Disclaimer: I do not own Castle, the idea belongs to ABC

"But Sir, with all due respect, there is no reason that I shouldn't stay at my apartment tonight," Kate said to Montgomery trying to make him see reason. She did not want to stay at Castle's place again, it was bad enough he let her invade one night.

"Beckett, we can't be sure if the intended target is you or Castle. Now if Castle says he thinks it's a good idea that you stay with him I am well inclined to agree with him. We don't have the bodies available to baby sit both your buildings."

Kate inhaled as she heard her captain's words. How could he be doing this to her, had she not been through enough stress for one day? "Thank you very much, Sir, but I do not need security detail on my building. I'll be fine, I am well trained how to get rid of an intruder."

Roy Montgomery looked at Beckett sternly. Why must she always be so stubborn, it is not as if he was saying this to punish her. "Beckett, the last time I left your building unsecured we almost lost you," he stood up out of his chair as he said his next words, "now, I will be damned before I make that mistake again! I will not lose one of our own because you think you'll be safe. Consider it an order."

Kate looked at Montgomery with fire in her eyes. She hated it when he acted like her father, and she hated it even more when Castle requested things that she did not agree with. All she wanted to do after today was go home and grieve the ones that she had lost. With a shake of her head, she realized that was not going to happen, she would be dead and buried before she let Castle see her cry. Without saying another word, she stood from the chair she was sitting in and left the office.

When Kate exited out of the office, she found Ryan, Esposito, and Castle all surrounding her desk looking solemn. Kate frowned; it was rare to see a saddened look on a single one of their faces much less on all three, especially when they were all together. As she got closer she heard them talking. "We have to tell her, she deserves that much!" Castle had said with a fierceness in his voice that she didn't think she had ever heard him use before.

Kate watched Ryan look at Castle astounded. "Didn't you see her at the crime scene? She was devastated!" Kate closed her eyes in defeat; she had tried so hard to hide her emotions from everyone around her. She had tried so hard to make it look like this case did not affect her more than any other case. "Do you know what this news would do to her?"

Castle sighed and looked at Javier. He shook his head and looked over at his partner. Regretfully he replied, "Castle's right, Bro, we have to tell her."

Swallowing a thick lump in her throat Kate walked over to the huddle of men. With each step, her mind was screaming at her to turn around and run in the other direction. Even without hearing, what she had just heard she knew the news was bad; she could tell by the expressions on their faces. "Tell me what?" she asked as she approached them.

Castle was the first to look up when he heard Kate's voice, followed by Esposito and finally Ryan. Each face was more solemn than the next. With a sigh of deep remorse, Castle spoke first. "What did Montgomery have to say?"

Kate sighed; she should have known they would deviate from telling her the news. "It's not important," she said and waited staring at the men as they slowly, one by one, looked down at their shoes. "Okay, before there's another murder, someone tell me the news!"

This time, it was Esposito, who raised his head, and the first to speak. "Lanie called, while you were in the office talking to Montgomery."

Kate nodded her head; At least now, she was getting some information out of them. She did not understand it, before she arrived Castle and Esposito were all for telling her the bad news, but now all of them were clammed up. "Well what did she say?"

Kevin swallowed as he looked up at Beckett; his stomach was churning as he thought of her reaction to the news. "She had just finished with Sorenson's autopsy…."

Noticing Ryan was struggling to relay the news to Beckett, Rick spoke up and saved him from having to spill the news himself. "There were no signs of smoke inhalation in his lungs or in his throat."

Kate frowned at Castle; she was hearing the words that were coming out of his mouth but he could have been saying them in an entirely different language for how much she understood them.

Seeing her look of confusion on her face Rick took a step closer to Beckett and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Beckett, I'm so sorry, but Sorenson didn't die in that fire, he was murdered."

With the news laid out in front of her, face for her to see, she could not argue any longer that there had been a mistake. That by some miracle it was not Will who had died in that house. As she thought back on everything that had happened, today she felt her hazel eyes fill up with tears, and before she could stop herself she felt her body crumple against Castle's chest and his arms gently wrap around her as the tears cascaded from her eyes.

Later that night, Kate Beckett sat at the dining room table of Castle's apartment with both Kimberly and Will's case files opened in front of her. She had read over every single line in both files over one hundred times and still she could find no connection between the two murders. She ran her fingers through her hair and let her hand rest on her scalp as she heard a door close. "Hey," Castle said as he padded over to her.

She looked up from the files and gave him a weak smile. He had been distant, frighteningly so, since they had arrived at his apartment. She wondered if it was because of what happened at the prescient earlier today."Hey Castle."

