AN: My thanks to everyone who reviewed. Believe it or not, I'm actually adding some scenes to the ending based on ideas you fine people have given me.

"One day is just not enough time." Jim sighed. "Are we sure he won't take anyone else? Anyone other than the kid?"

"Richard Castle is tearing up New York looking for an answer to that question right now." Joanna promised him. "Jim, if the answer is no... We still have today."

"I know." Jim nodded and kissed her again. "Don't underestimate Castle. Three Serial Killers, two Foreign Agents and two domestic terror cells have underestimated what happens when you put our daughter in a room with Richard Castle, and they all came to regret it."

"You think highly of him, don't you?" Joanna smiled.

"I don't know him as well as I should." Jim admitted. "But he is totally devoted to our girl, and he adores his family, and he can provide our girl with her own plane if she asked for one."

"What more can a father ask?" Joanna teased.

"Katie is always so secretive about her boyfriends."

"Really?" Joanna was surprised.

"Well, she is with me." Jim admitted. "With you she talked about everything. She was always her mother's daughter."

"She loves you." Joanna promised.

"Oh, I know that." Jim nodded. "But you were her favorite. Which is fine... because you're my favorite too."

Joanna smiled and snuggled tightly into her husband. "I couldn't believe it when I found out she was a cop."

"There was no dissuading her. Believe me, I tried." Jim agreed. "But she's a sensational cop. She's broken records. She's literally saved this whole city. To say nothing of the bad guys she's locked away."

"I'm not a bit surprised." Joanna said warmly. "Our daughter is blessed with inspiration. She was made for excellence."

"She is. She got that from you. In a way, it's also her worst drawback."

"What do you mean?" Joanna asked him.

"She's happy with Castle. I saw that the second I met him. But Kate hasn't done anything that's made her happy. Every time someone comes along and offers her personal happiness, she sabotages it." He sighed. "I could never snap her out of it. But she's got it into her head that since she's got all this amazing potential, she owes it to the world to use it for more than her own happiness. She won't let herself be content."

Joanna didn't seem pleased with that answer. "It's the parent's dilemma. You want your kid to do great things, but you don't want them to push themselves too far."

Jim nodded. "She keeps moving the finish line. First it was law school, then you died and it became about being a cop, then being the best, then solving your case, then about making detective, and then, and then, and then... It makes her exceptional. It also means that Castle could spend his life chasing after someone who'll never slow down enough to make him a priority. At least, not as much as she is to him."

"Was it like this with her other boyfriends?"

"Honors Students. Heart Surgeons. Detectives. Doctors Without Borders. Even millionaires and consulate staff. Since high school she's never dated anyone who isn't at least as exceptional as her. And she leaves them in the dust."

"Some would call that single-mindedness. But it could be she's just waiting for the good fit instead of a good resume." Joanna leaned into him a little closer. "She's smart enough to recognize a good thing. Give our daughter some credit."

"I always do. She's her mother's daughter after all." Jim kissed the top of her head again. "A day is just not enough time." He sighed.

"A day is all we have."

"Doesn't have to be."

She looked up at him, tensing a little. "Jim?"

Jim looked back evenly. "Don't count Team Caskett out just yet. You put those two together and things happen. I don't care who the Dark Imp is. Those two declare war on somebody, they find a way to win."

"President Bracken." Beckett said for the ninth time.

Castle pressed a glass into her hand. "It's Brandy. Drink."

Kate threw the drink back instantly. One gulp, glass down.

"Pres-i-dent Bracken..." Beckett repeated for the tenth time, like she was trying to put the two words together in any way that made sense.

"Wait. Detective, weren't you on bodyguard detail for him once? Did something happen?" Alexis raised a hand like she was in school. "Would somebody tell me who this guy is, and why everyone looks like they just ate bad eggs?"

"Don't ask." Four adults said at the same time.

"President. Bracken." Beckett repeated for the eleventh time, her voice getting angry. She cast about for a moment, eyes roving over everything...

"Here." Castle put a glass statuette in her hand. "It belonged to Meredith."

Beckett hurled the glass into the fireplace with a scream. It shattered with a loud and satisfying ring.

Everyone was notably silent.

Castle broke the silence finally. "Beckett, a nominee gets more scrutiny on his life than any thug that ever got into your interrogation room. Somebody will find something to sink him."

"Sure." Beckett scorned. "It's not like a crook ever got elected to high office before."

Heavy silence.

"Oh my god..." Kate whispered suddenly. "Oh My GAWHD!"

"Kate-"

Beckett spun around and snatched up the phone, dialing quickly.

"What are you doing?" Castle asked her.

"I've got the Silver Bullet!" Kate almost screamed, suddenly filled with a deadly, dynamic energy. "I've got the ultimate Anti-Bracken gun."

"Your mom?" Esposito breathed.

"We've got evidence, we've got details, we've even got the money trail. The only thing we need is an eyewitness they can't get to." Beckett grinned, phone to her ear. "And my mom? They won't see this coming with a crystal ball and a map."

"Kate, there's a reason for that!" Castle tried to get across to her. "You've only got twelve hours left."

"Twelve hours?" Beckett exulted. "Long enough to get a warrant together."

"Not long enough to get a trial together." Ryan put in.

Kate looked at the phone in her hand, annoyed. "Busy signal."

"Are you surprised?" Castle asked her lightly. "I wouldn't leave the phone on the hook either."

Ryan and Esposito smirked, and Kate pointed darkly at both of them. "You are both to erase that image from your minds! ERASE!"

