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Gone
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Chapter Eight
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How far can you travel to find what is gone? AU after Boom (2x18).
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"Are you ready to do this?" Rick attempts to keep his voice low and steady, the approaching footsteps the cue they've been waiting for all morning, but with them comes a moment of doubt.
This will either work or blow up in their faces spectacularly.
"We've gone over it a hundred times, Castle. It'll be fine."
He nods in the low light of their cell, because she's right, they did. Last night, once they'd stopped kissing - God only knows why they'd stopped, because he's still coming up empty - they'd lain on the lumpy mattress, carefully not touching as they threw around one ludicrous idea after the other, before moving on to search their bags for anything to help, until they'd decided on this, the least insane option of the bunch.
Really, it was the only one Beckett would agree to.
She faces forward, her gaze locked on the door, her fingers drumming against her jeans, the material molded ever so perfectly over her thighs, and his eyes refuse to move, the rhythm hypnotic.
Her movements, however, give away just how nervous she is under the cool, calm armor that she wears so well.
Almost as well as those jeans.
The door of the cell smacks against the wall as it opens too fast, the sound a signal to his heart, which beats a little harder, a little faster, at what lies ahead.
"Come. You two. Now." The Uzi swings as it always does, pointing at the door as the man stands rigid by the exit, and Castle inhales quietly through his nose.
He sucks up all his courage as he pictures Alexis lying in her own cell today, on his birthday. At least if he dies within the next sixteen hours or so, he'll have room on his headstone for the more vital things.
Like how he loved the important people in his life.
"No. No, we're not going with you until we see my daughter."
He flings an arm around Kate's shoulders, tucking her close to his side, just in case their current escort decides his first move is to attack her. But he doesn't, just stands there, the slits in his black mask shadowing his eyes as they dart between them and the door.
"Come. Now."
Taking a step forward, Castle narrows his eyes, tries to look as menacing as possible. It's not that difficult considering everything they have been through since that night in the loft, from the moment his daughter's phone started ringing on the floor outside their front door.
He's sick of being the victim, reacting instead of instigating; it's time to bring the fight to these assholes.
"No." He continues moving until he's almost nose to - hidden - nose with their kidnapper. "I. Want. To. See. My. Daughter."
He straightens his shoulders as Beckett moves behind him, and, stiffening his spine, he keeps his stare unwavering - hopefully - concealing what she's doing back there.
Beginning step two of their plan, as he takes care of step one.
"C-ome." The command stutters its way out from behind the hood, and whatever, or whoever is assisting them in the Universe today, seems to have given them a young, and not so confident member, of the Mexican group.
Kate's hand brushes against his side, her fingers caressing the ladder of his ribs as she signals that she's finished filling and taping the hole on their cell's doorframe.
With any luck she's been successful in preventing the locking mechanism from working completely.
"Is she here?" He grabs for his partner as he strides into the corridor, turning away from the left that they usually travel along. "Is Alexis down here?"
He lets go of Beckett and starts banging on each door, attempts to get a response from inside one. His actions are almost identical to yesterday's, except he's not expecting any to open, nor will this end in an impromptu make-out session with Beckett.
Unfortunately.
"No. No. Come. This way. Come."
Not fucking likely.
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Kate shuffles through the dark on the right hand side of the corridor, Castle loud and vocal on her left as he goes door to door. She's doing the same, although it's slower going now they can't see where they're headed, but she listens.
And hears nothing.
Their plan depends on Alexis now, on her making some kind of noise, alerting them to whichever door she is behind, but as the sound of shouts and thundering feet come closer, Kate fights against the panic.
Fuck, they're going to fail.
"Dad?"
Breaking into a run, she doesn't check behind her. Castle will have either heard the cry himself, or sense her rapid movement - his ability to read her mind proven only a few short weeks ago - and while this isn't the same as interpreting her facial expressions and having a good guess, he knows her.
Likes her.
Maybe even loves her?
She shoves a lid firmly on that thought as she slams her palm against the door two up from where she'd been previously. There's a pause, dead silence, and her hope that Alexis is here teeters on the edge.
"Dad?"
"Alexis!" Kate's cry mixes with Castle's as they plead as one, except he's not there, not beside her, and she pivots back the way they'd come as she reaches for the cold, metal doorknob.
Her stare into the dark corridor sees nothing but black.
"Let me go. Let me see my daughter."
Shit.
