Disclaimer: I do not own Castle – all credit goes to Andrew Marlow and the writing team for ABC's Castle; my thanks to them for providing a foundation for this little exercise. Special thanks to Marlow's wife, Terri Miller on this theme, since she's the one who wrote most of the sci-fi based episodes, with Adam Frost helping to round things out.

Chapter 10

Old Ernesto noticed something different as he finished tossing the heavy bag of garbage into the dumpster behind the restaurant where he worked. Oops, looks like we've killed the messenger he remarked to himself as he stooped down and pulled the paper from the dead white rat caught in the trap at the base of the dumpster. His countenance sort of froze in surprise as he read the note inside. His kids were big fans of Castle's work. When he had a free moment, he tried to contact EFP's offices. All they would tell him is that the author was out on a book tour and might not be reached in time.

The morning of May 18th finally arrived. Dr. Lanie Parish, Detective Kate Beckett, Detective Javier Esposito, Alexis Castle, and lunatic Castle had enjoyed only restless sleep spells in anticipation of the upcoming day. Dr. Parish had been working for several days to set up a meeting with Dr. Chambers and the psychiatrist attending to the patient in room 604 at the Randall's island facility. She had finally received permission to give him a 3rd party evaluation at the request of Martha Rogers, which meant that she could release his restraints and take him to another location if necessary.

Operation Get-Castle-Home began when Lanie, Kate, Alexis and two uniformed police officers entered Castle's hospital room and retrieved him from the bed.

"OK Mr. Castle, time to ambulate", exclaimed Lanie as they were exiting the room. "Let's see how you do."

They made their way down the hall, and when no one was looking, ducked into a freight elevator and made for the ground floor loading dock. Between the second and ground floor, they hit the E-Stop on the elevator, which gave Castle time to change into street clothes. Kate had brought an outfit from her Castle's closet, one that she didn't particularly like, with full confidence that it would fit lunatic Castle just fine. It did. So did the pair of shoes.

"Listen, we're gonna be on surveillance video when we hit the loading dock", Kate explained, "so everybody act like it's a routine day", she continued as she handed lunatic Castle and Alexis fake ID badges and face masks. "Esposito has an ugly purple van standing by. He says we can't miss it. Alexis, you get in front, the rest of us will take the rear. Remember, act normal, you too Castle, just for once. OK. Masks in place everybody – hit it."

They got to 890 Park Avenue with about twelve minutes to spare. Esposito and the two uniformed officers were joined by four others. They set up a perimeter according to plan. They would let pedestrians continue their normal routine until about one minute till noon. As the moment approached, Alexis gave lunatic Castle the Incan artifact and told him to hold it tightly in his hand and wish that he was going to his apartment. He did so. Everybody backed off. They could hear one of the city's clocks begin to strike high noon; however, it looked like nothing was going to happen.

Kate, watching from a safe distance, squeezed her eyelids shut and let out a heavy sigh as Lanie tried to comfort her. Then lunatic Castle flinched. Esposito immediately emerged from the alley, his 9-millimeter service weapon drawn and aimed straight at Castle's head.

"Go home whoever you are to wherever you should be, or I'm gonna send you there myself", Esposito growled as he sighted down the barrel.

The few pedestrians and bystanders, who had been held back a safe distance by the uniformed officers, let out a collective gasp of surprise. Lunatic Castle hesitated and took one step back. Suddenly a blue glow appeared around him, discernable even in the bright midday sunlight. His physical form and the surrounding glow began to collapse in on itself till it reached a point, but then it seemed to open back up momentarily followed by a loud pop and a brilliant flash. The only difference was that while Castle appeared in the same spot, it was if someone had pulled a chair out from under him. Observers became aware that his shoes were no longer on his feet but were laying in the street about ten feet away. Everyone stood still in shock among a tense silence that seemed to have lasted an hour. Castle picked himself up off the sidewalk and looked around, confused, blinking at the bright sunlight. Esposito driven back from the event, lowered his weapon for a moment.

"Alexis! Beckett!" Castle managed to gasp as he caught sight of them slowly approaching.

Kate let out a huge sigh of relief and burst into tears of joy. Her Richard Castle was back. He knew her name – it could only be him because he said it with that comforting voice he always used even if they'd only been apart for a short time.

"I was sitting at a table signing books on a tour . . . and now I'm standing here. I don't know what happened, but I'm sure glad it did."

"So are we . . . so are all of us. We've missed you so much!", Kate said as she shook with emotion; all of them massed together in a welcome home hug. "Don't worry Rick, Martha will be waiting for you when we get inside. Ironically, she said she couldn't bear the drama."

"Why's everyone got face masks? Am I contagious?"

"Hope not. Just a sign of the times. We'll explain later. Here's yours. Now put it on before one of Esposito's guys over there has to give you a citation for running around in public without one."

Meanwhile, in a place far removed from the Manhattan we know, another Richard Castle found himself standing behind a table piled high with his science fiction books, the chair cast to one side, and his shoes no longer on his feet. His fans had all dropped back in shock. To them he had changed in the blink of an eye, and now looked like he had emerged from the drying tunnel of an automated car wash. The fandom had been promised a book signing like no other, and this had just surpassed all expectations.