"Twenty four hours is not enough time." Ryan put in. "Not enough time to get your mom on the stand. Not long enough to sort out the paperwork you need to bring her back from the dead."

Kate's eyes flicked to Alexis automatically, and Castle turned to stone again. The moment passed instantly, but just for a millisecond, she had considered getting more time, and everyone had seen it.

"No, you're right. It wouldn't work." Kate said finally. "If we had a year, it wouldn't work; and we've only got a day. There was an autopsy, a death certificate, a funeral. I couldn't tell Gates six hours ago, and it's only gotten more complicated sin-" She was cut off as her phone started to ring. She answered it. "Beckett." Her shoulders straightened. "Yes Sir."

It was Gates. The others knew to leave her to it, and Alexis waved to get her father's attention. "Dad?" Alexis whispered. "I found something you might want to see."

Castle came over to the stand behind her at her laptop, and felt his jaw drop open. There on the screen was a picture of Gold. Alexis hefted the book upright and compared the picture in it to the one on screen. They were identical. "Is that him?"

"That's him. What site are you on?" Castle asked.

"It's called ." Alexis reported. "A lot of people putting their stories up. Most of them? Have a story like ours." She looked up at him, eyes wide. "Dad? About half the people on here took the deal... and a lot of the ones that did are very happy with what they got. Nobody has ever broken a deal with him. If they did, they didn't get to write about it online."

Castle squeezed her shoulder. "None of them were us. If there's a way, we'll find it. And if there isn't... Joanna Beckett's story ended years ago. Yours is still beginning."

Alexis looked sick. "I hate that we have to choose." She bit her lip. "Dad, we don't know what Gold wants me for. If it turns out to be not that bad... Could be that we could actually reunite Detective Beckett with her mother."

Castle was floored by the altruism of the suggestion, and was about to respond when Beckett came back in, disconnecting the call. "Okay." She said carefully. "The situation has become more complicated."

"How?" Ryan asked painfully.

She gave her team a tight smirk. "Someone noticed that my mom's grave has been dug up. Captain Gates just rang to break the news to me... that my mother's body is missing."

Esposito winced. "Knew we should have filled the grave back in when we were done."

Castle never took his eyes of Beckett. "What did you tell Gates?"

"What could I say?" Beckett waved. "I acted horrified, and demanded to investigate the matter myself." She shook her head. "The investigation isn't the problem."

"What is the problem?"

"What happens at midnight when my mom is... gone, again? Does her body reappear in the grave? Do we have to bury her ourselves?"

Nobody had an answer to that one.

"You people are all ghouls." Alexis put in.

"Ghouls." Esposito repeated to his partner. "That's a nice thing to call us grave-robbers."

Beckett returned to the point. "We have a far more important problem anyway. What do we do about Bracken? Maybe we can't do much in a day, but... We've got a chance that we'll never have again." She looked to Castle. "Rick, I need someone to write an ending that works. How do we get from here to Bracken in jail, with Alexis and my mom safe?"

Castle chewed his lip. "I don't know."

"Think harder." Kate told him simply. She was back in 'Crusade' mode.

Castle hesitated. "Kate, you've only got twelve hours. Do you want to spend them all chasing down the man who..." His eyes flicked to Alexis. "...you hate?"

Kate's gaze never wavered. "Come on Castle, it's what you do. Tell me a story."

If she doesn't get one, she'll need more time until she comes up with one on her own. Castle told himself.

He thought of Alexis.

The rest was easy.

"I don't know how to flip the deal." He told Kate finally. "But you can put Bracken in jail if you tie him to your mom's grave being dug up."

"How?" Kate demanded.

"You keep your mom's stuff in storage, right?"

"Right."

"Go trash it. All of it." Castle said simply. "Don't leave any trace that it was you, but make it look like your mom's things got ripped part. Then tell Gates that Bracken was desperate to find something among your mom's belongings. Something important enough that he would actually have the coffin searched."

"And then what?" Kate demanded, sensing victory.

"And then tell Gates you found the whatever-it-was first." Castle finished. "Make it something that wins the game in one move."

Silence.

Kate lunged forward and kissed him hungrily. A little too hungrily, given that his teenage daughter, and her two coworkers were all in the room. Ryan, Esposito and Alexis all found something more interesting to look at for ten seconds. Then twenty. Then thirty.

Ryan stared at his fingernails for a while, Alexis returned to her laptop, and Esposito looked back out the window.

Thirty five seconds. Forty seconds.

Finally Alexis could take no more. "Somebody get a bucket of icewater!"

They broke for air, and Kate was smiling like she'd won the lottery. "I love you. I know I don't say it as often as you do, but I love you."

Castle was still trying to get her breath back when she turned and swept out the door, gone before anyone could react.

"Castle, you're in love with a live grenade." Esposito commented. "You know that, right?"

"Okay. That's it." Alexis closed her laptop. "This little party stops until someone tells me who the hell Bracken is, and how you know him... And before you tell me it's none of my business, just remember that Detective Beckett was clearly ready to hand me over to a dark Djinn for a shot at bringing him down."

"A shot at Bracken and her mom back." Esposito pointed out.

Castle glared. "What Javier meant to say was: No, of course not, Kate would never do that."

Ryan stepped forward quickly, putting a hand out. "Beckett said never to tell anyone."

"Alexis isn't anyone." Esposito countered. "And for a shot at Bracken, Beckett would rent a skywriter."

Castle agreed. "Okay." He said. "We tell her. While we do that; Ryan, run down this website." He was pointing at Alexis laptop. "Find out who's hosting it; get contact information."

