A Convergence of Storms – Part 1
Summary – A post 6x23 fic previously titled Hours Lost Forever. What happens when Castle shows back up after the car crash and thinks the crash happened after the wedding and Kate was in the car with him. Will be 3 parts and 3XK or Bracken are not involved. This looks at some new "old" mythology based on Castle's time shadowing the CIA.
Author's Notes – Thanks for all the favs, follows, and reviews. You guys are awesome. Okay, so the things that happen in the next couple of chapters are going to be compressed for time's sake, just like in TV land. Normally they would be spread out over a couple of weeks, but I want to move the story along.
Disclaimer – Don't own Castle – Marlowe, ABC, and Disney do. Just patiently waiting for season 7.
Chapter 6 – A Rumble in the Distance
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"Pay dirt," said Espo as he walked into the bullpen carrying a folder and a plastic bag containing a cell phone. "CSU found this at the coffee shop and Tori was able to pull the texts off. Seems that our vic was texting a supplier at all hours of the night," he said, pulling a picture out of the file and putting it on the murder board. "A Mr. Tai Atsusi, importer of fine coffees."
"Sounds like that wasn't all he was supplying," quipped Castle.
"Let's bring him in for questioning," Beckett said to Ryan and Espo.
They nodded and moved off to their respective desks to pull up his information.
Castle studied the murder board from his chair beside Beckett's desk. "The age-old story of a love affair gone wrong," he commented, speculating on the why of the murder. "Or maybe she found out he was adding something special to his beans and he had to grind her out…"
Beckett tried not to smile as she looked at him and lifted her eyebrow. "I think I'll just wait for the evidence."
"My version's better," Castle sing-songed as he pulled out his new phone to play 2048 while Beckett worked on the reports that were due on Gate's desk by the end of the week.
Suddenly, the usually calm Ryan's explosive "Son of a bitch!" broke the semi-silence of the bullpen as he slammed down the receiver of his desk phone, causing Castle to almost jump out of his chair and drop his phone.
Beckett put a steading hand on his arm as he fumbled his phone. "You okay?" she whispered.
"Yeah," Castle nodded as he gripped the phone with both hands and then looked over at Ryan, along with everyone else in the room.
"Sorry," said Ryan, furrowing his brow as he quickly thought about what to say. "Ah, Jenny and I are looking for a house and that house that I told you about a week ago isn't on the market anymore."
"Wow, you must have really liked that house," said Castle. "You know, I can hook you up with my realtor."
"Thanks," said Ryan, narrowing his eyes at Beckett.
"Uh, Castle, can you get me some coffee?" Beckett asked, picking up her blue cup and holding it out to him.
"Sure." He looked at the group. "Anyone else want some?"
"Nah, we're good," said Espo.
Espo waited until Castle walked into the break room before scooting his chair over to Ryan's desk. "What gives?"
"That was Chief Brady – it's all gone – the evidence from that house in the Hamptons and the house," Ryan said quickly, the three of them leaning in for a private conversation. "The house was torn down 4 days ago. There was a mix-up at the demolition company and they went to the wrong address. Then the evidence from the scene was put into the wrong bags and they were incinerated. And the bodies were cremated. There's nothing left of the car, so we can't pull anything from there."
"Damn," swore Espo. "Sounds like somebody's covering something up."
Beckett nodded as she straightened, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Yeah, it does." She glanced up as Castle walked back into the room, holding 2 steaming cups of coffee.
"So why don't you use Castle's realtor?" she suggested to Ryan. "Maybe she can research the neighborhoods that you are interested in, you know, see what the neighbors have to say?"
Ryan nodded, smiling slightly. "Thanks, I will."
Castle put the coffee down and pulled out his phone. "Here's her phone number. Just tell her that Rick said 'Hi'."
"Thanks," said Ryan, smiling as he wrote down the number.
Espo turned back to his computer. "Got an address on Atsusi – he's married with wife and 2 kids and a house in the burbs." He looked at Beckett. "Do you want me to send a unit?"
Beckett studied the board. With kids involved, it would be better for an unmarked unit to show up. "No, we'll pick him up. Castle, you up for a drive?"
"With you – always," he said, trying to keep a straight face.
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Beckett keyed the address into her GPS and took off into the mid-morning traffic.
After they pulled onto the expressway, Castle looked at Beckett for a moment before starting. "You know, we haven't discussed what to do about the wedding yet," he said, giving her an opening.
Beckett looked in her rear-view mirror as she drove. "Well, the cleaners said it would take about 2 weeks to clean my dress, so it should be ready sometime this week. But after all the money you just spent—"
"Kate, I would spend 100 times that amount if it meant that I got to spend the rest of my life with you. And we spent the money," Castle stressed.
Beckett nodded. "Yes, I know – you've told me repeatedly, what's yours is mine." She paused for a moment and then smiled. "Why don't we do a smaller version of what we had planned in a couple of weeks? The weather should still be nice in the Hamptons."
Castle nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah – I could charter a plane and we could parachute in – probably be a lot safer than driving up there again."
"I think we'll just hire a limo. That way we don't have to worry about blowing into the ocean if the wind changes." Beckett wrinkled her nose. "But if we go smaller, that means we'll have to narrow the guest list."
"Well, we could always cut those people who didn't show up the first time." Castle made a face. "But then you'd be minus the groom."
"Yeah, not going to happen. We'll go over the list tonight when we get home," said Beckett as she pulled off the expressway.
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Beckett surveyed the house as she parked across the street from it.
It was in a good neighborhood, the kind of neighborhood that people liked to raise children in. The lot was not overly large, the house not overly pretentious, but definitely in the pricey range.
