okay sorry for the long delay! life blah blah blah you know how it goes. Thanks to devil10 for being awesome for looking over this for me. umm good news is that almost everything is written now it's all a matter of typing it and piecing it together. Yeah sooo enjoy! oh wait one more thing, I wasn't sure if I already established this or not but Alexis is currently going through med school to become an ME. that might explain things a bit in this chapter and the next few.

Alexis woke long before her alarm went off. Five hours in fact. To be honest sleep hadn't really come to her at all. Her mind was too busy racing about what the day would bring. In the four days since her stepmother had come home with the news of Grey's deal she had questioned her choice to attend Elissa's funeral. So with that mixed with her rigorous schooling the lack of sleep was something she was use to. Sighing, Alexis rolled over and found the spot beside her cold and empty. Another weight was placed on her heart. This would be the fourth night in a row that she had woken to find the bed empty. She was pretty sure a few of those nights he didn't even go to bed. She knew what kept him from sleeping, she just wished that he would come to her to talk. Of course Alexis didn't know personally what he was going through, but she could at least be an ear. He wasn't taking care of himself in any sense of the way. The only time he ate or showered was if she nagged him just enough.

It seemed like the world was just throwing them one curve ball after another. A week ago, Alexis would have been able to handle it because Jeremy was at her side. Now as they were drifting apart, she wondered if she was going to make it through the day. Alexis left the bed to take a nice long shower to clear her head.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Mommy?" Nate looked up from his coloring book. He had taken post on his parent's bed while his mother stood in front of the mirror getting ready.

Beckett stopped what she was doing to look at her son. The four-year old looked up at her with the most inquisitive expression. One that made him look so much like his father. "Yes honey?"

"Why do you look so sad?"

She had to look in the mirror to check her expression and sure enough there was a sadness floating in her eyes. Beckett wasn't sure how Nate could pick up ion such a thing. "Because." She sat next to him on the bed trying to figure out how to explain things in a way his four year old mind could comprehend. Death was something that he had only seen in movie or cartoons, but Disney didn't come close to explaining the real thing. The only thing Nate had lost was a pet goldfish that he won at a street fair. The thing only lived for three days so Nate hadn't gotten too attached. "Mommy has to go and say to someone that went away."

His little brow drew up, "Went away?"

She could see him trying to connect the dots himself, "You remember Nemo?"

"My fish?" His blue eyes filled with confusion.

Beckett nodded, "Remember how he died?" She wasn't going to remind him it had been from the lack of feeding.

"Uh-huh."

"Well," She brushed his hair off his forehead, "Someone that Mommy knew died and today is her funeral."

"Like the one we gave to Nemo before he went down the toilet."

"Something like that. Now will you finish coloring while I finish getting ready? I've got to go pick up Alexis."

Mention his sister's name had the boy tilting his head to the side with another serious expression on his face. "Germ-y seems so sad too. Did someone he knows die too?"

Beckett sighed. It seemed like Nate didn't miss a thing. "No sweetie, Jeremy is just dealing with a lot because of his injury. He just needs some time to heal that's all." Or so she hoped. It hadn't gone unnoticed by anyone the way the young man was slowly withdrawing from everyone and everything. "Maybe drawing him a picture might help."

A huge smile crossed his face, "Okay!" and with that he attacked the paper with renewed interest.

After dropping a kiss on her son's head, Beckett stood to finish preparing herself for another meeting with Grey.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Beckett asked her step daughter for the tenth time over the last hour. In fact Beckett was asking herself the same question. Leola had called and asked her to attend. She had agreed. Why? She still didn't know. She just felt like she had to. Elissa didn't deserve her fate and she didn't deserve to be buried alone.

Alexis smooth the wrinkles from her skirt, "I want to do this."

"You know he is going to be there." Beckett watched her go still at the mention of Grey. She didn't know how Gates arranged it, but Grey had been granted the request to go to his mother's funeral. It was most likely was the captain trying to smooth over the whole broken nose incident.

