It was 6:31am. It's was 6:31am, on their day off. It was 6:31am, on their day off, after a most amazing and magical night of dancing, drinking and laughing with their family and friends celebrating their engagement. It was 6:31am, so of course they were still asleep after such a long night. The party ended at midnight, but no one was ready to go home. The 6 friends had gone down to the Old Haunt to celebrate just a little more. So here they are, at 6:31am, still lost in their dreams not knowing that at 6:30am, a dark cloud had formed above them that was about to turn their dreams into one giant nightmare.

First it was Castle's cell phone. He didn't hear it, but since Kate was used to random phone calls at random hours, she heard it. "Castle, your phone." she mumbled as she gave him a gentle kick with her foot and push with her arm to stir him awake.

"Imstillsleepingbeckett." Was all she got out of him. He didn't even move an inch.

Next was the house phone. "Rick...the house phone," pushing him with a little more force getting him to wake up.

"The house phone?" he questioned as he rolled over to check the time. No one ever really calls the house phone. Especially that early. Castle's cell went off again just as the phone line he had in his office started ringing. Ignoring the office phone for now, Rick immediately sat up and grabbed his cell to check the caller ID showing Kate that it was Paula. "You do realize what time we left yesterday and what time it is right now?"

Judging by the look on his face and the way his head quickly turned towards her, Kate knew something wasn't right. Especially with the other two phones still going off. She was now sitting cross-legged on the bed staring at him as he paced back and forth around the bedroom listening to what Paula was saying. He didn't have the speakerphone on, but from what she was hearing from his end, it clearly wasn't good. A wave of panic started to rush over her as a few tears began to form in her eyes. Nope. Not good at all.

"What do you mean by everything? ... What does it say exactly and how the hell does something like this even happen?! ... Handle this and handle it now ... Yeah, we'll be ready. See you in a few." Castle ran his hand through his hair letting out a huge sigh as he hung up his phone. All of a sudden, he raises his hand hurling his phone towards the closet door letting out the loudest yell he could. "GOD DAMNIT!" The sound of him yelling and the shattering of the phone against the door had frightened Kate so much that she had buried her head into her lap all while she covered her ears. Realizing what he had just done, he immediately rushed over to her wrapping his arms around her. "I'm sorry, Kate. I'm so, so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. Please, Kate. Look at me."

She looked up searching his eyes for the shade blue that always seemed to calm her down, but she couldn't find it. Instead she had found a shade of black that absolutely terrified her. With a few tears escaping from her eyes, her voice shook as she asked, "What the hell is going on, Rick?"

Just as he was about to explain, Martha and Alexis came running into the bedroom. They were already up due to the nonstop ringing of the phones, but the loud yell and the shattering of the phone had them worried. Not wanting to be embarrassed by her tears, Kate quickly wiped her cheeks as the two women stood in the doorway.

"Richard? What the hell is going on in here?" Martha looked at her son, down to the shattered pieces of the phone, then over to Kate who she could tell had obviously been crying.

"Dad, seriously? Is everything Ok? Kate, what's wrong?"

"I need you all to sit down." The three women look at Rick, then at each other having no idea what is about to come down on them. Kate sinks back down to the bed with Martha and Alexis following as they end up on either side of her. Martha instantly put an arm around Kate to comfort her and Alexis grabbed Kate's free hand as they all stared at Rick waiting for him to begin. He paced back and forth in front of them inhaling to gather his thoughts.

"Along with the engagement announcement from last night, there's another article being circled around. Apparently a reporter received some inside information detailing certain things that had happened prior to us officially getting together." Martha and Alexis both gasped as Kate continued to stare at Rick. Before he spoke again, he knelt down in front of Kate placing his hands on her knees to brace her for what came next. "There are also a few pictures that go along with it. Kate. The information was given to him...by Josh."

The tears began to fall down her cheeks before he was able to finish his sentence. She immediately knew exactly who was behind this. That rat bastard. "I'm sorry," was all she could say before collapsing in to Martha and began sobbing uncontrollably. "This is all my fault. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"Josh? Your ex boyfriend?" Now looking at her father, Alexis realized who he was talking about. "Dad, isn't he the one that pushed you in the hospital when..."

"Alexis, shhh. Not now." He didn't mean to snap at his daughter, but Castle never told Kate about the incident in the hospital after she was shot and this was most certainly not the time to bring it up. After giving her an apologetic look, Alexis understood and smiled and nodded at her father. Still kneeling in front of Kate, he brought his hands up to her face using his thumbs to wipe away the tears that were still spilling from her eyes. "Kate, look at me. There is nothing about this that is your fault. Do you understand me? Absolutely nothing."

