Rick Castle's POV
I couldn't believe she had said she loved me. I was shocked to hear her confess her feelings for me. I mean, I hadn't doubted she did love me because I could feel it in the way she kissed me, the way she touched me. We had ended up naked on the grass with the blanket over us, and it felt absolutely amazing. The grass was a nice set of cold to the warm weather and I honestly felt a bit like a child again laying there on the ground, feeling the grass towards my body.
"You know, this is perfect" I thought out loud and I felt her smile against my chest.
"Yeah, it is" she sighed and I could hear the joy in her voice.
I couldn't help but smile, smile at how fast this relationship had turned out to be the most perfect and serious one I've ever had. I couldn't believe why I hadn't met her any sooner. We didn't live that far away from each other. So, why hadn't we seen each other?
"I don't know" she answered and that's when I realized I had given my thoughts out into the open. "But I know that if we had met earlier we wouldn't be in a relationship right now" she added and I looked down at her, seeing she was looking up at me too.
"How come?" I asked and she smiled sadly.
"Because for not long ago I didn't trust anybody, I barely trusted Lanie which says a lot" she explained and I 'ooh'ed. "To be honest I wasn't in a very happy place, I've always had the kids and my friends but it wasn't until you came around that I actually started having fun for real" she confessed and I let my hand slid down her body, making her shiver.
"You mean... this kind of fun?" I smirked as I carefully squeezed her bum.
She gasped and hit me in my chest but I could see the grin she had on her face.
"You are a real teenager sometimes" she complained.
"So you keep telling me, but don't forget" I lowered my voice "you were the one coming onto me this time so you're no better yourself" I said and she looked away to hide her blush.
I had no problem with seeing it though, she always tried to hide when she blushed. I loved it when she blushed because she always got those cute rosy cheeks which only made me want to kiss her more than I already wanted to.
"What time is it?" she suddenly asked and I shrugged.
"Don't know, why?" I questioned.
"I just wish this could go on for an eternity, but it feels like we should head back home" she sighed and I sadly agreed.
I didn't let her leave me just yet though, I let my hand land on her arm and pushed her down in the grass beside me. I bent down and kissed her lips before I carefully let my hand land on her belly.
"Castle" she said against my lips.
I stroke the side of her body up and then down and pulled up her leg around me. I could feel her relax and start forgetting the fact that we should be heading home. She almost unnoticeable slipped her tongue into my mouth and started with the familiar but tension-filled dance. That's when her phone started ringing and I grunted. She slowly pulled away and I grimaced when I saw she was going to answer her phone.
"Sorry babe" she said and slipped out of my grip with ease.
I was supposed to be grumpy but hearing her calling me 'babe' made me smile instead.
"Hello?" she asked into her phone and then after listening to the voice on the other side of the phone she turned to me with a frightened expression.
My smile slowly disappeared as the question marks was raising in my head. Who was it on the phone? Why did she look frightened? What had happened?
Kate Beckett's POV
"Are you serious?" I asked into the phone and listened to the woman on the other end.
She told me to come to the school as soon as I possibly could, and I told her I could be there in about an hour from now. We hung up the phone and I turned to Castle.
"We need to go... now" I said as I started picking up my clothes.
I took up his boxers and threw them to him which set him loose from his frozen state. We got dressed and he asked me what was going on. I told him I would tell him once we got to the car and I demanded to be the one driving back. At first he argued but when he saw the look on my face he stopped and agreed. We walked to the car and got seated, he told me how to get out of the forest and on to the highway. Once we were on the highway and I knew the rest of the way back home I felt Castle's eyes on me.
"What's wrong? Tell me" he said and I avoided looking at him for even a second.
"Something's happened on the school" I started and bit my inside cheek. "There has been a murder and as if that's not enough some of our kids are missing" I breathed out.
"Which kids?" he asked stiff.
"I don't know."