"I know." She looked at her hands and cursed. They were trembling just like her insides. The man shouldn't have this hold on her anymore. After seven years she had plenty of time to get behind this. The monster had attacked her. Alexis got over it. End of story. So why was the prospect of seeing him scaring the hell out of her? "It's okay."

"Look, the moment you want to leave just let me know and we'll go." Beckett tucked a strand of Alexis' hair behind her ear, "Just know he can't hurt you, Lex."

She could do this. Alexis ran a hand through her hair. If she could spend countless hours in the morgue with dead bodies then she could face Grey Greenstone. "Let's go."

There were five people that stood by the casket, well seven but Beckett didn't think the two correction officer counted. Grey stood in his orange jump suit in full chains looking at the whole in the ground with no real emotion on his face. Leola stood next to Beckett and Alexis quietly crying into her tissue. Then there was the preacher speaking the words from the good book. That was it. After a life of seventy nine years this was all that turned out to bid goodbye to a life. All Elissa would be remembered for is giving birth to a monster.

Beckett placed a soothing hand on Leola's shoulder as the preacher finished. Grey seemed to snap out of his trance. He picked up a handful of dirt that lay next to the open grave and threw it on top of the white casket. Then he reared back and spat.

Disgusted, Beckett took Alexis' hand and led her back to the car. Grey's voice stopped them before they got too far. "What no words of condolences?"

Alexis's spine went rigid. Everything inside her was telling her to flee, to get to the safety of the car, and forget the man ever existed. But if she did that, she wouldn't be able to live with herself knowing that he could still get to her. So she took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. "I'm sorry for your loss, Mr. Greenstone." Alexis started towards the car without another word.

Beckett motioned to the two correction officers, "I think it's time to get out guest back to his cage. Leola do you need a ride back."

"I can get a taxi." Leola spared a glanced at Grey before following the red-head.

Grey didn't fight when the officers took him by the arms, "Hope to see you soon, Beckett."

Once the graveyard was fading in the rearview window, Beckett glanced at Alexis. "You okay?"

Alexis shook her head, "I think so."

She wanted to push, but Beckett figured that wasn't the best thing at the moment. "Want me to drop you off at your apartment?"

"No." Alexis knew it would be empty. Jeremy would be out wondering the city doing whatever and she wasn't sure she could handle being alone at the moment. "Drop me off at the hospital?" She had to make up some of her clinical hours anyways, so it seemed fitting to throw herself in work.

Beckett wanted to ask if she was sure, but chose to keep her mouth shut. Throwing herself into her work was something Alexis learned from her. "Of course."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

By the time Beckett returned to the station the weight of the day was starting to just slip away. Seeing Ryan and Esposito argue over whose turn it was to clean the coffee machine made her smile. "Do I need to put you two in separate corners?"

Esposito crossed his arms in a defensive gesture, "No. I'm just informing my partner that I cleaned it last week."

"No you started it," Ryan pointed out, "But then Lanie called and needed you right away so I had to finish it."

"Oh for heaven sakes just roshambo for it!" Beckett suggested dropping into her chair. Both men squared off and held up closed fists. She watched amusingly as they counted to and deployed their weapons three times. Ryan triumphed over his partner every time.

Esposito glared at the Irish detective, "Two out of three."

"Guys." Flustered, Gates exited her office with a grim expression on her face. The playful mood in the bullpen died in an instant. It was clear whatever she was about to say didn't sit well with her. "That was the prison."

Beckett popped up, "What happened?"

"Grey Greenstone's transport never made it back to the prison." Gates informed watching the Lieutenant's face drop. "They haven't been able to make contact with either correction officers."

Beckett's office phone came to life and she snatched it on the first ring. "Beckett." She greeted a little too harshly. Her mood didn't get any better by the time she hung up the phone. In a span of five minutes it had gone from joyous to solemn. "A call came in over a half an hour ago about shots a few blocks from the graveyard."

