SUMMARY: A person from the past arrives to assist in the search for Beckett.

A/N #1: This is the text messages between me and Kelly for the ideas for this chapter. Me: 'Hey, do we want Sorensen for the FBI guy? I was thinking that the tension between him and Castle would be great, plus it would eventually add to Beckett's confusion. Kelly: 'Oh yea! Great idea!' Thus, the return of Will Sorensen.

A/N #2: Once I again I want to thank Kelly for the idea, Angie ( dtrekker) for the wonderful cover art and Jo ( CastleTVAlways) for the video this story is based on.

A/N #3: Thanks again for the great response. For the guest reviewer who asked about the length of Kate's hair, that question will come up in this chapter. Also, for the reviewers who are worried about the whole memory loss issue, it's not going to overshadow everything else.

FORGETTING

CHAPTER 3: The Search Begins

Castle was standing at the back doorway of the abandoned strip club, staring at the streaks of blood on the emergency exit door. His thoughts immediately went back to that morning in September when he'd found the bracelet that he'd given Kate just hours earlier in a pool of blood. A large pool of blood. "FBI is sending someone," he turned when he heard Espo talking behind him. "Castle, we're going to find her."

"I have to find out what happened back in September. Because whatever happened back then is why she's missing now."

"We don't know that."

"Yes, we do. You two," he waved his finger back and forth between Espo and Ryan, who was working nearby, "just don't want to see it. Why else would she be missing now? Why hasn't she told any of us what really happened back then? Why haven't you two questioned Vikram? Why haven't you hooked him up to a polygraph and interrogated the fuck out of him?" His final words came out as a snarl.

"Because there hasn't been a reason to. Castle, you need to calm down. Wherever Beckett is, we're going to find her."

"This is just so hard," Castle began walking back and forth, raking his hand through his hair. "How many more times am I going to have to face something like this? First it was the cemetery, and then Neiman, and then whatever happened in September. How many more times, Espo?"

"Bro, I don't know. But, I do know this much and so do you. Beckett's the toughest woman we know. Whatever has happened, wherever she is right now, she's going to make it through. Because she's a total badass."

Castle was about to reply when he saw a figure striding toward them that caused his heart to sink into his stomach. "Sorensen."

"What?" Espo turned around and saw the FBI agent approaching them.

"Det. Esposito, Mr. Castle," Sorensen held his hand out as both men shook. "I understand that Kate is missing."

"Yes. She received a mysterious text message this morning. We managed to track her car here and we found blood," Espo pointed at the door. "CSU sent it to the lab and they confirmed that it's Beckett's blood."

"Did you see who took her?"

"Our IT guy at the precinct is still checking traffic cams from the area. So far, nothing."

"Maybe Ryan could assist him," Castle said as Espo and Sorensen both looked at him. "I'm just saying, Vikram was with Beckett when she disappeared the last time. We still don't know why he was with her."

"I'll talk to him soon. What did the text message say?"

Castle sighed as he repeated the message for what felt like the tenth time. "It was from an unknown caller. It said for her to go somewhere private and contact this person ASAP."

"How did you learn that she'd been here?"

"I had my assistant track the GPS in Kate's car."

"When we got here, we found blood on the emergency exit door and on the floor. It looks like she might've hit her head and fell to the floor," Ryan contributed to the conversation. "I also found her purse, badge, and cell phone in the ladies' restroom."

"Have you had her phone checked to see who she's been talking to?"

"Not yet."

"What are you waiting for?"

"I'll get right on it," Ryan looked at Espo, who nodded.

"I want to meet Vikram. I'll also give Castle a ride back to the precinct," Sorensen offered as Castle nodded. "We'll meet you at the Twelfth, Esposito."

"Right."

Castle followed Sorensen to his black SUV, waiting for him to unlock the car. "I see that you haven't lost your penchant for black Suburban's," he quipped as he got into the front passenger seat.

"What can I say? They're very non-descript," he threw back, using a line that Castle had used years before when he and Kate had interviewed a mobster in the backseat of one of the feds black SUV's. "Congratulations on your marriage, by the way."

"Thank you. Congratulations on yours, too. So, is your wife a fed?"

