"Kate. Kate!"

"What is it, Castle?" Kate demanded as she stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in one of the plush hotel robes, towel drying her hair. They'd spent a pleasant afternoon at the beach frolicking in the waves and basically acting like children, trying their best to distract themselves from the potential dangers still lurking. And even though they hadn't done anything too strenuous, Kate had been in need of a nap and shower before getting ready for dinner.

"Look at this," Castle pointed to the TV where the weather channel was tracking a CAT 3 hurricane progress across the Caribbean.

"Looks like it's going to miss us." Kate observed.

"Yeah, but it means the rest of this trip's a wash out. Rain's in the forecast for the next couple days."

"Well, Castle," Kate purred as she made her way up to her husband. "Now we have a perfect excuse for not having a tan. I bet there are lots of creative ways we can come up with to pass the time inside." Kate offered suggestively.

"Have I told you lately how much I love you?"

"Nope, but how 'bout you show me instead?"

"As you wish," he said picking her up bridal style and carrying her across the room through the bedroom threshold. Kate sighed and leaned her head onto his shoulder. In the past, she would have baulked at being carried. Now she was learning to cede control and to enjoy being taking care of. It wasn't always easy to do so, but she found she very much liked being held in Rick Castle's strong arms.

For his part, Castle had every intention of following through on Beckett's suggestion when an idea popped into his head. He deposited her on the bed and instead of crawling in after her as Kate assumed he would, he stood looking around.

"Castle, what the heck are you looking for?" Kate asked as she sat up on the bed a little perturbed at his lack of attention.

"Um… my phone."

"Now?" her brow lifted in question. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, Alexis said she was going to call and I don't want to miss it."

She watched amused as Castle searched high and low for the phone. He was such a great dad, how could she be mad at him?

"Found it!" Called from the next room. "Shit, it's dead. Where's yours? Maybe she tried to call your line." he called out to her.

"It's in my bag under the Rita chair," she replied. The chair's new moniker had stuck ever since the encounter with Rick's step mom. "I called my dad a couple days ago and then turned it off, though, but check maybe she left a message."

Castle spun around looking for said bag and saw it under the chair by the sliding door. Fetching it, he retrieved the phone, powered it up and input the password, pleased he knew it without having to ask. Strolling back into the room, in threw himself on the bed causing her to fall against him.

"Goof," she scolded half-heartedly.

Raising himself on his elbows, he looked down at the phone and was surprised by the amount of notifications on her home screen, and not from Alexis.

"Kate, you've got twelve missed calls from the same number. NYC area code."

"Really? Let me see?" Castle turned the phone so she could view the screen. "I don't recognize the number."

"Looks like they left a message. Should I play it?" Kate shrugged her agreement as Castle queued up the message to play.

'This message is for Katherine Beckett. This is an emergency alert, classification- protocol seven. I need to meet with you alone at the Hill Theater as soon as possible.'

Kate visibly paled. A class seven was a government distress code- life or death. What was she supposed to do with that? She wasn't with the AG's office anymore. Castle noticed the worried look on his wife's face.

"Who was that?" Kate? What's that mean?"

"I don't know, Castle. I've never heard his voice before. I don't know why he would reach out to me." She went on to explain the meaning behind the classification. Castle blanched as well. "I haven't talked to anyone in the AG's office in 2 years."

"Well, it looks like he left the message two days ago. Should we have the boys trace the call?"

Kate felt the dread settle in the pit of her stomach. Was it starting already? Was this what Rita had been warning them about.

"No, don't. If he left that message two days ago, it's too late." They were not getting dragged into this. She was up and pacing the room, dragging her fingers through her hair, and it was making him dizzy.

"Yeah, but, Kate, this guy sounded desperate. Do you think this has to do with LokSat?" Castle asked as if reading her mind. He came off the bed, halting her pacing. "Don't you think we should try to find out what he wanted?"

"I said no, Castle, drop it! There's no good reason for anyone to be contacting me with that protocol. And if it is LokSat, I don't want any part of it."

"Kate…" Castle wanted to argue with her. He had an awful feeling that LokSat was already at their door step. If they didn't face this threat head on, it would always be lingering. They would always be looking behind their backs. It seemed inevitable.

"No, Castle. You don't get to do this to me. I'm counting on you to keep me afloat here." Kate rubbed her eyes. She could feel the beginnings of a headache forming. "I'm trying to be good. I want to live my life without having this case defining me, Rick. We rolled the dice and took a chance with my mom's book. So far, it looks like it's paid off. You heard Rita. We need to stay off LokSat's radar. And I want a chance at that future you promised me, the one I never dreamed I could have." She pleaded her case, needing him to understand.

