Title: Married to Your Work
Word Count: 30,803
Fandom: Castle
Rating: PG-13 (for some bad words)
Pairing: Castle/Beckett
Warnings: Some violence and language but nothing explicit.
Summary: Beckett and Castle go undercover to catch a serial killer. Sequel to Leaving a Part of Yourself Behind. [AU]
Disclaimer: If it looks or sounds like something from Castle, I don't own it.
Spoilers: Series (just to be on the safe side)
Author's Note: This was written for 30kin3.

I honestly don't think you need to read either Saying Goodbye or Leaving a Part of Yourself Behind to understand this story. I would love it if you did though!

I really hope you guys like this story :D

Find Your Way Back Series
Saying Goodbye
Leaving a Part of Yourself Behind
Married to Your Work


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1.

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As Kate Beckett walked into the 12th Precinct she felt the uncomfortable sensation of being watched by several sets of eyes. Mentally, she cursed every gossip rag in the country. She could practically see the headlines scroll through the minds of the cops around her, like some sick news crawl.

She walked to her desk, ignoring the stares, but when a couple cops started whispering, she slammed down the files she'd started sorting through. "I'm not pregnant!" she stated loudly, and had the satisfaction of seeing several officers scatter.

Esposito walked to her, a silent laugh on his face. "Hey, boss. Nice to have you back."

She nodded in acknowledgment. "Anything interesting going on?"

"No. Maybe every criminal in New York caught the flu, too."

"One can only hope." She was about to go back to her paperwork, but something about the look in his eyes brought her up short. "What?"

"So, Castle stopped by while you were out. He seemed pretty frantic."

Beckett almost admired the courage it took for him to not even attempt to make that sound casual. "You called me about that the day he showed up," she pointed out needlessly.

"Yup. And you owe me."

She arched an eyebrow at him. "You want to rephrase that?"

"Come on, Beckett, just tell me if I need to break his kneecaps or if I can start going to his parties again."

"I never told you to stop hanging out with Castle."

Esposito looked almost hurt, in a very macho cop kind of way. "You didn't have to."

Despite herself, Beckett felt her resolve slipping. "Thanks."

"Don't thank me. I didn't hang out with Will after you broke up with him."

"You never hung out with Will."

"So, that time it was easier to follow through."

Laughing, she walked towards the break room to get a cup of coffee, but threw over her shoulder. "Yes, Esposito, you can play with Castle again."

She had to contain further laughter when she heard Esposito call to Ryan, "Dude, call Castle and invite him to play Madden on Saturday. He's back in!"

***

"I would have been a great big sister," Alexis stated as she began rinsing her breakfast plate.

"I never had any doubts," Castle absently reassured her, while he studied the pancakes in front of him and tried to think how much syrup a character would have to put on said breakfast food to hide the scent of arsenic.

"And you and Beckett would have been a good parental unit."

"Uh huh." Maybe if he used margarine instead of butter.

"It would have been nice to have my sibling and my child born so close together."

Castle's head snapped up so quickly that his head swam from the whiplash as well as Alexis' words.

She leaned over and pecked him on the cheek. "Just seeing if you were paying attention."

"Are you in that big of a hurry to get your inheritance that you have to give me a heart attack?"

"No, that was just for fun. The untold riches would have just been a bonus."

"I don't know whether to be proud or hurt."

"Let me know what the verdict is this afternoon. I'm going to be late for school if I don't go now."

"Okay, sweetie, have a good day." He watched her leave before turning back to his meal. "Arsenic is far too cliché," he decided.

***

The precinct always got quiet at night. It would almost be described as peaceful if not for the photos of dead bodies. Beckett wasn't sure why she was still there. Yes, she had paperwork; there always seemed to be an endless amount, but it was nothing that couldn't wait until tomorrow. When her phone rang she briefly considered ignoring it, but gave up somewhere around the third ring.

"Beckett."

"I am coming over there and dragging you away from whatever paperwork you've convinced yourself will somehow multiply on you if you don't finish it tonight."

She pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it for a moment, as if the man on the other end could see her glare if she directed it straight at the object. "What do you think the chances are of me letting you drag me anywhere?" She had this vague image of Castle chasing her around with a club and threatening to drag her out of the station by her hair.

He made a considering sound. "Hmm... Under normal circumstances I wold say not heavily stacked in my favor."

She was almost afraid to ask. "But?"

"But there's a tiramisu sitting in front of me that I could be persuaded to share."

Her eyes slid shut at the thought of the dessert. "I really should finish this." Her protest sounded feeble even to her own ears.

"I'll be there in 15 minutes." He hung up before she could protest further or concede the battle. For some reason she didn't really feel like she had lost that round.

She went about packing up for the night, but stopped short when she saw the door to the Captain's office open. She could have sworn he'd gone home an hour ago.

"Beckett," he called out to her, "I need to talk to you for a minute."

"Of course, sir." Something about the look on his face reminded her about when he'd called her in on the Candela kidnapping, but she couldn't pinpoint what is was.

This feeling wasn't lessened when she walked into the office and a tall man in a suit, with a tie so unimaginative that it just screamed fibbie. She thought it showed an amazing amount of restraint on her part to wait until Montgomery had closed the door and was seated behind his desk before asking, "Sir, what's going on?"

He ignored her question for the moment. "Beckett, this is Special Agent Matthews. Agent Matthews, Detective Kate Beckett."

"Detective," Matthews said tightly, as he gave her a speculative once over.

"Agent," she answered, which Matthews didn't seem to hear the sarcasm under, but Montgomery did and sent her a warning look. She tried to look slightly abashed.

"Agent Matthews has asked for our help on a case, which of course the NYPD is always happy to give to the Federal Government."

Beckett understood the 'he's here to play nice, drop the attitude' message and nodded, waiting for the details. The agent took this as his cue and handed her a file, which she flipped open and began reading, but stopped when he started to sum up its contents.

"Three women, ages ranging from 25 to 38, have been killed in the past month. They appear to have very little in common -- different jobs, family history, and no physical resemblance -- except that they were all in the midst of planning their weddings."

"Is there a connection between their fiancés or the wedding plans?" Beckett asked, glancing at Matthews.

"Nothing that overlaps with all of the victims as far as planning. The fiancés are a tricky area."

He didn't break eye contact with her, but she thought she saw a brief moment of discomfort pass over his face. "How so?"

"We think that these women died because of their association with their future husbands. None of them had any connection to each other, but all of the men were very well-to-do in their own fields."

She looked down at the file and looked through it before pulling out pictures of the three victims. "I remember hearing about these," she said after a moment. "Tracy Watkins. I thought her death was ruled suicide?"

"It was originally, and it probably would have stayed that way without the other deaths. Jennifer Mueller was a hit and run. Christine Wellman was shot, though it was made to look like a robbery gone wrong."

"What makes you think the deaths are connected?"

Matthews pulled out an evidence bag from his pocket and handed it to her. A typed note on white paper was inside.

'He hath given his empire
Up to a whore.'

"Shakespeare," she said simply.

"Each victim received a note like this one day before their deaths. This is why we think the murders were directed at the fiancés as much as the victims themselves, but there's no connections between them either. A Broadway star, a Congressman, and News Anchor."

"Did the men receive any notes?"

"No. And the victims were all killed when it was known that they wouldn't be with their fiancés."

Beckett nodded, biting her lip in concentration as she flipped through the file. "All of these cases have lead investigators already. What do you need us to do that they can't?"

Matthews and Montgomery exchanged looks.

"We're looking to send someone in undercover, but given the profile of the victims, we can't send just anyone in."

Beckett nodded in agreement and then stopped, the words sinking in. "Sir..." She looked at Montgomery, hoping against hope that she was wrong in her interpretation of the agent's words.

"Beckett, your and Castle's relationship has recently become very public. No one will suspect it."

She felt her knees shake a little and had to take a seat. "Castle has no experience with this kind of undercover work... even if he was still working with the department..."

"Do you think he wouldn't be willing to help?"

They both knew if she said no that she'd be lying. He would probably think that going undercover would be awesome. She could hear his excited ramblings in her head and that just made her want to turn down the assignment even more.

She was trying to figure out a way out of the corner they'd backed her into when there was a knock on the door.

"Hey, Roy, you don't have a certain dazzling detective in there, do you?" Castle's happy tone called through the door, and her eyes slipped shut.

"Sir, can I talk to him alone first?"

He studied her before shaking his head. "Nope." Then he raised his voice to be heard on the other side of the door. "She's in here, Castle; come on in."

Castle opened the door and strode in. She saw him take in the scene, but had to give him credit for not missing a step as he walked over to her.

'You okay?' he asked silently, and she was relieved that he hadn't said the words out loud. She nodded imperceptibly, but it was enough for him to relax slightly.

"You're not keeping her much longer, are you, Roy? I promised her tiramisu, and I'm not sure I want to know what will happen if I'm not able to come through on that."

"We're almost done here," Montgomery assured him. "We were actually just discussing that we could use your help on a case."

She almost winced when she saw his eyes light up. There was no way the others hadn't seen it, as well.

The captain gestured to the chair next to her and said, "Why don't you take a seat, Castle?"

***

"You want us to pretend to be engaged so that some psychopath will try and kill Beckett?" Castle asked after listening to the details of the case. "Wow, we are not doing that."

"Castle..." Montgomery started.

"Why would you even ask?"

The FBI agent had been standing quietly while the situation was laid out for the author, but now broke his silence. "Because you two are our only option. We need two people to go undercover and half of the team has to be famous in some way."

"Plus, they need to be convincing as husband and wife-to-be," the captain threw in. "You two have been acting like an old married couple since you met."

"What about our families?" Beckett asked. "Planning a wedding is kind of a big deal. Don't you think Alexis is going to be a little surprised that her father asked someone to marry him before he talked to her about it?" Castle gave her a look that she'd only recently learned to interpret, but that she wasn't entirely comfortable with in front of her boss. "And what about my father? I'm just supposed to tell him that I'm getting married and then take it back? He'll kill me!"

Montgomery leaned back in his chair, studying his detective. "Okay, you can talk to your father, Beckett, and Castle you can tell your daughter and your mother."

"Captain!" Matthews protested.

"You'll talk to them before you go public with your engagement so that there's no chance anyone paying closer attention than necessary to you two will find out." That did very little calm the agent, but he held back further protests.

Castle and Beckett held a silent conversation before Castle grinned and, with a bravado he didn't quite feel, knelt before her. "What do say, Beckett? Want to pretend to get married?"

Beckett shook her head, but couldn't hold in the smile at his antics. "How could a girl refuse?"

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2.

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Beckett hadn't said anything since they'd left the station. She was desperately trying to figure out how she had landed herself in this situation. She couldn't see where she could have gotten them out of it, and she was fairly sure she couldn't blame Castle for their circumstances either.

She'd gone undercover before, previous to her assignment in homicide, and wasn't in a rush to repeat the experience. Nikki Heat may have wanted to be an actress, but Kate Beckett hated pretending to be someone she wasn't. She supposed there was some small comfort that this time she really just had to be herself, just more publicly.

No... what she was really worried about was the fact that while she was walking around with a target on her back she would be standing too close to Castle and his family.

"How do you feel about being a Bond Girl?" Castle asked suddenly, taking both Beckett and the cab driver by surprise.

"What?"

"A Bond Girl."

"Is this some kind of roll-playing thing? Cause I really don't think now is the time."

