Disclaimer: I do not own Castle, the idea belongs to ABC
Isabelle Wilder picked up her phone and for the tenth time and dialed her Fiancé's phone number for the tenth time as she came to a stop light. It rang about eight times before, for the tenth time, his voicemail picked up. With a sigh of frustration, she slammed the phone shut and threw it onto the leather passenger's seat next to her. Oh, the man was driving her completely bonkers today. As the light turned green, she stomped on the gas pedal a little too hard as she went around the turn. She clenched her teeth together as she heard her tires squeal. Great, she thought, there goes twenty miles off my tires. Maybe she was truly a reckless driver as everyone told her she really was.
As she crossed the intersection of West 82nd street and Columbus Avenue her breathing came to a temporary stop and her eyes widened. The entire street was covered in fire trucks, squad cars, a paramedics vehicle, and even at the end of the street, she thought she saw a corner's van. As her heart went out to the victims' loved ones she momentarily forgot her frustration at the man in her life, for all she wanted to do right now was be in his arms.
As her drive became futile, she parked her car on the side the road and began walking down the street toward her fiancé's home. She did not get halfway to her destination when an officer with a gray mustache stopped her. "I'm sorry, Miss, but you're going to have to turn around, I can't let you though."
Isabelle let out a sigh of disappointment; magical, now she was going to have to get back into her car, drive all the way back and take the long way around. "Oh, please sir, my fiancé's house is only a couple more yards down that way. Could you please just let me walk through, it would save me so much time," she said as she batted her long eyelashes that she knew no man could resist. "I'd let you escort me if you'd like."
The older cop sighed as he looked at the woman in front of him and he caved. "All right, Miss, you tell me which one it is and I'll walk you to it."
Isabelle let a genuine smile light up her face for the officer in front of her. "Great! Thank you so much, it's house number 182."
The officer who had began to turn and walk toward the house came to a sudden stop and a pit began to form in his stomach. He turned around to face the young woman. "Ma'am, I'm afraid I have some bad news for you."
"Hey Beckett," Detective Pasquale called as he hung up the phone. As Kate turned her hazel eyes on the large detective, she could tell something was wrong. His face said it all. He sighed before he went on. "There's been fire," he said and he looked down. "It happened on 182 West 82nd street. Somebody died."
As the words left the detective's mouth it triggered something in Kate, why did that address sound so familiar? Suddenly, as she remembered where she knew it from she felt her face go white. "No," she whispered to herself. No, it could not be not another one, not in the same day.
Rick looked up at Beckett's colorless face for the second time that day. "Beckett?" he asked meekly. "What is it?"
As Beckett looked over at Rick he saw the terror, panic, and fear all wrapped into one in her eyes. She knew someone who lived in that building; with a sickening feeling, Rick remembered on their first day working together he had guessed she had grown up in Manhattan. Was it possible that her father still lived there? "Will lives on that street," she all but whispered.
Rick frowned; Will? Surely, she could not mean her old boyfriend, Will Sorenson, could she? "You don't mean Mr. Tall, Brooding and-"
"Sorenson," she said as she glared at Castle through the corner of her eye. "I mean Will Sorenson, Castle." as she spoke her words were thick through her teeth. It drove her insane how even when she needed him to be serious he could be nothing but an overgrown man-child.
Rick looked at Beckett compassionately. It was obvious on her face that he had gone too far with his jokes at an inappropriate moment. "Well then, let's go quell your fears and prove that it is not him."
As Kate Beckett and Richard Castle pulled up in front of the town house, Kate felt all feeling drain out of her body. She felt nothing but numbness as she stared at the charred area around where the windows used to be. As she placed her hand over her mouth, she felt tears right behind her eyes. It had been Will's house.
Rick looked at Beckett next to him sitting stone-faced staring at the burnt home. Had this house been Will's? He did not dare ask. However, by the grief stricken look upon the detective's face he guessed it had been. Without saying a word, he got out of the car and rounded to the driver's side. He looked down at Beckett, in the few seconds since he had gotten out of the car she had closed her eyes.
