Lois and Castle
By Tank

2013

Lois stifled a yawn as she puttered around the kitchen making herself some toast and coffee. She hadn’t slept well. She couldn’t remember any specific dreams but she had tossed and turned all night. Clark had to wake her a couple of times to calm her down. She had woken with an overpowering sense of dread. It was like she was waiting for some impending doom to strike.

Clark had to leave early to handle a bank robbery and told her he’d meet her at the Planet later with the story for the afternoon edition. She tried to put her black mood out of her mind. After all, she had to get to work. As the editor of the greatest newspaper in the world she had a responsibility to her staff and the readers. Her mentor, the late Perry White, had instilled that ethic in her and she never wanted to let his memory down.

To move her attention away from her troubled feelings she shifted her focus onto a more pleasant subject. She’d just gotten a new email from Rick Castle yesterday and she couldn’t help but smile at the happy ramblings he’d shared with her. She was so happy for him and Beckett.

It had been some hard times for them the last couple of years. Beckett had lost her captain to a nasty shooting incident that had left Lois feeling like there was a lot more to the story than Rick had mentioned in his missives. Then had come the near tragic shooting of Detective Beckett at Captain Montgomery’s funeral. It had been a near thing but the young woman was a fighter and had pulled through the surgery. Her recovery had been long and difficult but after a year of ups and downs for the quixotic pair they’d finally come to realize what they meant to each other and had acknowledged their feelings for each other.

Lois knew that Castle had been in relationships before. She knew that he’d been married, and divorced, twice. But just the tenor of his emails and the tone of his voice on those rare occasions when they spoke on the phone told her that this was different. This time Rick was really in love. Unless she was totally mistaken in her read of this, Lois knew that Rick had finally found his soul mate. She just hoped that it was true for Kate Beckett also. The woman truly deserved this chance at happiness.

With a promise to herself to contact Rick soon and arrange to get together again, she exited her home on Hyperion and headed for work.

Maybe this time she and Clark would go to New York.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&


Detective Kate Beckett strode out of the elevator onto the 4th floor of the 12th precinct. This was her world. She’d been a cop for over 13 years now and she couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Her mother’s murder had been the catalyst that had put her on this career path, but she couldn’t help but think that she would have wound up here eventually anyway. She was born for this.

“Yo, Beckett, where’s Castle? You two have a lover’s spat?”

Kate gave a quick glance toward Captain Gate’s office, then glared at Detective Javier Esposito. “Where’s Ryan?” She gives her head a nod toward the Captain’s office. “Don’t you two have something to do?”

He gave her a bright smile. “Ryan’s in the break room and… nope, we don’t have anything to do at the moment.”

She walked over to her desk and grabbed a couple of files. She walked back and dropped them on his desk. “Now you do.”

Kate glanced over at Captain Victoria “Iron” Gates office as she sat down. Gates had assumed command after Roy Montgomery’s murder a couple of years ago.

Her years as a cop had been tumultuous to say the least. At first, her mother’s murder had been her driving focus. It occupied her entire being for years. It nearly tore her apart. She went down that rabbit hole and almost didn’t come back. It took all her strength and a fair amount of therapy to let it go. At least enough to be able to function back in the real world.

She shifted her focus to becoming the best police officer she could. She became the youngest women to make detective. Her case closure rate was the best in the precinct, and Captain Montgomery had called her the best he’d ever trained. Still, all work and no play made Kate a dull girl.

Then Richard Castle came into her life. She had known his work and was a fan of his books. She’d even stood in line for over an hour waiting to get an autograph. Of course, that was something she would never tell him.

At first he was an annoyance. Then gradually, she came to enjoy his antics; his wild theories and out of the box thought processes. Castle went from an annoyance to an asset. He became her friend and her partner; and now so much more.

His feelings toward her were much more transparent much earlier. It had taken her four long years and a couple near death experiences to finally allow herself to return his love. She had denied it for a long time, but she’d never been happier with anyone else. She was cautious, but she no longer could imagine her life without him.