Ryan took the laptop and pulled out his phone, heading into the next room. Esposito took up position to cover both the window and the door; and Castle sat down with his daughter.

"Years ago..." He said, slipping instantly into 'storyteller' mode. "...the Racketeers and Mobsters owned this town. Three cops, two experienced detectives and one rookie, decided to take on the mobs in their own way. They snatched high-ranking criminals, held them prisoner, and held them to enormous ransom."

"The only way to fight organized crime." Esposito put in. "Attack the money."

"One night, this tactic backfired, and people died." Castle continued. "The three vigilante cops handled it by pinning the whole disaster on some low-level scumbag that nobody cares about. He went to jail, the three cops all walked away, and they got away with it."

"More importantly, the uncounted millions of dollars they ripped off was taken by the DA, in exchange for looking the other way." Esposito put in. "That DA was William Bracken."

Alexis let out a low whistle.

"Hey; I'm telling this story. It's what I do." Castle told Esposito firmly. "That was the end of the story until years later, when the guy they framed managed to talk a Public Defender into representing him for an appeal. The lawyer in question... Was Joanna Beckett."

Alexis had her father's quick mind, and she put the pieces together. "So, Bracken takes that money, the three cops get away with it, and then Joanna Beckett starts digging, so she gets killed."

"So do the three cops. So do the hitmen that pull the triggers, so does everyone else that goes looking." Castle finished.

"Can you prove it?"

"We have a money trail."

"Why haven't you arrested him, then?" Alexis demanded.

Castle sent Esposito a look. The Detective shrugged, not happy.

"The third cop was Roy Montgomery." Castle said quietly. "He was told to bring Beckett in for execution, and instead he flipped on them, took out three bad guys."

"So you keep it quiet to keep your friends' name clean... And Beckett got shot anyway, at his funeral." Alexis rubbed her eyes. "'Just book research' you said. 'Just for a few weeks' you said."

"I know." Castle sighed.

Silence.

"So, what's Gold really doing?" Alexis demanded.

"I don't know." Castle confessed. "Maybe Bracken made a deal once too."

"What are you talking about?" Esposito demanded.

Castle turned to him. "We've got everything we need to lock Bracken up, except for a witness that can tie all our information together the way we need it. Joanna Beckett was about to make it happen when she got killed."

Alexis picked it up. "So what are the odds that we get Joanna Beckett back for a very specific 24 hours, just as Bracken launches a Presidential bid?"

Ryan had come back into the room, enough to catch that. "The resemblance between you two just became clear." He held out a post-it note to Castle. "The website is owned by some guy named Neal Cassidy. There's the address."

Castle snatched it. "He lives in Manhattan?"

Alexis was up instantly. "I'm going with you."

"No." Three adults said at the same instant.

Alexis sat back down. "Yeah, I didn't think you'd let me, but I had to try."

Castle pulled his jacket on. "You've only been under House Arrest for six hours; you can't be stir crazy yet."

"I had a date tonight." Alexis offered.

"More good news." Castle said brightly and headed for the door, waving over Ryan. "One thing before I forget." He said quietly to Ryan. "If the boyfriend does show up looking for her... shoot to kill."

Ryan nodded seriously and Castle took off.

Beckett had kept her eyes shut when she let herself into her dad's apartment, just in case; but she managed to explain the situation to her parents, in much the same way Castle had explained to his daughter.

"You've known who he was the whole time?" Jim was stunned.

"No, not the whole time." Kate promised him quickly. "We only just found out a few months ago... and we couldn't do anything about it. Not until this."

Joanna wasn't smiling. "Kate, I'm not wild about you covering up the crimes of a Police Captain. Your friend, sure. And with him killed, there was no point, but it's tied your hands and protected Bracken until now. His lies became your lies." Joanna looked sick. "And it got you a bullet in the heart for your trouble."

"I know." Beckett sighed. "But that's in the past. We've got a plan, and..."

"What do we need?" Jim asked immediately.

Joanna and Kate both looked at him, surprised at his eagerness.

Jim's eyes were as cold as his daughter's got whenever the subject of Joanna came up. "This is the man that caused the death of at least six people, one of them was my wife." He nodded at his daughter. "Hang'em high, Katie-Bear!"

Beckett grinned like a shark. "We'll have to move fast." She jumped up and headed for the door, not noticing her father's smile fade.

Joanna looked to her husband warmly. "What's wrong?"

"It's not enough time." He sighed. "One more day? Its just not enough time for... for everything."

Joanna softened and kissed his cheek. "Long enough to save a sweet girl, and punish the guilty. To say nothing of changing the face of a Presidential Run."

Jim held her tight. "I just wish there was a way to have both."

"Don't sell your daughters boyfriend short." Joanna offered. "He strikes me as the kind to get a lot done in one day when he's motivated enough."

Castle had no idea how Neal Cassidy could afford an apartment so close to Fifth Avenue, but it was fairly easy to get to. There was no name on the Apartment Buzzer, and no answer when he buzzed.

Castle chewed his lip, when his phone rang. "Hello?"

"Katherine just checked in." Martha reported. "Joanna's on board with Operation Beckett-Gate."

Castle snorted. "We've gotta have a better name for it than that."

"Best I could think of at short notice." Martha waved it off. "You still feeling good about the plan? You came up with it."

"It's a thin plan, mother. If I was writing it, I'd be rewriting it a dozen times. It's full of holes."

"Really? Katherine seems to think you can pull it off."

"Kate's got her blinders on again." Castle argued. "She's willing to try this, because it's the only thing that'll work, short of handing over Alexis to Gold."