Kate sat there for what felt like a million years as she heard Castle's door open and then close. She truly was alone; both relieved and devastated by her solitude she closed her eyes in hopes to gain control of her emotions. She wouldn't dare let those officers see her cry. It was hard enough being a woman detective; she did not need all the jokes about her being sappy. Surprise wracked her body as she heard the latch of her door being released. Her eyes shot open and her head swiveled to the side to find Castle standing there; one hand on the door, one hand extended toward her to take as she wished. "Thank you, Castle," she said as she took his hand and he pulled her out of the car.
As Beckett grasped his hand utter shock went through his body, and he tried to ignore the glee he felt having her smaller hand in his own. This was not the time or the place to be imagining Beckett's hand in his own as they walked through central park on a Sunday afternoon.
As soon as Kate stood up fully she dropped Castle's hand. In the back recesses of her mind she was surprised how wonderfully her hand fit inside Rick Castle's, but there was not much time to acknowledge that fact as she swept the crowd looking for any sign of Will. To her dismay, she did not find one. With a deep breath, she put one foot in front of the other and forced herself to take small slow steps toward the house where she had spent so much time not so many years ago. As she watched the paramedics wheel a body out on a stretcher her body froze. She could not move another step.
Noticing Beckett's cease in movement Rick stopped and turned around to face his muse. Ever since she received the news from Detective Pasquale Beckett had barely regained any of the color in her face. "Kate," Rick began and waited for her to meet his eyes. "Be honest with me, can you handle this?"
An involuntary smirk crossed the detective's lips and fell off almost immediately. With a shake of her head she broke away from eye contact with her partner and looked into the distance. "I have to."
Empathy filled Rick up as he reached out and took Beckett's hand. Just as he expected she gently pulled her hand out of his grasp and let it fall by her side once again. When she looked him in the face again he spoke, "No, Beckett, you don't have to. You can let one of the other detectives-"
"No, Castle, I can't," she said as grief filled her words. "I can't just give up Will's case to some other detective like he meant nothing to me!" she was silent as she looked down at the ground. "Do you Sarah Manning's case?"
Rick thought for a moment before it came to him; it was their first official case together. The first case she actually let him participate in. "Of course, who could forget Nanny McDead?" he said in a somber tone.
To Castle's surprise a small smile found its way across Kate's lips. "Do you remember when we were going to talk to Chloe, we were talking about marriage, and you asked me if there was 'any serious candidates' I think was the phase you used?"
Rick frowned as the words came out of Beckett's mouth, he knew where this was going and he did not want to hear it, but he'd be damned before he stopped her from talking. "Yeah, I remember."
Kate nodded her head before dropping it down to the sidewalk once more and closing her eyes. Could she allow the words to come out without breaking down? "He was the serious candidate."
When Castle and Beckett finally made it to the crime scene they found Ryan and Esposito already there talking with the neighbors of Will Sorenson. Kate took a breath; maybe it would be easiest if she took the repressed feelings she had always had for the man out of this. Maybe it would be easier if she just pretended he was still alive.
As Kevin Ryan thanked the older woman who lived across the street from Sorenson, he noticed Castle and Beckett both at the crime scene. Much to his great surprise there was no evidence of tears or that she had been crying upon Beckett's face. "Hey," he said compassionately as he walked up to Beckett. "You finally made it."
Kate nodded her head; she had to put a wall up, it was the only way she was going to be able to give Will any justice. "What do you know, Ryan?" she asked in a matter-of-fact voice.
Kevin looked at Beckett a little taken aback by her tone of voice. "Not much," he said deciding to ignore it. "We don't know yet the cause of the fire but we have uniforms inside trying to figure it out. From what Lanie gathered it seems to be that he died in his sleep, the-"
Kate swallowed as Ryan was talking. "It is Will though?" she asked knowing the answer already but hoping beyond hope that for once she would be wrong.
