Chapter 2

His flight landed on a snowy tarmac in Hartford, CT at one-thirty in the afternoon. The storm clouds had cleared early, and it allowed the bright rays of sunlight to reflect off the white ground, temporarily blinding him when he looked out the window. While taxing down the runway, his hand tapped impatiently as he waited for his phone to boot up. Forcing his eyes closed, Castle's head settled against his seat and he let his mind wander back to this morning.

After Kate had left for work, he had finished packing for his trip before picking up around the loft. Knowing his fiancée's tendency to ignore her stomach, he'd ventured out into the fresh snowfall to stock up on food supplies that she could turn into quick and easy meals. On impulse, he had also stopped at a local body shop to replenish her collection of bath salts, essential oils, and candles.

Back in the apartment, he'd stood in the doorway to his bedroom looking at her side of the bed and had sighed. It was going to be a long three weeks without her to come home to at the end of every day but she was right, as usual. This was his job and they would have plenty of time together over her holiday vacation.

He had changed out of his Batman t-shirt and into a more formal maroon button-down. She was always stealing his recently worn t-shirts to lounge in so he'd placed this one neatly folded on her pillow, ready for when she got home from work.

His phone finally booted up and then dinged with a new text message and a new voicemail. The noise pulled him out of his reverie and he checked the text from Kate first.

Hey babe. Hope you made it ok. Miss you already. xx

He smiled softly to himself wondering, again, how he'd been so lucky to have Kate return his affections, and went about replying.

Just landed in CT. Love you. Call when I can. x, R

He listened to the voicemail next and rolled his eyes when Paula's nasally voice came through the speaker. She was calling to remind him for the thousandth time that he needed to be at the Barnes & Noble on Isham Road, West Hartford by four-thirty or she was going to have his head. He deleted the message and typed out another text letting her know he was stopping by his hotel to change and drop off his bag first and then he'd be there.


The afternoon passed by in a complete whirlwind.

He had breezed through the doors of the bookstore at four-fifteen and barely had enough time to say hello to Paula before a sharpie was pushed into his hand and he was unceremoniously shoved into a cheap plastic chair to begin signing books.

Each fan was the same. You're my favorite author. I'm your number one fan! Where do you get all your ideas? You're so much sexier in person. I forgot my book at home so can you sign my chest instead? He used to love that last one. All the women that would throw themselves at his feet were such a welcome ego boost, but, now that he had Kate, these women just seemed desperate and sad. He let them down easy, though, had Paula grab a book for him to sign instead, and then sent them on their way. Thanks for coming. It's great to see you. Enjoy the book.

It was all so very repetitive.

Now that's not to say he didn't appreciate his fans. After all, without them, he'd have nothing except a stack of pages that no one but him would ever read. He'd be nothing.

Worst of all, without his fans he wouldn't have Kate.

So, yes, he appreciates them. He loves seeing them. It's just that sitting in this chair, signing the same book over and over, and hearing the same phrases from each person had started to weigh on him after a while. So, when the last person in line walked away he breathed out a sigh of relief.

As he looked down at his watch he caught the time – eight pm. Kate should be home by now and he was dying to hear her voice. Moving through the book aisles, he found Paula in a head-to-head with her assistant about tomorrow's plans. He debated with himself just for a second, it would be easier to slink away and avoid them, but he stepped forward, let them know that he was going back to the hotel for the night. They acknowledged him with nothing more than a flip of their hands now that his duty was complete, so he turned for the front doors.

Striding purposefully out of the bookstore, he stepped into the chilly night air and took a look around. Twinkling lights blinked at him from store windows and holiday wreathes decorated almost every front door. The sky was clear and dark; wind whipped around his ears, and brought with it the scent of roasting chestnuts to his nose. He paused on the front step burrowing deeper into his wool peacoat to ward off the chill.

Deciding to take a short walk to explore the area he turned left and then had to weave around a couple and their two laughing children. He stopped for a moment, a smile dancing across his face as he admired the adorable family.

