I'm so sorry this chapter is so late and shorter than other times, I really have no excuse for it. Thank you all for R&R and all your support. And to the new readers: Welcome! I hope you enjoy this chapter anyway

Disclaimer: I own Castle as much as I live on the moon. And to my account I don't own a space suit(yet xp)


Chapter 11: Replay

Beckett opened the door to her apartment building. She checked her mail box and took out four letters. "Bill, bill, advertisement, bill," she mumbled when she looked through them. She took the stairs to the third floor easily, even after this exhausting day. She was glad when she could finally kick off her high heels and lay down on the couch.

The number was dialled soon and she was ordering Chinese from the place she liked so much. They had the best egg rolls in town and after a day like this she felt like she deserved them. It's bad to eat take out almost every night but she didn't care. It's not like she came home every day at a descent hour to start cooking. It was a wonder she could still keep her loft clean.

As she waited for the food to be delivered, she sat back down on the couch and turned on the TV. There wasn't anything good on so after a round of zapping through all the channels, she settled on America's Next Top Model. She couldn't understand how women would allow themselves to be exploited by the industry just to show off clothes that no one but them could even wear. After the dreadful 20 minutes, she changed it to a channel that showed little lion cubs playing around in Africa.

Her food arrived a little later. She tipped the teenager and set the bag on the coffee table. Changed into a pair of sweatpants and a large baggy t-shirt, she started eating her way through all the delicious things she had ordered.

But as soon as she was in that relaxed state, her mind wandered back to Sarah Dontey. The helpless little girl who was left in that alley with her throat cut from ear to ear. The fact that they didn't have a good suspect after today didn't do her any good either.

She wanted to get that bastard that had killed her. He had to rot in jail for the rest of his life. No kid so you could have done anything bad enough for someone to do something like this. She remembered what she had said to Castle earlier that day. It must be a psychopath. She had to keep thinking that or it would get to be too much too handle.

Up until now she always had been able to keep her cool but that could change after this case. If it wasn't for Castle, she would probably already had lost it. She was glad he was around.


The situation wasn't that different for Castle. After spending another hour at the precinct looking through a pile of files of people that Ryan and Esposito had spotted on the surveillance tape, Beckett had dropped him off at his loft. Alexis had been studying at the dining table with her books and papers spread all over it.

"Where is she?" He walked up to see what she was studying. "Eew, science. I still don't understand how you can remember all of that." He shook his head as he walked away into the kitchen.

"She said we didn't have to stay up for her. Off to a play."

"Then we won't." Castle faked a smile. It wasn't his business what his mother did but he still didn't like it when she would stay away so late, possibly with her new flame. "So what would you like to eat?"

"Ice cream but I guess that can't be arranged before dinner. Can you make me some of your spaghetti?"

"Of course. Do we have mushrooms?"

"There should be a can in the cupboard next to the fridge."

"Thanks. Wanna help me with the vegetables?"

Alexis putted the books away in her backpack and joined him in the kitchen.

It were these moments that he cherished. Father-daughter time always equalled lots of laughter from both of them and this time wasn't any different. They tried to beat each other at cutting their part of the veggies as fast as they could, he made some lame jokes and they talked a bit about everything and nothing.

"How's the case going?" The conversation had taken a turn a little while ago.

"Hard. There's a suspect."

"But you don't think it's him, do you." Alexis knew her dad way too good.

But that's how it usually went. Beckett got a suspect, Castle disagreed, he came up with some strange theory that most of the times involved the CIA and eventually they would take the real killer down.

After they had their promised ice cream they watched a movie together and Alexis went to bed.

"Goodnight Pumpkin."

"Night dad." Castle kissed the top of her head and watched her go up the stairs and around the corner.

He decided he should get some more writing done. He didn't really want to but it was the only way to stop Gina's nagging.


Castle had been writing for over half an hour and had enough of it. His mind kept spinning back to the case. He took out his phone and looked through his camera role. He putted the pictures he needed up on the big screen. He really had to stop doing that. He shouldn't be taking pictures of the murder board and the case files. If Beckett knew he did, she would kill him for sure.