A nod of Ryan's head confirmed her fears. Will truly was gone. Kate took in a ragged breath as she closed her eyes and tried not to let any of her tears escape. She had to be strong, if not for herself than she had to be strong for Will. After a period of silence Ryan decided to speak up again. "If you're looking for Esposito he's over by the Corner's van speaking with…"
Rick frowned as Ryan's words drifted off. What wasn't he saying? What wasn't he telling them? "With who, Ryan?"
Looking at Beckett, instead of Castle, Ryan opened his mouth to deliver more news that he was sure the detective did not want to hear. "He's talking to Sorenson's fiancé."
At Ryan's words Kate felt her eyes widen; her grief momentarily coated by another jab in the pit of her stomach. Will was engaged? But what about her, did she now mean nothing to him when just a year ago he had told her he wanted her back? Just as the thought went through her head Kate closed her eyes in embarrassment, a year truly was a long time. Not everyone had a famous mystery author following them around and hanging on their every moment. Lifting her head up to look Ryan in the eye she asked, "What's her name?"
With a deep breath Kate walked up to the woman Will would have spent the rest of his life with. "Ms. Wilder? I'm Kate Beckett; I'm the detective who's going to be-"
As the detective in front of her began to speak Isabelle felt her jaw fall slightly open. This couldn't be the same woman, could it? "Kate?" she said in disbelief. She shook her head not sure if she would be able to go on with her question. "You're not the same Kate Beckett I'm thinking of are you?"
Kate frowned at the woman in front of her. the same Kate Beckett she was thinking of? Could Will have told his fiancé about his past relationship with her? it appeared so, but she could not understand why he would do that. "How do you know me?"
Isabelle smiled a polite yet pained smile. "Will." she paused for a moment as she looked up into the blue sky and the clouds above her. It was such a beautiful day to have her world fall down around her. "He would talk about you all the time, whenever, something reminded him of you, I would hear about it." Again she smiled politely. "He never really got over you; that was obvious to anybody that knew him."
Kate looked at Isabelle compassionately; it was one thing losing a man you loved knowing he loved you back. However, it was another thing entirely to lose a man you loved knowing his heart and his devotion rested in the being of someone else. Kate opened her mouth to say something, but nothing seemed appropriate.
"You don't have to say anything, Detective," Isabelle said as she noticed Beckett struggling for words. She wiped a tear from her eye before continuing. "You see, I don't mind being second, as long as the only thing I am second to… is a memory."
"Umm, Detective Beckett," an unsure voice called from the charred doorway of Will's home. As soon as he had Beckett's attention he spoke again, "Can you come here a minute, I think there is something here that you need to see."
"Okay," Kate said frowning and began to walk away before remembering Will's fiancé. The thought stopped her in her tracks, Will Sorenson's fiancé, the words just sounded strange together. As she turned to the woman she looked at her sympathetically. "I'm sorry about this, I shouldn't be any more than a moment," she said and with that, she turned around and headed toward the charred doorway and the fire marshal. The closer she got to the doorway and the burned contents of inside the house the more labored her walking became. It was not that she was doing this on purpose but with each step, she had a different memory of him. When she finally made it to the front steps, she paused once again and closed her eyes.
Kate Beckett was in the interrogation room staring through the glass at Dick Coonan. If she had any matter of luck in the world she was about to find out who the man was who was responsible for her mother's death. She could feel Castle standing right behind her, staring at her. she could tell that he wanted to something to her. He was too quiet, he was always silent when he wanted to say something but could not find the words to say it with. Finally, after what felt like an hour, she heard him inhale. "Are you okay?"
Kate heard Castle speak but did not take her eyes off the man that she was watching through the glass. "Ten years, since we came home and found that detective waiting for us." she paused for a brief second. "Ten years," she said slowly as if trying to make Castle understand how painful and how difficult this was for her. "Since we crossed that yellow tape and went into that alley, and every time I cross that yellow tape at a crime scene I think of that night," she continued quickly.