"Grey?' Ryan wondered.

Beckett shook her head, "One of the correctional officers was found dead. No sign of the other or Grey. They're sending over the dash cam footage now." She rubbed her temple where a headache was brewing. "Sir-."

"I know." Gates cut her off not wanting to hear the woman's version of I-told-you-so. She had hoped that Beckett had been wrong in her hunch that something was amiss with this whole situation. After nearly a decade, Gates should've just listened to Beckett.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

After staring at the dash cam for nearly five hours, Beckett finally made her way home just shy of eight o'clock. The car driving Grey back had stopped because its path was blocked by what seemed to be a broken down car. The cam footage showed Officer Sane leaving the patrol car with the intentions of helping the motorist. It turned to out to be his last act ever. The driver, who had been hunched by the front well, turned and shot the officer once in the head. After that the footage showed, Grey following the other correctional officer to the other car. He had been unhandcuffed and looking far too pleased with the turn of events. While Officer Sane lay dying the three men drove off. Of course they had taken off the plates so they had nothing to track.

Beckett leaned against the wall outside the loft. Grey Greenstone was back on the loose. Oh God. Beckett rubbed a hand over her tired face. The monster was on the loose. Now she was charged with the task to not only tell Alexis, but all of Grey's victims that he was roaming around freely. Most of them had finally moved on with their life once Grey had been behind bars for a couple of years. How was she going to tell them? How was she going to tell Alexis?

Thinking of her stepdaughter, Beckett felt like this was becoming a habit. She could hear Alexis's voice through door sounding the happiest it had in days and here she was again being the bearer of bad news that would ruin her day, if not her life. Putting on a brave face, Beckett pushed her way in the house to find the red-head sitting on the couch with Martha having an intense conversation by the looks of it. It was a surprise to see her mother in law. She had been on a business/vacation promoting her acting school for the past two weeks. Beckett hadn't expected her home for at least another week or so. "Hey Martha." No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't put any warmth behind it. "Welcome home."

"Thank you my dear. I have so much to tell you." Martha caught the distress on the Lieutenant's face and her smile faded. "Rick."

The writer, with Jeremy in tow, came into the living room, "Nathan will be happy to know you'll be home to try the cake he made."

The four-year old came racing in behind his father, his chestnut colored hair streaked with with flour. "I made it all by myself mamma! Germ-y only helped a little."

"By a little, he means a lot." A smile, for the first time possibly since the shooting, crossed his tired face. "It was the least I could do after he gave me such a cool drawing."

If it was possible Beckett hated Grey even more. The bastard seemed to extinguish every light of happiness in their lives. "Martha can you take Nathan upstairs?"

"Of course." Martha scooped up her grandson, "Let's get you cleaned up sweetie."

"Kate, what's wrong?" Dread filled Alexis's voice.

Beckett took a moment to collect her scattered thoughts. Deep down she just wished that this was all just some dream and all they had to do to escape it was wake up. She just hated the fact that she knew something bad was going to happen the moment she saw Grey the first time. Well there was no way of sugar coating the news, so Beckett just blurted it out. "Grey escaped."

"What?" The entire room demanded.

"I don't know all the details." Beckett approached her paling stepdaughter, "But it looks like some sort of set up. The can stopped because of a broken down car in the middle of the road. One of the correctional officers was shot and killed. There is no sign of the other or Grey."

"He's on the streets." Horror clamped down on her throat making it almost impossible to breathe. How could this be happening? How could this man still being running her life? Grey on the loose was one of her worst nightmares come to life.

"He had this planned." Life glared back into the young police officer as he sat down next to his girlfriend. It was hard, but he pushed his gloomy mood from his mind to focus on the present situation.

"Does-is." Alexis struggled to form coherent words. "Is he coming after us?"

