Chapter 6
Glad everyone is enjoying the spirits.

"Castle?" Montgomery called his name, but Castle was already on his way in the opposite direction. It wasn't like he didn't care for Kate's former boss, he still missed him and had come to consider him as a friend. But to know all this time he knew about Bracken while Kate poured her heart into her mom's file, it was hard for Castle to accept.

"Castle!" Hearing the dead man yell at him just made the author move faster. The tunnel wasn't exactly flat though, so Castle had to look where he was going.

Montgomery was keeping up, or his spirit was, or maybe Castle's mind couldn't let the hallucination go. Castle didn't care about the darkness or the cave, he just wanted to get away from this man. Unfortunately, he tripped and went down face first, landing on the hard cave floor.

Montgomery was beside him in an instant. "Castle, are you okay?"

His hands stung; he had scraped them in the fall. Picking up the flashlight, he looked it over. He should be thankful the fall didn't break it.

"You know better by now it's stupid to run like this, in this cave. You could have ran into a wall or a rock or worse, you could have fallen down—"

"I don't need you to tell me that. I know that!" Castle stood up now.

"Then why did you try to run away from me?"

Castle shifted the light directly at Montgomery, "You know why!" The writer then began to walk, but slower this time.

Montgomery was beside him even though the passageway was barely wide enough to have both men next to each other. "I know it was a shock to you about everything."

"I can't believe you knew the whole time, all those years even before she became a detective, you knew who killed her mom!" Castle spat out the words. He kept walking, not waiting for an answer. He was pretty sure Montgomery could keep up.

He heard Montgomery sigh. "You have no idea how hard it was to keep that secret."

Castle shook his head, "Actually I do. Smith contacted me after he got your package. It was up to me to help keep her off the case."

More time passed as Castle and Montgomery's spirit moved. The passageway grew narrower so Montgomery slipped behind him. It occurred to Castle he didn't hear the spirit's footsteps. Do they make footsteps?

"I had to protect her. And you know now what she was up against."

Castle had to twist silently to step around some strange rocks jutting out of the walls. So far there hadn't been a problem squeezing by anything. "Knowing the truth helps, Captain. Knowing the who and the why can help give her the closure she so desperately needed."

"But she wasn't ready for that, Castle!" Montgomery was up ahead now. Castle was going to pass him. "Beckett thought if she knew the killer, she just had to arrest them."

Castle shook his head. "No, she wasn't that naive. She was afraid there wouldn't be enough to hold him or he'd put in a plea where the time he served was nowhere near what he deserved."

"But we'd never get that far with Bracken, especially on what we had. We might have had enough to ruin his career, but only if we made it so far. Bracken had people everywhere, and he'd shut it down before we could get started. Hell, he's so devious he might have spun it to help his career while killing her."

Castle gripped the flashlight hard. He didn't want to agree with Montgomery, but it was true. Castle kept walking, trying to concentrate on the ground before him, being careful to make sure the light illumining the ground didn't suddenly drop off.

It was hard to tell how much time had passed; he just knew he was growing very tired. No longer communicating with the spirit meant Castle was more aware of his body's limitations. He'd been hungry for a long time, but now the thirst was getting to him. He wanted to wait as long as he could though, he remembered some article on Yahoo that said rationing water wasn't necessarily a good idea, but he couldn't remember all the details about it. Still, he felt he should play it safe and wait until he rested. He might have been tired, but he wasn't ready to stop walking.

Soon the tunnel thinned so much that Castle was walking sideways. Then that grew tighter and tighter. Should he keep going or turn back?

As his body was now snug against the two walls that sandwiched him, Castle stretched his arm out and verified the passageway did widen. He started to pull himself but he wasn't making much progress. Shifting, Castle kneeled down as the base was slightly wider. He got his shoulders though but his bottom half wasn't cooperating and remained on the other side.

He was grunting hard and wondered if he now was really stuck.

Montgomery appeared in front of him. The bastard was actually smiling. "You know, I've seen some sights in my day, but this?"

"Shut up!" Castle said, though it was hard effort to get the words out. "I wish you could push me."

"I wish I could too, but on this side …" now he could hear his voice behind him, "it is even more amusing. You know, did Royce tell you about the cave spiders?"

Castle couldn't respond but he wasn't falling for that again. So far he'd seen nothing to indicate …

He felt a slight tickle on his ankle heading up his knee.

With everything he had, he pushed through and he came on the other side. Landing on the ground, he turned quickly, brushing his leg to make sure whatever had crawled up him was gone. "What the hell was that?"

