Hang in there guys, plenty of Casketty goodness to come in future chapters!

Castle had sauntered into the Old Haunt, feeling a strangely energizing combination of confidence and first date nerves that he hadn't experienced in about ten years. Upon seeing him checking his shirt and blazer combination in the entryway mirror for the fifth time and picking up the scent of his most expensive cologne, his mother had raised an eyebrow and asked if he was reconsidering things with Jacinda. After about a minute of stammering, denying, and inspecting the ceiling, Martha simply smiled and sighed, "Beckett," and walked away.

After fifteen minutes of fidgeting with tumbler of Scotch and glancing at the door every time it opened, he figured she was just running late. After twenty minutes, he started to get a sinking feeling in his stomach. After half an hour and several unanswered text messages and calls later, he was starting to get very worried. It took him a few moments of arguing with himself to decide to call Esposito, realizing that the fallout and inevitable third degree from the two male detectives about his meeting up with Beckett for drinks when they were supposed to be fighting was worth it if it meant her safety.

"Yo Castle, what's up?" Esposito answered.

"Esposito… can you do me a favor," Castle heard the underlying tone of worry in his voice. "Can you meet me at Beckett's place as soon as you can?"

"What's going on, bro?"

"I don't know, hopefully nothing," he said as placed a twenty on the bar and headed towards the door. "Just a bad feeling."

When Castle arrived at Beckett's building, Esposito and Lanie were waiting for him at the base of the front steps. He gave them a look as he approached.

"Hope I didn't interrupt anything," he said. Esposito cleared his throat and puffed his chest out defensively while Lanie rolled her eyes.

"What's the deal, Castle, why did you call me out here?" Esposito demanded.

"Right," Castle walked past them and up the stairs, reaching into his pocket and extracting a key. "We were supposed to meet up at the Old Haunt almost an hour ago and she never showed - "

"You guys were meeting for drinks?" Lanie asked incredulously. Castle looked back at her.

"She never showed," he said again pointedly and turned back towards the door to open it. "And she hasn't answered her phone."

"You got a key to her place, dude?" Esposito indicated the open door.

"Yeah, after the whole incident with the bomb in her apartment I kinda stole her new apartment key for an afternoon and made a copy."

"You stole it and she never noticed?" Lanie followed Castle and Esposito as they entered the lobby of the building, a dim yellow bulb supplying the only light.

"Oh no, she noticed, she just didn't argue about it for once," Castle informed her as he walked towards the flight of stairs leading to the second floor.

"Castle, wait," Lanie called out to him.

He turned around with a small smile. "Lanie, she was seriously okay with it - "

"Not that," Lanie pushed past him and pulled a pair of gloves out of her medical bag. She walked over to the base of the stairs and kneeled down. "This."

Castle and Esposito followed her lead and knelt down as well. Castle's heart nearly stopped when he saw what the ME had with eyes far more trained than his own.

"Is that - ?"

"Blood, most likely," Lanie pulled out a vial and swab and got to work on the small marks of red. "Here on the floor and on the wall."

"Oh god, Beckett," Castle looked up to the second floor, his chest tightening. Before he gave the other two a chance to talk him down from his worst case scenario leap, he bolted up the stairs and straight to her door. His heart raced as he got closer, all manner of bad thoughts bombarding his mind. He struggled to keep his hand steady as he unlocked her door and walked into her apartment, halting just inside the door.

"Beckett?" he called out. He was met with a wall of silence.

The precinct at night was subdued, with only a few cops and night security roaming the halls, affording them the privacy they desired to work swiftly under the radar. Ryan met them in the lab near the ME rooms, responding quickly to Esposito's call. Lanie set to work, doing what she did best, and Castle watched her like a hawk, pacing in random patterns throughout the room.

"Castle, you need to stop, you're making me nauseous," Lanie scolded him as she placed a vial in the centrifuge.