Which lead to their current dilemma. Gates didn’t like Castle. She didn’t want any ‘dilettante writer’ playing cop in her precinct. Only the mayor’s insistence had allowed Castle to remain a part of her team. Only, if Gates knew that she and Castle were a dating couple she could use NYPD regulations to send Rick packing.

They had to be circumspect when at the station, especially around Gates. And that was getting harder by the day. Espo and Ryan had found out fairly early on, and she had confided in her friend Lanie. The woman had been badgering Kate forever to tell Castle how she felt about him: even before she knew herself. Her and Rick might be a couple now, but at work, they had to play it platonic.

Detective Kevin Ryan was the junior member of the team, but his previous work as an undercover narcotics agent in the Irish mob had led to numerous arrests and a deep respect for his dedication. He passed Beckett’s desk, a cup of espresso in his hand.

“Hey, Beckett, where’s Castle? It’s a little late, even for him.”

Kate frowned. Yeah, where was Castle? They’d had quite the ‘good time’ last night but he couldn’t be that worn out… could he? A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.
She thought he had more stamina than that.

Suddenly her computer beeped; alerting her to a new email. She clicked on the icon and watched as the attached video file streamed.

In the few moments it took for the video to play Kate Beckett’s world came crashing down.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Lois sat behind her desk as she fought the good fight again. It pained her to have to watch the decline of newsprint. It was a profession she was born for. Being an investigative reporter had always been her dream, but time has a cruel way of changing the world around you. Now, as Editor-in-Chief, it was her task to make a newspaper competitive in the age of instant information. Even the greatest paper in the free world had trouble competing against television and the internet. There was no way a newspaper, even a daily, could be the first with the big headline. No way could they break a story before it was already hours old.

No, Lois realized that she could no longer be first with the story so she had to settle for being the best. Television and the internet were unsurpassed at the breaking headline, but that is all they did. It was up to her and institutions like the Daily Planet to give the public the complete, in-depth look behind the headline. That’s where newspapers could still excel, and as long as there were people to buy it, she was going to do her damnest to give them her best.

Just then a darkly handsome gentleman poked his head through her open door. “You wanted to see me, Lois?”

Her eyes darken with passion. “I always want to see you; c’mere.”

He grinned as he moved gracefully over to her desk. She grabbed his tie and pulled his head level to hers. She crushed her lips onto his as if it had been years since they’d last seen each other rather than hours. Only the need to actually breath caused them to separate.

“While I’m always in favor of these short, impromptu meetings…” His grin grew wider, as he planted another quick kiss on her inviting lips. “Did you actually have something you wanted to say to me?”

Lois returned her husband’s grin. “Actually, Clark, I did. I’ve had this uncomfortable feeling all day. I can’t explain it, but I can’t shake it either. It’s like I know something bad is going to happen.” She leaned closer to Clark. “Could you see your way clear to stick close today? No running off to be ‘super’ unless it’s really necessary?”

A look of confusion crossed his face. “Sure, I suppose so, but Lois, do you really…”

The loud ring of her phone interrupted the conversation. Almost hesitantly, Lois reached for the receiver. “Lois Lane.”

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Both Detective’s Esposito and Ryan were standing behind Beckett’s desk as the emailed video ran again. If Kate hadn’t been sitting down she would have fallen down. Her hands were shaking when she hit the replay. She was holding back any tears but her eyes burned with the need for release and a cold fist had a tight grip on her heart.

She was forced to watch the short, deadly message again. The scene was one of sparsely wooded grassland obviously some distance outside the city. It showed two heavy set men manhandling someone from a late model dark sedan. A third fellow came out from behind the wheel. He held a gun in his right hand. The trio and their captive approached a large hole that clearly had been freshly dug. The captive was thrown into the hole.

Whoever was doing the camera work shift perspective to the inside of the hole. The captive was sprawled across something that resided at the bottom of the hole. When he stood up next to it they could clearly see that it was a coffin. The camera shifted to the man with the gun. There was no sound but it was evident that words were being exchanged. He gestured aggressively with the gun and the point of view shifted back to the victim in the hole. When he looked up at his captors the camera got a good, full view of his face. It was Richard Castle.

