Prison of Darkness

By Tanya Reed

Notes: This story is my contribution for Nanowrimo this year. The story is finished, and I've just got to read through the whole thing and fix it up. It's going to be a little unusual, but I hope you like it anyway. The story takes place this past November, making it some time after "3XK". I'm going unbetaed and fixing it all myself, so any mistakes are mine and mine alone. I just didn't want to submit someone else to the sheer amount of work it's going to take to tighten this sucker up to where it should be. The story is dedicated to my buddy x_nothing_here for all the butt kicking she did to help me get through Nano 2010. I don't think I would have finished without her.

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle, and I'm making no profit from this story. This is probably for the best. Look at all the fun I'm having using the characters in a non-canon way.

XXX

Chapter 1

Kate Beckett glanced over at the man seated beside her. He was looking out the windshield, his mind miles away. She wondered if his thoughts were on the case or on something else.

After flicking her eyes to the road, she turned them back to Castle. His face was unusually serious, and his blue eyes were distant.

"Castle?" she asked. When he didn't answer, she repeated, "Castle?"

"Huh?"

"Where were you?"

He grimaced. "I hate this case."

She understood. Most of the victims of this killer were the same age as Castle's own daughter. They had been physically tortured before their deaths, and their parents had been emotionally tortured afterwards. Kate had seen Castle watching them. His face had betrayed his deep empathy. Now, it just looked shadowed.

"We'll get him."

It had been two weeks since the bodies had started piling up. There were six in all, five girls and one man in his late twenties. All had been found in hotel rooms, in their underwear, with no signs of sexual assault. That was the only indignity that their killer hadn't inflicted on the broken and bloodied bodies.

The murders had baffled Kate's team. They kept beating their heads against the walls trying to find a way inside the killer's mind. All of their efforts had left them answerless and exhausted. And then they found it. The killer became sloppy, and a crucial piece of concrete physical evidence had fallen into their laps. All they had to do was pick him up.

"What if he knows we're coming?" Castle asked, his eyes almost as shadowed as his face.

Kate found it hard to meet the eyes of a serious Castle.

"Then we'll find him," she told him simply.

They rode in silence for the next several blocks. The closer they got to Leonard Finke's apartment, the more Castle seemed to tense.

In her review mirror, Kate could see the rest of her team following close behind. Ryan and Esposito were close enough that she could see their lips move as they bickered over something.

Kate pulled into a parking lot and slammed on her breaks. Castle grunted as he was thrown forward against his seatbelt.

"All right, Castle," she said as she slammed her car into park. "Here's the deal. You stay in the car. Vest or no vest, this guy is dangerous. I don't want anyone on my team hurt."

"But..."

She felt her patience start to fray. "No buts."

He looked as if he were going to argue, but he surprised her instead by nodding in acceptance. She studied him to make sure he was being sincere before getting out to retrieve her vest from the trunk.

When her team was assembled, she went through last minute instructions and sent Ryan and Esposito to the back to cover the fire escape.

She took the rest of the team and slowly approached the tumble down apartment building. It was four stories tall, and the outside was so dingy that it was hard to tell what its original color was. Several of the windows were broken and boarded over, and there was an unmistakable odor of urine and despair.

The lock on the main door was broken and the door itself was hanging crookedly on its hinges. It squeaked as Kate pushed it aside and drew her gun.

The lobby was quiet, with no signs of life. Her eyes scanned it quickly, mindful of danger and searching for a way up to the second floor. Several dilapidated mailboxes with faded and peeling names waited by the door for their owners to come and collect the paper inside. The rest of the lobby was empty except for a striped and stained couch. Both the cushions and the stuffing that was bleeding through the thin fabric had seen better days.

There was another door across the room, near the couch. Kate made her way towards it, alert for both their suspect and innocent bystanders.

The door led to the stairwell she had been looking for. The odor increased as she opened it and it was added to by the scents of feces and unwashed bodies. Kate wrinkled her nose, but she had smelled much worse. Corpses in the hot New York summer had a stench like nothing else.

Kate took the steps two at a time, hurrying to get to the next floor. On the next landing, she peered through a small cracked window into an empty but stained hallway.

"It's clear," she said lowly.

The hallway seemed eerily quiet as they made their way to 202. Kate hoped that Javier and Kevin were in position outside.

As her team fanned around her, Kate pounded on the door.