"I don't know." Honest was the best policy, Beckett learned a long time ago lying or withholding information just caused pain and anger. "I do know that both his mother's murder and the escape are connected. Part of some plan that started months ago when Sun got out of prison."

"What is his plan?" Castle asked since he couldn't seem to find an explanation he liked himself. Everything kept circling back to his family and that was just unacceptable.

"I don't know, but I promise you that I will figure it out." She looked Alexis straight in the eyes, "I promise you Alexis."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Much later, Beckett was sitting on the edge of the bed to wired to sleep though her body was demanding it. Catch grey. It was the only thing running through her mind. The fact that she had warned against the whole deal made it worse. They should have never made that damn deal with the monster. They were playing right into his hands. They should have been smarter. She should have been smarter.

"Nathan is down for the count." Castle announced upon entering the bedroom, "Thanks to Mother. She is letting him sleep with her tonight."

Beckett snapped out of her trance, "You need to make sure you don't go anywhere without telling me." Fear for her family's life brought her close to hysteria. "And make sure your mother doesn't go anywhere alone. Make sure-."

"Kate listen to me." Kneeling in front of her, Castle took her hands in his, "We can't let him do this. It's what he wants."

"Rick he threatened our family multiple times and I can't shake the feeling that he's going to come after us."

"You don't know what his intentions are, baby. We can't allow him to put our family in panic." He brought her hands to his lips, "We've wasted enough time on him."

Beckett rested her brow against his, "You're right."

He gave her one of his signature grins, "Of course I am."

Making her laugh when she didn't want to was one of the reasons she loved him. "Don't let it get to your head."

"Too late." He kissed the tip of her nose, "Come on let's get to bed."

At two in the morning it seemed like it hit Beckett like a ton of bricks. She spring up in bed jolting Castle from his dreamless sleep and out of bed. Literally. He hit the ground with enough force to knock the alarm clock from the night stand and straight onto his head. Cursing, he struggled to untangle himself from the sheets, "Kate?" The woman in question was racing out of the room without a word. The light in the office turned on and Castle could hear a bunch of rustling accompanied by muttering.

When he was able to get the message to his brain to follow, Castle found his wife going through the drawers of the desk like a mad woman, "Kate what are you doing?"

"Remember how I told you that the name Sun sounded familiar?"

"It's two in the morning." Castle pointed out unable to jump on her train of thought.

"Ha!" Beckett fished out the file she was looking for and slammed it open on the cluttered desk. There written in black ink was the name Sun. "I knew Sun was already connected to Grey and his family. According to the maid, an Andrea Sun worked for the house as a kitchen maid when Grey was around two. She is one of the several women that Elissa paid off to leave after she became pregnant by one of John Greenstone's sexual assaults."

Now the writer was fully awake, "They're brothers?"

"Half anyways." Beckett was rewarded with renewed energy and hope. It was a connection she made a little too late, but she made it none the less. Not they had some bread crumbs to follow. "His mother still lives in the city."

"So we'll visit her in the morning." Castle insisted.

Beckett turned to argue only to bite her tongue. It wasn't like he was following her into a gun battle or anything. Plus she missed having him around on the job. "Okay."

After leaving Nate in the care of his grandmother, the couple made their way to Andrea's apartment just shy of eight o'clock. The woman who answered the door was in her early sixties and looked completely defeated by life. When Beckett flashed her badge the woman's chocolate eyes filled with sorrow.

"Lieutenant Kate Beckett." Beckett informed, "And this is Richard Castle. We need to ask you some questions about your son."

Andrea frowned, "What did he do now?"

"When was the last time you heard from your son?" Beckett asked bypassing the woman's question.

"Almost two weeks ago to tell me about the job he landed." Andrea sounded sad, "Of course I knew he was lying."

"Why do you say that?" Castle felt sort of sorry for the woman. Being raped by a ruthless man at the age of eighteen, forced to leave the life she made to escape, and then in turn raising the child that was a product of that rape must have been hell on Andrea. Castle wasn't sure how she handled having the constant reminder of what happen been done to her living under her roof.

