Disclaimer: I don't own Castle... the characters of this amazing show belong to the genius Andrew Marlowe and ABC. :P

A/N: So, looks like I found some time to update today after all. I was going to wait until the weekend to update, but I figured that since I left you with an evil cliffie, the least I could do was at least try to find time today to put you guys out of your misery. :P Chapter 6 is a little bit lengthier than chapter 5 and it also ends with another evil cliffhanger, though, I don't think it is as evil as the last one - or maybe it's more evil, depends on what you think. ;) It introduces my BIG TWIST of the story and I hope you guys find it unique and intriguing. I don't think anybody has tackled something like this before in this fandom. Please comment and tell me what you think. :) Without further adieu, I give you chapter 6 to my story:

Previously in Habeas Corpses...

Castle entered his loft and threw his keys on the table by the door. He shrugged off his jacket, took the sketch out of the inside pocket, and hung it up. He went over to the kitchen and dropped the folded sketch on the kitchen counter. Rick took a deep breath, lost in thought, staring off into space. He stood up straighter and started to walk out of the kitchen to go kiss Alexis goodnight when he heard a cock of a gun. Castle whipped around and found himself staring down the barrel of a .22-caliber.

"Can I help you?," Castle kept his cool, but inside his chest, his heart was beating harder than a marching band's drums.

"You were expecting me?," the man asked, never lowering his weapon.

"Can't say that I was," Castle shook his head, "I am wondering as to why you are here… I can guarantee you that we never thought of you as a link to your partner's murder."

"No?," Johnson asked, stepping closer to Castle, gun closer aimed at his chest.

"No," Castle shook his head. When Johnson looked down for a second, Castle averted his eyes to make sure Alexis wasn't coming down the stairs. She didn't – she must be asleep already, "So, uh… maybe you could tell me what you're doing here."

"A job," Johnson cocked the gun to the side in a kill-shot. Castle shrunk back with a small, unnoticeable gulp, and closed his eyes.

Now in Habeas Corpses...

Chapter 6

Instead of feeling a hole in his body, Castle felt Johnson grab his arm, a knife sticking out in his hand, "We're gonna go on a little trip."

"Really? Well, I'm going to have to get back to you on that one," Castle said, "I wasn't expecting to go anywhere, my schedule is all booked up."

"Enough with the smartass remarks," Johnson tightened his grip. Part of the blade in Johnson's hand cut Castle's skin and some of his blood dropped on the folded sketch. The paper caught his eye, "What's that?"

"That?," Castle thought quickly, "It's nothing… I just took some paper out to write down a grocery list."

"A grocery list?," Johnson dug the blade deeper into Castle's skin.

"Yeah," Castle grimaced, "Just let me write a little something down."

"Any funny business and I'll cancel that trip and end you right here," Johnson released his grip on Castle with the knife and brought the gun back up, "The boss might not be happy with that, but it might be simpler than what he has planned… he likes the theatrics."

Castle gulped. His phone was in his jacket pocket and if he made too much noise, he might wake up his mother or daughter and he definitely didn't want them to be in the same situation he currently found himself in. Quickly, he thought of something and hopefully it'd work. He grabbed a pencil off of the counter and wrote on the sketch above his blood droplets:

Pumpkin, Cherries… Apples. Apples.

-RC

Johnson looked to see what he wrote to make sure that he wasn't doing anything suspicious, "Why'd you write "Apples" twice? And why'd you initial it?"

"I really like apples. And it's just a force of habit after all the autographs I sign," Castle hoped he'd buy it. Johnson grabbed Castle's arm again, the blade cutting into his skin once again, splattering a little more blood on the kitchen table. Johnson didn't even seem to notice. Rick bit back a grunt from the pain the blade caused.

"Come with me quietly and you might make things easier on yourself," Johnson said as he pushed the barrel of the gun into Castle's side.

Rick closed his eyes and sighed. Hopefully Alexis would figure out something was wrong and would call Kate and the rest of his friends quickly. After a moment, he let Johnson take him out of his apartment to some unknown that awaited him.

The next day… early morning

12th Precinct

"Is there any particular reason why you guys decided to drag me down here at five o'clock in the morning?," Beckett rubbed at her eyes and looked to Ryan, Esposito, and Lanie sitting in front of her.

"We have some news about the case," Esposito said.

"Yeah? Then out with it," Beckett sat up straighter. She had no time for funny business.

"Actually, I've had new news about the case," Lanie cut Esposito off from continuing.

"I don't understand," Beckett shook her head.

"The letters on the slugs… I found out that it might actually stand for "JB" instead of "BJ" and then I found some connections of our case to some older other cases," Lanie started to explain.

