Trigger Warning: This story contains reference to sexual assault, abortion, and torture/abuse. There are no descriptions of sexual assault or abortion in this story; only mentions and references. There are limited descriptions of abuse.

Chapter 2

Kate, Kate, Kate, Kate, Kate.

The repetition of her name in his head had not stopped since their drive north had begun ninety minutes earlier. Now Castle, Ryan, and Esposito were within fifteen minutes of reaching the small upstate New York police station from which Kate had called in earlier that day. At that point, with his anxiousness through the roof, the only thing keeping him in his seat was the restraint of the seatbelt. Were it not secured he probably would have been sliding back and forth across the back seat of the cruiser just to get out some of his anxiety.

A few hours earlier, Castle had been ascending the stairs by the subway station closest to his house feeling as glum as ever. While he appreciated his appointments with Dr. Burke for how they allowed him to talk through and process the frustration of his present situation, since Burke couldn't actually provide him answers or an increased possibility of finding Kate, he often felt quite frustrated after them. Thus, he often liked to wander around the city post-visit to clear his head and reset himself for when he returned home where he needed to do his best to suppress his emotions, so he did not further alarm his mother or daughter.

On that particular morning, Castle's "wandering" hadn't been above ground, but below; he'd spent nearly an hour on the subway riding it all the way uptown before getting off and taking a train that would be going back downtown to where he lived. As cell service was always spotty in the tunnels, he hadn't bothered to check his phone until he was climbing the stairs to street-level. At that point, he saw ten missed calls, seven voice messages, and a few dozen texts. Panicked, he struggled to unlock his phone for several seconds before, cursing aloud, he finally managed to see Ryan's all-capital-letters message, FOUND BECKETT; CALL ME! Frantic, he had done just that.

Thankfully, his delay in responding to the messages actually allowed the boys to mobilize. While Castle initially expected a tactical rescue mission, Ryan assured him that was not the case. Kate had evidently walked into the police station of her own free will and requested the officers contact the NYPD. In going through the voice mail messages, Castle found one from an unknown number that ended up being from Kate. The message simply said, "I'm safe; I'll see you soon."

Of course after forty-some days Castle was not remotely satisfied with those six words, but at least hearing her voice sustained him enough to be reasonably calm when the boys picked him up for their trek upstate. As soon as they left Manhattan, however, Castle's anxiety amplified.

Kate was, by her own words, safe, but what did that mean? Yes, it was thrilling that she was no longer a hostage of Jerry Tyson—assuming he was the one that had her all along—but why did he just let her go. Castle assumed Tyson's revenge plan to be far more nefarious and drawn out. He very much doubted that it was over just because Kate had been freed. Surely freeing her was all part of Tyson's plan—not that he doubted Kate's ability to escape, Tyson was just that good—that terrifying.

"Just up ahead, on the left." Castle heard Ryan say as their journey's navigator. His heart thrummed into full force. Kate—he was going to see Kate. Then, whatever came next, they would figure out together.

When Esposito pulled their cruiser into a space just in front of a plain brown building with the word "POLICE" over the door in black letters, Castle began clawing at the door handle, forgetting that he was in the back of a cop car, which had rear doors that could not be opened from the inside. "C'mon, c'mon," he growled, not even realizing he'd said it out loud until Espo responded with, "Chill bro. Let me stop the car first."

Fortunately, Ryan hopped out of the car efficiently and opened the back door. Castle rocketed out of the back seat like a horse at the startling line of the Kentucky Derby. He ran so quickly towards the police station entrance that he tripped on the curb and barely caught himself from falling flat on the sidewalk. Evidently, Kate must have been watching for them because she appeared in the building's entrance saying, "Oh, Castle, are you alright? You didn't need to—oof!" she gasped when the writer crushed her body against his.

"Kate! Kate! Oh my god, Kate!" he said tears stinging at his eyes as he wrapped one strong arm around her back and used his other hand to cradle her head.

"I'm okay," she sighed against his neck, her fingertips coming to rest gently at his spine.

"We've been worried about you Beckett," Ryan said as he stepped up on the sidewalk behind Castle.

"Yeah, chica—don't scare us like that," Espo added.

"I'll try not to," she quipped. She began to slide away from Castle's arms, but he held her fast; after all that time he needed to hold her close for more than just a few seconds. When she said his name softly, but warningly, he finally relented and let her slide away. She gave him a smile before turning to the boys. "These guys would like to talk to both of you. They're…a little out of their league as you can imagine. They've also called the FBI."