"Leonard Finke," she said loudly, "NYPD. Open up." When there was no answer, she pounded again. "NYPD. Open the door."

Not a sound came from apartment 202. Kate waited several seconds before she motioned for the team to knock down the door.

In the loud pounding and cracking that followed, she kept her ears peeled for the sound of gunfire—or anything indicating that Finke had tried to flee. There was only silence.

After minutes that seemed like hours, the door made one more loud crack and swung violently inwards. They burst through, their guns ready.

It only took an instant to discover that the apartment was empty.

They searched every room to make sure Finke wasn't in hiding. In what was supposed to be the second bedroom, Kate made a shocking discovery. It was Finke's torture chamber. She felt her hand fly to her mouth as she took in all the sharp instruments. Her mind suddenly flashed to a scene from Naked Heat that had made her shudder when she read it.

One of the members of her team came up behind her. She turned to ask, "Anything?"

He shook his head. "No sign of Finke."

He was obviously trying not to look in the room.

"Damn." Kate ran a hand over her face in frustration. "At least we have more evidence to convict the bastard."

She went back into the deceptively normal living room to see if she could find clues to Finke's whereabouts. She was just in time to see Ryan and Esposito crawling through the window off of the fire escape.

"Finke?" Esposito asked as he straightened.

"Not here," Kate told him with a small shake of her head. "But it's definitely his place. He kept the vics here before he murdered them."

Esposito raised an eyebrow, so she told him what she found in the second bedroom. As she did, her team, armed with a warrant, went through things with expertly gloved hands.

"Do you think someone should go down and tell Cas..." Ryan started but was cut off by the sound of a woman's scream.

Kate stiffened, her senses immediately on alert. The sound came from outside. It was near enough that the sound floated clearly through the open window. An uneasy feeling had her stomach churning and her feet moving before a coherent thought had formed in her brain.

The fire escape was faster than the stairwell, so she brushed past Ryan and Esposito. She was quickly through and going down the steep stairs as quickly as she could.

She had just reached the bottom when a sound made her freeze in her tracks. She felt the blood drain from her face as the breath caught in lungs that refused to move.

It was a gunshot.

Her first thought was of Castle. He would never be able to resist trying to protect a woman in distress. It was one of his most redeeming qualities. Even though she had told him to stay in the car, she knew him well enough to know he probably hadn't.

Shaking fear and numbing thoughts from her mind, she forced her body into motion again.

This time, as she ran towards the sound of the gunshot, she could hear feet stomping down the stairs behind her. She didn't bother to turn back to see who was following. She already knew it was Ryan and Esposito.

She flew towards the alley where the sound of both shot and scream had originated. Her own gun was still in her hand.

She came around a corner, swinging around a building just as beat up and tired looking as the one Finke lived in, and her heart fluttered in her throat.

"Castle!" She couldn't stop the cry that felt as if it were being ripped from her.

Her friend was sprawled face down in the alley. The piece of his face that she could see was ashen, and a small spot of something she feared was blood was soaking slowly into the mud and grime beneath him.

The rest of the alley was empty.

Kate hurried over and knelt beside him. "Castle, can you hear me?"

Her voice sounded high and panicky in her ears.

The author didn't make a sound, so she reached over and pressed shaking fingers to his neck. Relief flooded her and sudden and surprising tears threatened as she felt a weak and uneven pulse. Angrily, she forced tears down and turned towards the footstep coming up behind her.

Ryan and Esposito had mirroring expressions of horror, shock, and disbelief. Kate didn't even allow them to slow down.

"Find him," she ordered. "He can't be far. And he's got another victim."

The men, both white faced, nodded and ran off down the alley without a word.

She didn't bother to watch. Instead, she was pressing a button and saying urgently, "Officer down! Officer down! This is Detective Kate Beckett, badge number 41319..." She rattled off her location and some details before hanging up and returning her attention to Castle.

She didn't dare to touch him because she wasn't sure where he was hurt. Instead, she took off her jacket and draped it over him.

"It's going to be all right, Castle. The paramedics are on their way. I won't leave you."

For some reason, that last part seemed very important to her.

The ambulance was there in minutes. When the paramedics turned Castle over, Kate saw the wound and the blood. Her body went cold, but she tried to tell herself that she had seen worse in officers who had later lived to tell the tale.

As they loaded Castle into the ambulance, she didn't waste words asking if Castle would be okay. Instead, she asked, "Can I ride with him?"