"I'm a little tired, Lanie," Beckett closed her eyes, "Could you just get to the part where you withheld information from me?"

"It's because this case might be connected to your mother, Kate," Lanie said, "And I asked Castle to help."

"That's why he was acting so weird," Beckett finally started to understand and looked to her teammates, "And how long have you two known about this little development?"

"Not long," Ryan replied, "We didn't find out until last night."

"So, you decided to bring me up to speed this morning? Did you think I couldn't handle it?," Beckett stood up, "Did Castle swear you to secrecy? Is that why he doesn't have the guts to show up here right now?"

"Beckett, calm down!," Esposito put his up and Lanie jumped in, "If you want to blame anybody for the secrecy, Kate, you can blame me."

"What?," Beckett's tone immediately softened.

"Like I said," Lanie said calmly and slowly, "I was the one that brought Castle in with the information and I'm the one who told him not to say anything until we were absolutely positive, until everything we had was solid… We didn't know how you would take the news so soon after everything with Coonan. I called Castle to come in this morning, but he didn't pick up."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Lanie," Beckett looked down. Lanie shrugged and gave her a smile to let her know all was forgiven. Kate licked her lips and got to the issue at hand, "So, uh, why-why might this case might be connected to my mom? Did Castle find something?"

"It was a combination of my findings and Castle with his eye for details," Lanie said, "We think that Sullivan was looking into your mother's murder and that it was what got him killed – it probably had nothing to do with the case he was working on."

"Castle took the sketch of our mystery guy to see if any of his many connections might know who it is," Esposito explained and Ryan continued, "Maybe that's where he is right now."

"I appreciate you bringing me up to speed," Kate nodded, "And just so you all are clear, I can handle it… in fact, I was sort of hoping this would all come out soon. The sooner I find out who the son-of-a-bitch was that ordered the hit on my mother, the sooner I can rest easier."

"That's our boss," Esposito smiled, "You think we should try Castle again and see if he'll come in this early?"

"Yeah," Beckett took out her phone, but it was already vibrating. The caller ID said 'Castle' so she answered it, "Hey, Castle, I was just about to call you."

"Detective Beckett?," Alexis' frightened voice was on the other line.

"Alexis?," Beckett grew alarmed and everybody looked up, the same concerned expression on their faces, "Alexis? What's wrong?"

"I think something might have happened to my dad," Alexis said worriedly, "His stuff is here, his keys, his jacket, his phone… but he never came in to kiss me goodnight last night and…"

"Slow down, sweetie," Kate said, putting her hand up. The endearment came naturally, "Is there something out of place in your apartment?"

"That's what made me call," Alexis replied, "I got up extra early this morning before school to finish studying a little and… that's when I noticed it."

"Noticed what?," Beckett asked. Her heart was in her throat. By this time, she already put her phone on speaker so everybody else could hear her.

"I noticed some sort of note on the kitchen counter. It's my dad's handwriting… and it-it looks like there's… there's…," Alexis couldn't say it.

Beckett didn't even have to have Alexis finish her sentence. She knew exactly what she was talking about, "Okay, we're all on our way."

"Wait! Detective Beckett… please don't make our apartment a crime scene just yet," Alexis said, "The paparazzi would have a field day. I just want to make sure that I'm not overreacting."

"Okay," Beckett nodded, "But as soon as we're done looking around, I'm going to have to call it in if your dad is in danger, okay?"

"Okay," Alexis nodded, "I'll let you in… Gram left last night after I talked to my dad. She decided to spend the night with her boyfriend Chet."

"We're on our way," Beckett hung up, grabbed her keys, and made a bee-line for the elevators, her partners, and Lanie on her tail.

Castle's Loft

"Thank God you guys are here," Alexis opened the door. They didn't even have to knock. Alexis had been periodically opening the door every few minutes after she hung up.

"Of course and we're ready," Beckett said and raised her hands to show she was wearing blue latex gloves as to not get any fingerprints on anything. Ryan, Esposito, and Lanie had matching gloves. They all stepped inside and Kate said, "Show us that note."

"It's over here on the kitchen counter," Alexis led them over to the note.

"Blood," Esposito commented out of habit and then put his hand on Alexis' shoulder to apologize and reassure her everything was going to be fine.

"I didn't understand the note," Alexis shook her head, "I think it's in some sort of code… he initialed it."

"Pumpkin," Kate said, turning the note a little, smearing some of Castle's fallen blood on the kitchen counter, "Isn't that what he calls you sometimes?"

"Yeah, so he was addressing me," Alexis nodded, understanding a little, "But then, what do 'cherries' and 'apples' mean?"

"I think 'Cherries' is supposed to be me," Kate said, remembering back to that time when she was leaning over Castle's shoulder and he blurted out, "You smell like cherries."

