to anyone about the talks she had with Pulgatti about their families.

"So you did a little digging to see what you could find." Castle resumed his story. "And what you found smelled very fishy. So you started to dig a little deeper, and deeper." Castle said. "And what you discovered was that Pulgatti had indeed been telling the truth. He had been framed for a murder he did not commit. How am I doing so far, Mrs Beckett?"

"Go on." Johanna's voice sounded a little hoarse to her own ears.

"What you don't know is that for some years prior to Special Agent Armen's murder some renegade cops had been kidnapping mobsters off the streets and dispensing summary justice and then extorting large sums of money for their release.

"One night these cops tried to kidnap Joe Pulgatti in that alley. He was with Bob Armen who was working undercover in the mob that Pulgatti belonged to. As the cops tried to grab Pulgatti a struggle ensued. Armen tried to intervene and in the struggle a gun was produced and Armen was shot an killed. It was easier to pin the murder on Pulgatti than allowing the truth to come out."

Johanna looked stunned but she did not speak. Castle continued speaking.

"What you also don't know is that your digging into this case has attracted the attention of the very people who had framed Pulgatti. These people would prefer that their deeds remain hidden and not be brought into the light of day which will happen if you continue with this case. Now they could have confronted you and tried to warn you off this case, scare you away, but I suspect they realised that you don't frighten easily."

Johanna smirked at his last remark. Some of the worst criminals had tried to scare her. Castle was correct she was not the kind of person who frightened easily. Over the years she had built a veneer or suit of armour of protection against such threats. Truly she had lost count the number of times someone had threatened to kill her.

Castle studied the woman sitting across from him for a moment or two before he resumed speaking.

"The leader of these people, we'll call him the Dragon, decided you were too much of a danger to them so he decided to have you eliminated. To kill you and the other people who have been helping you, Diane Cavanaugh, Jennifer Stewart and Scott Murray. The Dragon hired a hit man, an ex-special forces soldier to kill all of you. His name is Dick Coonan. Tonight he was going to murder you in that alley and have the police, those same renegade cops pass it off as a random act of gang violence, and then kill the other three people."

Johanna felt overwhelmed with what she had just been told. She did not want to believe him, it was

too incredible to put into words. It felt like she was in some bad science fiction movie. She started shaking her head. "This is too far fetched to believe, Rick."

"I know." Castle said nodding his head. "But it's the truth."

Castle reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out his phone. He switched it on and quickly scrolled through the files.

Johanna frowned as she saw him pull out long thin rectangular device. A glass screen covered one side of it.

"What is that?" Johanna asked staring at the device Castle held in his hand.

"This is what cell phones are like in the future, more like a mini computer, real cool." Castle grinned.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Johanna almost smiled at the look of boyish enthusiasm she saw on Castle's face as he tapped on the cell phone.

Finding the right file, Castle opened it with a touch of his finger.

"Perhaps this might convince you a little more than my story so far, Mrs Beckett."Castle turned the phone around to show her the display on the screen.

Johanna leaned a little closer to the phone that Castle was holding. She saw a photograph of a NYPD homicide file. She recognised the photograph that was clipped to the front of the file. It was a picture of herself. She leaned a little closer, and Castle slid a little closer to her.

Castle flicked the screen and the first photograph slid across to be replaced by another photograph. Johanna recognised it. It was a summary page of a police file. She had seen countless numbers during her career.

"Look at the date on the page." Castle said.

Johanna saw her name and details on the summary page. Her eyes saw the date on the file."

"That's today." She murmured.

Johanna slowly read through the summary page, taking in the details it contained. She felt the colour drain from her face. Shocked could not even begin to describe what she felt as she read the summary page.

Castle's finger tapped the screen and a photograph of the murder scene appeared. Johanna saw a wide shot of the alley. She saw a number of police and crime scene investigators milling about. One or two people were crouching beside a body that was next to a wall. A wall that Johanna recognised.

