A/N: Yeah, you're not really supposed to like Sorenson in this story. :)


Rick drew in a deep breath as he stepped through the door into their home. He had told her that he'd run late via text earlier that night, being kept over with Gina, discussing his last of the Heat series. But he had stopped off to pick her up something, something to suffice until it actually comes into the world. Considering how emotional they were at that first ultrasound, he figured it would be a thoughtful gesture.

But as he closed the door, the first thing he noticed was the lack of life to the loft; no lights, no sounds, no TV, no beautiful wife waiting curled up in the corner of the couch with a book, unwinding for the day, nothing. He hummed curiously to himself as he went through the side door to their bedroom, hanging his coat on one of the hooks as he passed it. When the bed came into view, even in the darkness he could recognize her form, tucked under the covers. "Kate?" He whispered over to her.

She didn't respond verbally, but he could hear the sheets rustle at the sound of his voice.

"Honey, you awake?" He asked her, toeing himself out of his shoes at the edge of their bed, setting the picture frame down onto his nightstand.

It's a long moment before the softly breathing huddled mass of sheets responded in a soft, low voice. "Yeah."

With his worry starting to get to him, he laid down on his side, seeing she's facing away from him, the covers drawn all the way up almost over her head. "You must be tired if you're already in bed this early."

After a moment of waiting for a response, his worry is doubled when she doesn't respond.

"I'm sorry I couldn't make it to the precinct today, Gina was droning on all day about bureaucratic garble." He feigned casualness, making up an offhand excuse for not being there to prevent whatever it is that's bothering her. She still didn't respond to him, and it's then that he can feel her distance, her walls. "Kate, is something wrong?" He started.

She drew in a long breath through the covers but didn't let it out.

And when she didn't respond, before they were married, he might have just let it go. But they're married now, he wouldn't be fulfilling his responsibilities, his vows if he just let this go. "Honey, what's wrong?" He asked, putting a hand over where her shoulder is underneath the covers.

After a moment, he watched her turn over, her eyes void and empty as she flipped off the covers, reached her arms out and wrapped them tightly around his chest, rolling him onto his back and tucking herself snuggly into his side, burying her face into his pec. "Just..." She began in a small voice, "just hold me."

He let out a long breath, not hesitating to snake his arms loosely around her and hold her to him.

"Tighter." She murmured.

He moved his arms tighter around her, squeezing her securely into his side, rubbing her back soothingly with one hand. When he felt her give his chest a long squeeze, he spoke. "Whenever you're ready, hun."

She sniffled against his chest before she reached up and swiped at her cheek. "We got called to a scene this morning... double murder, suicide."

He felt his heart constrict, a painful twinge of guilt going coldly into his system knowing he should have been there. But he stayed silent and let her continue.

"A mother and father... and a two-month-old infant." She said in a shaking voice. He drew his arms around her tighter as the words hit his ears. "From what we could get from the scene, the father had come home... and the mother had stabbed him in the neck with a paring knife, then went into the infant's room and slashed her wrists... because she had smothered the infant in its crib."

His entire body went cold at her tale, his grip on his wife going slack in an instant.

"I guess the baby was crying so much and the mother just snapped." She says over the first wave of tears.

She sniffled before continuing, "It was the worst scene we'd ever been called to, Rick." She said, her emotions coming through clearly in her voice. "I had to send Ryan home straight from the scene just so he could hold Sarah Grace, he was so emotional. Lanie had tears going down her face the entire time. I-I..." She trailed off, burying her face down into his shoulder, "her eyes were still open, Rick. Just... staring off into space with her mother sitting on the floor, right there next to the crib."

Her body wracks with a silent sob as he continues to run his hand down the dip of her spine.

"How could someone do that to their own baby?" She asked, her voice broken with tears.