Kate bit on her lip as she saw the slump of Castle’s shoulders as he lifted the lid on the coffin. It wasn’t any cheap casket; it was very well appointed and she could see that Castle couldn’t resist making some smart ass remark. Even in the silence Kate could see the effects of the gun being fired. Castle flinched as a piece of the coffin splintered from the impact of a bullet.

He heaved a big sigh and looked up into the camera. He mouthed the words ‘I’m sorry’ and bent over to get into the coffin. Beckett knew those words had been meant for her. Seeing it again almost made her lose it, but she held on.

Once lying prone in the plush setting, he allowed the lid to close over him. The two heavy set men began to shovel dirt into the impromptu grave. The video time lapsed till the hole had been completely covered over. Then the crew got back into the car and left.

There had been no sound, but a short message scrolled at the end of the email. It read ‘An eye for an eye – His air with run out by noon today’. Then the message went black.

Beckett glanced at her watch. It was 10:17. In less than two hours the man she’d finally come to realize was her ‘one and done’ would suffocate. A most horrible way to die. She glanced back at her two brothers in blue.

“What are we going to do?”

Both were badly shaken by what they had seen, but finally Esposito spoke. “Were you with him this morning?”

Kate nodded. “Yeah, I left about 7:00. He was just getting up.” She grimaced. “I didn’t realize I wore him out so much,” she muttered under her breath. “He told me not to wait; that he’d catch up. He had a few errands to run anyway.”

Esposito nodded. “So, say he was taken as early as 7:30, 8 o’clock. With the time stamp on the email the burial took place around 9:45. So, at best, they had two hours to get to their destination. Assuming the hole had been pre-dug, that means they could have gotten as far as 80 to 90 miles.”

Ryan ran over to a cabinet and pulled an area map out and brought it over to Beckett’s desk. They laid it out and looked it over. Using the maps’ mileage scale and a compass they drew a 90 mile circle using Castle’s loft as the center.

Ryan pointed to an area north and west of the city. “This seems the most likely spot they would have gone, it’s open country and only a few smaller communities around.”

“Yeah, but it’s still hundreds of square miles to cover and we have no leads on where to begin looking, or even who we might be looking for.” Beckett’s voice was full of pain and despair. She didn’t want to give up on Castle but she felt lost as to what to do. She hadn’t felt this helpless since her mother’s murder all those years ago.

“Plates?” she asked.

Both of her partners shook their heads. “Nope, never saw them in the field of vision. Couldn’t really tell the make of the vehicle either. All the shots were too close to get a good picture of the car.”

“So what do we do?” There was a definite note of desperation in the lovely detective’s voice.

“Whatever we can.” Esposito laid a comforting hand on Kate’s shoulder.

Beckett took a deep breath and glared down at the map on her desk. “Okay, we start by calling every small town municipal police station or county sheriff and ask them to send out everyone they have to search for possible sites where someone could have done some fresh digging. Maybe someone saw something. It had to have taken them some time to dig a hole that big and transport that coffin there.”

Ryan shook his head. “You know this is beyond a needle in a haystack. It will take hours to make all those phone calls and we’re not even sure we’re looking in the right area.”

Beckett bit her lip as she nodded. “I know, but what else can we do?”

&&&&&&&&&

Beckett, Esposito, and Ryan had been making phone calls for over an hour and had nothing to show for it. The frustration level was only topped by her fear. Castle had only about a half an hour of air left. There was no way they were going to be able to find him in time. She was going to lose the only man she had ever really loved. It just wasn’t fair. It had taken them so long to finally come together after years of missteps and misunderstandings. Why did she have to suffer this kind of loss again?

Ryan threw his pencil against the far wall. “This is pointless. We’d have to be a Superman to have any chance of finding Castle in time.”

Kate’s head snapped up. For the first time since she’d seen the video a small beacon of hope crept into her voice. “Exactly!”

Her fingers flew over her keyboard and she typed in the contact information request for the Daily Planet. It only took a moment for her to find the right number. She quickly dialed and after the third ring she got an answer.

