Poisoned Apples Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Castle of any of its characters.

A/N: I have no idea if anyone is still reading this story, but I am keeping to my promise to finish it! I promise if I give it up for good, I will post. I just couldn't decide where to go from where I left off and I needed to address a couple issues, but the writing bug is back, so if you're still with me, I hope you enjoy! 3

Previously:

"He's targeting." He heaved. "He's going after anyone related to him and I don't know what to do. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to my mother, to Alexis...I can't protect them from someone I don't know, Kate."

"We'll find him, Castle, I promise." she insisted into his rumpled hair, "We'll find him before he hurts anyone else."

"You can't promise that."

"Yes," she replied determinedly, "I can."

He had her baby. He took her baby boy and she didn't know what else to do except keep running. The gravelly alleyway bit into the soles of her feet, leaving a tiny blood trail on her way to her son. She'd forgotten to change - her costumer was going to rip her head off, but none of that mattered now. Her heart thumped wildly to the pace of her quickening feet and the rattle of the fences and garbage cans as she sprinted.

The alley ended in a sharp turn and she threw herself around the corner, praying she hadn't lost them. Instead, the force of her body slammed her into the solid figure in front of her with a small bundle cradled in his arms.

She reached out for her child in tears, and with a grin, the man handed over the bundle before disappearing into the night. In the second after she stopped thanking God, she noticed her baby wasn't crying. He wasn't being the restless little boy she'd come to love. Her heart lurched as she gently unwrapped Richard's blanket. A cold, blood-covered infant's eyes stared back at her.

"RICHARD!"

Martha shot up in bed, screaming for her son.

Sweat drenched her pale skin.

The nightmares hadn't returned in nearly 40 years, and yet it seemed like only yesterday she spent every waking and sleeping moment terrified for her only child's survival.

Sighing in relief, she let her mind drift back to their argument the previous day. He hated her for keeping this secret from him, she knew that, but even so, she couldn't bring herself to regret her decision. Her wild son spent enough time throwing himself in the face of death with the 12th Precinct, why on earth would she want to put him in even further danger? She understood his anger, though. Ever since he first figured out that he was missing a father, Castle'd been adamant about asking her questions. All throughout his life, he'd been plagued by the one mystery he couldn't solve, all the while not knowing that the answer stood right before him in her memory. She had to lie. When he was old enough, she told him it was a one-night-stand and she couldn't remember his father's name. He wasn't happy, and as a teenager, perhaps even a little disgusted, but at least he was safe.

As she reached up to wipe the sleep from her eyes, Martha felt the few tears that had broken free and cast them away. There would be time for tears when the danger was gone and her son and granddaughter were safe again.

Steeling her look of resolve, she threw the covers back and moved to get dressed when suddenly, her door slammed open, revealing her terrified son and his equally pale girlfriend.

"Mother!"

"Richard, what on earth?"

"We heard you screaming," Kate mollified, "thought it might be..."

She let her thought trail off. They all knew what she meant. The fear of the killer heading after the Rogers-Castle family hung heavily in every room of the loft.

"Just a bad dream, darlings," Martha reassured, "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" asked Castle. Now that the threat of danger was gone, the slight anger returned to his voice and Martha winced at his tone.

"Yes, dear." she held herself together, "I'm sure."

The tension lay strong between them and Kate was about to excuse herself from the room to give them a moment alone, when everything started spinning. Kate raised a hand to her head, begging the nauseating sensation to stop, but everything just kept getting blurrier.

"Castle..." she whispered.

He broke from the staring contest with his mother just as Kate fell slightly, stopping herself on the door handle.

"Kate!" he jumped forward to catch her. "Kate, what's wrong?" he asked frantically.

"I don't think I..." her voiced trailed off again as her fingers clutched against the door and his arm.

"Oh, Katherine." Martha moved to support her other side. "We have to get her to the hospital, Richard."

Castle remained in semi-shock as Kate began to pass out in front of him for the second time in 48 hours.

"Rick..." her voice brought him back, the urgency flooding his normally calm blue eyes. "Rick...head..."

"Just hang on, Kate, you're going to be okay."

"So you're telling me not only is this dude Castle's dad, but he's only killing people he's related to?" asked Esposito in disbelief, "That is some seriously messed up shit."

"I wish I had something different to tell you guys, but I've run the test twice and I'm positive."

Lanie sighed.

"How'd they take it?" asked Ryan, still processing the information.

"About as well as expected, I suppose." Lanie replied, "Little Castle took it better than big Castle, that's for sure. I was impressed."

"Did you see Beckett?" Ryan asked.

"No, I though she was with you guys at the hospital." Lanie replied.

"We got her discharged right after you left. She didn't want to stay over night and she told the doc she was fine and that she had people to look after her at home."

"And he just let her go?" Lanie asked in shock.

"Yeah, he cleared her fair and square." Ryan answered unsure, "At least that's what Beckett said when we came back from filling out the paperwork."

"Son of a bitch." Lanie swore. The boys looked at her in confusion. "What, you think you're the only ones who can check into medial records? I asked about her condition before I went to Castle's. She has a serious concussion and she was bleeding from the back of her head, she shouldn't have gone home."

"What?" Ryan asked fearfully, "But they never would've released her if she needed to be there, I mean they're not -"

"Stupid?" Lanie interjected. "Did you see that ER room? It was more packed than New Years Eve, they wouldn't have cared if she ran out with her spleen dangling from her side!"

"Dammit." Esposito swore under his breath.

"I'm going to the loft, someone needs to check on her, and I doubt she told Castle how serious her injury was." Lanie rattled off while throwing on her jacket. "You comin'?"

"No, we'll head back to work." Ryan decided, "Least we can do is keep going after letting her down."

