a/n – First off, thank you for the reviews and follows. The response to this story has been phenomenal. I try to respond to your reviews, but I'm really bad at it, so a group thank you is what you get for now.

Second, this one is a little shorter due to where it ends, but the next one will be much longer, so don't fret. Third, remember that text in italics are Beckett's thoughts. Fourth, please make sure you read the author's note at the end.

Finally, the standard disclaimer about me not owning Castle or its characters applies. It'd be silly of you to think otherwise.

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Chapter Three

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Previously…

"Beckett," she says with an unsteady voice.

"Detective, there's a body awaiting you," Roy Montgomery says on the other end. Beckett's blood turns to ice. This can't be happening. Roy Montgomery is dead. She knelt beside his dead body. She took a bullet, for Christ's sake, at his funeral. How?

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"Sir?" she said with a sob.

"What's the matter Beckett? Is something wrong?"

"You…you're dead. I…I…saw you die," she can't breathe. The tears in her eyes blurring her vision, making the room around her go blurry.

"Beckett, are you okay? I can assure you that I'm not dead. Very much alive. Did you have a bad dream?"

She doesn't know what's going on. This feels so real. Yet it can't be right? She lifts her other arm, the one not holding the phone, and pinches herself hard. Nothing happens except a brief moment of intense pain. She doesn't wake up.

"Kate, you there?"

"Yes, sir," she says eventually, trying to calm her frayed nerves. "It must have been a dream. You said we have a body?"

He rattles off an address, which she memorizes automatically even with the panic surging through her. "Ryan and Esposito are on route and will meet you there, if you're sure you're okay."

"I'm fine, just a little out of it, sorry, sir. I'll be there in an hour."

"Okay," he said, and then ended the call. She let her hand fall to her lap, simply staring at the floor. She tries to get her breathing under control and her thoughts in order, but she's finding it very difficult. She can't understand how this is possible. She had been confused all throughout the conversation with Jessica, and that confusion wasn't going away. She didn't believe that something like this could happen. Castle would believe, she thinks sadly.

She sat there on her bed wondering what she should do next. If this is real, then I need to get ready and go to work. I'll meet Castle again tonight. That thought sends shivers down her spine. How would that meeting go? He wouldn't know her; he wouldn't love her, and that left her feeling completely lost and alone.

I wished for this. Castle isn't dead. I can fix everything. Looking around the room, she steeled herself for her task. She was completely overwhelmed and she still didn't believe that this was real, but she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the face. I can save him.

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After a quick shower, which was uncomfortable given the last time she had taken a shower in that apartment, she made her way to the crime scene. During the trip there she had thought more about her situation, and the opportunity laid before her. She decided that for this first case she needed to keep as much the same as possible. Castle had once told her that the reason he had stuck around was because she was extraordinary. He had also said that her disinterest in him on that first case was what brought him back for more.

So that's what she would do. At least at first. I have to make him fall in love with me again. She knew that it would take all of her will power not to do something stupid and mess this up. She remembers him asking her to dinner after that first case. If he does that again, how will I say no?

She met Ryan and Esposito in front of the building. It was the same location as the Tisdale murder, so she assumed that the victim was the same. She greeted her boys, hoping they didn't notice anything different about her.

They would have seen me yesterday. Yesterday I was a closed off person with no love in my life. What am I today?

"Hey guys, what do we have?" She remembers Jessica's words that things wouldn't necessarily be the same this time around, so she figures that she should keep from making assumptions. I need to remember that even though I've done this before, it might be different this time. So I need to play along, and make decisions based on how I want the future to unfold.

"Hey Beckett," Ryan said, "body is upstairs. Allyson Tisdale, age 24, therapist. Perlmutter is waiting upstairs."

Well that's different, she thinks. Last time it was Lanie at this crime scene.

She nods that she heard, and then leads the way into the building, just like she did last time. The crime scene looks nearly identical to how it looked the first time she saw it. She remembers vividly how interested she was in this murder because of its connection to Richard Castle's book. At that point in her life, his books were one of her biggest comforts.

