My apologies for my absence. The weather has been wreaking havoc on the farm and we nearly lost a critter last weekend. Mother Nature can be temperamental. Thanks for your patience!

"Oh my god, are you guys alright?"

She wanted to scream, somehow release the overbearing panic that had flooded her senses since their conversation was cut off by the gut-wrenching noise of metal being crunched and glass broken.

And suddenly, everything had turned terrifyingly silent.

Even though she kept yelling into her phone over and over again, drawing the attention of the rest of the bullpen, she'd received no answer.

Immediately alerted by her change in demeanor, Kevin had gotten up from his desk, wordlessly following her to the elevator as she made a call to central dispatch, receiving word of the location of the crash seconds later as it was phoned in by a nearby uni.

What she wasn't prepared for were the mangled remains of the Crown Vic, a heap of scrunched metal minus a wheel that was lying on the opposite side of the intersection. Almost immediately, arriving units had cordoned off the entire area and rerouted traffic to make room of the incoming ambulances.

Not much was left of the front-end of the car that had hit them, the windshield missing completely, and the driver's side door pried open with heavy duty metal jaws.

With her heart beating so fast that she could barely breathe, she approached two ambulances that were parked near the wreckage, the back doors open as a flurry of EMT's and fire fighters buzzed the area, making it impossible for her to see in.

"Detective Beckett, NYPD. These men are part of my team.", she yelled from a few feet away, her pace speeding up, an equally anxious Ryan following along.

A few of the weary faces turned toward her and the group opened up to make room for them to come closer.

Beckett saw the gurney first, her eyes following the white sheet hiding the body underneath and she felt her heart drop. As grief and terror threatened to overwhelm her, she put a hand to her chest, ready to reach over to Ryan, grasp him for support when her fingers touched gauze material instead.

Confused, she turned around to see Castle sitting on a gurney inside a waiting ambulance, wrapped in a mylar blanket, his right hand bandaged as he reached for hers.

"Castle!", she gasped, her voice shaking as she reached forward to hug the writer, the overwhelming relief for his safety making her legs weak.

Simultaneously, she heard Kevin walking past her when she saw Esposito appear by the side of the vehicle, looking shaken but none the worse for wear.

"Javi, I'm so glad you are alive! Both of you guys. We were scared out of our minds."

Holding his partner close with a firm hug, Ryan seemed to say a silent prayer of relief when he didn't let go for several moments, eventually stepping back with a disbelieving headshake to take inventory of any injuries.

"What happened?", Beckett asked impatiently, her voice still trembling, "I heard the crash and then nothing."

Sensing her overbearing fear, Castle grasped her hand tighter, offering a smile that turned into a grimace when it reached the bandage over his eyebrow.

"We got t-boned. The guy went around the stopped traffic at the light and didn't see us. The front fender got the most of it. The guy didn't wear a seatbelt and went through the windshield. They couldn't do anything for him."

She acknowledged the casualty with a brief nod, eternally grateful that the same fate hadn't befallen the two occupants of the Crown Vic instead.

"Did you…did you break anything?", she asked, only to hear Esposito clear his throat next to them.

"He would have been fine but he was holding on to the damn roof handle, so he hurt his hand when the guy ran into us."

"I had to hold on for dear life, Espo. It was all I could do not to grace the inside of the car with my lunch. Do you even realize you drive worse than my second ex-wife?!"

"Is that why you got a divorce, because you couldn't keep up?"

Relieved when the animated banter seemed to indicate the lack of any serious injuries, Beckett sought out a nearby paramedic, then motioned the young women over to them.

"Are these two going to be alright?", she asked, only to see her nod hesitantly.

"Bruises, scrapes, seatbelt burns and a few cuts is all we could find. I am sure they'll be sore for a while.", she began, then pointed to what was left of the police car, "I won't lie, I've never seen people walk away from a wreck like this without any serious injuries, detective. Your men can consider themselves lucky."

The somber statement made the group fall quiet and Beckett returned her attention to Ryan and Esposito, who stayed next to each other as though either man feared to be separated from the other once again.

"We can check the traffic cameras and get a plate on our flight vehicle, Espo. Either way we're going to narrow down on our suspect. I am just glad you guys are ok.", she explained, knowing about the disappointment of losing out on a car chase- even when it was under the current circumstances.

"That guy knew exactly what he was doing. He's a pro.", the older detective insisted, then rubbed his aching neck for a moment.

"I think he's been following us around since day one.", Castle added and rested his injured hand in his lap, "It's become part of his game. I think this is all one big theatre piece to him, where he's not just killing all these innocent young women copying John Norman Collins, he's also the conductor. And we're his puppets."