Author's Note : I apologize for the delay in posting. New job, overseas guests and twin toddler to deal with :) Anyway so here is Chapter 4. This chapter starts off with Rick's POV and fills in the gaps in what has been going on inside the hostage situation. I had initially planned on only focusing on the KB and RC emotions with the 'case' remaining in the background. But as I started writing it I realized I wanted to get into the actual hostage situation a little more - and a story began to take shape in my mind. I hope you like where I am going with this. So here it is - Ch4.

Disclaimer : Don't own anything.

Rick's POV (Inside Hostage situation)

Rick closed his eyes and rested his head against the column he was currently tied to. How had it all gone so horribly wrong?His head ached and his right eye was fast swelling shut. His ribs hurt so badly, it was hard just drawing a breath. He sighed and thought back to how it had all started. The day had started out with such promise. After 2 weeks of wallowing in self-pity, he had finally gotten some good news. They were going to make the next Nikki Heat movie. He was to meet the producer – Jason McClintock at his son's office in Camden NJ.

Jason's son was a hotshot lawyer with a swanky office in downtown Camden. Since Jason was shooting a movie in NJ, he had wanted to meet at his son's office. Normally Rick hated driving to New Jersey, but today he had actually welcomed it. He needed to get out of New York and he needed to concentrate on something other than his love life – or lack thereof. He had even managed to get some writing done in the morning before getting in his car and making the trip to Camden in the evening. The meeting had been a success. As with the first movie, he knew his work was in good hands this time as well. After the meeting with Jason, Rick had been hesitant to go back to New York. Back to New York meant back to his life, which meant back to his life without Kate and without his friends at the 12th.

After everything that had happened with him and Kate, he didn't think it would be a good idea to continue hanging out with the guys from the 12th. His and Kate's situation would always be the elephant in the room and he had not wanted to put her in the awkward position of having to explain. His story of out of town commitments had been the easy way out - restricting their contact to a few texts here and there. So after the meeting with Jason had ended he had decided to walk around the neighborhood and take in the sights. Not that there were too many sights to take in – it was Camden after all. But the writer in him was always curious to find a story – even in a city like Camden. A few blocks from Jason's son's office he found an art gallery. It was a huge place, taking up almost 2 of the bottom floors of an office building. He wanted to replace the picture of the stairs in his study. For some reason it had started making him feel dizzy. So thinking he might find something new to replace said picture, he had walked into the gallery - and into a hostage situation.

-Flashback-

Few hours earlier - The Afiya Art Gallery – Camden NJ

Rick started in fascination at the tiny figurine in the glass case in front of him. It seemed to be made of gold and studded with gems in every color imaginable. He could only imagine how long it must have taken the artist to complete it. As Kate always teased him, he had the attention span of a two year old - so he couldn't even think about trying something like this. He was so absorbed in studying the piece, he didn't hear anyone come over and stand next to him, but suddenly a voice from his left said, "Beautiful piece isn't it?" He straightened up from studying the figurine and looked towards the owner of the voice.

"I'm Katherine….Kate. I'm the manager here. We just got this piece in yesterday. Its stunning isn't it".

Rick knew he looked like an absolute idiot as he stood there staring at her. Kate! He could not freaking believe, that he had decided to stay back in NJ to get away from thoughts of a certain Kate. Only to run into a new one! What were the odds! The only saving grace was this one was not a brunette - she was stunning blonde.

He quickly took the proffered hand and introduced himself, "Rick …..Richard Castle".

Her eyes grew wide at that. "I thought it was you! Oh my goodness. I can't believe I get to meet you in person! Your Derek Storm series got me through a number of sleepless nights during my first pregnancy! And Nikki is helping me with this one". She rubbed her pregnant belly and smiled at him warmly.

Rick couldn't help but laugh. He wiggled his eyebrows and said," So my books are so boring they put you to sleep?" He saw the horrified look on her face and decided to let her off the hook. "I'm just teasing Katherine. I am honored that my books are helping you in any way needed". He made a show of an exaggerated bow.

He heard her laugh softly. "My husband is slightly jealous I must say. At first he seemed to have made peace with the fact that his back rubs were being trumped by your books." Her eyes twinkling mischievously she continued, "But then he saw your picture on the book jacket." Katherine rolled her eyes at that.

"Let's just say you won't find him standing in line at your book signing. Men and their egos – oh so fragile!" She gave an exaggerated sigh and he burst out laughing.

But his laugh quickly died on his lips when she suddenly clutched her belly and winced. "Hey, are you okay?"

His brow was creased with worry. Judging by the size of her belly he wouldn't be surprised if she went into labor right there. But after a minute or so, she straightened up and gave him a wan smile and said, "I'm fine. It comes and goes. It's getting harder to stay on my feet very long."

