Chapter 1

Saturday, 10:00am

"Beckett." She says after answering her phone on the second ring. "Okay, thanks Lanie." She said before hanging up the phone.

"Lanie's got something on the vic. Castle and I are going to check it out, you guys keep looking into her financials and phone records. Call me if you get anything.

"You got it boss." Esposito says before turning back to his computer.

Beckett takes a final swig of her coffee before tossing it in the trash and heading towards the elevator doors.

The day had been pretty normal at the precinct. The team got a call at 8:00am for a body drop. A woman was found with two GSW's to the chest and abdomen. Beckett and the boys had just wrapped up a case two days ago involving another shooting in an alley. The case had been pretty rough, and the team was hoping this one would be better.

Castle and Beckett stepped into the elevator and waited for the doors to close. As they silently made their way down, the elevator abruptly stopped. The lights flickered out, but a few seconds later the backup generator kicked in and the lights came back on.

"What the hell just happened?" Castle asked, looking to Beckett for any information.

"I'm not sure Castle. Hold on." Kate grabbed her phone from her pocket. "This is Detective Kate Beckett. I'm in elevator 4B and it just stopped." She listened as the person on the other end gave her what information he had. "Okay, thank you." She said before hanging up and pocketing her phone.

"They said there is some maintenance issue. All the elevators are shut down, and it's going to be awhile before they can fix it and get to us."

"How long is awhile?" Castle asks, looking to his phone to check the time.

"At least four hours."

"Four hours?! Well, I guess we might as well sit down."

"Yeah…"

"Castle, you're pretty quiet. I would've expected you to not have been able to keep quiet since this started."

He just shrugs his shoulders and looks back down at his phone.

"Whatcha doing on your phone?" Beckett asks, trying to start a conversation.

"Looking up survival tips for getting stuck in an elevator."

Kate lets out a laugh and can't help but let a giant smile show on her face.

"Seriously? Castle, we'll only be in here for like four hours." She says jokingly.

"Well, I liked to be prepared."

Noticing the serious and slight hesitant look on his face, she wipes the grin off of hers.

"Castle, are you…nervous?" She asks with slight concern.

He looks down at the floor and then sighs. "Yes." He softly responds.

Kate moves overs from her spot across the elevator so she's sitting next to him.

"Castle, look at me." She says, placing her hand on his upper arm. His eyes eventually meet hers.

"We're going to be fine. This," she says gesturing towards the elevator, "is just some little maintenance issue. We'll be out of here in a few hours okay?"

"Okay." Castle replies, still unsure.

The look in Castle's eyes doesn't go unnoticed by her.

"Castle." Kate says to make him look up at her. "We are going to be fine. We've survived tigers, freezers, bullets, dirty bombs, you name it. This elevator is nothing compared to those. What are you doing tonight? How about when this is all over, you come over to my place for Chinese and a movie?"

"Okay, sure." He says looking a little less nervous.

Kate sits with her back to the wall, shoulder to shoulder with Castle.

"Kate?"

She turns her head and looks over to him.

"Thank you."

She gives a small smile. "Always."

Four hours later…

"As much as I love talking to you, I really want to get out of here Kate."

"Yeah, me too."

A few seconds later, her phone rings. "Hey Lanie."

"Hey girl, how are you and writer-boy doing?"

"We're both ready to get out of here."

"Well it shouldn't be too much longer now. I know the boys are missing you too."

In the background, a male voice is talking 'Is that Mom and Dad?' 'Yeah, I'm talking to Kate.'

"Lanie? Is that the boys I hear?"

"Yeah, they miss their Mom and Dad."

Kate laughs, "We should be out of here soon. How's the case going?"

"Hold on a sec, I'll put Javi on. You hang in there girl. I'm surprised you've made it this long in that small space alone with Castle. I thought by now you would've jumped him-"

"Lanie!" Kate says interrupted her before she can finish.

"Sorry sweetie, don't wait too long though girl…"

"You said you were going to put Javi on." Beckett says trying to avoid the conversation.

"Oh right, well you two have fun…" Lanie says will a teasing tone.

"Yo chica, how are you two holding up?"

"We're doing okay. How's the case going?"

"Pretty good. We got a lead on a suspect, uniforms are bringing him in now. Traffic cams gave us the black Sedan. Hopefully the partial Lanie found on the vic's glasses will be a match to our suspect. Right now, he's looking pretty good for it."

"Good. I'm glad you guys found something. Let me know if anything changes."

"Will do boss. If we're lucky, we could have this case wrapped up by the end of the day."

"Wouldn't that be nice? I'll talk to you later Espo."

"Bye Beckett."

One hour later…

Castle and Beckett are both making conversation, when all of a sudden the elevator starts to make noise. Both of them immediately stand up.

"Castle, we're moving!"

"Oh, thank god." He says, releasing a sigh.

"See I told you everything would be fine." Kate says, giving him a smile.

"I'm so glad you were right." Castle says returning the grin.

The elevator dings and the doors open. Castle and Beckett arrive back up at the 12th precinct bullpen with big smiles on their faces.

6:00pm…

"Yo Beckett, we're heading out, our paperwork is finished."

"Alright, see you guys Monday."

"Castle, I'm just about finished here. If you want to go to the loft before you head over to my place…"

"Yeah, I'll do that. See you later." He says with a smile on his face.

"See ya." Beckett says returning the smile.