Chapter Four

Dear Castle,

It's been almost a month and a half since we saw each other at The Old Haunt. I've been working on getting all this sorted out, but I've been so sick lately. Some mornings I'm completely immobilized… This might take longer than I thought.

Always,
Kate

Dear Castle,

It's been half a year since I left, 4 months since that night in my temporary apartment. I can't sleep. I miss you.

-Kate

Dear Castle,

It's been 7 months since I left… I thought I would be coming home right about now. But something's come up… I'm pregnant, Castle. I'm having a baby. And I just.. I'm so afraid for this child, Castle. I mean, I saw the signs… Months ago, I saw them. But I just… I don't want another way for them to hurt me, to hurt you. I fear for my child and I wish he (or she)
didn't have to belong to me. This life I lead, it's dangerous. I want to love this baby, not be scared for it. So I have to lay low for the next few months and…

I don't know what I'm going to do.

Love, Kate

Richard Castle woke with a start. It was pitch black around him, and the only reason he could partially see his hand in front of his face was because of the faint glint of his wedding ring. He wasn't able to sleep since two nights ago when one of the lead investigators on Beckett's case called with the news. She had a baby. They had a baby.

And that was when he skipped ahead. He couldn't help it, he had to read it for himself. And there it was, on the 197th day of her disappearance.
"I'm pregnant, Castle."

He'd thought about that particular letter more times than he could count. If only he could tell her that part of having a child was wishing that they belonged to someone else's less-flawed family because they were the only person in the world who you wanted the best for, no matter your personal needs. But you loved them so much, you couldn't live a day without them even if you tried.

Children were a paradox. A statement, proposition, or concept that,
despite sound (or apparently sound) reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory.

They were love in its purest form.

And every night for the past two nights, Castle had been up, racking his brain about where this child might be. Who did Kate trust who had no connection to her current life, to New York, to Castle. Who did she trust who couldn't be touched by whoever was endangering her life, who had killed her? And who trusted her enough to keep this baby safe without telling a soul about it?

Madison was an old high school friend, but she was… unreliable to say the least, and lived in the city with a high-profile job. Jim now lived out of state in his retirement, but he was definitely too close to Beckett.
They had talked every day.

It couldn't be anyone who was associated with her in the force, not even in her rookie days. And not anyone from Stanford… Beckett being pre-
law was common knowledge. Maybe it had been a club she was in as a little kid, someone from a dance class or band in high school…

Castle picked up the phone on his bedside table and punched in a number. It rang three times, four times… "Come on, pick up."
Castle muttered to himself. On the fifth ring, a sleep-drugged voice grumbled, "Who are you and what do you want at 3 in the morning?"

"Ryan, it's Castle."

The detective breathed a pitying sigh.

"Castle, go to sleep. It's very late. No, scratch that, very early."

"I need a favor, Ryan. Please."

"Castle, you know I can't—"

"I need this, Kevin. It's for Kate. For Beckett."

Silence.

"What do you need?"

Medical Examiner Heathe took in the scene. The Crime Scene Unit hovered around the area, buzzing like flies on leftover meat. Taking pictures, logging personal effects, swiping for prints. Details, details, details.

That was what it was all about, the details. In his line of work, even the tiniest mark on the skin could be the make or break of a criminal case.

Yellow tape was stretched across the alleyway on both sides, barring it from the public. This not being a particularly high profile or gruesome case, the media was relatively absent. In the center of all the chaos lay the key to the mystery, the missing puzzle piece: the body.

The man lay on his stomach, face to the pavement. His arms and legs were spread out the way they would be if you were reaching for something while trying to balance on a log. A trickle of dried blood traveled from the victim's bald head down his neck.

Heathe pulled on some surgical gloves. They were rubbery and made his skin feel tight and strange. He'd never quite gotten used to them. Kneeling to the ground, the M.E. poked around for a minute, then looked up at an officer above him. The kid seemed too young to be in this profession. In a pathetic excuse to look more seasoned, a going-nowhere-mustache bristled above his lip. He spoke the way you would expect him to speak: All business, ready to prove himself but to proud to admit it.

"The victim's name is Carver Burke. Driver's license was in his wallet in a pocket. Worked as a psychologist, employed by the government to work for the NYPD. Has a wife and four kids, all past their twenties. They're being informed now. CSU isn't finding any prints or weapons in the area, but we're still in the middle of a sweep. It's probably-"

"I'm sorry," said Heathe, squinting his eyes. "Did you say Burke? Dr. Burke?"

"Yes, sir." The man... the boy tilted his head to the side like a confused puppy.

Heathe's heart dropped to his stomach. In a frenzy, he pulled the turtleneck the victim was wearing down far enough so he could check the side of his neck. And there it was.

The same puncture wound that had been the end of Katherine Beckett.

This wasn't just an encounter with a mugger carrying a bad temper on his back. This wasn't just back-alley-bad-luck. This wasn't run of the mill anymore.

This was pre-meditated. Planned.

This was sinister.

"Castle."

The writer stood in line at a grocery store, a bottle of orange juice in his hand. "Yeah?" He replied.

"We got it."

Hello! Sorry I've been so irregular with posting new chapters... I'll try to do better! I hope you all are liking it so far even though it's pretty angsty. But I promise I know where I'm going with this, and it does have a sweet ending! I always LOVE reviews (I even appreciate critical ones) so it would be great if you would take the time!

-SEL