Kidnapped Ch.29

Castle chuckled as his son craned his head as far as he could to take in everything around him. The determined expression on his face resembled Kate's greatly when she was looking at a murder board, determined to find the smallest piece of evidence that could allow them to crack the case wide open and bring the killer to justice.

'What are you laughing at?' Kate asked sleepily from her position on the ground. The whole family was enjoying a lazy afternoon in Central Park. After stuffing themselves full of sandwiches from the local deli, Alexis had quickly fallen asleep, and Kate had followed suit after she had finished feeding Ollie. She had woken up a few minutes ago, but was unwilling to open her eyes as she stayed on the rather comfortable position on the grass.

'Ollie has the little frown that you have. It's cute,' Castle explained simply, and Kate pushed herself up, narrowing her eyes at him.

'I do not have a 'cute' frown, Rick,' Kate told him defensively. How was she supposed to catch criminals with a 'cute' frown?

'Yes, you do,' Castle answered, getting worked up, careful not to agitate Ollie. 'When you are staring at the murder board in the precinct, determined to find that crucial piece of evidence. It's unspeakably adorable.'

A smile tugged on Kate's lips. She tried to hide it from Castle, but it was simply impossible. She did not think that it was possible to love him anymore than she already did, but when he said something ridiculously cheesy to her, she could not stop her heart from swelling with an emotion so warm and full of light that it left her momentarily speechless with joy.

'Now there's the smile that's been missing from your face,' Castle told her gently. Brushing his thumb over her cheekbones, he gave her a short, sweet kiss on the lips. 'We'll be fine, and we'll find Bracken and bring him back to justice. This whole thing will soon be nothing more than a fantastic story to tell our grandkids in our rocking chairs.'

'You will be with me when that happens, won't you?' Kate asked, her insecurity floating to the surface.

'I'll be with you, Kate. Always,' Castle answered.

Tiptoeing out of the bedroom, Castle went into his office. Walking over to the black screen, he tapped on it, and it came to life.

William Bracken's smug, arrogant, hate-able face sat in the middle of the screen, with pictures of the other murders and side notes of the related evidence stretching from his portrait. Many nights after Kate had gone to sleep, he would come down here to simply stare at this screen, hoping that something previously overlooked will jump out at him, leading them to find Bracken and putting him behind bars once and for all.

He had been unable to sleep for some time now, with this new obsession of his. He hid it well from Kate, but he knew that she was suspicious. He knew he had to be strong for her, but every single time he closed his eyes, he was back on the ambulance, with Kate's life hanging by a thread. He was losing hours and hours of sleep over this, and he hated himself for it. How could he be affected so deeply by this incident when he wasn't even the injured victim?

And so he had to hide, for Kate. No one can know that deep down, he is crumbling as well.

Kate's eyes flickered open as she rolled over to find that her husband was not in their bed. She sighed, staring at his side of the bed with worry. This had been happening all too regularly ever since she had returned home after being kidnapped. She knew that he was suffering as well, but she also knew that he did not want her to worry, that he wanted to be strong for her out of some protective male instinct. She had turned a blind eye, understanding his motives, but she had watched him carefully. The dark circles under his eyes were getting more and more pronounced, and she knew she had to interfere soon.

A loud crash came from downstairs had her up in an instant, and Ollie let out a wail at the disturbance. Swinging her legs off the bed, she went out to find Alexis also up, looking towards Castle's study hesitantly. Seeing Kate, Alexis pointed to Ollie's room, and Kate nodded. Alexis hurried to Ollie's room, while Kate headed for the study door and entered tentatively.

Castle was sitting on his chair amongst a pile of broken glass. His back was to the door, as he was facing the murder board, but his shoulders were heaving with emotion. Kate went over to him, and he pulled her onto his lap roughly, enclosing her tightly as if she was his lifeline, his only way to hope and happiness. Kate ran her hands through his hair gently as she buried her face into his chest, knowing the only thing he sought now was someone to hold on to.

Slowly, Castle's sobs began to quiet down, and Kate grabbed a piece of tissue and dabbed the corner of his eyes tenderly.

'Feeling better?' Kate asked softly.

Nodding, Castle blew his nose. 'You shouldn't have to see that. I'm sorry,' he told her, his eyes avoiding her gaze.

'Richard Edgar Castle. You are my husband, and I am your wife. This means that we are to be honest with each other, and we tell each other when we have a problem. You are the one who taught me that,' Kate told him sternly.

'I am supposed to be the strong one for you. I'm supposed to be the rock that you can lean on. I'm your partner, in anything and everything,' Castle answered, and Kate sighed in exasperation.

'You said it, Rick. I'm also your partner. This meant that we share the problems that we have, together. We are in this together. I need you, Rick, but I am here for you too. There is nothing wrong with needing help,' Kate answered.

'I wasn't the one who was taken. I should have been with you that night. All this is my fault,' Castle told her, his head down, as he finally voiced out the thought that had been pestering him ever since she had been taken. 'If I had gone with you that night, none of this would have happened.'

'You know what type of person Bracken is, Rick,' Kate told him. 'If he didn't succeed that time, it would have been another time. This is not your fault.'

'You don't blame me?' Castle asked, and Kate's heart melted. The childlike sparkle that was ever present in his eyes was gone, replaced by a beseeching look that demanded the truth from her.

'Definitely not, Rick. You were the one who found me. You're the white knight in our fairytale,' Kate told him, as she leaned forward and touched his forehead with her own.

Kate's phone rang all of a sudden, jolting them both out of the reverie. Picking up her phone, she frowned a little at the caller ID, but nevertheless, answered it.

'Beckett,' Kate answered, her tone clipped and professional.

'Kate, we've found something. Under an alias, Bracken has several properties linked to him. Now, most of them are usually inhabited, probably by the people that were working for him, but apparently, one of those usually empty properties is lived in, starting from when Bracken went on the run. I've sent a couple of uniforms over to give it a check. It's him, Kate. We've got him,' Esposito told her, relief showing in his voice.

'Get everything ready. Rick and I will head in now. Let's go get him,' Kate answered before ending the call, venom laced in her voice.

'We've found Bracken. Now, let's go get him,' Kate told Castle, and he nodded with steely determination.

That son of a bitch was going down, hard.

A/N: YAY! A nice long chapter for you all. I'm feeling so much better today and I went rock climbing with some of my friends, so I thought that you all deserve a long chapter to make up for the disappointing times. A massive thank you to you all for staying with the story, and I hope that this chapter is worth it.

As usual, PLEASE REVIEW! Criticisms are much appreciated, but no flamers please.

This chapter is dedicated to my fantastic beta Bianca tabbycat for using her spare time to beta for me.

Zoe tabbycat