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He thrashes hard against the hands and arms wrapped around his shoulders and torso, struggles as he squints into the abyss that holds Alexis and Kate. They're so close - even if his daughter is behind a solid door of steel - so close to where they need to be…
It's time for step three and the biggest risk their plan has.
"I did what you want. And I'll do it again. I just need to see my daughter first. I need to see Alexis."
He continues the skirmish with the men who try to hold him back from shifting further along the corridor. They have no chance though; he's a parent without his child, and he drags them all two feet closer before someone starts tugging on his hair.
As precious as it is, the strands can be ripped from his scalp for all he cares at this point.
Alexis calls his name again, and it spurs him on, his vision adjusting to the gloom as he spots Beckett's silhouette only a yard or so ahead.
"I'm here, Alexis. It's okay, pumpkin. I'm here."
"Enough!"
The familiar, commanding shrill of their head captor stops all sound, halts all movement from those around them, and Castle takes their hesitation and runs with it, breaking free of their hold.
He reaches Beckett's side as a bullet lodges itself two inches from his head and into the brick wall.
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"Don't do anything stupid, Mr. Castle. Anything stupider."
Kate wraps her fingers around her partner's forearm just in case that's his next move. He doesn't venture forward though, instead uncurls her grip and creates his own around her shoulders as he brings her to his chest. Even with the situation spiraling out of control, she can't think of anywhere else she'd rather be than here by his side, fighting for Alexis.
Her reluctance to begin this slippery slope of crazy was never about not wanting to be with them.
She'd just hoped to avoid moments like this.
"Depends what your definition of stupid is?" Castle asks, and she closes her eyes. The plan is to get inside Alexis' cell, not inside a coffin.
Their captors give a chuckle from behind their masks and above them the lights flicker on, naked bulbs creating shadows that show this part of the corridor appears the same as their half.
And that it seems to go on for miles. Great.
"Trying to escape would be on that list, Mr. Castle." The head of operations takes a step toward them, his hands empty as he loosely crosses his arms over his stomach, his confidence in the situation dripping from his posture.
His hood conceals his expression.
"We're not. I just want to see Alexis. It's my birthday and it went to my head, and…" Castle trails off as he drops his shoulders, angling away and to the door that separates him from his daughter, listing his forehead onto the metal. "I just wanted to see my baby girl."
Alexis sobs from the other side, a guttered "Dad," that she repeats over and over, and if Kate wasn't aware of how terrified Castle's daughter must be, in the dark about what's happening out here, she would applaud the way their plan is moving forward.
"Please. I just need to see her."
There's no response, and it stretches on and on, Alexis' muffled cries the only sound.
"One minute. One minute, sí. But any stupidity and you'll remember this day for a very different reason."
She nods, sliding from the warmth of Castle's embrace, his arms holding her for a beat longer than they should, but this is the plan, and she has to move away.
The cold tentacle of fear that replaces his hold sends a shiver down her spine, goosebumps breaking out along the skin of her forearms, and she tugs the material of his - borrowed - sweater down and over her fingers, dropping her head as she slides out of the way.
A hooded man strolls forward, keys rattling in his hands, and she dares not breathe, not move, as he unlocks the door, opening it wide for Castle to rush in.
He's not alone though, five of their captors follow him inside, the footsteps loud and foreboding as Alexis dissolves into continuous sobs.
But Kate doesn't shift to see the reunion, doesn't join in on the death grip that is no doubt their hug. Peering up without moving her head, she studies the main captor, wills him forward and into the cell.
He's their biggest threat.
"Time's up, Mr. Castle."
Her heart shatters with his command, she's still three feet from the door, the scrunched up balls of paper and gum still hidden in the sweater, their plan unraveling, and she swallows her own sob clawing its way up her throat.
Alexis' screams cut through her fear, Castle's shouts breaking her apart, and she lunges for the door.
The muzzle of an Uzi stopping her progression.
"Stay."
If it were any other time she would fight back, tell this son of a bitch where he can take his weapon and which hole he can shove it up, but she's ended up exactly where she needs to be, and she turns away from the scene, falling dramatically onto the side of the doorframe.
She shoves the pieces of paper into the small space in the center of the strike plate, fills the hole that - should - prevent the latch from entering when they close the door, sealing it all in with the piece of scotch tape that she'd stuck to her father's watch.
Sometimes the world falls apart at your feet.
But sometimes your partner packs everything.
And then you just have to find the silver lining and run with it.
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Thank you to my wonderful cheerleaders xoxo
Thank you for reading xoxo