Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Kate's POV

When Kate and Castle arrived at the apartment Kate immediately raised her gun and with an exchanged look with Castle they went inside.

"NYPD!" Kate yelled and swiped the room for people.

No one was there. Castle poked her and when she looked at him he pointed to a door which was half open. They went there, Kate first with her gun and looked inside. No one in there either. Kate froze.

"Castle, look!" she exclaimed and went to a corner.

"Johanna's back pack" Castle said and they looked at each other.

"She's been here" Kate said and started looking around every closet and corner in the room.

They went checking the rest of the apartment and by the time they had searched it all Ryan and Esposito came with back-up.

"Did you find anything?" Ryan asked carefully.

Kate's eyes were filled with tears and she knew that if she talked she would burst into tears. So she bit her lip and shook her head.

"We did find her back pack, so she's been here. But she isn't anymore" Castle said and Kate could feel his comforting fingers intertwine with hers.

"What if she escaped?" Ryan tried to be positive.

"Detective, maybe you should take an hour" Gates came into the room and Kate looked at her with wide eyes.

"No! I... I can't... Sir, I need to..." Kate started saying but got cut off by Gates.

"I didn't say you couldn't be a part of this investigation, I'm just telling you to take an hour to rest, ok?" Gates said and Kate looked at Castle with a desperate look.

"Come on, Kate. Let's go see if she might be home" he said and led her out of the apartment.

She didn't fight against him, she knew it was for her best even though she would have wanted to stay instead and try to find her daughter.

"Maybe we should go get Cosmo and Roy from the school before we get home" Kate said and when she saw the look on Castle's face she looked at him with a desperate look.

"Why should we bother them when they have school?" he asked a little worried about his wife.

"I... I just need to see that they're safe, I... I just..." Kate stumbled upon her words and her eyes teard up once again.

Castle took her into his arms and kissed her forehead.

"Okay, let's go get our boys" he whispered and they walked to the car and drove to the school.

Kate and Castle went to the building where Roy had his classroom and opened the doors. They went inside and once they got to the door Castle turned Kate towards him. He stroke away the tears on her cheek and kissed her lightly on her lips. She kissed him back feeling the strength returning to her.

"Thanks" she whispered leaning her forehead against his.

"Always" he whispered back and they both turned to the door.

Kate knocked and heard footsteps inside the room. The door opened and she could see Roy's teacher look at her surprised.

"Mr and Mrs Castle, what can I help you with?" she asked.

"We would like to take Roy with us home, something has happened" Kate said and she could hear Roy come running.

"Mom! Dad!" he said happily.

"Hey honey" Kate said and embraced her son in her arms.

"Hey bud" Castle said and rubbed his head.

"Well, then I hope it will work out, by Roy" the teacher said and they left.

They went towards the building which Cosmo should be in. Roy held Kate's hand and she felt much better. She was still worried, of course, but she felt like she could deal with it better now. They went inside the doors and headed towards Cosmo's locker cause they figured it would be better if they waited there and sent him a text message insted. 

"What did you write?" Kate asked Castle when she saw he had sent it.

"I told him to come out to his locker cause he was coming home with us" Castle said and it sounded like he was going to continue telling her what he had written but stopped himself.

She wanted to know but figured it was better to let it go. When they had waited for about ten minutes Kate looked around wondering where he could be.

"Don't worry, he'll be here any minute" Castle said but she could hear his worry too.

When he had said that they saw Cosmo coming towards them through the corridor. 

"Why are we going home? Did you find her? Where is she?" Cosmo asked and Kate culd feel Roy look at her with big eyes.

"Who is gone?" he asked and looked from is mother to his father and back again.

"Roy, the reason we're taking you home is... is because your sister is gone... and we don't want to risk loosing you two as well" Kate said and she could see his eyes tearing up.

"But, why aren't you out looking for her?" he said with a lump in his throat.

Kate's heart broke, she hated hearing any of her kids cry when it was things like this. She searched for the eyes she knew would help her. The deep, blue eyes looked back at her and he took over.

"We are going back searching for her the second we can, right now we need to make sure you two are ok" Castle said and the two boys nodded understanding. 

They went to the car and drove of to the loft.