He let out a long breath and looked over to the nightstand, quickly reaching over to the picture frame he'd brought home. He brought the frame down to his stomach, where they could both see it. He heard her sniffle and saw her move her head to lay her ear down to his chest so she could see what it is he was holding. He felt her face light up with a sad smile. "You know what that is?" He asked her.

Her fingers reached out to the picture of their first ultrasound, touching the glass in the center. "That's our baby."

He felt a smile softly perk at the edges of his lips. "That's our baby."

She sniffled again, petting the tiny little spec in the center. "It looks like a little gummy bear." She said emotionally.

He softly chuckled, a sad joy warming his system. "And that's our little gummy bear, isn't it?"

She giggled from her throat, her fingers pausing against the glass of the frame. "That's our little gummy bear."


After ordering Ryan and Esposito to go and run down the name off the red van she nailed down from the traffic cam footage, she found herself in her office with Lanie, who had come up just ten minutes ago from across town, having to race through as much traffic as New York could muster to get to the precinct. Kate sits in the corner of the couch that's sitting against the wall of her office, with Lanie, who they all consider Henry's aunt, feeling emotionally closed off. For now.

"I can't imagine what he must be going through, Lanie."

Lanie tries her best to reassure Kate, even over her aching heart. "Henry's a strong kid, Kate."

"He's three-years-old, Lanie." She urges back. "He's an innocent, defenseless, helpless child and he's counting on his mommy to come get him." She continues, her voice starting to constrict with emotions. "Just like I always promised him I would."

"The guys are running down a lead now and I'm sure the FBI will find something. Not to mention, you and Castle being on this. If there are two people who can figure this out, it's you two."

"Lanie..." Kate shakes her head, looking upward through her tears, "we have... nothing. The owner of that van didn't have any history of violence towards children and his only record is an arrest for solicitation of a prostitute twenty years ago. And if we don't find anything from our old cases... then the chances of me ever seeing Henry again drop to near zero."

"Don't get wrapped in the odds, sweetie." Lanie tries. "We all love Henry. And I don't have to remind you of how far Henry's daddy will go to get him back."

Kate rolls her eyes to herself. "He's too worried about me to stay focused on Henry."

"Oh, come on, Kate." Lanie argues.

"Henry is all that matters right now, Lanie." She says coldly, getting to her feet slowly. She moves over to her desk and takes up the photo that Ryan gave back to her just before he left to run down their lead, her defenses being both strengthened and brought down by the sight of her son's smile. "My little gummy bear is out there somewhere, Lanie." She says, her voice squeezed again by a rising tide of emotions. "And I need him back."


Rick flips open another file of one of their first cases, among the large heaps and piles of files, boxes, and papers still in the process of being brought up from evidence and quickly speed reads. He's stressed, worried, and above all, he just needs his son back.

But after a moment, he flips the file closed just as Sorenson steps through the door, remaining silent as he paces around the table. "Find anything?" He asks.

"Not many of our cases involved children, so there's not many to choose from that would fit the profile of someone willing to harm a child, so... no, I haven't found anything."

"And you can't think of anyone outside of the cases you've worked that might be holding a grudge?" Sorenson asks, twirling a pen around in his fingers.

"No one smart enough to know exactly where the blind spot for the traffic cameras are." He answers, flipping open another file.

He sees Sorenson nod out of the corner of his eye. "I heard that you guys closed Beckett's mother's case." He says after a moment of silence between the two, either trying to be friendly or start another line of questioning. Rick just keeps quiet as he vacantly reads off the file. "Senator William Bracken."

"Yep." Rick replies simply.

"You think he could have something to do with this?"

"Bracken is being kept in Winterkill Correctional Facility and is in maximum isolation, with very little access to the outside world, where he has been for the past four years and will stay for the rest of his natural born life. So, no, I don't think Bracken had something to do our son being kidnapped." He explains, closing the file and moving it to the side and grabbing another one from the pile next to him.

