Researching alone uptown was a bad idea. He'd thought about it before he entered the pub—a place called "The Dog's Breakfast", which only yielded rather irritated glares and unnerving glances about his person from the unscrupulous patrons inside—but after he left to go wander the streets, the cold chill down his spine made him realize it even more.

Bad idea. Terrible.

Really, what were you thinking, Rick? It was time to catch a cab and head back to SoHo, pronto.

If he never came anywhere near this area of the city again, he'd be much better for it. Physically and mentally. He was certain of it.

Dusk was in full swing as he walked the streets. What little sunlight there was left on this side of New York City was barely peeking out from behind the buildings in the vicinity, and he hunched his shoulders to ward off the January chill. Winter had only barely begun and he was already longing to get out of his trench coats and heavy jackets and back into a t-shirt and a pair of nice jeans.

Maybe he'd whisk Alexis off to somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere for a week or so after he met his next writing deadline. She couldn't possibly miss very much learning during a single week of Kindergarten, could she? Especially being as smart as his little pumpkin was. Alexis had probably been able to spell just about every word on even the entire first grade curriculum's spelling tests since she was four years old anyway. And she was a good counter. They'd been trying out multiplication recently and she was somewhat getting the hang of her times tables. Such a smart kid he had. Way smarter than he ever was at her age. Richard Castle had done a lot of dumb things in his life, especially the past few years—including tonight's ill-advised little romp in the Heights—but he'd never regret having his daughter, no matter how young and unprepared he was, or how his marriage to her mother inevitably ended in shambles.

Despite everything that had happened though, he still felt so very blessed to have his little girl.

Just as the thought of the look in his daughter's eyes upon telling her about missing a week of school—because really, his kid would either shed a tear over the prospect of missing even a day of her precious schooling, or chide him for trying to make her play hooky—he spotted the guy in the corner of his eye.

Tall, clean cut looking. Not a guy you'd typically find out here, especially not at this time of the night.

The crime rate had gotten better over here in the past ten years, but he could still remember the time a rookie cop, who was not much younger than he was right now, was gunned down by Dominican drug dealers. If an armed cop wasn't safe in this neighborhood, a well-dressed, unarmed individual certainly wasn't either. It was the reason why, aside from his jacket, Castle dressed down a bit himself this evening in order to fit in.

But this guy. He was standing out like a sore thumb.

What was his deal?

By the time Castle shifted his line of sight and looked ahead of the strange, out-of-place man, he was almost too late to stop it.

Well, he was too late.

The well-dressed man reached into his coat pocket, brandishing a knife of some sort. It was hard to tell from the distance he was at, but make or model was furthest from Castle's mind considering the man wielding a knife was headed straight for a woman on the other side of the street. Her attention elsewhere on the alley she was in, she didn't realize a thing was amiss, totally caught up in whatever it was that she was doing.

"Hey! Stop! Hey lady, look out!" Castle screamed, charging forward as fast as his legs would carry him.

But it was too late. The woman turned, her eyes widening when she realized the danger she was in, but she was helpless to avoid the threat at such a close range. The man swung forward and his knife plunged into her abdomen. She stood stunned for a second, three at most, before the man pulled the knife from her body. She dropped to the ground immediately, her legs buckling under her as she clutched a hand at her wound.

Castle screamed at the top of his lungs then, startling the guy into a panic, and everyone within shouting distance of the neighborhood became alerted to the ruckus outside their windows. From the corner of his eye, Castle could see a broken bottle lying on the ground and without a second's hesitation, he grabbed it and lunged for the woman's attacker. The man evaded the swing with the finesse of a trained combatant, and Castle instead went flying right with the momentum of it. The bottle shattered upon impact against the nearby wall, cutting his hand in the process, and Castle found himself hissing at the sensation of pain.

"Hey, what's going on down there?"

The gruff voice of a passerby's inquiry shifted Castle's attention momentarily, and it was enough of a distraction for the assailant to slip away and make his escape. He took off down the street, disappearing around a corner.

"That guy just stabbed her!" Castle shouted back at the older man as he approached. "Help me!"

He pointed down at the woman on the ground for emphasis, but the man simply looked down at her, hesitant at first, disbelieving, until he saw that she was crumpled on the floor in a pool of her own blood. He stumbled backward, mumbling something about Castle needing to call 911 as he backed away quickly, and Castle shook his head in frustration.

Typical. No one in these parts ever wanted to get involved because they're too damn scared of consequences if it is anything related to one of the local gangs or drug lords. They'd just hole themselves up in their apartments and look the other way.

Cowards, the lot of them. Too afraid to save an innocent woman for fear of retaliation.

