Okay so I've been kicking this around for a while and well here it is. After I write this story I think I'll publish a series of short stories that bridges the gaps between 2 am to 4 am wake up call. Umm I don't have a beta so I'm looking for one. That means that all mistakes are mine. Speaking of mistakes I've changed Jeremy's last name to Dunn to make something I wrote in the first story to make since. PS I suck at summaries! I umm well think that's it. just Enjoy!

The annoying sound of her cell phone awoke Beckett from her peacefully slumber. Groaning, she lifted her head to glance at the clock and wanted to swear very loudly. It was just past four in the morning and she had just gotten to sleep not even an hour before because of her son's nightmare. A nightmare that was induced by his father's vast imagination she might add. Upon searching the nightstand by her side she realized that the annoying ringing was coming from the one on the opposite of the bed. Thinking she would get a bit of payback in the process, Beckett clumsily climbed over her husband to snatch her up cell phone on the last ring. "Beckett."

"Kate." Castle groaned his mind still clouded with sleep. He weakly pushed at her so he could turn over and go back to sleep. That plan went out the window when she jolted straight up in bed at full alert. This time when he said her name it was full of fear, "Kate?"

She waved him off so she could concentrate on the voice on the other end of the phone. "Address?" Beckett demanded and knocked several things over in a rush to find something to write on and with. Once it was complete, Beckett was already hoping out of bed. "I'm on my way."

Still somewhat groggy, Castle switched on the light to see his wife already dragging on a pair of jeans that had been carelessly discarded on the floor the night before. "What's wrong?" The look on her face had him out of bed in a heartbeat. "Kate what is it? Is it Alexis?"

"No." Beckett shoved her phone into her pants pocket and looked for a jacket. The air was quite nippy as November started to fade into December. Once she found one she turned back to Castle who was eagerly awaiting an answer, "There was a shootout."

The writer's face pale, "Jeremy." On that note he started getting ready himself.

"No you need to stay here." Beckett held up a hand to keep him from arguing, "Nathan just got to sleep."

"I know but-."

"I don't know what is going on, Rick. I need you to stay here and wait for me to call. Once I figure out what's going on then you're going to go get Alexis." Beckett informed and watched any argument he had just fade away with her reasoning. She knew it killed him not to come with her like in the good old days, but they made an agreement that after Bryon was born that he would stop shadowing her. That it way it lessened the chance of their son losing both their parents. Now that didn't meant that he didn't help out occasionally, but for the most part he was a stay at home dad once again.

"Call me as soon as you know and be careful." He begged his voice laced with his daily worry for her safety.

Beckett took a moment in her mad dash for the door to place a hand on his face. The stubbles from his morning growth was rough against her palm. Getting up in the morning and putting on her shield knowing there was a possibility she wasn't coming back grew harder with each passing day. "You know I will be." Her fingers curled downward until she was stroking his jaw line with the pad of her thumb as she bent to meet him in a kiss. Even after almost five years of marriage a single kiss from the man shot fire straight through her. "Wait for my call."

"I love you."

"I love you too." She pressed a kiss to her brow. This was another ritual that they went through every time they parted because with a job like hers they never knew if there would be another chance to say I love you. As she made a detour to get her gun and shield from the safe, Beckett hoped that Alexis and Jeremy practiced the same philosophy. And she prayed like hell that she wouldn't be the one telling her step-daughter that the man she loved was dead.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

The scene was an old warehouse on the outskirts of SoHo. A small area was flooded with flashing blue and red lights with a small little corner near the edge of the building lit with standing flood lights. In the middle of the square of light was a white sheet that Beckett knew covered a body. Panicked, Beckett flashed her badge to the uniform monitoring the yellow tape before ducking under it in search of the person in charge. She found a pain clothed cop, his badge handing around his neck, talking to two people she guess were homeless. Beckett flashed her badge, her eyes trying to soak every inch of the crime scene. "Lieutenant Kate Beckett." Her eyes landed on the ambulance and felt a small twinge of hope that Jeremy was okay. "I was called because an Officer Jeremy Dunn was involved in a shootout."

The cop, maybe pushing fifty, studied the badge his face completely stoic so Beckett couldn't get a read on him. "Roger Hatt IAB." He informed before adding, "Beckett? I thought you married that writer. What is his name? Castle right?"

"I did." And on paper she changed her name, except it made things easier to keep her last name in a professional sense to avoid unwanted attention. But none of that matter, what matter was the fact that he hadn't mention Jeremy causing that little bit of hope to fly right out the window. "Officer Dunn." Beckett insisted. "Where is he?"