Another tap on the screen and another photograph appeared. Johanna let out a horrified gasp. Her hand flew to her mouth. She stared wide-eyed at the photograph. It was a picture of her. In the picture she was wearing the very same clothes that she was wearing now. In the picture she was slumped on the ground numerous stab wounds clearly evident, blood pooling beneath her.

She continued to stare at the photograph not able to say anything. It horrified her but she was mesmerised by it unable to drag her eyes from it. The woman in the photograph was her. There was no denying it. She found all of a sudden that breathing was difficult. Her heart was racing madly as a growing sense of panic took hold of her.

Castle took back the cell phone and dropped it in his lap.

"If I had not shown up tonight this would have been your fate, Mrs Beckett." Castle said in a low voice.

There was silence in the car for some minutes. Johanna had turned away from Castle and stared out the window. She was trying to rein in her emotions while at the same time trying to digest what she had seen and what she had been told. She did not want to believe what she had seen with her own eyes. Yet she knew there was no way she could dismiss it. Her analytical mind told her that a police file could easily be faked. What could not easily be faked was the photograph. The clothes she was wearing were not off the rack. They had been purchased at a small boutique and were a one off. How could anyone know what clothes she would be wearing today, and know exactly where to get them? No, the photograph was not fake. And if the photograph was not a fake then the rest of what she had been shown was not fake.

"What you have told me Rick...is..." Johanna said hesitantly.

"I know. I'm a writer and get paid to come up with such plots but even I find it quite fantastical." Castle told her in a gentle tone of voice. "But what I have told you is the truth. What I've shown you is the truth. As incredible as it may sound, it's the truth."

The car slowly drew up to a curb and came to a stop. Johanna looked at Castle.

"Why?"

Why what?" Castle looked puzzled.

"Why are you doing this?" Johanna said. "Why tell me all this?"

Castle did not answer immediately. Instead he turned to look out the window. Johanna followed his gaze and was surprised to find that they were sitting out the front of the restaurant where she was going to meet her family. A smile came to her face when she spotted her husband and daughter sitting at a table near the window. Both father and daughter were laughing over something that they had found amusing. Johanna also saw that her husband Jim was looking at his watch.

"I didn't want to see you killed." Castle said in a low voice as he continued to gaze out the window to the restaurant.

Johanna looked from the restaurant to Castle and saw the look on his face. There was a sparkle in those blue eyes of his and the corners of his mouth were stretched upwards into a small smile.

She looked back to the restaurant and then at Castle. She realised that he was looking at her daughter.

"There's more to it than that, isn't there?" Johanna questioned.

Castle dragged his eyes from the young Kate Beckett sitting in the restaurant and turned to look at Johanna. He nodded his head slowly. Johanna raised an eyebrow in his direction, giving him a look that the author was well familiar with. She waited for him to speak.

"Because of your murder your husband, Jim tries to kill the pain of your loss by losing himself in the bottle." Castle said quietly. "He almost loses Kate along the way. But Kate manages somehow to bring him back from the brink. In my time Jim is better, has been sober for five or six years."

Johanna nodded her head.

"Kate and Jim's relationship was ruptured somewhat but is now a lot better." Castle added. He paused and drew a deep breath and slowly exhaled. He turned his gaze from the woman sitting beside him and focused his gaze on his hands folded in his lap.

"Because of your murder Kate is so devastated even I can't find the right words to describe it, and she is not the daughter you know and love, she is a different person. She spent a little over a year in therapy to come to terms with your loss. The therapy helps but not enough. However she burns with a passion for one thing. She joins the NYPD and eventually becomes a homicide detective, a damn good one I might add." Castle paused and smiled at the thought. "But from the moment she becomes a cop she is obsessed with finding the people who ordered your death. It all but consumes her. Eventually she comes to terms with.

"However I begin to dig into your case and discover some leads that had been missed by the original investigators. I keep digging, wanting to solve the case for her, to relieve the burden she has been carrying.

"One day we discovers that Dick Coonan is the man who was hired to murder you. Unfortunately she had to shoot him before she could find out who had hired him."

Castle looked up from his hands and turned to Johanna. He offered her an apologetic smile.

