So again, I have made you wait far too long. Sorry. My second semester of college just started, and I've been having trouble finding the time. I would like to thank you for your wonderful reviews. They keep me going! I'm sorry to say that most of your questions will not be answered in this chapter, though they will in due time. Hold in there! :D

Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure Caskett would already be together if I was writing the show.

Candor and Mendacity

CHAPTER FOUR

The Precinct was chaotic. Cops didn't like it when one of their own was in danger, and often pulled out all the stops to fix the problem. Even Gates hadn't protested, despite the fact that it was homicide unit investigating the capture of one of its own. Unfortunately, there wasn't really much to grow on. At least not until the DNA results came back. They had checked the abandoned syringe for prints but found none. So late afternoon found them Castle, Ryan, Esposito, and a couple of uniforms sitting around the conference room table, pouring through Beckett's case files, hoping for some past grudge to pan out. No luck so far. There had been some files with probable suspects who held grudges against Beckett, but they were all either in prison, or dead. Not to mention, most of them would've just wanted Beckett dead.

None of them had eaten lunch yet, they were too focused on the case, and too upset about Beckett to really care about their growing hunger.

"What about her mother's case?" Esposito suggested.

Ryan nodded. "They've tried to kill her before. What's stopping them now?"

"Yeah," Castle admitted. "But why wait until now? It's been months since the shooting and they've had ample opportunity. Why not strike when she was still recovering and most vulnerable? Plus they didn't just kill her. They abducted her." Castle didn't mention the other reason he knew Beckett was supposed to be safe from her mother's killer as long as she wasn't investigating it. And Castle was sure she wasn't.

Esposito sighed. "Yeah. Still it's worth consideration."

Castle shrugged and they went back to the files.

Evening was setting in when Ryan finally spoke up.

"I've got something."

Castle wasn't the only one to immediately drop his current file and focus all his attentions on the youngest detective.

"Well," Esposito urged.

"Forester Tam. Beckett helped put him away for pandering after an undercover setup she helped run while in vice. He lost his family and his freedom. Guy blamed her for ruining his life, threatened her in court, said he was going to make her pay. He got out on parole two weeks ago."

"You got an address?" Esposito demanded?"

"The Bronx."

"Let's go," Esposito ordered, and they all leapt to their feet.

Castle could swear that half of the twelfth was parked down the street from Tam's apartment building, ready for a takedown. None of them even bothered telling him to wait outside as they ran quietly up the stair to the room number given in the address. Guns drawn, they surrounded the room, and Esposito pounded on the door.

"Forester Tam! Open up! Police!"

There was no response, so Esposito was preparing to kick down the door when it opened to a middle aged man.

"Hands in the air!" Ryan shouted.

Tam did as directed while most of the officers present searched his apartment while Castle, Ryan, and Esposito stayed to question Tam in the hallway.

Five minutes later found them dejectedly leaving the apartment. Tam was crazy. Genuinely, certifiably insane, no doubt about it. There was no way he could have taken Beckett.

She had been in the room for almost exactly 25 hours -she knew by the showers every half hour- before the dreaming started. Or rather hallucinations or daydreams, since she couldn't actually ever get to sleep despite her many exhausted attempts. But she wasn't crazy. Definitely wasn't crazy. She was just really, incredibly tired- around 40 hours without sleep would do that to anyone. So she was daydreaming. Or lucid dreaming. But not hallucinations, because that would mean she was crazy.

It was only fitting that her mother came to her first. Her mother who had always been with her, lurking in the back of her mind, waiting to jump onto her emotions and crash roughly into her wall, contained inside.

Yet somehow mother was here. Standing above Kate like an angel in white, beautiful as always and smiling down at her. Kate felt the waves of emotion crashing harshly and repeatedly against the wall within her, and wanted to cry. But she didn't cry, after all, her mother was finally with her. Wasn't that what she'd been dreaming of for the last thirteen years? For her mother just to be with her, by her side.

"Mom?" Kate questioned tentatively.

Johanna Beckett's smile widened. "Katie." She held her arms out for her daughter, offering a loving, comforting hug.

And then Kate Beckett did cry. Tears sprang to her eyes immediately and she pulled herself to her feet, ignoring the pain in her injured ankle, not caring. She wouldn't care if she were dying right now, would still push through whatever injury and pain just to reach for her mother, and gain comfort in her arms. At least she would die happy. So she took several quick step towards her mother and then took one last leap in order to close the distance faster. She was halted in midair when the chains pulled painfully on her ankles, and yanked her back to the floor, still several feet away from Johanna. Kate landed roughly on the floor, face down.

"Mother?" Kate looked up at her questioningly.

Johanna smiled sadly and shrugged, shaking her head. Clearly she couldn't help to close the distance. So Kate went to work on the ankle cuffs. First she tried to pick the lock with nothing but her forefinger and nail. It wasn't long before her finger was a bloody mess, and she knew it would be impossible to pick the lock without any tools. She checked her neck. Perhaps her mother's ring- but it's gone. Whoever it is that has her has taken it.

Her already broken heart cracked open with new wounds. She felt a deep chasm open wider, with her inside and no visible way to climb out despite her desperate attempts to claw her way up. Panic gripped her harshly and took hold and she couldn't breathe; she couldn't even move, frozen, certain that by the end of this ordeal she'll have no heart left to hurt.

Anger and desperation took hold. Through blinding sobs, she lifted her legs and banged her ankles against the floor as hard as she could, hoping that sheer force would do the trick. Instead it just hurt. A lot. But she did it again anyways. And again. And again. And again. She kept going until her heard her mother's soothing voice.

"Katie."

She froze and looked up to see that her mother was crying.

Though her sobs stopped, quieter tears sprang to her eyes instead, a mixture of pain overwhelmed by pure sorrow at seeing this image of her mother crying. She glanced away to get the image out of her mind, and saw only then that both of her ankles were bleeding. The already injured right ankle was jutting out at an odd angle, with a white sliver of bone peeking out. Just looking at it made her shudder in pain until she was again distracted by her mother's voice.

"Katie," she called through tears. "You're so beautiful love. I'm so proud of you. You never should have doubted yourself. I told you so," she said with a smile.

At this Kate truly lost it. For this must surely be her mother in truth. No one else would say such a thing in this terrible situation. The cold spray of water o f course interrupted her thoughts, and when the water was gone, so her mother went with it.

Kate sighed.

She is NOT crazy.

Either way, now she was left alone, lying on the cement floor in the dark, tears streaming down her face, damp, shivering, and trembling with cold and pain.

So thanks again for reading! And remember to drop me a note! Even if it's to suggest improvements. I always appreciate constructive criticism. :)