Roger turned in the direction of the body missing the seer panic that crossed the season Lieutenant's face. "He's around the corner getting checked out by a paramedic."

"Was he hurt?" At least her voice didn't betray her.

"Got clipped the best I can tell. I'm still trying to figure out what happened. Officer Dunn is in shock so I haven't been able to get a word out of him. His partner tried." Roger informed, "Maybe you can get through to him."

"Thanks." Closing her coat against the winter chill, Beckett started towards the direction Roger gave her. She stopped by the body where the ME was bent down examining. "What happened?"

"Single GSW to the chest." The ME informed never looking up from the body. "The officer involved in the shootout tried to revive him, but death was almost instantaneous."

Moving on, Beckett found the shaken office slummed against the wall of the warehouse oblivious to the world and the paramedic trying to treat him. The young woman was getting now where, "Officer please you're bleeding."

"Jeremy." Beckett knelt down beside the pair.

The officer barley blinked.

The paramedic gave her a helpless look, "He's been like this since I pulled him off the shooter."

"Jeremy look at me." When she didn't get a response Beckett tried a different approach. "Officer Dunn this is Lieutenant Beckett, what the hell happened here?"

The young man snapped to attention even if his green eyes were still unfocused, "We were responding to a call. Some woman called 911 about a woman's screams coming from inside the warehouse. We were in the area because of some recent attacks in the area at night." Jeremy took a shaky breath as he ran a blood stain hand through his ink colored hair. "When my parent and I responded we found a man on top of the victim, he was raping her. My partner reacted without thinking and rushed the attacker. Officer Odon didn't see the man had a gun until it was too late and took one to the vest. The moment he hit the ground the attacker grabbed the woman and took off to the back of the warehouse. After making sure my partner was okay, I gave chase."

"After calling it in?' Beckett asked trying to see if he had followed protocol.

"Yes Ma'am. I reported gunshots and officer down. I also told them that the assailant had taken the victim and I was pursuing on foot." Finally Jeremy relaxed his posture allowing the paramedic access to his wound. He was barley aware of the woman cutting his pants to get to wound on his leg. "I caught up to the assailant and he turn around using the victim as a shield. I engaged him trying to get him to let her go. He let off three shots."

Beckett looked down to see two of them had hit Jeremy. One had grazed his left thigh and the other had hit his arm somewhere as blood dripped off his hand. She would have to ask the paramedic if it was a clean shot or not once she was finished with his leg.

"I told him to drop his weapon." His voice wavered, " 'Drop the weapon' I commanded, but he didn't listen." Blinking away the tears, Jeremy looked at Beckett, "Why didn't he listen?"

The helplessness she heard in his voice caused Beckett's heart to ache and she had to fight the urge to take the injured man into her arms. It was that mother instinct after all. But no matter how much she wanted to she wouldn't. When they were both wearing the badge it was all professional. Jeremy received no special treatment from her or anyone else. "Focus Officer."

"The woman was begging to be let go. He went to go hit her or shoot her, I don't know, but I had an opening and I took it." Jeremy's face grimaced as if his sense finally came back on line. He looked down at the paramedic's gloved hands that were working to stop the bleeding. "I've been shot." The realization made him almost sick.

"Hey." Beckett snapped her fingers to get his attention back. "Keep your eyes on me, okay."

"I'm shot."

"Join the club." She tried to joke, "One grazed your leg and the other hit your arm."

"Twice." His face paled.

"Think you're like you can get up so-." Beckett looked at the paramedic in search of a name.

"Emma." She supplied.

"So Emma doesn't have to haul your ass up by herself?" Beckett asked. "The ground is getting a bit hard."

Jeremy tried to smile, "Just a bit."

Beckett shifted into his line of vision once the medic ran to fetch a stretcher. "You're going to be okay."

"Right." He had to keep himself from looking at the blood leaking from his body. Then his mind began to clear and he thought of his partner and the victim. "Is Adam okay? The woman?"

"I don't know, but I'll find out." Since they were alone, Beckett caught Jeremy in a tight embrace. "God you had me worried."

"Sorry." Jeremy took a moment to soak up her comfort before she pulled away. "Does Alexis know?"

"I wanted to be sure that you were all right before I let her know. The details over the phone weren't a lot to go on. I'm going to call Rick and get him to pick her up."

Emma reappeared with her partner and a stretcher. "All right Officer Dunn let's get you off that hard grown." Together the three of them got the injured officer up and on the stretcher. Now they were able to work on getting Jeremy's shirt off to get to his wounded arm. After inspecting it, Emma pressed gauze to the small hole. "It looks clean. Through and through."

"No surgery." Beckett informed Jeremy. "Good news."

