EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES:
those which cannot be obtained or used without excessive expense, pain, or other inconvenience, or which, if used, would not offer a reasonable hope of benefit

A/N: So, here's my new AU fic. This is just the prologue. Future chapters will be longer.

This takes place on Thursday, while the next chapter will begin on Monday. This is just a glimpse into what's to come.

DISCLAIMER: What if I said I did own Castle? ...No, I was just asking what if. I don't own it.

Thursday...

"Castle!" Esposito shouts over the crowd of noise. "Castle!" He gets no response, not hard to believe, so he yells to the man again, "Rick!"

That gets his attention. Castle turns to look for the detective. He spots him across the room, in the doorframe of the break room.

"We think we got him!"

The speed at which Castle races across the room astounds even him. In the blink of an eye, he's pulling Ryan and Esposito away from the chattering of the room and towards the silence of the meeting room.

"What did you find?" he spits out. "Who is he? Where is he? Where is she?"

"Okay. Castle, I have instructions to not tell you these things, so I need you to calm down. I'm going to tell you what we know, but you need promise me you'll keep a cool head. This is Beckett's life we're talking about here. It's not some stupid bet," Esposito says.

"You think I don't know that?" Castle says angrily. "Besides, it was your bet in the first place!"

"Yeah, yeah, well you guys agreed to it! I wouldn't have made the bet if I'd known you were together!" Esposito shouts.

"There was a reason we didn't tell anyone!"

"And I get that bro, but we're your friends. And it's been MONTHS!"

"Well, if this is how you react, I'm glad we kept it a secret." Castle is angry. More angry than he's been in a long time. Because Kate is missing, in the hands of somebody they don't know, and Esposito is arguing with him about the secret relationship.

"I'm just sayin' - "

"SHUT UP!" Ryan finally intervenes and shouts to break up the argument. "Can we focus on Kate?"

Castle nods, "Right, yeah. Javi, you said you had something?" He takes a few deep breaths to try and slow his heart down to a regular beat, but it's no use. His heart rate was a mess even before the fight. He won't be breathing normally until Kate is safe and sound and wrapped up in his arms, under a warm blanket, in his bed.

And that is not going to happen until they find the guy who took her.

"Yeah, we got a name. And his last known address. Castle, we're going to check out his place. You coming?" Ryan tells the man and then waits for a response.

The writer glances towards Gates' office and back to the boys, "Am I allowed to?"

"Who's going to tell her?" Esposito shrugs. "Let's go get our girl back."

Thoughts? Love it? Hate it? Please review!

The next chapter goes back to Monday and will explain everything.

Will be updated every Tuesday and Friday unless 'real life' gets in the way.

Also, if anyone is interested in making a story image, please PM me! :D

xo Sarah