Montgomery was sitting next to him. "Don't know, maybe it was your imagination."

Castle glared at him but he felt like he was sitting in a puddle. Lifting up, he realized the water was all down his side. "Oh no!"

Reaching into his pocket, Castle pulled out what was left of the plastic water bottle, now smashed. "Dammit!"

The flashlight had fallen to the ground so Castle picked it up to see what he had left. There was very little, barely enough for two gulps. Frustration boiled up. Of all the stupid things, he should have jus taken it out before he squeezed through.

"It's okay, Castle. Just a minor setback." Montgomery's voice was softer, trying to calm the writer down.

Castle started to throw the bottle, he was so angry but Montgomery held his hand up as if he was going to touch him. He didn't, but it was enough for Castle to come to his senses. Lifting the bottle over his head, he tilted what was left of the water through one of the cracks and drank. At least it tasted good.

When he was done, he put the bottle down. "I feel weird. I shouldn't litter."

Montgomery chuckled. "Kidnapped, lost in a cave, exhausted, and dirty, but you're worried about littering. You haven't changed one bit."

He almost smiled. It was funny. But he shook his head. "Alexis wouldn't like it. She's the one that got us to recycle and care about the environment. I think one of her classes this semester is on environmental studies."

"How is she doing in college?"

He missed this. He spent more time with Kate or the boys, but Roy Montgomery was someone Castle could speak to about being a father. Picking up the flashlight, Castle went on, the passageway still continued.

"She's doing great. Made Dean's list last year, even when she was kidnapped …" Castle didn't finish. He didn't want to talk about that.

"Yeah," Montgomery's voice drew out the word. If he knew his friend, he could imagine the sympathetic look he gave him. "You doing okay being so far from her?"

Sighing, Castle shook his head while he kept walking. "Not really. Since I don't have much to do during the day while Kate is at work, I think about it more. It doesn't help talking with her either, because then it's like I feel the distance between us."

"Are you talking about Alexis or Kate?"

"God, Roy." That was all he said in response. He wasn't going to get into it.

After some time, his shadow spoke up again. "Do you want to yell at me some more about Bracken?"

In spite of everything Castle snorted a laugh. "No. I know you care—cared about Kate. You protected her the only way you could. And you're right, if she knew about Bracken back then she would have gotten killed."

"I have to admit, I never thought she'd really be able to accept the truth of the situation."

Castle shrugged, "I guess neither did I. But then you were killed, she got shot, everything went to hell in a hand basket."

"She had to hit bottom before she let it go," Montgomery said quietly. "It reminds me of alcoholism."

Castle hadn't thought about it that way. "I suppose, but it's not like there's a support group for your parent was assassinated by a senator and can use the government to cover it up."

"No, I suppose not."

Castle was becoming very tired and he was slowing down considerably. Montgomery had a suggestion. "Why don't you lie down and get some sleep? You've been walking for hours now."

Castle was just about to say he would consider it when he began to slide. The ground was sloping downhill as it had for some time, but suddenly the ground was very slick and due to his lack of strength, he couldn't stop his momentum.

He reached the bottom and dust flew up as he landed. Coughing, Castle looked around but decided he hadn't slid that much after all. He was lucky.

"So how about here? The ground is softer." Montgomery pointed to the dirt.

Castle debated about it, but looked to what was ahead. "The floor goes up now. It's a bit of a steep climb. Not like that wall I went up before, but I'd rather get past this."

Montgomery leaned forward in the direction Castle meant. "Well, at least eat the rest of your protein bar. You're going to need some energy for that."

Castle stared at his friend with amusement. It almost felt like he was really there. But he couldn't be.

Taking out his protein bar, Castle ate what was left of it. It was disgusting by now, but hopefully it could help.

After he finished, he sat for a few minutes contemplating. Eventually he spoke his thoughts. "Your death was so hard on her."

Roy flinched at that. He obviously knew. "I miss her, too."

"What about your family? Do you get to see them?" If I don't make it out of here…

It was as if Roy knew what Castle was thinking. "Not in the way I would like. Have you spoken to Evelyn lately?"

Guilt filled Castle. Not in a while, and certainly not since he moved. "Not lately. I did see her at Christmas. Sent her and the kids presents."

"You didn't have to do that."

"I wanted to!" Castle said. "I should do more."

Roy regarded him for a moment. "You never think you do enough, do you?"

Glancing at the hill in front of him, Castle said, "I guess I just don't know when to quit."

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