He looked at it all again but couldn't find anything. The background on Max Griver wasn't that long as usually. Maybe they could look into that again.

He looked at his phone, 11.47pm. Would she still be awake? He wouldn't want to wake her up. Beckett without caffeine was even worse than angry Beckett. He learned that over the years by experience, lots of experience. It was one of the reasons he brought her coffee every morning. Seeing that smile appear was one of the most beautiful things on earth according to him.

"Dad, what are you doing?"

"Alexis. Hey. Why are you still up? Didn't you go to bed an hour ago?"

"I couldn't sleep. I'm just grabbing a glass of water. Is that from the case? Beckett is gonna kill you," she chuckled.

"Yeah it is," he said. He shut the computer and tv off. "But I'm going to bed now. You should go back too." He kissed her goodnight and they both went to their bedroom.


The room was dark and quiet. Except for the city noises outside there was nothing to hear. Then there was a soft moan and movement of sheets.

Beckett was covered in sweat. She hadn't had any nightmares lately but they could come up anytime. Usually they involved losing her mother in all kind of ways. Abduction, drowning or actually getting murdered were the most common. But this one was different.

Everything was dark. She didn't have her pyjamas on anymore but was now dressed in dark blue jeans, a white blouse and a pair of her high black pumps. Well, at least she looked great in her dream.

She looked around but saw nothing. There wasn't any light source, the only thing she could see was herself. She felt for her gun on her side but it wasn't there. Great, now she was in a dark and hopefully empty room without a gun.

She took a tiny step forward and found that the light moved with her. What was this? With her arms stretched, she took another step. Her fingertips touched something cold, something...metal? Where was she? She roamed her hands over the wall. On the left, on stomach level, there were buttons.

"No, not again." She realised she was in an elevator, trapped again.

Then the elevator started shaking. The heavy movement made her fall. As if the pain in her butt wasn't bad enough, the elevator started shaking again and fell down. Beckett screamed her longs out. It was like she was Alice, she kept on falling. She closed her eyes hoping it would end soon and she would wake up in the safety of her bed.

But then the falling stopped. Someone had caught her. She opened her eyes to see Castle smiling down at her.

"You ok?"

She couldn't say anything so just nodded.

"Good." He kissed her temple and putted her down. She fell into his arms and started crying.

Suddenly she wakes up, gasping for air. The blue lights on the clock say it's only 4.28am. She couldn't go back to sleep, not after this. It was too early to get up and run five miles.

Sitting up, she saw that she was covered in sweat. She needed a shower but her legs were too wobbly to stand up just yet. After a few deep breaths, she stood up and walked into the bathroom. She dropped her wet clothes in the corner and went into the shower. The hot water running over her skin felt good. The water jets massaged the tight muscles in her shoulders and neck. It was like therapy and she started to relax a bit.

What did that dream mean? She could explain the elevator and the no light part but the falling and Castle catching her was something else. She was sure that if she would tell Lanie, she would get an extensive explanation of it all.


"Morning," Castle greeted her as she entered the bullpen.

She gladly took the coffee he offered her. "Morning."

"Wow, that came out kind of groggy. Rough night?" he grinned.

"Not that kind but yes. Didn't sleep so well."

She saw the concerned look on his face. "Nothing too bad Castle, promise." But he wouldn't take it. "Castle can we just get back on with the case and leave my sleeping troubles alone?"

"So you do have troubles." This earned him another one of Beckett's signature looks. "Fine. I thought that maybe we need more on this Max Griver guy. What we have is pretty shallow."

"And how would you know that? Don't tell me you took the files with you again last night."

"No." It didn't sound convincing but she let it slide for once. She didn't need any drama right now. She had a massive headache from the short night sleep and it wouldn't even go away with the pain killers she took that morning.

"Well then let's see what else we can find."


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Loveballs X L