Title: A Heartbreak, A Crime & A Declaration

By: greygoose70

Summary; In the aftermath of the dirty bomb Castle has some thinking to do but something happens that changes his life. (A/U for S03/E17)

"Hell of a day, Castle says as he gazes into Beckett's beautiful green eyes.

"Hell of a day," she replies in return her eyes never leaving his blue ones.

"I was thinking…" he starts but pauses briefly when he catches movement behind her. He does a quick flick left with his eyes and sees HIM and knows he can't continue with what he was going to say so thinking fast he says. "I should go home. Get some rest. Long day. Goodnight."

He's saying all this as he is slowly moving back and then when HE arrives and wraps her in HIS arms Castle turns and makes for the elevator trying not to show a look of defeat in his walk. Fortunately the elevator doors immediately opened at the push of the call button and he was able to walk in where he turns and pushes the button for the first floor, waits for the doors to close and leans against the back wall.

As he stands there he's thinking about everything they have been through the last couple of days and he thought they had gotten closer. He was going to ask her out for dinner or drinks, tell her the feelings he is having for her but now he realizes that would have been a mistake. He would have been forcing her to choose between him and Josh.

He would not make her do that for if she chose Josh it would break his heart, that's how deep his feeling went for her. He also knew if she chose Josh he couldn't stay and watch. He had been through that once already and look what happened.

She has ridiculed him because of his two divorces, his stupid fling with Ellie Monroe. But is she any better? First there was Sorenson, although that reunion never got past first base, then there was Demming, he never really knew what happened there and now there's Josh, what happens when she gets tired of him.

Just then the elevator dings its arrival so he quickly beelines it for the exit and hails a cab.

Beckett is listening intently to Castle waiting to see where he is going with this when suddenly he pauses, begins backing away as he is telling her he should go home, tired, get some rest. He then says goodnight, something he never says but then she feels a set arms being wrapped around her and she understands. She turns into Josh's arms but keeps her head turned towards Castle, telling him goodnight as he is moving away. She notices that he looks different. He's slouched over, doesn't have the confident stride he usually does and when she sees him step into the elevator and turn, it's there written all over his face, he's hurting, not physically but emotionally and then it hits her...its the look of defeat, he's giving up on her.

He needs to get away and think, decide what to do. Mother and Alexis are up in the Hamptons why not go up and join them. Alexis will have to come back for school on Sunday but it's Thursday so they will at least have a couple of days together he can then stay and get some writing done. Decision made he relaxes into the cab for the ride home.

Kate and Josh had just entered her apartment when Josh's phone began ringing. Answering he told whomever was on the other end he'd see them in the morning.

"Who was that?" she asked after he had disconnected.

"Dispatch confirming my seat on the plane for Haiti tomorrow."

"Seriously, it was less than 24 hours ago you told me you turned that trip down."

"I did but one of the other doctors has come down sick and they're short handed so I told them I would take his place. I was going to tell you..."

"Oh yeah, when. How long this time?" Kate asked disgust in her voice.

"A month maybe longer," Josh replied.

"So then why are you here Josh? Shouldn't you be at your place, getting packed? Wait, you're hoping to get a 'piece of this' before leaving aren't you." She clamored smacking her buttocks as she said it. "Well let me let you in on a little secret Doctor Davidson, that's not going to happen, nor is it going to happen when you get back. We are over, done, finished so you can just turn around and leave."

"Kate…"

"No Josh. Just go. You've got your priorities and evidently I'm not one of them. To bad it didn't work out." Doctor Joshua Davidson then exited Katherine Beckett's apartment, walking out of her life forever.

Kate plopped down on her couch after Josh left not feeling sorry for the way things ended. He told her he turned down the DWB trip to Haiti to give their relationship a chance and then just now he tells her he's going. God, she thought, what a mess. Then her thoughts turn to Castle wondering what he was really going to say before Josh showed up. Oh well she wasn't going to worry about it right now, right now she was going to order some dinner then take a relaxing bubble bath then get some sleep, she'll ask him tomorrow when he arrives at the precinct.

Monday morning, The Precinct

Beckett plopped down at her desk knowing today was going to be a paperwork day and there was going to be a lot of it. Seems Homeland Security required ten times more than what she normally had to complete for the DA's office. She booted up her computer and the first thing it did was ping letting her know she had incoming mail. When she opens her email program she sees an email from Castle the subject line saying, "You're going to need this." She clicked on the attachment icon and she is instantly hit with twenty-seven pages (okay maybe not quite that many) appropriately titled 'COUNTDOWN'. As she read it she realizes it is an exact dissertation of their case. As she gets to the ending she sees that he changed it…he had HER pulling the wires out defusing the bomb thereby saving the city.