The iron work gate by the side was closed and Beckett couldn't see any cars parked behind it.
"Let's go see if anyone's home," she said she got out of her car.
Just then, a black Escalade pulled into the driveway of the house and Castle froze in mid-position, face pale, eyes locked on the car.
Beckett frowned at him in concern. "Babe, you okay?" she asked as she walked to his side of the car.
Castle let out a sigh of relief as the doors opened and Mrs. Atsusi and her 2 children climbed out. "Yeah – that was strange," he said shaking his head.
Beckett nodded at him. "Okay." She turned to cross the street, pulling out her badge as she walked.
"Mrs. Atsusi?" she asked the woman.
"Yes?" replied Mrs. Atsusi.
"I'm Detective Kate Beckett, NYPD, and this is my partner, Richard Castle. We'd like to ask you a few questions about your husband."
"That lying cheating scumbag?" Mrs. Atsusi said. "My lawyer's looking for him too. Let me know when you find him so I can serve him the divorce papers."
"So you haven't seen him?" Beckett asked.
"Not since 5 days ago, when I confronted him about the affair he was having. I threw him out and told him that the only time I'd see him again was in court."
Beckett nodded and pulled out a card. "If you do see him, please call me."
"Sure – unless I shoot him first as an intruder," said Mrs. Atsusi. She looked at Beckett. "Would that be considered justifiable homicide?"
Beckett pressed her lips together and shook her head. "No, Mrs. Atsusi, it wouldn't be."
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That night, the dream started with Castle riding a white horse towards the wedding, but then a black horse with a rider dressed in all black came out of nowhere and cut him off. His horse tried valiantly to outpace the black one, but to no avail. Suddenly the black horse swerved and they both crashed to the ground, flames erupting around them.
He spent the rest of the night on the couch in the living room so that he wouldn't wake Beckett up, but missed her softly opening the bedroom door to check on him as he stared into space.
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Two days later, they finally got a call from a patrolman who spotted Atsusi climbing into a back window of one of his warehouses.
The police quickly surrounded the place as the team arrived.
"Castle, I want you to stay behind us," Beckett said quietly as she put on her vest and then pulled out her service piece.
Castle nodded as he put on his vest. "Sure."
Beckett's team took the lead in the slow, quiet search for their murder suspect.
Espo finally flushed Atsusi out of behind some boxes and the man made a break for the door.
Beckett followed quickly as the man slammed into the door but it wouldn't budge.
He frantically pulled a gun out of the waistband of his pants and pointed it with shaking hands at the approaching detectives.
"Mr. Atsusi, put the gun down," Beckett barked at the man. "You're surrounded – there is no escape."
"I didn't mean for it to happened," the man sobbed. "We were just talking and she fell and hit her head."
"Mr. Atsusi – put down the gun," Beckett said again.
"Okay, okay," said Atsusi, rubbing his eyes with one hand, when it happened. The gun slipped from his hand and he grabbed for it, accidently touching the trigger. The gun went off, the bullet whizzing past Beckett's head.
Castle reacted swiftly and decisively, rushing from behind the line of officers and knocking the man to the ground. The gun skidded away as Castle punched Atsusi in the face several times.
"Castle! Castle!" Beckett yelled as she ran forward to pull the writer off the man before he could do some serious damage. "It's okay – I'm okay," she reassured him.
Castle looked at Beckett and sat down away from the man.
"Stay down and spread your hands," Espo yelled at Atsusi, pointing his gun at the man. He quickly cuffed the man and picked him up off the floor.
Beckett knelt in front of Castle, putting a hand to his face. "You okay?" she asked, looking at his pale, sweating face.
"I thought he'd shot you," Castle replied shakily, gasping for breath.
"I'm fine, babe," said Beckett. "The bullet missed me."
"Okay," said Castle, gulping. "Okay…"
"Think we can get off the floor now?" Beckett asked.
"Yeah," said Castle, running a shaky hand through his hair as he started to stand up and then sank back down, grabbing at his chest and grimacing in pain. "Kate," he said in a wheezing voice as he doubled over. "I think I'm having a heart attack."
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The paramedics arrived quickly and carted Castle off to the hospital. They ran numerous tests and then left Beckett and Castle to sit for a while.
Beckett did a double take as a tall thin older African American with graying hair walked into the room, carrying a chart.
"Well, Mr. Castle, I'm the cardiologist on call tonight." He peered over his half glasses at the writer. "The good news is that you didn't have a heart attack. What you had was a panic attack." He looked at the chart. "According to your chart, you were in a car wreck recently?"
Castle nodded slightly, looking at Beckett. "Yeah – we were supposed to get married last week but I totaled my car on the way to the wedding."
"And you sustained a minor concussion in the wreck," said the doctor, scribbling on the chart.
"Yes," said Castle.
"And you were on a stake out when the panic attack happened?"
Beckett nodded. "Castle is a volunteer with the 12th precinct and there was an accident with the suspect…a gun went off."
"Uh, huh," said the doctor. "And how have you been sleeping lately?"
Castle frowned slightly. "A few nightmares since the wreck happened."
"Uh, huh," said the doctor. He closed the chart and studied Castle for a few minutes with a frown.
"What is it, doctor? Is there something wrong with me?" Castle asked.
"What I'd like to do is suggest that you see a neurologist to make sure there aren't any after affects from the concussion. In the meantime, I can prescribe some anti-anxiety medication that should help with the sleeping problems."
"Okay," said Castle.
"So I'll start the discharge paperwork and give you a referral," said the doctor.
"Thanks," said Castle, relaxing and giving Beckett's hand a squeeze.
"Geez, Castle, you'll do anything to get out of shortening the guest list, won't you," Beckett said as she smiled and kissed him.
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