"Sort of. She works for the U.S. Attorney's Office."

"Please tell me it's not Hard Candy."

"No," Sorensen laughed, as he pulled into traffic, "but she does work for her. Let's get back to Beckett. You mentioned that she went missing a few months back."

"Yeah, back in September. It was the first day of her being captain. She got a phone call that was supposedly from a telemarketer. I learned later that it was really Vikram. I still don't know what he told her that sent her running. She got shot. I almost got killed trying to find her. It was a world class cluster fuck."

"She hasn't told you what happened?" He asked as Castle shook his head.

"All that she'll tell me is she can't tell me about those two days. I think that it has something to do with William Bracken. The man who killed her mother."

"I know who Bracken is, Castle. I read the news and I saw it on TV. Plus, I made it a point to follow his trial."

"You and me both. Anyway, I found out Beckett had been to see him at the prison. He about freaked when I came to see him. Right after I visited him, someone shanked him in his cell."

"Beckett is a master of subtext. Has she said anything that you could possibly read between the lines?"

"No. I've thought about that. I've tried to find out everything that I could about those two days. We've had arguments about it. She's even threatened to leave if I didn't let it go. I love her, so I decided to let it go. I figure that she'll tell me when she's ready."

"Unless—"

"Unless what?"

"Nothing," he shook his head as he pulled up to the curb in front of the precinct. "Lead me to Vikram."

Vikram was in the computer room, supposedly checking out traffic cams related to Beckett's disappearance, but right now he was looking at everything but. He glanced over when Sorensen and Castle entered the room. "Any word on Beckett?" He asked.

"No. Have you seen anything on the traffic cams?" Castle looked at the bank of video monitors showing streets around the strip club.

"No."

"Mr. Singh, I'm Special Agent Will Sorensen. I've been called in to check into Capt. Beckett's disappearance. When was the last time that you saw her?"

"Yesterday afternoon when I was getting ready to leave. She was in her office. That was at around five or a little after."

"You've got your hands full," Sorensen sat in a chair beside the analyst, looking at the monitors surrounding him. "Isn't this a lot for one guy?"

"Sometimes. But I'm used to it."

"Castle, why don't you go and get us some coffee. I take mine black, two sugars. Mr. Singh?"

"No, thanks. I'm good."

"Fetch your coffee? Are you serious right now?" Castle muttered under his breath while he walked to the breakroom.

"How long have you worked here at the Twelfth?" Sorensen asked after Castle had left.

"Uh, almost two months. Capt. Beckett hired me after I helped her with some stuff."

"By any chance, would that 'stuff' have anything to do with why she was missing for two days back then? Why were you and Beckett on the run back in September? I want the truth, Singh, because you have to know that my next step is going to be a trip to DC to speak to your former bosses."

"Before late September, I was a lowly analyst working in a boring job at the Attorney General's office. One day, I saw that someone had done a keyword search for Senator William Bracken. The files were heavily redacted and I couldn't make heads or tails out of them. But I remembered that Bracken had been arrested for the murder of Beckett's mother and when I did some digging, I learned that she'd worked at the AG's office for a brief period two years ago. Right after I started researching, her former team was killed in a car accident. I figured that whoever killed them was going to come after me next, so I came here and found Beckett. I warned her that we were both in danger."

"Did you ever find out who was chasing you?"

"No. Only that they were serious judging by the number of hit squads that they sent after us. Judging by the fact that after Beckett went to the prison to talk to Bracken, someone killed him. So, whoever it was meant business."

"Do you think they're still after you?"

"I don't know. I didn't think so, but now that Beckett's missing," Vikram shrugged, leaving the rest of his sentence unspoken.

"Do you still have access to the files that you came across?"

"No. When I quit the AG's office, I lost access to their database."

"But you and I both know that you can probably still access those files, Mr. Singh."

"I can, but I haven't and I won't. Living a life on the run isn't exactly my cup of tea. Have you talked to Castle? Because things have been tense between him and Capt. Beckett since our return. They've even had a number of rather loud arguments here in the precinct."

"I'll be talking to everybody, including Mr. Castle."