"No, but be sure to tell me when it is the time." She gave him a look but didn't say anything. "For the book."

"Nikki wasn't enough?"

She saw the instant the driver understood their conversation and recognized Castle. She still wasn't used to that.

"Well..."

"Oh God, you already wrote her in!"

"Not intentionally! She just became more and more like you as I was writing."

She stared at him as he tried to gauge whether or not she was mad.

"You missed me," she stated, more to herself than to him. He opened his mouth, whether to say something wise-ass or jack-ass she couldn't be sure, but she held up a finger to his lips. "I think you'll be much happier with the results if you don't say whatever is going through your mind right now."

"Roll-playing happy?" he teased, his mouth moving against her finger with each word.

She let her digit slip slowly across his bottom lip before removing it and raising an eyebrow. "Do I want to know what you called this one?"

"Probably not."

***

So, starting a conversation with "We're engaged," while humorous, was not his best plan Castle decided as he watched Beckett stumble back under Alexis' tackling hug and his mother beamed proudly at him. The look on Beckett's face clearly said that he was on his own to dig them out of the hole he had accidentally gotten them into.

"When did this happen?" Martha asked, as she started searching for champagne.

"About half-an-hour ago."

"How'd you ask?" Alexis turned toward him, but Castle noticed that she kept an arm looped through Beckett's. He really wished that he wasn't about to be responsible for wiping that happy look off his daughter's face.

"Montgomery made me."

Beckett pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. She really would make a convincing fiancé. Alexis and his mother just looked confused. "Why don't we all sit down and Castle and I'll explain what's going on," Beckett suggested.

At first Martha and Alexis tried not to look disappointed when they explained the circumstances of their 'engagement', but quickly they got into the spirit of an undercover op.

"So, how are you going to make sure everyone knows you're engaged?" Alexis asked when they'd finished.

"If I get spotted buying a ring in a jewelry store that should do it."

Alexis nodded, remembering how the tabloids had reported her dad's purchase of an engagement ring before he'd even had the time to ask Gina. It had messed up any chance she had of talking him out of it.

"Ring shopping?" Beckett looked a little scared.

"Well, yeah, you're going to need a rock on your finger."

"Don't worry, Darling," Martha placed a warm hand on her shoulder. "If there's one thing I taught Richard, it's how to pick out jewelry. I'll go with him though, if it'll make you feel better."

"Mother, this is not an excuse to go shopping."

"Everything is an excuse to go shopping."

Jumping in, Beckett shook her head. "I'll just wear my mom's ring. You can't spend that kind of money."

"Do you have any idea how many deposits we're going to have to put down to make this look authentic? The ring is going to be the least of it. Besides, what happens when someone recognizes your mom's ring? You don't want it getting around that I'm cheap, do you?" Castle could see that she still didn't look comfortable. "If it will make you feel any better, I'll put in to be reimbursed when this is all over." He had absolutely no intention of doing that, but she did relax and nodded.

"Okay," Castle said, clapping his hands together, "who's ready for dessert?"

***

Jim Beckett looked around the airport terminal. He was a little worried about his daughter picking him up, but she'd been insistent. The phone calls had stopped fairly quickly, but he could still remember that first 'reporter', if you could really call the man that, asking him if he was willing to confirm that his daughter was carrying Rick Castle's baby. He almost hadn't called her, he was prepared to turn around and jump on the first flight back.

"Dad!"

He turned and saw his Katie standing a few feet away, and he thought that he saw worry behind her eyes. Did she think that he would be mad or ashamed of her? That wouldn't do. He made his way over to her, and, without saying anything, pulled her into a tight hug.

He held her until he felt some of the tension seep out of her shoulders.

"Dad, I need to talk to you."

He tried not to let the possibilities run through his head and agreed. "Okay, is this pizza or steak talk?"

She gave him an 'indulgent daughter smile'. "Pizza."

Okay, so it was a private conversation, not a 'butter Dad up before asking for a favor' talk. "Damn. Well, let's go home and order up a pie."

***

"Katie..." Jim pushed aside his uneaten slice of pizza. "Slow down. I'm trying really hard to follow this... Some guy is going around killing women who have the audacity to agree to marry men who have achieved some level of fame? He's got the FBI trying to track him down, but they feel that they would be able to trap him more effectively if you, who have recently been linked to your own celebrity, pretended to get married. Am I following this so far?"

"That's the gist of it," she agreed. She hadn't touched her own pizza slice either.

"Okay, all of that I get, but what I'm really concerned about is the fact that you've agreed to date this Castle guy."

She threw her arms out in exasperation and gave him a look that said, 'seriously?'

Jim held up his hands, and his face became serious. "Are you really the only person they can use for this?"

"It's a pretty specialized profile. I don't want someone else to die because someone thinks she's set her sights too high."

"Then it doesn't really matter if I'm okay with this or not, does it?"

"Dad -- "

He patted her hand to let her know it was okay. "I'm going to worry about you quite a bit during this, so you have to put up with whatever overprotective measures I deem necessary." She smiled, but he noticed that she didn't actually agree. "The first of which is that your pretend-husband-to-be has to meet me for coffee and try and convince me he's good enough for you."

"You want Castle to ask your permission to act as if he is going to marry me?"

"It sounds kind of silly when you put it like that."

"Oh, no, I think it's an excellent idea."

A smile spread across his face when he saw the mischievous glint in her eye, and tapped his soda can against hers in a salute.

***

"I can't meet with your dad," Castle insisted. Beckett was sure that he thought he'd successfully covered the panic in his voice. "He hates me."

"He's never met you. How would you know whether he hates you or not?" She shifted slightly, adjusting the pillow under her head while keeping the phone balanced between her ear and shoulder.

There was a long pause on the other end and she almost thought he'd hung up on her. "Where are you?"

"In bed..." She knew as soon as the words were out of her mouth that they were a mistake.

"Really?" he asked with obvious interest. "What are you - ?"

"Maybe this right here is why you think my father hates you."

"I don't think he hates me; I know it."

"And you know this how?"

"Because I am the father of a daughter, and therefore know that anyone with a y-chromosome that she is not related to is the enemy."

"My father isn't quite as overprotective as you are."

He scoffed. "Please."

It was possible he had a point, but she wasn't completely ready to grant him it. "Okay, let me put it this way. If Alexis were in my shoes and you were in my dad's, wouldn't you want to talk to the man in your position?"

"Yes!" he exclaimed. "And I know exactly how much I would torture him. Which is why I can't meet with your dad!"

Desperate measures were clearly called for in this situation. "Castle... please?"

He let out a whoosh of air. "Fine. However, I reserve the right to complain to you, loudly, afterwards."

"I would expect nothing less."

***

Castle spotted Beckett's father close to the back of the café, near the windows so that you could look outside, but not right next to it so as to avoid the fishbowl effect. He didn't look like he was carrying a weapon... but if there was one thing he'd learned while shadowing Beckett, it was that you couldn't take that for granted.

"Mr. Castle," he said, and stood up to shake Castle's hand before they both took a seat. Castle tried not to picture him saying 'Mr. Anderson' in the exact same way he'd just said his name. "I was told that I was not allowed to bring any severed heads to this discussion. I'm not sure what my daughter meant by that, but it seemed important so I thought I would tell you that I didn't."

Castle coughed to cover his smile. "It's a long story."

"You'll have to tell it to me some time." Jim studied the younger man in front of him, and was somewhat pleased when he started to shift uncomfortably. He'd been worried that he was out of practice at this sort of thing. "Thank you for meeting with me today." He made sure that his tone was flat to counteract any warmth the words may have had.

"It was no problem. Beck... Kate said you had some things you wanted to talk to me about."

Jim took a sip of his coffee, gathering his thoughts. "I hate my daughter's job." The author looked shocked, but did a fairly decent job of covering it up quickly. "Don't get me wrong. I'm very proud of her, and to some extent I even understand why she feels the need to do it. But the idea of her putting her life on the line day after day... it has always terrified me." Castle nodded and Jim could see that he actually did understand. "So you can see that the idea of her taking on a case like this would not fill my heart with joy. Add to that the fact that she's not even going in with proper backup and -- "

"Sir," Castle interrupted, earning him raised eyebrows from Jim. "I would never let anything happen to your daughter."

The two men held eye contact for almost a full minute before Jim nodded in acceptance. "That's what a father needs to hear." He leaned back in his chair, allowing the mood to relax slightly for the first time. "Now... what exactly are your intentions towards my daughter?" He laughed as Castle winced. "Why don't you go get some coffee, Mr. Castle. You're going to need it for the rest of this conversation."

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3.

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BUZZ

Castle's sleeping eyes twitched slightly at the intrusive noise, but his unconscious brain had yet to register it.

BUZZ BUZZ

Jerking awake, Castle's hand automatically shot out to turn off his alarm clock. As he blinked the sleep out of his eyes, and the noise continued, he looked around in confusion.

Phone.

"Whoever this is... I don't know what I did to make you hate me, but can we discuss it at a time when reasonable people are awake?"

"There's a time of day when you're reasonable?" Beckett's amused voice asked, but she didn't wait for him to answer. "Come open the door. I've got coffee and bagels."

For a nanosecond he wondered what would happen if he buried his head under the pillows and went back to sleep. Oh yes... somehow Beckett would still get in and then murder him. Coffee and bagels was probably the more pleasant way to start the morning.

"Fine, I'll be right there, but the bagels better still be warm."

Hanging up, he grabbed his bathrobe and put it on while trudging down the stairs. He scrubbed a hand down his face, but soon realized that he probably shouldn't do that until he was either off the stairs or more awake and spatially aware.

Managing to reach the door without breaking his neck, he opened it to find a wide awake, entirely too put-together Beckett.

"You know, this is the first time I've ever doubted that a relationship between us could work." He took the bag from her and walked towards the kitchen. "It's five in the morning."

"I would have gotten here at 4, but you wouldn't believe how many people need caffeine." She held the cup of said caffeine out to him. "I have to be at work by 7, so now is the best time for us to go over our plan."

He was still processing the word 'plan' when she pulled several folders and started organizing the contents on the island between them. Sipping his coffee, Castle watched her sort, not noticing the smile that teased his features.

"What?" Beckett asked when she noticed her attentive audience.

Shrugging, he went about his task of toasting their bagels and finding knives for the various spreads. "It's just been awhile since I've had the opportunity to see you work."

"You going soft on me, Castle?" she teased, but a tender look had entered her eyes and when he placed her plate in front of her she leaned up, capturing his lips in a gentle kiss.

"Soft is not the word that comes to mind right now," he answered when they parted, and was rewarded with an eye roll. "But I guess that can wait. What is all of this?"

"All the information Agent Matthews was willing to part with."

"You think he's holding something back?"

"At this point? No. That doesn't mean that he won't in the future."

He shook his head and laughed silently, taking a seat on a stool next to the one she'd chosen. "Your trusting nature is quite endearing."

"Thanks, but it came with the badge." She lifted one of the folders up. "One of the things he gave me was the profile on the killer."

"Let me guess... White male, age 25 to 45, with no successful relationships with women leading all the way back to his mother."

"Close, but it's 35 to 45."

"Damn."

"He doesn't like to get his hands dirty. All of the murders have been committed in such a way so that he's almost removed from them. It's a necessary act, but he isn't taking any pleasure from it. It's his duty to eliminate these 'whores'. He doesn't think he'll be caught. He hasn't stuck to one method of killing, and he doesn't think these women are important enough for anyone to look at too closely."

