Hey so here's the next chapter, I'm sorry it's been so long I've just been crazy busy. I've got up to Ch16 written-just need to type them up. Anyhoo thank you so so much to everyone who's reviewed/favorited/added me to alerts. It means so much to know people like it :)

Disclaimer: I wish it was mine so much, my wish still hasn't come true

'Dude where the hell is she?' Esposito was sitting with his feet up at his desk, watching as his partner returned from Beckett's apartment.

'Well, there's good news and there's bad news,' Ryan replied, dumping his jacket and some papers on his chair and then perching on his own desk, opposite Esposito.

'Well?'

'Bad news is: her guitar is definitely dead,'

'Good news?'

'Good news is that she isn't, at least not yet,'

'What'd you find?'

'This,' Ryan handed him a plastic bag with a single piece of paper in.

Esposito read aloud 'Dear Kate, most girls are told that they're one in a billion, or one in six billion, or at least they like to be told that. As it is, you are only one in three. One in my three…Dude, what the hell is this crap?' his tone was more irritated than he meant it to be, but he couldn't help it. Beckett was like his sister, hell she was his sister-good as- and it would be a very sorry son of a bitch who tried to hurt her.

'This crap is our answer,'

'How, exactly?'

'Cos we found two more of these…' he dug through the stuff he'd placed down with his jacket '…one, addressed to Alexis…' he fished out another one '…the other, addresses to a Ms. Martha Rogers,'

Realisation dawned on his partner's face

'Castle,' he said looking at the notes 'They're targeting Castle,'

'Not them,' Ryan replied 'Him,'

Esposito raised his eyebrows at him

'Read who it's from,'

He did

'Son of a bitch,' he exclaimed as he saw Jerry's name 'Dude, you okay?'

'Yeah,' and he meant it ''Cos we're gonna get the jackass this time, and before he hurts the people we care about,' Ryan tried to shake off the worry twisting in his stomach that they might already be too late. Beckett was family, and the Castle's were basically family, and if there was one thing Kevin Ryan did above all else, it was make damn well sure that no one touched his family.

'So, where d'you wanna start then?' Esposito asked

'Well, I think we should think where he mighta taken them, look for empty hous-'

'Javier Esposito!' the Detectives turned to the voice coming form the direction of the elevator

'Baby? What're you doing here?' Esposito scrambled out of his chair onto his feet

'Don't you 'baby' me,' Lanie fumed as she strode over to him, and he took an involuntary step backwards

'Now, could you please tell me what in the hell is going on?'

'What are you talking about?' he asked, trying to look innocent

'I just heard on the news-the news- that a female detective from the NYPD was abducted from her home early this morning. And then when I go round to check on my best friend who is, incidentally, a female detective from the NYPD, some dude with a badge and an attitude tells me that it's now an official crime scene,' he took another step back 'What happened, and where the hell is Beckett?'

Esposito tried another step back from her, but was stopped by his desk which he promptly fell backwards onto, scattering pens onto the floor.

Lanie stepped back from him, sighing irritably

'Ryan?' she asked, dangerously calmly

'everything is completely under control,' he replied tightly

'Kevin Ryan don't you lie to me!'

'Lanie, we're doing everything we can, I promise. And as soon as we find them, I swear I'll let you know,' he realised his mistake as soon as he'd made it

'Them?' her eyes flickered with the promise of murder

'Yeah…well, it wasn't just…Beckett,' she raised an eyebrow 'It was kinda…um…Alexis…and Martha…'

'…and Castle,' Esposito finished quietly

A whole screenplay of emotions flickered across the M.E's face and both detectives scrambled backwards onto their desks as she began to show the innate need to hit something. Finally, she calmed down and stalked off back towards the elevator

'Maybe you two should stop acting like scared little puppies and do some detecting,' she suggested coolly ''Cos I swear that if any of them turn up on my slab, then you two are both so very, very dead,'

…

'Got it!' Ryan shouted as he re-entered the bullpen for about the twentieth time that day

'Wait, really?' Esposito jumped up from his computer and almost ran to his partner

'Yup, witnesses say they definitely saw a guy matching Jerry's description lugging various crates into and out of the house this morning,'

'But how do we know it's not just the actual house owner?'

'Thought of that,' Ryan replied just a little smugly 'Turns out the neighbour called the police last night because he saw 'suspicious activity' outside the house,'

'Suspicious activity?'

'Yup, he says that last he heard from Mr. Andrews, he's going on a relaxing cruise to the Caribbean for a month and then two days ago a young man shows up claiming to be Mr. Andrews' nephew, saying that his uncle forgot that he was coming to stay and hadn't left the key in it's usual place,'

'What, and the guy bought it?'

