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Gone
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Chapter Eleven
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How far can you travel to find what is gone? AU after Boom (2x13).
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Rick stumbles and his daughter tugs on his elbow, tripping with him as he mistimes his step. The dark of the never-ending corridor hides them, but it also conceals the uneven floor underfoot. But they have no choice, they have to keep going forward; their captors are somewhere behind them and by their shouts of rage, they've discovered their leader shot dead in the main room.
Shit.
Pissed off men with guns are hardly going to help the situation.
Shifting his sideways hold on Beckett - God forbid she let herself be picked up and carried - he squeezes gently, reassuring himself that she's here and okay, if more than a little banged up.
They're moving, and as long as they continue, they have a chance.
"What's that?" Alexis' grip tightens, her voice trembling. The anguish that she's experienced appears to have rocked her back into childhood, the gap between them never more than an inch, and the quiver in her tone is replicated in her body, her shoulder thumping into his bicep.
"It's nothing. If we keep moving forward, we'll be fine." He hopes his words sound reassuring, because each breath is a strain, the fear coiling around his chest with every second they linger here.
"No. What's that?" She lifts a finger, shaky but straight ahead, pointing to the thin crack of light in the distance.
"Oh, I see it too," Beckett agrees, and he almost releases his grip. The shock that she can focus on anything considering the blood congealing on her face and the dirt matted in her hair stops his shuffle out of their hell.
"Keep going, Dad. I think it's a door."
He just hopes it's a way out.
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Castle's managed to shove the door open two inches but it's not enough. Large circular shadows on the other side seem to halt any further movement, and Kate shifts closer to his hip, positioning herself next to him.
"I can do this, Beckett."
She would roll her eyes if she could - she can't, her mind is already sloshing around up there - and tell him to cut the macho crap, but as she goes to open her lips, her tongue pushing through the metallic cotton wool that has sprouted inside her mouth since she'd knocked her head on the concrete, she meets Castle's gaze.
"Alexis." He whispers his daughter's name, peering to where she stands. While it takes twice as long as it should, Kate turns, understanding what he's saying.
One very scared, lonely teenager hovers three feet back, arms wrapped tight around her abdomen, her skin glowing white in the sliver of sunlight streaming through the - kind of - open door.
"Hey, are you doing okay there?"
"Shouldn't I be asking you that, Detective Beckett? You look like-" Alexis' eyes grow wider, the unfinished sentence coming to life between them…
Crap?
Hell?
Like she was beaten to a pulp and left to bleed out on a dirty, cold floor?
"You don't look that good."
Kate huffs out a laugh, although the cut slicing through her top lip smarts with the action. She has to give Alexis points for trying, her tact a trait that seems to have skipped a generation.
"I'm-" Oh, now that she stands still and takes stock of the situation, her ribs are on fire, her left shoulder rotated too far to slide back into its socket properly, and her head is going to snap off and roll along the corridor, back toward their kidnappers. "I'm fine."
"You're not fine, Kate." Castle scoffs from behind. "But we have freedom."
She pivots, the door unmoved, and she lifts an eyebrow. Well she tries, but it doesn't arc much.
"Uh, Castle…"
"Give me a sec-"
Bright, white light floods the corridor, and she grabs for Alexis' hand, pulling the girl through the gap as fast as she can, Castle on their heels. If those in pursuit didn't know where they were before, this is one giant clue.
"What do we do now?" Alexis pulls herself free from Kate's hold, a hesitant scuff of her feet moving her away from the door now it's been slammed shut behind them.
"We get out of here, pumpkin."
"We get to an American embassy." Kate chases Castle's thought with her own, not that she has any idea where the embassy in Mexico City is.
Hell, she really has no notion where they are in this city.
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They've exchanged a narrow corridor for a narrow alleyway, and wherever they are heading - home would be good - they should start that way now.
"How about we get moving, and work out the details once we have some miles between us and the assho- nasty men behind us." Catching himself before the profanity slips out - habit is habit - he reaches for Kate, hooking his arm around her waist.
She's not doing that well at hiding the sway to her stance, and while he earns a glare for his chivalry, she doesn't pull away, instead sinking into his side, her uninjured arm winding high on his hips.
Alexis takes a step toward the road, the empty street a good four yards ahead, before she stops, her stare darting back and forth between him and the freedom just out of reach, her hesitation almost breaking his heart.
Once they get home, back onto American soil, they can work on the damage that's been inflicted upon their souls - it will heal with time. For now, they just need to get away from here.
"Keep going, pumpkin. We're right behind you."
Indecision washes across his daughter's face, but then her eyes shift to Beckett, and her shoulders straighten, her body turning toward the exit.
That's his girl.
He half-waddles Kate along, the grey tinge to her skin much more devastating in the sunlight. Maybe their first stop should be a hospital?
