Chapter 2
After Esposito hadn't responded for six hours Beckett and Ryan had stormed his apartment. It was an utter mess. From the looks of things he'd put up a fight, the wall had a body shaped dint in it as well as a smear of blood.
'Call it in' Beckett said after they had checked every room.
'Right' Ryan answered, after he'd alerted the station he proceeded to call Castle as per his instructions from Castle on his first day. 'Call it in means the station and me ok' Castle just said making Beckett roll her eyes.
'Hello?' a female voice
'Castle?' Ryan asked
'Nope, its his daughter '
'Hey Alexis'
'Oh hey Ryan, what's up?' he smiled, she recognised his voice
'Um well Espo is missing, his apartment has been trashed and there is some blood'
'Oh…are you o'
'Ryan?' Castles voice cut over Alexis
'Yes' He watched as Beckett searched the lounge room for evidence
'Well what's happened? Some zombie come back to life? Ooo no! alien!' Castle sounded excited
'No, Esposito's been kidnapped'
The phone line died.
'He hung up…'
'Give him….' She looked at her watch 'twenty minutes'. Ryan looked confused but joined Beckett in looking for evidence. After a while Beckett cleared her throat, looked at her watch then held up five fingers counting down. Three, two, one and she pointed to the front door. Castle burst through it out of breathe.
'That's freaky' Ryan noted
.Castle
'Go home Ryan, we've got this' Beckett said
'No!' he looked hurt at her words, they were in the bullpen looking at the white board covered on one side by Beckett's rational notes and the other with castles wide but valid ideas…well except the 'time travel went wrong' theory.
'I am part of this team, I know you think I'm too young and incapable, but I can help!'
.Castle
Ryan stood in the break room envying the bond Castle and Beckett shared as they looked over the board. He'd expected Beckett to fire him on the spot for yelling at her, but to his shock, she smiled and agreed to let him stay and help. The elevator doors made a dinging noise and they opened, Alexis walked out. She was wrapped in a pale blue coat and was carrying a large paper bag, which he guessed was full of take-away. He watched as she went and greeted the other two, handing them the paper bag then came to ask him if he was hungry. He said no. She shook off her coat to reveal a pair of jeans and a white tank top with a lace cut-out on the back.
She grabbed two noodle boxes from Beckett's desk then came back to the room he was sulking in.
'You have to eat something' She smiled at him, he weakly returned it. 'Frustrating aren't they'
'Yeah…' he muttered
'They think they know all the answers, and most of the time they do…or at least they stumble across them. Don't take it too hard, it will take some time for them to let a new mind into their group' she said wisely
'Yeah I know…' She placed a hand on his shoulder then started to eat her noodles.
Ryan joined her, then noticed out of the corner of his eyes Castles phone being whipped out and a photo taken of something on the computer screen.
The elevator doors made their dinging sound again, then a gunshot sounded. Alexis screamed, Beckett whipped her gun out and pointed it at the elevator that had opened while they had been eating. A group of men with huge weapons strutted into the office, not noticing the other two in the break room.
Ryan grabbed Alexis and forced her under the table out of sight. He heard Beckett's gun fire in the midths of other shots. Gun drawn, he heard fists pounding flesh and a grunt from Castle. He rounded the corner and fired at an armed man holding Beckett's head roughly by her hair as another held a gun to her temple. He fired at the man holding a gun to his boss' head, the man fired back angrily. A loud crush sounded from behind him as a stray bullet snapped the cupboard bracket in the coffee room, making it fall onto the table Alexis was under. A cloth was forced into Beckett's face and she fell limp. Castle was yelling her name as she was dragged to the elevator; he was being roughly dragged after her by another man wearing black face paint. Ryan had managed to kill one of the five men, but as he tried to follow and save his team the elevator doors started to close
'Protect her Kid!' Castle yelled as he was slammed into the shiny wall by the largest of men. The doors slammed shut and Ryan's last of his three bullets ricocheted off the metal doors.
Castle felt the large man holding him convulse as a bullet, slipped through the doors at the last second and pierced through his chest, shattering his heart. A brilliant shot.
Ryan yelled in outrage at what had just happened then ran to Alexis who was stuck under the coffee table. He feverishly pulled the pieces of cupboard off her and lifted the table that had mostly protected her.
'Thanks ' she muttered then bolted for the door, Ryan hot on her trail. They flew down the stairs, a gash was bleeding freely on her shoulder from the splinted metal bracket, attached to the heavy cupboard that had fallen on top of her.
But she wasn't crying, she didn't even give her shoulder a glance as she pelted down the final few stairs and burst through the fire exit. They caught the sight of Beckett's chloroformed body slumped in the backseat of a black car with Castle being stuffed in after her.
Alexis screamed 'Dad!' and the man fired at her, Ryan only had enough time to throw himself in front of her before catching the bullet in his shoulder, he fell to the ground but rolled over and pumped three pellets into their attacker's chest. Castle saw Ryan protect his baby girl then felt the car whip into motion, dragging him away the fallen villain's body on the sidewalk and Ryan, shot on the ground, with Alexis screamed for her father's name.
Apples and Beckett
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