AN: Good news guys, I finished my assignment! Pretty excited about that. Starting the next one tomorrow, haha. Gee, uni is fun sometimes. However, I'm going to start working on the next chapter ASAP so it should be up soon. To my consistent reviewers, thank you so much! I have a tendency to never finish stories that I start writing but thanks to your encouragement I'm sticking with this one – I promise it will end someday ;)

Chapter Nineteen

This was certainly shaping up to be one of the more unconventional interrogations that she'd played a part in.

"Stop!" Tessa screeched in frustration as Beckett sidled closer to Castle. She began to rub her hands over her face, moaning in frustration, muttering under her breath. "He didn't say it would end up like this. He said it would work. He said I would get to be Mrs Castle. He said that Nikki Heat would lose. It's not fair." She started to weep in earnest, the flow of words becoming incomprehensible. Castle and Beckett exchanged a look of confusion, they didn't need to vocalise it to know they were asking the same question – he said? Who was he? Beckett's initial reaction was to assume it was part of Tessa's delusion, an imaginary friend for the insane. If "someone" had told her to do it, then she could justify it to herself. It made sense. At this rate it looked like Tessa would have no problem getting off with an insanity plea. Castle, however, didn't jump to same assumption. He'd spent enough time with Tessa over the past couple of days to know that she didn't have a persuasive imaginary friend – not one that she conversed with outside of her head anyway.

As much as he loved the feel of Beckett pressed against him, he could see that Tessa clearly couldn't handle it, and if they were going to get anywhere with this interview it seemed like he needed to get Tessa back on side. He pushed Beckett gently away from him, gesturing with his hand to back off a little. He sat down opposite Tessa and cleared his throat, trying to pull her attention back to him. Beckett moved to the back of the room, arms crossed, watching intently. She looked tightly wound and ready to spring into action if Tessa so much as breathed in Castle's direction. Despite the serious attitude the situation warranted, Castle felt the urge to grin at the picture of protective Beckett guarding him with her all. When it came down to it, it was insanely hot.

"Who, Tessa? Who told you that you would get to be Mrs Castle?" He prompted gently. Her sobs gradually subsided into sniffles and she glanced up at him from under wet eyelids, lifting her hands from her face.

"Man," she choked out, her voice thick with emotion. She fell back into hysterical muttering. Castle caught snatches of it, something about it being wrong and not working out according to plan. Personally, Castle was incredibly glad it hadn't worked out to plan. He didn't want to imagine what else was part of the twisted plan that he had been lucky enough to evade thanks to Beckett's rescue.

"A man?" Castle clarified. "What's his name?"

"Dun…no…" she wailed.

"You don't know," Castle sighed. She shook her head, tears tracking messy lines down her face. "What did he tell you to do? Where did you meet him?" He was exploding with questions, his bit on his tongue to suppress them from all rushing out and overwhelming the already hysterical woman in front of him. He found himself getting pulled in by the story once again; he was excited by the idea that there was more to it than just a crazy housewife. Tessa continued to sob; she didn't seem unwilling to answer Castle's questions, just unable to in the condition she was currently in. Castle took a chance, turned to Beckett. "Can you get her some water?" he asked softly. She shook her head ferociously; there was no way in hell she was leaving Castle alone in a room with this lunatic. Castle fought a smile at her reaction. He gestured over her shoulder at the observation room behind the mirror and Beckett nodded her agreement. She tapped her fingers on the glass.

X-X-X-X-X-X

"Not it," the words rushed from Esposito's mouth as Castle gestured to the observation room.

"Not it," Ryan echoed. Lanie rolled her eyes.

"You are such children. Seriously."

"What?" Esposito whined. "I just don't want to miss a second of this; it's just way too interesting."

"Besides, we should be here in case something goes wrong and they need the backup," Ryan chimed in. Lanie laughed.

"You really think Beckett and Castle couldn't handle one middle-aged woman if she got aggressive? Imma tell her you said that. You're both so dead."

"Aren't you meant to be getting water?" Esposito replied with a cheeky grin. Lanie smacked him gently across the back of the head.

"Fine," she said with a sigh as she made her way to the door. "But, if I miss anything good…" she trailed off, leaving the boys to fill in the threat themselves.

X-X-X-X-X-X

There was a soft tap on the door and Beckett answered it, her brow furrowing in confusion as Lanie's face came into view.

"What?" Lanie whispered. "You're not leaving me out of the loop this time," she added with a wink. Beckett softened, offering her friend a small smile.

"Thanks," she murmured taking the water from her.

"You know I'm here for you, girl."

