Chapter Twenty

A/N: Fixed version of the chapter.

~Rose

"When you lose something you can't replace"

Ryan:

There he was, sitting before us; the man who shot Beckett and tried to set Castle on fire. He hadn't been hard to find. We knew what he looked like, so all we had to do was look. He was hiding in the background at the scene outside Beckett's apartment building; had missed killing Beckett so he would have wanted to make sure Castle was dead. Melling had a smug look on his face; it made me want to punch him. "So Melling, aren't you supposed to be dead?" I asked rhetorically.

"So are your buddy and his girlfriend."

"Are you confessing?" I asked not bothering to correct him and tell him that Castle and Beckett aren't dating.

"You'll never touch him you know," Melling replied. It was a statement not a question.

"Who the hell is behind all this?" I asked.

"You'll never touch him," Melling repeated.

Esposito had been sitting, silently glaring at Melling, up until this point. "Tell us what the hell you know!"

"Why would I do that?"

"Because we can get you locked up for a long time," I threatened.

Melling stayed silent. "Who is the dragon?" Esposito yelled, slamming his hands down on the table.

"Ask your writer buddy. He knows more than you think."

Esposito lost his temper, whipping around the table and grabbing the smug hit man. "Tell us what you know!"

Esposito had him backed against the wall now, his hand wrapped in Melling's shirt. Melling smiled and spun around quickly, half knocking Esposito down. This unguarded Esposito enough that Melling was able to grab his arms and pull his gun out of his holster. Holding it to my partner's head he managed to get out of Esposito's grip. "Back down or your partner gets a bullet in his head," Melling threatened.

I couldn't let anyone else die; especially my partner. Pulling out my own gun, I shot Melling, who crumpled to the ground.

Lanie:

"Hola chica," Javier said entering the morgue.

I wasn't in the mood. Something was definitely going on and no one had informed me about any of it. "Care to explain why Perlmutter just told me he heard Jason Melling had you at gun point?" I asked sharply.

"It's a long story Lanie."

"Javier Esposito, you better explain or I will smack you."

"Well I don't know everything, but somehow Melling has something to do with Beckett's mother's case." I put my head in my hands knowing anything that came after that statement would be nothing good. "He had Castle," Javier continued, "I don't know what happened but somehow Castle was at Beckett's apartment and Melling was there too and he tied Castle up and lit Beckett's apartment on fire."

"He what?" I asked, not believing what I just heard.

"Lit Beckett's apartment on fire."

"Is Castle okay?" I asked concerned.

"He's fine. Inhaled a lot of smoke, but fine."

"You still have to explain being held at gun point."

"Ryan and I caught him and brought him into the precinct. We tried to figure out what he knew but he wouldn't say. He accused Castle of knowing who is behind it all and I lost my temper."

"Javier," I semi-threatened.

"He got out of the hold I had him in and pointed his gun at me. Ryan shot him; he's dead now."

I was too stunned to speak; instead I just went and wrapped my arms around Javier.

Beckett:

I had to get out of there. I didn't know where to go; I couldn't go home seeing how my apartment needed major repairs now but I couldn't stay at the hospital. I decided to just go for a walk. Thoughts of the conversation Alexis and I had just had swam around my head. She was right; I couldn't keep putting her father in danger. Alexis didn't even know about all the times Castle had almost died shadowing me; the Tisdale case, the case with the passport that was in a knockoff purse, when the 3XK had him, when we were in the freezer, when the bomb almost went off, just now in my apartment… He wasn't a cop, he shouldn't have to face these dangers. If something had happened to him I would never forgive myself. Alexis was right to tell me to get out of her father's life. I had lost the best thing in my life, but it was the only way to keep him alive.

Esposito:

Disappearing out of everyone else's sight I made a phone call to the number I called the other day. "Hello," the woman on the other end said.

"Hi, things have come up. I can't do Sunday anymore. Will it be too much of an inconvenience to put it off until things calm down?" I couldn't do this now; not with Beckett potentially in danger and Castle chasing after someone who is extremely dangerous. According to Melling Castle knows who the dragon is. I don't want to believe that he would know and not tell us, but I had a feeling he did know more than he was telling us.

"Sure, that's fine," the woman replied, "I hope everything is alright."

"I do too," I muttered under my breath.

Castle:

The darkness was still enclosing me but I was starting to break through it. Kate. I needed to se her. But wasn't she dead? Then again, wasn't I dead too? I felt someone gripping my hand. Slowly I opened my eyes and saw my daughter next to me. "Hi pumpkin," I said, my voice raspy.

"Dad!"

She looked scared. I felt bad for scaring her. "Where's Gram," I asked her, noticing she wasn't there.

"She ran down to the cafeteria," Alexis responded.

Then I noticed who else wasn't there: Kate. She was probably busy, but I had to ask anyways. "Where's Kate?"

The color suddenly drained from my daughter's face. She squeezed my hand harder. "Dad I'm sorry," she said tearfully, "She's gone Dad. She left."