"You really thought Katherine was going to take Alexis from us. My god." Martha murmured.

"I did. Just for a second, just for a moment when Kate came in, in my wildest nightmares, I thought she'd do it." Richard nodded helplessly. He glanced around the lobby of the apartment building, and lowered his voice. "I lied to Kate. I told her that Gold offered me a new Muse, to conquer the Writers Block I had after Gina took off."

Martha's voice became concerned. "What did he really give you?"

Castle almost laughed when he said it out loud. "True Love."

"What?"

"I know, sounds silly. What can I say? I was a week out of my second divorce, you were living with your boyfriend..." He looked back to the book. "I read all these stories, when I was young. Love is the silver bullet in every one of them."

Martha's voice turned cold. "But you never really trusted it, did you? That's the thing about True Love. It has to go both ways, and you never really trusted hers was as strong as yours. Funny thing, trust. We give it so freely until we need it."

Castle froze. "Mother?"

"Has she ever once chosen anything over Avenging her mother?" Martha taunted.

Castle's gripped the phone tightly. "Who is this?"

Gold's giggle came through the phone.

"Is that what this is about?" Castle demanded. "You set Kate up to choose between her mother and my daughter?"

Gold giggled again. "You're a lucky man, Richard Castle. You get to find out once and for all how deep 'Twu Wuv' runs in their significant others." Gold actually sounded reflective for a moment. "Something that most of us never got. But this isn't a curse, or a spell... This is a deal that has to be accepted or rejected. There's only two options."

Castle hung up on him.

"Well. That sounded interesting."

Castle spun around so fast he almost fell over. A young man, wearing black jeans, with a light beard, and sad eyes had just come into the building. "I was... looking for the guy in 407?" Castle offered.

The man nodded. "And talking to your mom about curses and spells, and the power of True Love's Kiss." He didn't seem surprised. "You here because of the website?"

Castle's face cleared. "You must be Neal Cassidy."

"I must be. Certainly, nobody else has been willing so far." The man pushed past him and unlocked the cage door. "So. Coming?"

Kate's phone buzzed for the fifth time in two hours. She checked the screen. 'Iron Gates' is calling you.

Beckett steeled herself and answered the phone. "Yes Sir."

"I thought we had an agreement about you keeping me informed?" Gates asked. "I'm not an idiot Detective. I know that your mothers case led places none of us expected it to. One of which led to a shooting in this Precinct. So when I hear that your mothers grave, out of every other grave in this city, got dug up..."

"Yes Sir." Kate sighed, and offered the cover story. "I keep my mothers personal effects in storage. I'm... at the storage facility now." She lied. "The place has been trashed. There's no security footage, no prints."

"Do you know who did it?" Gates demanded. "Evidence aside, did your mother have any enemies?"

Kate didn't answer for a few seconds. "Well... she was found stabbed to death in an alley by what later proved to be a professional hitman, so I'm going to say 'yes'?"

"Your mother was killed over a decade ago, and you personally gunned down her hitman more than three years ago. What changed?"

"As soon as I figure out what they're searching for, and why they want it so bad that they'd dig up a body; I'll have the answer to that." Kate promised, lying through her teeth.

The fifth avenue apartment was smaller than Castle expected; and had fewer furnishings than any home he'd ever been in.

Neal came in and went to the kitchen. "Would you like a cup of coffee, Mister Castle?"

"You read my mind." Castle called back, and then he froze. "How do you know my name?"

"Second shelf, third from the right." Neal called back.

Castle went over to the bookcase and checked. A paperback copy of Heat Wave was there, and Castle relaxed. "Right. Sorry."

"Don't be sorry. Paranoia can only help if you're here because of the website."

Castle looked at the top of the bookshelf, which had pictures in frames. One picture was of a young woman with blonde hair, and a young boy with black hair, standing together in front of a Diner. The second photo was a candid shot of just the woman, looking sadly off into the distance, unaware she was being photographed.

Castle returned to the first photograph, and looked at the boy. The kid had a guileless smile on his face... and a large familiar book under his arm.

Neal came back from the kitchen with two cups of coffee. "So." Neal said. "Let me go first, huh?"

Castle nodded.

"I'm guessing you got in over your head, against something you had no idea existed; and went running to the Internet for help... which lead you to me." Neal guessed.

"How many others have there been?" Castle asked, sipping his coffee.

"Only three have come to me personally." Neal reported. "There have been over thirty to put their stories up on the website. He's been active in New York for a while now."

Castle got to the point. "When you say 'he', we're talking about the same guy, right?"

Neal sat down, and gestured for Castle to do the same, across from him. "Tell me, Mister Castle... Do you believe in Magic?"

Castle took the question seriously. "A week ago, I would have said yes, and I would have said it with a smile. Now my answer is still yes... but that's not a good thing any more."

Neal toasted that answer with his coffee cup. "Magic is power. And like all power, it can be used two ways. For good, or for evil. Where that line is, who the hell knows for sure. Dark Magics hurt the innocent, but can be used with innocent motives, Light Magic can be used to fight evil, but we both know you can't fight evil without doing some along the way..." He held up a finger. "The one thing that you have to remember, above all else, is that all magic comes with a price."

"All power does." Castle nodded. "What I don't get, is how did this... Why don't we know about magic, if there are wizards running around New York?"

Neal nodded. "Years ago, a very powerful and malevolent woman found a way to rule her world full of magic, and fey-folk and fairy-tales by bringing it into a quiet little corner of this world, sealing it up like a snowglobe. The background doesn't really matter. What does matter, is that she succeeded, and for a time, there was stalemate. Nothing went in, nothing went out." Neal's eyes flicked to the photograph. The woman, and the boy. "But nothing lasts forever."