"Can't this go any faster?" he huffed in frustration, anxious beyond belief. He was rarely around when actual testing was going on and he realized he would never have the patience for it. Somewhere in the city, the woman he cared deeply for was potentially in grave danger and he felt as though he might chew his own hand off if he did not get to her soon.

"Science only goes as fast as it can," she said simply. "That's my girl out there, Castle, I want this done as quickly as you do. Let's just make sure we've got our bases covered."

"Isn't there a way to… compare colors or something?"

"Compare colors?" Lanie looked at him like he'd lost his mind. Maybe he had. She indicated towards Ryan. "Get him out of here before I start pipetting, he's going to make me ruin the very small sample I have to work with."

"C'mon, Castle, we can try to run a trace on Beckett's phone signal," Ryan put a hand on his shoulder, jarring him a little as he was led out of the lab and back into the main part of the precinct.

Trying to track down her cell phone signal was the smallest of distractions for his overworked brain. Esposito loaded the system only to figure out that her phone was either off or dead. No signal. No easy answer. He wished he could pull upon their connection to hone in on exactly where she was, what she was feeling. He had been uncouth during the investigation with Colin Hunt, purposefully acting like their bond had been damaged, their unspoken connection shaken from its axis. He'd take it back a million times if it meant she was safe.

His regretful thoughts were interrupted by Esposito's desk phone ringing.

"Lanie, what do you have?" he asked as he punched the button for speaker. Lanie's voice came over the speaker.

"The blood is Beckett's."

Castle sank in his chair, leaning far over and cradling his head in his hands and letting a moan escape.

"There's room to hope, Castle," she continued, her voice sounding hurried, determined. "There was a second set of DNA. Whoever attacked her may have been cut. I'm running it now. Keep your fingers crossed this psycho is in the system."

"How long til you get a match?" Castle asked, his voice catching slightly.

"At least two hours," Lanie informed them. "I know it seems like forever, Castle, but I jumped the line as it is. Go home, get some rest, and I will call you as soon as I know anything."

He didn't even have a chance to argue with her before the line went dead. Esposito picked up the receiver and replaced it, effectively silencing the dial tone. Castle looked up to see both detectives' eyes fixed on him.

"Don't do it, Castle," Ryan said, his brow drawn in concern and his arms crossed.

"Do what?"

"You've got that look, man," Esposito chimed in.

"That look like you're gonna go rip the city apart trying to find her," Ryan finished. "Do what she said. Go home and rest. We can't do anything until we get that identity."

They were right. He was wound like a spring and there was nothing he could do about it but go home and wait. Even if he wanted to go after her, where the hell would he even start?

As he made his way out of the front of the precinct, his feet seemed to move of their own accord, leading him down streets that did not lead to home. When he finally stopped and looked up at the building, it occurred to him that he would be missed by his own family as much as he was missing Beckett. He pulled out his phone, prepping the lie that he was working through the night at the precinct and fully prepared for his mother's suggestive tones about the real reasons he wouldn't be returning home anytime soon.

If only those assumptions were true.

It would be infinitely less painful to be leading Kate up to her apartment on his arm instead of climbing the stairs half numb by himself. Suggesting a nightcap as they settled on the couch instead of downing a tumbler of whiskey that she kept in the top cupboard. Wrapping her in his arms as he had done thousands of times in his dreams instead of passing out on her couch, a wayward sweatshirt pulled into his hands, scented with her spiced perfume and lulling him into a fitful sleep.


He jerked awake as his phone sounded on the coffee table, vibrating the wood. In a haze, he registered that it was barely dawn. Lack of sleep made him clumsy, feeling like he had been socked in the eyes, and he groped for the phone.

"Lanie," he rasped out, clearing his throat. "What's going on?"

"We got an ID on the DNA. You need to get down here."

