DISCLAIMERS: 'Castle' is the property of Andrew W. Marlowe and ABC Studios. No copyright infringement is intended.

SUMMARY: Based on the promo for episode 7x14 'Resurrection' and Castle's words to Jerry Tyson. 'Where's Beckett?' Assuming that the creepy dynamic duo of Jerry Tyson and Kelly Nieman has taken Beckett, what did they do to her while they had her at their mercy? Rated 'M' just to be on the safe side. And what does Castle do to them once he gets her back?

A/N #1: I know this plot twist has been done to death, so please bear with me. The odd number chapters will be in the present while the even numbered chapters will be what happened to Kate at the hands of her tormentors.

Shadows in the Darkness

Chapter 1: Questions without Answers

"Where were you taken from?"

"Did Dr. Nieman and Mr. Tyson say anything to you?"

"What did Dr. Nieman and Mr. Tyson do to you?"

Kate Beckett just continued sitting in a chair by the window, watching the cold February rain streak the windowsill. She didn't say a word as the questions continued to be pelted at her like so many snowballs. She was hoping that if she ignored them, he'd just go away. Why didn't he understand that she didn't feel like talking? She just wanted to be left alone.

"Are you in pain, Det. Beckett? Because if you are, I can order something."

In answer, Kate just drew her knees tighter to her chest, and kept her eyes on the rain. The falling rain matched her mood at the moment. She didn't know how she'd come to be in this hospital room, but she had no intention of staying. She stared down at the gauze covering her lower arms, not remembering how she'd injured herself. She noticed more gauze on her lower legs. Her memory was fuzzy on so many details. Nothing was making any sense.

Finally, she heard the door of her hospital room opening and closing. She turned from the window and saw that she was finally alone. But she knew that he'd be back. He had been asking her questions over and over for the past 10 hours. And she'd remained silent for just as long. At some point she vaguely remembered Castle being at her bedside, but when she'd opened her eyes, he hadn't been there. So maybe she'd been imagining his presence. She could no longer be sure.

Out in the hallway, Castle was sitting with Ryan and Esposito, waiting for the doctor to come out of Kate's room. He stared down at his knuckles, which were split opened and crusted over with dried blood. Beating the holy hell out of Jerry Tyson had been worth the pain that his hands were in now. He would've killed him if the boys hadn't pulled him off of him. He looked up when the doctor, whose name was Dr. Carson, came out of Kate's room. "How is Kate?" He asked, jumping to his feet.

"She's still not talking about whatever happened to her. I can try again in a few hours, but really, at this point, I think that would be an exercise in futility. Maybe it's because she doesn't know me or it could still be the shock. She does seem more alert than she was the last time I saw her. Maybe she'll be more willing to talk to people who are familiar to her; with whom she feels comfortable and safe."

"Are you saying that we should try to question her?" Ryan asked.

"I would recommend that Mr. Castle see her first. Let him try to guide her through the possibility of an interrogation."

"I can try that," Castle nodded in agreement.

"Let me call the captain and let her know what the plan is," Esposito walked off to use his cell phone to call Capt. Gates, who was upstairs where the prisoners were being held in heavily guarded hospital rooms.

Inside her hospital room, Kate was in the middle of a frantic search for her things. Her plan was to get dressed and get out of here, against medical advice, if that was what she had to do. Her head hurt as well as her arms and legs, but she didn't feel that she was sick enough to have to stay in the hospital. She was yanking drawers open in a frantic search when her door once again opened. She turned in a blind panic only to find Castle standing there. "Kate, what're you doing?"

"Castle!" She ran up to him, throwing her arms around him. "Where are my clothes? I need to get out of here!"

"Kate, calm down. Mother and Alexis are on their way here with fresh clothes for you."

"What's wrong with what I was wearing when I got here? Rick, where are the clothes that I was wearing when I was admitted? And why am I here?"

"Kate, when we found you, your clothes were a tattered mess."

"What do you mean when you found me? Where was I?"

"Kate, what is the last thing that you remember? Dr. Carson said that you wouldn't tell him anything."

"We were looking for Kelly Nieman. Did we talk to Jerry Tyson or was that a dream?"

"Yeah, we had him in interrogation. Him and Nieman both. But somehow or other, they pulled another one of their Houdini acts. Gates and IAB are still trying to figure out how they escaped from police custody again."

"What happened while we were searching for her?"

"Kate, we were hoping that you could tell us."

"What happened to my arms and legs? Rick, what in the hell did they do to me?"

"Kate, we don't know," his voice came out as a choked whisper.

"They drugged me," she walked over and sat on the edge of her bed, Castle right behind her.

"The hospital sent your tox screen to Lanie. She's testing for every possible drug or combination of drugs that Nieman could've given you."