"I'm gonna want a back story on that eventually," Lanie smirked and Esposito and Ryan fought back their smiles.

"What about the apples? Is that supposed to be us?," Ryan asked, "He wrote it twice."

"Dude, why would he call us 'apples'?," Esposito scoffed.

"No, it's not you two. 'Apples' is his safe word," Beckett shook her head, "It means he's in trouble."

"How do you know his-," Lanie started and shook her head, "Girl, we're going to have a nice long chat after this is over."

"It's not like that," Beckett defended herself, her cheeks growing a fitting crimson red, and looked to Alexis who looked like she was holding in laughter. At least it was good to see her smile in this situation, "It's one of the first things Castle told me when we arrested him on our first case."

"Righhhhtttt," Esposito and Ryan couldn't help but tease her a little. After she glared at them, she turned to Alexis, "I think we need to call this in now, Alexis… okay?"

"Yeah," Alexis nodded, "I'll call Gram and let her know what's going on… do you think, under the circumstances it'd be okay if I tried to help? Instead of going to class? There's no way I'd be able to concentrate."

"Sure," Kate sighed, "Ryan? Esposito? You wanna talk to Alexis about what else she saw when she got up and I'll call it in? Lanie, could you maybe get your medical equipment so we can send this blood off to the lab to see if it is indeed Castle's. Maybe it might be his kidnapper's and we've caught a break."

"I'll get back as quickly as I can," Lanie nodded and gave Alexis a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder before leaving. While Beckett turned around and got her phone out to call in the case, Ryan led Alexis over to the other room with Esposito to ask her more questions on-the-record.

An hour later, Castle's apartment was being swept by CSU. They couldn't find any prints on anything thus far that didn't belong to the Castles. Beckett, Esposito, and Ryan were all talking in a corner. Martha returned to the apartment and was holding Alexis in a hug as they watched the police sweep their apartment for evidence. Lanie had her medical equipment by the kitchen counter to get a sample of the blood on the counter.

"Do you think the killer might have Castle?," Ryan asked the obvious question.

"I do and I think there might be more to it than that… if Sullivan was killed over getting too close to… uh," Esposito started and glanced at Beckett, unsure if he should continue.

"It's okay, Esposito," Beckett told him, "I know what you're trying to say… and we're not going to let anything happen to Castle. Not on my watch."

"The media circus is downstairs," Alexis said coming up to the detectives, holding her grandmother's hand.

"Knew that was coming," Ryan muttered.

"Hey, guys," Lanie came over to the group with the note and blood samples, "Look what I found on the back of Castle's note when I unfolded it, collecting evidence."

"It's the sketch," Kate took it from her in the large Ziploc bag. Martha and Alexis snuck a peek over her shoulder.

"He wrote his cry for help on the sketch," Esposito observed, "Do you think he's trying to send a message? Maybe that's the guy who has him."

"We still don't have an ID on the guy," Ryan shook his head.

"Castle seemed to think it might be the big boss," Lanie told them, "The one Dick Coonan said couldn't be touched."

"We'll get down to the precinct and see if there's any news on his identity," Esposito said and nodded toward the door.

"Let me come with you," Alexis stepped forward, "You can ward off the paparazzi for me."

Esposito looked to Martha, as if he was asking for permission, she nodded and he stretched out his arm, "All right, come on."

"I'll send this off to the lab to verify whether or not it is Castle's," Lanie held up the blood samples, "Let me know when you find out anything new."

"Of course," Kate nodded and looked back at the sketch, "I just wish I knew who you were."

"Kate?," Martha started, "Could we speak in private for a moment?"

"Yeah," Beckett said and let Martha lead the way upstairs to get away from the rest of the police. They were almost done canvassing the scene. Once they were out of any and all earshot in Castle's bedroom, Beckett spoke again, "What is it Martha?"

"I know that man," Martha pointed to the sketch.

"You-you do?," Beckett was shocked, alternating her gaze between the sketch in her hand and Martha, "How?"

"Well," Martha started slowly and took a deep breath, licking her lips, "He's Richard's father."

TBC

Dun dun dun... and that's the concept to of which this story was born. I always thought it would be an interesting twist if the man who ordered the hit on Beckett's mother was actually Castle's biological father since we have no idea who he is. Castle once made a comment about he could be whoever - and so I thought about this little twist. I really don't think any other author has tackled something like this before and I believe that this is a unique plotline. I know it's a bit of an evil cliffhanger again, but I'll try to post the next chapter sometime this weekend. In the meantime, please comment and tell me what you think!

Thank you to those of you who are just reading as well! I appreciate you too!

Clois and Caskett Forever! ;) :D