"I'm still shot." Jeremy retorted. It was clear that he had been hanging around Castle a bit too much.

Beckett grinned down at him, "You're going to be fine. It's just a flesh wound." The joke had the man smiling.

Emma missing the joke spoke, "We got room for one if you want to go, Lieutenant."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Beckett took post outside the officer's hospital room and waited for the arrival of her stepdaughter. After talking to his partner and the woman who was attacked, Beckett concluded that Jeremy had done everything by the book. Of course IAB had to launch their investigation and the Jeremy would be put on modified duty until he was clear of any miss doings. The whole situation sucked, Beckett knew that one from experience, but Jeremy would get through it. She just hoped that this little scare wouldn't drive Alexis away. Beckett also knew from experience that moments like this tend to divide people instead of bringing them closer.

"Kate."

Beckett turned to see the red head racing through the hospital hallway with Castle following close holding their three year old son. It was clear that Alexis hadn't put much thought into getting dressed once hearing the news as she was wearing mismatched shoes. "Alexis listen to me." Beckett stopped Alexis from charging into the exam room, something that Alexis wasn't happy about. The Lieutenant gently grasped her by the shoulder, "He is all right."

"He can't be all right if he is in here." Alexis tried to push by her stepmother only to get nowhere. "Kate let me through."

"I will once you calm down." Beckett insisted. "Jeremy was hit twice. One grazed his leg and the other hit his bicep. It was a clean shot so there was no need for surgery."

The news had her paling, "This is supposed to calm be down?"

Beckett stroked a hand over Alexis's fiery hair, "No sweetheart it's to prepare you." Her gaze flickered to Castle and realized that he was better equipped to handle this situation. He had been In Alexis's shoes on more than one occasion. When Castle gave her a nod of encouragement, Beckett continued, "He's really shaken. He took a life tonight."

Alexis fell silent for a long moment trying to even fathom what her boyfriend was currently going through. She could sympathize with the aspect of being hurt, but knowing you ended a life was something she hoped never to experience. "Okay." She took a deep breath to calm her racing heart. Freaking out would come later, right now Jeremy needed her and she had to be strong. "Can I see him?"

"Of course." Beckett pressed a quick kiss to the girl's hair and stepped aside.

Castle slipped his arm around his wife's shoulder and the sleepy boy on his shoulder lifted his head, "mamma Germ-y okay?"

"He's going to be fine Nate."

Jeremy was fidgeting in on the hospital bed working the step of his sling to find a comfortable position. It wasn't like he was in pain or anything thanks to some good painkillers the doctor gave him. Just nerves he finally confirmed when he couldn't find one. He was just nervous to see Alexis. Why he wasn't sure.

"Hey there handsome." Alexis prayed that her voice was stronger than it sounded. When he looked at her and smiled at her with that million dollar smile Alexis felt all her resolve just melt away. It took just seer will power not to run across the room and through her arms around him. Instead she carefully sat on the edge of the bed, "How you feeling?"

He fiddled with the strap of his sling, "They got me on something pretty good so there isn't much pain." He confessed with a sheepish smile. An uncomfortable silence filled the room and Jeremy watched the struggle on Alexis's face to stay composed. "C'mere."

On his request, Alexis nuzzled up to the good side of his body and held on for dear life. With him being a cop Alexis knew that this would happen. She had tried to prepare herself only none of that mattered when she got the phone call from her father. She had blacked out or spaced out, Alexis wasn't sure. All she was aware of was that one moment she was standing up and the next after her father informed her of the shootout she was on the floor. "I'm so glad that you're okay."

He wasn't sure if he was okay, but for the moment wrapped in the arms of the woman he loved Jeremy allowed himself to be. Turning his face in her hair, he struggled to block out the sound of gunfire and the smell of blood. There had been so much blood. Oh god he killed someone. Jeremy held onto her for dear life, "I love you." It was the one thing that was keeping him from sliding into the black abyss of despair. He prayed it would be enough.

Castle watched from the window, his heart aching at the desperation he saw on the young boys face. A long bumpy road waited the couple and Castle hoped that it wouldn't drive them apart. "What happened?" He asked his wife.

Beckett glanced down at her dozing son, "Let's lay him down first." He was still small enough that they could push together three chairs and would be enough room. Plus, Beckett didn't know how but Nate could sleep anywhere.

"No." Nate's head bounced off his father's shoulder, "I want to see Germ-y! I want see him okay!"

"All right all right." Kneeling down, Castle set his son on his feet so they were eye to eye. "But you need to listen to me okay. Jeremy is hurt so you need to be careful okay."

