Here I am back again. I got the idea for this story the other day when the following question popped into my head: What would happen if Richard Castle found himself transported back in time twelve years and discovers it is the day of Johanna Beckett's murder, what would he do? This story, I hope answers that question. I hope you enjoy it.

Somewhere In Time

Part 1

Richard Castle emerged from the elevator and strode across the lobby to the front door. He paused on the side walk and took a deep breath. He exhaled slowly. He crossed the street and made his way to the park on the other side. Finding a empty bench he sat down and put his head in his hands. His fingers began to massage his temples. He could feel the veins throbbing relentlessly. It was the sign of the onset of a bad headache.

He had spent the last hour in the offices of Black Pawn. More to the point he had spent the past hour in Gina's office. He had been an disinterested bystander while Paula and Gina went at it hammer and tongs arguing over his next four book contract with Black Pawn. Gina had made the mistake of making the suggestion at the start of the meeting that the Nikki Heat series had run its course and he should look to find another character to write about.

That suggestion had gotten Castle's back up but before he could open his mouth Paula had donned the suit of armour and picked up the heavy lance and rode into battle like some champion from medieval times. Paula as always fought tooth and nail for him. Fought like someone who took no prisoners when it came to getting the best deal for Richard Castle.

Gina for her part never took a backward step when it came to negotiating book contracts. She fought with equal ferocity to make sure her company Black Pawn didn't give away the entire farm when it came to their best selling author, no matter how successful he was. Her suggestion about dropping Nikki Heat was quickly buried before the battle moved to other topics.

There had been a time when Castle had enjoyed watching these two women fighting it out like a pair of heavy weight prize fighters. He found it amusing, a real laugh, he looked forward to it. There had even been one time he had brought a bucket of popcorn to munch on as he watched them verbally dook it out.

Today was not one of those days. He had found it tiresome. He had wondered why he was even needed to be present as the two women clawed and scratched each other, figuratively speaking, as they tried to hammer out the best deal they could for him.

After an hour of this sparring it got too much for Castle. There were other places he could be right now. More than anything he wanted to be at the Twelfth precinct sitting in his chair and watching his favourite detective as she did paperwork, and trying very hard not to annoy her by staring at her or playing angry Birds on his phone, hoping that a body might drop but happy just to be in her presence.

He had tried very hard to get out of the meeting with his publisher and agent. He had come up with a number of excuses one of which was that he was needed at the precinct more than he was needed at the meeting. Neither Paula nor Gina bought that. They both insisted he had to be at the meeting. With great reluctance he agreed to be at the meeting.

Having listened to that same old arguments going back and forth for an hour Castle had had enough. He simply had gotten to his feet and strolled out of the office. He knew that neither Gina or Paula were aware that he had left the office. More than likely it would be at least a couple of hours before they had thrashed out a deal that both were happy with and realise that Castle was nowhere to be found. If they wanted him they could call him until then he just had to get out of the office.

Castle lifted his head. It took him a moment to realise he had wandered into City Hall Park. His eyes focused on the construction of One World Trade Centre in the distance. It was a hive of activity as it rose ever skywards, one floor at a time like some slow rising phoenix. Even now ten years on he found it a little hard not seeing those iconic twin towers. The painful memories of that fateful day came flooding back to him. He pushed them to the back of his mind.

Castle felt the headache starting to get worse. He leaned back against the park bench. Once more he rubbed his temples but it only provided minor relief at best. What he needed was some aspirin or paracetamol he thought to himself. He removed his fingers and closed his eyes. The remorseless throbbing in his head made his eyes hurt. Before he knew it he was asleep.

Part 2

Castle snapped open his eyes and blinked. With growing embarrassment he realised that he had fallen asleep whilst sitting on the park bench. He looked at his watch and saw that he had not been asleep for too long. No more than twenty minutes. He was grateful for small mercies. All ready he could imagine pictures of him splashed about in some of the more trashy magazines or worse on the net of him fast asleep on a park bench. The captions to go with the pictures did not bear thinking about.