He watched the slight furrow of her brow as she recited the profiler's words. "You think something's missing?"

"Yeah... why does he do it?"

"Maybe he was rich at some point and lost all his money because of a woman," Castle guessed, knowing far too well that it was a distinct possibility.

"Maybe..." Beckett stared at the document a moment longer, as if she could will the words she needed to appear, before shaking herself. "This is all hypothetical anyway. What we need to do is look at his pattern and figure out how best to ensure I'm his next target."

He cringed inwardly at the thought and how cavalierly she said it. "There isn't an article in Vogue about that? How to make yourself more appealing to the average serial killer."

"That's really more of a Cosmo article. You should call up your reporter friend and ask her for a copy."

"And am I going to be in trouble if I don't let you read it first?" He tried to suppress his snicker when her narrowed eyes told him that he was not as funny as he thought he was, but he really didn't see how that could be.

"Matthews was right, there doesn't seem to be much of a connection between the victims. They lived in different parts of the city, went to different schools growing up, they had different jobs. Even the weddings they were planning had very little in common."

"Every woman has her own fantasy wedding."

"But still, you'd think some things would overlap." She glanced down at her notes. "None of them had the same wedding planner. Mueller was the only one who had decided on a cake, while Wellman had the only definite flower arrangements. Watkins signed a wedding singer, Mueller booked a string quartet, and Wellman was going to have a friend DJ. The locations vary from the Waldorf, to Liberty Island, to Central Park. The only thing close to a pattern I can find is that Watkins and Wellman both had the same designer working on their gowns, and Watkins and Mueller had hired the same catering company."

Looking over her shoulder Castle noted the company names. "It's not surprising that two of them went to Sandra Lewis for their gowns; I'm actually surprised all three of them didn't. She's the best in the city, and arguably the country. The catering company... I think it's fairly new, but is already earning a solid reputation. I've never used them, but I've attended parties they've been hired for."

"It's not much of a lead," she conceded, "but it's what we've got so far."

"Beckett, what did you really come here to talk about?"

She looked up, trying to hide her surprise. "What do you mean? We need to talk about the case."

"Yes, we do, but there isn't anything here that required waking me up at 5 am."

"Castle, you're a writer, it's not like you can't just go right back to sleep when we're done here." He didn't say anything, and as the silence stretched she cursed herself for squirming under the obvious interrogation technique. "We have to talk about how we're going to act."

"Is this the part where you lay out all kinds of ground rules about what we can and can't do in public?" He'd actually been expecting this conversation much sooner.

"No, this is the part where I ask you how we make this as public as possible."

He looked at her like she'd grown a second head... or told him that James Patterson was a better writer than he was. "That is quite possibly the most dangerous question you have ever asked me."

Beckett let out a slight huff of frustration and rolled her eyes. "I'm not asking you to do me in the middle of Times Square or anything." His eyes glinted with humor and he opened his mouth to respond, but she held up a hand, stopping him before he said something she'd have to hurt him for. "Shut up. You are clearly more practiced at making a public spectacle of yourself -- "

The humor had yet to leave his eyes and now it crept into his voice. "So you're calling upon my expertise?"

"There's no one who's better at it."

"Flattery will get you everywhere, Detective. But are you sure you don't want to consider the Time Sq -- "

"Castle!"

"Fine." He held his hands up in surrender. "I'll make sure to get spotted looking at rings. I'll even have Mother call in an 'anonymous' tip if need be. I'll have to propose to you in some place public," he warned. "That should get us a lovely entourage for a couple of weeks. We just have to make sure to keep up the public outings to keep their attention. We're going to have to look in love. Think you can handle that?"

She held his gaze, answering his silent question, but what she said was, "I don't foresee that being a problem."

He was sure he had a goofy smile on his face when he said, "Good," before turning serious again. "Some of it will be like the interviews you did about Heat Wave, but most of it won't be. Most of it will be like the pregnancy gossip. At first it will be 'aw, don't they look happy?' but eventually it'll turn into 'what's she thinking getting married to a guy who's been married twice already?' and will only get meaner from there. And that's nothing compared to what will go up on the fan sites."

There was silence while both of them thought about his words.

"You know, most guys come with a mother or sister that doesn't like you; it just figures that I'd have to fall for one that comes with a whole fan club."

He arched an eyebrow at her. "Of which you are a card carrying member."

"I don't remember getting a card."

"A likely story. Let me see your wallet; it's probably hidden behind your library card."

He made a show of reaching for her bag before she caught his hand. "Castle, focus."

"I'm focused. You're going to wear a sparkly ring on your finger and we're going to make out in public."

"We're not -- "

"You should probably start calling me Rick."

Beckett blinked slowly at him. "Rick," she tried out the word.

"It is my name, Kate."

"This is weird."

"We could always go with nicknames instead." His mind quickly compiled a list of possibilities.

Something in his expression must have given him away, though, because she quickly shook her head. "I don't think so, Kitten."

"Hey! We are still in the middle of 'never, ever'."

"I was demonstrating a point." She glanced down at her watch. "Shit, I'm going to be late if I don't go now."

She quickly shoved all of the files back in her bag and was about to run out the door when he stopped her with a hand on her arm. Her frantic movements stilled and she looked at him questioningly.

"Let's try something, shall we?"

He took her bag from her and walked her to the door, helping her on with her jacket. He looked her over and when he'd decided that she looked ready to go he took her shoulders in his hands and pushed her backwards until her back hit the door. A gasp of surprise escaped her lips before Castle lowered his mouth to hers. In the back of her mind Beckett realized that her legs were no longer supporting her, but she didn't really care as her arms wound around his neck.

Too quickly he pulled away. She forced her eyes back open and almost wished that she'd left them closed. He was looking at her with an expression that was far too smug.

"Have a good day at work, Kate." He handed her her forgotten bag. "See, we are perfectly capable of being domestic."

She had a biting, sarcastic remark that she could have replied with... she just couldn't currently remember what it was...

"I've got to go," she said more to herself than him, and finally managed to get out the door.

Pleased with himself, Castle watched her go before turning to go back to the sleep he was no longer upset she'd interrupted.

"Oh good. Dad, you're awake!" Alexis' happy voice said as she headed down the stairs towards him. "What are we having for breakfast?"

These women were going to be the death of him, he thought somewhat glumly as his last hope of sleep was dashed.

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4.

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Beckett walked back into the station after lunch to find both Ryan and Esposito thoroughly engrossed with something on Ryan's computer screen.

"Guys, you don't want the captain to find you looking at Lolcats again, do you?"

"That was once and we were just trying to find the perfect desktop pictures," Ryan defended, but she noticed that Esposito put the computer to sleep before she was close enough to see what was on the screen.

"Uh huh," she said, eyeing them suspiciously. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Esposito answered all too quickly.

"Nothing," Ryan repeated.

"Guys, how long have we worked together?"

"4 years," Esposito volunteered. "Did I forget to get you something for our anniversary again?"

Beckett ignored him and let Ryan answer. "2 and a half."

"So why are you lying to me in a way that I wouldn't have believed when I first met you, much less when I've known you for years?"

When Ryan responded it came out in a spluttering fashion. "We just... it's just... guy stuff," is what he finally landed on. "And you're not a... well, you're a gir- er woman..." Beckett raised an eyebrow at him. "A tough woman! Who can kick my ass, so I'm going to shut up now."

"Nice, bro," Esposito mumbled at him, before taking his own stab at it. "It's personal."

She thought about torturing them a little more, but Ryan looked like he was going to start hyperventilating so she decided against it. "Okay," and she went to her own desk.

They watched her suspiciously, clearly thinking that had been way too easy. She purposefully did not spare them another glance and that seemed to freak them out more. They exchanged a quick, frantically whispered conversation before Esposito stood up and headed for the break room. Ryan stayed behind to, she assumed, intercept her if she thought about heading there herself.

She really had no idea what they were up to, but it looked like trying to find out would be fun.

Briefly, she wondered if she'd been hanging out with Castle too long.

***

Castle looked away from the display case in front of him when his phone began ringing. He pulled it out and wasn't sure if he was surprised or not to see that it was Esposito.

"Sorry," he told the salesman, "but I have to take this."

The older man waved him off, signaling it was no problem, and he stepped away to take the call.

"Esposito, I have already told you, I don't know who that girl was you were hitting on at the book launch party."

"Do you know that you are being followed by photographers right now?"

Castle glanced outside the shop and saw no one. Subtle wasn't something the paparazzi usually went for, but at least he now knew that his mother's phone call had paid off.

"No, I didn't. How do you know I'm being followed? Are you out there too? Where are you guys hiding?"

"Dude, be serious. There are pictures online saying that you're out shopping for a ring!"

Wow, that was an impressive turnaround time. It must be a fairly slow news week as far as celebrity gossip was concerned.

He allowed a little bit of panic to enter into his voice. "What? Has Kate seen it?"

"No, though she almost walked in on me and Ryan looking at one of the sites."

He didn't even attempt to keep from mocking him when he asked, "You guys were looking at gossip blogs at work? As a taxpayer I highly object to such behavior."

"Ryan got a Google Alert saying that you were going to ask Beckett to marry you!" Esposito said loudly, before returning his voice to his more hushed tones, which made Castle assume that he was still worried about Beckett overhearing. "You expect us not to look at that?"

"No, I guess not. It's really online already?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think you could keep her from seeing it? I'd rather ask her myself than have TMZ do it for me."

"So it's true?"

Esposito almost sounded happy, which made Castle feel like crap for what he had to do. "Yes."

Esposito let out a laugh. "Man, I knew you were hooked on her, but you are the last I would expect to fall from the bachelor ranks... again."

"I wouldn't have placed money on this one myself."

"Well, I better go make sure Ryan hasn't cracked under the pressure of Beckett's non-interrogation."

"I appreciate it."

"Oh, and Castle... Beckett is like a sister to me and Ryan. If you think we gave you a hard time after you left last time, just try and hurt her again. You'll wish we'd killed you by the time we're done."

"Duly noted."

After hanging up the phone, Castle stood there for a moment, considering the conversation. He knew this was going to be part of the case, but he hadn't let the reality that they were effectively lying to everyone they knew sink in until just now. What the hell were they going to do when this case was over?

"Mr. Castle?"

Castle looked up to see the Tiffany's manager had returned to his side. "Sorry, yeah, it's perfect." He gestured to the ring they'd been discussing. "I'll take it."

***

Beckett look at her reflection and wanted desperately to call Lanie. But what could she say? "Lanie, you have to come over quick because I'm not sure I'm wearing the right dress to be proposed to in"?

The knee-length, strapless, red Donna Karan dress was definitely part of her 'Nikki Heat collection'. But was that the look she was going for?

'Oh screw it,' she thought in frustration, and pulled out her phone, snapped a picture and typed a quick message: Going somewhere 'fancy'. Yes? No? before hitting send.

She didn't have to wait long for Lanie's reply.

Don't you dare change! The dress is perfect.

Letting out a sigh of relief, she smoothed down the material one more time. What was she getting herself into?

***

Dinner was much more relaxed than either of them thought it would be, considering they were currently sitting in the middle of a restaurant that served nine courses and required more silverware than they used in a normal day. The place was so not 'them' that they had a hard time not laughing at the ridiculousness of their situation throughout the evening.

"You think if I sneeze there will be a waiter over here immediately with a tissue?" Castle joked.

