"Dad, are you sure you don't want me to come back with you?"

Castle kissed his daughter on the top of her fiery red head as they embraced. "We've imposed on you long enough, honey. The last thing I want to do is be the reason you flunk your first college midterms. God knows I'm paying enough for you to take them..."

Alexis nodded into his chest with a chuckle. "Okay dad, I'll stay and study. But I'll be calling you every chance I get!" Releasing from her father's grasp, she steadied herself to say goodbye to friends new and old.

She turned first to Esposito, who finally admitted to her with a smile and a wink, "You know, last night...you were right...kid."

"About what?" Alexis asked innocently, before finally breaking out into a matching smile. She embraced the man in front of her warmly. "Just remember what we talked about if things get too...personal again." As Esposito nodded, Alexis turned to her other new friend. "You ready for Manhattan, Kevin?"

Ryan nodded, the slight nervousness still evident in his demeanor. "I think so. I wouldn't have had a prayer without you, you know."

"I still think you're giving me too much credit, but thanks all the same. Oh, by the way, you might want to try a solo button on your remote: it would help you to turn on just one person's thoughts and turn off all the others in a hurry. And practice every chance you get, okay? The more you practice..."

"The faster I'll get used to it, I know, I know." Ryan couldn't help but laugh at how Alexis was continuing to try to help him even after she tried to blow off the importance of the help she had *already* given him. He pulled Alexis into a warm hug. "Thank you for everything."

Alexis nodded. "Promise you'll call me if you have *any* problems..." Ryan nodded as Alexis pulled away to give quick hugs to the two women. Alexis asked both of them, "Take care of my dad, okay?" As Beckett and Lanie nodded, Alexis backed away.

Rearranging themselves in a circle facing each other, the members of the group took one last look around their peaceful surroundings, then Castle transported them back to the loft in a blink.

The return to the loft was disorienting, but not terribly jarring...for all the members of the group save two. Ryan and Beckett staggered slowly to the couch, their newly minted controls struggling to hold under the increased sensory workload. Still, it took each of them less than a minute to make the necessary adjustments. Once the weakness had passed, Ryan and Beckett exchanged smiles and high fives, not needing words to know that they had both overcome a major hurdle in the challenge of living with their new abilities.

Castle watched the internal battle of both his friends, recognizing the pain they were both in, frustrated that he couldn't help them through it-yet also fully aware that this was something they each needed to do on their own. Once the worst of it subsided, he quietly asked the pair, "You guys ok?"

Beckett nodded, still looking a little weak but smiling nonetheless. "There was no way to tell how much my hearing was going to be affected from being back in the city until I got here. And our peculiar mode of transportation back probably didn't help." A flash of guilt crossed Castle's face, so Beckett quickly continued, "but I'm fine now. Just took a minute, is all."

Castle then turned briefly to Ryan, who nodded his in agreement. "When I was in the Hamptons, I worked on keeping what I was getting from you guys in the background of what I was hearing-like keeping the TV on for background noise in the house. Coming back was like someone taking that background noise and cranking it all the way up for a minute. But I'm good now."

"We're also several stories up," countered Castle, "What will happen when you guys get down to street level?"

"I'm just glad we came back early so I have a day to get acclimated," replied Ryan. "So unless you're planning to send me down to street level in something other than an elevator, I think I'll be able to adjust."

"Unfortunately, I can't let you take the elevator down," Castle deadpanned. "You'll just have to take the stairs."

Rolling his eyes at Castle's obvious teasing, Ryan got up from the couch, and grabbed his coat. "Well, unless any of you have any objections, I'm going to go home to my wife."

Esposito and Lanie soon followed Ryan's lead. "We should go, too," announced Esposito. "We'll see you guys on Monday?"

"Unless you call us first," replied Beckett.

As Castle ushered out his friends, he turned to his girlfriend with concern. "Are you *sure* you're okay?" he asked Beckett.

Beckett nodded. "I will be."

That was not the reassuring answer Castle was hoping for. "*Will* be, Kate?"

"I'm still in the one foot in front of the other stage, Rick. I mean let's be honest, two days ago my life was relatively normal. But I learned a lot from therapy. And I have you in my life now. That helps, too."

"Really? How?"

Kate pulled her boyfriend into an embrace. Planting gentle kisses on his neck, she purred, "Well, according to that legend, I supposedly have this enhanced sense of touch..."

Rick was fighting to be able to actually get words to come out of his mouth. "Touch, huh?"

Kate pulled her head back and nodded, letting her hands trace patterns up and down Rick's back. "Alexis never really found a good way for us to test this. I think she figured she could leave those particular tests up to you..."

Rick couldn't help but smile. "Well, I'm always up for aiding in the scientific process..."

Ryan closed the door to his apartment with a tired sigh. The walk home from Castle's loft felt like it had been the longest walk of his life: a gauntlet of other people's thoughts and emotions that left him an exhausted mess. He kept trying to push the 'off' button on his mental remote, but the extra strain on his mind kept his controls from working. He prayed for a moment's peace to pull himself together.

No such luck. As soon as the door closed Jenny greeted him cheerfully, "Hey babe! You're home early." The strain on Ryan's face was obvious. "Honey, are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," Ryan replied weakly. "I just need to lie down for a bit." He shuffled slowly into the bedroom, closed the door behind him, then drew the curtains closed. He laid down on the bed and closed his eyes, hoping against hope that reducing the input from his other senses would help. Finally, he decided there was no other option, and picked up the phone. "Hi Alexis."

Ryan could practically hear the girl's smile on the other end of the line. "Hi Kevin! Wow, you don't sound too great..."

"I'm starting to miss being out there already."

"Not as ready to be around all those people as you thought, huh?"

Kevin shook his head, even though the person on the other end wouldn't see it. "No, and the remote's not working either."

"Aw man, I'm sorry. You must be going crazy."

Wincing, Kevin agreed. "Can you walk me through it again?"

"Okay," replied Alexis, "Close your eyes and start by taking a few deep breaths..."

When Jenny heard her 'sleeping' husband on the phone, curiosity got the better of her. Putting an ear to the door, she listened in on his conversation.

"Alexis?" She heard her him say, "I'm starting to miss being out there already..."

A girl? In the Hamptons? That he's *missing*?

Monday dawned bright and clear for the citizens of New York City. Detective Kate Beckett, however, was too preoccupied to enjoy it. She walked into the bullpen of the 12th to find Ryan sitting at his desk, sipping his coffee and working on paperwork. Beckett could sympathize. "Morning, Ryan. In early, huh?"

Ryan replied, "Yeah, just trying to get caught up on some paperwork from the weekend." But in her head, Beckett heard the full explanation. Plus, the weekend was much harder than I thought it would be, so I figured coming in earlier might help me to filter out people as they came in.

Beckett squeezed her friend's shoulder in sympathy. "Yeah, coming in early is good for that." She barely got the chance to put her stuff down at her desk when the call from dispatch came in. She answered the phone, "Beckett." Grabbing a pen and paper, Beckett wrote down the address and hung up the phone.

She looked up to find Ryan had just finished writing down an address as well. He sent her the address, and she nodded to acknowledge that the address she was given was the same one he was going to.

They both grabbed their coats and cell phones to call their partners as they walked right back out of the precinct doors.
A double homicide was never a good way to start a Monday morning.

Told ya I'd post fast. ;-D Truth is, this is a quickie, mostly transitional chapter. The case will begin in Chapter 10-the game is now afoot!