He frowned and said, "You shouldn't then. I mean – be on your feet very long."

She smiled and said, "You sound like my husband. He keeps telling me to quit and stay home." She shook her head and said, "I would go crazy if I did that! And drive everyone around me crazy….Besides, I love this job. Being surrounded by all this beauty – every piece in here tells me a story. Sometimes right before closing, I dim out the lights and just stand here letting my imagination take flight. There is a story behind all of them….."She laughed softly and shook her head. "You must think I'm getting loopy with the pregnancy hormones."

Actually Rick knew exactly what she meant. That's why he himself had decided to walk around the neighborhood and had been drawn to this gallery. The continued chatting for a while and then Katherine walked him around the gallery, showing him some of the artwork that she thought would appeal to him. She had nailed his taste down in the first few minutes. Just as he had settled on a gorgeous painting and had turned around to tell Katherine, all hell broke loose. The gallery was swarming with men holding an arsenal of ominous looking weapons and screaming

"Everybody get down now!"

With that, they opened fire on the artwork in the gallery. Rick quickly grabbed Katherine's hand and ducked behind one of the wooden cases and covered her body with his as glass, wood and ceramic shards rained down on them. Katherine was clutching her belly and crying softly. She kept repeating, "Oh god, Oh my god". They stayed that way for a minute, till the firing stopped. Rick turned her body so she wasn't lying under him anymore.

He sat with his back against the wall and put his arm around her shoulder soothing her. They stayed that way for a few minutes before a big hulk of a man came around the display case and stood over them with his weapon leveled at their heads and demanded, "Get up and follow me. Don't try anything, or I won't hesitate to shoot." He paused a second and then continued in a harsh voice; "Starting with her." He nodded at Katherine, who was burrowing into his side, still clutching her belly. He nodded and started to get up but Katherine resisted. "Noooooo". She pleaded with him trying to pull him back down.

Rick crouched in front of her and said, "Hey, it's going to be okay. I won't let anything happen to you or the baby. Trust me okay? But we need to go with him NOW." Rick put an emphasis on the work NOW. Katherine looked into his eyes and saw what he was trying to say. The man with the gun nudged Rick in the back and said impatiently, "Okay - move it or I will make it so you never move again." Rick felt like punching the guy's lights out but knew that would be a spectacularly stupid idea. He tugged Katherine up and putting an arm around her shoulders, walked in the direction the man had asked him to.

Soon he and the rest of the hostages – there were 8 of them in total, were herded into the back of the gallery. From there they were marched through the back offices of the gallery and into the basement of the building. Rick looked around and realized it was a small warehouse for the gallery. There was a large office area to one side with multiple rows of shelves holding a variety boxes on the other. They were pushed into the office area of the large room and made to kneel on the rough concrete floor with their hands on their heads. Rick noted that other than Katherine and himself there were four men and two women. Of the men one was an older gentleman who looked like he was about ready to pass out. Both the women looked ready to follow him.

One of the men, who Rick presumed was the leader, since he seemed to be barking out all the orders - stood in front of the hostages and laid down the law. He spoke with an accent that Rick couldn't quite place but it sounded like an African accent. "Hello, my name is Ty and you will be my guests for the next few hours. So I wanted to set down some ground rules. Follow them and you may live. Don't - and my men here will not hesitate to put a bullet between your eyes. Am I making myself clear?" He didn't wait for answer since he hadn't meant it as a question but more a statement of facts. "You may take out your cell phones and send your loved ones one text message. After which you will hand over your phones to my men here. Again let me remind you – try anything funny and you WILL die."

Although the man didn't once raise his voice, Rick felt a shudder go through him. There was just something about the man. He couldn't quite figure out what it was, but there seemed to be something evil lurking behind his eyes. He had no doubt in this mind that this man had killed before and he would not hesitate to aim his gun at any of them and calmly pull the trigger.

Soon the remaining terrorists had gathered around Rick and the hostages. They watched each person send messages to their loved ones. Rick typed out a quick message to Alexis. He kept it short and to the point. Bad as this was, the last thing he needed was to freak Alexis out any more than needed. He looked over at Katherine who was still silently sobbing. Her hands were shaking as she typed her message. When she was done she drew in a long breath and straightened her spine. Before he had a chance to say anything to her, their phones were grabbed out of their hands and one of the terrorists took them upstairs with him. Rick had no doubt in his mind he would never see his phone again. Once the phones had been dealt with, Ty he was joined by a man Rick hadn't seen before. They discussed something in hushed tones before Ty turned and made his way back upstairs. The other man then came and stood in front of the hostages. When he spoke it was with the same accent he had noticed in Ty. "So here is what is going to happen. Follow orders and no harm will come to you. As long as the authorities meet our demands, you will be allowed to walk out of here alive. I have no interest in shedding any more blood than is necessary. Do not try anything heroic however, for Ty and his men here don't live by the same rules that I live by."