The father was holding his daughter's hand tightly while she tried to spin in circles like a ballerina. His other hand was wrapped around several shopping bags bursting with Christmas purchases. The mother was busy wrangling a young boy. He couldn't have been more than three but he was using all his strength to drag her down the sidewalk intent on moving them faster. The couple shared a look over their children's heads, a look filled with wonder, love, and joy.

Castle watched the family wondering if he and Kate would have that some day. Having another child was something he had always wanted but it wasn't something he was willing to risk, not without a stable partner. Meredith had obviously been a terrible choice and Gina had never been willing to sacrifice her body, however temporarily, for their baby. So he'd put everything he had into raising Alexis, letting her know just how much he loved her, and the idea of more children was placed on the back burner.

But with Kate the option was finally open to him again. Kate was a constant, his partner in every way. There was no doubt in his mind that if they were to have children together, she would be as committed to them and to him as she was to every other passion in her life.

Suddenly, he desperately needed to hear her voice. He pulled out his phone and dialed before he even realized what he was doing.

It rang and rang and rang and finally her voicemail picked up. Sighing, he said, "Hey, Kate. I uh – damn, I thought you'd pick up. Must still be at work. Anyway, I just wanted to say hi. I'm heading back to my hotel so just call me when you get home. Or I'll try you again in a bit. Love you, Kate."


When Beckett arrived at the crime scene the twin grim faces of Ryan and Esposito greeted her. "Guys, what's up? Why do you look like that?" she asked as she pushed past them. She shivered as the wind picked up suddenly, rustling her hair.

"Beckett, we don't just have one body." Espo answered her.

She stopped and turned to face them. "What do you mean?" She studied both their expressions and braced herself for what looked to be bad news.

Ryan took a deep breath before saying, "We don't just have one body. There are three." He paused. Beckett opened her mouth to say something but he beat her to it. "Beckett, they're all children. Lanie said they're all under the age of thirteen."

"Shit." No wonder they were looking at her like that. Cases with murdered kids were always harder to manage. Harder to compartmentalize. She looked down at her feet to take a moment, to harden her Detective Beckett mask and then glanced back up at the boys. "Then get to work. Let's find this bastard. Espo, give me the facts."

She turned from them both and moved toward Lanie who was kneeling by the bodies, knowing they would both follow.

It was going to be a long day.


She leaned against her desk staring at the three smiling faces on her murder board. Anna, Christopher, and Natalie Baker had been asleep in their beds the last time their parents had seen them. Somehow, between their eight pm bedtime the night before and their four am time of death this morning, they'd been pulled from their home on the Upper West Side, murdered in an undisclosed location, and then dumped in a back alley in Midtown.

Earlier in the day, Beckett had met with the children's parents in their home, to let John and Sara Baker know the tragedy that had befallen them. They were both absolutely devastated and Beckett had walked away from the meeting feeling completely drained emotionally. How do you tell two parents that they will never hold their babies again without being affected? Leaving their house, she had promised herself that she would do everything in her power to bring justice and closure to the family.

She looked over the evidence spread across the board again, desperately wishing for something to jump out at her. Some connection to show itself. The bullpen had slowly emptied without her noticing, desk lamps were turned off, conversations had faded away.

"Hey, Beckett?"

So lost in her thoughts, she started at the sound of Esposito's voice. "Yeah, Espo. Sorry, what did you say?"

"Oh, uh, Ryan and I were just wondering… Well it's pretty late. Almost midnight. Lanie's report won't be ready until tomorrow and we've got nothing to go on right now. Maybe…maybe it's time to call it a night? Start fresh in the morning?"

Beckett looked at her watch and back up at the board before answering, "Yeah, you guys head home. Get some sleep and be back here at seven."

"What about you, Beckett? You need to go home, too." He paused, his eyes searching her face, "Hey, you talk to Castle yet? He left on his book tour today, right?"

