"Castle" a deep voice – which he recognizes – pulls him out of his thoughts. He looks for the guy but doesn't find him, so he relaxes again.
Adrenaline suddenly starts rushing through his veins when he's grabbed by the coat and yanked into a narrow and dark alleyway, which is adjacent to the store. He becomes hyperaware of his surroundings and looks around for the attacker, but finds himself alone.
After the novelist manages to get his breathing under control, he decides to get out of the alley though before he can make a run for it he finds himself unable to move as someone presses him against a wall.
Yet again, he finds himself in some deep trouble, and this time, he's not sure why.
Well, actually he knows exactly why.
A man in his 60s – think James Bond meets John Robie. Gray but still dangerous – is now pinning Castle against a wall. "Powell" the writer grins when he recognizes him, but the smile drops as he takes in the dark expression on the older man's face.
"You blew my cover" he tells the novelist coldly.
"I- I didn't mean to..." he stutters, wide-eyed.
"I help you and you cross me, Castle" he says in a calm threatening voice. "You know how I deal with people who cross me" he gets dangerously close to the writer who's starting to have a hard time breathing.
Beckett sighs as she walks out of the store. As it turned out, all the fuss was created by a teenager who was getting a kick out of carrying a gun around and an overly-anxious woman who saw him and thought the kid was going to shoot them all to death. The cops were there in a matter of only a couple of minutes, so she was out of there in no time.
The first thing she does is look for her Principal. Her heart rate quickens and she's immediately on high alert when she can't find him anywhere. She walks in the direction of where he's supposed to be and passes by an alleyway. She looks inside and that's where she finds him. He's in trouble.
He looks anxious and there's an older man dangerously close to him. She immediately hides behind the corner and draws her gun – keeping it down as to not scare anyone – and weighs her options.
She decides a sneak attack might be the best way to go, so she silently and carefully sees Castle's position before briefly taking her eyes away from him to make sure the old man is working alone.
Powell sees in the corner of his eye a woman with a gun, and figures this is his cue to leave, but not before running his finger over Castle's neck showing him what he's going to do next time they meet. "I'll find you again, Castle"
When the writer looks away from him, probably looking for someone to help him, the old man sees his chance to do what he does best: disappear.
When Beckett's gaze goes back to Castle, he's alone, turning his head left and right wondering where the attacker went. She sprints towards him. "Castle, are you okay?" concern clouds her eyes as she does a once-over and finds there's nothing visibly wrong with him.
"Um..." he says shakily and after taking a few breaths and clearing his throat he relaxes again. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay"
"What happened?" she examines their surroundings and finds a completely empty alleyway and seemingly harmless people walking down the main street. No trace of the old man.
"Oh, that?" he shrugs it off as if nothing had happened and as if a few moments ago he hadn't been completely freaked out. "Just an old friend"
The bodyguard narrows her eyes in confusion. She doesn't understand why he's so calm and doesn't think anything about what just happened. "An old friend? You know him?"
"Yeah. It's a long story" he shrugs. "Should we go now?"
"Sure..." she eyes him carefully but decides to just go with it. She'll ask him again later.
Beckett's a little relieved that it's someone from his past and it doesn't seem to have to do with the letters. She also chides herself for leaving him alone in the first place; her job is to protect him. That's it, her only priority is Castle.
She needs to remember that she's not a cop anymore.
It also gets her thinking... If someone were to attack Castle or Alexis, she's not sure she'd be able to protect them alone.
I mean, how is she expected to control things? It takes a four-man team to guard even the lowliest politician. She needs backup. She'd have to get Castle on board but she doesn't think it'll be a problem. Besides, she already knows a couple of guys who would be just perfect for the job.
When they're back at the loft, Castle invites Beckett inside. She accepts, because she still has to ask him about his little run-in.
"Oh, hello there" Martha welcomes them into the living room, cocktail in hand. "How did your day go? Richard didn't give you too much trouble I hope" she tells Beckett.
"No, it was actually nice" she eyes the writer with a smile. "Except for his old friend" she frowns at him.
"What friend?" Martha inquires curiously as they sit on the couch.
"You remember that character of mine, um, Bentley Silver?" he asks his bodyguard.
She throws him a puzzled look. She's read every one of his books more than once – even his lesser works like the one with the angry wiccans, what was it…? Oh, yeah, Hell Hath No Fury. And she has no recollection of a character named Bentley Silver.
"The jewel thief in Storm Rising…?" she should know this. He even gave her an autographed copy.
Scratch that. She's read every one of his books… Except for the last one. She's just been so busy with the letters and training that she hasn't gotten around to even opening it. "What about him?"
