Make You Feel My Love

Part III – Choosing Sides

Chapter 2

The text comes from Kate just when Alexis finds a seat at the diner. It was just a quick note that she had a brief meeting with Meredith for a few minutes before their lunch. Alexis is grateful to be spared having to see Meredith. But at the same time, she realizes that she can't keep running from the woman the rest of her life. Alexis knows that Kate would gladly stand between her and Meredith for as long as Alexis wants. But Alexis is a grown woman. And Meredith is her problem. It's time she stopped standing behind Kate and deal with her mother herself.

Alexis waves off the waitress, letting her know she won't be needing the table after all. She leaves a small tip for the woman's trouble and heads down the block to the park where Kate is supposed to be meeting Meredith. By the time she gets there, she sees that Kate has already arrived, but there was no sign of Meredith. Typical. Meredith seems to take pride in being late. Yet another example of how she respects no one other than herself.

Alexis is at the corner, waiting on the light to change when it happens. Faster than she can blink, two men come up behind Beckett and grab her. Alexis tries to scream, reaching for her phone at the same time to call for help. She starts off across the street, ignoring the blaring car horns and almost reaches the van they've shoved Kate into when she feels a hand on her arm.

"You should have minded your own business," a male voice says, the french accent making her skin crawl. She only has a moment to be terrified by the similarities to her previous kidnapping before she's thankfully rendered unconscious.

x.x.x.x.x

After what seems like the tenth time Castle looks at his watch, Esposito finally asks what's up.

"Castle, are we holding you up for something else you gotta do today?"

"What?" Castle asks, confused by the questions. "What do you mean?"

"Dude, you act like she's been gone all day. it's just been a couple of hours," Esposito laughs. "She'll be home soon. You are so whipped."

"Am not," Castle says.

"Are too," Ryan adds. "You've got it bad. Much worse than me and Jenny on our most annoying Honey Milk days."

"So I love my wife. Sue me," Castle laughs nervously. But he takes another peek at his watch. "You guys, maybe I should go pick her up. What if she went into labor?"

"Then she'd be at the hospital by now and they would have called you," Josh points out. "Castle, you have to relax. You're going to drive her nuts these next 6 weeks if you hover."

"Fine, fine," Castle relents. "You're all right. I'm sure she's fine. Now let's finish painting or NONE of us will be fine when she gets home."

The men go back to their duties, but Castle stays on edge. Call him whipped, call him paranoid. Whatever. He won't relax until she's coming through those doors.

x.x.x.x.x

"Alexis …. Alexis …. wake up, Sweetie. I need for you to get up now."

Alexis moans and tries to rub at her face. Her hands feel rubbery and she can't really control them and she ends up smacking herself in the nose.

"Ouch," she moans, slowly blinking her eyes open. The weird taste in the back of her throat lets her know she's been drugged.

"Take it easy," Beckett says, stroking the girl's hair out of her face. "They must have given you something because you've been unconscious for a while and I didn't see a bump on your head. Thankfully they didn't hit you."

"Are you okay? Did they drug you too?" Alexis tries to sit up. She manages to rise with help from Beckett.

"No, they fortunately didn't give me anything. I would have been worried about how it affected the baby."

"What happened, Kate? I thought you were meeting my mom."

"I thought so, too. But when I got to the park, I got grabbed," Beckett explains, walking around the little room they're locked in to see if there's any way of escape.

"I saw it all happen," Alexis tells her. "I tried to call for help and run to you, but someone grabbed me too. Then I woke up here."

Alexis starts walking around too, not really sure she knows what she's looking for. But she can't do nothing. The last time, she had to be the brave one because Sara was so terrified by the kidnapping. She was scared too, but it wouldn't have done them any good for both of them to be freaking out. This time, her fears start to take over. Maybe because Kate is there and she trust Kate to take care of them. But whatever the reason, she can't stop the tears from falling.

"Hey," Beckett says to her, coming up to her and putting her arms around her. "We're going to be just fine. If I had to guess, this is for ransom. Somebody knows your father has a lot of money and would pay dearly to get us back. Otherwise, they wouldn't have taken you too. They wouldn't have even known to take you."

"You think that somebody is my mother, don't you?" Alexis asks point blank. She just nods when Beckett doesn't answer. "It's okay. She's been desperate for Dad to give her money this whole time she's been in town. She even got so desperate as to steal all of mine. This is a the next logical step."

"Nothing logical about this, Alexis," Beckett says. "This isn't what mothers do."

"But it's what Meredith does," Alexis says sadly, sitting back down on her cot. "I'm so sorry she dragged you into this."

"No, Baby. I'm sorry," Beckett says, sitting next to her. "I'm sorry you're going through this again. Are you okay?"

"You're here," Alexis says with a small smile. "I'll be okay with you here with me."

"We'll get through this together," Beckett promises her.

And afterwards, Meredith won't ever be able to cause this kind of problem again. That's a promise Beckett makes to herself. Enough is enough. Time to take care of that woman once and for all.

x.x.x.x.x

"We're about done here, right?" Castle asks, his phone and keys in hand. "She's been gone much longer than she should. I'm going to swing by the deli and see if she needs a ride."

"You tried calling?" Ryan asks.

"No answer," Castle sighs, looking at the phone. "You guys, I'm officially worried. There's never a time I can't get in touch with her or Alexis. But neither one are answering."

"That is weird," Esposito agrees. He pulls his own phone out. "How about I get some uniforms on it? They can be on the look out for them."

"This isn't good," Castle says, running his hands nervously through his hair. "Josh, can you make sure neither of them has been taken to the hospital?"

"You that worried?"

"Yeah, I am," Castle nods.

"I'm on it," Josh tells him, pulling his own phone out.

All the men stop what they're doing when Castle's phone starts to ring. For some reason, they all can tell it's bad news.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Castle." The computer generated voice kills any hope that Beckett is okay. "I have your wife and daughter. If you want to see either of them alive again, you do exactly what I say."

Tears fill Castle's eyes and he looks to his friends.

"They've been taken," he says hoarsely. "Someone took Kate and Alexis."