"Ma'am, just hang on, okay?" Castle said, trying to reassure her. He knelt down next to her and shuffled around in the pocket of his trench coat with his hand. "I'm calling 911 right now."

Thank God for mobile phones. He had just upgraded to one of the new Nokia models. It had three games on it and he no longer had to pull out an antenna when he was making a call. Bless advancements in technology.

"My family," the woman rasped, her voice weak, strained. "They're waiting for me...at the restaurant."

Castle felt sick looking at the blood seeping out of her from beneath her hands, coating her clothing and pooling on the ground, and he had to swallow back the bile rising in his throat when the 911 operator picked up and asked what his emergency was. He explained the situation in a rush of words the best that he could.

"Her name? Uh, her name is..." Shit, he didn't even know her name. Didn't even think to ask in his panic.

"Johanna," she provided for him then, without even needing to be asked. Good. That was good right? She was coherent, following along. It had to be good. "Johanna Beckett."

He repeated her name for the 911 operator and rattled off their approximate location, but the brave soul crumpled on the ground beneath him was so much stronger than he was right then. She calmly gave him the exact address, easily speaking it from memory and then she smiled at him as if trying to provide him some comfort in the situation.

It broke his heart.

He was instructed to compress the wound, and didn't even think twice about sacrificing his own coat in order to do so. Clothing could be replaced. This woman's life could not.

"They'll be here in five minutes, Johanna. Please hang on."

She nodded her head, and then she was nodding in the direction of his cell phone, where it clattered to the ground at his feet after he'd ended the call.

"My husband and daughter. They're waiting for me, at the restaurant. Please."

She wanted him to...call her family? Oh. Oh god.

Sirens wailed in the distance as he dialed the number she gave him with shaky fingers, and the phone rang and rang. It went to voicemail.

"H-hello. This is...my name is Rick Castle. I'm with your wife. She's been hurt and the ambulance is on it's way right now."

"Tell them not to worry," she rasped, and he couldn't believe it. She was almost laughing. "I'll be fine," she said.

It made Castle's voice lilt slightly, his words coming out on a nervous laugh.

"I don't know if you heard that but she said don't worry."

"He always worries, that husband of mine," the woman went on. "But Katie. Katie will take care of him. She's a strong girl. Always such a brave, strong girl."

Katie. She had a daughter named Katie.

Oh god. If she didn't make it, her daughter would lose her mom. Meredith was never around for Alexis anymore but that was different. At least she was still alive. She still visited on the rare occasion.

But if this woman died, she'd never have another moment with her daughter again.

A sick sense of dread overcame him when he realized that these very well could be the woman's last words to her family if she didn't make it. So, Castle hung up, and redialed the number.

He needed to get through to her family before it was too late.

"Come on. Come on..." But the phone would only ring and ring and Johanna murmured something about her husband always missing calls because he'd forget to take his phone off silent mode when he left work. It made her laugh again and really, this woman. Did she not realize the state she was in? So selfless. Thinking about everyone else but herself when her life was now hanging in the balance.

The sirens grew closer.

"You said 'Castle' before. You're famous, aren't you? Castle. Richard Castle."

"I um...I'm a novelist," he replied, his ear to the phone, listening as it rang and rang some more, unanswered.

"Hmm. The handsome, bad boy mystery novelist all the young girls are fawning over these days."

He chuckled nervously and rubbed a hand at the back of his neck. How this woman could even find the strength to carry on a conversation with a knife wound in her stomach while he himself felt like he was going to black out was beyond him at this point. "Yeah. Yeah, that's me."

"You'll have to sign a book for me later. I'd like that."

"Oh. Sure."

Johanna coughed and he pressed a little more on the wound as if stopping the blood from rushing out would somehow alleviate her coughing fit. God, he couldn't think straight. He was scared out of his mind.

Finally, after what felt to him like an eternity, the ambulance arrived.

Johanna stayed conscious the whole ride to the hospital, holding Castle's hand and assuring him that she'd be fine as the paramedic worked on her.

"I'll sign everything in your house, Johanna, whatever you like, if it means you'll stay alive to see it," Castle offered, hoping to get a smile out of her.

She didn't disappoint. He was rewarded with the upward tilt of her lips in a tiny smile. "Deal."

It wasn't until she was wheeled off to an operating room that he finally reached her husband.

It was the most difficult phone call he'd ever had to make in his life.

This is my first time ever diving into alternate universe fic, and writing anything with Johanna Beckett alive, or Castle and Beckett meeting in the past. Needless to say, I'm a little nervous to see how it will be received by readers. I started this in December and I'm really invested in it, but I've gotten to the point of craving feedback on what's been written so far. Your reviews are much appreciated so that I know people are actually enjoying it and want more. Please let me know what you think.