"Thanks," the boys said in unison then stepped around the couple to enter the station.

Kate turned to follow but Castle held her back by grabbing her arm softly. "Hey. Was it Tyson?"

"Yeah." She confirmed softly.

Anguish flooded his body. "I'm so sorry, Kate."

"This isn't your fault." She raised her hand to touch his cheek gently, then gave a firm nod.

Before she could pull away again, he asked in a hushed tone, "But are you pregnant?"

Her eyes flashed with surprise. "Why would you ask that?"

"Because they took me too. I-"

"Detective Beckett?"

Castle's voice was cut off by the sound of an unfamiliar voice calling out Kate's name. She gave Castle a forced smile that time and said softly, "Later," before walking into the police station and letting him trail along behind her.


Despite the forty-plus days of trauma she had just experienced and the exhaustion and stress she'd suffered during the two mile walk in ill-fitting sandals that Tyson had made her endure, Kate felt the tension in her body begin to relax now that Castle had returned to her side. Their struggles were far from over—they had about eight months left, to be exact—but just the fact that they were reunited would make things bearable. If there was one thing Kate new to be unquestionably true, it was that together, she and her partner could accomplish everything.

"Okay, Detective, we're ready for you."

Kate turned to see the shorter, more portly of the two FBI agents poke his head out of the lone interrogation room in the Hudson River Valley police station (frankly, Kate was surprised they had an interrogation room at all). The FBI had arrived shortly after the boys had and, since escaped fugitive Jerry Tyson was involved, they wanted to do everything as official and by the book as possible, which included doing a video and audio recording of the statement Kate was about to give. She didn't mind as this was standard procedure, but she was anxious to get on the road—to get home, to her own apartment. More so: to her own shower.

After giving Castle's hand a firm squeeze, she approached the agent. "I'd like my team to sit in observation."

The agent nodded. "That's your call, ma'am. They just can't be in the room with us—protocol."

"I understand." Kate then turned back to where Ryan, Espo, and Castle stood and gave them a nod. Though there were aspects of what she was about to say she didn't exactly want shared with her two work partners, she knew it was all part of the investigation. Plus, if they listened to her official statement, she would not have to repeat everything or answer too many questions on the drive back to Manhattan.

Once she was seated in front of the video camera, the interviewing detectives stated their names, the date, and the time for the record. Then she stated her name and began to recall all the details she could about her kidnapping.

"The last thing I remember was being inside of Richard Castle's apartment. We were sitting on the couch watching something on TV; it was almost like I fell asleep there and woke up somewhere else, because I don't recall anything in between."

"For the record," the FBI agent interjected, "Richard Castle is…?"

"My boyfriend. Also, a civilian consultant that I work with at the NYPD."

"Thank you. Now, you said you don't recall anything in that time period. No sounds, no flashes of light?"

"Nothing," Kate confirmed. "Like I said, it was like I was asleep. When I woke up, I was in this room—almost like a bunker. There were no windows and just one door that was locked."

"Were the walls concrete block?"

"No, they looked like regular plaster or drywall. The floor was covered by one of those rough industrial carpets you'd find in an office building. Except for the bathroom—that was tile."

"So, it was more than one room, then?"

"Technically, yes, but the bathroom had just barely enough space for a sink and toilet; there was no door on it, either."

The agent nodded. "Understood. Please tell us everything you can remember about this room."

For the next twenty minutes, Kate did exactly that: detailing the room in which she was held captive for over a month. She also explained the situation with her food and water supplies. Unsurprisingly, the FBI agent paused her story to address one of the odder items included in her supplies.

"Did you say you were given prenatal vitamins? Not regular multivitamins?"

"Correct."

The FBI agent looked up from his notes. "Are you pregnant, Detective?"

Sucking in a deep breath she said, "I was given an over-the-counter test a few days and it was positive, yes." Her skin prickled as the words left her lips. She knew that it was her duty to give truthful answers, but she hated to have that fact out there when Castle was trapped in a different room with Ryan and Esposito, who must have been very shocked.

Then again, she realized, Castle probably wasn't shocked. Though they hadn't been able to speak about it yet due to lack of privacy, one of the first questions he asked her was whether or not she was pregnant. What had made him think to ask that? Had Tyson sent him some sort of clue? Like a recording of her holding the positive pregnancy test? Or had he signaled Castle in some other way? And if he had signaled Castle or sent him evidence, had Castle shared that with her detective partners? She had no idea, but knew she needed to press on so that her statement would be behind her and she and Castle could have what she suspected would be their most brutally honest conversation to date.

