Chapter 4

"It was too fast

Casting love on me as if it were a spell I could not break

When it was a promise I could not make.

What if I was wrong?"

Sleep seemed to be an unwelcome guest in the Castle household on this night.

There had been no question about where Alexis was sleeping, and she was currently still curled up next to Castle's side as he lay awake, eyes glued to the ceiling. She had already woken up once from a nightmare, but he had been able to quickly calm her down enough so that she was back in a fidgety sleep.

He couldn't seem to close his eyes though, couldn't seem to turn off his brain for one second, because every time he did, there was Alexis, screaming behind his eyelids as faceless captors threw her in to a van that then burst in to the flames from his very own hell. Or else it was this mysterious woman burning in her place.

Kate Beckett.

As he lay there, he wondered if it was short for Kathleen or Katherine and then berated himself for a thought so pointless. She was out there, right now, only who knows where. In danger. Probably hurt. And she had done this all for someone whom she didn't even know, a stranger. His hold on Alexis only tightened slightly, being careful not to wake her, not knowing if or when another nightmare would come.

Truth be told, he couldn't help but find himself pondering about who she was, what kind of person she was. He blamed the writer in him. But what kind of person just throws themselves in to an unknown situation, where they're outnumbered, to save someone they don't even know? Well, a cop, that's who. A good cop.

His unoccupied hand scrubbed over his face furiously as he lay mind numbingly awake. What could he do? All he wanted to do was something, anything to help.

He had not looked forward to calling Meredith and telling her what had happened, but he had felt some kind of obligation to, and the phone conversation had definitely gone both how he expected, yet not at all, at the same time.

Meredith had gone in to a frenzy within the first few seconds, but once Rick had assured her that Alexis was safe and unharmed, she had switched gears so fast it was almost like she had to muster up the energy to care about what had happened. Shortly after he put Alexis on the phone, Meredith had made some excuse about her movie or some acting thing and at least had the decency to tell Alexis she was glad she was safe before hanging up.

Thankfully, Alexis hadn't seemed too bothered by the phone call, and they had spent the rest of the evening in their jammies with a Star Wars movie marathon, complete with pizza for dinner. His mother had interrupted them about a quarter of the way through The Empire Strikes Back, and she had known something was wrong and needled the story out of him.

She was coming over tomorrow to spend the day with Alexis, and the kid did seem thrilled about it, and he would be too, so long as his mother didn't cook. He found himself wondering if she cooks – Kate – and if she cooks very well. Or what she makes, what's her favorite. It brought him snapped back to attention and to the horrifying reality.

This woman saved his kid, he owed her his life. He would have to find a way to help, if it was the last thing he did.

With the morning light came time to get up, and since it didn't seem that Rick was going to get any sleep anyways, he might as well make a nice breakfast for his family. His mom would be arriving in a couple of hours, and there was no doubt she'd be hungry.

The coffee tasted extra good as he sipped the bitter black taste, and while he was thankful for the caffeine, he was extra thankful that Alexis hadn't had anymore nightmares.

His thoughts, on the other hand, hadn't been able to stray from the events of yesterday, and in consequence, Kate. It felt strange to call her that, even just in his mind, almost like it was too personal. He had never met the woman before, and the first name just seemed so – intimate.

He sighed, scrambling the eggs in the pan and then turning his attention to flipping the bacon, he didn't even hear his daughter come out of the room until she spoke.

"You're up early." His hand immediately flew to his heart as he whipped around, his heart quickly quieting down as soon as he saw the little red head perched on one of the stools at the counter, her head in her hand.

The smile that lit up his face was very real as he walked around the space between them to wrap her in his arms from behind, chin resting on the crown of her head, "Just wanted to make you a nice breakfast."

A small giggle emitted from below him, but a timid voice followed after, "You couldn't sleep, huh?"

She was so perceptive; it never failed to astonish him. After a beat, he placed a kiss tenderly where his chin had rested, before going back to attend to his food. The silence stretched on for a while, the popping and sizzling the only soundtrack for their morning of mutual worry.

"I can't stop thinking about her."

He was extremely surprised to hear the words out loud, instead of in his head, and even more shocked that they hadn't come from him.

The plates were made up and he turned to set one down in front of her, her eyes downcast and her face red. Honesty was probably the best policy in this case.

"Me too, pumpkin." Her eyes lifted, finally, to meet his, and his heart knotted itself in his chest to see the tears glistening there.

