AN: You guys give really useful feedback, it's awesome! In regards to the lack of Martha and Gates, you're right – bit of an oversight there on my behalf, just kind of got caught up in the story and forgot about them. I've attempted to bring them back into the story with this chapter. In regards to my characterisation of Gates, I haven't watched the past three episodes yet (kill me now) so if anything doesn't match up with how Gates treats Beckett, Castle and the rest of the gang, my bad.

Chapter Eleven

Castle turned his head to see a middle-aged man and was shocked to find him strangely familiar.

The man surveyed the room before him and let out a guttural moan.

"You adulterous whore," he snarled at the madwoman. In that moment, recognition dawned on Castle and the blood drained from his face. If he was in considerable danger before, he was in imminent danger now. The man storming into the room growling at the madwoman – who was cowering against the wall in fear – was an aged version of the groom from the wedding video. If the man's entrance statement was anything to go by, Castle would hazard to guess that the madwoman had told a tiny white lie and she was still married.

"What are you even doing here?" The madwoman asked timidly.

"How dare you!" he spat out. "I'm here because my wife is cheating on me. My wedding ring was missing this morning and I came home from work for lunch to find some disturbing pictures on our computer." He was livid, his expression wild and his fists clenching and unclenching at his side. "Now I catch you playing some sort of weird bondage game with this guy!" He gestured jerkily at Castle. He reached deep into his coat pocket and pulled out a gun. "I'm not going to stand for it!" He thundered. "You're not allowed to leave me." Castle wasn't sure silence was his best option any longer.

"Listen, if you just untie me, I swear I'll never come near your wife again. Just let me go home to my family," he pleaded with the man before him. Anger flashed across the man's face. He drew his face closer to Castle's.

"How dare you!" He snapped. The madwoman mumbled something incoherent, glancing desperately at Castle. He didn't know why, he really wasn't in a position to do anything for either of them. God, this was it. He was going to die. He remembered the image on the t-shirt he was wearing and suddenly wished he was naked; it would have been preferable given the circumstances. His attire could not be helping his case in the slightest – then again, naked probably wouldn't do him any favours either.

"Don't hurt him!" The madwoman was hysterical now; she had moved towards her actual husband and was caressing his arm pleadingly. The man roared and raised his free hand to slap her across the face. She stumbled back and fell to the floor, loud sobs erupting from her and she wrapped her head in her hands and lay in a crumpled mess on the concrete. Castle was terrified as the man turned to him.

"It is an unforgiveable sin to lust after another man's wife," he asserted slowly, controlled in his anger – it panicked Castle more. Uncontrollable rage was one thing, but calm and in control was another thing altogether. Castle got the distinct impression that this wasn't the first time he had laid a hand on his wife. He didn't display any signs of remorse, just glared between his wife and Castle with disgust.

Castle's mind drifted to Alexis. The possibility of danger had caused him to dwell on Beckett and if they'd missed their opportunity for happiness – but the possibility of actually dying, he couldn't draw his mind away from his precious daughter. He was so proud of the woman she was growing into. Surely she would be fine without him; he just desperately hoped she wouldn't fall down the same deep, dark rabbit-hole as Beckett. He wouldn't wish that on anyone. He pondered how he would have been different if his own mother had died while he had been a teen. He certainly wouldn't have been the same young man. It would have been an incredibly dark time; he understood how Jim Beckett had learnt to depend on alcohol to dull his emotions. Castle knew with certainty that he had to get home to Alexis – whether or not he actually could, now that was another story.

The man was watching Castle just sit there, he hadn't attempted to defend himself, he hadn't attempted anything and he found it infuriating. "You gonna say something, buddy?" He drawled, flickers of spit falling from his lips and onto Castle's face, reminding Castle just how close the proximity was between them. He shook his head slowly, once, twice, and the man was further enraged. He raised the gun in his hand and slammed the butt of it into the side of Castle's head – with feeling. The last thought in Castle's mind before he lapsed into a state of unconsciousness was a memory of watching Beckett and Alexis chat animatedly after the bank hostage case and the feeling of being completely content that had coursed through him at their exchange.

