AN: Well, that was fun. I do so love it when I have a nice cliff hanger for you all. Lucky I update so quickly ;) On that note, I'm about to update less quickly, something about an assignment that's due on Friday that I've been neglecting.

Chapter Thirty-Five

It sounded like a woman weeping, bitterly.

Beckett was hysterical. She was practically hyperventilating. It was exceedingly difficult to cry wrenching sobs without taking jagged breaths. She was fairly determined not to breathe, but her heart was breaking and she couldn't control the tears taking control of her body.

"Oh relax," Dunnings drawled, revelling in his moment. "From my extensive online research – Wikipedia is reputable, right? – I'm pretty sure that if I shock him again, he'll be just peachy. It's not much fun if he dies this early into it." As if to prove his point he drew the paddles onto Castle's chest once again, "clear!" he exclaimed, clearly amused. Castle's heart jolted back to life, albeit with a slightly irregular rhythm but a heartbeat all the same. Beckett continued to weep, relief shining through on her tear streaked face. "Fancy that," Dunnings declared. "Wonder what happens if I do it again?" he mused. Beckett didn't want to find out. Castle's heart may have restarted but his eyes were still scrunched tightly shut and she was sure he was unconscious. She was certain he wouldn't survive another shock, his heart was strong, but he was anything but indestructible.

The door swung open with a bang, Alexis' eyes wide with shock at the sight before her.

"No!" she screamed in earnest, shoving Dunnings and the raised paddles away from her father. He shifted back slightly on the balls of his feet, clearly not that affected by the spitfire of a child in front of him.

"This just got so much better," he chuckled menacingly, dropping the paddles to the floor and picking up the bloodied scalpel from earlier. He moved towards Alexis, she stood her ground for a moment, before Beckett pleaded with her –

"Alexis. Move. Run. You have to leave now."

"Oh no, no one is going anywhere," Dunnings growled. "See that chair in the corner," he gestured with the blade, coming much too close to Alexis' cheek for Beckett's liking. "Sit. Make yourself comfortable. You're in for some fun." Alexis shot Beckett a wary glance before retreating to the corner. Dunnings followed her. "Hold still sweet thing. I'm going to have to tie you to the chair, just in case you go getting some crazy ideas. But don't worry, I'm very glad you joined us," he leered. Beckett felt sick. She needed to protect Alexis. Dunnings was out to get people she cared about. She had to show him that she didn't care about Alexis. It was the only logical way to save her. She lied through her teeth as Dunnings deftly secured Alexis to the chair, binding her wrists and her ankles to the cool metal bars of the simplistic chair.

"You don't need her here," Beckett declared fiercely. "She's nothing to me. She's just an annoying kid who keeps getting in the way." Alexis' eyes stung with tears, whether they were angry or sad she couldn't tell, all she did know was that she was furious and heartbroken all in that instance. She may hate Beckett a little bit for the trouble she'd continually brought into her father's life, but she also wasn't above admitting that she loved and admired the woman. Now she didn't know what to feel anymore. It hurt, more than she cared to give credence to. She turned her gaze on her father, whose face was pinched tight in pain, unmoving and silent.

Dunnings rolled his eyes with dramatic flair.

"Very nice, Detective, but I'm not convinced. The kid appears to have bought your lies, me? Not so gullible. You can't protect her…Just like I couldn't protect my brother. What a coincidence," he snarled, his face contorting with the weight of his words. Alexis was almost ashamed by the tumbling of relief that coursed through her, Beckett was only trying to protect her, she didn't mean the hurtful declarations she had made. The guilt that overtook her was expected, how should she feel relieved when her father was unconscious before her? She needed a reality check. The force of all the emotions running through her was overwhelming. She was close to forgetting how to breathe.

"Alexis, I'm sorry," Beckett drew out brokenly, still a sobbing mess. The situation just kept getting worse. There was no way on earth she could deal with Dunnings torturing Alexis as well. Dunnings was apparently thinking the same thing. He had just the idea in mind to truly break Beckett once and for all. Tough as she was, she was not going to sustain her sanity after this.

"Let's play a little game," he drawled with a twisted grin. "Detective Beckett, I'm going to slit the throat of a member of the Castle family, the fun part? You get to choose. So who will it be, the father or the daughter?"

X-X-X-X-X-X

Ryan and Esposito were back in the cruiser without so much as a goodbye to the cab driver. Sirens blazing Esposito navigated his way through the New York traffic, ignoring all conventional road rules and practically mounting the gutter to get around the cars in front of him. Ryan was matching his intensity, desperately calling everyone he could think of. Dispatch put him onto the uniformed officer who was on protective duty of Beckett and Castle's hospital room. The uniform didn't pick up. That was sufficiently alarming. If they weren't such well-trained, cool-headed police officers it would have sent them spinning in panic. Well, more panic than they were currently experiencing. Ryan phoned the hospital.

"Listen, it's Kevin Ryan of the NYPD I need the immediate status of two of your patients, Detective Katherine Beckett and Richard Castle," he growled down the line.

"According to the system they're both stable and in their room," the nurse replied lazily, clearly not one to be hassled by police bluntness verging on rudeness.

"I'm going to need someone to check and confirm that," Ryan gritted out through clenched teeth. "Now," he demanded.