"How long did they have me?"

"Almost 72 hours."

"I couldn't talk to him, Castle. I didn't trust him."

"Dr. Carson?" She nodded. "Do you want me to call Burke?"

"No," she lay down on the bed. "I don't want to talk to anybody. I just want to go home. Get me some clothes, Castle, and get me out of here."

"I'm going to go out in the hall to wait for mother and Alexis. I'll be right back," he leaned over and kissed her temple.

When he stepped out, Capt. Gates had joined Ryan and Esposito. "How is she?" Gates immediately asked.

"She's very confused. I don't know what Nieman gave her, but she doesn't remember anything about her ordeal with them."

"Nothing?" Gates raised her eyebrow.

"No, sir. She remembers that we were looking for Nieman, but that's the last thing that she clearly remembers. Even the interrogation of Tyson is fuzzy. I didn't want to keep questioning her, because she was starting to shut down. She just wants to get dressed and go home."

"Are they going to release her?" Gates asked.

"They're going to have to, because she's going to bolt if they don't."

"I'll tell Dr. Parish to hurry with that drug screen," Gates pulled out her cell phone and walked down the corridor.

"Richard!" Castle looked down the hallway to see his mother and Alexis approaching with a small overnight bag. "How's Katherine?"

"Dad, has she said what happened?"

"Kate's still a little shaken, but hopefully she'll be released within the next few hours. And no, she hasn't said anything about what happened to her. So, please don't ask her a lot of questions about it."

"Richard, what's going on?"

"Mother, everything's fine—"

"Richard, everything is not fine. What did those two animals do to her?" Martha hissed through clenched teeth.

"We don't know. Right now Kate doesn't remember much about her ordeal. That could be due to the drugs she was given. I need to page her doctor to see about getting her discharged."

"Dad, can we go in to see her?" Alexis' eyes were hopeful.

"I think she'd like the company, pumpkin. I'm going to find her doctor. If she asks about me, tell her I'll be with her as soon as I can."

Alexis looked at her grandmother before lightly knocking on the door. After hearing a muffled 'Come in,' from inside, she turned the handle and opened the door. "Kate? Grams and I brought you some clothes. Dad went to find your doctor so that he can start your discharge papers."

"Thank you," Kate smiled before taking the small suitcase from Martha. "I think I'll go and get changed."

Kate went into the small bathroom and reached behind her neck to untie the hospital gown. She gasped in shock when it fell to the floor. Her entire front was covered in mottled black, blue and purple bruises. The bruises extended from her throat to the tops of her thighs. She opened the suitcase and took out her underwear first, slipping into her panties before attempting to put her bra on. She cried out when she tried to clasp it behind her back.

"Kate, are you all right?" Martha called out.

Kate hated feeling helpless. She hated having to ask for help. She also didn't want her mother-in-law and stepdaughter seeing the marks on her. She found herself wondering if Rick had seen them. She startled when she heard a tap on the closed bathroom door. "Kate?" She heard Alexis' voice. "Do you need some help? Kate, please answer me."

"Alexis, I'll be out in a minute," Kate forced her voice to be steady.

Instead of leaving like Kate had expected her to do, Alexis opened the door and stepped inside. Kate jumped a foot in the air, and tried to hold her bra on while trying to shield the rest of her body at the same time. Alexis' eyes widened in shock, but she quickly recovered. "You look like you could use a hand," she offered as she gently turned Kate so that she could fasten the hooks on the back of her bra.

"Thank you," Kate finally managed to say after the young redhead had finished. "Do you know when your dad is coming back?"

"He was going to look for your doctor. Do you want me to go and look for him?"

"Yeah, that would be really great."

"Are you okay with everything else?"

"I think I can manage. Thank you, Alexis."

"No problem," Alexis smiled. "Let me go and find dad."

"Alexis, is everything all right?" Kate could hear Martha ask.

"I'm going to go and find dad," Alexis left the room.

Inside of the bathroom, Kate tugged on the t-shirt that had been packed followed by the pair of jeans. She knew that there was no way she was going to be able to button the button due to the bruises, so she hoped the zipper would keep the pants closed. Lastly she pulled out a thick pair of socks and her favorite pair of sneakers. She sat on the closed toilet lid, pulling on the socks and shoes before finally exiting the bathroom.

"Well, I'm sure being dressed makes you feel a lot better," Martha's voice was bright when she saw Kate walking over to the bed.

"Being home would be even better. Martha, did they find them? Castle said that we talked to Tyson and that he was alive. Did they find them? Is it over?"

"Darling, I think it would be best if Richard answered your questions."