He went silent and I couldn't blame him. I tried not to think too much about but what if Alexis was one of those kids? And it all happened when I was gone, why? Did the attacker know I was free? Is that why this happened? Because I wasn't there? I tried to focus on the road, driving maybe a little past the drive limit since I couldn't wait to get back to my kids. When we got into the city I glanced at Castle. He looked so scared, so worried, and I couldn't blame him. I was at least as scared as him, only I had to try be professional, I had to try not to act relieved of Alexis was ok, I had to try not to freak out more if she was gone. I let my right hand sneak down and took his hand in mine. He immediately intertwined our fingers and I could see him relax a bit. I drove into the school's parking lot seeing all the police cars, all the blue lights made my eyes water. I had somehow hoped it had all been a bad joke from someone, only now I could see it wasn't. I parked the car on my spot and killed the engine.
"You have to wait here, just a few minutes, we don't want the police to know we're together right now" I said and he nodded.
I squeezed his hand one time before I let go and jumped out of the car, leaving the car key so he could lock it when he finally got out. I quickly ran towards the yellow tape shutting out everyone from entering the school.
"Excuse me!" I shouted towards a woman on her way inside.
She turned to look at me. She had dark hair and very strict eyes. She was the kind of person you did not mess with.
"I'm principal Beckett, what happened?" I called out and she immediately walked towards me.
"I'm detective Victoria Gates and I'm the one handling this case. We spoke on the phone" she said reaching out her hand.
I took her hand and shook it.
"Yeah, so what happened? Who's missing? Who's..." I couldn't bring myself to say it but I could see the detective understood what I meant.
"It seems like the killer was here to kidnap some of the kids and when one of your teachers caught him he didn't flinch from killing the man with what seems to be a knife. The name was..." she checked her notebook, "Mike Royce" she ended and I froze.
He had been a teacher before I started as principal here. He had been the one teaching me the few tricks there was to learn the children's names and showed me around when I first got here.
"Did the kids witness it?" I asked frightened.
"It looks like it unless the killer told them to cover their eyes, which seems unbelievable" Gates answered and I felt my stomach turn.
"And which are the kids?" I asked fearing the answer I needed.
"We don't know for sure yet, we were hoping you could help us with that" she said and she told me to follow her.
We went into my office and she asked me to see the sheets of who had been in school today. I printed out the sheet and handed it to her.
"Is any of the parents wealthy enough for this to be a ransom kidnap?" she asked casually and I thought about.
The only one I could think of was Castle, and I immediately pushed away that thought.
"I don't think so" I answered instead.
"Okay, you'll need to come with me down to the station for some more questions" she said and I nodded.
When we walked out of my office I heard someone call my name and when I turned it was Lanie who came jogging to me.
"Could you excuse me for a while?" I asked and Gates nodded.
"I'll be waiting for you outside" she said strict and walked away.
Lanie came up to me and hugged me.
"What the hell happened? How could this man get in? Did anyone see him?" I asked and she looked sad.
"Do you know who's missing yet? No one has told me anything more than somebody was murdered and that some kids are missing!" she complained and I saw Ryan a little further away from us looking at me with sorrow in his eyes.
"Oh no" I whispered as he got closer to us and I felt tears start building up in my eyes.
I felt a big lump in my throat as I saw Ryan never really looking me into my eyes. Lanie asked what was going on but I couldn't answer, I needed to hear it first, I refused to be the first one saying it. Once Ryan came up to us I looked at him and had a hard time swallowing.
"Ryan?" I whispered and he looked up at me with scared eyes.
"It's Alexis" he said and I gave out a small gasp of despair, "I don't know how it happened but I can't find her or Sarah anywhere" he added and I felt my heart break into pieces.
"Principal? Detective Gates needs you to come now" a police officer said and I took a big breath before I said bye to my friends.
I walked out of the school and I saw Castle talk to someone outside the yellow tape. When I saw the look on his face I knew he had found out. He was devastated, shocked and most of all, hurting. We got eye contact and I lip synced a 'I'm sorry' as I walked to the car detective Gates held open for me. As we drove away I looked at the school one last time. How could a day so perfect end in such horror? I had finally told Castle my feelings, he had showed me something he had never showed any other girl he had dated and now his little girl was missing? This couldn't be a coincidence, at least that's what I told myself. Somehow I got a bad feeling this was all my fault as well. Like I should've been there. Like I shouldn't have taken the day of. And worst of all, it felt like this had something to do with me finally letting someone else into my life.