A/N: Ok, time to push this story on. I've really enjoyed writing it. We're not quite to the end, but going to get closer. Hope you all still with me enjoy the ride, keep letting me know how I can make it better.

A bee had somehow entered the apartment and was buzzing incessantly around his bedroom. In his sleep he assumed that Alexis or Martha had let it in through a carelessly opened window or door. He couldn't locate it exactly in the dream and it buzzed ever onward, finally waking him when it continued making the annoying noise.

Only there was no bee. It was even worse than he'd feared: his phone. And the caller ID said Paula. He groaned, looking at the clock. 7 a.m. Far too early to start dealing with his publicist.

"Paula. What do you want?" He was pretty gruff, but felt he was justified by the insanely early hour. The only woman he wanted waking him up so early was Kate.

"Ricky, the paper is out. With the article?"

"Yeah, so? Isn't that what we were planning?" He couldn't believe she was waking him up to tell him what he already knew.

"Yeah, well thanks to that interview that you did the paper is selling like hotcakes. You're going to almost certainly have paparazzi at your building, maybe fans too. Be careful what you do today, I have a feeling it's going to be crazy even for you."

He was a lot more awake now. And secretly thrilled. He wanted the kidnapper to think it was safe to approach, and he hoped the interview would be enough to encourage it. The trick would be figuring out which crazed fan throwing herself at him was the one.

"Listen, Ricky, I've got to deal with a bunch of other stuff, unrelated to you. I do have other clients you know." The last part was said after he'd groaned dramatically into the phone. "I'll send Emily over to help you deal with the press at the loft. And keep in touch. I don't want to find out 2 hours later that you had an issue."

"Emily….?" He knew exactly who she was. Part of him didn't want to deal with her flirting today, but the majority of him knew she might, might be the one. She'd been coming on to him every time he saw her.

"Rick, she's been working for me for about a year or so now. You know, my assistant? She's really good at what she does and she's been a godsend when trying to deal with you and all your issues."

"What issues?"

"Paula, keep Kate out of the press, even though we were kissing in public. Paula, kill the story about Kate and her mother's death. Paula, don't let anyone ask questions of a personal nature about Kate at the press release. Need I go on?"

"No. Just send her over. I'm hitting the shower and then I'm going out. I'm not going to hide."

"Suit yourself, but don't come crying to me if you get a bunch of personal questions today or when you have women chasing you down the street."

Within an hour he was showered, dressed and had made breakfast for those still at the loft: Alexis, Martha, Lanie and Jim. Martha wasn't up yet, but he'd been able to warn the others about what Paula had said and that her assistant was going to be there. They knew they'd have to be careful in front of her to not reveal too much. They decided on the sequence of the days 'errands'; Alexis would be his obvious accompaniment while Lanie and Jim would divvy up the more surreptitious observations.

Castle called the front desk doorman and let him know he was expecting Emily. Eduardo, the doorman, told him that there were already some cameras waiting outside too.

The knock on the door about 15 minutes later announced the assistant publicist. Lanie answered it, being closest to the door.

The woman in front of her was medium height, black hair cut professionally. She had the typical powersuit of a New York businesswoman: black jacket and skirt, white blouse underneath. There were a lot of buttons that could have been in their respective holes but were left loose.

"Hi, I'm Emily Moreno. I work for Paula?"

"Hello. I'm Dr. Parrish, friend of the family. Come in, Castle's in the kitchen finishing breakfast."

Lanie wasn't normally a formal person, but one look at the young assistant had set her teeth on edge. For one thing, the blouse the woman was wearing showed a lot of cleavage. For another, there was some strange vibe she was getting, like Emily was disappointed that Castle himself hadn't answered the door. Lanie had learned a long time ago to trust her gut, and her gut was telling her that this chica could be trouble.

In the kitchen, Rick was finishing his breakfast. He'd made everyone waffles, eggs and bacon and had eaten his own plate standing at the counter while the other three sat on the stools at the breakfast bar.

"Hi Mr. Castle. Paula said you'd be expecting me?"

"Oh, hi Emily. Yes, she said you were coming. How is my front door? Eduardo said there are a few cameras down there."

"I counted around 10 when I was coming in. And some women who looked like fans too. Did you see your article yet?"

"No, no one here has gotten the paper yet."

She laid some copies out and they all had a look. It was about what Rick expected.