"But I'm asking you. Martha, I'm asking you! Are they dead? And I mean, really dead? Why is everybody keeping the truth from me like I'm a child?"

"Katherine—"

Castle picked that moment to walk into the room with Dr. Carson. "I understand that you feel ready to leave us."

"I want to go home! I want to know what in the hell is going on! I want to know what they did to me! I have bruises all over me!"

"I'm aware of your injuries, Det. Beckett," the doctor spoke in a calm, gentle voice.

Rather than his voice soothing his patient, all it did was serve to grate on her nerves. "Stop talking to me like I'm an imbecile!"

"Can we talk alone for a few minutes?" Dr. Carson looked pointedly at Kate.

Kate's eyes shifted from Martha to Castle and back again. To Castle, it was like watching a pinball. She was highly distrustful and he didn't quite understand why. Castle stepped forward and knelt down in front of her. "Why don't you talk to Dr. Carson for a few minutes? He can explain your condition better than I can. Nobody's going to make you stay if you don't want to. Mother and I will be right outside the door. I swear that I'll come in if you need me. Okay?"

"I'm not staying, Rick," she whispered.

"I know."

Castle stood up and motioned for Martha to follow him out of the room, leaving Kate alone with the strange doctor. He pulled up a chair and sat in front of Kate, pushing the chair back when she moved to the other end of the bed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to crowd your personal space. I introduced myself to you earlier, but I'm not sure if you remember. I'm Dr. Carson. Is it all right if I call you Kate?"

"I want to go home."

"What is the last thing that you remember before you woke up here?"

"I was searching for a murder suspect. Her name is Kelly Nieman. She's a plastic surgeon. Did she take me and do things to me? I have bruises all over my body."

"You are suffering from a concussion, dehydration and exposure. The police and your husband found you in a warehouse where the temperature was around 40 degrees."

"How did I get the bruises?"

"Judging by your broken fingernails, you tried to fight your captors," Kate looked down at her hands, noticing for the first time her badly split and broken fingernails. Her knuckles were also severely bruised. "We believe that you were drugged, but we don't yet know what you were given. Hopefully we'll know in the next 24 to 48 hours."

"How long have I been here?"

"You were brought in at about five o'clock yesterday afternoon. We gave you IV's to rehydrate you, and you started coming around late last night."

"Where are Nieman and Tyson?"

"I think that I'll let Mr. Castle talk to you about that."

"Please let me go home."

"I'll go and get your paperwork started," he smiled before getting up and leaving the room.

Kate ran a hand through her hair, hating the way that she was feeling right now. She was so confused and anxious. She just wanted to go home and curl up in her bed with Castle by her side. She wanted him to hold her and tell her that everything was going to be okay. She wanted . . . no, she needed for someone to tell her what had happened to her during those three days.

"Is it all right for me to come back in?" She smiled at Castle, who was standing in her doorway.

"Castle," she breathed out his name. "Of course it's all right for you to come back in."

He smiled before striding over and settling onto the bed beside her. "You have questions," he looked down at his hands, unconsciously flexing his fingers.

"Castle . . . Rick . . . what happened to your hands?"

"That wasn't exactly where I was planning on starting, but I guess it's as good a place as any. When we busted into the warehouse, Nieman was unconscious in one corner and you were in another. I went to check on you and I heard one of the TAC guys shouting that Tyson was rabbiting. I don't know what came over me, Kate. I jumped up and I ran. I caught up with him somehow and I just tackled him like I was a linebacker for the Giants. I started pounding on him and pounding his head into the concrete. The boys and a couple of the TAC finally got me off of him, but he was pretty fucked up, Kate."

"Where are they now? Are they dead?"

"No," he shook his head. "Nieman took an overdose of ecstasy. They pumped her stomach, but the prognosis isn't good. I haven't heard anything on Tyson. I know he had brain surgery, but that's as much as I know."

"Do you know what they did to me?"

"Not much. From your injuries, we know that you were beaten. But we also know that you fought back. You have defensive wounds on your hands, arms and legs. Kate, they did a rape kit," she gasped, but he held a hand out. "The doctor in the ER was concerned about the bruises on your upper legs and your abdomen. It was negative."

"I hope they both die. Does that make me an awful person?" Her eyes glistened with tears.

"Oh, babe," he slipped an arm around her shoulder as she leaned her head against his chest, her body shaking with sobs. "They did awful things to you. Wishing them dead doesn't make you an awful person. It makes you human."

"I just want to go home, Castle. I want to go home with you and hide."

"I'm right there with you," he kissed the top of her head.

A/N #2: Like most of my stories, this one is an adventure and shouldn't be rushed. I do think 7x14 and 7x15 are probably going to be the best 'Castle' episodes ever.

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