Beckett smiled into her wine glass. "I think you'll be lucky if you don't have the tissue in your hand before you even realize you have to sneeze."

"Tomorrow we're going out for pizza."

"I'll second that."

Their waiter chose that moment to arrive. He wouldn't be a casting agency's choice of a stereotypical French waiter. It was however a toss-up whether or not he was an out-of-work-actor. He had the look, but he wasn't trying to do a French accent. "Sir, madame, was everything to your liking?"

"It was great. Thanks, Matt," Castle answered for both of them.

"Would you like to hear about our desserts?"

"Are the chocolate beignets still good?"

Matt puffed with a sweet kind of pride. "It's one of our specialties, sir. Would you like one order or two?"

Castle looked at her questioningly, and though she wasn't sure how they could eat anymore, she answered, "We'll split it."

"And coffee."

"Of course."

Once again they were alone.

They looked at each other then and for the first time since they sat down she was nervous. It was time.

"Kate?"

She nodded slightly to his silent 'We can't put this off any longer. Are you ready?'

She was somewhat relieved when he stayed in his chair, simply taking her left hand in his right, instead of kneeling in front of her. As romantic as getting down on one knee was supposed to be, Beckett had always thought it looked awkward for both parties.

"Kate..."

She could see him trying to formulate his words and couldn't help thinking, 'God, Castle, don't try and paint a picture now, that just might kill me. Just ask the question so we can get past this part.'

"You said that already," she joked but it fell flat.

He laughed anyway. "I guess I did. You should be proud; you are the only woman who has ever rendered me speechless."

"Somehow that talent is never around when I really need it."

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Matt get intercepted by the maître d' on his way to their table. She wondered if it was due to experience or if he and Castle had worked out a signal.

"I really thought that we had messed this up. I can't tell you how many times I thought about just showing up at the precinct one day and trust that if you were going to kill me that you'd at least give me a head start." She smiled softly in appreciation, not sure what she would have done if he had done just that. "When I saw that blog with the picture of you, all I could think was that you were facing this alone, and it was my fault that you were."

"Rick..." She trailed off when he squeezed her hand, signaling that there was more.

"I don't want either of us to ever face anything alone again." He placed his left hand facing up on the table to reveal a ring box. Somehow he managed to flip it open without letting go of her hand.

'Fuck,' was the first word that came to mind as she stared at the stunning ring. Sitting in a platinum setting was a round diamond, with two pear-shaped diamonds on either side. It was simple, elegant, and flawless. 'Why did it have to be beautiful?'

"Kate Beckett, will you marry me?"

She had no idea that she'd started crying until Castle lifted a hand to her face and wiped a stray tear away.

Swallowing hard, she nodded. "Yes."

He slipped the ring onto the third finger of her left hand, before raising said hand to his lips and placing a kiss on her palm.

They were in it now.

***

In a darkened apartment in New York city, a lone figure stood over a table littered with newspapers and printouts. Words like 'finally popped the question' and 'rumor has it they are aiming for a June wedding date' glowed off the page into hateful eyes.

"Fucking bitch. Who the hell does she think she is? And this idiot... putting a ring on that whore's finger when he should have just left money on the nightstand! Weak-willed fool."

Across the room was a corkboard with still more newspaper clippings, but this one was much more satisfying. This was what kept the figure going.

Tracy Watkins, fiancé of Tony Award winning star Jeremy Moore, was found dead this morning of an apparent overdose. Family members remain shocked.

Jennifer Mueller was pronounced dead on the scene. The police have no leads on the driver, but the case remains open. Her fiancé, Congressman Chris Hall, was unavailable for comment.

Christine Wellman was the victim of a mugging gone wrong last night. The police refuse to comment, but her fiancé, News Anchor John Wright, remains confident that her killer will be brought to justice.

'Brought to justice? Didn't they know that that was what had been performed here? Why didn't anyone get that?'

A finger traced the contours of the brunette's face, who smiled up from all of the pictures on the table. A nauseating feeling was spreading through the killer's stomach. "Have your fun for now, bitch. Go to fancy parties, be pampered like the princess you always imagined yourself to be, and give your body to that dimwit. Because I promise you, you and every other woman like you is going to pay."

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5.

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Beckett lay in bed completely awake, eyes staring unseeingly ahead. One of Castle's arms was draped across her middle and their legs were tangled together. They hadn't fallen asleep like that, but somehow that was where they'd ended up.

She'd gotten next to no sleep during the night, her mind going over the details of the case. Castle had stayed up with her until she'd pretended to go to sleep so he would.

She still couldn't get her mind off of the profile... there was something about it that just seemed off.

Finally, she thought if she didn't get up and do something her brain would explode. Sliding out of bed, she walked over to one of the bags she'd brought over last night. They'd agreed that if they were going to play their roles, as well as not have to meet up to talk about the case, then they were going to have to cohabitate for the duration. Castle had offered to clear out a drawer and half the closet, but that felt like taking down one too many walls all at once. She hung up some things that absolutely had to be, but other than that she was living out of bags.

Pulling out a pair of track pants, a sports bra, and hoodie, she quickly changed.

"You going to try out the Wii Fit?"

Beckett spun around towards the sleepy voice to find Castle squinting at her, clearly still mostly asleep.

"Go back to sleep; I'm just going for a run."

"Alone?"

"No, I thought I'd invite Mrs. Thompson along."

Mrs. Thompson was a very kind, if not a little nosey, 80-year-old woman that lived two floors down.

Castle looked a little more awake now; what's more he now looked concerned. "Do you really think that's a good idea?"

"Probably not. Okay, I won't take Mrs. Thompson with me."

"I meant you going for a run. What if -- "

"Castle, it's only been a few hours. It's unlikely the killer has even focused on me yet. Plus, I haven't received a note. And, oh yeah, I'm the cop in this duo."

"You are way too snarky for this early in the morning."

"So go back to sleep so you don't have to deal with my snark and I can go for a run."

"I've got gym clothes around here somewhere..."

She let her eyes skim down his body. "You seriously want me to believe that it's been a long time since you've been to a gym?"

He leered at her playfully. "You are more than welcome to come back to bed and do an inspection before giving me your final verdict. That sounds like a much better idea than a run."

"Very tempting, but I really need to clear my head, not fog it up further. You are more than welcome to try and fog it back up again when I get back." She kissed him quickly to avoid being dragged back onto the bed and started backing out of the room. "I've got my phone with me if you need to get in touch with me."

***

For the next 45 minutes, all Beckett did was concentrate on the sound of her feet hitting the pavement, and the feel of the cool air hitting sweat that was beading on the back of her neck. She probably would have kept going if her phone hadn't vibrated. Slowing down, she glanced at her watch and turned around to head back as she answered the phone.

"Beckett."

"Girl, how could you not call me immediately?" Lanie's voice demanded.

"Call you about what?" she teased.

"I will reach through this phone and strangle you! You agreed to get hitched to the writer-boy?"

She glanced down at the ring, that she been unconsciously fiddling with since it had been placed on her finger. "It would appear so."

"And you didn't think that deserved a phone call?"

"We were kind of busy last night, Lanie." It was true enough, though probably not in the way Lanie would take it.

"Well, I suppose I can give you a free pass this once since you were celebrating, but I want to hear everything."

"How about we meet up after work and I'll fill you in."

She had no sooner hung up with Lanie than she got another call.

"Beckett."

"Duh-dum-da-dum," Esposito started humming the wedding march immediately.

It was going to be a very long day.

***

Castle had planned on getting a little more sleep before Beckett came back, but he had only managed a light doze when his phone started ringing. "Yeah?" he mumbled, not bothering to check who it was.

"Richard Castle, you are getting married and I wasn't your first phone call?"

Lifting his head off the pillow, he tried to concentrate more fully on the voice. "Debbie?"

"Oh good, you remember me! I only planned both of your weddings, as well as your mother's last one!"

"And all three of those turned out so well."

"Hey, buddy, I take no responsibility for what happens after the magical day; that's all on you and your lovely bride. The weddings were perfect."

"I was going to call you today."

"You and the future Mrs. Castle can be at my office by noon today. We have to get started right away."

"Deb, that's really short notice. We'll try and make it, but -- "

"I will see both of you at noon, Richard."

He could swear he heard his mother's voice when she said 'Richard' like that. "Okay, okay, we'll be there."

"Good." She paused and he could tell she was considering whether or not to ask her next question. "Rick, this girl..."

"Is completely different than both Meredith and Gina," he finished for her. "She's... extraordinary."

"That I already heard; I did read the book. We were actually taking bets around here as to how long it would take for you to call me."

"Who won?"

"I did, of course. I always win."

"Technically you called me."

"Mere details, young man. Now, I have a crying bride-to-be to deal with. Something or other about her maid of honor breaking her leg. Toodles."

There was a knock on the door to his room before he could even attempt to rest his head on his pillow. "Come in," he called in slight frustration.

Alexis walked in, holding one of the house phones as far away from her as possible, as if it were entirely possible it would spontaneously combust at any moment. "Paula wants to talk to you."

Resignedly, he took the phone from his daughter. "Thanks, sweetie," he said before bringing the phone to his ear. Alexis sent him a supportive look before beating a hasty retreat. "Hi, Paula."

"Richard Castle, I am the one woman on the planet who's phone number you are not allowed to lose!"

Castle could think of three women, all of whom currently lived with him, that would disagree with that statement, but he wisely chose to keep that to himself.

"Did I forget to tell you something?" Castle asked as innocently as possible, and prepared himself for Paula's lecture.

It was going to be a very long day.

***

"What do you mean we have an appointment with a wedding planner today?" Beckett asked incredulously. She looked much more intimidating than she should have, standing in the middle of his room with one running shoe kicked off and her hands on her hips.

Castle's eyes widened slightly in surprise, as he always did when he said something he was sure she'd be happy with and instead her reaction was... less than pleased. "Which part tripped you up?"

"The part where you hired a planner without discussing it with me first!"

"Okay, are you sure we aren't already married?"

Her gaze narrowed into a glare at those words, almost causing him to wince. "I'm going to ignore that, because at this point I still need you alive. Did it occur to you that none of the victims hired Deborah Martin?"

"Yes, but -- "

"And did we not discuss that we were going to try and recreate as much of the pattern of victims as possible?"

"Yes, but -- "

"So, how does this help us do that?"

"She's a family friend. She called and was already upset that I didn't call her as soon as you said yes. What was I supposed to do? Aren't we going to piss enough people off when they find out we lied to them? Do I have to add another person to the list?"

She softened slightly, letting one side of her mouth quirk up while she shook her head in exasperation. "You are much harder to stay mad at when you say stuff like that."

"So I was right," he said triumphantly.

"No, you were definitely wrong. You don't think she's going to be mad when she finds out that she put a lot of work into a wedding no one is ever going to go to?" She stepped closer to him. "But I'm not sure that you weren't being a tad sweet."

"It was a fluke."

"That I am sure of."

"We can keep the appointment?"

"Yeah, we can keep it."

"Excellent!" He closed the remaining distance between them, his arms encircling her waist. "Now, you said something about fogging up your mind?"

She glanced at her watch. "I have to leave for work in a little less than an hour."

"Who really needs breakfast?" he asked before capturing her mouth and walking her back towards the bed.

She really wasn't that hungry anyway.

***

As a rule Debbie didn't get attached to her clients. Early in her career she'd strove to have no emotional connection to them whatsoever, but she quickly learned that was impossible. Some of them you liked, some drove you insane, most were a combination of both.