"You're right," Castle capitulated after seeing how distraught Kate had gotten. "Come here." He gathered her in his arms, kissing the top of her head as she burrowed into his embrace. He felt helpless. There had to be something they could do.

She stepped back so she could look into his eyes. So he could understand all the other things she couldn't articulate. How terrified she was of failing this child before it was even born. He was her rock and she needed him to be strong to compensate for her weakness. She was standing on the precipice and could feel herself be dragged back into that darkness. Could feel her compulsion for finding justice waring with her need to protect that whom she hadn't yet met, but whom had already captured her heart so completely. "Don't let me fall," she pleaded into his chest. "I won't." He whispered into her hair. His mind running a mile a minute, trying to come up with a solution that she wouldn't come to regret later.

"How about this. A compromise of sorts," he paused and when she didn't respond, went on to quickly explain. "We pass on the general details to Ryan and Espo, no specifics. Let them run with it. They can pass it on to the FEDS. We don't need to know what they turn up." He gripped her arms, forced her to look at him. He didn't want to run at this head on either. He too knew what was at stake, but he also understood his wife. Knew what drove her. Knew that she could never just stand by and do nothing. The guilt would eat at her sooner or later. "I know if it was you out there, I'd want someone to try and help. I think this is our best option." Castle reasoned. Kate sighed and nodded her head resigned. He wasn't going to let this go.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Hey, Castles." Ryan's cheerful greeting came through the speaker line. "Espo! Beckett and Castle are on the line," he called out.

"Yo, why you guys calling? Bored of each other already?" Espo joked as he swaggered up to his partner.

"Nah, listen, hoping you guys can help. I've got a bunch of missed calls on my phone from an NYC number. Guy left a cryptic message a couple of days ago, sounded like he could be in trouble. I think he's with the AG's office but have no way of validating that." Kate began and then Castle took up the narrative. "Kate doesn't seem to recognize the guy's voice. We thought you could trace the call, maybe get a handle on who this guy is, clue the FEDS in that one of their own might need their help."

"Sure, can do, boss." Espo affirmed. "Do you want us to call you back and let you know what we find out?"

"No, that's ok. You can fill us in when we get back if anything interesting turns up."

"And when are you coming back?"

"Not sure yet. I've got a couple of weeks before I have to report back to Gates. But I'm thinking about extending that. Castle promised to take me anywhere I wanted and I might take him up on it." She addressed the boys while looking at Castle to ensure he understood what she wasn't saying. She had agreed to his suggestion to bring this to the boys, but she was holding firm on LokSat. She wanted to keep as much distance from this case as possible. And if that meant traipsing around the world with him to do so, she would. It wasn't a bad idea at all.

They bid their good byes, agreed to pass on the details and promised to stay in touch.

"Well, Castle, like you said, I've got about 6 months left until I'm too huge to travel. So let's see how many places we can hit on that bucket list of yours."

Best….Wife…Ever

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hey, Espo?" Ryan signaled his partner to follow him into the empty conference room.

"What's up, bro?"

"Got a hit on that trace Beckett asked me to run."

"Something pop?"

"Yup, look?" Ryan passed on the sheet of paper. Espo read through the results, still not understanding the concern.

"So Beckett was right. Vikram Singh, technical analyst with the same Washington AG's office where she worked. Says here he started last year. That's way past the time she was there. "

"Yeah. I know. So I reached out to Beckett's old boss. And he got really shifty when I told him about this guy contacting her. Wanted to know who else was aware of these calls, if we had any leads on Singh's whereabouts. When I told him we were just passing on information as a professional curtesy, he seemed to relax, said they would take over and no need for us to worry."

"Ok, cool." Espo shrugged handing the paper back to Ryan. "So what's got your panties in a bunch? This ain't our problem. Let the FEDS handle their own."

"I have a bad feelin, man. Do you think we should tell Beckett and Castle?"

"There ain't nothing to tell. Listen," Espo continued when he saw Ryan was still wavering. "Beckett and Castle have gone through some major shit lately. They deserve a break. "

"Yeah, guess you're right."

"I know I am. Now let's call it a night. You in for dinner at Remy's?"

"Nah, Jenny's making something."

"Whatever, your loss, man."

Ryan didn't think so, but he left it at that as Espo said his good nights and made his way across the bullpen to the elevators. He just wished he could be as sure as his partner was that there was nothing else going on, but his Spidey senses were tingling. Then he laughed at himself thinking he sounded way too much like Castle.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A/N: You're reviews are greatly appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to leave a note.