A/N: Sorry for the delay. I had no muse to get me through. So I just decided to put fingers to keyboard and this is what happened… =)).

"How are we supposed to find him?" Kate panicked wincing as the pain shot through her chest. "I'm bloody bed bound, and I can't go anywhere!" the frustration was evidently etched across her face, the stress of her situation making things worse.

"Calm down, Kate, you can't help anyone if you get worked up," Lanie said soothingly.

"What do you expect me to do, Lanie?" Kate was near tears, which said a lot about the Detective's mind set, considering she had always been level-headed, with the exception of her mother's murder of course.

"Nothing," she replied. "I am going to get Ryan and Esposito on this. They will take over the case. You taught them well, Kate, and I know they're going to pull through for you."

Kate nodded. They had done so, when Castle and Beckett had been trapped in a freezer, slowly dying. A flash came to her mind. A flash of sentence that she'd whispered to him before she drifted into unconsciousness. I love… she had finished the sentence in her mind, but she wasn't sure she finished what she wanted to say, vocally. But what she had wanted to say was what Castle had uttered to her after she'd been shot. She was barely lucid, but she remembered. The words had so easily rolled off his tongue. I love you, Kate

If Castle made it out alive, she promised herself to at least make mention of what she had heard, if he didn't. They had kissed before - a kiss that had shaken her to the very core of her essence, and she hadn't managed to shake it from her thoughts. It had entered her mind at least three times a day, more when she wasn't busy.

Nearly dying in the freezer had made her realize how she really felt, but by the time they had been saved, and she was back in the arms of her boyfriend, if seemed too scary. Now, at death's door for the second time, she knew enough was enough. She prayed that noting happened to him, that with his wit and his charm, he could make friends enough to save him from death.

"I'll do whatever I can," Lanie promised. "I will keep you informed of every step in the case. I promise."

"Okay," she nodded. What else could she do? Kate was bedridden. She had to rely on every other Detective in the precinct. The familiar fog of depression crowded her mind when she remembered that Roy Montgomery wouldn't be a part of the team. He was dead. He had sacrificed himself in order to save her, and as far as she was concerned, despite his past actions, he died a hero. Her hero.

… … … …

"I was the one who asked for the ransom money," he said to Castle.

Castle frowned.

"And I was the one who killed Johanna Beckett."

Castle felt the anger rise to his throat. This was the man who had caused Kate Beckett so much pain, the man who had taken the life that had in some ways, destroyed Kate Beckett's and her fathers. He struggled against the rope, twisting and turning, as he scowled at the bald man.

"You won't get away with this!" he stated matter-of-factly. "Sooner or later… they're gonna come for me and when they do, you're dead!"

"Who is going to come for you?" the man asked with amusement.

"My friends… Johanna's daughter… and don't think for a minute that you're going to get away with this."

"Oh, I will. And you'll be dead."

"Dead or not, doesn't matter to me… justice will come for you… sooner or later, just wait and see!" Finally, he stopped struggling, as the man pulled the pick axe from his pocket and showed it to him. The cut on his face still stung his face, and he knew it would leave a scar, not that he wasn't willing to wear it if it meant survival.

Castle had unfinished business. He wasn't willing to die yet. He had a daughter that needed him. he had a fan-base of readers that needed to finish the Nikki Heat series before he just packed up on them. And more importantly, he had a life with Kate. He had told Kate he loved her, he had finally come clean, and now he was going to finish that conversation with him, no matter what.

And then just like one of his best-selling ideas, there came another idea to mind, one that was going to get him out of this place, whatever this place was, and end this once and for all – for Kate's sake.

So… I am going to leave you here. I know how his friends are going to find him? Do you? Care to venture a guess? =)).