Rick looked down at the paperwork and pictures she had strewn across half of the table. "How are you doing?" he said cautiously as he sat down in a chair cattycorner from her.

Kate shook her head as she looked up at Castle. "These murders…I don't understand them, they're all so pointless, there's no connection other than the messages left on the wall."

Rick looked at her trying to go through the facts in his mind. Truth was though; he did not know them, or much about either of them. "Well Will was an FBI agent….and," he said rushing his next words in excitement, "Kimberly was dating some guy in the witness protection program that our guy wanted dead. So in revenge for putting him into hiding he kills the fed that's protecting him and his girlfriend to punish the guy before he kills him."

Kate looked up at Castle and raised her eyebrows. It was a good theory she had to admit but it still had some holes. "So, where does Nikki Heat play in all of this?"

Rick thought for a minute; she was right, in order for their murderer to place blame on Nikki then she had to play into the story somehow, or Kate did. Jordan Shaw's words went through his head, "…maybe he was reading the book when it was killed, when he snapped he said 'I'll blame Nikki for it.'" But no, it was too easy; it would not have been how he would have written it. He opened his mouth to say something when another voice resounded in his memory. "Castle, you and I have known each other long enough for me to know that sometimes your crazy theories are right. So if you have a reason to believe he's not up there, then you need to tell me why, now." With dawning realization, he looked up at Beckett. "Simple, he's a copy cat killer. He knows Dunn, he's finishing his story for him, but because you didn't let him succeed the first time, he's punishing you by killing those you love."

Kate looked at Castle with almost a smirk across her face. She loved it how creative his mind could be when he wanted it to. "Okay, well there's motive; but what's the story?"

Rick frowned at Beckett. "The story?"

"Why these two? Why murder them? There's no story, there's no chain of events that makes everything make sense."

Rick smiled as he heard his own words come out of Beckett's mouth for the second time that day. Thinking he lifted a picture of each of the victims. Furrowing his brow, he stared at the pictures intently as if their connection was going to write itself out on the photo for him to see.

As Kate watched Castle's brow furrow she felt her lips lift into a small smile. She had no idea that a smile, no matter how small it may be, could feel so good atop her lips. "It's a good thing we aren't playing poker, Mr. Castle, that expression is deadly."

Rick looked up at Beckett astounded. After the day she had, had today was she actually making light of the situation she was in? He smirked to himself; he must have had more on an effect on her than she was giving him credit for. As he looked at Beckett's face, her expression was calmer than he had seen all day. "I think I'd rather be playing poker."

Kate looked at Castle not at all trying to hide the surprise that her face showed. "Really? A serial killer, to you, I thought would have been like finding the Isla de Muerta."

Rick shrugged his shoulders. "I guess it would be, if it wasn't hurting you so much," he said as he reached over and slid his fingers under Beckett's hand that was resting on the table. Much to Rick's great pleasure she did not pull away this time.

Kate opened her mouth to convey her appreciation for not only his words but for his help when she heard footsteps on the stairs behind her.

"Hey Dad I-" Alexis began as she scampered into the dining room. As she saw Beckett's hand in her father's she felt surprise consume her body and her blue eyes grew wide.

Simultaneously Rick dropped Beckett's hand, she pulled hers away, and they both put their hands in their laps. Rick lifted his head up toward Alexis, but did not meet her eyes. He knew she was going to have him do some explaining but he was just hoping she would not do it here. "What is it, Sweetie?"

"I-um," Alexis said pulling her eyes off the spot where they were holding hands a second ago to her father's face. "I was just coming to say goodnight." She walked over to her father and kissed him on the cheek before spotting the pictures on the table. Lifting one up she turned to Beckett. "Are these pictures from the crime scenes?" she said aghast.

Kate nodded her head as she saw the pictures Alexis was looking at in her head. She got chills as she thought of them. "Yeah they are."

Alexis shook her head in remorse for the victims. It was so saddening when a life was ended early in such gruesome ways. "I know you were looking for one earlier, have you found a connection yet?" she asked as she returned to the photos to the table in front of Beckett.

Kate shook her head as she looked down at the photos and as she did, it made her stomach turn. She was glad that she did not go over to see Will at the scene, she knew now, had she, she would have fallen into Castle's arms much sooner. "What were the victim's names?" Alexis asked.

Rick looked over at Beckett first to see if she was the one who wanted to answer, when she continued to look down at the pictures, he looked up at Alexis. "Kimberly Holtz and Will Sorenson."

Alexis frowned. Why did the second victim's name sound so familiar? She had heard it before, she just could not figure out from where. "Where have I heard the name Sorenson before?" she asked, thinking aloud.

