Righty heres the next one, sorry about the wait I was in holiday, hope this makes up for it, it's a little weirs cos i was trying to show his thought process more clearly :)
Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine
When Castle woke up, the first thing he thought was that his head hurt. Really hurt. In fact, everything hurt, and it began to occur to him that the painkillers must have worn off, and now he was experiencing the full and excruciating pain of the beatings that he had received over the last few hours.
The last few hours
Everything had happened so quickly, but he had that nagging feeling that he was forgetting something really important.
Something about time
Time
Ticking
Bomb
Shit. That was the thing, there was a bomb, and the bomb was to make him choose, choose…something. His mind just wasn't working properly and he shook his head to try and lift the mental fog that was working to envelop all conscious and coherent thought.
He had to decide
Decide on what?
It was important, he knew that much, and…it involved Beckett
That made sense at least. Everything important in his life was about Beckett…or Alexis…or…
'Richard?'
Not now, Mother. I'm nearly there
'Richard?' He resisted the urge to answer her aloud. He needed to get his head straight before he started talking. Speech would break his concentration.
Where was I? He thought. Beckett, Alexis, Mother. Decide.
Beckett
Alexis
Mother
Decide
Death
Beckett
Dead?
'Richard!' he finally shook off the haze
'Mother?' he stood up, ignoring the wave of dizziness and pain that tried to pull him down again
'Richard, are you okay?'
'Where's Alexis?' the confusion had given way to panic
'Here, Dad,' her voice was a little shaky, but she sounded okay. That was all he needed for now
'Beckett?'
No reply
'Where's Beckett?'
Silence
'Mother? Where is she?'
Martha's voice was resigned, apologetic even 'He took her,'
He'd known it, he'd thought that he'd known it at least. But now he couldn't believe it. Didn't want to believe it. The blanket of fog tugged at him, offering him a release. He ignored it.
'When?'
'Maybe five minutes ago, ten,'
Images began to flash across his vision. Crime scene photos. The murder board. Beckett's murder board.
Rope
Green rope
Pretty girls, laid peacefully on the ground
In the gutter
Strangled
With green rope
He fought off a wave of sick panic as he thought of them, and of Beckett.
'Richard?' she interrupted him again
'Yes, mother?' he was shocked by how calm his voice was
Not calm, he realised, emotionless. He was drained, exhausted. Everything was slipping completely out of control, and everything hurt.
'We have to get out, darling,'
'Why?' his voice was dead
'The bomb,'
'Oh, yeah,' the bomb. His mother was right, he needed to get them out. Now. He tried to focus
'You remember the way outta here?'
'Vaguely,' she replied 'Perhaps you should go first, dear,'
'Alexis?'
'Dad?'
'Where are you?'
'Here,' he felt her reach out and grab his leg
'Sweetheart, can you walk?'
'I dunno' he leaned down and held her arms, pulling her up to lean on him 'Ouch…yeah, yeah I think so,'
'Good girl,' he pulled her into a quick hug and planted a kiss on her hair 'Let's go then,'
…
It was easier than he thought it would be to find the small flight of wooden stairs that led down into the room. The pain he felt was excruciating, but he still didn't find it difficult to walk. Adrenaline he guessed.
They climbed up into the room above without talking, and into the adjoining room, the first one Castle remembered after being taken there.
Through that room there was another staircase, this one leading up. He signalled for them all to remain as quiet as possible, and then led the way up.
As he reached the top he looked around and was taken aback by what he saw. It was a living room. Normal, bog-standard living room, complete with a leather couch and flat-screen. An idea came to him and he started to search the room for a phone
'Well, the man's certainly sitting pretty for someone on the run,' Martha remarked as she helped Alexis up the stairs
'That is a nice T.V. Dad, his T.V. is better than ours,'
He forced a laugh, 'I doubt this place is his,' he replied absently, still searching the room. Finally, right in the corner, he located the cordless handset, given away by the flashing red message alert. He reached for the phone and then stopped
Something was wrong
From behind him he heard Alexis 'Wow, look at the remote! It's got a screen on it-hey Dad why doesn't' our remote have a-'
'Alexis don't touch it!' he shouted at her
She stopped dead and stared at him
'Why?' she looked confused, probably partly due to her concussion
'What did he say? Jerry? He said that there was a bomb,'
'So?' she asked, and he noticed that her speech was beginning to slur a little again
'So…look at this place. Look at all the electronics,'
They looked
The room was full of fancy expensive gadgets, and each one had it's own tiny red flashing light
'Now listen,'
They listened
Faint as it was, almost undetectable, it was there.
A slow and steady ticking
Alexis turned and looked at the controller in her hands as if it were a deadly animal
'I think we should leave,' Martha said quietly
'Nuh-uh,' was his reply 'Look at the door,'
Again, they looked
Across the door, almost invisible against the dark wood, were criss-crossed hundreds of tiny wires.
Wires which, they all figured, ran off and connected to their own fancy electronic gadget with a tiny red flashing light.
Hope you like it :) Reviews? :)
Emz xx