Castle followed his gaze. "Your family?"

"They... were." Neal waved that off. "Powerful people have powerful enemies. One of them, you know as Mister Gold; and he found a way to flip the rules on this woman. Rumpelstiltskin is the latest in a long line of people to hold the title of 'The Dark One'. Neal explained. "He is the personification of the dark side of power."

Castle shivered. "How do you know him?"

Neal gave a bitter little laugh. "Oh no. Dark Magics and Imps and monsters? That you'll believe. I tell you how I know Rumpelstiltskin? You'll never buy that."

Castle stood up, taking his coffee with him. "Ask the people that know me best. They'll tell you that I'll buy a lot of things."

"Suffice to say, that things happened; and he left that quiet, out of the way corner, and looked to see what the rest of our world had to offer."

Castle glanced around. "What made you put the website up?"

Neal shrugged. "I... was interested in following his movements. There aren't a lot of ways to keep track of someone who moves the way he does. If this was an Enchanted Wood full of magic and talking animals, I would ask the birds to keep their eyes open. Fortunately, broadband actually works faster than that." Neal rose from his seat and pulled out a large scrapbook. "You need to see this."

Castle took the scrapbook and flipped through it. It was full of pictures of people. A new person for each page. Beside each picture was a name, and a series of notes. It looked a lot like the Murder Board at the 12th. Dates, times... and the end result for each person. "This is Gold's dossier?"

"The Greatest Hits." Neal nodded. "All the deals he's made. At least, the ones I know about. They all talked to me or found the site for the same reason you're here; a desire to understand what they got themselves into. But they don't all want their stories up on the Internet; so when they email me questions, they go in the book instead."

Castle kept flipping through the pages. Right below their names, Neal had written the favor they asked for, and what was expected in exchange. For the most part, every deal was the same. "Make me rich, make me powerful, make me stronger, make me popular, make me healthy, save my kids, save my brother, hurt the one that hurt me..." Castle read out rapid-fire as he flipped through the pages.

Neal nodded, jaded by having heard so many stories. "We're not a complicated species; the things we wish for don't generally change. It's important to understand one thing: The deals he makes, aren't necessarily evil. The things he does are not automatically bad. The only thing you can be certain of is that they follow a plan. He'll offer you heaven, he'll offer you hell, and he doesn't care which you get. But whatever happens, happens according to an agenda."

Castle was intrigued by that. "Ahh. The Chessmaster style villain. The Moriarty. What is that agenda?"

For a split second, Neal's face changed. There was no reservation, no cool collected exterior, there was only pain and regret. "I wish to god I knew." He sighed, and Castle knew with absolute certainty that Neal had made a deal of his own at some point.

Castle turned the page and froze. The picture on the newest page was of a young Roy Montgomery. "What was Montgomery's deal?" Castle demanded.

"I only got the broad points. He found me through the website too." Neal shrugged. "He was a cop who got into some bad business. Wanted out. He got it, but in return, he had to grant The Dark One a favor."

"Which was?"

"I don't know. What I do know, is that he came back a week later saying he'd made a terrible mistake. I told him what you already know: It comes with a price... but you're not always the one to pay it."

Castle swore under his breath. "Kate's mother."

"You know Roy Montgomery?" Neal was surprised.

"I knew him. He... died a few years ago."

Neal wasn't surprised.

Castle looked at the book again for a moment, then back to him. "Can I ask something... unfair? How old are you? Because there are notes in here about deals made decades ago. And Roy was a rookie when his deal was made..."

Neal gave an ironic little smirk. "Let's just say time is on my side."

Castle just waited.

Neal sighed. "Fine. Once upon a time, Rumpelstiltskin asked me for something. I wasn't willing to give it to him. He kept asking, so I told him that... I told him it would take time." He gave a bitter little laugh. "Now I have all the time anyone could ever need."

Castle shivered. "How do we flip the deal on the Dealer?"

Neal sighed. "Mister Castle... You understand what you're asking? What you're talking about is a Quest that many have failed to see through to the end. This is not a mission for the faint of heart... And you don't even know for sure what you're fighting. You do this... odds are I'll be putting your picture in the book with a note that says: 'Died Trying'."

Castle nodded seriously. "I know. I know it's hopeless, but I have to try."

Neal was unconvinced. "I've given people what they asked for before. They all failed."

"Mister Cassidy, sometimes the lost causes are the ones that need to be fought for the hardest." Castle said simply. "I hang around with homicide detectives; I know that better than most."

Neal rubbed his eyes. "There are only three ways to defeat The Dark One. One of them involves taking something he will defend to the death. The second involves healing a cold dead heart... and the third will cost you something you would beg the universe to give you." Neal licked his lips. "How much time do you have?"

Castle checked his watch. "Eight hours."

"Then there's only one way." Neal said with certainty. "Turn down what he's offering. He has rules too. He can't force a deal on you."

Castle felt sick. "That exactly what I was hoping to avoid. I was looking for a silver bullet of some kind."

Long silence.

"The price is my daughter." Castle whispered. "It wasn't a deal I made. But the end result is either my family, or the family of someone I love more than anything." He took a deep breath. "Would he take me instead?"

"If he was... would you be willing?"

"In a second." Castle said without hesitation.

Neal argued with himself a moment. "Aw Hell." He said finally, and pulled a chain from around his neck. "All right, there is one thing I can offer you. One father to another."