"He has oweis?" Nate asked his blue eyes, so much like his father's, filled with worry, "Does he need mommy to go and kiss it?"

Logic of a three year old was an under appreciated wonder of the world in Castle's mind. "No, but the doctors patched him up so he's going to be okay. He's just sore." Castle explained.

"I be carefully." Nate promised and without warning burst into the hospital room causing the young couple to pull away. Like he promised, Nate stopped short of the hospital bed. He bounced all the balls of his feet helplessly because he wanted on the bed only his small height prevented him from that goal. So he just bounced, "Germ-y! Daddy says you have owies but it's okay that the doctors fixed you up."

"That they did." Seeing the relief on the boy's face helped chase the dark thoughts from Jeremy's mind. Sometimes family was the best medicine.

Alexis swooped up her brother before he jumped out of his shoes and placed him on her lap. "You can give him a hug." Alexis had to tighten her grip when Nate almost lurched straight out of her arms. "Be careful of his arm."

As the three year old wrapped his tiny arms around his middle, Jeremy looked around the room at the people who had become his family and felt a pang in his heart that someone was missing. His mother should be here.

Beckett caught his gaze and frowned reading his thoughts. One look to Castle told her he saw it to. Silently she asked if he had made the call to Jeremy's mother and with a nod he confirmed that he did. When her phone rang, Beckett hurried to find in and was a bit disappointed when she saw the number. "Sorry." She apologized pulling it to her ear as she left the room, "Beckett."

"Hey Beckett sorry to wake you-."

"You didn't wake me." Beckett interrupted. "What is it?"

"We've got a body and well I figured you'd want in on this one."

"Why would you think that?"

"It's Elissa Greenstone."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

In six years the house hadn't changed. Beckett stepped out of car just after the sun came up to see the lush green yard covered with emergency personal. The fire rescue was packing up while the uniformed officers worked the yellow tape to keep the nosy neighbors from interfering. Obviously a murder in this zip code was enough to stir the pot. Pushing up the walk, Beckett noticed that the inside was buzzing with just as much activity as outside. The Crime scene unit was combing through the foyer and stairs and she spotted a few more uniforms in the sitting room talking to the maid that had let Beckett in over six years ago.

With all the tracks marks on the shiny tile, Beckett figured she didn't have to worry about her heels scuffing it this time. She started up the grand staircase following the blood that was staining the polished wood. Ryan met her outside the master bedroom and judging by the look on the season detective's face it wasn't pretty. "What have we got?" She asked.

Ryan stepped into the room where Lanie was already hunched over the body of Elissa Greenstone. The scene looked like it was right out of those horrible slashed films that thought the more blood meant the better the movie. Blood splattered from floor to ceiling on every wall and the white carpet where the victim laid was soaked with blood that leaked out from her body. "The maid found her like this just about an hour ago." Ryan carefully stepped around the body.

Beckett squatted down beside the ME frowning at the frozen terror on Elissa's face. Her heart always ached for every victim but sometimes there were a few that had a heavier ache. The once polished woman was sprawled on her back, her eyes lifeless and her face frozen in horror. Beckett hasn't seen the woman in six years since the final day of Grey's trail. The older woman had always sat in the back corner, her face always stoic of emotions when they detailed the horrible crimes of her son. When they rendered him guilty she took off without a word to anyone and faded into the world. A few weeks later a letter without a return address showed up on the door steps of her son's victims. There was no note or offers of excuse just loads of cash. Every single one of them had thrown it away. This woman on the floor was a shadow of the one all those years ago. She finally looked her age and then some.

What a horrible ending to this tragic life, Beckett silently mused as she forced her mind to deal with the matter at hand. "What happened?"

"Well from judging by all the blood-." Lanie gestured to the blood splatters on the pale colored walls. "The cause of death will most likely be exsanguination. So far I've counted a dozen stab wounds to her abdomen, throat, and chest."

"That would do it." Beckett frowned. A few stab wounds were common, but this many was over kill. "That's a lot of rage. Any sign of forced entry?"

Esposito entered to room with the answer, "The alarm was deactivated. The maid said that she set it herself before leaving for the night and since Mrs. Greenstone couldn't drive there would be no reason for her to deactivate it." He flipped through his notepad, "The system also logs in which door is opened at what time. The last time it was opened was around midnight and it was the front door."

"So the killer either knew the code or knew the victim." Beckett looked to the ME, "Can you give a time a death?"

"I'm putting the time of between midnight and two in the morning." It was as good as she could do until she got the back to the morgue. Lanie handed over a bagged eight inch blade that was coated with the victim's blood. "Dusted for prints, but nothing so far."