"Oh…yeah. It's midnight? He should have called me by now." She started rummaging through the papers on her desk looking for her phone; found it shoved between a blank warrant request and her preliminary notes from the scene. "Shit it's dead. No wonder I haven't heard it," she said to herself as she went to plug it into the charger.

Having drifted over to his own desk, Esposito watched as he organized all his notes and reports, ready to be locked away for the night. "Beckett, plug it in at home. It's time to go."

She stopped, paused for a moment to consider his words. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. I have a car charger. I'll just plug it in while I drive home." She gathered her coat and bag, found her keys, and headed toward the elevator, joining the boys.

They were quiet and withdrawn from each other during the descent to the garage. This case was already sitting heavily on their shoulders and Kate couldn't help but be jealous that they each had someone to go home to tonight, someone to share the oppressive burden.

In the garage, she murmured a quiet goodbye and reminded the pair to be back at seven the next morning before she broke from them and moved to her own unit.

As she sat there waiting for her phone to boot up, she yawned, her fatigue suddenly hitting her like a ton of bricks. She leaned back against the headrest of her seat and closed her eyes.

A ding signaling her voicemail abruptly broke the silence; three voicemails, all from Castle. She sighed and hit play.

Hey, Kate. I uh – damn, I thought you'd pick up. Must still be at work. Anyway, I just wanted to say hi. I'm heading back to my hotel so just call me when you get home. Or I'll try you again in a bit. Love you, Kate.

Hey. Uh, it's ten. Are you still at work? Must be some case. Call me when you get this, okay? Love you.

Kate, you're starting to make me worry a little bit. It's eleven-thirty. Where are you?

She called up her text messages to shoot him a quick one before heading home.

Hey, sorry my phone died and I didn't realize. Heading home now, I'll call when I get in bed. xoxo

The car was out on the empty street, pointed toward the Soho loft when her phone dinged with his answering message. She left it, knowing what it was going to say, reading only when she stepped into the elevator at Castle's building.

Thank god. I was getting ready to call the boys demanding to know what was going on.


Twenty minutes later she had slipped on his Batman t-shirt, pulling the collar up over her nose to inhale his musky scent while she sank between the sinfully soft sheets. Breathing out a sigh of relief, she grabbed her phone and dialed his number.

He answered before the first ring was complete. "Kate? Hey." He sounded breathless, like he'd been worried, desperately waiting for her, and his lungs were receiving their first full breath in hours.

"Hey," she murmured.

"Long day?"

"Yeah." She closed her eyes, letting his voice soothe her tired body, relaxing her tense muscles, until she was a limp pile of skin and bones in their bed.

"How was the case?"

"Three kids – siblings – under thirteen. No leads yet."

"Oh, Kate."

"Yeah." She paused hoping he would take the hint that she wasn't ready to talk about it yet. "Sorry I missed you earlier. I didn't mean to make you worry."

"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad you're okay."

She hummed quietly, "Mmm, I'm good. Miss you, though. The bed's cold, precinct is too quiet."

His rich, gentle laugh came through the phone before he answered, "I miss you, too, love. You want me to let you go? Let you get some sleep?"

"No!" Her eyes shot back open. Then, quieter, she continued, "No. Not yet. I just – tell me about your day? How was the signing?"

He started spinning the story, teasing her with descriptions of all the women who had been hitting on him, coaxing her out of the darkness of this case and encouraging her smile and her laughter to make an appearance. Then he told her about his walk, his people watching, the little coffee shop he had found that served "the best chai tea I've ever tasted, Beckett." She closed her eyes again, listening to the quiet baritone of his voice, only half-hearing his words. Somewhere around his description of the magic shop he had run across, she started to drift out of consciousness.

The last thing she heard before sleep took over was, "Sleep well, Kate. I love you, always."


Thank you for all your follows, favorites, and beautiful reviews. I'm so glad to know you are enjoying this.

And thank you to Kylie, my fic writing rock, for keeping me sane and talking me out of the confused circles I tend to work myself into. xoxo