Castle took the chain and studied it. There was a ceramic pendant hanging from the chain. "What is it?"

"It's a ceramic shard, taken from the broken remains of a chipped cup. Why that matters, you don't need to know. But it's... enchanted. The same kind of power that makes Gold do the things he can do also has power to oppose him. That pendant will make the wearer immune to The Dark One's reach."

Castle took the Pendant, weighing the options. "If he's given us a choice, then what if we choose one, and give the other this pendant? I choose to save my daughter, and give Joanna this Pendant. He can't take Alexis, because that's the choice we gave... And he can't take Joanna, whoever she is, because this will protect her." Eagerness made him get in Neal's face. "Will that work?! Will not having Alexis mean he has to take Joanna by default, or will we be able to protect both?"

Neal gave it some thought. "I honestly don't know. But it sounds like a plan that could work."

Castle sagged with relief. "Thank you! Thank you so much! Anything I can...do... Wait a second." Castle held up the Pendant. "You were wearing this. If I give this to... Then that means you're vulnerable now."

Neal nodded. "Like I said, always a price."

Castle held up the talisman with due gravity. "I'm going to do good with this. Magic comes with a price? It'll be a worthy one, I can promise you that."

Neal gave the first genuine smile of the conversation. "I wish you luck, Mister Castle."

Castle headed for the door. "Forgive me for running out, but I'm on the clock."

"I understand." Neal walked him to the door.

Castle paused at the doorway and looked back. "Mister Cassidy? Can I ask one more thing I have no right to ask?"

"Ask me."

"You said he asked for something, and you said you needed time? What did he want from you?"

Neal was silent for a moment, his eyes going to the picture of the woman with cool blue eyes and long blonde hair. "Forgiveness." He said finally.

"You trust this guy?" Beckett asked him soon after.

Castle had gone to Jim Beckett's home and pulled Kate and Jim into the kitchen, telling them all the things he had learned, while Joanna worked on their operation in the living room.

"I don't know anything about him, except that he's been right straight on the money about everything. I didn't even have to say anything, Kate. He's heard this story before."

Jim was unconvinced. "I don't know, Rick. This sounds like an awful big gamble on a weak pair of knees. This guy Cassidy didn't know if it would work, and we're gambling one of our girls on it."

"It has the benefit of being the only chance we can grab at." Beckett sighed. "We're dealing with an honest to god character out of a fairy tale, and none of the endings we're hearing are happy."

"Well, maybe. But if this guy was on the level about this pendant, then we might yet have a way to come out of this with everything we want." Castle held it up. "So. Which one gets the Talisman? Alexis, or your mom?"

Beckett smiled, just a little, and pushed it back to him. "Peace offering?"

She was giving him the magic weapon, and showing she was willing to take the risk with her mother, instead of his daughter. It was the demonstration of priorities that had been lacking since Gold had come into their lives.

"I'll give it to Alexis." Jim said. "I was headed over there anyway."

"You were?" Kate and Richard said in the same moment.

Kate's father looked embarrassed. "It's... Martha invited me over to wait out the clock." He turned to kate. "Your mother was firm on the subject of time. Eight hours with me, Eight with you, another eight to prove it's her and roast the bastard that took her from us in the first place."

Kate checked her watch. "Aw hell. Is that the time? We've only got four hours left."

Jim took the pendant. "Give me a few minutes to... say goodbye."

"Dad, if that Pendant works, then this isn't goodbye." Kate pointed out. "That's sort of the point."

"I know." Jim nodded quickly. "Thing is..."

Kate shushed him. "I understand."

Jim headed back into the living room, and Castle sent her a questioning look.

Kate explained. "He's had her all to himself for the day. But this plan is a long shot, and he knows it. If this doesn't work, dad doesn't want to be in the room when Mom leaves us again... And he knows better than to let himself be left alone while this is happening. If ever there was a relapse trigger..."

Castle nodded in understanding. "I should go with him, leave you two alone for a while."

"Actually, I'd like you to stick around for this part." Kate stopped him. "We're only going to get one shot at this, and the one thing we're best at when we're together, it's brainstorming holes in the perfect crime."

Rick smiled wickedly. "No. That's the thing we're second best at when we're together."

Kate blushed. "Castle, not in front of my mom!"

There was a knock on the door of the Castle home, and both Ryan and Esposito took up position. "Who is it?"

"Jim Beckett." Came the answer.

Both detectives traded a surprised look and opened the door. Jim Beckett came in quickly, closing the door behind him swiftly. "Evening Gents."

"Sir." Ryan and Esposito chorused automatically.

"Is Alexis here?"

"Right here." Alexis came out of her father's office.

Jim Beckett gave her a look as he took in a long breath. "Okay. I come with news."

"Did my dad find the man who ran the website?" Alexis asked quickly.

"He did." Jim nodded in relief. "And whatever he found out, there's a plan now. One that saves you both. You and Joanna."

"Thank god." Alexis beamed.

"Katie wants you two at my place." Jim told Ryan and Esposito. "She sent me because she couldn't trust the phones. She said that Gold knew how to imitate voices and trick phone lines."

"He does." Esposito commented from grim personal experience.

Jim nodded, licking his lips. "Katie says that they've laid a trap for Gold at my place, and that she wants you both there to cover the street."

"What about Alexis?" Ryan asked.

"We are to keep her away from there under all circumstances." Jim explained. "I was supposed to ask you about that. What's the best way to protect someone without a cop escort?"

Ryan and Esposito traded a look, not pleased.

"The 12th." Esposito said finally. "It's not far out of the way. We can escort you both there, Alexis can work with Lainie for a little while, if anyone asks, you and Martha are there to see your kids."