Going straight into 'mother mode', Martha gave her a tight squeeze to reassure her that she was loved and supported at that moment. "Katherine Beckett you listen to me. Whatever he has said, we all know that it can't be anything but lies. That man has had it out for Richard from day one and everyone here knows it. I just can't understand what prompted him to do this!"

Taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down, Kate was finally able to speak. "We ran into him...last night. At the restaurant before the party...before we made the official announcement," Putting her head down, she took a few more deep breaths as she continued, "He wasn't too happy when he realized that we were engaged and got a bit aggressive when I said no after he asked to go somewhere and talk. We had walked away, but I guess he stayed around to try and see me again." She felt herself beginning to panic again and looked to Rick to have him continue the story.

After he finished explaining about the rest of the argument, the reporters seeing things unfold as they made their way into the party and the one reporter that pressed the issue even though they were instructed not to, he was able to put everything together. He didn't tell anyone about what he asked of Esposito and Ryan. He needed to figure out if that fight had provoked him. He would never be able to forgive himself if he was the reason behind this. "I guess they ran into each other at some point and that's where this came from." Sighing as he finished, he heard a knock at the door. "That's going to be Paula to start on damage control. The sooner we jump on this, the faster it will go away. Mother, can you please let her in? I need a moment alone with Kate."

"Of course, Darling. Whatever you need." Martha gave Kate a kiss on the top of her head before leaving the room.

"What can I do? I'll do anything to help."

"Alexis, would you mind making some coffee and unhook the house and office phones? We need to focus on fixing this and having the phones constantly go off won't help."

"No problem, Dad," she said as she hugged him. "Kate, do you need anything from your apartment that you may not have here? I'm also not sure what we have food wise since I've been at the dorms."

"Not right now, Alexis. Thank you. I actually don't want you leaving the loft for any reason. Do you understand? We have no idea what kind of circus is out there and I can't have you and WILL NOT have you getting caught in the middle of this mess." Kate got up to give Alexis a long hug making sure to smooth down some of her hair when she pulled back. Kate was not going to allow anything to hurt her in any of this. Alexis smiled and nodded as she left the room. They had become incredibly close after her kidnapping and Kate was extremely protective of her. Here she was about to deal with this mess and all she could think about was protecting her fiancé's daughter.

Taking one more breath, she dashes over to Rick wrapping her arms around his torso needing to get lost in his arms for a moment. That hug. That hug that made her feel so small in his arms, yet made her feel safe, was the only thing she needed and wanted at the moment. She didn't mean to say the words out loud, but they escaped in a small whisper anyway. "Please don't ever let me go. Please don't leave me."

Squeezing her as hard as he could without breaking her, he whispered the exact words that he had said once before, "No, no! Never, never! Kate, I have loved you for so long and there's nothing that will change that. We've come too far and fought too hard for this...for us. If he wants a war, he'll get a war." Really not wanting to let her go, he knew that they would need to leave the comforts of their room very soon. No sooner did he finish his thought, came a knock on the door. It was Paula.

"I hate to interrupt guys, but we've got to start dealing with this ASAP. There are cameras and reporters staked outside of here, outside of Kate's apartment and the precinct. I've already gotten 6 phone calls from Gina. She says it's on behalf of Black Pawn, but I know that not entirely true. Have you guys read it yet?"

"No. Haven't had the chance yet. How, uh...how bad is it?"

Paula tossed one of the newspapers that had the article printed in it on the bed. Neither Rick nor Kate made a move to grab it. They clearly weren't ready. "Bad. Really bad. The way it's written makes it seem almost believable. What doesn't help anything are...the pictures. Kate...the pictures are extremely...intimate. I'm sorry for even having to ask this, but did you ever let him take photos of you or did you send him anything?"

"No! God, no! If I did and they ever got out, I'd potentially lose my badge. I would never risk my career for something like that!" Realizing what she just said and starting to feel that panic set in again, "The precinct...Captain Gates...Castle I can lose my job..."

"I know and I'm sorry, but I had to ask. And don't worry about the Captain. She's on your side and is willing to let us handle everything for now. She's more worried about how you guys are than issues with One PP. Why don't you guys get dressed and we'll get set up in the dining room. I can't tell you how long it's gonna take, but I promise you that we'll resolve this. We'll make that jerk pay. You guys just hang in there and be strong. I've got your back." With that, Paula left and the couple was alone in their room once again.

"I guess before we do anything we should read this piece of garbage, huh?" Castle had walked over to pick up the paper, but hesitated when he got to it.

"We have no choice, Castle. We can't let him get away with this. He's not going to win. We can't let him win." They sank down to the bed together flipping the pages until they reached the article.

'Writer to marry muse, but is relationship built on lies, infidelity and publicity? Insider exclusive...'