"You can see where the killer was standing by the interruption of the blood splatter." Ryan pointed out the untouched portion of the wall. "So you know there was a blood transfer."

That would be the reason while there was blood all the way down stairs. Beckett wondered if they would be so lucky to find not all the blood belonged to the victim. "Anything missing?" The room itself as in order, minus the blood of course.

"CSU is going over the place." Ryan informed, "But the office down stairs was trashed. The computer was gone and the safe was open. The killer left quite a few things of value. I mean there's a jewelry box on her night stand with a cool million in it of diamonds."

"We need to find what was in that safe." Beckett gave Elissa one last look before stretching to her full height. "Lanie let me know if you find anything else."

The two male detectives met the Lieutenant at the door with grim expressions. Ryan was the one who raised a single question, "Who is going to tell Grey?"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Beckett took that responsibility. Two hours later she was relieving herself of her weapon and signing herself into see Grey for the first time in six years. A part of her asked her again for the hundredth time why she was here. Informing him could have been just as easily done by a simple phone call. Yet here she was seated in an isolated room waiting for Grey. After what seemed like a lifetime, the door pushed open and Beckett's spine stiffened. Grey shuffled into the room, his hands bound in front of him and hooked to his feet, with that same arrogant smile on his face he wore the first time she questioned him.

"Detective Beckett. No wait-." He plopped down in the chair across the table from her. His hair was longer and a bit grayed. His eyes still shining with a sickening glint as it tracked over her body. "It's Lieutenant now isn't it."

"I didn't come here to catch up, Grey." Truthfully she shouldn't be here in the first place. This was a really bad idea. She glanced at the guard that stood watch at the door and realized that she wouldn't be able to back out now. "I've come on official business."

"Oh sounds important." Grey's lips curved into a smile, "its okay Lieutenant Beckett I know you just wanted to see me after all this time. I've got to say that the years have been good to you."

Years of training kept her from shivering in disgust. Just get it done and get out. "I regret to inform you that your mother was murdered earlier this morning." Nothing. He didn't even blink. Well this had been a waste of time and a half. Was that why she wanted to come and tell him in person? To see if the monster had an ounce of humanity in him? She got her answer by his blank stare.

After several long tense moments, Grey finally spoke, "I'm sorry is this the part where I break down and cry?"

"She was your mother."

"The bitch sold me out to you." Grey leaned forward, the metal of his cuffs clinging against the stop of the table. "Her only son and she gave you everything needed to put me away. So excuse me if I don't shed a few tears for the old bat. But it got you here so I guess that's something." His gaze flickered to her folded hands, "I see you're married now."

Beckett flinched. This was a very bad idea.

"Did that writer make an honest woman out of you? I know he had such a hard on for you."

Beckett curled her fingers, twisting to hide the rings on her finger. To keep herself under control, she stroked her thumb over the cool metal and pushed to her feet. "Enjoy your meaningless life, Mr. Greenstone."

"How about you send a picture to keep me warm at night." A grin broke across his face when her shoulders tensed. "Or better yet how about one of the beautiful stepdaughter of yours. From what I've seen the girl as really grown up nice. Nice full-."

It happened before she could talk sense into herself. Beckett hooked her foot on the chain under the table and yanked. The force had Grey's head bouncing off the metal table so hard she head a satisfying crack of his nose. The guard stood by looking at a crack on the wall as if held all the secrets of the universe. Smiling, Beckett watched Grey bring his hands up to catch the blood. "Now that's two Castle women who've broken your nose." She lowered her head so they were eye level, "Remember that and have fun explaining that to your cell mates."

Greys' laughter stopped the lieutenant inches from the door, "You think you're so high and mighty don't you. You've got a new shiny badge and think that you stand above the rest. You think that shield and this cell will keep me out of your life, but you're wrong Kate."

Beckett did her best to ignore the chill working up her spine, "Let me out." She softly commanded the guard who looked at her with a large amount of pride.

"You think you're safe. That he will keep you safe." He stood and watched her hand go to her hip and twitching when she realized her gun wasn't there. "So go home to your husband and that son of yours. By the way Nathan is such a lovely name. Glad to see he got his father's eyes."

It took every ounce of will power not to march across the room and beat him until he told her how he knew that. Being in prison didn't mean that you were cut off completely from the world and her family was occasionally in the press. But they had been real careful when it came to Nate. His name had been given at the time of his birth and was mentioned in words only when Castle's new book was published or if they were at a public event. Never did they allow any media outlets publish her son's photo. Squaring her shoulder, Beckett nodded her goodbye to the guard and casually fled with one purpose. To make sure her family was all right.