Rick and Martha had always been the exception to this rule. Maybe it was because she'd seen them through multiple weddings, but she had a feeling that if she had only worked on Rick and Meredith's wedding, she still would have considered them friends.

This fact made her extremely protective of them, not that she wouldn't work her fingers to the bone even if she didn't approve of the union, but that didn't mean she wouldn't ask subtle yet pointed questions.

However, as soon as she saw Rick and Kate together, she knew she didn't have to worry.

They were sitting together in the waiting room, Kate with a phone plastered to her ear and Rick looking at her with a mixture of amusement and adoration.

"No, Ryan, I am not going to bring you and Esposito lunch. I don't have time to -- I swear, if either of you hum at me again, you won't be able to speak much less impress anyone with your musical talents."

"Why didn't you just tell them you were going home for a nooner? They wouldn't have called then."

Instead of blushing or yelling at him like Debbie would have expected her to, she merely rolled her eyes and pointed at him. "Because I didn't want the guys to think you were easy. And yes, they probably would have still called. Probably more frequently." She returned to the phone. "If I promise to order you guys a pizza when I get back will you leave me alone for an hour? Thank you. Don't burn the place down while I'm gone."

As soon as Kate hung up, Debbie stepped forward so that the pair could see her.

"Rick, Kate, why don't you come in?"

For the first time Kate looked uncomfortable, though it was so slight that if Debbie hadn't been looking for it she wouldn't have seen it. When Rick smiled at her she relaxed, and instead merely looked speculatively at her, sizing her up as they stepped forward for greetings and introductions.

Yes, Debbie decided as Kate firmly shook her hand, she liked this one.

***

"Obviously, both of you will be involved in the decision making process," Debbie was saying, "but my job is to make the whole process easier for you. I'm sure you both have very definite ideas about what you want your wedding to be like, so the more I know the better I'll be able to execute that."

Both Rick and Kate nodded. Kate opened her mouth to ask a question when her phone rang. She glanced at the screen.

"I am so sorry. I have to take this."

She walked a short distance away and kept her voice low, but the office wasn't that big so it did very little to keep the conversation private.

"Ryan, the fire extinguisher is in the break room. What? Where? Okay, you guys need to come pick me up; I don't have a car. Yeah, I'll see you in five minutes."

Hanging up she turned and looked apologetically. "I'm sorry to do this, but I've got to go."

"A body?" Rick asked, not sounding the least bit surprised. Actually, Debbie mused, he looked like he wanted to go with her.

"Yeah. Can we reschedule this?"

"Of course," Debbie said easily. "Or I could just have Rick here do all of the boring paperwork and we can get started on the plans tomorrow."

"That sounds even better." She winked at Rick on her way out. "Have fun with that."

"You owe me!" he called after her, but she didn't turn to reply.

***

Beckett approached where Lanie was crouching next to a body covered by a sheet.

"Hey, Lanie. What have we got?"

"Jane Doe. She was beaten to death, probably with a blunt instrument." Lanie lifted up the sheet and Beckett had to stifle a gasp. There was no recognizable facial features under the mane of brunette hair.

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6.

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Lanie replaced the sheet, once again covering the victim's body from view. "My best bet is that she couldn't have been here more than a couple hours before she was found. It looks like she put up a fight. There's blood and tissue under her nails. When you catch this guy there should be more than enough DNA evidence here."

Beckett nodded, eyes still focused on the woman who had fought for her life and lost. "Okay, thanks, Lanie. Let me know if you find anything else."

She barely waited for Lanie's, "Will do," before turing to Ryan and Esposito who had just spoken to the first officer on the scene. "What have you guys got?"

Esposito quickly laid out the information they'd gathered. "A resident of the building found her behind the dumpster. He called for help and a woman walking her dog came and called 911."

"You get their statements?"

Ryan shook his head. "Officer Miles took it and gave us their information if we had more questions. Both were pretty shook up."

"Okay, have uniforms start a canvas."

"Right, boss."

She looked back one more time at the woman. "After that, we're going back to the precinct. Let's try and get her identified before the end of the day."

***

"Her fingerprints didn't show up in the system and missing persons doesn't have anyone matching her description," Lanie said as soon as Beckett walked into the morgue. "Not that I could give them a complete one."

"That's not too surprising considering that she's probably only been missing for a few hours," Beckett acknowledged. That just would have been too easy. "Is there anything else that could help us figure out who she is?"

"A tattoo."

"I don't suppose it's her name or social security number?"

"No such luck," Lanie handed her a photo.

Looking down at the design of a colorful hummingbird sipping from a pink flower, Beckett shook her head. "So, we just have to check every tattoo parlor in the city that does bird designs, assuming she had it done in the city."

"It could have just been the flower," Lanie said sympathetically.

"Always a silver lining."

***

It was almost 11 by the time Beckett got back to Castle's apartment. She started to head upstairs, but stopped when she heard the clicking of a keyboard coming from Castle's office.

"Hey," she whispered in deference to the time of night.

His head snapped up, smiling in greeting. "Hey. Just a second, I have to finish this thought..."

"I feel like I should lean over your shoulder and make helpful suggestions," Beckett teased as she watched him return his full attention to the computer screen. "Maybe throw in a few annoying questions about word choice."

Castle held up a hand and made a shushing noise.

'Oh, this is just too good,' Beckett decided. As quietly as possible she walked across the room and sat down on the corner of his desk. She crossed her legs in a way that probably would have been more effective in a skirt, but his wpm still slowed down considerably.

"You are a cruel woman, Detective," he commented, but still didn't look in her direction.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm just sitting here."

"Oh please, you are talking to the master of distracting by 'just sitting'."

"I don't know what I Dream of Jeannie fantasy you have, but I am not calling you master."

He did look at her then, and she had a sneaking suspicion that it had just become his life's mission to have her dress up like Barbara Eden.

"Even if I find one of those NASA uniforms?"

He looked so smug that she refused to admit that the image her mind conjured up of him was kinda hot. "I work with men in uniform every day, the effect kind of wears off after awhile."

He raised an eyebrow at her, clearly not believing her words. As he took her in for the first time, she saw the playfulness leave his features. "You look like you're about to collapse from exhaustion."

"That's a much nicer way of saying it than the one Esposito chose."

"Yeah, well, Esposito doesn't have to worry about sleeping on the couch."

"Your couches are far too comfortable; you'd have to sleep in the bathtub." She nodded towards his computer. "What are you working on?"

"The only way I stopped Paula's yelling this morning was by promising to draft a letter to my fans for my website."

"So you can console them in their time of grief or so they won't try and hunt me down?"

"Hopefully this will achieve both of those goals."

"But if you only have to choose one?"

"Well, I do hate to see my fans disappointed..." Before he could react, her hand shot out and smacked him on the back of the head. "Ow! Okay, yes, obviously keeping an angry mob from going after you should be my first priority."

"Thank you."

"I think I actually have more to worry about than you do at this point... You should see what some of these sites are saying about us."

"Wha-at?" she ended the word on a yawn she couldn't suppress anymore.

"Why don't I show you tomorrow?" he suggested as he watched her eyes droop closed. She was in great danger of falling asleep sitting up. "Which reminds me, we have a meeting in the morning with Debbie."

"K."

Laughing softly, Castle tugged her up into a standing position. "Come on, let's get you to bed."

"If I had a nickel for every time I heard that..."

"Yeah, yeah. Let's not talk about things you are much too tired to do."

***

The heels of her shoes clicked on tiles as Beckett walked into the ballroom of the Waldorf hotel. It had seemed grand the last time she was here with Castle for the MADT fundraiser, but now, with no one but the two of them and Debbie here, it seemed almost daunting.

Debbie had stayed back to take in Kate's reaction to the space. She didn't have to watch for long as she saw a look pass between Rick and Kate that, if she had to guess, said more than either of them intended. Rick had been right when he'd moved the Waldorf to the top of the list.

"I take it we have our venue?"

Kate cleared her throat before nodding. "Yeah."

Debbie smiled and turned to go finalize the arrangements. Just before she reached the door she heard Rick ask, "How are you holding up, Ishmael?"

"I honestly don't know, Moby."

Debbie shook her head, she had no idea what Moby Dick had to do with a wedding but she also decided that she really didn't want to know.

***

Beckett had not had a moment to breathe all day. After the early morning meeting with Debbie at the Waldorf, she'd gone straight to work where she, Ryan, and Espostio had continued down their lists of tattoo parlors in the city. By lunch none of them were any closer to identifying their Jane Doe.

During her lunch break she had met up with Castle and Debbie to meet with the caterer two of the victims had used, Sam Anderson. Sam fit the profile the best of any of their current suspects, but after talking to him for five minutes she was ready to move him to the bottom of the list. She would still have Agent Matthews look into his background, but Beckett seriously doubted that he was their killer.

After that, she had checked in with both Lanie and missing persons. Neither had any more information than they had yesterday. As of yet, nothing had come from the canvas and she re-interviewed the people who had discovered their Jane Doe and came away with no more information than they'd gotten originally.

Frustrated with the lack of progress, the last thing she wanted to do when she got off work was go and meet with a wedding gown designer, and if it hadn't been for a case she probably would have rescheduled it. As it was, she was running behind schedule, so she had no time to stop and get something to eat.

Alexis had insisted on going with her, stating that no one could or should pick their wedding dress out by themselves. She'd smiled so brightly when she said it that it was next to impossible to say no. So, she quickly swung by the loft on her way to meet with Sandra Lewis.

The second Alexis hopped into the car she handed her a lemon Luna Bar. "I thought you might be hungry."

"Alexis, you are my favorite person in the world right now."

The teen laughed. "It's always been a goal of mine to beat out over 6 billion people at something."

Swallowing a bite of the bar, Beckett glanced at Alexis before returning her eyes to the road. "I've been meaning to ask you something. Do you mind if we tell people that you're going to be my Maid of Honor?" She heard a gasp and was surprised when she glanced at the girl for a second time that her eyes had filled with tears. Wordlessly she reached into the glove compartment and handed Alexis a tissue.

"What about Lanie?"

"I'll ask Lanie to be a Bridesmaid, she'd kill me if I didn't. But I just thought... I mean I know it's an empty gesture, since this whole thing isn't real..."

"It's not empty," Alexis insisted. "Don't get mad, but I kind of wish that you really were marrying Dad."

"Sweetie," the endearment slipped out without Beckett noticing, but Alexis did and hid a smile, "your dad and I really aren't ready for that."

"But you love him, right?" Alexis took in Beckett's panicked expression and quickly said, "I won't tell him, it's just... well, you do, right?"

Parking in front of the Bridal Boutique, she turned to Alexis. "Strangely, even when he's being a pain in the ass... yeah."

"Good, because that's a lot of the time," Alexis said with a giggle. "Now let's go find you a dress."

***

Sandra Lewis was a snob, that was pretty clear from the second Beckett and Alexis were introduced to her. She looked at both of their outfits without even attempting to hide her disdain. However, even if they weren't her ideal clientele, she respected both their appointment and Castle's credit card.

"Miss Beckett," she said with a slight Bostonian accent, "it's very nice to meet you. And..."

"Alexis," Beckett provided.

"Alexis," Sandra repeated, "of course, it's nice to meet you, as well."

She started to lead them further into the store when a haggard looking woman rushed from the back room. "Ms. Lewis, Sarah Thompson is on the phone and she refuses to talk to anyone but you."