"I'm not the only one who heard these arguments."

"I guess that I should let you get back to work. Here's my card," Sorensen placed a white business card in front of Vikram, without saying anything further about Castle. "If you see anything, I want to be called immediately."

"I will," Vikram waited until Sorensen had left and was out of earshot before he took his phone from his pocket and dialed. "We have problems. The FBI is now involved."

"Relax. This is exactly what we were expecting. Just keep them off of the traffic cam footage. Come to the compound this evening at six."

"Why?"

"Just get here," the call ended.

***CCC***

"How is Beckett? Has she remembered anything?"

"No. What's in there?" Flynn asked, pointing at a small suitcase in the woman's hand.

"I went and got some of Beckett's clothes from her apartment."

"You did what? Are you insane? Did anyone see you?"

"No. I slipped in via the building next door. That way, I could bypass the doorman. I'm sure that she'll want to shower when she's feeling a bit more coherent. Have you talked to Singh?"

"A while ago. They've brought in the FBI."

"Instruct him to turn his attention to the traffic cams on Broome street in front of Mr. Castle's loft."

"Why?"

"Just tell him to do it. You have your job to do and so do I."

Flynn waited for his associate to leave the room before taking out his phone and sending a quick text message to Vikram. 'New instructions. Track the traffic cams on Broome in front of the Castle's loft. Don't ask any questions.'

He then picked up the suitcase and made his way through the huge house to the room where Kate had been put up. Seeing that she was still sleeping, he placed the articles of clothing in the chest of drawers as quietly as he could. He'd just finished when she stirred and woke up. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

"My head still hurts and I still feel fuzzy."

"I just came to make sure that you were all right. I thought that you might want to take a shower. That will probably make you feel better."

"Yeah, a shower would be great," she ran her hand through her hair, frowning when she felt the long, tangled locks.

"Is something wrong?"

"Why is my hair long? I haven't had long hair since I was a patrol officer."

"Extensions?" Flynn suggested with a raised eyebrow.

"Sure, I guess," she swung her legs over the side of the bed. "Did you ever tell me your name? Because if you did, I can't remember it."

"Well, people call me a lot of things, but you can call me Flynn."

"Okay, Mr. Flynn—"

"No, not Mister. Just Flynn."

"When are the feds coming to get you?"

"Soon, I think. I'm going to be testifying in a couple of weeks, if they don't postpone it again."

"Yeah, they do that a lot in trials. Where's the bathroom? I'm sure that I knew at one time, but my head—"

"Down the hall to your left."

"Thank you," she walked over to the chest of drawers that he'd just filled and removed a t-shirt along with a pair of yoga pants and her underwear.

Walking down the hall to the bathroom, Kate marveled at the house. It was huge. Apparently, the feebies were going all out to make sure that their witness was well taken care of. This wasn't her first babysitting job in a safe house, but it was by far the nicest dwelling she'd stayed in, as far as safe houses went.

She closed and locked the bathroom door before walking over to the glass-enclosed shower and turning it on, adjusting the water temperature before stripping out of her clothes. It was then that she stared at her naked reflection in shock. There were three scars on her body, two relatively old, but one fairly recent, judging by the still reddish color of it. She reached her fingers up to a round puckered scar between her breasts. There was no doubt about what it was. When had she gotten shot? Why didn't she remember anything? Should they be calling a doctor for her? What if she failed to protect her witness? There'd be hell to pay, for sure. Montgomery would have her busted back down to traffic. Flynn told her that she'd tripped over an area rug. When had that happened? Why didn't she remember anything except for her name and the fact that she was a cop?

***CCC***

Castle was sitting at Kate's desk in her office when Sorensen walked in and took a seat in a nearby chair, pulling it up to the edge of her desk. "Did you talk to Vikram?"

"I did. Castle, I need to tread carefully with that guy. If he's involved in Kate's disappearance, the last thing that I want is for him to take off and leave us with nothing."

"What do you think of him?"

"Right now, I don't think anything of him, one way or the other."

"You're not going to show me your cards, are you?"