"What do we have, Perlmutter?" she asks, walking up to where the body sits.

"Two gunshot wounds to the chest appears to be the cause of death," he replies in his usual disinterested tone.

"TOD?"

"Between 3 and 4 this morning."

She turns to Esposito and Ryan who had followed her into the room. She needed to bring up the similarities to the book Flowers for your Grave, so that she has a reason to go get Castle. But she can't do it directly, so she does exactly what she did the first time around. "Does this look familiar to either of you?"

"No," Espo replies with a smirk, "but then I don't like the freaky ones. Just give me a regular old pop and drop any day."

Ryan just shakes his head.

"Oh, come on, don't you two read? Rose petals spread over the body? Sunflowers on the eyes? It's right out of a novel."

"I get enough murder mystery at work, thank you very much," Espo says.

She sighs, remembering that this is how it went the first time too. Over the next fifteen minutes the boys talk her through everything the know so far, and she gives out her orders for them to canvas the neighborhood and local businesses, as well as to get any security cam footage for the times surrounding the TOD. The conversation is very similar to the one they had the first time, but she notices details that are different. The way the body was discovered was different this time, and when she had asked about the victim's next of kin she learned that Tisdale's father had already died, and that she didn't have a brother.

That last bit stumps her, as in her original timeline, the brother had ended up being the killer. Well Jessica did tell me that things would be different. For that reason, she doesn't immediately bring up her wish that Richard Castle be brought in for questioning, no matter how much she wants to get to the point where they meet again.

And she really wants to get there.

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Six hours later Kate has found that she's even more confused by her situation than she was before. Things are the same, yes, but they are also different. After searching like she did the last time for previous murders that were patterned after Richard Castle's books, she discovered that, like before, there was a previous murder that fit that description. But this time it wasn't a man, it was a woman.

Over the course of the day she discovered little differences like that that made her believe even more that she was really here, doing this all again, but that it wouldn't all necessarily end up the same way. At 3PM she finally brought up the possibility of bringing in Richard Castle for questioning. Like the last time, she had to get Montgomery's permission to bring in such a high profile figure for questioning.

Walking towards his office she became apprehensive. How can I do this knowing what he has done? He knows who killed my mother. He was involved. Then her thoughts turned to that night in the hanger. Maybe I can save him.

She takes a deep breath and knocks on the door frame, "Sir, do you have a minute?"

"Sure, Beckett, come in. Do you have an update for me?"

"We're sure now that the two murders are connected in some way as they both are patterned after scenes from two different Richard Castle books."

"I know Castle, we've played some poker together."

Well at least that stayed the same. "Yes, sir. I think we should bring him in for questioning, to see if he knows anything that could help us. We also need to ask his permission to go over his fan mail."

He nods at her and says "Okay, do what you need to do. Just do me a favor and don't make a scene. He's been through some hard times and I don't want to put anything else on him unless we have to."

"Hard times, sir?" What happened?

"He just hasn't been the same since his daughter died six years ago. It's understandable, of course, and he puts on a good front, but he's just not the same. I'm sure you understand, Beckett."

Oh. God. Alexis.

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a/n2 – Okay, so first, don't kill me for the cliffy. Her response to this shocking news deserves its own chapter.

Second, I am aware that if we're talking scientifically, this doesn't make a lot of sense. Technically, I suppose, only things after Beckett came back to this world would be changed. I struggled over this for several days and decided to take this route instead. I'll let Jessica (Kate's helper, if you remember) explain more in chapter four as to the whys of it all. I think this way gives the story more depth, and will allow for more changes that couldn't have happened 'the first time around'.

Third, just so you know, by going this route, this story just became a little bigger. I had hoped to wrap it up with 20 or so chapters, but with this it might be longer.

Please leave your reviews! I live on them, and I want to know what you think about the way the story is unfolding so far.