Ryan nodded. "Good enough. You stay in the building with over a dozen cops, you do not come out until you see us. Remember, the phones aren't secure."

Jim nodded. "We better hurry. I get the feeling that this trap only works if we spring it before the deadline."

Martha was already moving. "I'll get my coat. Alexis, you too."

"Does Dr Parish know we're coming?" Alexis asked quickly.

"No, and we can't call her." Esposito told her quickly. "There's no way to know if we'd be talking to her, or the Freak. We have to go personally."

Alexis nodded quickly. "We should take two cars. I've still got my pass from when I interned there; I can get us all past the front door."

Esposito pointed. "We're staying within one car length of you the whole way there, and we're not pulling away until you're inside."

"I tried to cover all the bases." Castle said as he tore the page out of his notebook. "Joanna, you should consider it an outline, because I don't know you well enough to make it sound... well, like something you'd say. I tried to make it sound Lawyer-like."

"Remember mom, the point is not to make it wrap everything up neatly." Beckett said seriously. "The point of this is to have enough to let me get a warrant. With that, I can bring in the money trail, the other killings, Roy's notes; all of it. I just need you to get it started."

Joanna looked over the page Castle had written, and nodded. "Okay. You ready to record?"

"Hello." Joanna said into the microphone. "My name is Joanna Beckett, and it's the eighth of January, 1999. I'm a Civil Rights Attorney in Manhattan. If you're listening to this tape, it means that I am almost certainly dead. I hope this tape will never be needed, but people involved in this case tend to end up getting killed. I want to take a few moments now and explain why. My part in this story began a few weeks ago, with an incarcerated Mob Enforcer named Joe Pulgatti; but the crime that has to be accounted for was years ago... This crime was committed by three police officers... and covered up by our Assistant District Attorney, William Bracken..."

Kate turned to Castle, eyes shining. Every dream she had never dreamed to dream was coming true, right in front of her eyes.

As Joanna Beckett continued her testimony, she pulled Castle in for a hot, happy kiss.

"This doesn't feel right." Ryan said tightly as they drove. "Nothing about this feels smart."

"I agree." Esposito was in the passenger seat with his gun drawn and the safety off. "This stinks. Castle and Beckett find a way to set a trap for Gold? I don't know."

"Actually, I meant that it was weird they'd send Beckett Senior to tell us the plan." Ryan hissed. "Why does the trap idea not work for you?"

"You haven't seen this guy yet." Esposito responded. "I have. And for the record, sending her father makes sense. Gets the plan to us through someone she trusts, gets the civilians out of the way, and keeps her mother within sight at all times."

They both spared each other a glance. They both had doubts about the plan, and had neatly covered each others reservations.

"There's the Precinct." Ryan hissed. "You think Gold would be stupid enough to try something here?"

"One thing he's not, is stupid." Esposito commented. Both detectives tensed as they pulled up to a stop, with the second car right behind them. The other car parked, Martha, Alexis and Jim Beckett all climbed out, and headed quickly into the station. Alexis didn't break stride, but she waved at the two detectives anyway.

Once they were safely inside, Ryan dropped the car into gear and took off at high speed.

Esposito didn't question it. If there was something wrong about this, then Beckett would know.

"We have testimony, we have a legal precedent to use it, we have a money trail, and it all leads to Bracken." Beckett declared victory. "We did it Rick. We got him."

Castle nodded softly, a gentle smile on his face. "We got him."

In the distance, bells struck the hour, and Kate looked at her watch and turned pale. "...oh."

Castle checked the clock. One hour left until Gold's deadline.

"Well, now we've got a... plan... for... that." Kate trailed off. "Mom? What's that chain around your neck? That wasn't there before."

Joanna reached under her collar. "Your father gave it to me before he left. He said Richard found it, and that I had to keep it next to my skin at all times..." She trailed off as she noticed their stricken looks.

She was wearing Neal's Talisman.

Beckett swore fluently enough that her mother blushed, and Castle had already pulled his phone. "Pick up the phone Alexis, PickUpPickUpPickUp..." He gave Beckett a sick look. "There's no answer!"

"Maybe there's just no signal." Joanna suggested. They both stared at her blankly. She shrugged. "Well, I don't know, the phones got small and weird in the ten years I've been dead; how do I know what makes them work?"

Beckett had her phone out too. "Espo, it's me. Where-WHAT?!" She looked at Castle, color draining from her face. "Esposito said that he and Ryan just pulled up outside."

"What the hell is your father doing?!" Castle almost screamed.

"Trying to buy himself more time." Joanna said quietly, stunned beyond belief. "Katie, your father would never... would he?"

Kate looked sick. "He missed you." She said simply.

Castle had made a quick search. "His phone is still here. But the half empty bottle he showed us is gone."

Kate swore fluently under her breath. "Come on, Castle. We've got just under an hour left to find your daughter."

Joanna was up instantly. "I'm coming with you. If anyone can walk this back, it's me."

The three of them left quickly.

Esposito and Ryan were going nuts by the time the three of them made it downstairs. "We watched them go into the building, but I called Lainie and she says Alexis never checked in with her." Esposito said first thing.

"I called in an APB on your dad's car." Ryan added. "So far, nothing."

Esposito was already past Beckett to Richard. "Castle, it's my fault. I'm sorry, bro."

"Less talk, more finding my daughter!" Castle roared. "I gave her a panic button after the kidnapping."

"Nothing on the police band about it going off." Ryan reported. "Things happened fast at your place; she might not even have it with her."