"No, I'm not. Seriously though, Castle," Sorensen looked Castle in the eye. "Kate trusted your intuition all those years ago. If you think that I should be looking into Singh, then I'll be looking into him."

"As a writer, I'm always the guy who's looking for the story. I don't know what his story is. I don't know what story he gave Kate that would send her on the run and leave me out of the loop. Because that Kate Beckett hasn't existed in a while. Not since before I proposed to her. Whatever it is, there's a reason why she doesn't want me knowing. But now I'm afraid that my lack of information could get her killed."

"I'll see what I can find out. In the meantime, I'm going to see if I can get Mr. Singh some assistance in scrubbing those traffic cams. I'd hate for him to miss something," he looked at Castle before pulling out his cell and leaving the room.

Castle got up to go to the breakroom and ran into Ryan. "Castle, I checked Beckett's phone. I saw the text that you were talking about and I traced it, but—"

"Let me guess. It came from a burner phone," Castle finished as Ryan nodded. "So, we have nothing."

"Maybe not. CSU found tire tracks in back of the club. Tires with big tread, which means a van or an SUV. They took impressions and gave them to Vikram to check for make and model. Hopefully it'll lead somewhere."

"Guys?" They turned to find Vikram standing near them. "Where's that FBI guy? Because I found something that he needs to see."

"I'll find Sorensen and meet you in the lab," Castle told Ryan, before walking off to find Sorensen.

"I'll try to be home this evening. I love you, too. Bye," Sorensen put his phone away and saw Castle watching him. "I was just letting Christine know that I'd be late. And I've got someone coming from in DC to help with video surveillance. He should be here in a few hours."

"Vikram found something on the traffic cam," Castle turned and began walking toward Vikram's computer room, wishing that he could place a call to Kate and let her know that he loved her. Right now, he really hated Sorensen and his happy life with his bride.

The two men walked in and stood next to Ryan, who was standing behind Vikram. "This is the traffic cam on the corner of Broome Street. This was footage from about an hour ago," Vikram started the video feed again and the four men watched a woman exiting the apartment, carrying a small suitcase in her hand. She then walked to the curb and hailed a cab.

"That's not Beckett," Castle said.

"Are you sure? After all, I've heard rumors that the two of you have been heard fighting here in the precinct."

"If Kate had wanted to leave, she would have told me. She wouldn't have planned some elaborate cover-up to do it."

"Clean up the footage and I'll run it through facial recognition," Ryan instructed Vikram.

"It might take me some time. After all, I'm still going through traffic cam footage from the area around the strip club."

"About that. Could you also check the security cams around the back of the club?"

"According to the owner, they've been disabled for some time."

"You spoke to the owner?" Ryan asked, his expression showing irritation.

"I needed the footage from any cameras on the property. That's when he told me that he'd had the cameras disabled when the club went belly up."

"Check cameras within five blocks of the club. We need to find any vehicles that might have been leaving from the back area of the strip club," Sorensen ordered.

"I'll get on it, but keep in mind, I'm kind of a one-man band here," Vikram sighed before focusing his attention back on his bank of video monitors.

"Just get me the footage from in front of Castle's loft as soon as possible," Ryan snapped before the three men left the room.

"You need to talk to Eduardo," Castle said.

"Who's Eduardo?" Sorensen asked.

"He's the doorman at my building. If that is Kate, he would've seen her. Nobody goes into the lobby without Eduardo or whoever is working seeing them."

"Then let's go and have a chat with Eduardo."

***CCC***

"How long have I been here?" Kate asked, walking into the front room after her shower.

"A few days. Why?"

"Did a doctor see me after my fall? I mean, my bosses won't be happy if I can't do my job."

"You were seen by a doctor, who diagnosed you with a mild to moderate concussion. He prescribed rest and some aspirin. He said you should be fine in a few days. You still don't remember the fall?"

"No. It's funny, because I've never been particularly clumsy."

"We all have tripped over the rug at one time or another since we've been here. The offending rug has since been removed."

"'We?' How many other people are here?"

"Right now just the two of us. One of the other cops will be here later to deliver food, but he never stays. Speaking of food, what're you hungry for? Pizza? Thai? Indian? Whatever you like, we can have. The feds are sparing no expense to keep me happy."