Kate closed her eyes and bit down hard on her bottom lip. When she opened her eyes, again she looked up at Alexis. "He's an old boyfriend of mine."

Alexis looked at Beckett her blue eyes wide and horrorstruck. No wonder Beckett's eyes were puffy when they had walked in through the door a few hours ago. "Oh, Detective Beckett, I'm so sorry, you don't know the other victim too, do you?"

Had it been any other situation, Kate would have smiled at the teenager's brilliance. Between solving the photo album mystery at the prescient a few months back and knowing exactly what questions to ask Kate Beckett had no doubt in her mind that Alexis would make an excellent detective. "Yes, I did, actually, back when she was very young, I used to baby sit her."

At Detective Beckett's words, Alexis felt her eyes grow wide again. "Well, wouldn't that be your connection right there? You knew both of them. He's killing people from your past."

Kate felt her eyes grow wide. With terror coursing through her body, she stood up and looked around for her phone. With her panic growing more intense each second, she spotted it sitting on the kitchen's island. "Dad!" she whispered right before she dashed off to grab it.

Kate fell into a sitting position on her bed in Castle's spare room as she listened to the ringing in her phone. "Come one, Dad, pick up, please pick up!" she whispered into the phone.

Suddenly a voice sounded from the other end of the phone. "You've reached Jim Beckett, I'm not here right now, but if you leave your name, number and a brief message I'll get back to you at my earliest convenience. Thank you and have a great day."

Damn it! she thought as a beep went off signaling that it was time for her to leave a message. "Hey dad, it's Kate, I'm just calling to check to make sure you're all right. Please call me back the minute you get this, it's very important."

Kate dropped the phone on the bed beside her and let her head fall into her hands. Her mind was reeling, should she just stay and pray that everything would be okay or should she take the drive out to Long Island and check on him? Kate shook her head why was she even debating this; she knew what she had to do. She heard a knock on the door just as she opened up the closet. "What is it, Castle?" she called out.

"May I come in?" he asked as he cracked the door open just enough to stick his head through the hole.

Kate looked up at Castle with no expression on her face other than worry and nodded her head.

Rick walked into the room and leaned against the chest of drawers that was across from the bed. "Is your dad all right?" he asked as he tried to meet Beckett's eye.

"I don't know," Kate said as she leaned down and pulled on one of her boots. "I can't get a hold of him, he won't answer his phone."

As Beckett put on her shoes, Rick's eyes wondered over to the little digital clock on the bedside table. 10:52. "Well maybe, he's just asleep, I mean it is eleven o'clock."

Kate shook his head. "No, he always picks up his phone, no matter what time it is. He's not just asleep."

Rick sighed and nodded his head. He should have known there was no comforting her. "Well, you're not going without me," he said as she zipped up her second boot.

Kate sighed as she looked up at Castle. "Thank you very much Castle, but you stay here with Alexis. I can go to Long Island by myself."

Rick felt his eyes widen as Beckett told him where she was going. "Long island? Beckett that's an hour and a half drive!"

Kate looked at Castle with pure determination. There was no way he was going to talk her out of going. "Castle, this is my father. The only thing I have to lose by driving down there is a couple dollars of gas and time. I'd rather go see that he is all right than get a call from the Suffolk County police department tomorrow morning telling me he's been murdered."

Rick looked at Beckett seriously and shook his head. "I'm not saying I don't want you going, Beckett, I'm saying it's an hour and a half drive at eleven o'clock at night, and you are not going without me."

Beckett sighed, she was wasting time, she needed to get down to Selden and make sure nothing had happened. "Castle, stay here, go to bed, you've been up since-"

"An hour later than you," Rick said stubbornly. He did not care what her argument was; she was not going to drive three hours at this time of night alone. "You can stand here and argue with me to stay here all night, or you can yell at me for doing something annoying on the way to long island, your choice."

Frustrated Kate ran her fingers through her hair. "Why are you doing this Castle?" she asked hotly as she stood from the bed.

"You'd do the same for me," Rick said in a calm tone as he looked down at the detective. "Tell me you wouldn't."

Kate opened her mouth to prove him wrong, but deep down she knew it would have been a lie. If he were worried about Martha's well being, she wouldn't even give a second thought to jumping in her car and going with him to check on her. "I would, Castle, but it's my job."

Rick smirked as he shrugged his shoulders. "Yes, well, as it is mine."

Kate looked at him incredulously. God, he was so irritating! "Tell me exactly Castle, how this is your job?"

"You're my partner, Beckett, I follow you around everywhere," he said as if it should have been obvious to her. "How else do you expect me to research you?"