BOUND by Starbuck0322

Chapter One: The Intruder

It is late in the evening when Richard Castle returns home from work. The events of the past few days treading heavily across his thoughts. The smell, the sick of the dead, seemingly cling to his clothing. He shakes his head attempting to be rid of their memory.

On most days, the idea of following Detective Kate Beckett on her daily routines was fascinating, appealing to his gruesome personality. True in many ways it gave him the tools of the trade, in order to write his fiction, in order to get into the heads of the sickos, the weirdos and the downright dirtbags of New York. Getting to spend his every aching moment with Beckett, day in day out, was the best part of his forced arrangement. But on days like today death and murder, seemed to overshadow his longing for her; especially when murder involved children.

When he first began his little games with Beckett he had been uncertain how thick one's stomach had to be in order to be in the presence of death. While he tried his best to remain cool on the outside, making wisecracks left and right, his stomach was always in knots. He was always simply amazed at how people did these sort of things to one another; revenge, greed, obsession, power. But when it came to children, he simply wondered how the world could be so cruel. And with every innocent death, his world seemed a little darker. True, he thinks to himself, the world of murder and mystery was a lot easier to write about than to live through.

He makes his way to the kitchen, drawing a bottle of wine from the cooler, taking a sip allowing the liquid to assault his wit.

The victim this time, a 15 year old girl, found among an array of teddy bears and other stuffed animals. A tiara placed on her head, the words "WHAT'S NEXT?" carved in her chest. The young girl's red hair stabbing at his memory; how he had seen his own Alexis lying there, a look of torture and terror on her face.

He begins to take dreaded steps toward his office when suddenly the power goes out, the steady hum of the apartment falling to dead silence.

"Shit," he says to himself, turning, changing his direction, taking new steps down the hall to the fuse box. Perhaps if he was lucky it would just be a bump. But as he inches down the hall he notices the small door to the fuse box ajar, the door to his bedroom partly open. And as he stops abruptly trying to steady his nerves, he hears it, small and subtle; a muffle coming from inside his room.

Socked feet tread lightly across to his door. His head throbbing, he pushes his bedroom door fully open.

In the dim lighting he can make out a figure, tall and dark, standing directly behind a chair. Another figure is seated.

"Mr. Castle," says the gruff voice of the stranger, "So good of you to join us."

And as Castle's eyes adjust to the events before him, fear strikes him. For seated in the chair bound by expert knots is Detective Kate Beckett, hands and feet tied to the arms and legs of the chair, a gag in her mouth, a large knife to her throat.

A/N: Ok, so the truth is, I'm a sucker for the comfort/tragedy storylines... hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Next chapter coming soon...