'I wasn't sure what you were hungry for. So I brought Italian, Thai, Sushi. I even brought a couple of hot dogs.'

"Capt. Beckett? Is something wrong?"

"I'm . . . I'm not sure. Why again do you keep calling me Capt. Beckett? I have no desire to be a captain."

"They told me that you were in charge, so I just assumed that you were a captain or an inspector. Captain just seems to sound better. So, are you hungry?"

"Yeah, I am, actually. Anything sounds okay to me. I'm not picky."

"I was thinking General Tsao's Chicken. So, is Chinese okay?"

"Chinese sounds great. Can I look around the house? I've never guarded anyone in a house quite like this."

"Like I said, they want me happy. A happy witness is more likely to testify than an unhappy one. Sure, look around. I'm going to call our food in."

"Do I have my phone?"

"No. The feds didn't want you bringing it with you."

"Yet you have a phone."

"The house phone," he pointed to a phone on a nearby table. "It's the only phone in the house."

"I should check in."

"You already did," he saw how confused she suddenly looked. "You called your boss last night before you went to bed. I know that you don't remember, but it's like that sometimes with a concussion."

"Maybe I should check in again. I mean, I'm usually required to check in at least once a day."

"Like I said, you called last night and he just said to continue the mission."

"Continue the mission?" Where had she heard those words before?

"Capt. Beckett? Are you sure that you're all right?"

"I'm going to look around and make sure everything's locked down," she left the room before Flynn could say anything further.

Nothing made any sense. Flynn had told her that she'd been in the house for a few days, but she couldn't remember arriving at the house or anything about the man that she was supposed to be protecting. She'd looked at the cut on her forehead before getting into the shower. It seemed to be relatively minor, but she also knew that the brain was a very strange organ.

Once she was out of the room, Flynn placed a call to Vikram, instructing him to bring Chinese food when he came to the house that evening. "Has she remembered anything?"

"No, and that could play into our favor. I can't stay on the line because she'll be back any second."

"If she recognizes me—"

"She won't. Right now, she barely recognizes herself. You need to relax."

Kate walked through the kitchen to the back door, staring out at a huge, sparkling swimming pool. For some reason, it reminded her of another swimming pool, but she couldn't remember when and she couldn't remember where it had been. "It's a heated pool," she turned to find Flynn standing in the doorway.

"It looks nice."

"The food will be here in about an hour."

"Why were you asking me about my relationship with Castle?" He gave her a questioning look, so she continued. "When we first talked, you asked me about my relationship with Castle. Why were you interested?"

"I read some articles that said that he was writing a character based on you, so I was just wondering if you were—"

"Together? Uh, no. In fact, I ordered him to stop shadowing me. I haven't seen him in weeks."

"Why did you ask him to stop? I read that he was actually helpful with your cases."

"He was," she admitted. "It's complicated and I really don't want to talk about it with a stranger."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry."

Kate walked over to the refrigerator and opened it, removing a bottle of water before closing the door again. "I revealed something very personal to him and he took advantage of it. That's all that I'm going to say about it. So, who are you testifying against?"

Flynn was at a loss. He hadn't really expected to have to come up with a cover story. The original plan was to find out how much, if anything, Kate Beckett knew about LokSat and who she'd told about the organization. Her memory loss had changed the whole ball of wax. "It's a big racketeering case. I was their bookkeeper. I kind of know where all of the bodies are buried, so to speak," he lied.

"They're going to relocate you after you testify?"

"That's the plan, if I make it out of the courthouse alive."

***CCC***

Eduardo Reyes, the longtime doorman at the Broome Street loft, was standing in his usual position outside of the front doors of the building when he spotted Mr. Castle approaching him along with two other men. "Good afternoon, Mr. Castle."

"Hello, Eduardo. Eduardo, you remember Det. Ryan, don't you?" The doorman nodded, shaking Ryan's hand. "This is Special Agent Will Sorensen of the FBI. He has some questions for you."

"Mr. Reyes, have you seen Mrs. Castle today?" Will cut right to the chase.

"Yes, sir. Earlier this morning, right around eight o'clock. She told me good morning and went to get her car from the garage."