Sorenson nods again and picks up a random file. "You know, I never thought you two would come this far." He says, and Rick can feel himself harden, armor up with annoyance at the direction this conversation is taking. "I mean, back when we first met, you were a bit of childish jackass." He says with a chuckle.

"And you were a judgemental prick." He says back on a long sigh, tossing the file into another pile before looking up to Sorenson and smiling fakely. "But don't worry, we all have our crosses to bare."

Sorenson chuckles again, this time with a shake of his head and a raise of his brow. "I guess you can't ask a tiger to change its stripes."

"No, you can't." Castle says and stands up. "But steal one of its cubs and watch it tear the jugular out of the first person to look at it crossways."

"Listen, Castle, I'm just trying to be friendly here."

"Agent Sorenson, I would gladly jump off a cliff if it meant saving my son, and I'd do it without a second's hesitation. That's part of being a father. The only problem is right now," He says and picks up a file in his hands, tossing it down to the pile across the table, "I can't figure out which cliff I'm supposed to jump off."

"Well, what are the bigger cases you've worked together. Besides Bracken, who else comes to mind?"

Rick clenches his teeth and shifts his footing, "The only other person that comes to mind I watched die with my own eyes, so it's not him."

"And who's that?"

Rick takes the file he's had sitting in the center of the other stacks and holds it up, "Jerry Tyson, AKA-"

"The Triple Killer." Sorenson finishes, his brow pinched. "Yeah, I heard he was gunned down about three years ago."

"I watched Jerry Tyson fall to the floor and die with my own eyes and I've already looked at the coroner's report and personally called to double check that his body was actually cremated like his file says he was." Rick explains and tosses the file over to Sorenson. "So, it can't be him."

Sorenson opens the file and begins to read. "And you're certain? I mean, you guys thought Tyson was dead once from what I know about the case."

"He's dead, Agent Sorenson." Castle hisses through clenched teeth.

"What, no wild and crazy theory? If I know anything about you, Castle, you'd be all over something like this." Sorenson says, motioning down toward the file.

"I'm not letting myself go there because that is not what we need right now." He urges, leaning over the table. "Something you need to understand, Sorenson, and that's that I'm trying to do my job as a father and do whatever it takes to get my son back and I don't have time to waste getting lost in the weeds of my own imagination."

"Well, we don't have any other leads right now, Castle. So we could use a wild and crazy theory."

"I can't let myself do that because that's not what will get me her son back!" He says, pointing out the window of the conference room. "Because since she's not letting me do my job as her husband and help her through this, I have to stay focused for the both of us and follow whatever evidence I can scratch together. Because right now, my job as a husband is to make sure she keeps her head on straight and make sure Henry has his mother to come back to, and she's not letting me do that."

"Castle, the absolute last thing your son needs right now is his parents turning on each other when he needs them the most." Sorenson says sternly, and it catches Rick off-guard. "I understand what you're trying to do, but I've seen parents devour each other by throwing around blame too many times. I understand the kind of pressure you're under, trying to keep your family together. But Henry doesn't need you turning on each other."

Rick lets out a hard, long sigh and throws himself back down into his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose, his heart still aching with grief. "I spent four years trying to knock down those walls and another year trying to convince her that it was worth it to keep them down. And after we got married, she always came to me when anything was bothering her. She always knew that I'd be there to pick her back up, to just... hold her when she needed to be held."

Sorenson stays quiet, listening to him get the words out.

"Right now, my job as a father is to get my son back and do whatever the hell it takes to do it. And my job as a husband is to make sure my wife keeps her head on straight so my son will still have the amazing mother he has when I do get him back."

Just then, there's a knock on the door frame. Sorenson turns and Rick looks up. "Sorenson?" A petite blonde says, leaning into the room. "We have Lieutenant Beckett's statement for the press prepared."

"Thanks, Val. Gather the press, I'll brief her and Castle in a few minutes." The agent nods and moves out of the room, while Sorenson turns back to Castle. "I guess we have a job to do."