"Coonan had taken me hostage and in order to save me she had to shoot Coonan dead." He explained. Johanna nodded her head.

"Even though Coonan was dead, it did not stop Kate from diggin into your murder." Castle said resuming his story. "And as she gets closer to those responsible, the people behind your murder, the Dragon, get nervous and decides to stop her. They send a hit man after her. His name was Hal Lockwood. We capture him and send him to jail. But that doesn't stop them, doesn't stop the Dragon. Sometime later Lockwood is sprung from custody but he is killed in a gunfight with Kate's precinct captain. Captain Roy Montgomery. Montgomery was one of those rogue cops but to give him his due he had tried hard to look after Kate, to keep her safe. He had some kind of deal going with the Dragon.

"Yet with Montgomery dead, that does not stop the Dragon. He sends another hit man after Kate. He shoots her at the cemetery while she is delivering the eulogy for the captain."

Johanna let out a shocked gasp. "Oh my God."

Castle reached out and placed a comforting hand on her arm.

"Kate survived the shooting, Mrs Beckett." Castle assured her quickly. "She is getting better. She returned back to force three months after her shooting. She is fine, alive and well believe me."

Johanna drew in a breath and nodded her head slowly. She was shocked at the thought of her only child being shot.

Castle removed his hand from Johanna's arm and picked up the phone from his lap. He gave her a small smile.

"Would you like to see how Kate looks in the future?"

"Yes please." Johanna said eagerly, grateful to him for taking her mind off thoughts of Kate having been shot.

Castle opened up a photo file and handed her the phone and watched the look of pure joy that appeared on Johanna's face as she gazed at the photograph of her daughter.

"Oh wow, my Katie is so beautiful."

"Yes, she is. You would be so proud of her." Castle smiled. He reached over an flicked the screen to bring up another photo, and then another.

"Ten years from now, in the future that I come from I meet Kate. It doesn't take me long to realise that next to my daughter, Kate is the best thing that has ever happened to me."

Johanna raised her eyebrows questioningly. Castle explained how they met and worked a case together and after that how he was able to follow her around and help out with her cases.

"You love my daughter." Johanna observed.

"Yes very, very much." Castle confessed without hesitation.

Johanna smiled at Castle as she gave him back his phone. He closed it down and returned it to his jacket pocket. He looked out the window to the restaurant and saw Jim Beckett checking his watch again.

"You're family is waiting for you Mrs Beckett." Castle announced.

Castle opened the door and got out. He held out his hand and helped Johanna out of the car.

Standing on the side walk Johanna glanced in the direction of the restaurant and and regarded her family with a warm smile. Her smile deepened when she turned to look at Castle.

"I'm not going to drop this case." Johanna declared.

"If you're anything like your daughter, and I suspect you are, I'd expect nothing less." Castle returned her smile.

"I will be very careful though."

Castle nodded his understanding. Knowing what the Dragon and his minions were capable of he desperately hoped that she would take precautions.

Johanna started to walk towards the entrance to the restaurant but a thought occurred to her. She had read some science fiction in her time. Stopping she turned back to Castle.

"Isn't there some kind of law that forbids time travellers from changing the past because it can affect the future?"

Castle nodded his head.

"So it could be a totally different future that you might return to?"

Castle nodded again.

"And you're okay with that?"

Castle shook his head. "No, not really."

Johanna raised a questioning eyebrow.

"I don't want Kate to endure twelve years of pain and sadness because of your death, Mrs Beckett. Not if I can help it. I want her to be happy, just like she is now. She deserves that."

Johanna saw the pain in Castle's eyes and realised the kind of sacrifice he was making. Suddenly she walked up to him. He was taken by surprise when she kissed him on the cheek.

"You're a remarkable man, Rick Castle." She told him. "Thank you."

Johanna turned and quickly headed for the entrance to the restaurant. She had an overwhelming need to be with her family.

XXXXX

So what do you think, Dear Reader? Your thoughts, opinions or comments would be most humbly appreciated.

Con.