LAST CHAPTERS AND NEW BEGINNINGS (chapter 2)

"Long time"

Mark said with a grin offering Castle his hand which he shook without hesitation before both men drew each other in for a quick manly hug.

"Nice to see you again"

Castle said feeling three pairs of eyes darting at him, but still he did not take his eyes of the man standing in front.

"It´s been so long, I haven´t seen you since…"

Mark said trailing off at the end of the sentence.

"Yeah, I know"

Castle responded, looking down on the ground finally breaking the long eye contact he had with Mark.

"Look Alex..."

Before Mark could finish his sentence Castle dragged him from the rest of group for a moment and whispered "Mark, I´ll explain later but could you not mention the name Alex anymore?" Mark stared at him confused but then nodded.

Beckett and the boys just stared at the two men whispering to each other and then looked at each other trying to figure out what was going on. Beckett looked at Castle for a long time and still kept her eyes on him when he and Mark finished their conversation and headed back to them.

"Anyway, as I was saying Ale… I mean Castle we can catch up if we get the time but now there is a lot to do and we need to focus"

Mark said, turning his attention to the female detective beside him.

"You must be Detective Beckett, My name is Fallon, nice to meet you"

Beckett shook his hand but did not stop looking at Castle.

After a few minutes of introducing himself, Mark told them to gather up the rest of the detectives as he will debrief them at the same time. The three detectives and Castle just nodded in agreement.

Before the three parted ways to gather the others Beckett grabbed Castle´s arm and he turned around meeting her beautiful hazel eyes.

"What was that about, do you know him, why did he call you Alex?"

She asked.

Castle felt himself bombarded with questions but didn´t answer, instead he just smiled and freed himself from her grasp and continued walking. She looked at him baffled.

He knew that this was not the time to talk about his past and even if it was the time he didn´t know where to start, he has always been good at telling other peoples stories but somehow finds it hard to tell people his own. So he did the only thing he could do for now… walk away. As he walked away from her, he told himself that once the case is over he would tell her everything and with that means his feelings for her as well. But now they had to focus because by the time he heard Mark´s voice he knew that this case would be like no other.

Once everyone had gathered Mark started his debriefing. He explained how Amir could be involved in a possible upcoming attack, and that homeland had gathered evidence regarding large amounts of explosives connected to Amir and his cousin Jamal, who they have not managed to find yet. Homeland had tried to figure out when and where the attack will happen and when they heard that Amir had been found dead they believed that somehow there were more people involved in the situation than first expected. After they had searched the storage room more thoroughly they found more evidence that led them to the conclusion that there is a bomb out there, "a dirty bomb". The thing was that they had no idea where and therefore homeland enlisted the help of the NYPD as well as alerting all police departments in all states.

"A lot of people are in danger and we need to work together in order to stop it, we have to follow every lead we have and will get and we should consider this as a possible attack against the US government"

Mark said before dismissing the crowd of detectives.

After the debriefing Castle was reminded by his past, this case had not only brought him fear for what might happen later on but also memories he would rather forget. For a few seconds he was taken a back to that day, the day the stars stopped shining, the day his world turned upside down. He gave Mark a glance and they exchanged a sorrowful gaze, knowing that both of them were thinking about the same thing, the same tragedy.

Everyone in the precinct was now busy with the case and even the Captain had dropped everything in order to pitch in. Castle saw Beckett talking to the boys by the murder board trying to find some leads about Jamal´s whereabouts. He knew that he should be beside them and help but instead he headed for his chair, where he found himself sitting with his eyes glued on the floor. It was as if everything around him slowed down and that he was drowning in his memories of the past. Before he knew it Beckett was suddenly only inches away from him.

Beckett studied the man in front of her, knowing that something was up with him. This was the first time she saw him so… far away and so lost. His blue eyes that used to be full of gladness had at this moment been filled with only grief. An emotion she has gotten quite close to, going mostly back to her mother´s murder.

It pained her to see him like this, so hollow, so broken and all she wanted to do was to make him feel better but she just didn´t know how to, because she had no idea what has gotten into him.

"Umm…. Castle, is everything okay?"

She asked, she waited for a response but failed to get one. She laid her hand on his and squeezed it gently.

Castle immediately snapped back to reality when he felt the warmth of her hand against his skin. He looked up at her and she gave him a smile, which he managed to mirror. God, he loved her smile, it was the kind of smile that could light up a room. He put his other hand on top of hers and his.

"I´m okay… listen, Kate… I"

He said but was cut off by the buzzing noise from her phone. He looked at it and saw a picture of Josh. Beckett directly picked it up, letting go of his hand and Castle let out a small sigh, restraining it so that Beckett wouldn´t hear.

"I´ll go see if Esposito and Ryan found something"

He said, while preparing himself to step away. She gave him once again a smile and with one last glance back at her he continued walking. After this case I´ll tell her he mumbled silently to himself.

Meanwhile between Esposito and Ryan

"Dammit! Where can this guy Jamal be hiding"

Ryan said frustrated.

"I don´t know, we´ve tried tracking his phone but nothing"

Esposito answered.

Ryan found himself throw a glance at Mark when he walked past them. There was something about Mark that itched his mind, he just can´t put his finger on it.

"Hey Espo, what do you think about Fallon?"

"He´s alright, I guess, why?"

Esposito asked.

"I don´t know, it's just I feel like I´ve heard that name before… plus didn´t you notice how weird Castle became since Fallon got here?"

Ryan said.

"Yeah, you´re right…"

Esposito replied.

Esposito suddenly recalled that Fallon had called Castle by the name Alex, earlier that day. As he comprehended this he now shared Ryan´s suspicion. He then took a second to look at Castle who was on his way towards them. Why did Fallon call him Alex, Castle´s whole name is Richard Edgar Castle isn't it? , so where did the name Alex come from? Esposito thought. As he got deeper into his thoughts he came to realize how little he actually knows about Castle.

TO BE CONTINUED

CHAPTER 3 WILL BE UP SOON :)