A/N: I wrote these scenes with Castle's Dad before the episode "Deep Cover" aired. I read spoilers so I knew he was coming back and I've seen the episode and while I liked it - I'm partial to my version of Jackson. Remember this is an AU fic, so the episode of 'Deep Cover' never happened here - the rest of the gang has never met Jack. On with the chapter!

"Kate, where's Alexis?"

"I think she went to see where Jonathan had disappeared to – I'm sure she'll be back in a minute."

"Who's Jonathan?"

Kate sighed and silently prayed for patience. "Jonathan Dutton, her boyfriend – you met him when we got back to the loft this afternoon-"

Rick frowned. "Wait, you're telling me that kid was supposed be Johnny Dutton?"

Kate nodded. "He's a few years older than the last time you saw him, Rick-"

"That wasn't Johnny, Kate."

"What do you mean?"

"I know I haven't seen the kid in years but Johnny has a scar on the left side of his face – right along his chin. He got it from falling against our coffee table when he, Alexis, and Button were playing laser tag as children-"

Kate felt her heart stop. "Oh my God, Castle – are you sure about this?"

"Kate, I may not remember the last six years but I remember Alexis' childhood quite clearly. That young man is NOT Jonathan Dutton."

Kate was already trying to reach Lex on her cell. "She's not picking up. Esposito!"

"Yo, what's up, Beckett?"

"Get ahold of hospital security – we've got to find Lex, now."

"Trouble?"

"I'm not sure – maybe."

Alexis' eyes scanned the corridors for some way to escape but Jonathan was holding tightly to her hand, the capped syringe hidden between their fingers. Do I dare make a run for it? Would I be able to escape before he plunged the needle into me? I don't want to die but if he gets me out of this hospital, away from witnesses, who knows what he'll do to me. I have to do something.

They turned the last corner and the sliding doors of the exit were less than fifty feet in front of them. It's now or never.

Before she could jerk her hand free, the outside doors slid open and Martha stepped inside. "Alexis!"

"Grams!"

Jonathan reacted instantly, pulling Alexis in front of him, wrapping his free arm around her neck in a choke hold. "Don't come any closer, Mrs. Rodgers – not unless you want your granddaughter to be the next victim of N745."

Martha paled but stopped in the hallway as the doors slid shut behind her. "What's going on here? How on earth did you get mixed up in all of this?"

Jonathan sneered. "I'm not going to stand here and play twenty questions. Now, your granddaughter and I are going to walk out that door and you can deliver my message for me."

"What message?"

"That if we don't get the antidote for N745 in twenty-four hours, your precious Alexis will be injected with the drug."

Martha licked her lips. "How do I know you haven't injected her already?"

"Because we're not fools – we'd have nothing to bargain with. Now, step aside and let us pass."

Martha squared her shoulders. "And you're a fool if you think I came here without back up. Let my granddaughter go and he might let you live."

Jonathan laughed. "And who might that be?"

There was the sound of a gun cocking as it pressed into the side of Jonathan's neck. "Me. Now drop that syringe before I shoot you here and now in this hallway," Jackson ordered.

"NYPD! Drop your weapons!"

"I've got him, Katherine," Jackson gritted his teeth. "But if I drop my weapon, he may inject Alexis with N745."

Kate swung her gun on Jonathan, trying to come to grips with the fact that the youth was involved in this mess. "Drop it, now."

For several heartbeats, no one moved and then finally, the syringe fell to the floor. Alexis ripped her hand from Jonathan's and kneed him in the groin. He fell to the floor, writhing in pain as she fled to Martha, the only one in the hallway who wasn't armed.

"Grams!"

"Oh sweetheart! Are you all right?"

Alexis just sobbed into her shoulder. "Where's JJ?"

"Safe, I promise. Did he hurt you?" She lifted her face and Martha gasped. "What happened to your face?"

"Coffee – is it bad?"

"It's really red – but I don't see any blisters. Does it hurt?"

"It feels like a sunburn. Oh Grams, I was so scared and I just don't understand why Jonathan would do something like that."

Kate was approaching them slowly. "That isn't Jonathan Dutton."

"What?" Alexis gasped.

"Then who is he?"

Kate shrugged. "Maybe Jack knows, but he's not telling."

Alexis threw her arms around Kate. "How did you know something was wrong?"

"You have your dad to thank. When he heard your boyfriend's last name, he told me that couldn't be Johnny Dutton because he didn't have a scar along his chin-"

Martha gasped. "I'd forgotten all about that! I guess having my son living in the past paid off, huh?"

Kate nodded as she ran her hands up and down Lex's back soothingly.

"Alexis!" Rick called as he wheeled into the hallway.

The young woman released her hold on Kate. "Daddy!" she ran into his outstretched arms, falling into his lap.