The agent pressed his lips together tightly before asking, "Were you aware of a pregnancy before you were kidnapped?"

"No. I was sexually active, but on birth control and I haven't missed any doses recently, so I would have found it quite shocking, but I suppose it would not have been impossible."

The agent looked as though he was going to ask another question for several moments before he nodded and asked her to continue with her story.

"Well, that pretty much covers the bulk of my time in captivity. There wasn't much deviation from that established pattern until this morning when Jerry Tyson entered my room and told me he was going to let me go."

His brow arched, the agent asked, "Just like that?"

"Well, not exactly. He said there were rules…rules to the game we were going to play."

"Game? What game?"

"Tyson's game," she replied. "More specifically: the game that Tyson is playing with myself and Castle."

"What were his words exactly? Or as close as you can recall."

"'We're going to play a game, Kate. You, me, and the writer. It'll take about eight months, but I think it'll be worth the wait.'"

"Eight months?"

"Yes," Kate said. "I assume he was referring to the full term of a pregnancy."

"I'm confused," the agent said, and Kate fought the urge to let out a huff of breath. She could understand how someone who hadn't had several days to think about every intricate detail of the situation might have had trouble keeping up with all the twists in Jerry Tysons' plan, but exhaustion was beginning to settle into her bones now that the adrenaline of escaping Tyson's clutches had begun to wear off.

"Tyson never said anything more specific, but there were enough context clues for me to figure it out. When I was kidnapped, Tyson impregnated me. I think…my best guess is that he used his sperm and Castle's or mixed them together somehow so that even he doesn't know who the baby's father is; none of us will until he or she is born."

"But how would Tyson have acquired Mr. Castle's sperm if he only held you hostage?"

"Did he?" she replied.

The agent looked uncertain for a moment, but then shook his head. "Please, finish your statement, then we will address Mr. Castle's involvement in this."

"Okay. Tyson gave me rules – that I couldn't try to escape before he let me go, or he'd hurt me. And that I wasn't supposed to try and find him once I was let go, that he would find me when the time was right. Also, that…that he'd be watching to make sure I played the game correctly."

"Do you know what he meant by that?"

"Not really, but he's a psychotic serial killer, so it's anybody's guess." Kate informed him with notable edge to her voice.

The agent let out a low, "Hmm," and then asked her to continue.

"Then, he blindfolded me and bound my hands with zip ties before walking me out of the room I was confined to. We walked around…maybe for three minutes before I could tell we went outside. Then, I climbed up into what I assume was some sort of van and I sat on the floor while we drove. I really don't know how long it was…probably at least half an hour, but no longer than an hour. He pulled off a paved road onto a gravel one, drove for maybe five minutes, then stopped the van. I got out and he arranged me so I stood in a certain direction and he said if I walked straight, I could get back to the highway. I asked him why he was doing this, but he just laughed and said he'd see me soon.

"Then, he drove away. Once I couldn't hear the tires anymore, I broke the zip ties to free my hands and pulled off the blindfold. I walked along the gravel road and just as he said I eventually reached a highway. I didn't know which way to go once I reached that road, so I just guessed and about half an hour later is when the deputy picked me up and brought me here," she concluded.

"I see. Now how—" The agent's speech was cut off by frantic knocking against the two-way-mirror in the room. The agent looked up at the mirror, annoyed.

"It's Castle," Kate informed him, knowing only her partner would be knocking on glass during an official statement. At least he'd waited until she was done.

"We're not through here yet."

"But won't we understand what happened better if we hear his side of things?" she countered.

The agent huffed, then nodded to his partner, who exited the room. Thirty seconds later the door flew open again and Castle blasted in saying, "They took me too! I remember a sterile room and a woman with a surgical mask on her face. That's when they took my sperm for—for Tyson's game." He turned to Kate, clasping his hands together in anguish. "I'm so sorry. I knew you were there, but I didn't know where and-"

"Castle." Kate spoke in a soothing tone as she stood up and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "I know this was Tyson's doing. It's his fault, not yours."

"But he's using you to get revenge on me and-"

"Hang on," the agent interrupted. "You both have a history with this Tyson fellow?"

Castle nodded. "Quite a bit of history, actually."

The agent combed his hands back through his hair, cursed, and then gestured to the other chair on Kate's side of the table. "Then I guess it's time for you to have a seat and tell us everything you know."


A/N: Thank you all for your kind reviews. This outline has been sitting in my folder of drafts for about 4 years now and so I'm glad that everyone is enjoying it since for me it was a long time coming :)