Chapter 7...

Hospital:

20 minutes later, Castle and Beckett sat outside Charlotte's waiting room, waiting for her parents, Alan and Sabrina. The nurse came to greet them just as her parents walked in the door.

"How is she? How's my baby girl?" Sabrina cried openly.

The nurse answered, "She'll be fine. Just a minor concussion to the head and her vitals are all in check. There's no need to keep her overnight, but be sure she doesn't fall asleep tonight as there may be a very very slim chance she might not wake up."

Alan nodded seriously and asked, "Can we see her?"

"Yes, she's in room 451, just down the corridor and to your left."

Before either of them could take a step in that direction, Beckett asked, "Can I speak to her? She may have vital information about my partner's missing daughter."

"Alexis? Alexis Castle is your partner's daughter?" Alan asked.

Beckett nodded.

"Of course, go right ahead. Charlotte speaks highly of Alexis on our daily phone calls. Please, anything I can do to help, just ask. I would like to find my daughter's best friend."

Beckett handed over her card. "This is my number. If you can think of anything that Charlotte has said to you recently involving this case or Alexis, don't hesitate to call."

Alan nodded and pocketed the card in his wallet.

"Castle, you coming?" Beckett turned to find her partner on his iPhone.

Castle quickly looked up and hung up on whoever he was talking to and walked with Beckett to Charlotte's room.

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Beckett knocked on the door and quietly slipped in the door.

"Hey Char, I'm Kate. Do you remember me?"

Charlotte looked up and nodded. "You were Alexis's friend who came to see her last week and now..." The sentence trailed off and hung in mid-air. Then she continued, "You're here to question me, aren't you?"

"Yes, if you're up to it."

"Hell yeah I am. I want that sick person to be caught and Alexis to be safe."

"OK. Then let's start. Do you remember what happened?"

"No, well, not really. I remember that we were getting ready for bed when I heard some squeaky noise coming from outside. I thought it was the trees whacking against the window. Then when Alexis turned the night off, I heard the closet door open. Again, I thought it was the wind so I left it. But just as I was climbing into bed, someone grabbed me from behind. I tried to yell but nothing would come out, just a tiny yelp. Then I felt something hard against the back of my head and my back and then everything went black."

"The nurse mentioned that you had a slight concussion, probably something to do with the bedside lamp but she never mentioned anything else. Do you know what hit you on your back?"

"No, but I know it was something hard. It was basically squashing up towards me. It was uncomfortable."

Castle spoke for the very first time which made Beckett jump, "Do you think there might be a bruise?" He whispered in Kate's ear.

Beckett looked at him and back to Charlotte. "Do you mind if..."

Charlotte interrupted the detective by lifting up her sure and turning around. There was a black and blue bruise there. Not too big, or visible but you could just make out the shape.

"It looks like a..."

"Camera lens!" Castle shouted excitedly.

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Precinct:

After their talk with Charlotte, the duo drove back to the precinct and rode the elevator to be met by the faces of the Captain and Mayor.

"Sir?" Beckett asked.

"Beckett this is the Mayor. Sir, this is our finest Detective Beckett and her partner, well you know Castle."

Beckett shook hands while Castle nodded a "Hello Bob".

"Beckett, the Mayor and I for that matter, wants you to head up the search of Alexis Castle. We want it to be quick. Just like an open and shut case. No contacting the Feds, and especially not the paparazzi. We don't want to make a big fuss, and I don't think Castle wants either."

Castle shook his head.

"Yes, sir. Is that it?"

"Yeah, give me regular updates, got it?"

Beckett nodded and both she and Castle walked out the office.

"Studies finish in an hour, why don't we go there to meet up with Ryan and Esposito, get an update from Lanie and then ask Alexis's group of friends?" Beckett asked Castle.

Receiving the ok from him, they both hopped in the car and drove to Princeton.

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Princeton:

"Ok, so Lanie says CSU have nothing. No fibres, no fingerprints, no nothing..." Beckett reported

"And Ryan and Esposito said that the neighbouring dorms didn't hear anything either, but the girls living downstairs of Alexis and Charlotte said they heard some moving around at 11pm last night." Castle told her.

"Ok," Beckett said, digesting the information. She then looked up to see Castle's expression, and she went into 'victim mode'. "How about you? Are you doing ok? With everything?"

Castle looked into Kate's gorgeous green eyes which were touched with emotion. This was the first time that Castle had ever seen Kate get anywhere near emotional. "Yeah, I'm holding."

"Look, anything you need just ask."

"I want you" Castle mind and heart reached out, but he didn't say anything except nod.

Kate reached out to hug him and kiss him softly on the cheek, but suddenly froze, wondering how Castle will react. She pulled back and silently swore to herself, "Shit, I did not just kiss Castle. Oh, what the hell? Am I... falling for him? No, impossible. Can't be."

She looked up just in time to see a flash of emotions over Castle's face, surprise, hurt, anger, and then a wondering look.

"Odd, she thought. Must be just that he's dealing with everything. He can't love me too? Can he?"

Castle thought the exact same thing, "Does she love me too?"

However, neither said anything but walked in the direction of Alexis's group, sitting in their usual spot in the courtyard.

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A Small Dark Room:

Alexis Castle tried to look anywhere but the face dangling in front of her. The boy smiled and you could just make out the remnants of his lasagne from lunch. He placed a kiss on her cheek, not too far away from her mouth. He then straightened, and retrieved a chair from the corner of the room.

"Hello Alexis,"

Alexis looked revolted but overcame that, and asked, "Well you know my name. What's yours?"

The boy debated for a moment, but decided not to tell her. "You'll find out later."

Alexis thought for a moment then asked, "Well, what do you want with me? You take all those photos, take me from my room and then just tie me to a chair? Is that your master plan?"

The boy's once playful demeanour changed suddenly to a serious expression and leaned in dangerously close. "Alexis Castle, I'll have my way with you first, and then we'll see where all that takes us. Who knows? Maybe you'll fall for my charm."

Alexis laughed without humour. "Charm? What charm? You have the charm of a baboon. And if you think you are going to have your 'way with me', you'd better think again. I'm not letting any of your hands near my body."

"Well, you think you have a say in that? You're tied to a chair. I can do this," He moved his hand to her inner thigh, "And this," He moved his other hand to her mouth and softly caressed it, "And you can't do anything about it."

Alexis looked at his hand and opened her mouth. Without warning, she took a huge bite and the boy pulled both hands away, howling in pain. To her amazement, the boy didn't do anything to her. Just sat there, yelling. She thought back to her question and repeated it.

"Now, what's your name?"

"Nick, you can call me, Nick." The boy hissed.

Well, there you go. I might be kicking up to M guys! Hopefully you can still read the fic if it's M. Hope you like it

Please R&R

Genie