Note: All the episode titles are very catchy and it took me a while to come up with one for this story. This takes place after the season 2 finale but it is my idea of what the first episode of season 3 should be.

A Stitch in Time

Chapter 1:

Castle's quiet retreat in the Hamptons didn't turn out to be what he was expecting this time. He was hoping for a place to focus and work on his writing without distractions. But everywhere he turned, he found himself expecting to see Kate. Their lives had been so entangled the last two years he had rarely had a day when he hadn't seen her—actually off the top of his head he couldn't think of ANY day he hadn't seen her at SOME point. Now it had been a month. His attention was supposed to be on his writing but how could he when all he could think about was the muse for the character of Nikki?

The doorbell rang.

Castle groaned. If Gina locked herself out, he'd leave here there. But he glanced out the window. He recognized the car—not Gina's. Bounding down the stairs he pulled open the door.

"Hey bro."

Esposito. Castle's heart fell.

"Your caseload must be pretty light to visit during working hours." He joked

"He's taking his smoking break." Ryan's voice informed him.

"I didn't know either one of you were smokers."

"We're not," Esposito cut Ryan off. "We just pretend we do so we can get the breaks."

"A long enough break so you can drive to the Hampton's? Wow."

"Can we come in?" Both men seemed edgy, but Castle figured that could be because he hadn't talked to them in so long.

"Sure, come on in."

The two moved past him, their eyes taking in everything they saw.

"I hope this is not about the tickets that I have gotten in NY that I haven't had time to pay yet, because I'll get to them…they don't have to send two detectives after me." Castle closed the door behind them

"Tickets…we probably should be concerned about those. But that's not why we are here." Ryan told him.

"So what's up?"

"We wondered how you were doing in the Hampton's…"

"With your book…"

"With your ex wife."

Castle winced. That was the last time he had seen them. "Ex wife is still ex…it only took a couple hours to remind me why. ' Not sure why I invited her to come with me in the first place."

"We wondered that before you even left." Esposito's words were clipped.

"What was I supposed to do all summer?"

"You mean without a woman or without leaving New York?" He challenged.

"What was I supposed to do?" Castle shrugged.

"What you had always been doing—working with us."

"And I'm supposed to do that forever?"

"You think your sudden departure was a good idea? It made you seem like a spoiled child throwing a fit when suddenly things don't go your way!" Esposito shot back.

"Wait a minute guys," Ryan held up his hands, "We are here because we were hoping that Kate was with you."

"Montgomery let you take a "break" to see if Kate was with me?"

"Well yeah, he did considering…" Esposito punched Ryan in the arm and he stopped his sentence.

Castle narrowed his eyes. "Considering what?"

"Considering that last time you two talked it wasn't on very good terms." Esposito filled in.

"What do you mean?"

"That Beckett was trying to talk to you privately and you let Gina cut her off." Esposito spat the name of Castle's ex wife.

Castle bristled "I don't see how any of that is any of your business."

"Technically true, but you were a part of our team for a while and we get into eachother's business because we care."

"Especially when one of us is missing."

"Well, I'm glad," he started before realizing what they said, "Missing?" Castle straightened up.

Esposito glared at his partner, "Ryan, you could have let me ask it better."

"Like how, bad cop style?" Ryan puffed out his chest, "Mr. Castle where were you the past two days, who were you with and why were you with them?"

"No like this," Esposito corrected crossing his arms and doing HIS bad cop routine, "Mr. Castle, we have a couple of questions for you but you have been avoiding our calls, which is not a good thing since we are the police."

Both men advanced. "What is your relationship with Kate Beckett?" Esposito fired at him.

"When was the last time you talked to her?" Ryan asked

"Any fights we should be aware of?"

"GUYS!" Castle threw his arms up. "Look, I know I might have not been the most patient with her but she is a big girl and can handle a summer with Demming."

"Demming's gone."

Castle froze. "As in missing?"

"No. She dumped him."

"When?"

"The day you waltzed out of our bullpen and into your vacation with your model ex wife."

Castle was speechless.

"You didn't even let her tell you did you?" Esposito demanded.

Castle thought over their conversation before he left that day. She had been nervous, but he assumed that was because of the tension between him and Demming. "I just wanted to tell you…"

He had cut her off. He remembered the way her face fell. He used Gina to make her feel what he had been feeling because of Demming—rejection, insecurity and a host of other emotions.

"What a fool!" Castle reached for the couch.

Esposito and Ryan remained standing. Castle remembered her face when she saw Gina, how she abruptly stopped talking...

"Has she called?" Ryan brought him back to reality.

Guilt hit him hard. "There was a message but I…deleted it before I listened to it."

"You deleted it!" Ryan was skeptical

Esposito's eyes narrowed. "Ryan, I forgot the thing I was going to show Castle, could you get it from the car?"

"What thing?" Ryan looked at his partner. Esposito faced him as his voice lowered in an effort to contain his emotions. "It is on the backseat and I need you to get it now."

"Ok." Ryan raised his eyebrows but he left the room. Esposito didn't even give Castle time to react, for when the door closed, Esposito grabbed Castle's shirt and hauled him up and shoved him against the wall. Castle felt his head hit and saw black a moment, before Esposito's face was in his.

"Is this how you treat all women? If so I don't blame any of your girlfriends for leaving! She makes the effort to call you and you don't take her call or even listen to her message…what kind of callused bastard are you!"

Castle was steel reeling from the force of the impact, "Geez, Esposito, calm down…."

"Calm down! You walk out of the bullpen after Kate wants to talk…"

"I didn't want to ruin things between her and Demming!"

"Why? If you cared at all, why would you leave her like that?"

"It had been uncomfortable for a while…"

Esposito gave him another shove. "Don't give me that—if you liked her why not make a move for her?"

"I wanted her happy and if Demming made her happy, so be it." This time Castle shoved back.

"Too bad we'll never know."

Castle paused. "What?"

"She's missing."

Castle felt like Esposito had socked him in the gut. "When?"

The front door creaked.

"Esposito, all I found was the file of suspects in the Robinson case." Ryan's voice came from the front door as he slammed it shut behind him.

"That's what I wanted Ryan." Esposito stepped back from Castle and grabbed the file. Ryan looked at Castle. Then at Esposito. "Do I want to know what just happened here?"

Esposito looked up. Castle's shirt was mused where he had pushed him and he was rubbing his head. "Oh, he tripped on something."

"I don't want to know." Ryan mumbled

"Beckett is missing…why didn't you call?" Castle tried to make sense of things.

"We did…"

"…but apparently Beckett is not the only person you are ducking." Esposito glared at him.

"Seven calls to your cell, three messages starting yesterday afternoon and a call to your publisher." Ryan filled in. He knew something happened between the two men, the air was so thick you could slice it with a knife.

"She's been missing that long?"

"We had to wait 24 hours before we could officially label her missing."

Castle swore.

"And with someone ducking our calls…"

"I got it." Castle snapped. "What does her dad think?"

"There's no way she left town without telling him—at least not willingly."

Author's Note: I really wanted an Esposito/Castle showdown so I got to write one. Maybe the writers will give us one when the show starts—Please, please! This is my first Castle fan-fic so please be patient, but I would appreciate constructive opinions and comments.