Just like Ty, this monologue had also been delivered without any obvious show of emotion. But unlike Ty, Rick actually was inclined to believe him when he said he would let them walk out alive. He saw something different in this man's eyes. He couldn't put a name to it quite yet, but Rick knew that whatever his reasons for doing this, they were different from Ty's. The look in his eyes was vastly different from the cold and sadistic look he had seen in Ty's eyes. He filed that thought away for later. If there was one thing he had learned in the last 3 years at the precinct, it was to try and nail the perp's motivation and weakness and use it against him when the time was right. Rick was silently filing away each man's traits and emotions as he saw them. But right now he needed as much information as he could get out of them. So he looked straight at the man who had just spoken and asked, "So what exactly ARE your demands?"

The man seemed surprised by the question. Or maybe he was surprised was the fact that someone had actually dared speak up. His eyebrows shot up and he calmly replied, "That's between us and the authorities. All you need to worry about is keeping your mouth shut and following our orders." With that he spoke to one of his men in a soft voice and went back upstairs.

Rick could hear the police sirens upstairs. He closed his eyes imagining the scene up there. He wondered if anyone from the 12th was there yet. Bad idea; his mind immediately informed him. Thinking of the 12th brought his thoughts back to Kate. God how he wished he hadn't let her walk out of his life that day. All the time they had wasted. And now here he was – guns aimed at his head. Not knowing if he was going to make it out of this alive. He felt anger boiling up in him - at Kate for running scared and at himself -for letting her run. Why hadn't he fought for her? Why had he let her walk away? Why hadn't he chased after her…..or tried to get her back?

No sooner had the questions entered his mind than he knew the answer - He had let her go because he was tired of chasing after her. No matter what he did, or said, she still ran. He knew he had to get on with his life. He was tired of being the guy who was always there. The guy you could depend on to get a laugh out of when you felt down. But he was also the guy who got strung along and then discarded like he meant nothing. He was just so sick and tired of it. He swore to himself right then and there - if he got out of this alive, he was going to make sure he didn't waste any time wallowing in thoughts of Kate. He was going to get on with his life. Oh he knew he wasn't ever going back to his playboy days. He had changed too much over the last few years to ever go back to that.

He was still lost in his thoughts when he heard a whimper from his left and saw Katherine bring her hands down to clutch her belly. She was unable to stay up on her knees anymore and sank down, resting her weight on one hand - the other still clutching her belly. Rick and one of the other hostages - a woman, turned to help her. Seconds after they moved, they heard one of the men guarding them yell. "Stop! Do not move."

"Can't you see she is pregnant and hurting?" Rick glared over his shoulder at the man.

"I said do not move."

The man repeated in a cold and silky voice that sent chills down Rick's back. But he knew he had to help Katherine. So ignoring the instructions, he turned back to Katherine. He noticed the other woman had moved back against the wall now. Seconds after he touched Katherine again, he felt strong hands take hold of him and hurl him toward the wall. He slammed into the wall with a force that knocked the breath out of him. His cheek hurt like the devil where it had made contact with the wall. He heard someone scream…. and once again all hell broke loose.

Two of the other hostages tried to take advantage of the situation by rushing the man who had hit Rick. A second later Rick heard the unmistakable sound of a gunshot and the sickening sound of a body hitting the floor. He turned around and saw one of the hostages on the floor – lying in a pool of other man who had attempted to rush the terrorists was face-down on the floor with his arms twisted behind his back and a gun to his head.

"Move and you will join your buddy there."

Rick could hear Katherine crying in earnest now. Before he could even think of doing anything, he felt himself being lifted up. He tried to struggle against his captors and got punched in the face for his efforts. He felt his lip split open and blood ooze out of the gash. The man who had pushed him into the wall pulled Rick's head back by yanking on his hair.

"What part of don't try anything heroic didn't you get?"

Rick didn't know why he kept talking knowing full well he was going to pay for it later but he just couldn't seem to shut up.

"She is pregnant you jack-hole! I was trying to help her." Wrong. Answer. The man smiled coldly and put his knee in Rick's stomach. Before Rick could register anything else, he was hit in the head with the man's automatic weapon. The world went black.

When he came to Rick found himself alone in a room that was significantly smaller than the larger area they had been in earlier. His hands and feet were bound and he was tied to a pillar. But that wasn't what made him almost wet himself - It was the sight of the bomb - strapped to his chest.