Sorry I've been 'out of commission' lately. I hate making you guys wait.

I hope you don't get too annoyed and stop reading but here is chapter 15 and I plan on working on the next chapter tomorrow.

Enjoy :)

The clock read 3:24am. Kate rolled over, facing the outside of the king-sized bed. The monitor on her nightstand called for her. She pulled her pillow along with her as she sat up on her side of the bed, hugging the pillow to her chest. The cries pressed on and Kate stood up. She walked out of the bedroom and headed to the pink door down the hall. She peered in. Kate dropped her pillow on the light yellow rocking chair. Her baby pink pillowcase camouflaged with the pink flowers blooming in a field of yellow. She turned around and looked down at the toddler standing in her crib. Her little fingers holding her still as they gripped the bar. Kate walked over with a smile on her face. She bent down and picked up the child, cradling her in her arms. She sat them down in the rocking chair. Kate turned sideways in the chair and brought her knees up to support her arms. Within seconds, she drifted off to sleep.

Heavy footsteps neared the room. Rick walked in. Placing his cup of coffee on the counter beside the door, he walked over to the rocking chair. The toddler looked over her mother's shoulder at the man who stood beside them. She lifted her arms in the air and giggled at him. Her face lit up at his smile and he picked her up from a sleeping Kate's arms. He kissed her on the forehead and placed her down in her playpen with her favorite doll.

"Kate," he said as he walked toward her again. He knelt down, allowing him to look at her face which hung down on her shoulder. "Kate?" He shook her gently. When she took a deep breath through her nose and stretched her legs out, Rick rubbed his palm up and down her forearm. "Good morning," she said as she peeled her eyes open and looked at him.

Kate's eyes flew open. She pulled herself out of bed and walked over to the bedroom door. She opened the door slowly. Kate stood there watching the teenager sleep for a few seconds. She smiled at the thought that she was safe. Kate took one last glace at the redhead and smiled before she closed the door behind her and entered the kitchen. Kate turned on the coffee machine and let it run while she made a few phone calls. She took one last peek into the room. Sunlight streamed in creating a gentler image of the innocent teenager who lay fast asleep in her bed. She slowly closed the door, with caution to the chance of waking her, and made her way to the car.

Attention was sharp. Nobody interrupted. Nobody joked. The precinct hadn't felt right in a while. The atmosphere changed dramatically on the night that shook all their lives. Richard Castle was loved in the precinct. Not one day went by where he couldn't bring a smile to their faces. The detectives sitting at their desks in the precinct had their heads buried in their work and solidly on task. L.T ruffled through his papers, stacked them in a pile, and leaned his forehead on his palm. The man began working in the 12th just a year after Kate Beckett had. Being a newbie, L.T Tolliver relied on the help of his co-workers during his first few weeks on the job. L.T admired Katherine Beckett for her strength. He hadn't heard her entire story, but had overheard a few co-workers in the break room as they sympathized over her background and all she's been through. He was more intrigued by her when she offered to help him settle in after having witnessed him drop a box of files on his third day.

L.T pulled a paper from the stack in front of him.

Like a round of Jenga-gone-wrong, the entire pile of police reports came tumbling down.

"Ooohhh," Castle laughed while ducking his head down on Beckett's desk. L.T glanced in his direction with an annoyed look. When he saw the writer hiding behind a file, he looked at Kate. She shook her head and rolled her eyes at Castle. Looking back at L.T, Kate laughed. He couldn't help but return the smile. Kate had that effect on him. She had that effect on everyone. "Need some help there, L.T?" Castle offered while attempting to control his laughter and ultimately failing.

Kate stared at him. His laugh became uncontrollable. The comic relief was in the building. Soon enough, the entire precinct began to tremble in laughter.

"Castle!" A sharp voice called, causing the entire room to go silent and back to work.

Castle cleared his throat. "Yes, Sir?"

"Make yourself useful and help him pick up those police reports or your name is going to be on the next one that hits the floor."

"Yes, Sir." He said as he eyed Kate's smile in the corner of his eye. Rick stood up and quickly made his was to L.T's desk to help him pick up the fallen reports. "It feels like I'm playing Pick Up 52." Castle whispered to L.T as they picked up paper by paper. He turned to face him, expecting a smile. "Nothing? Come on. Pick Up 52? You know the game where people say, 'have you ever played Pick Up 52?' and if they say no you throw the entire deck of cards on the floor and watch as they realize what they just stepped into?" Castle explained to a confused L.T, "forget it. There's one over there, by Karpowski's desk."

"As for the rest of you, get back to work if you expect to get home to your and children wives tonight. And remember, Castle's only got three extra tickets to Friday night's game and I have a say on which suckers don't get to come." Montgomery threw an authoritative laugh over his shoulder and walked back into his office.

L.T drew up his free hand to hold the pile steady as his other hand pulled a sheet carefully out from the middle of the stack and smiled.

Tyson knew what he was doing. He knew how to toy with Kate's emotions. How to cut her to the bone. He had contacted her twice since the incident. Each time leaving no clues as to Castle's health status. Each time leaving her broken.

Kate sat quietly at her desk. Her head buried in her work. Her mind steady on task as a rainstorm rolled in and pounded at the windows.

"Urgh, it's raining again." Lanie said as she wiped her jacket clear of drops and neared Kate's desk.

"It's been raining for weeks, Lanie. It won't seem to stop." Kate said, not lifting her head to look at the ME.

"Kate, how about I take you out?" Lanie offered. "Come on, let's go to the bar. The paperwork will still be here."

"I can't." Kate declined.

"Honey, Ryan in dead-set on his work and so is Esposito. No one is giving up. No one is giving it a rest but you have to. Kate you're pushing yourself too much and it's not healthy. I understand how you feel, Kate. We all miss him and we are all doing the best we can to get him back but you have to take it easy. At least take an hour or two to relax."

"Kate," Ryan called from his desk as he hung up his phone and pushed his chair back. He made his way to the girls.

Kate looked at him and she knew. A shadow fell over her demeanor again. "What? What happened?"

"I finally tracked down that doctor whose name was on the doctor's note from Castle's apartment," he pressed on without hesitation, "I just got off the phone with him and he is available for a personal meeting but he's really busy and can't come down to the station."

"Did he tell you anything about the note?" Kate questioned.

"Just that he met with Castle for the first time about this particular issue four weeks before he was taken. So we still don't know, for a fact, whose it is."

"Just that Castle knew about it for four weeks?"

"Kate—"

"No, Ryan. It's okay. Give me his number. I'll set a date to meet with him."

"No." Lanie grabbed the piece of paper out of Kate's hands just as he handed it to her, "Ryan, can you meet with him?"

"Uh, yeah, but—"

"Good." She handed the paper back to Ryan, "call him back and try to meet with him as soon as possible. Kate and I are off duty tonight."

"Lanie, what are you—"

He looked at Kate. "Got it," he said before he walked away.

"Lanie."

"You'll thank me later. Now get your stuff. We," she picked up Kate's cellphone and turned it off, "are going drinking."