The paramedic studied her face. She knew it must be as white as death itself. He simply said, "Yes, if you don't get in the way."

The ride to the hospital seemed to take forever. The paramedic worked on Castle the whole way, and Kate watched her friend's chest closely. Its rise and fall was erratic, but it never ceased.

When her cell phone went off, she got a sharp look from the paramedic. She shrugged in apology, but, when she saw the call was from Esposito, she answered it anyway.

"Beckett," she said softly, not wanting to disturb Castle or the EMT any further.

"Yeah, it's me. Where are you?" There was a lot of noise in the background. Kate had to strain to hear him.

"I'm in the ambulance with Castle. What's happening?"

Kate was grateful that he didn't ask how Castle was doing. She didn't want to think of the answer to that question. "We caught him. With the struggling girl, he couldn't get far, and he didn't want to let go of his prize. She fought him and distracted him enough that we were able to disarm him. We're all okay, including the intended vic."

Well, that was something, anyway.

"Okay. Good job. I'll call you when I get to the hospital."

There was a pause before he asked, "Should I call his family?"

"No. I want to do it. As soon as we get him into the hands of some doctors, I'll let them know what's going on."

Martha and Alexis. Kate felt her stomach roll as she thought of the two most important people in Castle's life. How was she going to tell them about this? They had trusted her to keep him safe.

She ended the call, forgetting to say good-bye. Her eyes met those of the paramedic, and she asked, "How is he doing?"

"He's alive."

"Is he going to be okay?"

The man's eyes slid away, but he answered honestly. "I don't know."

This wasn't what Kate wanted to hear.

XXX

Things seemed to go by in a blur after that. They arrived at the hospital and Castle was taken away from her. There were bodies and confusion for a few minutes, and then awful silence. During the tumult, Kate had studied faces, and none of them looked hopeful or positive. There was just grave determination, and she knew what that meant. They expected Castle to die.

She wasn't quite ready to examine how that made her feel. She shoved those feelings, along with the guilt, deep down inside of herself so that she could make the call she needed to make.

It was going to be one of the the hardest phone calls of her life.

Not willing to break the no cell phone rule and unable to step out for fear she'd miss news of Castle, Kate decided to use the pay phone located in a little alcove in the waiting room. As she picked up the receiver, she noticed that her hand was shaking. She stared at it for a moment, a wave of fear suddenly rising up to try to overwhelm her. It was with great difficulty that she tamped it down, shoving it back and steadying her hand with willpower alone.

Once her hand was steady, she pressed the numbers. The wait as the rings started was excruciating. She wanted Martha to answer them quickly and, at the same time, she never wanted them to end.

"Hello."

It was Alexis. Kate hadn't expected Alexis to answer the phone, and for a moment she was speechless.

"Hello? Is someone there?" The young voice came again, this time with a hint of uncertainty.

"Alexis?" Kate forced her lips to move. "Alexis, it's Detective Beckett."

The voice turned puzzled. "Are you looking for my Dad? I thought he was going out with you today."

Kate swallowed.

"Detective Beckett, are you still there?"

"Yes, I'm here." She took a calming breath. "I'm calling about your Dad."

Alexis must have heard it in Kate's tone because she sounded panicked when she demanded, "What happened?"

"Is your grandmother there?"

"What happened?" she demanded again, sounding suddenly older than her seventeen years.

"Alexis, honey, your father's been shot."

There was a thump, and then everything went quiet. Kate was afraid that Alexis had fainted.

"Alexis? Alexis?"

After a moment, there was a faint, "I'm here. I'm sorry. I dropped the phone. How bad is it? Is my Dad going to be okay?"

"I don't know. They haven't told me anything, but you and your grandmother should get here right away."

"Okay... I'll go get Gram."

Kate heard the girl put the phone down. She took a deep breath, preparing to tell Martha the details and which hospital Castle was at.

Somehow, Kate managed to get through the rest of the call. Martha sounded upset, it was obvious she was forcibly holding herself together, but she asked pointed and logical questions. Kate tried to hide how upset she was herself, but she didn't think it worked. Martha was a shrewd woman.

Finally, when Kate had told all there was to tell, she hung up the phone. She turned to exit the alcove, but her legs wouldn't move. They started to tremble wildly, and she had to either grab the wall or pitch forward.

It's my fault, flashed through her mind.