Castle looked at her compassionately. He wanted to comfort her, she could tell by that by the intense stare she felt him giving. "That's what makes you such a good cop."
Kate stared through the glass a few seconds longer, he certainly was an amazing guy when he wanted to be. A sudden fear gripped Kate, what if no matter how good of a cop she was, it would never be good enough? She turned her head to the side and looked at Castle over her right shoulder. "What if I let her down?" she whispered, in hopes of hiding the fear and emotion in her voice.
Kate bit her lip as she waited for Castle's response. She hoped to god he would have faith in her even when she couldn't find it in herself. He looked at Kate very seriously as he took a deep breath and adjusted his coat. He was facing her as he began to speak but his eyes were on Dick Coonan. "Do you know why I chose you for my inspiration to Nikki Heat?"he asked as he turned his bright blue on her.
Kate closed her eyes; all her hopes that Castle had the faith when she lacked it had gone astray. He didn't believe in her any more than she believed in herself at this moment. She had asked him a question that she needed reassurance to and he starts talking about the character he's basing on her. "No," she answered as she tried to fight back the tears of frustration that she felt beginning to form in the back of her eyes. "Why?"
Castle looked at Kate very seriously. She saw something in his eyes, but she couldn't exactly be sure what it was. "Because you're tall."
Kate looked at Castle incuriously at first before she realized that he was complimenting and teasing her at the same time. A smile broke across her lips as she realized she was wrong, he had all the faith in her that she could ever need.
As the smirk came across Kate's face she saw Castle return it before she turned her head to look out the glass again at her suspect. As she licked her lips ready to say something back to Castle, he spoke. "Now go in there and do your job."
Kate nodded her head her smile now gone but in place of it a look of assurance and confidence.
"Detective?" the fire marshal asked warily pulling Kate out of her memory. Ignoring him for a second more she looked around the scene for any sign of Castle. If she needed assurance at any time, it was right now. As she saw Castle joking around with Ryan and Esposito, she closed her eyes in disappointment and looked back up at the man. "Can you come inside? There's something that I think you need to see."
Rick was smiling at a bit of light humor that Esposito cracked when he saw Beckett, standing by the door of will's house, looking at him. it was only a second before she looked away but he saw the neediness on her face and then disappointment when she realized what he was doing. Of course, she'd never pull her away from her two other partners, so she just turned and faced the fire marshal. As Beckett placed her foot on the first step, Rick jogged over to her.
As Kate started up the stairs she heard someone behind her, as she turned her head she felt her face break out into the first genuine smile she had since she had found Kimberly's body. She should have known Castle would never let her down.
The smile on Beckett's face at his arrival stunned Rick for a moment, he could not remember a time when he had actually seen her happy to see him. There was a first time for everything though. "So what are we doing?" he asked as he ran up the steps following her.
Instead of Beckett the fire marshal answered Castle's question. "There is something inside the house, that I think Detective Beckett, and yourself for that matter, need to see, follow me." As the he walked inside the charred entrance Kate and Rick looked at each other and followed in suit.
As Kate stepped inside what remained of the house a sudden gasp came upon her. everything from the floors all the way to the ceiling beams was covered in black. As the fire marshal took them through the house, she looked at her surroundings and in her mind's eye saw what this place used to be. Warm, loving, terribly decorated, but comfortable nonetheless. Now the place, like the world around it, was cold and empty of Will.
Kate didn't see the man stop at first and almost collided with his back when he did. She looked him straight in the face frowning, when she noticed that his eyes were not on her. They were on the wall. As Kate turned her head to see what he was staring at her body went cold. For there, painted on the wall in red fire resistant paint, that resembled blood, were the words "Two down _ to go. How many must die before you catch me Nikki?"