"I meant thanks for the water, not you crashing my interrogation," she smirked. Lanie grinned and disappeared from view pulling the door shut.

Having caught much of their hushed conversation despite Tessa's sobs Castle mentally rolled his eyes, biting back a grin. Lanie was good for Beckett; she was good for all of them. Beckett gently placed the cup of water on the table before hesitantly pulling back to the corner of the room. She brushed Castle's arm as she drew her back, he shivered at her touch. Tessa missed the exchange still weeping ardently into her hands, but Beckett noticed and Castle could practically feel her smirk burning a hole in the back of his head. Her lingering gaze reminded him of the dull throb that was still echoing through his head from the stitched wound and he sighed. Head wounds were not his idea of a good time. Best case scenario, he ended up with a cool scar for all this pain. He pushed the water across the table until it nudged Tessa's forearm. She grudgingly lifted her head from her hands and shaking, took the offered beverage. She drank breathily, her sobs subsiding as her focus shifted to the task at hand – drinking without choking. Castle waited until she'd finished her drink and taken a few more deep breaths.

"What did the man tell you to do?" he inquired gently. She shook her head enthusiastically. "Okay… Can you tell me where you met him then?"

"Mmmhmm. Book club," she shakily replied.

"Book club?" Castle echoed, confused.

"Yeah…" She paused for a moment, calming gradually with each breath she drew. Her speech was much more coherent as she began again. "The Richard Castle book club, New York chapter. We meet every couple of months," she shrugged. "People get it there, how we're meant to be together. This one man, he really got it. He told me that I should stop talking about how you were my soul mate and make it happen." She stopped, smiled at Castle through her tear-laden eyes. "He was nice to me. He really believed I could do it. He joked about taking you, just…just to prove it to you, how much I love you. I guess it took it as a challenge." Castle was silent as he digested the information. Why on earth had a stranger prompted Tessa to kidnap him? It was nonsensical.

"Why?" he didn't fully realise he'd spoken to word out loud until Tessa replied with arched eyebrows.

"He really hated your Nikki Heat detective. Like I do. Another thing we had in common," she smirked. Castle fought back a grimace. "He helped me plan it all. He gave me the anaesthetic I used to knock you out. He told me, the best way to get to someone was to hurt the people that they loved. That's why he helped me do it. That's why he had the idea."

"Tessa," Castle pleaded. "You need to tell me his name." He meant it. If there was someone, someone else, out there who wanted to hurt Beckett he had to know. He had to stop this man. It was suddenly immensely more important to him to solve this case. Taking into account the importance he already placed on bringing justice to this particular case the revelation was significant. What if it was someone who was connected to Joanna Beckett's murder? He focused all his attention back on Tessa, hoping she could read the desperation in his eyes. The need to know.

"No, I don't want to," Tessa shook her head menacingly. "He's the only one who understands. He helped me." Beckett could clearly see that Castle was getting further interrogating Tessa than she had been, but she was becoming increasingly frustrated by the slow progression of the conversation. Someone was out to get her, through Castle. The thought was unbearable. She needed a name. She had brought this on Castle, it was all her fault. It seemed much simpler when it was merely Castle's ruggedly handsome disposition that had gotten him into this mess. She debating whether to take control of the interrogation once again, shifting forward slightly and promptly freezing where she stood as Castle's voice cut into her thoughts.

"Please," Castle implored. "I need to know his name." Tessa debated it, her eyes flicking from Castle to the table beneath her hands over and over.

"No," she said, less insistently this time. "I don't want to," she added with a whine. Castle's need to solve the case overpowered his revulsion as he leant towards Tessa and took her hand gingerly in his. A low inaudible hiss escaped from Beckett's lips at the gesture. Castle beseeched Tessa with his eyes, holding her gaze as he softly continued –

"We made vows this morning, Mrs Castle. I need one thing from you. I need you to tell me this man's name. Then we can be happy. It will all be over." The grin that lit up Tessa's face was infectious – mad cow disease in Beckett's surly opinion – and she wrapped her free hand around the one that Castle was already holding.

"Oh darling. I knew you'd come round." She peppered his hand with kisses. Castle fought nausea as he pulled her hand to his mouth and kissed it gently in return. He couldn't bring himself to catch Beckett's eye though he could feel her staring intently at him. He focused himself on Tessa, the madwoman beaming at him, her tears forgotten. "We're going to be so happy together," she sighed contently, gazing lovingly at him.

"We are," Castle agreed – externally anyway. "The name?" he reminded her gently.

"Oh, yes, yes. His name was Peter Dunnings," she smiled, eyes still locked on Castle's. Beckett gasped.

"That's not possible," she breathily drew out.