Kate couldn't deny it or hide from it anymore. With her hand still on the wall, she entered the empty waiting room. It was white but dim and way too quiet. Soon, it would be filled by Alexis and Martha and probably Ryan and Esposito. Castle was family to each of them in different ways, and they would all want to be here. For now, though, Kate was alone, and that was what she needed.

She didn't make it to a chair. Within three steps, her legs were finally giving out. Kate stopped and allowed herself to slide to the floor.

Now there was nothing left to do, everything came flooding in on her. Unbelievable sorrow. Crushing guilt. Gut wrenching fear. Richard Castle was probably going to die, and it was all her fault.

For the second time in the last month, she found herself facing life without him, and the thought scared the hell out of her. She didn't know how he had come to mean so much to her. All she knew was that if he died, a piece of her would die with him.

She drew her knees up against her chest and hugged them. Her face felt way too hot, but the rest of her felt as if it were made of ice.

This was her fault. The thought came again. She accepted it, caressed it. She was supposed to keep him safe. She had promised Alexis—promised herself. How was she supposed to look Alexis in the eyes? Eyes that were the image of her father's.

Kate shuddered violently.

"Please let him be okay," she pleaded in her mind.

She sat there for what seemed like a long time, warring with her swirling emotions. She buried her face in her knees and let herself go.

XXX

By the time Alexis and Martha got there, Kate was back on her feet, her moment of weakness gone. She had plastered a mask on her face and had once more stopped her body's rebellious shaking.

"Kate!" Alexis cried as she came through the door.

Kate only had a second to prepare herself before she found her arms full of grief stricken girl. Alexis clung to Kate as Kate forced herself to meet Martha's eyes over the teenager's head.

"Have you heard anything?" Martha asked, a crack in her voice.

"Not yet."

Martha nodded and went around the corner to the nurse's desk. Kate hoped that the nurses would be more forthcoming with his mother than they had been with her.

Alexis pulled from Kate. Her hair was disheveled and her eyes had a bruised and hunted look. Faint traces of tear tracks stained her cheeks, and her color was blotchy.

"Is he going to be okay?"

Kate wished that she could lie, but Castle had never really lied to his daughter, and she wouldn't either.

"I haven't heard anything since I called you. It's pretty bad, though."

Alexis's lip trembled a little, as if she had been hoping her fears were for nothing.

"We'll know more when they do."

Martha rejoined them and said simply, "He's in surgery. The doctor will be out to see us when it's over."

"How long?" Alexis asked, moving from Kate to her grandmother.

Martha wrapped her arms around her granddaughter. "Hours yet, kiddo."

"Hours?"

"Yes, but your father is a fighter. Don't give up on him."

It made Kate's heart hurt to look at them, so she went over and sat in a chair. She clenched her hands into fists and waited.

She was still sitting there two hours later when Ryan and Esposito came in. Alexis had settled in the chair beside Kate and had fallen asleep. Her head was on Kate's shoulder, and the older woman was trying not to do anything to wake her.

Martha was pacing. Kate could see the worry written plainly on Castle's mother's face. So far, the media hadn't been alerted, so at least she didn't have to deal with that along with the possibility of losing her son.

Martha stopped pacing when Kate's boys appeared.

"Any news?" they asked as one.

"Not yet," she told them, giving each detective a brief hug.

"We're real sorry, Mrs. R," Ryan told her earnestly.

Martha's hand came up to touch his cheek gently. "It's not your fault, dear. Richard is constantly in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was bound to catch up with him."

"Mrs. Rodgers?" A woman came up behind Martha. She was a small woman, blond with thin cheeks and careworn eyes. She was also dressed in bloody scrubs and a mask hung limply from her neck.

Martha turned, but not before Kate saw the fear in her face.

"I'm Martha Rogers. Is my son going to be all right?"

The doctor looked so tired that Kate's stomach tightened as she prepared herself for the bad news. As if Alexis felt something was happening, she stirred in her sleep but didn't awaken.

"Richard made it through the surgery."

Kate sighed heavily in relief.

"And?" Martha prodded.

"And now we wait. If he makes it through the night, there's a good chance we won't lose him. But it's going to be along recovery."

"Can I see him?"

"Let's give him a little longer first. I'll send someone out to get you."

Kate felt something begin to blossom in her chest like a phoenix rising from the ashes. She wasn't sure, but she thought it might just be hope.