"Hey, I'm sure she'll be fine," Lanie smiled, "I just need to go kick her ass for being so damn stubborn and duct tape her to her bed."

"Take care of her, Lanie." Esposito asked solemnly.

"I will, don't you worry. You find her a lead."

"Help us! Someone please, help!" Castle yelled as he ran the all-too-familiar hallway of the emergency room, Kate cradled in his arms. There hadn't been time to wait for an ambulance. They'd tried to sit her down while they called, but she'd immediately passed out and despite the fact that he knew he shouldn't move her, his panic mode kicked in and he broke every speed limit between the loft and the hospital.

"What happened, sir?" And orderly ran to meet them.

"It's my girlfriend," he panted, "she hit her head the other day and she passed out this afternoon."

"Alright, sir, we'll take it from here." He tried to calm Castle down. "I need you to sit over there while we take her into an exam room, can you do that?"

Castle wanted to punch the clearly-new nurse for his condescending tone, but one look down at Kate tempered that desire and he reluctantly let her go while he shuffled his way to the waiting room chairs. The same one he'd occupied only a day ago was open again and he sat in it, silently wondering if the walls knew how guilty he felt.

What seemed like hours passed, but only 45 minutes later, Castle was brought back from his thoughts by the sight of two slightly frantic red-heads running in his direction.

"Dad!" Alexis exclaimed when she saw him, as she threw herself into a hug.

"Mother? Alexis? I thought I told you to stay at the loft, it's not safe right now." Castle panicked.

"Don't be mad at her," Alexis quickly intervened at the look Castle was shooting Martha, "I was the one who refused to stay home."

"Alexis,"

"We couldn't just stay there, dad, you know that." Alexis pushed.

Castle held back the retort on his tongue. Would he like it better if they were at the loft? Probably, but truth be told, they might be safer in a hospital. At least his dad only committed the murders in apartments thus far...

"Rick!"

Castle turned around at his name, somewhat guilty and dismayed to see Jim Beckett sprinting down the hall, coffee stains on his shirt from spilling when he heard the news.

"Jim." Rick sighed.

"Where is she? Where's Katie?" Jim plead.

Castle looked helplessly from his mother to his daughter before realizing they didn't know the full story of Kate's injury - they didn't know why he couldn't bear to look Jim Beckett in the face.

"They took her in about an hour ago," Castle said softly, "she had a concussion."

"Had? What happened?" Jim pressed.

"She hit her head hard the other day," Castle continued carefully, "she came home last night, but I guess it was too soon."

"Oh, God, that explains the missed phone calls this morning." Jim realized, "I should've been there."

"It's alright, Jim, she'll be okay." Martha pulled him into a hug sending a questioning look at her son about his unnaturally shy demeanor towards Kate's father.

The four waited in silence for the next 30 minutes. No one wanted to speak. Jim was too scared, and left to their thoughts, the Castle family was consumed with the events of the past couple days.

Finally, a doctor appeared.

"Family of Katherine Beckett?"

Jim stood up immediately, "I'm her father."

The doctor nodded and the group moved closer to hear.

"Ms. Beckett suffered a serious concussion and she needs to stay the night. From her previous records, it says that she was admitted yesterday, but checked out. I don't know who allowed that, but it was extremely dangerous."

"Will she be alright?" Castle asked anxiously.

"She should make a full recovery, but for now, she's under constant supervision. I don't know what she got up to last night, but she shouldn't have slept and she definitely shouldn't have been moving around a lot."

Castle's heart sank.

"Nevertheless," the doctor continued, "she doesn't seem to have suffered any serious brain damage, so as long as she remains here for the next few days, she should be good to go."

"Days?" Castle asked despairingly. He wanted her safe, but the selfish part of him knew that he needed her to get through this case.

"I'm sorry, but it's a necessary precaution." the doctor replied, "I'll have a nurse look into why she was discharged before. It shouldn't have happened, and I apologize."

Anger flashed across all four faces, but there would be time for that.

"Can we see her?" asked Jim.

"Yes, but only one at a time. She's being kept awake at the moment, but she's still sensitive and I don't want any startling noises or movements."

Jim left the group to tend to his daughter as Alexis moved to the front desk to ask about Kate's prior treatment, leaving mother and son alone once more.

"Anything?" Ryan asked somewhat hopelessly across to his partner.

"Nada." Esposito replied equally disappointed.

They'd been at this for hours, but despite being related, there didn't seem to be any other connection between the victims. They lived in different parts of town, worked in different circles, attended different schools. They had no idea how Castle's father was finding out who they were, let alone where they were.

"Let me see the file on the first vic again?"

Ryan tossed Esposito Reed's case file, doubting he'd find anything new, but hoping just the same.

At the same time, an elevator opened and a young detective burst out, eager deliver his find.

"Ryan, Esposito!" the two detectives turned, "I have the email print outs you wanted from Thomas Dalton."

They jumped up at the possibility of a new lead.

"Thanks, Tobins, let us know when you have the rest of the victims." Ryan thanked him.

"What do we have?" Esposito asked as he spread out the email sheets.

"Bills, work stuff, spam," Ryan sighed, "we have nothing."

"Hey, what about this?"

Ryan shifted over to where his partner was holding a short page of an email thread.

"Seems personal," Esposito theorized, "the headings aren't formal and he doesn't seem to want to give out a whole lot of information until they meet...they were supposed to meet last weekend."

"But Thomas was dead by then." Ryan pointed out.

"But she didn't know that." Esposito argued, "Maybe this...Zoe Sheilds knew what Thomas was up to before he died."

"Well, it's a stronger lead than anything else we have, let's go."

The two detectives grabbed their coats and set out to Zoe Sheild's address.

Alright! I'm back in the game! I have new ideas of where I want to go and I think it'll be good. I hope you're still reading and that you enjoyed this chapter! xoxox