As Castle looked about him something caught his eye. Turning his attention to it his eyes widened in shock. He blinked several times. He could not believe what he was seeing. It couldn't be right, no way. He had to be dreaming he thought to himself. This was not real.

What had shocked Castle was the sight of the twin towers of the World Trade Centre. Standing in all their glory as if they had never been attacked. He stared dumbfounded. He had to rub his eyes and look again. Sure enough the twin towers still remained in his vision. This had to be a dream surely?

He continued to stare at the twin towers.

"Excuse me Mr Castle, is this seat taken?"

Castle dragged his eyes from the twin towers and looked up the man who was standing in front of him. The man was aged in his mid to late fifties, tall with short receding black hair, thick eyebrows and dressed in a dark business suit that had been bought off the wrack. The man reminded Castle of the actor Pete Postlethwaite. He certainly spoke with a mid Atlantic accent.

"Is this seat taken?"

"No...please." Castle motioned to the man to sit down as he moved to give him room on the bench.

"Thank you Mr Castle."

Castle once more returned to staring at the twin towers. Still he could not believe what he was seeing.

"Magnificent looking structures are they, not?" Said the man.

"Yeah."

"So sad, so very sad they came down."

Castle was hardly listening to the man sitting beside him. But he did hear the last thing the man said. Castle round on the man.

"You know they came down?"

The man grinned and nodded.

"Is this all some kind of weird dream I'm having?"

"No, Mr Castle, nothing as prosaic as that I can assure you."

"You mean this is all real?" Castle said his voice rising a notch or two in line with his eyebrows which had shot up.

"I'm afraid it is."

Castle could not believe what he was hearing. He did not want to believe what he was hearing. He could feel panic rising within in him which he tried to damp down and barely managing the task.

"Who are you...what am I doing here...what year is this?" Castle said hurriedly.

The man chuckled softly as the smile on his face deepened.

"You can call me Mr Smith."

Castle rolled his eyes. "Mr Smith, really?"

"Well you would not be able to pronounce my real name, so Mr Smith will have to suffice." Mr Smith explained.

"Okay."

"I am here as your guardian."

"You're an angel?" Castle exclaimed.

Mr Smith laughed heartily at that. He shook his head after a moment.

"My official title is a Space Time Continuum Facilitator..."

"You're a Time Lord?" Castle was incredulous.

"No, Mr Castle." Mr Smith said. "If you will allow me to explain and in the process I will provide an answer to your second question."

Castle had his mouth open ready to fire another question at the man who called himself Mr Smith. He closed his mouth and nodded to Mr Smith for him to continue.

"You Mr Castle are the unfortunate victim of having been caught up in a small tear in the Space Time Continuum and have been transported back to the past."

Castle's eyebrows shot up in surprise as he stared at Mr Smith. He was too shocked to speak.

"You would be most surprised to learn, I'm sure, Mr Castle that holes in the Space Time Continuum occur on a fairly regular basis. Fortunately there are facilitators like myself who are on hand to assist people such as yourself. We are here to assist you to orientate yourself in your new environment, advise you on what you can and can not do, and try to help you return from whence you came."

"You can send me back?"

"When the time is right."

"When will that be?" Castle asked anxiously.

The smile on Mr Smith's face faltered and then faded completely.

"As to when you return from whence you came, that I can not say, Mr Castle."

"Why not?"

"Well unfortunately, holes in the Space Time Continuum are unpredictable little buggers. They pop up whenever they feel like it not when we want them." Mr Smith explained and offered up an apologetic smile.

"You mean I'm stuck here?"

"Let us say you could be here for five minutes, a few hours, some months or even years."

"I'm stuck here!" Castle shrieked.

Castle leaned forward and covered his face with his hands. This could not be real he silently told himself. His over active imagination had exploded and he had gone mad. Stark raving mad. That was the only thing that could explain this. He had gone mad.