"Pumpkin, are you OK?"

She shook her head, the sobs breaking afresh.

Rick's jaw clenched and his eyes met Kate's. "He didn't -?" he couldn't finish the sentence, the emotions clogging his throat.

Kate shook her head. "No, he didn't – thanks to your dad."

"My father's here? Where?"

"I'm right here, Richard. How are you?"

The rage boiled over. "How am I? Let's see – I've been kidnapped, tortured, injected with a mind altering drug, forgotten the best years of my life, and now my daughter's been traumatized by someone she genuinely cared about – how do you think I'm doing, Dad?"

Jackson Hunt sighed. "Now you know why I've stayed away all these years – to protect all of you."

"You've done a lousy job the past few months."

"Rick," Kate admonished softly.

"No, it's all right, Katherine. I deserve his censor. That package should never have been sent to you, Rick – that was a major security breach. It won't happen again."

"How can you be so sure? How can I know that my children won't be caught up in your web of espionage?" He held Alexis tighter as her sobs began to subside. "How can I know that they'll be safe?"

"Life doesn't come with guarantees, my boy; you should know that by now. Enjoy every day you have with your children – it's one more day than I got to have with you." Jackson turned and walked to where a handcuffed, sneering Jonathan was leaning against the wall.

"Rick, don't leave it like that with him. He's your father," Kate pleaded.

He blinked at her in surprise. "I can't believe you're saying this – he's the one directly responsible for this mess!"

She crouched by his wheelchair. "And he's also the one that told me where to find you and kept Mom and JJ safe – have you forgotten that?"

Rick sighed. "No – but that was just him cleaning up afterwards." He looked down to see that Alexis had fallen asleep against his shoulder. "Kate, let it be, all right? Let's just focus on us and our kids right now. Speaking of kids, where's JJ?"

Kate smiled. "Mom dropped him off at the precinct – Gates is watching him."

"Well, what do you say we check on Ryan, and then go get our son and go home? I don't know about you, but I'm beat."

Her breath caught at the idea of Castle falling asleep and waking up somewhere else in the past, but she smiled anyway. "That sounds like a plan."

"Thanks for your help, Detective, but I've got it from here."

Espo looked at Castle's father for a long moment before nodding. "I guess you do. It was nice to finally meet you."

Jack nodded. "Sorry about the knock out drops."

Espo grinned. "Hey, at least you didn't shoot me."

"I didn't shoot your partner either – that was their work." He shoved Jonathan in the shoulder and the kid grunted. "All I did was knock him out with a tranquilizer dart – I would never shoot one of NYPD's finest."

Espo held out his hand. "I hope we meet again someday."

They shook hands. "I doubt it – keep an eye on my stubborn son for me?"

"Count on it."

Jack waited and watched until the detective was back inside before turning to Jonathan. The kid smirked at him. "How touching."

"Shut up." Jack pulled the key from his pocket and undid the handcuffs. "Get out of here."

"You're letting me go?"

"You're surprised?"

Jonathan shrugged. "Not really."

Jack's gun was back under the kid's chin before he had time to blink. "Don't think for one second I don't know who you are or who you work for, Jackal. You're just a messenger boy – and that's what I intend for you to do – deliver a message. Tell your bosses that we have the antidote now and it's over. They lost and we won."

Jackal grinned. "Anything else?"

Jack nodded. "Stay the hell away from my family."

"Or what?"

"Or I will personally come after each and everyone in your organization. And I won't use N745 – I'll use good, old fashioned bullets, understand?"

Jackal stared into the old man's eyes for a long minute before nodding. "I'll make sure your message gets delivered to the appropriate parties."

Jack watched as Jackal melted into the darkness, and tried to get himself under control. The wind carried perfume on the breeze and he sighed, knowing he was no longer alone. The only question was how long she'd been there.

"I know you're there, Mattie, so you may as well come out."

Martha emerged from the shadows of the hospital building, her step unsure in the darkness. Jack reached out a hand and she took it as she came close to his side.

"You let him go."

He nodded.

"Was that a wise decision?"

He shrugged. "He wouldn't have told us anything – he doesn't know anything. He's just a messenger."

Martha nodded. "So you decided to use him to deliver a message instead."

Jack looked down at her in surprise. "Yes."

"Do you think they'll kill him?"

"Probably."

She shuddered and Jack slipped off his khaki jacket, slipping it around her shoulders. She looked up, reading the distance in his eyes. "You have to go."

"Yes."

"When?"

He took a slow, deep breath. "Now."

She bit her lip. "I wish you'd stay and talk to Richard one more time-"

He shook his head. "No. Our son needs time – and after the drug wears off, he won't remember I was here at all."

