Chapter 7.

"Kate!"

Kate's nearly bowled over by a beside-herself Lanie as soon as she walks through the door to her apartment. Luckily, Castle has entered right behind her and is able to brace her, otherwise she would've toppled over and landed flat on her back.

Kate steadies herself and moves forward, still attached to her friend, so Castle can enter. He sweeps a reassuring hand across Lanie's shoulders, nods to Kate, and makes his way to talk to a uniform standing in the bedroom doorway

"What happened?" He demands, his voice stern and controlled, he doesn't care if he comes off rude, or arrogant, or whatever. This is one of his best friends, and he's in the hands of a psychopath, this is not the time to be polite.

The uniform is clearly shocked by his outburst, and scurries off to find someone higher up on the food chain. Detective Ryan reappears, with said rookie in tow. The rookie not so discreetly points to Castle and mumbles something in the Detective's ear, Ryan glares at the obvious cheek of the uniform and waves him off, telling him to be useless elsewhere.

He hastily walks over to Castle, bringing a wave of relief with him.

"Hey man," He says, with a single pat to the back. "How's she holding up?"

Rick sneaks a glance sideways, to where Kate and Lanie have seated themselves on the latte brown leather couch. Kate makes eye contact with him briefly before offering the box of tissues to her girlfriend and continuing to listen and decode her cry talk. It's there in her eyes, just how much she feels for Lanie, how much she wishes she could make everything better.

"She's not. I know it's hit her hard," He sighs, turning back to Ryan, "But she doesn't flinch, you know?"

"I do know," Ryan sighs, echoing his own. "All too well."

Castle lifts a hand and places it on the Detective's shoulder, smiling weakly.

"Anyway, how's she doing?" Rick says, gesturing to Lanie.

Ryan shrugs. "She's distraught, you know? But .. that's understandable."

"Yeah. And you?"

He looks up at Castle, moisture in his outstanding blue, albeit cloudy, eyes. "I .. I don't know. I just need this to be over with. Javi's my best friend. And .. I don't know what I'd do .. I mean .. if this guy hurts him .. in any way .. it will be the end of him. We need to get this sicko. Now more than ever."

He nods, "I know, bro."

…..'

He spins around, placing his binoculars on his desk.

'They're all so dense,' he thinks. 'as if they could ever "get" me. Honestly.'

He begins the short walk back to his … area.

He passes a lady with a stroller, 'She's too young to be a mother. '

Sees a woman, mid thirties he supposes, walking arm in arm with her slightly older boyfriend.

'I bet she cheated on her original boyfriend, her better boyfriend, her more appropriately aged boyfriend. I bet he knew the whole time, too. I bet the whore and her sugar daddy thought they were being so careful, so clever. I bet they were wrong.'

He arrives at his destination, pulls his key out of his jean pocket, and turns it in the lock.

Opening the door he sees the trail of blood leading back out the entrance, the empty metal chair frame, the restraints lying on the concrete floor. The lone bulb hanging from the ceiling illuminates the no longer occupied room. Illuminates his failure.

…

Back at the Precinct, everything is a blur. Everyone is running at full bore. Desperate to put the killer/abductor behind bars. For life.

Kate looks up at the murder board, completely covered in dry-erase marker. Possible suspects written in red; the only possibilities they've been able to obtain are through criminal records, belonging to perps with similar (Not that there are any. The closest they've come is a patient who was once committed to mental institute, he dressed up as a clown and climbed trees in Central Park, telling passersby to climb up and 'join his private circus'. Not very promising.). The possible motives are scribbled in orange; naturally , they have pretty much nothing written in that particular colour due to their complete lack of suspects. The evidence and the victim has been put as one, scrawled in blue. Many photos are tacked up in the blue area, each with a brief description. This is the busiest section of the board. Kate scans over the photos of the crime scene, the costume, the tree, the make-up, the positioning, Karpow – the victim, and there, right at the bottom, a photo with a border consisting of all 3 colours, a print out of the text she had received.

Castle appears at the side of her desk, obstructing her view of the board and hands her a coffee.

"Thanks, Castle." She says softly.

Castle nods and takes his seat, Beckett's eyes return to the murder board.

"Hey?" He begins, drawing her eyes back to him. "What're you still doing here? You should be at home, or with Lanie."

"No," she says, a hint of steel in her voice. "I need to be here. Lanie's fine, she's with Alexis and – "

"Kate. Stop kidding yourself, you're not doing any good here. You're worn out, you need rest, you need food, you need family. What you don't need is to be sitting here, blurring lines on the murder board. If anything comes up, Ryan will call. You know that there is no way he's leaving – "

"-exactly, so - "

"- So … you also know he would never leave you in the dark. You can come back to your apartment, with me. You can get some rest. Come back with fresh eyes."

"Yeah .. but I - "

He glares at her.

"Fine."

She stands up, sighing in resignation.

Castle stands up and goes to tell Ryan they're leaving, giving Beckett the time to get her stuff together.

When he returns he finds Kate waiting at the outskirts of the bull pen, her bag over her shoulder and her jacket slung over her arm.

"Ready to go?" She asks.

"Definitely."

They begin walking towards the elevator; completely in sync without even trying. Not saying a word but communicating their innermost feelings. A hip bump here, a shoulder nudge there.

Castle starts grinning as he remembers what else Ryan had said to him, Kate turns to him, looking concerned for her own well being, as well as his.

"Okay," She squares in front of him, raising her eyebrow. "What is it, Castle?"

"Hah," He grins. "It's just something Ryan said."

She crosses her arms, "And ..?"

"You're no fun." He pouts.

She just glares, waiting on him. But silently glad they've returned to their usual banter, despite everything going on around them.

"He told me to make sure that you get some rest, and eat something fatty."

A faint ghost of a smile played across her lips, she scoffed and faced the floor, a thick curtain shielding her face.

"Beckett!"

Ryan comes skidding around the corner, panic-stricken. Kate and Castle stare at him while he catches his breath, both fearing the worst.

"That was the ER at the Forest Hill Hospital up in Queens," He stops to breathe, then continues. "They've got Espo."

I apologise greatly for the long time it took me to publish this .. I do have a reason but I really can't be bothered explaining, and it'll take forever anyway. Also, I apologise for my change in tense. Again, a long story, but long story short .. I like it better, easier to read, write and picture(:

It shouldn't take me as long to do the next chapter, I'll have more free time as I'm purposely staying off tumblr for a while to avoid 'Always' spoilers .. Jeez.

Thanks a bunch! Reviews are extremely welcome, and appreciated. Also, if anyone has any ideas as to where they believe the story should go, please let me know :D