As the shock wore off, one of the fans exclaimed "Best teleportation effects – ever!", as the rest of the group clapped and began to talk excitedly. Castle's publicist rushed over and began to straighten his outfit and restyle his hair. He sat back down uncertainly. The first fan to re-approach the table asked him how he had done that and what had really just happened because he had seen plenty of stage effects and what he had just seen wasn't staged.

"Son if you're old enough to ask a question like that then you're old enough to understand, so I'm sure you can see the irony . . . a science fiction writer doesn't have the words to explain something that looks like pure science fiction. But I can assure you of one thing – you're right. That wasn't theatrics or pyrotechnics. I was somewhere else; now I'm here", Castle explained meekly. "I'm just glad to be free . . . and to be alive. Maybe someday I'll write all about it. Now, to whom shall I make this dedication?" as he opened the front cover of the book, sharpie in hand, ready to resume his book signing duties.

As it got near sundown, Richard Castle suggested that the group of close associates celebrate their return to normalcy by going to Remy's for dinner. Kate informed him that things had changed in the weeks during his unscheduled vacation, but not to worry, she would make the trip and bring back carry-out; just not to order too many milkshakes, because they were heavy. Martha said that she didn't need a milkshake because she considered red wine with cheeseburgers to be a delicacy. Laine, already knowing that there would be more than one person could carry, offered to ride shotgun. She also had a hunch that Kate needed to get something more than just food; and she was right as they made a quick detour to Kate's apartment to get some jewelry, a certain engagement ring, and a dab of perfume before continuing their mission.

The meal had the collectively desired effect. One of true philia, contentment, ever-increasing fullness, and that special lethargy that comes from eating more than one should at one sitting. But it didn't matter.

"Dad, it's so good to have you back home", remarked Alexis for about the eighth time since midday. "You know, you always talk about the will of the Universe. Well, I think you need to change your point of view. From now on, I think we had better consider the will of the Multiverse.

"I think you're right, pumpkin. After what I've been through, I think you're right."

". . . No, I don't think you're going to be able to recover it. You're free to come and search all our premises if you'd like, we won't even make you get a warrant. I tell you there's been an . . . event . . . for lack of a better word and it disappeared as a result", Kate went on to explain during the phone call she was having in the kitchen. "And yes, I'll be happy to forward our reports . . . but you just remember to deliver in kind."

"Well, that was the agent that you both spoke to", Kate said, now directing her comment at Alexis and Martha in particular. "I think you can understand why he mentioned that no further follow-up would be necessary."

"So you think 'they' knew all along?", Alexis asked cautiously.

"Oh, I think they suspected something of the sort", Kate replied while rolling her eyes.

About two weeks later, Kate received a report attached to an email sent to her precinct account. Upon arriving at the loft she greeted her fiancé and asked:

"Castle, do you know an Edgar Chearron?"

"You mean E. E. Chearron? Yeah, he's the Sci-Fi author that sends me hate mail because my Derrick Storm series, and now the Nikki Heat series, keeps bumping him from first place on the New York Times best sellers list."

"Well, then maybe you'll believe it when I tell you that it was him who sent you that Fed-Ex package with the artifact in it."

"You mean that's what all this has been about?! Something like him wanting to get rid of me so that he could be at the top of the list? . . . And me wondering if our lives would have been better if we had never met? Never again! I've learned my lesson. The rest can wish this pandemic wasn't happening . . . that they'd rather be someplace else . . . that they'd rather be doing something else with their lives . . . Well, not me. Been there and done that. I'll stay right here and live with the risk thank-you. Kate, I love you too much to want anything else right now."

Kate just looked at him, as a wry smile spread across her lips. The Multiverse, having settled back into equilibrium following the ripple that had passed through it, had nothing more to say about the matter, as the two of them made their way to the kitchen to begin preparing dinner.

A/N: Well, that's it. Thanks for reading. I only wish there were more of you. Tell your friends. Could be a cure for 'cabin fever'.

A couple of things: Anybody out there who knows the significance of Room 604 and psychiatrist when used in the same sentence?

And, how did I do? I decided to write the AU version of this to practice running two plots in parallel, which is a big deal for me since I'm still wet behind the ears when it comes to developing a single, original plot. I just thought it would be fun to play with the scenario where one is forcibly yanked out of his/her Universe and plopped down somewhere else without knowing why or how. Especially when it's the result of a trivial whim of their counterpart whom they don't even know exists, much less has ever met. Could have been done on the show, probably as a two-parter; and might have come out even better as a screen play since it's easy to cut from one universe to the other using visuals. The whole scenario as Multiverse being a product of the cosmic fireworks display came into my head while out walking early one morning well before this COVID-19 pandemic began. The idea stuck with me for months, so I finally put it down on paper and developed the story around it. Seemed logical since Castle always liked to set off fireworks in the Hamptons for Alexis (and himself – being the big kid he is inside). The past memories idea is what also inspired the rat experiment.

I think my final installment: 'Partners in Life' might come next. Pondering entering it in the Castle Ficathon 2020. Just a matter of the right motivation . . . until next time. Remember, I'd like to hear from you readers - thanks.