Author's note: Okay, hopefully that chapter 4 problem will be the only one we have. I put 4 up twice (as 4 and then as 5) and then deleted 5 once it started to show up for everyone. Hopefully it'll save a lot of confusion later – although I know it created some for you who thought I'd put up 5 and it wasn't showing. We'll figure it out, though! I made a forum at the site that might help with communication if it happens again. If you want to join feel free, but of course you don't have to. I'll post the link on my twitter site, which you can find in my profile. So here we go with chapter 5. Let's hope it works.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Knowing how long it took her to get into the doctor when she actually had an appointment scheduled weeks in advance, Beckett was shocked that Castle's doctor arrived before Esposito or Ryan. The knock on her door wasn't a cop knock – and Ryan or Esposito wouldn't have knocked first, anyway. Beckett turned her head at the sound and simply yelled for the doctor to come in rather than move the towel from Castle's cut head. She heard the door open and then close, and called again so he'd know where to go.

"Over here."

The doctor surprised her yet again when he crossed the kitchen and entered the living room. She'd been expecting someone older and dignified – the typical doctor stereotype. Instead, Doctor Cutter was young – probably even younger than she was – and too handsome to be real. Beckett felt her jaw drop, but she couldn't help herself.

"You must be Detective Beckett," he said, coming over with a small bag in his hand. "You're gorgeous."

She felt her face get warm immediately, and couldn't think of anything to say. His dark eyes were smoldering and friendly, his gaze only for her just then. An olive, Mediterranean complexion and wavy dark hair with a perfect smile made her feel as awkward as a newborn foal.

"Uh…"

"Gerald, I'm down here."

Castle's voice was wry and amused - although laced with pain, and it startled them both. Cutter grinned, though, and reached over and put his hand over the hand Beckett had pressed against Castle's head. She moved her hand and got out of the way so he could take her place.

"Who beat you up, Rick?" Cutter asked.

Castle started to answer, but instead winced away from the doctor's touch when he started probing the area around his cut head.

"Ow…"

"Sorry." He looked over his shoulder to Beckett. "Help me get him to the couch, will you, Detective?"

She nodded and went to Castle's other side, and the two of them managed to get him to his feet, although he was unsteady and leaned precariously against Beckett when she put his arm over her shoulder. She held him as gently as she could, trying to keep from hurting him further, and he paled noticeably when they got him upright.

"That can't be good," Kate murmured, looking over Castle's head at the doctor.

"No. Let's get him off his feet."

They walked him over to the couch, but before they sat him down, Cutter pulled off the jacket Castle was wearing, and then his shirt.

"Ouch." This time it was Beckett who winced. There was a large bruise on his ribs and the mark she'd seen on his wrist had a matching one on the other wrist. "Those are binding marks," she said, taking Castle's hand to get a better look at his wrist.

"Binding? What do you mean?" Cutter asked, his attention back on Castle's cut head. "This is going to need stitching."

"Someone had him tied up…"

"What? Seriously?"

"Looks like it." She frowned, looking at Castle's face. "Is he going to be okay?"

"Give me a chance to check him out. I don't see anything too bad, though, just a-"

There was a commotion at the door, suddenly, and Esposito came into Beckett's place without announcing himself. Right behind him, Ryan was looking at the bloodied doorknob. Cutter looked over at her, concerned, but she smiled reassuringly as the two detectives joined them in the living room. Both looked at Castle, then at Cutter, and then at Beckett.

"Doctor Gerald Cutter, these are Detectives Ryan and Esposito."

"Hi."

"Hey."

"What's going on Beckett?" Esposito asked, looking back at Castle and frowning. "Wow, Castle, who beat you up?"

"Where ya been, Castle?" Ryan asked.

"I…" The writer looked at them, but suddenly his eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out.

Beckett stepped forward, concerned, but Cutter was already checking him out, giving him a number of simple tests.

"He's okay," the doctor said. "Almost certainly just a combination of shock and blood loss. It's probably a good thing, really," he told them as he bent over and opened his bag, pulling out a syringe and a small vial. "I can do the stitches without him knowing it."

Ryan looked a little green at the sight of the needle, but Esposito started to take a step forward to watch. Beckett stopped him, though.

"Should we take him to a hospital?" she asked.

"They won't do anything I can't," he assured her. "He needs stitching and cleaned up – which I'll do while he's out – and some ice packs on the bruises. A good night's sleep – with someone monitoring him – and he should be looking a lot better in the morning. He'll definitely be more lucid."

"He couldn't be any less…" Beckett said. She sighed and stood up, moving out of the way so she didn't need to watch the stitching job. She was feeling just a little green, too. She gestured to Esposito and Ryan to join her in the kitchen while the doctor continued working on Castle.

"So what did you find out?" Esposito asked.

"Nothing. He was here when I came in, and too out of it to tell me more than his doctor's name. But someone's had him tied up, and he mentioned someone who looked like him – and someone who didn't."

"That could be the guy with Castle's wallet," Ryan said.

"Possibly," she acknowledged. "He wouldn't let me call an ambulance, either."

Esposito frowned.

"Why not?"

"He wouldn't say. Hopefully tomorrow he'll be able to tell us more."

The detectives all looked over at the couch where Cutter was leaned over Castle, working on him.

"You keeping him here tonight?"

She nodded.

"No sense trying to take him home. Besides, we still don't know who hurt him, and they might not have anything to do with the dead body. I'd rather have him somewhere we can watch him – just in case."

"And if they followed him here?"

She shook her head.

"My door was unlocked when I came home. Castle has a key – which he must have used – but he didn't lock the door behind him and the blood on the doorknob and the elevator button would have led them right to him if they'd followed him. He was helpless. They could have taken him out, or taken him back to wherever he was the last few days."

"So there's nothing we can really do tonight…"

"No. Not until we find out what happened."

"And no chance of that?"

"Let's find out."

They walked back into the living room.

"How's he doing, Doctor?" Kate asked.

"Stitches are in." Cutter gave Beckett his dazzling smile again. "I was going to shave his head, but he'd never have forgiven me." She returned the smile, and heard Esposito chuckle. "Other than that, you saw the bruises and abrasions. Nothing too terrible, but he's going to hurt when he comes down from the painkiller I administered."

"He'll be okay, though?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah."

"We can settle him on the couch," Beckett said. "Will that be all right?"

"Should be. It'll keep him from tossing and turning like he might if we tried to put him in a bed. He does need someone to stay with him, though. I don't mind hanging around…"

Ryan and Esposito shared an amused look that Beckett caught but Cutter hopefully missed. She had figured on keeping the doctor around in case Castle was hurt worse than he'd thought, but the last thing she needed was the teasing that she knew she'd be in store for if she took Cutter up on that offer and had him at her place all night.

"No…" she said, slowly, pretending to think it over. "If he's not hurt that badly then there's no reason to keep you from whatever you were doing. Just tell me what I need to know for when he wakes up."

She looked at Esposito again, and he arched an eyebrow, looking from her to the young doctor and back to her, again.

Beckett just rolled her eyes. She'd get even later. Once they had Castle's situation figured out.