"Of course," Sandra said smoothly, turning back to Beckett and Alexis, "I won't be more than a few minutes. Feel free to look around yourself and ask Lauren if you have any questions. Lauren, why don't you get these ladies some water while they wait." With that, she breezed out of the room.

"I really don't need any water, but thank you," Beckett said to Lauren and Alexis nodded in agreement.

"Please take the water," Lauren practically begged. "She'll only ask why I didn't bring you anything."

Beckett smiled reassuringly. "I'm suddenly feeling very thirsty. Alexis?"

"Positively parched," she agreed. They both watched as Lauren gratefully dashed off. "How scary is this woman?" Picking up a magazine off a nearby table she held it up to Beckett's inspection. "You think she was doing research on you?"

Alexis was pointing at the picture of Castle proposing to Beckett, but Beckett's eyes hadn't left the picture that shared the cover. JT Clark, recently acquired first baseman for the Mets, was walking on a beach with his arm slung around a petite bushy-haired brunette in a bikini that allowed a complete view of her tattoo, a hummingbird sipping from a flower.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

7.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Your Jane Doe is the fiancé of JT Clark?" Montgomery asked incredulously. He sat at his desk with both Beckett and Castle in the chairs across from him. Agent Matthews stood stoically by the door.

"Yes, sir. Obviously I'll want to do some more investigating, but I think we're going to find that her murder is connected to the other women's deaths." The Captain nodded in resignation. Beckett took a fortifying breath before continuing. "I want to request that I be allowed to bring Detectives Ryan and Esposito, as well as Dr. Parish, in on the undercover op."

"Absolutely not," Matthews spoke for the first time since the meeting had began. "It could jeopardize the entire operation."

"How?" Castle scoffed, earning a glare from the agent. 'I wonder if they teach that look at the academy,' he mused, having been on the receiving end of that glare by another FBI agent.

"At the moment the three of them are acting like you two are legitimately engaged; they start treating you differently and people will start to wonder why."

Beckett started to protest, but Montgomery held up a hand. "For the moment, no one else is to be informed. If it looks like the investigation will benefit from their knowledge, then they will be told."

"Yes, sir." She'd expected it, but that didn't mean she had to like it. "There is one other thing I thought you should be aware of... I went to high school with JT."

Castle's head whipped around towards her. "Whoa, what? Like attended classes in the same building or...?"

"We were friends." She hoped that would be enough for him, at least until this meeting was over.

She should have known better. "How good of frien--"

"Is it going to be a problem?" Montgomery asked bluntly, cutting off Castle.

"No, sir."

"I expect you to inform me if that changes."

***

"Castle, you're not officially consulting for the department anymore; you can't go with me to talk to a victim's family."

"You know, his batting average sucked last year."

His tone of voice made her stop walking towards the elevator and turn. "Are you pouting?"

"Please." He snorted, as if that was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard. "He hit .225."

"And won a Gold Glove. And his batting average was brought down because he still thinks he can switch hit. He hit .316 when he was batting left-handed."

"I don't know whether to find it sexy that you have that kind of information on the tip of your tongue or be concerned that you still keep track of him."

***

Sending one final warning look in Castle's direction, Beckett rang the doorbell to JT's penthouse apartment.

The door swung open and Beckett wasn't sure if she was surprised or not by the man that stood in front of her. He had filled out since high school, going from gangly to lean, but she'd seen that transformation well enough on the sports page of the Times. No, what gave her pause were the dark circles under his eyes and the haunted expression on his face. He knew already.

"Kate?"

"Hey. Do you mind if we come in?"

JT stood frozen, his haunted expression turning to one of fear. "This isn't a social call, is it?"

She shook her head.

"Melanie?"

"I'm very sorry to have to tell you this, but your fiancé, Melanie Jacobs... Her body was recently discovered."

JT's legs gave out from under him and by reflex both she and Castle lunged forward to support him. Each taking an arm, they silently guided him to a couch not far inside his front door. It took everything in her not to wrap her arms around her friend. That wasn't what he needed right now, he needed answers.

"How did... how did it happen?" he asked, his voice shaking slightly.

"She was beaten to death." Beckett tried to keep her voice soothing, but knew that no matter how softly she spoke the words they would still slice through him.

"Was she... ra-"

"No."

JT nodded, supposing that was a small comfort. "God," his voice broke, "who would do this to Mel?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out."

"I should..." He looked around the room, trying to figure out what it was he should do.

"J..."

His eyes focused on her and that's when he broke, collapsing into her. She rubbed his back soothingly and looked over his head, meeting Castle's eyes, which held the sorrow she couldn't let herself feel yet.

When he was able, JT lifted his head and murmured. "I need to see her."

"We'll take you to her."

***

Castle watched through the morgue door windows as Lanie lifted the sheet for Clark to see Melanie's damaged face. His hand reached out to touch the woman's hair and for a brief moment Castle thought he was going to lean down and kiss the crown of her head. Castle turned to see Beckett's reaction, but she was focused on her friend.

He had expected to feel some amount of jealousy when meeting Clark; he was a professional athlete who shared a past with his... girlfriend? But, given the man's current state, it was hard to feel any animosity towards him whatsoever.

Clark said something to Lanie before turning and walking out of the room.

"You have some questions for me?" he asked Beckett, his voice the strongest it had been since they'd broken the news.

"Yeah. Are you up to it tonight?"

"I need to call Mel's parents, let them know what happened, but then I'll answer whatever I can. Kate, I need you to catch this son of a bitch."

"That's my job."

***

JT sat, staring into a mug of coffee. "I honestly can't think of anyone who would want to hurt Mel. At least no one who knew her personally."

Castle and Beckett exchanged a look at the last sentence. He leaned forward intently. "What do you mean?"

"I'm a fairly public guy. It drove Mel crazy when we were first going out, she hated the attention. I'm sure you two know this, but when you get that kind of focus on you the crazies tend to come out of the woodworks."

Beckett made him meet her eyes. "Anyone particularly crazy?"

"God, Kate, I don't know. I've been trying to think of someone since she went missing." He stopped for a moment, visibly collecting his thoughts. "There were some who warned her off a relationship with me, blaming her for everything from my batting average to why the Cubs still haven't won a World Series, saying she was bad luck. There were a couple ones with guys who wanted her to leave me for them."

"Anything odd from the past few days?"

"There was this one letter that came in. I don't even remember exactly what it said anymore. It was some quote from a Shakespeare play... Julius Caesar... No, I'm pretty sure it was Anthony and Cleopatra. We kept joking that it wasn't every day you get told off by the Bard."

Beckett tried to keep her face blank. "Did the letter say anything else besides the quote?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm sorry, that was it."

"Would it be possible for us to get copies of all of her mail that was either a direct or indirect threat?"

"Sure, of course."

"Okay, those are all the questions I have for right now. Do you want us to drive you home?"

JT pushed his untouched mug away. "No, I'll just walk." Beckett nodded, but she and Castle stood at the same time he did and walked with him towards the elevator. It almost made him laugh. "I don't need an escort out of here."

"We're heading out anyway," Castle denied.

The ride down was traveled in silence, but as soon as they exited the car JT turned to them. "Look, I know you guys are going to have to talk to Mel's parents but... she was an only child." He scoffed slightly at his own words. "I don't know if that makes it any harder than loosing a chid when you have a boatload of children, but... Can you give them tomorrow?"

"I think I can find some other avenues to investigate."

He nodded in appreciation. "Thanks, Kate." He reached out and chucked her under the chin with something akin to brotherly affection. "This was not how I expected to see you again, Coach."

Smiling sadly, she shook her head. "Stop trying to bat right-handed. You suck at it."

Letting out a startled laugh, he tugged her in for a short hug. "Ah, there's the girl who didn't let me get away with anything for four years." He turned to Castle and shook his hand. "Take care of her. If she gives you too much grief, just call me up. I've got some pictures that'll put her back in her place."

Castle chuckled. "I may need to see those anyway."

"I can kick both of your asses, you do know that, right?"

"That's right, you're the big, bad cop now, not the dainty little model."

Castle's ears perked up. "Model?"

Groaning, Beckett glared at JT. "I am going to kill you."

Backing away in mock fear, JT held up his hands. "I see my work here is done."

"You sure you don't want a ride?" Beckett asked one more time.

"Yeah, you can tell me more about this modeling career my lovely fiancé has neglected to tell me about," Castle added, ignoring when Beckett bared her teeth at him.

"I'm not sure either of us would survive the ride, but thanks."

With that JT opened the door to the station and barely had a toe outside before he was blinded by flashing lights.

"JT! Is it true that the police think your fiancé was murdered?"

"JT, are you a suspect?"

"How do you think this will affect your season?"

JT stood frozen, stunned as the press continued to snap pictures of him. He barely felt when Kate appeared at his side and started muscling him through the crowd. He vaguely heard Castle yell at the reporters to back off, but his voice sounded far away.

"Castle, are you working with the police again?"

"Beckett, why did it take so long to identify the body?"

"Does this mean readers can be expecting another Nikki Heat book?"

"How do you feel about being wife number three?"

They finally reached the car, where Beckett literally shoved JT into the back of the car.

"No comment," Beckett snarled. "Now get away from this car, because I am not going to be careful about not hitting anyone when I back out of here."

***

The killer watched the replay of the impromptu interview and couldn't stop the laugh from bubbling out. This was just too perfect.

Rewinding slightly and paused on the death glare Beckett had delivered to the press. So the harlots had themselves a champion. And of course it would be someone just like them. Who else would care?

"You're going to be an interesting challenge, Kate Beckett, but in the end you'll fall just like all the rest of them."

***

"You look so badass in this picture," Castle teased Beckett the next morning. Beckett didn't look amused, but both Alexis and his mother looked like they were having a hard time concealing their smiles. "It's like a cross between Xena and a mama bear."

"Can we not look at anymore of these?"

"But don't you want to hear what they're saying about you?"

"No."

"Jack Witt says that if he ever needs protection from a homicidal maniac, you're who he wants protecting him. Ian Ford seems to think that you're insane and should have your badge taken away immediately."

"Why do I know the name Ford?"

"He broke the story on our love child."

"Right."

"Oh! And Jessica Graham appears to believe -- "

"Darling," Martha finally cut him off, "let the poor girl eat her breakfast in peace."

"I knew my mother liked you better," Castle pointed an accusatory finger at Beckett.

"Everyone like me better," she returned, maturely sticking out her tongue in reply.

"Children," Alexis chastised, before getting up and kissing each adult goodbye, ignoring Beckett's surprised look when she got to her. "I have to go to school. Be good!"

When she reached the door she felt something crinkle under her foot. Looking down, Alexis noticed a letter that had been shoved under the door.

"Kate, there's a letter for you."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

8.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Kate, there's a letter for you," Alexis called, holding up the plain envelope.

"What is it?" Castle asked excitedly. "We should get it framed; your first piece of mail here." He faked wiping a tear away. "It's a momentous occasion."

Beckett ignored Castle's antics and walked to Alexis, taking the envelope from her. There was no return address, no stamp, it simply had Detective Kate Beckett typed out in the center.

Castle didn't like the serious look Beckett's face had taken on. "What?"

"Castle, I need a pair of gloves."

***

"He hath given his empire
Up to a whore."