"I understand the need to be stubborn, Beckett, but if you would just let me carry you, I'd feel a lot better."
"You'd feel a lot better because you'd be copping a feel?"
The snort of laughter that erupts from him sounds a little too piggy-like for his ruggedly, handsome image, but it echoes in the alleyway regardless.
"I don't know what you're talking about. And anyway, I don't need to hide my intent to feel you up. I can do that whenever I want now." His attempt at smooth and confident has gaping holes, even to his own ears. Their earlier discussion at the party has done little to reassure him that this is real, that he actually has a chance with Beckett.
"Can you? Does that mean I get to have my way with you whenever I want?"
His body startles, the heat in her words damn hot considering where they are at present, and he's grateful that Alexis has pulled ahead of them so much that she's nearly onto the road, and with any luck, unable to hear what they are saying.
"Oh, you can have your way with-"
"Alexis!"
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Castle fiddles with the corner of the hospital sheet, flips it back and forth, his fingers itching at the inaction of sitting here, doing nothing as he waits for her to wake up. Blame had settled on his shoulders long before this morning, but unfortunately it continues to gain pound after pound as she lies unmoving on her bed, until he weighs so much he's sure that he'll topple soon.
At least they are back on U.S. soil. They're not home, but Texas is nice this time of year…
"The doctors are saying that she'll wake from the anesthetic soon. Don't look like she's dying, Dad. It was shoulder surgery, not heart surgery."
He snaps his head up, his gaze darting to Alexis by the doorway, and he pushes his lips into a smile at her attempt at humor. The pride that swells every time he looks at his daughter is the only thing keeping the bone crushing misery at bay, that and the relief that she's here, safe, her kidnapping and close call with the car outside the alleyway just horrific memories.
"You're right. I just-" The guilt is just… "She shouldn't be here. I should never have let her come with me."
Alexis falls into his lap, his little girl once more, if only for a moment.
"It's my fault, Dad. If I hadn't let them take me. If I hadn't tried to escape when I discovered the tape on the door. If I was watching where I was going-" Tears replace her words, her head shifting until she hides her face into his shoulder, the brave girl who has been holding them together since Kate collapsed in the alleyway dissolving before him.
"No, sweetie, no. None of this is your fault." He holds her tighter as he rubs circles on her back. "They were trying to get to me. They wanted me to use my fame to get into the mansion and leave listening devices, steal codes-" and God only knows where it would have ended "-without any trace back to them. And it worked." To a degree. He'd spoken with the authorities while Kate was in surgery, explaining what had happened, what they'd been forced to do in an effort to rescue Alexis. The situation was a mess, but it was now his lawyer's to deal with. The compound where they'd been kept had been long deserted by the time the Mexican policia had arrived.
"And Kate didn't collapse because of you, she collapsed because of what they did." Shifting Alexis, he cups her cheeks between his palms, staring into the eyes that are so very much like his own as his heart thuds with the knowledge he may never found out who was responsible for the bloodcurdling anguish of the last few days.
"I wouldn't have been able to handle it if you'd been hit by that car, especially after we'd just escaped." He winks, softening the scary truth of what could have happened, what nearly happened. "And I know that Kate would have done anything - would do anything - to prevent that. And that car stopped because you nearly stepped in front of it, and that car saved us, it took us straight to the embassy. You saved us."
Alexis nods, the movement slight, but it's there. With time, they'll move past the kidnapping, the fear, the devastation.
He'll forget one day, the image of his daughter falling back onto the curb as the car swerved, barely missing her. To have gone through all that hell to get her back, and then to have watched her nearly be killed…
They might as well be living in a soap opera.
"We home?" Kate slurs, and he jumps in his seat, Alexis sliding off his lap, and they stand in tandem before rushing forward.
"Not yet. You're in a hospital. They had to fix your shoulder." He pushes his hands onto the mattress, supporting his body as he leans to brush a kiss across her forehead. He can do this now, and he's going to take every opportunity he has to show the important people in his life just how much he loves them. "It's going to be okay, though. When you feel a little better, we'll go home."
Her head shifts, her lips opening and closing in sync with her eyes, the pull of the drugs seemingly too strong for her, but she wins the battle, her gaze holding his.
"Home. Take us home, Rick."
The End.
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So that's a wrap and in more than one way as there's nothing hidden away on the computer anymore, nor will that change in the next few months, as I juggle too many balls to count. The plan is for 2016 to be the year of new balance in life, so unless I get the dominoes falling before then, I shall wish for the next four months to be peaceful and content for you all xoxo
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A big thank you to each of you that offer support along the way, I had already written this story, but I still appreciate your words of encouragement xoxo
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Thank you to Jo and Jamie for the beta, and to B with the added pompoms and help, these three ladies are the hands holding me together, and there aren't enough words to say how grateful I am xoxo
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Thank you for reading xoxo