Bring Her Home

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The call came at around noon.

A gruff, un recognizable voice, stating that Joanne was with him, and that he would call again to inform them about the ransom they would need to give him in exchange for their daughter. But castle asked to hear his daughter, to make sure she was alright.

And when they heard her cries, she was crying for her mother, Kate could hear her continuously calling out for her in between her sobs. And that did it for her; she immediately stood up, not waiting or wanting to hear more of what the kidnapper wanted to say.

She strode into the kitchen wanting a little privacy and began scanning through her contacts on her phone. She knew there was one person she could count on to help bring Joanne home safely.

And she was sure he'd help her. She was sure he wouldn't deny her this.

But just as she was going to hit the call button, castle was behind her, she turned to him and all he said was, "I don't think we need his help yet."

And she glared at him, her eyes telling him very clearly that nothing could stop her from contacting him now, but he still held his gaze. "Castle, i just heard my daughter crying for me, I don't know what state she's in, and I don't know what he's doing to her and I'm not going to just sit around here waiting for another call! Now you can try to stop me and be a victim of my ability to physically harm you for stopping me, or you can let me call him and let him help us get to her faster!"

he knew there was nothing he could say to stop her, so he watched as she hit call and held the phone upto her ear.

And after half a min of waiting she finally spoke when he picked up the call, "Hi, Will?" "Yea, this is Kate here" "no, actually I need your help on a case" "no, not like that, this is more personal… it's my daughter, she's been kidnapped"

Kate knew castle was never a fan of FBI agent Will Sorenson. She didn't expect him to be either.

Kate had introduced Will to him on one of their cases in the first year that castle began following her around. And castle had almost walked in on them just before they were about to kiss.

She had always wanted to know what was going through his mind immediately after that incident. And she approached that topic one night, this last year. He had told her how, at that point of time he had already started growing feelings for her even after knowing she didn't reciprocate them.

And every time he saw Will after that incident his blood would boil. All he wanted to do was punch the daylights out of the guy and also that smug grin he had on his face, one that said to him "you'll never have her."

Kate had laughed at his animated explanation a year ago when he explained his insecurities to her, but then she had kissed him passionately and told him that she found it really cute that he was jealous. She went on to assure him that she was never going to get back with him, even if that kiss hadn't been interrupted, and she also thanked him for interrupting them.

She said "Rick, I'm all yours. You had me since the time I first read your books, right from the first word; I was smitten, even though I didn't know you then. It was a secret crush that only Will knew about, and now you do too"

he had smugly replied, signalling their complete nakedness under the sheets, "well, it's pretty clear that it's no longer a secret crush."

She had hit him playfully, and the fell into a slumber together.

But today, Kate knew that however much Castle hated the guy, if it meant getting their daughter back, he would go with it. He would work with Sorenson, for their baby.

When Sorenson entered the loft, after finishing the paperwork with the higher authorities who had finally agreed on letting him take point on this case, he first looked around in search of Kate, and when he saw her he walked straight up to her, he put his hand forward and she imitated his gesture shaking his hand both keeping straight faces. And then he spoke, "I'll do everything I can Kate. You have my word."

She nodded in acknowledgement. He then turned to the other agents in the room who brought him up to speed on the abduction case. Kate looked around the room now, Lanie and the guys had been called in. A body had dropped a few hours ago and they had to leave.

But Martha and Jim were still here, and that felt good enough. She knew this incident will leave a bad scar on all their lives, the fear of losing someone so dear to them all.

Joanne was Jim's only grandchild and she was, no, is the apple of his eye. He always loved being around her. He said she looked so much like Kate, who was already a clone of her mother. And Martha, well Martha had grabbed every chance since Joanne's birth to pamper the little girl. She loves her so much; she would spend hours together cooing the little girl, entertaining her, showering her with kisses.

Kate could only imagine that's how Castle grew up to be such a loving man. He grew up under the wings of a mother like Martha. And she hoped that Martha would share the magic of those wings with Joanne too.

Kate suddenly realized that Rick had disappeared way too long. She walked into the study, but he was not there. She opened the bedroom door to find him seated at the edge of the bed his face in his hands.

His form looked tired, frustrated. She stepped in, closed the door behind her and sat at his side. She put her hand on his shoulder and he looked up, not needing to look to know who was sitting beside him.

She watched him let out a heavy exhale and then he spoke up, "Assure me, that the bad feeling I'm getting within me about this whole idea of letting Sorenson work this case, is just crazy."

She slipped her hand into his and he held it, she rested her head on his shoulder and said softly "he's here to help, he's the best there is Rick. He's here to help us get Joanne back."

Castle quickly interjected "you yourself told me Kate, that the case you had worked with him years before I met you, that you'll found the kid, but it was too late, how can we trust that he'll…. How do I know that by the time he finds her she'll still be…. "

Kate didn't let him complete that sentence; she put a finger to his lips and silenced him. "Castle, I don't know what else to do ok, I'm grasping at straws here, he's the best help we can get, and I'm not going to let this opportunity slide just cause of his failed cases. He's worked many cases like these... most of them successfully. So I need you to trust him with Joanne's life ok. Just go with this Rick! Please! For me!"

she choked on her last word, unable to hold her tears in anymore, hell, she too was as scared as he was, but she knew one thing, Sorenson cared for her, and he wouldn't let her down.

Not in such a situation.

And so she held castle's hand tighter, and said more convincingly now, commanding, "you and I will work with him, and co-operate fully, because we have a strong chance at this, with his help, at bringing her back home safe and sound. You are going to go out there and shake his hand and hold nothing against him, because he is doing this for us, he came here at my request even though I ended things badly with him."

Castle abruptly stood up then and walked out of the room, Kate quickly following behind him. She watched as he went up to Sorenson, said something like 'thanks for doing this', and shook his hand.

Will nodded, acknowledging him and then continued his work.

Castle walked back up to Kate and she looked into his eyes and said "thank you."