While the others were reading, Emily entered the kitchen and asked Rick in a low voice if there were somewhere they could speak more privately.

He was a bit surprised by the request, but led her to his office. He didn't shut the doors, figuring they were far enough from the kitchen area that it wasn't necessary. When she shut them with a bit of force, it made him jump.

When she turned back to him, there was a predatory gleam in her eyes.

"Emily, you wanted to speak to me?"

"Paula said you were single again? And looking for a Nikki in real life?"

"Well, I that is what I said in the article." He was moving slowly backwards, trying to keep the desk between them. She was stalking forward, her intent clear.

"I've read all your Heat books."

"I suppose I expected that since you're working as my assistant publicist."

"Yes, but I think you'll find that I closely resemble Nikki. In all aspects."

He was running out of room, literally and figuratively. She was actually unbuttoning her blouse further. He gulped, not sure what to do. What if she was the kidnapper?

She had nearly reached him, one hand rising to run her fingers down his chest.

"My, you're very forward Emily." His voice came out in a squeak. He found the whole situation disturbing but couldn't shut her down in case she had taken Kate.

"Well, you did say you wanted a woman who knew her mind. I know my mind Mr. Castle."

She was now caressing his jawline and looked like she was going to kiss him any minute. He was desperate to keep her talking.

"Sooo, just how long have you felt that you were Nikki personified?"

She gave him a funny look, but temporarily stopped stroking his face.

"I don't think I'm Nikki herself. I just said I share most of her aspects. I'm my own person."

She seemed to be moving in for the kill and he was trying to think how to avoid something really embarrassing when his salvation was at the door.

"Dad?"

Thank. God.

"Yes Alexis, come in!"

The door opened and Emily stepped slowly away from him. He was able to take a deep calming breath.

"Emily, why don't you head back to the kitchen? We need to talk with everyone about the press outside and how to handle things."

He turned back to Alexis, purposely leaving Emily out of the next part of the conversation. She took the hint and fluffed out, giving Alexis a nasty glare first.

"Thank you pumpkin."

"You're welcome. What did she want."

"A big plate of yours truly. Please don't leave me alone with her again."

"Ok, I won't. Do you think it could be her?"

"Maybe, I'm not sure. She's pretty aggressive and she's worked with Paula long enough to know a lot about me and about Kate."

"We'll keep an eye on her and she'll be the first one today to have the boys check her out."

"Yes, but whatever you do, keep someone with me at all times. I didn't want to make her mad by rejecting her since she could very well be the kidnapper, but I was having a hard time figuring out how to keep her from eating me."

"We'll keep the big bad assistant publicist away from you dad."

"You better."

Back in the kitchen, Rick announced his intentions to do some errands in front of Emily so she'd know what he was doing for the day. Immediately Alexis told him she would join him. Lanie and Jim mentioned other plans. It was all for Emily's benefit; she now knew they wouldn't be hanging out at the loft and that she wouldn't be spending time with them.

"Are you sure about this Mr. Castle?" She gave him a pointed look, trying too hard to be endearing and falling a mile wide of the mark.

"Yes, I'm not going to change my plans just because there are some paparazzi and some fans looking for me."

"Just be careful. I guess if Alexis is with you they may back off a bit."

"You'll help us get out of the building without a scene though, right?"

"I'll try my best."

Martha came down for the first time a few minutes later and they let her know who Emily was and that there were press at the front door. She was thrilled, as she was planning on going to her school that day and would now have the opportunity to announce where she was going. Free publicity never hurt.

Emily wanted as detailed an itinerary as possible. Rick wrote down some places he planned to go, though why she needed to know wasn't clear and she didn't give him a straight answer when he asked her.

Lanie and Jim left first. Neither was well known to the press and they both were able to slip out pretending to be people who lived in other units of the building.

About ten minutes later, Rick, Alexis and Emily were ready to run the gauntlet.

As the opened the door, Emily walked out first, followed by Castle then Alexis. There was a crush of paparazzi in front of the building, and on seeing Castle's face they all moved to hem him in.

"Mr. Castle, is it true you're looking for a real life Nikki?"

"Mr. Castle, do you still speak to Detective Beckett?"

"Mr. Castle, do you really think you can find a real life woman to take the place of a fictional character?"

Emily had enough presence to get them under control.

"He'll be glad to answer some questions, but you have to stop pushing and shouting or he's leaving."