Detective Beckett,

I hope you appreciate the precedence I'm breaking by sending you this letter. I will just start by saying, no, you are not my next target. Don't mistake me, your time will come, but I thought it would be more fun if we played a game first. I will give you the chance to save one of your ilk. I sincerely doubt you will succeed, but it will be entertaining to watch you fail. Right about now she is opening a letter much like the one Melanie Jacobs received before I killed her. You have one day, after that she's dead.

Sincerely,
Caesar

P.S. - I suppose to give you a sporting chance I will leave you a clue. If you find yourself having difficulty locating her, you may want to go by the old adage every bride uses on her wedding day.

***

No one spoke as Beckett slid the note into an evidence bag. Wordlessly, she handed the bag to Castle so that he could read it through the plastic.

"Well," Castle commented, trying not to sound like the letter had shaken him, "that's certainly chattier than he's been in his previous letters."

"It's a note from the killer?" Martha asked, trying to get her own look at the note, but Beckett put it away.

Beckett shared a look with Castle before answering Martha's question. "Yeah, it is."

Alexis seemed to be the only one who didn't mind showing that she was freaked out by this turn of events. "He got into the building? Dad, we've got to get Kate out of here; it's not safe. He could come back and -- "

"Hey," Castle reached out and firmly grasped his daughter's shoulders, "look at me. We're not going to let anything happen to Kate. Okay?"

She nodded before letting her dad pull her into a hug. She closed her eyes as he stroked her hair and she could feel her heart rate slow.

Beckett waited until Alexis had calmed down a little before saying, "I've got to get this to the lab and see if they can pull any prints. How willing do you think the owner is going to be to let me have the building's security footage?"

Castle's voice was harsh and firm. "Very willing once I complain about how easily someone got up here." Alexis pulled away from him and he let her go, his focus now on Beckett. "We need to talk."

Beckett started to protest, wanting to get started on this new evidence right away, but something in his eyes made her change her mind, so she simply nodded.

"Alexis, don't take the subway to school today, we'll give you a ride," was the last thing he said before steering Beckett up the stairs to his room.

***

Beckett sat on the side of the bed and watched as Castle paced back and forth in front of her. On his seventh pass, she reached out and snagged his arm, stopping his progress. "As fascinating as it would be to watch you wear out the carpet, sit down." He followed her instructions, possibly for the first time since they'd met, and she let her hand continue to rest on his arm. "I promise I won't let this bastard get anywhere near your family."

"Does that include you?" Castle asked bitingly.

She was momentarily taken aback, but recovered quickly. "No. This was the deal, this is what we signed up for. We weren't just playing house."

He decided not to comment on her words. "I think Alexis was right. We need to get you out of here, probably out of the city as well. Maybe out of the country. How do you feel about London?"

"Castle..."

"Paris?"

"Alexis was just scared when she said that." She hesitated just a moment before adding, "and I think you are, too."

"Damn right I am!" If her hand hadn't still been on his arm, he probably would have leapt up and started pacing again. "Do you think I didn't see the look in JT's eyes when he had to identify Melanie's body? Or how he walked around like he needed GPS to tell him what planet he was on? Do you think I want that to be us?" His voice got progressively louder with each question, but she didn't back away.

"What do you want me to do?" Beckett couldn't quite keep the anger out of her voice. He couldn't change the rules on her like this. "This guy has absolutely no incentive to quit. No one has even come close to catching him and he's escalating! He's already got another victim picked out and, if Melanie is any indication, if we don't find her first then he is going to punish her for it."

He pulled her closer to him and she thought he was going to yell at her some more, but instead he pressed his mouth to hers in a bruising kiss. At first she resisted, but after a couple seconds she felt herself sinking into his embrace, meeting him emotion for emotion. When they pulled apart they were both panting.

Resting his forehead against hers, his voice turned to a whisper. "You're not allowed to die on me."

She felt the urge to wrap her arms around him and make promises they both knew she couldn't keep. Instead she shook her head. "That's not currently the plan."

"It better never become the plan." He pulled back, bringing his hands up to cup her face. He looked at her like he was trying to memorize her features. "God, Kate... I l--"

"Dad!" Alexis' voice called from the bottom of the stairs. "If we don't leave soon, I'm going to be late for school."

They both froze in surprise, the moment broken, before letting out a disbelieving laugh.

"That girl," affection colored Castle's words. "I just don't know where she gets her timing from."

Beckett cocked her head, eyes twinkling in amusement. "Really? Because I have a theory."

"Hmmm," was his only noncommittal response as he stood and pulled her to her feet. She started for the door when he called her back. "Kate..."

She waited, but he seemed to have lost the words. A reassuring smile spread across her face and she winked at him. "Let's go, Rick, before your daughter has a conniption."

He relaxed and his gait regained it's swagger. "Who uses conniption anymore?"

"It's a perfectly acceptable word."

"Sure, if you're 80."

"Well, you would know, since you're much closer to 80 than I am." If she looked at him with any more innocence, she probably would have batted her eyelashes.

He clutched at his heart. "Ouch! I am not old!"

"You just keep telling yourself that."

"I don't like you that much anymore."

She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Okay, so that's a lie," he conceded without any fuss.

A knowing smile spread across her face. "That's what I thought."

"Conniption is still a stupid word."

***

Ryan looked at Beckett's desk as, once again, the phone began to ring. He was very close to picking it up and saying, "You know she has a cell phone, right?" Possibly with some four letter words thrown in for emphasis. He'd almost worked himself up to doing so when his own phone started ringing.

"Ryan," he answered, trying to keep the frustration out of his voice.

"Detective Ryan?" a voice that sounded vaguely familiar asked hesitantly. "This is Tim from the lab... Have you seen Detective Beckett?"

Well, at least he'd solved the mystery of who had been tying up Beckett's phone line. Poor Tim has had a crush on her since, well probably since she'd remembered his name. Ryan got the feeling that women didn't often with Tim.

"She asked me to rush some results for her, but now I can't get in touch with her."

Beckett asked for lab results to be rushed? Both he and Esposito had always teased her that all she had to do was go down there and smile and Tim would always move their stuff to the top of the list, but she never took that well.

"I'll come and get them for her."

"Oh..." He sounded like Ryan had just told him all the ice cream was gone.

"And I'll make sure she calls you to thank you personally for your quick work."

The lab tech pretended to protest but quickly agreed. Hanging up, Ryan turned to his partner. "Esposito, did Beckett tell you about any tests she was having the lab run?"

His partner's brow creased as he thought back over the morning. "No."

"Me either. Something is going on. You want to take a trip to the lab with me?"

***

"Hey, guys, I've got all of Melanie Jacobs' mail for us to go through..." Beckett stopped short when she noticed that both men were glaring at her. "What?"

Esposito held up the evidence bag with the letter from that morning in it. "Something you forgot to tell us, Beckett?"

'Damn it,' she thought, looking back and forth between Ryan and Esposito. Not seeing anyway around it, she made a split second decision. "Okay, guys, come with me."

They looked confused but followed her as she walked to the Captain's office. "Sir, can we have a moment of your time?"

Montgomery looked up and took in his three detectives' expressions. With a sigh he waved them in. "Come in. Sit down." He gestured to Ryan and Esposito.

Beckett closed the door behind them. "They found out about the note, Sir."

"I thought as much."

"What the hell is going on?" Esposito finally burst out.

"And why weren't we told?" Ryan added.

***

Beckett watched as Ryan and Esposito sat with expressions that gave away nothing, but their eyes told a completely different story. She knew that when they found out that they'd be upset and she thought she'd prepared herself for that, but she felt a nervous jittering sensation spread through her stomach as the silence grew.

Ryan was the first to speak. "Wait, so... wait..."

"Just spit it out, man," Esposito said helpfully.

"So I don't have to prepare a best man speech?"

Esposito gave a snort of laughter "You never did. I clearly would have been Castle's choice."

Beckett let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. "Seriously, guys? That's your major concern here?"

"Well, I wouldn't say major."

Ryan nodded in agreement. "Yeah, not major... obviously we're more concerned about the serial killer... but who do you think he would have picked?"

She looked to the captain for help, but he raised his eyebrows, apparently wanting to know the answer as well.

"The mayor," she answered because it seemed like the safest way out of this conversation without hurting anyone's feelings or making someone up.

"Oh," they said together and looked so sad that she continued. "Though I'm sure you both would have been groomsmen."

They brightened up immediately with almost childlike excitement.

"So, how long do you think it'll take you to make an honest man out of our Castle?" That's when Beckett decided that they were either torturing her or they'd already put down deposits on tuxedos.

"As fascinating as this conversation is," Montgomery said, voice tinged with humor, "I need to stress that you two need to not act any different than you have been."

"Sure."

He stared at them for a few seconds longer to make sure that his message had really sunk in before nodding. "Okay, go solve a murder or something."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

9.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"So, where are we going?" Castle asked as he watched the New York landscape inch past as they tried to maneuver through wall-to-wall traffic.

"Melanie's parents' house," she told him in a tone of voice that suggested that she was not in the mood to explain anything right now.

"Why exactly? Shouldn't we be trying to find the next victim?"

"That is what we're doing, by trying to find something that links all of these women. Hopefully they'll be able to tell us something."

"Something that JT and all the other victims' families haven't?" It wasn't that he didn't understand that they had to be questioned; he just wasn't sure why it had to be now and by her.

"We can't just not ask questions because we don't think anything will come of it," Beckett snapped, before whipping the car into an opening in the lane next to them.

He studied her, the frustration was practically radiating out of her pores. "The letter didn't turn up anything, did it?"

She let out a sigh. "No, there weren't any fingerprints or DNA on either the letter or the envelope. The most Tim could give us was that both were printed on an inkjet."

"Well, at least you can rule out all of the people with laser printers." He paused before continuing in a teasing voice, "Tim, huh?"

"Shut up," she told him, but he saw the corner of her mouth twitch.

"I'm just saying... should I be concerned?"

"About what exactly?"

"Well, whenever he's working the same crime scene as you, he does tend to follow you around like a puppy..."

"I think you're confusing Tim with yourself."

He scoffed loudly. "I'll have you know I was a much manlier puppy." Her brows knitted together in confusion and he could see the beginnings of a smile. "Alpha to his Dug, if you will."

A little chuckle of laughter escaped her, making him grin in triumph.

"Sometimes your voice does remind me of Alpha's when his translator was broken." She sent him a sideways glance that said she knew exactly what he was up to. "Thanks."

He shrugged it off. "Any luck with the clue in the PS?"

"Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue..." Beckett muttered to herself, and Castle got the impression she'd been replaying those words ever since she got the letter. "It's not much to go on. I've got Karpowski compiling data on every engaged couple in the city where the husband-to-be has even a little bit of fame, and seeing if anything hits. Hopefully something will show up."

"What about Ryan and Esposito?"

"Ryan's running the security footage for your building and Esposito is going through Melanie's mail."

"So they know now... Are they going to beat me up?" Not that Castle was scared of Ryan and Esposito... mostly.

"Currently, I believe their only plan is to find out who would have been your best man."

That was easy enough. "Bob already called it."

Beckett's head jerked around, causing Castle to be momentarily afraid about her concentration on the road. "The mayor 'called it'?"

"Yeah, a long time ago."

He hadn't thought her eyes could widen anymore, but apparently he was wrong. "How long ago is a long time ago?"

Castle was getting the feeling that he was in trouble for something and he didn't really know what. "When I asked him to talk to Roy about letting me shadow you."

Beckett's face turned an interesting color of red and her mouth moved to form words that wouldn't come out.