“Daily Planet, how may I direct your call?”

“This is Kate Beckett from the New York Police Department. I need to speak to Lois Lane. It’s urgent.”

&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Clark stepped back when Lois picked up the receiver.

“Lois Lane.” He watched as a smile came across her face. “Kate, it’s good to hear from you. What’s up?” When Clark saw Lois’ expression change he kicked in his hearing so he could get both sides of the conversation. Lois was talking to Rick Castle’s friend and partner, Detective Kate Beckett and she sounded distraught.

“I’m sorry to bother you Lois but I’m desperate. Castle has been kidnapped and I received a video of him being put in a coffin and buried.”

Lois shot Clark a look of horror. “Oh my god, Kate, what can I do to help?”

There was a shuddering of a breath on the other end of the line. The young detective was near her breaking point. “I know it’s a lot to ask but I’m at the end of my rope. Castle only has about a half an hour of air left. If I can’t find him he’ll suffocate. Is it possible that you could contact Superman for me?”

“Certainly, Kate, we’ll be there as soon as possible. What’s the address of your precinct?”

Kate rattled off the address and thanked Lois profusely. “Don’t think another thing about it, Kate. See you soon.”

Lois hung up and looked over at her husband. He could tell she knew he’d been listening. “I’m going to tell Jimmy we’re going out to lunch.”

He watched as she hurried out the door and grabbed Jimmy to relay her message. She turned back and frowned at him. He shook himself out of his reverie and followed her out.

Once out of the building they detoured into the nearest alley and after a quick spin change into the suit, they were off.

&&&&&&&&&&&&

Beckett was in the Captain’s office filling in Gates as to their lack of progress when suddenly a commotion broke out in the precinct. Gates glanced out her window to see what all the hubbub was about. Her mouth dropped open as an attractive, petite brunette strode through the bullpen followed by…Superman!

She turned quickly to her best detective. “You knew about this?”

Kate tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I was just about to tell you about that.”

The two women exited the Captain’s office. Upon seeing her, the slight brunette ran over and gave Beckett a hug.

“Oh, Kate, we came as fast as we could. How are you holding up? Is there any new news? “

Kate shook her head. “No, there isn’t.” She glanced around the room seeing the astonished looks on her fellow officers. There was an undertow of murmurs. Kate held up her hands for attention. “Everyone, this is Lois Lane, and I’m sure her friend needs no introduction. They’ve offered to help us find Castle.” Kate turned back to her Captain. “Captain Gates, this is Lois Lane and … Superman.”

Victoria Gates shook Lois’ hand then Superman’s. “I’m very pleased to meet you both, but am somewhat surprised to see you here. I didn’t know you knew Detective Beckett.”

Lois spoke. “I’ve only met Kate the one time she visited Metropolis, but I’ve been a friend of Rick Castle’s for years.”

Gates raised her brow. “Of course you are.” Lois snuck Kate a look, but Beckett looked away. “Well, I’ll leave you folks to it. I hope your involvement will lead us to a more desirable outcome.” Lois just nodded as Gates turned and went back into her office.

“A more desirable outcome?” Lois directed her words at Beckett.

Kate shrugged. “You have to understand. Captain Gates doesn’t like Castle. She was forced into accepting him through the insistence of the mayor, who does like Castle. Over the years she as grudgingly come to accept that Castle is actually an integral part of my team. The fact we have the best case closure rate in the city allows her to let things continue the way they have. She’s loosened up some, seeing firsthand how valuable Castle has been, but she still doesn’t like him.”

Lois shook her head. “Who doesn’t like Rick?”

“Yeah, well, we won’t get into that right now.”

Kate ushered the pair from Metropolis over to her desk and made the introductions with Esposito and Ryan. Ryan had a tendency to stare up at Superman. It was obviously making him uncomfortable.

She quickly replayed the emailed video for them. Lois gasped when the thugs began throwing dirt back into the grave. Superman asked Kate to replay the video several times. She watched as he noted everything about the surrounding landscape that was visible from the message.

He turned back to Kate. “Is there an access to the roof? I think it will be easier and quicker if I can take off from there.”