That got them to behave. Rick recognized a few of the reporters, but most of the crush of press was photographers. Beyond them were even more people; mostly women and they had started screaming at the sight of him. They were held back behind the press by some uniforms. Castle gave a silent thanks to Captain Gates as he was sure she'd had a hand in this.

"Mr. Castle, you said in the article that you're single and looking for your perfect woman?" One of the morning news reporters, a man he knew from the TV but couldn't recall his name.

"Yes, that's right. I'm happily single right now, but willing to change that status to 'in a relationship' if I can find the right woman."

"What exactly makes the right woman Mr. Castle? Our viewers are dying to know." This came from an older woman, one he hadn't seen or met before. Or at least he didn't remember her.

"I think it's clear after all my Heat novels what qualities Nikki possesses. I've spelled it out in ink, so if she's out there I hope she comes and lets me know she exists."

"So, your relationship with Detective Beckett, who you've said was the inspiration for Nikki Heat, wasn't enough?" He doesn't see who asks this question, though the voice is female.

He knew they'd ask, and he'd practiced variations of this question with the others over the last few days.

Still, it's like a punch to the gut and for a minute he can't breathe, can't see, can't hear.

Not enough? No, they didn't have enough. Enough time together. Enough moments alone, just breathing each other in. Enough eternities spent lost in her eyes, in her smile that she gives just for him. No matter how long they lived, it would never be enough. And to have her stolen from him….

He felt a sharp kick to his heel. Not to hurt, but to distract him from his internal dialog. Alexis had once again brought him back to reality, saved him from revealing too much in front of cameras that caught everything.

"We decided mutually to call things off. She got a great offer outside of New York and we both knew that the relationship wasn't what either wanted long term. I have nothing but good things to say about the detective, but she is not Nikki Heat. I'm sure my Nikki is out there somewhere. She just needs to find me."

At that pronouncement, one fan managed to break free of the barricades and ran up to him, pushing Alexis and Emily out of the way. She was a dirty blond, almost as tall as Kate. Most people would say she was gorgeous, but she wasn't Kate Beckett so Rick didn't really notice her looks.

It was hard to ignore her actions though, as she jumped into his arms and planted a kiss on his lips. He was shocked by the whole encounter, which took place over a matter of seconds. Of course the cameras were snapping away like crazy the whole time.

After she broke the one-sided kiss, she gushed to him "I'm Liz, and I'm your number one fan! I've been reading your Heat series since it came out, and I'm certain that I match Nikki."

He gave her a smile that didn't reach his eyes and shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you Liz. I'm happy to sign a book or something if you want."

He saw a uniform approaching from the corner of his eye. Clearly Liz's time with him was about to be over.

She seemed disappointed in his reaction, or lack, to her presence. She smiled wanly and held up a book, which he signed happily. Then she was drug off by the uniform.

Emily was calling a halt to any more questions.

"Mr. Castle needs to be somewhere else. Thank you for your questions. Anything further can be asked through his publicist, Paula Haas."

Rick and Alexis took their cues and walked to the street where they hailed a cab and escaped from the crowd.

Rick saw Emily watching as the cab pulled away. He hadn't meant to leave so abruptly, but the cab was there almost like magic and he didn't want to stand around with crazy fans trying to grab him.

"Well, what did you thing pumpkin? Your old man do ok?"

"You did great dad, except you did freeze there for a minute. What happened?"

"That question is hard to answer since I know we didn't break up and it's killing me to act like she's gone and its amicable when I know she was stolen from me."

"Ah, Dad. She knows you're coming. She wouldn't have put in all those crazy clues to you if she didn't think you'd move heaven and earth to find her. I know having faith in you can carry a person through lots of things, even when it seems like there's no hope. You're what got me through Paris and you'll get Kate through this too."

Sometimes he forgot just how wise his daughter was and then she'd do something like this and he'd be amazed all over again.

"Did you tell Lanie to have the boys check out that fan and Emily?"

"Yep, she's on it. She and Jim are getting more info on the fan so they know who to chase down. I sent them the name of a reporter too."

He looked at her, confused as to whom she meant.

"The one that asked about your relationship with Beckett. I thought that was an awfully personal question."

"I didn't even see who asked it, I was so devastated by the question," Rick replied.

"I caught her name and texted it to Lanie.

"I don't know what I'd do without you pumpkin."

