Righty, next one. Again thank you to everyone for all your support. Means a lot. Enjoy :)

Disclaimer: nope :(

The darkness was so threateningly complete that all sense of time had disappeared, and Beckett didn't know how long it had been since that guiar had come smashing down over her head. It might has well have been a lifetime ago, it felt like one at least.

The sound of movement melted the solid blackness, made it feel just that slight bit less permanent. Carefully, she cradled the unconscious form of Alexis Castle to her, protectiong her from the threat that the unkown sound presented.

'Who is it?' she asked the room

'Don't worry, kiddo, it's only us,' Beckett breathed a tiny sigh of relief as Martha replied

'Castle?' she couldn't shake the slightly mad worry that flavoured her voice. He'd hardly woken up from his first 'talk' with Tyson. What if he didn't wake up at all this time? The thought made her feel sick to the stomach.

'Yeah?' his voice was hardly even a whisper, but just a coherent word from him made her heart beat faster

'Castle? You okay?'

She heard him come closer until he was right up next to her

'Never better,' his sarcasm was lashed with something deeper, a kind of sickness

'What happened?' Beckett asked quickly, turning to where he'd slumped against the wall, her hands reaching for his arm

'He gave me painkillers,' Castle's voice was bleak

'What?'

'He said he wanted me to ba able to concentrate, and that I couldn't if I was in pain,'

'Concentrate on what?' she asked suspiciously

'His…antics,' Martha replied, the same sickened note in her voice

'Wh..I..' Beckett started

'He made us watch while he killed his third,' Castle replied, pained

'Oh god,' was Beckett's own choked reply 'Are you…okay?'

'I've been better, kiddo, I'll tell ya,' Martha replied. Castle didn't answer, only coughed and then said seriously

'Where's Alexis?'

'Here,' Beckett slid her hand down his arm, took his hand and placed it on top of Alexis' still head 'She's been drifting in and out of consciousness for a while. I can't keep her awake,' Beckett's voice was apologetic, she didn't know what else to say

'Is she badly hurt,' the deep, loving concern in Castle's voice made her heart ache, his ability for loving other people, his caring nature, was part of what made her love him so much. And much as she wished he'd sound like that when he was talking about her, she loved how much he loved his daughter.

'I think she had a pretty bad blow to the head, there's a pretty big lump,'

Castle sighd, exhausted and worried

'Castle?' she asked very quietly 'Are you sure you're okay?'

'No,' was the simple reply 'I'm really not okay, why?'

'Because I'm not either,'

…

When Jerry came back again they were all asleep, so he simply jumped on Beckett's leg and let her scream of pain be their wake up call.

'Morning all,' he said pleasantly 'I've been looking forward to today for such a long time,' he sounded almost like a child on Christmas morning, only slightly more psychotic.

'C'mon. Wake up! I have brilliant news,' slowly Caslte, Beckett and Martha all sat up a little, Beckett still couldn't hear any movement from Alexis and quickly reached her hand out into the darkness to feel for a pulse in the youn girls neck. Faint as it was, she felt the flutter of a heartbeat under her fingers and stroked the girls hair comfortingly before retracting her hand and moving it to her newly injured leg.

'Wha is it, Tyson?' Castle asked coldly

'Ha! Funny you should say that,' he replied 'You see Castle, today is decision day,'

'What?' Castle sounded thoroughly confused

'Well, here's the deal. I'm bored of keeping you all locked up. It's time to let you go Castle…question is who d'you want with you?'

'Wait…what?' Castl asked again

'Look, it's simple if you pay attention. Next Monday I get to start all over again –and I figured what better way to start the week than by killing someone close to the man I hate, someone that he loves,'

Castle was shocked 'Firstly, that is nothappening. Secondly, if you only want to kill one of them, then why are they all here?'

Jerry laughed

'Oh Castle, you just don't get it, do you? I need you to choose. Choose which one to sacrifice to my own personal alter…And by the way, this whole building is set to blow in about two hours, so the best news is that the two you don't choose get to die quickly. You got two hours, Castle, I'd start thinking if I were you,'

Hope you liked it, please review :)

Emz xxx