Author's Note-This starts literally where the last one left off. It's also really kinda short but you'll have to forgive me for that, it made sense to end it where I did. Also, don't kill me. :D NYLF xx
No such luck. Kate's desk phone rang not even five minutes after she had sat back down.
"Beckett." Kate answered. She wrote down the address dispatch gave her before hanging up and gathering her things. "Guys, we've got a fresh one." Kate called over to Ryan and Esposito. They both sighed and put down their financials for Hannah Tyler before grabbing their stuff and following their boss to the elevator.
Kate's heart started sinking when she pulled up outside their crime scene, a dark nondescript alley. Both boys turned to her, careful to mask the pity in their gaze and just provide her with the strength only they, as her colleagues, could give. She nodded before marching into the mouth of the alley.
"Hey Kate." Lanie greeted softly. Kate stopped, frozen in her tracks.
The young woman couldn't have been far off her own age.
She was slumped against the wall of the alley, her left side leaning into the brick. Her left hand lay lifeless beside her, while her right sat behind her hip.
Kate stifled a gasp.
"Multiple abdominal stab wounds." Kate nodded wordlessly. "None seem to be the fatal blow, so I'd say COD was massive blood loss. This looks the same but isn't. I'm sure of it." Kate nodded. "However." Lanie started slowly but Kate was fitting puzzle pieces. The young woman's hair lay across her shoulder, the golden strands stained red at the ends, and her bright crystal clear eyes, which stared lifelessly and blankly down the alleyway, were unmistakable.
"Hannah." Kate whispered. Suddenly Kate's fight or flight instincts overpowered her sense of crime scene decorum and she started running.
She fled the scene, fighting tears, and ran a full block before leaning against the wall of another alley, sobbing with all her might. This was one thing she never wanted to have in common with her little sister.
"Javi," Lanie called his attention from where both male detectives were staring after their boss helplessly. The Latino detective looked up.
"Yeah?" He asked quietly, hoping for direction.
"Call Castle. She needs him." Esposito nodded immediately and dialled the number.
"Kate?" Rick asked as he approached her slowly.
He'd dropped everything and loaded Nevaeh into the car before driving straight the the scene.
While Esposito and Lanie had explained what happened and directed him to her, Ryan sat with Nevaeh in the back of the car, keeping her entertained.
Rick had sprinted the length of the block before hearing her sobbing.
"Kate, Sweetheart, it's Rick." He rounded the corner and saw her. The sight broke his heart. She was nearly bent double, her face in her hands, sobbing her heart out, her breath coming in huge stilted gasps. Rick quickly moved in front of her and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close into his chest. She tried to push him away, the side of her fist hitting against his pectoral muscles.
"Let me go, Castle. Let me go!" She shouted. He simply held her closer, gently stroking lines up and down her spine while his other hand tangle in her hair. He murmured gently into her hair, unintelligible things aimed purely at trying to soothe her. She soon gave him, collapsing in to his arms as she sobbed into his shoulder, clinging to him as tight as she could. He pressed a gentle kiss to her crown and gently rocked them side to side. He hated seeing Kate like this, it hurt his soul to see her in so much pain, but he was glad he could offer her this small thing. He wasn't sure he'd have coped if it had been a year before and they barely touched. "She's dead Castle." Kate finally murmured softly, tearfully.
"I know." He whispered. "I know Kate."
He held her for another long moment before he could hear Ryan frantically calling their names. Castle leaned out of the alley and came face to face with the Irishman.
"Ryan what's wrong?"
The detective panted for a few seconds while he caught his breath. He looked white as a sheet and writer and muse felt their hearts start to sink.
"Kevin?" Kate asked quietly. "What's wrong?" Then they heard it. Lanie and Esposito were calling at the tops of their voices, panic clearly evident, and they were only saying one thing; Nevaeh.
"She's gone, Kate. She's gone."