He barely knew how he got to the 12th so quickly, but he was pretty sure he J-walked through most of the city. When he walked into the bullpen, he immediately knew that half the force had heard about the previous night's events. Esposito, Ryan, and Lanie were gathered around Captain Gates outside of her office, all looking serious as he approached.

"Mr. Castle," Gates set her sights on him. "Once again, it seems I can't get through an investigation without your input. You were the last person to have contact with Detective Beckett. Why doesn't that surprise me."

Castle looked from Gates to the others, not sure if he should be offended or worried. Fortunately, Esposito came to his rescue.

"The second set of DNA belongs to Mark Strouse. Long rap sheet. Defaulted on student loans, filed for bankruptcy, assault, public intoxication. The guy is a mess."

Ryan gestured towards the interrogation room and Castle started walking with the group in stride.

"Changed his name when he filed, seemed to want a fresh start," he picked up where Esposito left off. "He worked hard to bury his original identity."

They stopped in front of the observation room and Esposito placed his hand on the doorknob.

"You caught him?" Castle asked, feeling adrenaline course through his body at the thought of ending this whole nightmare.

"No," Esposito said, his voice low with an edge. "But we did track down his brother."

He opened the door for Castle and let him approach the one-way glass. He felt his blood run cold as he saw the man sitting at the table on the other side of the glass.

"That's Lucas Vann," he said in disbelief. "That's the director from the theatre."

Over the next hour, Castle watched as Esposito, Ryan, and Captain Gates personally tore down the man who had been completely composed two days ago. Sweat, a few tears, and a good amount of hand wringing brought about the revelation that Mark Strouse was in fact Hubble Vann, a man whose life never seemed to go right. He'd called his brother numerous times over the years to threaten, blackmail, and plead for a second chance over and over again. The most recent call, as Esposito brought to the table, was four days ago. Castle and Lanie watched as Lucas insisted for the fifth time that he had talked to his brother but he had absolutely no idea where he was.

They left the crumpled man in his deflated state, exiting the interrogation room. Ryan opened the observation door and leaned into the room.

"He's done for the time being, he's useless until he pulls it together again," he told them. "We're going to try to track the phone calls over the last few months between the two of them."

He backed out of the room and Castle was about to follow when he felt Lanie's hand on his arm. He turned to face her, taken aback by the look on her face.

"What are you going to do when you get her back, Castle?"

"What are you talking about?" he forced a look of confusion.

"Don't play innocent. You mess around with her for a few weeks right when she thinks you said goodbye to your playboy days and then take her out for drinks when she's about to crack," Lanie leaned in, lowering her voice.

"I messed with her?" he tried not to let the indignation take over, a flux of conflicting emotions swarming his body. "Lanie, if you only knew the half - "

"And if you only knew," she interrupted him. "But you don't, because she didn't have a breakdown in your arms."

"I can't control who she confides in," Castle muttered unhappily.

"No, but you can damn well encourage it."

"Castle, you coming?" Esposito's voice hollered through the partially closed door.

He held Lanie's eye for a moment longer, knowing exactly what kind of a jerk he had looked like for the last few weeks. He also knew he had a reason. And as he had asked himself once before, he needed to figure out if he was willing to let it go. She was missing and it was killing him, and then he was forced to confront the lie she had spun for nearly a year in the midst of all of this. It was too much.

"I need to get some air."

He was out of the building quickly, walking blindly and struggling to check his emotions. The world around him seemed to pass by in a blur, people and buildings seeming to meld into each other. In retrospect, he knew he should have been more aware. He knew it the moment he passed in front of a random alley way and felt the harsh metal of a gun press into the base of his ribs and the gruff "Get off the street" in his ear. He thought quickly, looking for a way to overcome the situation, but his mind would not work fast enough. He felt a blow strike across his back and then his side, effectively knocking the wind from his body. As he staggered to maintain his balance, the final blow came to the back of his head and his worst fears about the moment came true as he realized he was losing consciousness and any chances he had to help find Kate.