"Did you see her after that?"

"No, just this morning."

"Have you been at your post since this morning?"

"Yes, sir. I go to lunch in half an hour, but I've been right here since seven this morning."

"Is this Mrs. Castle?" Will showed Eduardo the surveillance picture taken a couple of hours earlier.

"It looks like her, but when I saw Mrs. Castle this morning, she wasn't dressed like that. She had on a dark skirt and a white blouse."

"Those are the clothes she was wearing when she left," Castle confirmed.

"Eduardo," Ryan spoke up, "is there another way to get into this building without being seen by any of the doormen?"

"Sure. Through the building next door. Some of the staff will do that when they don't want management to know that they're late for their shift."

"Thank you, Eduardo. You've been a lot of help," the three men stepped away and Sorensen looked at Ryan. "We need to get CSU down here and dust those doors for fingerprints. They also need to dust the inside of the loft."

"You know that it's probably going to be a waste of time," Ryan said.

"I know, but let's do it, anyway."

***CCC***

Castle walked into the loft early that evening and immediately walked over to his silver liquor cart, pouring two fingers of Single Malt Scotch into a cut glass tumbler and downing it in two gulps, gasping as it burned down his throat. He was getting ready to pour a second glass when he heard a key in the lock. He turned in his tracks, hopeful that it was Kate. Instead, his face fell when Alexis walked in. "Has there been any word?" She asked, walking over and pouring herself a drink as her father watched with a raised eyebrow.

"No. Someone came to the loft and got some of Kate's things. CSU dusted for prints, but I doubt they're going to find anything. I just keep asking myself what it was that she was mixed up in. What made her and Vikram go on the run? Why did they kill Bracken? Did he tell her anything before he was murdered?"

"Dad, Hayley and I were talking about that," Alexis took her glass and went to sit down. "I know that he's the one who ordered the hit on Johanna Beckett, but what if he wasn't at the top of the food chain? What if there was at least one other person? Do you remember when you arrested that chauffeur for attempting to kill him? He wouldn't talk. But you and Kate said that Bracken knew who the guy was working for, but he wouldn't tell you. What if that guy is The Big Cheese, so to speak?"

"That chauffeur is in prison. I could talk to Sorensen about maybe going to talk to him. In the meantime, tomorrow I want you and Hayley to find out everything that you can about both Bracken and Vikram Singh. Because I know damn well that Vikram is involved in this up to his eyeballs. I just can't prove it."

"Who came to the loft, dad?"

"I don't know. Here's a copy of the surveillance picture. Take this and see if you can run it through facial recognition. Ryan's on it, but he's trying to help with locating Beckett. I want us to take as much of the load as we're able to. We have to find her, Alexis."

"I know, dad, and we will. Whoever this is, she made it a point to make herself look enough like Beckett to raise suspicions."

***CCC***

The doorbell rang at six. Flynn started to look through the peep hole, but Kate stopped him. "I'm the cop and you're the witness," she looked out of the hole and turned back to Flynn. "It's an Indian guy holding bags of food."

"That's the other cop. His name is Singh. He's safe."

Kate stared at the security keypad beside the door. "I don't remember the code."

"Two-two-one-three-zero."

Kate entered the numbers and heard the alarm code beep before she unlocked the numerous locks on the door and let the man in. "Thank you," Vikram stepped into the house. "I can't stay. I brought Chinese food."

"What is your name? I have a concussion, so I can't remember shit," Kate said.

"Oh. Vikram. Vikram Singh. You don't remember anything?"

"My name and that's about it."

"Wow, that's got to be really weird."

"You have no idea," she suddenly stopped, frowning slightly.

'You were right. I had no idea.'

'So, you liked it?'

'Yeah.'

'Even the part where I-'

'Especially that part.'

"Capt. Beckett?" She turned to find Flynn staring at her.

"I'm just hungry."

"I should go," Vikram gave Flynn a pointed look as the other man nodded.

Walking to the dining room, Kate had never felt more confused in her life. Why in the hell was she having dreams in the middle of the day? Dreams where she'd been in bed with Richard Castle?

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