"Then we've got nothing, and the clock is ticking." Joanna blurted.

"There's only one place in the city he'll go to make this deal." Beckett said with certainty.

Alexis wasn't quite sure how Jim Beckett had managed to drug them both, but she knew her grandmother had gotten the worst of it. Martha was passed out in the back seat, and Alexis head was already clearing, her hands tied in front of her with zip-ties.

Jim Beckett was at the wheel, eyes flicking constantly from her, to the road, to the clock. Alexis was trying to figure out where they were going, when he suddenly pulled over.

"Where are we?" Alexis asked in a very small voice.

Jim Beckett's eyes were red and his face drawn. "This is where it happened." He held out a hand to Alexis. "Don't run. And don't try to be clever, I've already taken your panic button, your pepper spray and your phone."

Alexis awkwardly climbed out of the car, with the big heavy book under her arm. He had parked them in front of an alley. She glanced around, calculating her chances of running away, when he caught her shoulder in a tight grip. "Come on."

Alexis looked back at the car, where her grandmother slumped in the backseat. "Is she... okay?"

"She's fine." Jim promised. "I don't want to hurt anyone, least of all you, my dear. But that's not possible."

Alexis kicked out and nailed Jim Beckett in the stomach, making him lose his grip. Alexis turned back to the car and tried to get to the drivers seat. It took her half a second to get the door open with her hands tied, which was all the time Jim needed to put her hard into the side of the car. "You can't get yourself, and your grandmother away that quickly. Why do you think I took you both?" He looked miserable as he dragged her back toward the alley. "You understand, right? One day is just not enough time. The plan your father cooked up is... not exactly airtight. And frankly, I'm not sure he didn't make it up just so that Kate wouldn't make a fuss when her mother's time came." He shook his head. "I can't take the chance that the Talisman won't protect you the way we need it to."

Alexis sniffed. "What's going to happen to me?"

Jim kept his grip around her arm. "I don't know." He confessed. "But I do know what will happen if I don't do this. I'll lose her again."

Alexis sniffed, but kept her chin up. "I-I understand." She said finally, trying to be brave. "Listen... Tell Detective Kate to look after my dad? He won't want her to. He might not want her. He might tag her with what happens now, but... Make sure someone looks after him, once I'm gone?"

"I will." Jim promised.

Alexis shivered hard. "I was kidnapped once. It was the most scared I'd ever been of anything. They say that when you get taken, you should talk to your abductors, get them to see you as a real person..." She looked at Jim miserably. "But we already know each other, don't we?"

"Kate speaks of you often. Almost as much as she does your dad."

"And that isn't going to stop you?"

"What time is it?"

Alexis checked her watch. "Another thirty minutes."

Jim pulled the bottle out of his pocket and took a long drink. "Long enough."

"Where exactly are we going?" Joanna asked, gripping her seatbelt for dear life.

"The Alley." Beckett explained. "We're working from the theory that dad's trying to make your death and your... life, come full circle." Beckett leaned on the horn. "Damnit, this traffic is a nightmare!"

"Should we try the subway?" Castle demanded.

"By the time we got on a train headed the right way, it might shake out to the same amount of time." Beckett returned. "I'd rather we stay with the car that has a siren."

"For all the good it's doing!" Castle shot back.

Joanna gave Rick a calming look. "We're going to make it."

Alexis checked her watch. "Ten minutes."

Jim looked at the bottle, calculating how much he had. "Long enough." He took another drink. "Do you believe in evil, Miss Castle?"

Alexis looked up at him. "I... I was an Intern in the mortuary at the 12th when the Take Over Wall Street bombing happened. Yes. I do believe in evil."

"Joanna never believed in Evil. She was a lawyer, she worked with the washout crooks every day and night... but never considered any of them Evil." He threw back the bottle again. "What I'm about to do is Evil, and I'm very sorry for that. She'll hate me for this."

Alexis said nothing.

Jim looked at her blearily. "If she does, I can handle that. I hope she has a long and healthy hatred."

Beckett put her foot down all the way to the floor, the car skidding around tight turns, breaking laws every second. The car was civilian, but had a siren and flashing light, which was going at full power.

Joanna looked at Castle, who was opening and closing his fists compulsively. "We're going to make it." She promised him softly.

Alexis bit her lip. "Detective Beckett will be happy. Having her mom back? Nothing would make her happier. Not even my dad."

Silence.

"Maybe your dad." Jim offered. And his face crumpled. "God, don't be nice about this. Please, don't be nice. Don't be understanding. You understand what's happening here, sweet girl? I'm the bad guy."

Alexis shivered. "No. I've been taken by bad guys before. None of them ever shed a tear. I don't believe you're the bad guy in this story."

There was a faint sound of a siren. Jim took another pull off the bottle, draining it to nothing. He didn't seem to hear the tires screeching. "For what it's worth, Kate wanted you to have the Talisman; but I can't take the chance. I've got a way that I know will work, and I can't trade it for one that might."

Seconds later, Kate's car skidded to a halt at the entrance to the alley. Familiar faces jumped out, running toward them...

Just as Alexis' watch started beeping.

Everyone froze.

Nobody was looking at the other end of the alley, but they all knew the second He arrived. Silently, they all looked. It wasn't Mister Gold, exactly. He didn't have a cane, or a limp. His eyes were still fire gold, but his face had turned mottled and pebbly, like crocodile skin. He was wearing a rich, red velvet vest, and shiny leather boots.

Rumpelstiltskin stepped forward with a demonic grin. "Time's up."

AN: Read and Review!