'No, that's the point. The neighbour refused to give the guy the spare key and made him leave, but then last night he heard strange noises and when he looked outside he saw the same guy fiddling with the lock-at which point he called the cops, but because he couldn't be sure it was a break in they dismissed it,'

'You know dude, sometimes, I think you're almost as good a cop as me,' he laughed and Ryan hit him on the arm 'I'm kidding, you ready to get the son of a bitch?'

'Let's do it,'

…

'Dad what do we do?' Alexis looked around at the various appliances, all threatening to end her life at the push of a button

'I don't know, wait?'

'For what?'

'I don't know,' Castle sighed. His despair at their situation was beginning to collaborate with his physical pain to render him completely helpless.

'How long d'you reckon we've got?' she asked and the calmness with which she did so made his heart sink

'Two hours, maybe three?'

'Okay,'

How had he ended up here? Facing imminent death with his mother and his daughter…and his daughter. How was his lovely, innocent, teenage daughter being so completely accepting of the fact she was going to die?

Of course, he knew the answer to both parts. The latter was simply that Alexis was, and always would be, the most mature and sensible child he'd ever known. His darling, sensible little girl was perfectly able to face death because she was brave, braver than he had ever been, and that was exactly why he thought the world of her. She was sweet and kind and, even as she faced her mortality, she wasn't even complaining, and she wasn't afraid.

The first part was more painful for him to face. The fact of the matter was that he was there in that room because of Beckett.

Everything in his life now was about Beckett.

It wasn't her fault, and he didn't blame her, but that didn't change that fact that he was trapped and about to die because of her.

If he'd never met her. If he'd never decided to shadow her. If he'd never realised how fascinating and beautiful she was…If he'd never fallen in love with her.

But he had.

Unfortunate though it might be, he had fallen and fallen hard. And even sitting there thinking about it, he wouldn't wish any different. If he's never met her, he shuddered at that thought. She'd made him so much better, there was no doubt about that. If knowing her, and loving her, came with the price of dying, then he'd rather die and have lived loving her than live and never know her to love.

From outside the door there was a bang and he jumped back to reality. He was expecting the worse, but suddenly he heard voices, voices he recognised. Voices he knew.

'Dude, let me get to the door at least,'

'No way, man. You did the front door, I'm doing this one, that's fair,'

'Whatever, dude, but if you hurt your shoulder like last time then don't come crying to me,'

Castle almost laughed with relief, and then a thought occurred to him and he ran to the door.

'Ryan?' he called 'Esposito?'

'Castle?' they called in unison 'Dude, stand back, Ryan and his mighty shoulders of steel are gonna break the door down,' Esposito laughed

'No!' Castle shouted 'You can't'

'Hey c'mon, dude. I'm stronger than I look okay?'

'That's not what I meant,' Castle replied

'What? Then why can't we break it down?'

'The whole room's rigged to blow, and the door's booby-trapped,'

'Crap,' came Ryan's voice

Castle heard Esposito calling for more backup and bomb disposal

'Castle?' Ryan called

'Yeah?'

'Just go sit down and stay away from the door. We're gonna get you guys outta there as soon as we can, okay?'

'Yeah, thanks,' he replied, his voice full of a mix of gratitude and relief

'Are you all okay, though? Can I talk to Beckett?'

'What?' Castle asked, and panic came happily bubbling back again

'What?'

'Isn't she…I mean, haven't you…found her?' Castle asked

'Found her? Isn't she with you guys?'

'No, he took her away,'

'Shit,'

'We've gotta find her,'

'I know,'

There was the sound of voices from outside and then a voice said

'Hello? Mr. Castle, I'm Agent Newlan, Bomb Tech, I'm gonna see what I can do to get you guys outta there, okay?'

It took the bomb techs over an hour working steadily to disarm the system, but eventually they declared it safe and the Castle's were ushered carefully out of the house that had been their prison.

Alexis' concussion was getting worse again, and Martha was also nursing a few nasty bumps, so both of them were loaded promptly into an ambulance and taken to hospital. Castle however, refused any medical attention and sunk immediately into conversation with Ryan and Esposito.

'He wanted to kill her the traditional way,' he was explaining 'Just like his others, that's why he made her dye her hair. He must have assumed that it would always end up being her, he was the one who made the decision, he just wanted to make it seem like I made it to make it worse for me,'

'Yeah but c'mon, do you really feel any better?' Ryan asked

'No,' he replied 'I will do once we've found her though,'

At that point a uniform walked tentatively over to them 'Excuse me, detectives,' she began

'Yes, Clarke?'

'I just gotta call on the radio, sir, there's been a murder – body was found about ten minutes ago in an alley, and we're one of the closest,'

'We're kind of busy, Clarke,' Esposito replied

'I know, but the call said that it's a white, female, early thirties and it looks like strangulation,'

She didn't need to finish the sentence, they'd all done that in their heads, but in some cruel painful twist of fate she did anyway

'I'm sorry, but it sounds like it could be Detective Beckett, sir,'

Hope you liked it, I know it was a bit longer. Please let me know what you think :)

Emz xxx