Hey guys,

You can thank my bad luck for this early update. Due to the really bad weather here and my friend getting sick, my plans for the long Easter weekend are now officially cancelled. Spending Easter at home with my family, but there are worse things than that. It's still annoying.

Anyway, here's the second last chapter of this story that originally should've been just a little One Shot.

It's basically my (early) Easter gift to you. Enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle.

Chapter 3

He had no problems finding the ambulance, making his way over to it so that the woman could get looked over by a paramedic.

"Sam!" he yelled, as he recognized the doctor on scene. Dr. Samantha Chase glanced up as she heard someone calling for her. They knew each other, have met each other quite often in their line of work. Years ago, Sam was even working at the same firehouse like him.

Sam noticed the woman in Rick's arms and already got the oxygen mask out of the ambulance. Rick carefully let down the woman in his arms as they arrived at the ambulance, immediately missing her warmth.

"She's the one living in the apartment that exploded. She searched for protection in the bathtub and she had actually found it. She most likely has inhaled a lot of smoke."

Sam passed the oxygen mask to the woman, who accepted it with a short murmured thanks and inhaled as deep as she could. Rick was surprised as something was thrown at him, barely able to catch it. He glanced down and saw that it was a blanket, looking confused up at Sam.

"I'm quite sure the female world is absolutely enjoying the view of you shirtless, but you should cover yourself up. We don't want you to get sick, do we?" Sam exclaimed.

Right. Rick had almost forgotten about him being shirtless, while he worried about the woman he carried out of the apartment. Glad that he could finally cover himself from the cold and from any watching bystander, he quickly threw the blanket over himself. The warmth of the little piece of wool was very welcome. Looking back up, he stared directly at another oxygen mask which Sam held up in front of him.

He shook his head. "I'm fine." he declared.

Sam merely lifted unimpressed an eyebrow and continued to hold out the mask under his nose, waiting for him to take it. "You know the protocol."

He sighed, rolled his eyes and took defiantly the mask before taking three deep breaths. He did know the protocol, thank you very much.

"Happy? I swear I haven't inhaled much smoke. I'm really fine."

She stared at him for a moment before her glance softened and she grinned at him. Firemen were one of her worst patients. It was always a hassle to treat them. Satisfied with him, she put the mask back into the ambulance. Now she turned back to her other and probably less annoying patient.

"Ma'am, is everything alright? Are you hurt somewhere?" asked Sam, while she examined the woman for any injuries.

"No, I'm okay." The woman replied. Her voice was still a little rough, but not as much as before. Right now, a slight gentleness was making slowly its way back into her voice. As she looked up to meet his eyes, he noticed for the first time that her eye color was a hazel brown, with a glint of green flecks. He could lose himself in her eyes. After a few seconds she broke off their eye contact, fixing her glance at something behind him.

Confused at what she could possibly be looking at, he turned around and saw two men coming towards them. "Beckett!"

Beckett? Was that her name? Never once had he thought about asking for her name. All he had thought about was getting them out of the building and towards safety.

"How are you?" asked one of the men, the light wind waved through his blond hair.

"It's fine, Ryan."The woman smiled. Beckett, he reminded himself.

"We'll get this bastard." The other man replied. He had a darker skin tone, and Rick guessed that he must have a Latin origin. He looked a little sharper than the other one. Beckett gave him a reassured smile.

Rick followed their conversation, fishing for any information he could get. Beckett, Ryan and the other man he still didn't know the name of seemed to know each other really well. Ryan wore a badge on his belt, while the other man wore his on a chain around his neck. Detectives, concluded Rick.

Was Beckett also a detective? He wouldn't have deemed her for one. He had guessed that she was a lawyer or even a model, but a detective? Not really. But this little detail made everything much more interesting to him. Had the explosion not been an accident? Was it related to a case they were working on?

His mind was reeling with all the possibilities, and he was deep in thought as he noticed that Sam was talking to him. "She with you?" She asked, nodding her head at something behind the cordon of the police.

Not knowing what she could mean, he looked to the side and saw Stacy behind the barrier, jumping up and down waving at him while calling his name again and again.

God, the woman was mid thirty!Couldn't she behave like that? Rick gave Sam a pained looked. She understood, her eyes showed him some compassion, but it didn't stop her from smiling at him, obviously amused by this scene. Slightly embarrassed, Rick walked over to his Groupie.

"I'm so sorry Stacy. I didn't mean to just leave you at the restaurant." Rick apologized, and it was true. He really was sorry. As much as he had hated their date, he would have never left her at the restaurant without a good reason. He hadn't thought much about it. He had just changed into work mode, quickly analyzing the situation and wanted to help as best as he could. He felt even worse when he thought about how the evening first became interesting through the explosion. Of course he would think differently if there had been any people seriously injured or even dead.

"Are you kidding?!You're a hero! How you've run into that building and saved that woman! But what happened to your shirt?"

That made him automatically look down. The blanket covered most of his upper body, but there was still a gap at the front showing of a bit of his naked skin. "I gave it to the woman. She was – let's say – underdressed."

"What gentleman you are."She said proudly and looked at him as if she was ready to eat him alive at any minute. "We can continue our date at some other day if you want to."

He winced internally at that. He wouldn't live through another date with her. Rick tried to let her down softly. "Look, I don't think we should go on another date. I just don't have so much time between my job and being a good father to my daughter. It wouldn't be fair to you."

"Oh," her mouth formed big O, "Well, call me when something changes."

He forced a smile and nodded, all the while knowing that he'll never call her.

"Oh, before I forget it. You forgot your jacket in the restaurant." Stacy passed him his black leather jacket, stood up on her toes and gave him a kiss on his cheek, before turning around. She looked briefly back at him and made the call-me-gesture, just before she disappeared in the crowd.

Relieved to see her gone, he made his way over to Sam again. Beckett and the two men were nowhere to be seen, as he had to notice much to his dismay. He would've liked to exchange some more words with her. But Sam was still there, putting away her medical equipment.

"Who was your fan?" She asked him teasingly, as he stood next to her again.

"Don't ask! She was my blind date."

Sam looked surprised. "Rick Rodgers on a blind date? That's new. How did that happened?"

"How do you think?" he replied with a knowing look.

"Dan."

"Exactly. Though it isn't confirmed yet, I'm pretty sure my mother has a part in this too." he sighed.

"With family and friends like these, you don't need any enemies." Sam exclaimed, almost feeling sorry for him.

"Not really." Rick looked around, seemingly searching for something."Where's your patient?"

"She left with those two men, searching for Captain Wayne. I think they want to ask if they can already enter the apartment. Did you know that the FBI is here, too?"

"The FBI? Must be one hell of a case." He stated, already lost in thoughts. Sam eyed him knowingly. Everyone who knew Rick as good as she did, knew that he loved mysterious things. He loved mysteries, loved to reveal them. There were times in which she thought that Rick had taken the wrong career path, but after all he went to the fire department instead of the police. Besides, as much as he loved a good mystery, he really loved to be a fireman.

"Maybe you should go to Captain Wayne too. I'm pretty sure he wants to talk to you." Sam told him while cleaning up the ambulance and closing the doors, getting ready to leave the scene again.

"I probably should."

"Well, I'll see you around. Greet Alexis and Martha from me."

"I will. And you say hi to Mike." Rick waved to her before he went to search for Captain Wayne.

Hope you liked it.

I absolutely love your reviews. They're balm for the soul. Please keep them coming :)

Have a nice Easter weekend!

P.S. I totally loved the last episode of Castle! I think Stana should sing more often! I'm so in love with her voice.