She nodded. “Yeah, we have roof access. I’ll take you up there.”

Kate saw Lois glance at the clock. She laid her hand on his arm. “He only has about 10 minutes of air left.”

Superman nodded at the worried look on Lois’ face, then turned and followed Beckett to the elevator.

They took the elevator to the top floor and from there down a hall to a back stair that led to the door to the roof. The wind blew Kate’s hair into her face. She impatiently grabbed at it and tucked it behind her ear.

Superman placed a hand on her shoulder. “I know you care very much about him and I promise I’ll do my best to find him and bring him back to you.”

She gave the super hero a tremulous smile and nodded. “Thank you.” She took a breath. “We believe that his abductors couldn’t have gotten more than ninety miles from the city and the most likely direction to search, given the landscape, would be north and west.”


He gave her a smile of encouragement then took off in a gust of wind that hand her hair in her face once again. Moments after he was gone from view the access door opened and Lois, along with Ryan and Esposito came out. When they made it to the spot she was standing, Lois put her arm around Kate’s waist and gave her a hug.

“He’ll find Rick for you Kate; he’s a hero, it’s what he does.”

&&&&&&&&&&

They all stood of the roof for several minutes; nobody said anything. Lois watched the young detective staring in the direction that Clark had recently flown off. She saw a lone tear slide down Kate’s cheek. The woman was in hurting and Lois could feel the pain coming off her like something physical, something solid.

Lois took Kate’s hand and caused Beckett to look at her. “So, I hear you and Rick are finally together?”

Kate chewed on her lower lip and nodded.

Lois allowed herself a short chuckle. “Only took you guys five years; and I thought Clark and I took a long time to realize the obvious.”

Lois smiled when she saw the slight upturn of Kate’s lips. “Yeah, well, Castle and I never did things the easy way.” Beckett raised her brow. “So where is your husband?”

Lois shrugged. “He’s holding down the home front. Someone has to keep the Daily Planet running in my absence.”

Kate looked at her watch. Her shoulders sagged. “By my count, Castle ran out of air about 5 minutes ago.” She turned to Lois; a few more tears slipped from the corners of her eyes. “I can’t lose him now, Lois; not after all we went through. It’s not fair.”

Lois shook her head. “Life’s not always fair, Kate.” She glanced up, noticing an ever growing speck in the sky coming toward them. She smiled. “But I wouldn’t worry about losing Rick just yet; look.” She pointed.

The three detectives and Lois watched as the speck grew larger. In moments they could make out the bright primary colors of Superman’s costume. He was holding someone next to him. In another few moments they could make out that Superman was indeed holding Richard Castle.

Esposito and Ryan high-fived each other; Kate put her hands to her mouth and let tears of relief flow while Lois just smiled as a couple of tears of her own slipped, unnoticed, onto her cheek.

Once he’d landed on the rooftop, Superman released Castle from his grip. Castle seemed beside himself with excitement. “Beckett… Kate, did you see that! I flew with Superman… Superman!”

Kate stood motionless for several heartbeats. Lois could see the fear and the tension the poor woman had been holding at bay all morning finally leech from her body. Suddenly she was hurtling toward her partner, and lover.

Beckett threw herself into Castle’s arms, nearly knocking him over as she crushed her lips onto his. It was a kiss of desperation and affirmation all at once. Lois moved quickly over to The Man of Steel and placed her hand on his arm. “Thank you.”

“I’m just glad I could help.”

Lois turned toward the now breathless partners. They stood in each other’s arms staring into each other’s eyes. She could see the little boy in Castle begin to gain supremacy once again.

“I flew with Superman!” He whispered fiercely. “It was so awesome!”

Kate laughed. “Oh course it was, Castle; how could it be anything but awesome.” She grabbed his hand and led him toward the door back into the precinct. “Let’s go catch some bad guys.”

Lois surreptitiously reached back and interlocked her fingers with Clark’s. She gave him a squeeze which he promptly returned. She was happy. Seeing Rick and Kate together, she knew they were going to work out just fine.

fin