"Very well," the nurse replied briskly. Ryan heard her direct a nearby intern to the room with a gruff order to be prompt. After barely a minute had passed the intern was back. "Ah, there's no one there," the nurse relayed.

"So the patients are unaccounted for?" Ryan groaned angrily.

"It's nothing to worry about I'm sure. One of the interns probably just took them for a test or something. We're very busy at the moment, sometimes there's a little bit of miscommunication that goes on," she muttered dismissively.

"You mean you're busy and patients slip through the cracks!" Ryan retorted bitterly, before hanging up. His next call was to Gates.

"Sir. We have a problem. Dunnings was dropped at the hospital be a cab this morning. Castle and Beckett are missing from their hospital room," he admitted fearfully.

"I'm on my way," Gates declared and Ryan could hear her moving from her desk and hurrying down the stairs, shouting orders at uniforms to get to the hospital. "We can assume that it would have been difficult for Dunnings to move them from the hospital. I'd guess that they're still in the facility somewhere." Ryan found himself nodding along.

"Yes Sir, that makes sense. We're almost at the hospital. We'll see you shortly," he replied.

"Good," Gates asserted. "Be careful," she added, with a tone that almost bordered on concerned.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Dunnings was enjoying this development to his revenge plot immensely. Beckett's face was contorted in pain.

"No," she whimpered.

"Oh c'mon," Dunnings grinned. "At least mull over the options. I kill the girl and you and your true love here can start over, try for a family of your own. Of course there'll always be that little part of him who will loathe you letting his baby die. But I'm sure it'll fester away into nothing much, raging alcoholism or the like," he paused, revelling in the heartbroken expressions of the women in the room. "Or, there's the alternative. You choose death for Castle and then you and the kid get to be your own little unconventional family, drawn together by grief, that could be fun as well. Decisions, decisions."

"No," Beckett repeated, her voice stronger, insistent. "Never."

"You're going to have to decide," Dunnings crooned joyfully. "Otherwise I'll probably just end up killing them both and we can't have that. You really don't want both of their deaths on your conscious."

"Beckett, save my Dad," Alexis wept, her eyes raw and her tone hopeless. "You can be happy together," she insisted, her voice thick with emotion.

"No," Beckett growled. "You really think your Dad would ever be happy again if anything happened to you? Neither of us would survive it if anything happened to you!" Alexis' sobbing intensified. Beckett turned her glare on Dunnings, intense and strong. "Can't you just kill me? Let Alexis and Castle go and you can kill me in any slow, torturous way that you desire." Dunnings just shook his head, tight lipped.

"No, no, Detective," he admonished with a casual wave of his finger. "I gave you your options. You're running out of time," he glanced at his watch. "In one minute, I'll decide for you and let me assure you, it won't be pretty. Tick-tock, times a running out."

X-X-X-X-X-X

Esposito slammed the cruiser to a stop in the ambulance bay of the hospital and the partners plunged from the car and into the hospital. Martha and Jim watched with matching shocked expressions as the pair stormed through the waiting room without so much a glance in their direction.

"That can't be good," Jim muttered, raising to his feet and pulling Martha up with him.

"Alexis still hasn't come back from the restroom," Martha mentioned worriedly. "What on earth is going on?"

"Hmm, you better stay here, she's been gone a while, she'll probably be back soon. I'll see what Ryan and Esposito are up to. I'll let you know," Jim said as he released Martha's hand and made his way towards the corridor that the detectives had sprinted down.

"Okay," Martha agreed weakly, sinking back into her chair.

The boys wasted no time scanning the hospital room that Castle and Beckett were supposed to be occupying. It took them less time than Alexis to notice the renovated wing of the hospital near the room and surmise that it would be an ideal location for a sociopath to conduct his latest vicious experiment. They heard crying and high-strung voices and knew that they had made the right call. Esposito pulled the door open to find Dunnings leaning over Castle's unconscious body, a scalpel in his hand, positioned just above Castle's throat. He had seen enough.

"Alexis! Close your eyes," he bellowed as he drew his gun and shot Dunnings through the chest. It was a good shot, the close range allowed for death to be instantaneous. Dunnings slipped to the floor, blood pooling around him. He turned his gaze on Alexis, the girl had heeded his advice, her eyes were screwed tightly shut, tears running down her face, breathing straggled as she sobbed. Beckett was in no better shape, her eyes were wide and filled with tears. Neither Esposito nor Ryan had ever seen her look so terrified.

"It's over," Ryan said gently, moving to untie Alexis from the chair. "You're okay. You're all okay." Esposito moved to untie Beckett.

"Castle," she hissed. "Castle. Is he okay? He…" she couldn't finish, the tears were too much, words escaped her, she continued to weep bitterly, her chest heaving as she struggled to breathe through the sobs. Esposito heeded her, turning his attention to Castle instead.

"He's breathing, he has a steady pulse. He's just passed out," he told Beckett in a hushed tone. "Let's get you all out of here. I think you need a hospital," he attempted a joke, trying to break the tension somewhat. Ryan managed a tight smile, but that was it. The women in the room were too exhausted from the emotional turmoil to smile. Beckett didn't know if she was going to be able to smile for a while yet. Definitely not until Castle could. They really were two halves of the same whole.

Additional AN: To White Pawn, I appreciate your constructive criticism as much as I appreciate your flattery ;) I wrote this chapter before I read your review though… Hope you like it all the same.