"Well, I kind of based him on Powell"
"Kind of? You stole the man's entire life" Martha adds.
Castle shrugs non-committedly. It was a really good character.
"And then my son, genius that he is, thanked him in the acknowledgements, completely blowing his cover" his mother can't believe he actually did that. He should definitely know better.
Beckett represses a smile. She's sure Powell is not the only person in Castle's past who wants revenge. Hell, she wants revenge for all the hell he puts her through, even though putting up with him is actually her job description.
"And he threatened to slit my throat" he adds with a frown.
"He did what?" both women ask in unison.
Beckett and Martha eye each other for a second, but they shrug it off and go back to glaring at Castle.
"I know he wouldn't do it" I think, the writer adds for himself. I mean, he did force the man into retirement, but he wouldn't kill him for that... Right?
Both women shake their heads.
The bodyguard looks down at her watch and gets up. "Need anything else?" she asks her boss.
"Nope" he rises to his feet and goes towards the door, followed by Beckett. "Thank you"
She nods. "Bye, Martha"
"Goodbye, dear" she waves at the bodyguard before she disappears behind the door.
Castle walks over to the kitchen and fixes himself a drink. "Where's Alexis?"
"Upstairs" Martha joins him at the counter, sitting on one of the stools.
Castle nods. He takes a swing of his scotch and fixes his gaze on the window as he thinks about what happened today. "You know, I'm thinking of installing a new security system. Maybe even a panic room" God knows the novelist is on many people's blacklist for all his sins, and they're bound to come after him sooner or later.
"Panic room? What for? Panic attacks?" Martha quips.
"If anyone comes, we'll beat them off with swords. Or pens, since they are mightier" Alexis walks into the kitchen and adds with a smile.
"No, I'm serious. I just want us to be safe" he takes his eyes away from the window and turns to look at his daughter, who's getting something from the fridge.
"Oh, life isn't safe. Especially not in New York" this makes Castle look back at his mother. "Cranes collapse, air conditioners fall out of the sky. In the end, there's just a few short years. The most you can do is make the most of it before something knocks you down. People living deeply have no fear of death"
Castle furrows his brows in confusion. Is she actually… "Anaïs Nin? Mother, how many of those have you had?" he looks at the drink in her hand.
"Oh, shh" she waves a dismissive hand. "And that bodyguard of yours, yes, she's pretty and all but do you even really need her?"
"I do. I have crazy stalker fans" is he actually explaining himself to his mother?
"Oh, Richard, you're not that famous" she shakes her head.
Alexis winces at the comment as she sits beside Martha, a bottle of water in hand.
"Well, thank you, mother" he says sarcastically. She has a talent for keeping him grounded. "Wherever would I be without your wisdom?"
First thing Beckett does when she gets into her apartment is jump into the shower. Once that is out of the way, she changes into some comfortable clothes and sits on the couch, cellphone in hand.
As she scrolls through the contacts on the phone she hopes that she still has his number. The bodyguard gets a triumphant smile on her face when she finds his name: Javier Esposito.
Beckett, Esposito and Kevin Ryan had worked together for a short period of time, getting ready to receive their Detective badges. Instead of that they got a friendly pat in the back and they were all let go.
Esposito and Beckett bonded fairly easily – even though they were both closed-off. They became sort of like brothers after sharing war stories – his from the military and hers from her own personal hell – and when they were fired, he told her that if she never needed anything, she only needed to call.
She dials his number and waits for him to pick up.
"Esposito"
"Hey, it's Beckett" she can't help the small smile that creeps onto her face.
"How's it going?" he asks surprised by the call. "What's up?"
"I'm doing okay. How about you?"
"Doin' okay too"
"Good" she pauses and goes for what she wanted to ask him in the first place. "I was wondering… Do you want to go out for coffee or something?"
"Yeah, sure. When?"
They set their meeting for the next day at 10 at a coffee shop not far from Beckett's place.
She also calls Ryan – with whom she also had a pretty good relationship – and tells him about the meeting.
When she's done with the calls, she puts the phone on the coffee table and she sinks more comfortably into the couch, memories of her short time with the guys resurfacing.
She remembers all the stories. Javi's time in the military and his work at the 54th precinct before transferring to the 12th, and Kevin's adventures in Vice…
The 12th precinct became her home, and Espo, Ryan and Lanie became her family. Protecting the New York citizens was her duty and catching her mother's murderer was her mission.
How things have changed… And she has yet to figure out whether it was for the better or for worse.
AN: And I'm back! Thanks for the support!