"Probably get a lot less done." She had grinned to let him know she wasn't kidding.

"No doubt about it."

They spent the day going from place to place, store to store. They even went back to the precinct again.

Along the way they were met by many, many women. Castle finally realized what his mother and Alexis had tried to tell him. Too many was overwhelming. They had devised some simple questions that they thought revealed who was a true fan and who was a pretender.

The person who'd taken Kate was clearly the former, so it helped to weed out those who didn't really know much about the character of Nikki Heat.

The first stop was back to his favorite coffee shop. Jessica and Kelly were both working today and they literally shoved each other trying to be the one to make his coffee. He pretended not to notice their pushing and shoving.

Alexis and Lanie had to revise their rating of Jessica, seeing her fight over him. She was up from a 4 to a 6. Kelly was a solid 7. And the winner of the fight.

She'd always been very vocally challenging with him. He'd thought it was just friendliness. He was a friendly guy after all. Now, he wasn't sure.

At the precinct, he was waylaid again by officer Carner, who flirted with him shamelessly in front of Alexis. Her score remained in the 7 range. When he got upstairs to see the boys they were already doing background checks on the names they had been given. Unfortunately nothing was popping out as obvious.

Castle had realized at this point that winnowing down the real kidnapper was going to be a challenge. There had to be a way to narrow it down more than just interest in him.

"Guys, I have an idea."

Espo and Ryan looked up from their computers, curious. Anything that would help them focus better would be helpful.

"We know this person took Kate. And we know she's…" his voice was breaking, but he tried to stifle the emotion and keep going. They had to find her and to do that he had to be strong. "We know she's still alive as she's writing notes to us. And you and I know if there was anyplace not completely secured that Kate would have found a way to escape or get someone's attention."

"How does that help bro?" Espo wasn't convinced.

"What if we took the names and see if anyone owns any property where you could expect to imprision someone for a while."

"That's not a bad idea, though the property could be under another name." Ryan was always pragmatic.

"Will it add on a lot of work?"

"Not really. We'll add it to the checks, see if it helps."

"Thanks guys. I know you're working hard. I really appreciate everything. I don't know if I say that enough."

"Castle, we love her like a sister. This is for us as much as it is for you. We'll find her." Espo turned back to his work, eyes shimmering. Castle hit them both lightly on their backs and left before his own tears spilled down his face.

Lanie and Alexis had been talking in the break room with Jim while he spoke with the boys. They had written out their list of places yet to go and once Castle rejoined them they set off.

By the end of the day, they had a list of 10 names for the boys.

Kelly and Jessica from the coffee shop.

Emily, Paula's assistant.

Liz, the crazy fan.

Officer Carner.

Ashleigh Warwick, the reporter outside the loft who's name Alexis had caught this morning.

Samantha Abeha, the owner of another bookstore that Rick liked to visit. She'd practically draped herself over him when she saw him today.

Laura Patrick, a homeowner near them that they often saw walking in the neighborhood. They had been on just a 'hi, how are you' level for a year or two, but when they ran into her as they did their errands, she had changed that to a 'I want to eat you alive' level. Rick still blushed when he thought of the encounter.

The final two were both women he ran into once in a while. Cheryl Correa was a yoga aficionado that he had met through Kate. Apparently Cheryl had befriended her just to get closer to him. It was all he could do to keep the disgust from his face when she came on to him.

And finally Debra Gunderman. She was an agent, a rival of Gina that had been trying to lure him away for years. She had started trying a lot harder today when they ran into her at the restaurant during lunch. He wasn't sure if it was an innocent meeting or if she was stalking him, but her intentions were very, very clear. She wanted him. Not just for his writing.

Rick was a little disappointed. None of them screamed "crazy bitch who took your fiancé." Sure, they seemed crazy. Yet he'd been hoping it would be obvious. An even more depressing thought was that maybe he hadn't even run into her today or yesterday. What if she didn't approach him?

He tried shaking off the melancholy thoughts by concentrating on the fact that the kidnapper had taken such pains to accomplish this imprisonment, surely now that he was publically available it would be an opportunity she couldn't afford to miss.

A/N: Sorry this took a while. I had something ready to go but realized I was tired and I was short changing you readers and the story. I'm glad I waited, as this is much better than what I had originally. I'm hoping to get some more done this weekend so we can get through this whole thing. Thanks for sticking by me and as always, reviews, favs and follows are my writing highlights!