Martha shivered again, harder. Jack rubbed his hands up and down her arms, offering her comfort and strength.

"Can I tell him that you were here?"

He smiled. "It's not a secret, Mattie."

She rolled her eyes. "Your whole life is a secret. So, I can tell him you were here, but not why?"

He laughed. "All of it – you can tell him everything. Our son knows how to keep a secret, just like his mother," he lifted a hand to caress her cheek. The moment was broken as Jack's watch beeped. He sighed and dropped his hand. "I have to go. Now, you memorized that number I gave you?"

She nodded.

"Good – now remember, only use it if your lives are in danger. It's not a number to call just to see if I'm alive or-"

She rolled her eyes. "I know, Jack. I get it – I'll only use it if one of us is in mortal peril."

He smiled at her dramatic flair. "Now, what do you say when someone answers?"

"I say, 'Jackson Hunt, code yellow, kismet."

He lifted one of her hands and kissed the back. "That's my girl."

Martha cupped his face in her hands. "Jack, I lo-"

He pressed his index finger to her lips. "Don't, Mattie, please?"

She frowned. "But why?"

"Because hearing those words will make it that much harder to leave you again."

Smiling in understanding, she pressed her lips to his and for one moment in time, the years fell away and they were Mattie and Jack, dressed in matching yellow, kissing under a moonlit sky.

"But I do," she whispered.

"I know," he breathed as he captured her lips again. "Me too."

When Martha opened her eyes, Jackson Hunt was gone.

Kate watched Rick sleep and tried not to panic. She had no idea what to expect when he awakened. He could still be back in 2010 – or perhaps he would jump some more years ahead. There was also the outside chance that the drug would have worked itself out of his system since there really was no way to tell when his captors had given him the injection.

Alexis had gone to bed as soon as they had gotten back to the loft but her screams had sent Kate flying upstairs soon after. Once she had woken the young woman, Lex was incredibly embarrassed.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about – you've just been through a harrowing experience."

"Kate, how do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Be a cop – face life and death situations every day?"

"Well, it's not every day-" Alexis stared at her and Kate sighed, giving up on levity. "We're trained for it at the academy but all the training in the world can't prepare you for the first time you're faced with death. Do you remember after I got shot, how I didn't call your father for three months?"

Alexis nodded. "He was so despondent and I was furious with you-"

"I was healing – not just physically, but emotionally. There was so much that I had to deal with and instead of letting your father in, I shut him out. That was a big mistake – one I hope you don't repeat. Don't shut out the people who love you, Lex."

Alexis talked for a bit and then said she was going to try and read for a bit, see if she could fall back asleep. JJ's crying interrupted them and Kate left to tend to her son.

Now, she was staring at her husband and wondering who he was going to be when he woke up.

Rick stirred in his sleep, drawing Kate's attention back to the bed. Moving quickly, she set her now sleeping son in his play pen and sat on the edge of the bed. Rick lifted a hand to scrub across his face.

"Kate?"

Her heart lifted. "Rick?" She moved into his line of eyesight, her hair framing her face. "How do you feel?"

His eyes blinked open and met hers, smiling warmly. "Hey, gorgeous. Why do I feel like I've been hit by a Mack truck?"

She sighed and slowly let one hand rest over his heart. "What do you remember?"

He frowned as he reached up and linked their hands together. "I was at my book launch for 'Hamptons Heat' and then –" his voice trailed off as his eyes widened. "I can't remember – why can't I remember, Kate?"

"Hush, love, it's all right," She soothed him like she did JJ, running her hand through his hair, peppering his face with kisses. She knew he was on the verge of panic, while she was trying to hide her elation that he was back.

Rick's hand landed on her flat stomach and he shot up in bed, the movement causing him to cry out in pain. "Kate, did you lose our baby?"

"No, no, Julian's fine – he's sleeping. Rick, you need to calm down. Your leg's broken and-"

He captured her face in his hands and she could feel him trembling beneath her. "Kate, I feel like I've woken up in some parallel universe here. Am I awake? What the hell's going on?"

She leaned forward and captured his lips with hers. For a moment she felt him fight her, as he wanted answers and not the distraction, but he had no idea how much both of them needed this connection first. But the moment passed and Rick moaned low in his throat and wound his fingers through his wife's hair, pulling her against him. Tears sprang to her eyes as she felt their connection flare to life and her hold on him tightened. He pulled away when he felt her begin to shake in his arms.

"Kate, what's wrong – you're scaring me."

"Rick, please. I promise I'll tell you everything – but for now, can you just hold me?"

He smiled softly, capturing her lips one more time before pulling her back into his arms. "Always."

A/N: Yay, Rick's back! I could end it here - but I think we need another chapter, don't you? Reviews are LOVE.