Why would he do that? And where is he? He should be here. She got up from her chair, picked up her cup and headed to the breakroom. Once there she pulled out her cell and hit speed dial three and waited, after four rings it went to voicemail. "Hey Castle, I got your email, thanks. Why'd you change the ending? You coming in today? Call me, okay." She then disconnected, fixed her a coffee and returned to her desk.

The Hamptons House

Castle sat at his desk typing away, putting the final touches on 'Naked Heat'. He put in the final period, typed THE END then leaned back in his leather bound desk chair and stretched. "There," he said to himself, "and a full month ahead of his deadline, that should make Gina happy." Just to keep any accidents from happening he saved the document to his computer and a copy to his cloud account, he then sent a copy to Gina.

Glancing at the clock on the wall he saw how late it had gotten and then he heard his stomach grumble. Seems his body was trying to tell him something so he shut everything down, grabbed a coat from the hall closet, his keys and wallet from their place by the door, went out locking the door behind him, got in his Range Rover and headed to Harold's Beachcomber Bar & Grille.

The two dark glad figures parked their vehicle on the outskirts of the property and worked their way up the beach side of the large residence. "Who did you say lives here the larger of the two asked in a voice slightly louder than a whisper. "Some big shot writer," the other one replied.

"And there's no one here now," the first one speaking again."

"No. Nobody will be here till at least Memorial Day."

"Good, but let's not waste time, get in, find the office and safe, crack it and get out."

Stepping up on the back deck they proceeded to the set of french doors where the the larger one took out a pistol and broke one of the panes, reached in and unlocked the door.

With their flashlights blazing a path in front of them they worked their way through the dining area, past the staircase and into the spacious living area. From there they continued down another hallway toward a door that when they opened it found themselves in the office of one Richard Castle.

"You're sure its a wall safe?" The leader asked.

Yep, was all he got as an answer. "Okay then start looking behind all the pictures, that's where they normally put it."

Except it wasn't. They had removed every picture, every plaque, everything on the wall and they found nothing.

"What the fuck!" The leader proclaimed loudly. "And you're positive it was put in the office!"

"That's what the order said, 'owner to provide office location'."

"Well it's not fucking here. Start tearing this place apart till we find it.

Castle pulled the Range Rover into the covered carport behind the pool area, turned off the motor, unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the door and got out then locking it up via the lock button on his key fob.

He makes his way to the entrance that will take him through the kitchen and the dining area to the stairs that lead up to the bedrooms. He unlocked the door, entered then locked it behind him. As he is making his way through the house he can see see light coming from his office. Thinking he could swear he turned them off when he left earlier he proceeded that way. Just as he got to the main living area he saw two dark clad figures come charging out, "Hey!" He shouted then saw two flashes of light accompanied by two loud bangs and before he could move felt the impact of two bullets enter his body and he fell to the floor.

"Thought you said nobody would be here, Craig."

"Shouldn't have been George. They're never here this time of year."

"Well somebody was. Come on let's get out of here.

Castle laid completely motionless, fighting conscientiousness until the intruders had passed then reached into his back pocket, retrieved his phone, pressed 9-1-1 then everything went dark.

Eleven minutes later Deputy Harold Moore pulled his cruiser into the circular drive in front of 415 Beach View Drive. He had gotten the 911 call from dispatch. He was told no one responded when the dispatcher tried speaking to whomever it was that called but that the line was still open. Going up to the front door he knocked but got no response so he used his flashlight to shoot a beam of light into the room. Seeing nothing suspicious he decided to check the remaining perimeter.

Arriving at at the rear of the house he came upon the deck; walking up he saw the broken window and drew his weapon. He opened the door and holding his pistol/flashlight in front of him proceeded cautiously inside. He didn't have to go far when he saw the body laying on the floor. He knelt down and felt for a pulse, finding one but it was awful weak. He immediately got on his radio calling for an ambulance, a detective and a crime scene unit.

Four minutes later a ambulance came roaring to a halt at the Ocean Drive address. Two paramedics jumped out and began pulling equipment out from the various compartments. Deputy Moore had the front door open shouting for them to hurry.