"Kate…" slipped from his lips, barely a whisper, as he passed out.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Beckett grinned quickly at Ryan.

"Back to the precinct then," she threw over her shoulder, already stepping into her car. The boys took off down the street immediately. "Alexis, you're a genius," Beckett said, holding up Castle's phone. "We may not have found your Dad yet, but if this thing has prints on it, should make it a hell of a lot easier to track down whoever's holding him. I didn't even think to call it," she mentally admonished herself for that one.

"Uh, I'm glad you think I'm a genius… You may not once we get back to the station…" she paused, rubbing her hand along the back of her neck. Beckett waited for her to continue. "I was supposed to call Gram and check in, let her know what was going on, but I got so caught up in worrying about Dad and trying to solve the case that I kind of forgot. So Gram called the precinct and they put her on to, uh, Captain Gates," Alexis admitted softly. Beckett groaned. She forgotten to call Gates, she'd kind of just hoped Castle would show up and they wouldn't have had to let Gates know about the whole situation at all. It wasn't so much forgetting to call her, as deliberately choosing not to – apparently not her brightest idea. She just didn't want to put up with Gates banging on about how Castle wasn't a cop and had brought it upon himself – she was the only one was allowed to remind Castle that he wasn't a cop, and that was always in an endearing sort of way these days. Alexis let her absorb the information before continuing. "So now, Gates is at the precinct with Gram, and Gram said something about her burning a hole into the floor in front of the murder-board with her pacing."

"Crap," Beckett interjected. "God, I hope I get to keep my job. Not that it really matters, finding your Dad is what's important. Still, we better get back there, ASAP."

Ryan and Esposito beat her and Alexis back to the precinct. Although, Beckett had delayed the trip to the homicide department slightly by dropping Castle's phone off to Ryan's friend in forensics. She found the boys with grim expressions being berated by a frustrated Gates.

"…I've come to expect this kind of disregard for authority from Beckett and Castle, but not from you two. You need to get your priorities straight. Something like this comes in, you call me pronto. No excuses. It's not even our case – this is a homicide department for crying out loud. Has the man been murdered?" Alexis let out a strangled gasp at her words, startling Gates to their presence. She paused, took in Alexis and remembered that Martha was behind her, lips pursed looking anxious. Her expression softened and she turned to Beckett. "Listen, I'm not mad about you all looking for Castle. I get it, he's part of your team, and if you ever tell him this you will face desk duty indefinitely – the man has a big enough ego as it is – I actually don't mind him being here. He's good for your team. What I do mind is that even after that incident with the tiger last month, you and your team still fail to let me know what's going on. I need to be in the loop, that's all there is to it. If I'm not in the loop then you all are not in the precinct – got it?" Beckett got it.

"Yes, Sir. I'm sorry, Sir. We just got caught up in the case. I know it's no excuse, but…" she trailed off. Ryan jumped in.

"It won't happen again, Sir."

"We found Castle's phone. Beckett took it to forensics. All we know so far is that Castle is being held hostage by a woman who's contacted Beckett to tell her to back off," Esposito was speaking to Martha as much as Gates. He turned to her more directly, "would you like a cup of tea, Martha?" The woman shook her head, much more interested in the exchange between the detectives. Gates took a step towards Beckett.

"Detective, I know I don't always shower Castle with affection but I'm on his side, okay? We'll bring him back safe so that he can continue to annoy us with his presence," her tone was gentler then before and she cautiously raised a hand to pat Beckett's shoulder. She turned to Alexis, "Miss Castle I presume? I'm Captain Gates as I'm sure you know. We're going to make this case the department's top priority – after all, one of our own is missing." Beckett was shocked to be seeing the softer side of Gates, she knew it was there, but she seldom was permitted to witness it. She found it heartening given the circumstances. Gates wasn't going to fire them, she was going to help them – it drew a soft sigh from Beckett to know that it seemed Castle's position at the precinct wasn't likely to be rescinded anytime in the near future with Gates silently backing him from behind the scenes.