"I wish we could do something." She sniffled, turning back down to her plate, her words small in the large space of their kitchen.

Rick huffed out a heavy breath, nervous for how much he and she were on the same level, "I know. I wish we could, too."

There was another silence, this time accompanied by the scraping of forks on plates. That was, until the shrill ring of the phone pierced through the air, and when Rick saw the caller ID, he hastened to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Castle? This is Mike Royce, we met at the crime scene yesterday." The voice that greeted him from the other side of the phone sounded as sleep deprived as he felt.

"Yes, I remember, what can I do for you?" Castle had stepped away from the counter, but Alexis's attention dragged with him, her fork clutched in her hand.

"Well, I was going over my notes with the lead Detective on the case, and we had a couple more questions for you, if you wouldn't mind coming in."

Rick's heart was in his throat the entire time he was speaking, and he leapt in almost before the officer was out with his sentence, "Yes, yeah, of course, it's no problem at all!" He cleared his throat and rounded back to the counter, Alexis's wide eyes never losing him, "Does Alexis need to come in as well?"

"No, that's not necessary, just you, Mr. Castle."

He held up a finger for Alexis's questioning gaze, "Well, my mother will be in within the hour to be with Alexis for the day, so is it okay if I come in around 9:00?"

"Yes, that sounds fine, we'll see you then." The line disconnected immediately after, and Rick's heart was still in his throat.

Before he can put the phone down, or even blink, Alexis was already going off like a bomb, "Who was that? Was that someone from the police station? What did they want? Did they find out anything new? Is Kate okay?"

"Whoa, honey, slow down!" Rick puts is hands up in surrender as he settles down next to her on the counter, "That was officer Royce, and they haven't found out anything new, but they want me to come down to the station because the lead Detective has some questions."

Her eyes nearly bug out of her head, "You mean they want you to help?"

"Yeah, they—I mean, if you're okay with that, you gonna be okay?" Her little hands were already clutching his sleeves.

"Yes, Daddy, you have to help!" Rick was slightly surprised by her exuberance, and she was still chattering on, "Please, you'd be so good at it. You could help them find Kate, you write mystery books, and you research for them, you can help."

She had wound down slowly through her whole little speech, and when she was done she turned back to the plate in front of her picking at her food. Rick hated seeing her so down and unsure of herself, and he really hated the nightmares she was having over this.

"Of course I'm going to help, Alexis, I will do whatever I can for those officers and for Kate as well." He placed a comforting hand on her back until she looked up at him.

The sound of the stool scrapping back was the next thing he heard and then she wrapped her arms around him in a hug, the words of relief probably caught somewhere in her throat. Quickly, he pulled her in to the tightest hug he could manage without smashing her in to his body, almost wishing her could absorb her and keep her safe all the time. But since that wasn't a viable option, when he felt her slacken, he gently let her go, pulling her away so he could push some flyaway hairs back in place.

"So, you want to watch some more Star Wars until Gram gets here?" Her bright smile was all the answer he needed before he lifted her giggling form in to the air and towards the couch.

The ancient elevator was inching its way up to the fourth floor where he had been told by the burly man at the front desk that the Homicide floor, and Officer Royce, would be waiting for him.

Truth be told, he had blanched a little when the guy had said the homicide floor, and the word was still swirling around in his chest making it feel tighter and tighter. In retrospect, it made sense, no doubt a human trafficking ring would leave bodies behind, and the logic of it made it that last bit tight enough to squeeze the air out of his lungs.

The doors finally dinged open to a flurry of activity that made Rick's head spin a little bit. There was a blur of black uniforms, mugs filled with coffee, and tan folders full of information, and he almost felt nervous to step in to the frenzy, until he saw Royce and a few other officers gathered around a desk.

Royce saw him before he was even halfway over there, and he held up a finger to signal for him to wait while the detective – he assumes – in the chair finishes talking.

"—sent out APB's for those two we've got faces for, and a BOLO out on the car, although with their experience in this business, I doubt anything will come up." Castle listened intently, and he wished he had thought to bring a notepad and pen to jot some of this down, be able to remember it for later.

The detective got up from his chair and seemed to notice Castle out of the corner of his eye, but he kept on talking, "Now I want all of you to go down to areas where we've had girls taken before, keep a lookout. Club Warsaw was the last place where we know they did their work, but by the time we got there the place was clean like all the others. Make your way to any clubs we haven't heard him in that match similar criteria, club/bar with a downstairs space for a stockroom or what have you, and a private upper level."