Andrea leaned against the door frame as if the weight of that decision was just too much at the present moment. "Told me how he got a job being a care taker of some old woman. With his criminal record and being on parole there was no way he could have landed such a job."

"We believe that your son is involved with the murder of Elissa Greenstone." Beckett reported.

The older woman staggered before dropping to her knees. "I should have believed." Tears started rolling town her wrinkled face, "I thought there was no way he could be serious."

"Believed him?" Beckett asked needing more information.

"He said he found a way to make the woman pay. Saying she would regret that day she paid me off instead of reporting her husband to the police." Andrea pressed a hand to her eyes, "I never told him. I don't know how I found out. I tried to play it off by being dumb, but I could see it in his eyes that he knew."

A part of Beckett's heart ached for the broken woman before her. Andrea only wanted the best for her child, despite how it was conceived, and part of that meant sheltering it with lies. "In prison he became Grey Greenstone's cell mate."

"Oh God." Andrea paled.

"That's how he knew." Beckett helped the trembling woman to her feet. "During his imprisonment they seemed to have conducted a plan that including killing Elissa and helping Grey escape prison."

"She didn't deserve it." Andrea nearly collapsed into Beckett's arms, "That poor woman was as much a victim as I was. At least my nightmare stopped when I took the money."

"Why didn't you report him?" Castle wondered. If just one person had spoken against John Greenstone than maybe all of this current terror would have been avoided. Grey would have been a different man, Elissa wouldn't have been brutally murdered, and all those women like Andrea wouldn't be living such a shattered existence.

"I was barely past my eighteen birthday on a working green card. He threatened to deport me back." Andrea snapped back, "If I was sent back after what happened to me my life would be more of a living hell then it currently is."

Beckett needed to get them back on track, "Has your son tied to contact you at all in the past week?"

"No, but this showed up on my door step yesterday." Steady now, Andrea lead the two into her apartment to retrieve the envelope on the kitchen counter. "I believe it belongs to Elissa."

After putting on a pair of gloves, Beckett tipped the envelope and a sapphire the size of a half dollar slid into her palms. Sadly, there was no return address on the outside, just a post mark of three days ago. "We need to run this mailing code to see if we can locate which post office it went through." It was a long shot, but it would give them an area of the city to start looking. No doubt Drew had been busy with setting up a place for Grey to go to once he got out. Since Drew had undoubtedly used the cash in Elissa's safe, this was the only way to even try to track him.

"Miss Sun is there any place where you might think your son might be hiding out?" Castle asked knowing where his wife's train of thought was at.

Andrea gave them an honest answer, "I don't know. I tried to be a good mother Lieutenant Beckett, but I couldn't love him like I was supposed to. If I had maybe none of this would have happened."

Beckett handed the woman her card, "If he send you anything else or contacts you, you need to call me."

"I don't condone what my boy did, but this isn't him." Andrea tried to explain taking the card.

Beckett's brow shot straight up, "Your son was put away for sexual assault, Miss Sun."

"Don't you see it's in his blood. He was created by a monster so it was only a matter of time before he became one." Andrea explained.

Castle waited until they stepped out on the sidewalk before he talked, "Do you think that's true?" Castle stuffed his hands into his coat pockets. "That it's in his blood to be a rapist?"

"I think we are preprogrammed for things at birth, but I don't think callousness and evil is." Beckett had seen enough ugliness of the world to say it for certain. Evilness was a behavior that was learned by watching and doing. There was no hard coding of DNA to make a person a rapist or a murderer. Well at least in her mind there wasn't. "Come on let's go run this by the lab."

i would ask you guys to bare with me. I had the start and finish written and now trying to fill it in. So if things seem obvious I'm sorry, but we kind of all knew where this was going anyway. Just it might happened faster than I really wanted.