Florida Heat

Disclaimer: Alas, they aren't mine.

A/N: By popular demand I decided to write another chapter to this story. Please let me know if you want me to continue. :) I hope you all enjoy and remember, reviews are love. :)

Chapter 3

Five Days Earlier

"Human trafficking!"

Detective Kate Beckett lifted her head from her pile of paperwork to glance at her partner as he approached her desk and set a steaming cardboard coffee cup down in front of her. While she gave a small quirk of her lips in thank to the usual morning beverage, the bored expression on her face alerted him to her level of interest in his current theory.

"Excuse me."

"I bet they were part of a human trafficking ring."

"Right, Castle, because people like the Millers- two elementary school special ed. teachers, who foster formerly abused animals- really seem like the types to traffic women."

Kate rolled her eyes as she turned her attention back to the file laid out in front of her. She could feel him watching her as she lifted her coffee to her lips. She ignored him for another page of reading before giving in and looking up at him. He was leaning on his desk, his chip propped in one palm as the other one held his own coffee to his mouth.

"Admit it."

"No, it's not human trafficking."

"Not that."

"Then what? What am I supposed to admit, Castle?" Now she was just getting annoyed at his antics. It was too early for this.

"Admit that you are going to miss me while I am gone on tour for the next week." A small smug smile played on his lips, but she could see the actual concern hiding in his eyes.

Of course, it wasn't enough that she couldn't mess with him a little bit. "Oh, yeah, about that. Gates said that while you're gone, it would be the perfect time for me to find a, and I quote "real partner". So I will have my hands full while you're gone."

Castle's face fell and the coffee cup hung limply from his fingertips. The forlorn look on his face was almost too much for Beckett to bear and she reached for her own coffee to hide the smile that threatened her face.

"She's trying to replace me? But, it's me. I thought we were making so much progress. She's only yelled at me once this week. I have been helpful."

Beckett let out a noncommittal hum as she turned back to her paperwork and pretended to read. She watched him out of the corner of her eye as he sat looking like a lost puppy in his usual rickety green chair. After a couple of minutes she finally took pity on him and placed a hand over his.

"Don't worry. Ryan and Esposito have already come up with a plan to chase them all away. They know I am a one partner kind of girl," she reassured as she gave his hand a little squeeze. As he relaxed beside her she continued. "Besides, we have already broken you in. No use potty training someone else when we already have a perfectly good puppy right in front of us."

"Hey!" Castle bristled with indignation until he caught the teasing smile on his partner's face and squirmed in his seat attempting to muster up his dignity. "That wasn't very nice, Kate. Do I ever threaten to un-partner you or liken you to an untrained dog? I think not."

"Oh, I don't know, Castle," Kate rebutted, leaning back in her seat with her hands propped on her head. "I think it is a pretty apt description. After all the dog is man's best friend and you are my best friend, so it is reasonable to assume that you are in fact a dog."

Castle quirked an eyebrow at her, "Are you trying to tell me that you are really a man Beckett, because trust me, that would be a surprise. But I would love you and support you no matter what decision you make about your gender identity. I will even sit by you during your hormone therapy and while you grow facial hair."

Kate let out a bark of a laugh and Castle was effectively silenced by a pen bouncing off of his head.

"I knew it," he declared. "You are going to miss me."

Present Day

The nurse stared at the woman for a long moment. Why was she just looking at her like that? She remembered her name. Shouldn't the nurse be calling the doctor or something? She remembered the flashing lights and being called Nikki Heat. She remembered the man. If only she could remember his name too. It was there, she knew him, but she couldn't say it. It was there.

"Nikki. My name is Nikki."

The nurse finally seemed to snap out of her daze and mumbled something about being right back as she bolted back out the door.

'Nikki' leaned back in the bed, resting against the pillow as she brought her hands up to press against her still tender forehead. There wasn't a single part of her body that didn't hurt. Tears of frustration were threatening to spill again. This shouldn't be this hard. She remembered who she was, shouldn't they be plugging her name into a database or something? Calling the cops? From what she remembered she could be kind of famous. Wouldn't that make things easier?