Beckett's Apartment

Beckett was sitting on her couch a glass of her favorite red wine in her hand watching the late night news. It had been a long day doing nothing but paperwork and drinking coffee. She had tried calling Castle a few more times but the calls just kept going to voice mail so she finally sent him a text message when she got home. That was four hours ago and she has yet to get a reply so she decided it was time to get ready for bed. She was just getting ready to turn off her television when the words NEWS FLASH appeared on the screen. "Okay lets see what this is all about," she said aloud even though there was no one there to hear her.

The screen flashed back to the regular news desk but instead of the usual newscasters Beckett was looking at Donna Vincentis, the entertainment reporter. "This just in from our Long Island affiliate," she started. "Mystery writer and New York resident Richard Castle was shot in his Hamptons home earlier this evening during what appears to have been a robbery."

At the mention of Castle's name Beckett dropped her glass screaming "NOOOO". She was now literally glued to her TV wanting to gather as much information as possible.

"Mister Castle," Donna continued, "is reported to be in critical condition having received a bullet to the chest and one to the abdomen. He has been life-flighted to Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan where doctors are waiting to operate."

"Oh god I wonder if Alexis knows," she spoke aloud as she snatched her phone off the coffee table where it lay. She found Alexis' number and pressed 'call'.

The Loft

Alexis had just finished washing her face and brushing her teeth when she heard her phone ringing. She rushed to her bedroom to answer it. Seeing it was Kate she pressed answer and said, "Hey Kate. Whats up? I was just getting ready for bed."

Kate didn't think Alexis sounded stressed so she probably hadn't been notified yet so as calmly as she could she told her, "Get dressed, I'll be out front in 15 minutes."

"What's going on Kate? Oh God its Grams isn't it? Somethings hap…!"

"Lexi. Calm down. It's not Martha. It's Rick, he's been shot. He's been life-lifted to Presbyterian. I'm on my way. Hurry."

Eight minutes later Alexis was standing out front of 595 Broome Street when Kate pulled up. She instantly ran around to the front passenger door, got in, fastened the seat/shoulder harness all while Kate was pulling back into the traffic flow.

"Have you gotten a hold of Grams?" Alexis asked as soon as she was settled in.

"Tried but all I got was her voicemail. Ryan is on the way to the precinct. He will ping her phone and get a location. Did she happen to say where she was going when she left?"

"No but she was on the phone when I got home from school and I think I heard her say something about a party at the Luma Hotel."

Kate grabbed her phone from the center console pressed speed dial four then put it on speaker. When a male voice answered she said, "Espo, start at the Luma Hotel in Times Square. Alexis thinks Martha went to a party there."

"On it," she heard him say before he disconnected.

"Kate, who contacted you about my dad?"

"Nobody, I was watching the late night news when it can across as a 'news flash'. I immediately thought of you so I called. Afterwards I tried Martha then got a hold of Ryan and Espo. As soon as we locate her Espo will pick her up and get her to the hospital."

"How bad is he?" Alexis asked.

"Don't know. Donna just said he was in critical condition that he received a shot to the abdomen and one to the chest."

So far Alexis had been able to 'keep it' together but the instant she heard Kate say Rick had taken a bullet to the chest she lost it and began crying uncontrollably. Fortunately Kate had just pulled into the hospital ER parking lot. She found a space quickly and parked, killed the engine, released hers and then Alexis' safety belt then reached over and pulled the girl to her.

Alexis was beginning to hyperventilate so Kate rubbed up and down her back while telling her her Dad was going to be all right, he was going to make it through this, he was strong, he was a fighter.

Slowly Alexis' breathing slowed down to almost normal, her sobs subsiding as well. "Thank you," she was finally able to say then added, "I love you, Kate"

"I love you too Lexi," Kate returning the sentiment. And she did, Alexis is like a younger sister to her and she would do anything for her. She has already promised Rick she would look after Alexis if anything happened to him. But damn it this as not gonna be that time, he will pull through this.

"Come on Lex. Let's go see what we can find out."

"Kate they will only release any information to relatives so when they ask, you're my mother."

"Got it, now lets go."

As they were headed to the ER entrance Kate's phone buzzed signaling an incoming text message. Seeing it was from Esposito she opened and read it then text back that her and Alexis just arrived.

"Was that about Grams?"

"Yeah. Esposito just picked her up, they'll be here in ten."