"Now I know how Sam Tyler felt." Castle muttered through his hands.

Mr Smith chuckled at Castle's remark.

Suddenly Castle jumped to his feet and started to pace back and forth.

"I don't belong here." He said. "I belong back in the future...I have to get back...you have to send me back."

"Mr Castle" Mr Smith barked.

Castle stopped pacing and looked at Mr Smith. Mr Smith smiled up at him.

"You're starting to get hysterical. Please sit down and take a deep breath."

Castle did not want to sit down he wanted to rant and rave. He wanted to shout and scream at what the Universe had dumped on him. One admonishing look from Mr Smith had Castle sitting down on the bench. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

"Feel better, Mr Castle?" Mr Smith inquired.

"No."

"I understand."

"Do you?"

Mr Smith smiled and nodded his head but did not explain further.

"Right now you have to focus on the present, Mr Castle." Mr Smith told him. "Not on the future and not the past. You have to focus on the present."

Castle nodded his head in understanding. He closed his eyes and let out a long heavy sigh. He had to focus on the present, he reminded himself. Opening his eyes he looked at the twin towers. A thought occurred to him.

"Mr Smith, what year is it?"

"The year is 1999."

"What's the date?" Castle demanded.

Mr Smith told him.

Castle sat back on the bench and gazed at that twin towers. There was something about the date that rang a bell in the back of his head. He could not quite put his finger on it but he had a feeling that it was important for some reason.

"What would you like to do, Mr Castle?" Mr Smith said breaking the silence that had descended between them.

"I'd like to go home, Mr Smith."

"I am working on it, Mr Castle." Mr Smith assured the writer. "In the meantime what would you like to do? We can stay here for a little while or we could go for a drive, I have a car."

"If I'm going to be stuck here, where do I live?"

"That will be taken care of."

"Hang on a minute." Castle said, his face brightening. "I have a place to live, I have my loft."

"That is one place you can not go." Mr Smith frowned.

"But..."

"No buts Mr Castle. You can not go to your loft. The Richard Castle of this time can not meet you."

"What about my daughter, Alexis?"

"I'm afraid not." Mr Smith shook his head.

"I can't see her?"

"Perhaps from a distance." Mr Smith offered after seeing the stricken look on the other man's face.

"That's so not fair."

Mr Smith explained to the author why he could not meet his daughter or the Richard Castle of 1999. It had something to do with interfering with the course of history, changing the future. Castle nodded his head as Mr Smith spoke but he was barely listening. All he could think about was not seeing his daughter again. Just the thought of it was too painful for words. Then his mind drifted to the one woman in his life he loved more than life itself.

The next moment his eyes widened. The ringing bell had risen to a deafening clang.

"Mr Smith what date did you say it was?"

Once more Mr Smith provided him with the date.

Castle quickly jumped to his feet. He looked down to Mr Smith.

"What time is it now?"

Mr Smith checked the watch on his wrist. "It is four thirty."

Castle checked his own watch and nodded his agreement.

"Can you get me to Washington Heights?"

"I can do that, Mr Castle." Mr Smith said as he rose to his feet. "May I inquire as to why you want to be taken to Washington Heights?"

"Where's your car?" Castle said anxiously, ignoring the man's question.

Mr Smith pointed in the direction of City Hall.

"You get to park at City Hall?"

Mr Smith grinned. "A Space Time Continuum Facilitator has its privileges."

Castle started to run in the direction. Mr Smith was forced to run just to catch up to the author.

"Why the hurry to get to Washington Heights, Mr Castle?" Mr Smith asked once he caught up to Castle.

"I need to get there before seven-thirty, can you get me there by then?"

"I think I can manage that but why?"

"I'll explain once we're in the car."

Castle increased his pace leaving Mr Smith behind. The older man shook his head and ran after the fleeing author.

XXXXX

What do you think of the story so far? Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Con