She sat there for a few more minutes staring at the white ceiling, counting the tiles, then counting the different larger squares that could be made out of them. It was like doing a middle school math problem. How many squares are on this page?

"Stupid trick math problems", she mumbled to herself as she rubbed her eyes back into focus. Stuff like that would never help in the real world anyway. Thinking outside the box was overrated. No one ever got anywhere focusing on the weird and freaky stuff.

She looked up as the nurse came back into the room, a wide-eyed younger woman trailing behind her. The younger nurse, who was introduced as Angela, was carrying a book with her; one that she held out silently for 'Nikki' to take. She took it, confused, and ran a hand over the cover. Heat Rises. What?

"Your name isn't Nikki Heat, sweetie," the older nurse, Becky, started. "Nikki Heat is a character in a book."

The woman shook her head in frustration as she gripped the book tighter. "No, I remember. I remember walking into a room. There were cameras and flashing lights. I remember people saying that I was her; that I was Nikki Heat."

The nurse gave her a sympathetic look and patted her on the head. 'Nikki' gave her a withering glare; she really had to stop doing that. It was annoying.

She flipped through a few pages of the book absentmindedly until she finally flipped the book over and ran a hand slowly over the back cover taking in the picture of the man staring back at her. It was him— he was the man she had been seeing.

"Him," She exclaimed as the other two stared at her. "I know him. I need to talk to him."

The two nurses exchanged a look. The woman was clearly insane. "Richard Castle? You know him? You need to talk to Richard Castle?"

"Yes," she was starting to get frustrated. Why didn't they believe her? "I work with him. I remember. I know him."

"Sweetie, Richard Castle lives in New York. I highly doubt you know him."

"New York? Okay, well then where are we?"

"Jacksonville, sweetie. You're in Florida."

Florida? That wasn't right. New York sounded more right than Florida.

"Please," she pressed. This was right; she knew it. "I need to talk to him. Please. I could be wrong, I could be crazy but I need to talk to him. I need to be sure."

She was on the brink of tears again, but she didn't care. They had to believe her.

The younger nurse looked up at Becky. "His agent's number is on some of the fan sites. I can see if I can get a hold of her. It is a long shot, but it might work."

Becky sighed again and pressed two fingers to the bridge of her nose. Why was she the one that had to get stuck with the delusional psych patient?

"Okay, fine. It's not like we have many more choices. The doctors did say that her memory would need jolts to come back, since it is not physical."

'Nikki' sighed. Again, they were talking about her like she wasn't really here, but at least they were trying.

She watched as Becky nodded her acceptance of the plan and the two nurses filed back out to the hall to look up the number. It would work. She knew it would work. She just had to talk to him.

She had been channel surfing for over an hour before Becky and Angela, came back into the room, the book in one of her hands and a cell phone in the other. She made them put it on speaker while they made their way through the automated messages and directories.

"Gina Cowell," a woman's voice came over the speaker.

The three women exchanged a glance. It had been determined that Becky would talk and just tell the truth. The truth would be the best idea, right? "Yes, hi, my name is Rebecca Johnson, I am a nurse at Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida. I have a patient here who says she is a friend of Mr. Castle's and says she needs to speak to him. I was wondering if you would be able to get a hold of him for us."

There was silence on the other end of the phone. "If this patient really is a friend of Rick's then why didn't they call him on his cell phone? I really don't have time for this."

'Nikki' looked up in horror. No, she couldn't hang up on them. "No, please," she blurted out. "I have to talk to him. It is really important. Please, Gina."

There was another long pause on the other end. All three women exchanged a glance again. Did she hang up?

"Kate?"

The woman's head shot up. Kate? Who was Kate? Was she Kate? She looked at the stunned looks on the two nurses faces. Who cared if she was really Kate? She was in. To hell with the truth, it was time to lie through her teeth. "Yes, yes it is Kate."

"Well, sweetie, why didn't you just call him on his cell. Its not like you don't know the number. Isn't it like number one on your speed dial or something?"

'Kate' let out a small laugh as a huge smile spread across her face. "His cell number. Oh, um, my phone got destroyed and I don't have it memorized. Crazy, I know."

She smiled again. Her name was Kate and she knew Richard Castle.