At this pause in his speech, Castle raised his hand, thinking of something he had read once in research for one of his books.

The detective raised his eyebrows, and every head turned to look at him, "Um, yes?"

"It's just, I remember doing some research not too long ago for one of my books, and some of the really widespread trafficking networks who've had lots of locations sometimes double back and use some of their earlier spots because they figure the cops won't check them." It was strange to have all eyes on him, and once he was done, all eyes turned back to the detective, who was nodding in his direction.

"It's worth a shot," He turned to the uniforms again, pointing out two in particular, while Royce continued to have his eyes on Castle, scrutinizing him, "L.T., Foreman, go check out some of the first clubs where we know he did business from."

The officers dispersed and the Detective and Royce made their way over to him.

"Mr. Castle, this is Detective Montgomery, the lead on the case." He gestured between them and turned back to his boss, "Detective, this is Mr. Rick Castle."

The man held out a sturdy hand and gave him a brisk shake, "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Castle. And thanks for the insight, while he's never doubled back before; it's always good to go back to the basics."

Rick gave a small smile, before he had to ask something, "I'm sorry, "He's" never doubled back before? I thought it was two, maybe three guys?"

The two cops exchanged a look, before Royce seemed to give the nod of approval, and the detective turned back to him, "Well the two guys we saw on the video are known traffickers, but they're in the inner circle of a guy we have only come to know as 'The Alpha'. He's the ringleader behind the whole operation, and we've never once seen his face, or heard his real name."

Rick was trying to file all of the information he'd received in these few short minutes in his head for later, and he couldn't help but wonder what kind of guy went by 'The Alpha'. He was already a douchebag by principle, but that was just the cherry on top of the proverbial douche cream sundae.

"Now, Mr. Castle, we just have a few questions to clarify what happened the other night." Montgomery jumped in on his thoughts, bringing him back to the here-and-now.

Castle gave a nod and followed the two gentlemen in to what appeared to be a break room. He had already made up his mind though, no matter what it took, he was going to help this investigation, one way or another.

They went over what happened before and after the abduction for what seemed like an hour. Castle knew that these types of things were necessary for a thorough investigation, but Castle was beginning to feel like he'd repeated himself at least 3 times and that they were just going around in circles.

The author in him couldn't help but observe, and he noticed the dark rings and ragged features that seemed to have overtaken Royce since the last time he saw him. Stubble was growing on his cheeks and jaw, and there was a sort of bone-aching exhaustion that was settled in to his posture that didn't come from just a night of no sleep. Although, he supposed this wasn't really the time for sleep, not for him, not for Alexis, not for any of the officers, it seemed. He wondered about Kate.

"Mr. Castle?" Montgomery's voice was the one, again, to pull him back out of his mind, "I said, I think we have everything we need."

He stood abruptly and took the hand that was offered to him by both of the cops, "It's the least I could do."

Royce gave him a sharp smile, before he turned, but Rick was spouting out words again like a broken hydrant, he couldn't help himself, "Really, it's the actual least I could do. I want to help."

Montgomery's eye brows furrowed together to a point, and Royce turned back around to stare at him, "What?"

"Please," Rick took a step forward, holding his open palms up towards the ceiling, "I'd like to help with the investigation. My daughter is in fits of guilt over this, and to be honest, so am I. I've done research on plenty of areas of Criminology, and extensive research on human trafficking rings for a novel, and I've done plenty of ride alongs so I know police procedure. Just, please, I want to help."

His hands now dropped to his side as he saw the contemplation run across both of their faces, and while Royce's seemed a lot less willing, his eyes turned for the decision of his boss.

The detective gave a soft sigh, but a terse shake of his head, "Well, I suppose we could really use all the help we can get, right?"

Castle felt the breath leave his lungs in a rush of relief, and felt his insides harden in to the realization of what lay before him. He was going to find her.

AN - I am so sorry about the long wait on this chapter! School just got in the way, and then I got a job over the holidays and the motivation to write this story just kind of got away from me, but now it's back and I've got the next five chapters all planned out, so it should be a pretty smooth ride from here on out. Plus I also have a really good general direction of where I want to go with this story. So, for the people still reading, thank you for your patience, I hope it was worth the wait!

Also, you can see that I took a couple liberties with some of the characters, I know that in the flashback, when he caught Beckett in the records room he was already Captain, but this is where I wanted to take the story!