"It's not that big of a deal," he reassured. "It's not like he's actively been playing matchmaker or anything; he is a pretty busy guy."

"My life used to be normal," Beckett lamented on a sigh.

"Your life used to be boring," Castle corrected earning a glare that told him she did not appreciate the distinction. Even if they both knew it was true.

***

"I just can't believe this is happening," Mrs. Jacobs whispered, voice hitching with suppressed sobs. The tissue she held in her hands had long since been shredded by hands that didn't know what to do with themselves.

Mr. Jacobs put an arm around his wife, his own eyes glistening slightly. When he spoke his voice was hoarse. "How can we help you, Detective?"

"We just have a few questions," Beckett reassured softly. They both nodded. "When's the last time you spoke with Melanie?"

"The day before she went missing," Mrs. Jacobs said, barely pausing to consider. "She was really upset, but she didn't want to talk to JT about it. We had a girls' day so that she could get out for awhile."

"Did something happen between her and JT?"

"No!" she hurriedly defended. "It was nothing like that. She didn't want to worry him. There was just this stupid article in The Ledger's society page."

Mr. Jacobs nodded angrily. "I almost drove down there and demanded to see that Ford fellow myself when I found out why Mel had called here in tears."

"It was just a lot of thinly veiled speculation about her. She wasn't used to that kind of thing; she was a legal clerk not a public figure. But I think our day out really did her some good. She was smiling and joking around when I drove her home."

"Did she mention anything or anyone else that was bothering her?"

"No, I'm sorry." Mrs. Jacobs looked at her husband for confirmation and he shook his head.

Beckett had very quickly in her career realized that there was no delicate way to ask a family if there was anyone who wanted to kill their loved one. "Can you think of anyone who might wish Melanie harm?"

"No! If we knew of anyone who would have..." Mr. Jacobs trailed off angrily. "Don't you think we would have protected her if we had known someone would do this to her?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but I have to ask."

Castle jumped in for the first time. "It might not have been overt. Just someone she felt uncomfortable around."

Mrs. Jacobs placed a comforting hand on her husband's leg and whatever his next biting remark would have been was silenced. "No, no one."

Beckett nodded before standing. "Thank you so much for your time. If you think of anything," she handed Mrs. Jacobs one of her business cards, "please let me know."

"Of course, Detective."

***

Castle waited until they were in the car before saying, "That's interesting timing, don't you think?"

Beckett, still lost in her own thoughts, just asked, "What?"

"Ian Ford writing an article about Melanie the day she gets her note."

"He's a gossip columnist, Rick. He writes articles about a lot of people, it doesn't mean they all turn up dead."

"He's a gossip columnist who wrote an article about you on the same day that you were contacted by the killer." He had her full attention now. "Makes you wonder who else he wrote about and when."

"It could just be a coincidence," she allowed, but he saw a spark enter her eyes.

He inclined his head, smiling smugly. "It could be."

She pulled out her phone. "Karpowski, I've got something for you."

***

Ryan rubbed at his eyes, trying to keep them from blurring. He'd been screening security footage of Castle's building, in real time, for the past few hours and he was pretty sure he was going to need a coffee break pretty soon. His finger was on the pause button so he could do just that when he saw the stairwell door on Castle's floor open.

He watched as the figure walked to the door with only the slightest of hesitations and slipped an envelope under it.

He rewound the footage and paused on the best angle of the sleestack, which still managed to show very little. Except...

"Esposito, get over here," he yelled to his partner, who was sitting nearby and looking through Jacobs' mail. He didn't wait for his response before he was picking up the phone to call Beckett.

***

"Are you sure?" Beckett demanded as soon as she and Castle arrived at the station.

Ryan looked slightly offended. "I know a woman when I see one, Beckett."

"What about two weeks ago?" Esposito grinned evilly at him. "You kept hitting on that dude you thought was a chick."

"How very Crying Game," Castle laughed.

Beckett glared at all three of them until they all looked properly chastised.

"Yes, I'm sure," Ryan muttered.

"Show me what you've got."

Ryan pointed at the figure on the screen. She'd gone to a lot of trouble to look like a guy. She was wearing baggy jeans, a loose fitting jacket, and a baseball cap that you could just see had hair tucked under it. However, she made the mistake of wearing a tank top, and when she opened her jacket to take out the note it was apparent they were not looking at a guy.

"So much for the profile," Castle commented.

"Mmm," was Beckett's only response. "There's no angle where you see her face?"

"No. I've been through it a dozen times. She never turns towards the camera."

"Which means either she got lucky or she knew it was there. Print out copies of the three best angles you can find and show them to the victims' families. Call in some uniforms if you need to. I'm going to go check in with Karpowski."

***

Beckett had barely reached Karpowski's desk when the other woman started talking. "I've got all of the back issues of The Ledger for the past month. I double checked the dates the victims received the threats and there was a corresponding article each time."

"All written by Ford?"

"Yup, looks like he's got a fan."

"What about the day the next target supposedly got her letter?"

Karpowski shook her head. "Nope. The only article our intrepid reporter wrote was on you. I had no idea you were a loose canon, by the way."

"It's something new I'm trying." She began flipping through the papers on the desk. "There's got to be something. You look through the past week?"

"Yeah, nothing popped."

"Did I miss any of the tedious research work yet?" Castle asked, walking over to them and placing a cup of coffee in front of each woman.

"Just a second," Beckett told Karpowski and pulled Castle off to the side. "You don't have to stay for this, you know? I appreciate all the help you've given me on this, but if there's something you need to -- "

"Are you kidding? We actually have leads now and you think I'm going to go home?"

"You just said if was tedious," she pointed out and only received a raised eyebrow in response. "Look, I'm not telling you to go, I'm just... when's the last time you had a chance to do any writing?"

Castle smiled, clearly amused. "A couple of days ago, probably. Why did you want to read a spoiler chapter?"

"No." Her frustration was written all over the one word. "Never mind, it doesn't -- "

She started to walk towards the conference room Karpowski was setting up for them when he caught her hand and pulled her back to him. "I don't know why you're giving me an out all of sudden, but don't. I don't need or want it. I'm in this with you. Bond can wait."

Beckett only realized that she was staring at his mouth when it crooked into a knowing smile. Clearing her throat, she backed away slightly before she did something that would get her ragged on for years to come. "Okay."

She gave his hand a tight squeeze before turning to get back to work.

***

"Okay, these article's are just ridiculous. Who cares if Broadway Star A broke up with Boy Band Hunk B?" Karpowski finally asked, when she ran out of coffee.

"Far too many people," Castle answered, not looking up from the article he was reading. "As long as celebrities keep making a spectacle of themselves, people will keep reading about it."

"Says the man who stole a police horse while naked," Beckett retorted, tossing a paper aside and picking up another.

"You're just mad that you weren't the cop I stole it from."

"If it had been me, you never would have gotten to the horse."

"Oooh, what would you have done to distract me from my goal?"

"I would have drop kicked you."

"You say the most romantic things." He winked at Karpowski who had been watching their exchange with morbid fascination. "It's one of the first things I noticed about her."

"Rick, I swear..."

Both Castle and Karpowski turned to her when she didn't finish her sentence.

"What?"

"New work of art or a cheap imitation? 61-year-old artist, Jeffery Clifford is tying the knot once again, not long after his shocking divorce from his wife of 40 years. So, who is the soon-to-be new Mrs. Clifford? A virtual new comer to the art scene, 22-year-old Linda Blau..."

"There's a dozen of articles similar to that one," Karpowski noted. "Why -- "

"Blau is German for Blue," Castle answered for Beckett, who was already on the phone trying to get the home address of Linda Blau.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

10.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Linda Blau was having a terrible day. She had been hoping that when she'd accepted Jeff's proposal that she'd stop getting those looks that said she was a 'gold digging tramp'. And she'd been the one to suggest the damn prenup. She didn't want his money. Why was it so hard for people to believe that she was in love with him?

She blamed the media, or, as she liked to refer to them, those lying sacks of shit. Did it matter to them that Jeff's wife had left him? Did they care that she hadn't even met Jeff until after his divorce? Yes, maybe they were moving a little fast, but exactly what timeframe was there on falling in love?

This was doing her no good. Linda had to stop thinking about this before her brain exploded inside her skull. She needed to paint. That's how she would get through this and she would dedicate the collection to 'those lying sacks of shit' for giving her so much inspiration.

She walked up the creaky old stairs to her studio. Jeff kept telling her the building should be condemned, but she thought it looked loved, worn down slightly from all of it's previous occupants. She could imagine decades of artists spending time here with nothing more than their muse for company.

Putting her full weight into opening the sliding door, she silently thanked it for why she would never have to do any weightlifting. Walking in, she felt something crinkle under her foot. Dropping all of her supplies on the floor, she bent curiously to look at the envelope she had stepped on. Her brow crinkled as she read the words printed on the front.

Made you look.

And then she felt something cold and metal press against the back of her skull and then a click that she'd only heard in movies, but her brain quickly processed this as 'gun'.

"Hello, Linda."

And for the first time in her young life, Linda Blau understood what it felt like to know you were going to die.

***

Beckett pounded on the front door of Jeffery Clifford and Linda Blau's apartment. Castle stood next to her, waiting for a signal from her. She was about ready to kick the door in when it flew open.

"What the hell are you banging on the door for?" an elderly man, supposedly Clifford, asked exasperatedly.

She held up her badge. "Jeffery Clifford? I'm Kate Beckett with the NYPD. Is your fiancé, Linda Blau, here?"

"No, she isn't. What is this about? If there's been any trouble, I can guarantee you Linda had nothing to do with it."

"Sir, it's very important that we speak with her right now. Do you know where she is?"

"Probably at her studio."

"Where is that?"

"No. Now just a damn minute. What the fuck is this?"

"Mr. Clifford, has your fiancé received a note like this?" She held out one of the notes from the killer and watched as the color drained from his face. That was the only answer she required. "I need to know where she is."

***

"What do you want from me?" Linda asked, as she continued to crouch on shaky legs. "There's nothing of value here but my stereo. You can have that if you want."

"I don't want anything of yours, whore."

Tears filled her eyes and she tried to remember the self-defense classes her dad had insisted she take when she told him she was moving to the city. Why couldn't she remember anything?

"Then why...?"

"Because you're a symptom, and the only way to treat you is to eliminate you."

"A symptom of what? I haven't done anything, I swear."

"Oh really? That monstrosity on your finger speaks differently." Reflexively she pulled her hand to her chest, protecting Jeff's grandmother's ring. "Hands up, Bitch!"

Her tears were flowing freely down her face now. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Please don't kill me. I don't want to die."

"You should have thought of that before you tried to lay claim to something that was not yours."

"She left him!" Laura screamed with all of her fear and anger.

"Stand up. Turn around."

Laura slowly followed the instructions. She had just enough time to see her killer's face before she heard the deafening sound of the gun going off. She staggered under the searing pain that went through her belly, her legs giving out under her and she collapsed to the floor.

The last thing she heard was the sound of departing footsteps before her world went black.

***

"Is there any point in asking you to wait in the car?" Beckett asked as they pulled up in front of Linda Blau's art studio.

Castle considered her before answering. "It could be nice to uphold the tradition. Other than that, no, there's not much of one."

She rolled her eyes and climbed out of the car, going to the trunk. "You might need this then." She held up his 'Writer' vest to him, making a grab for her own vest with her other hand.

"You kept this in your car?" His voice was a little stunned and it made her want to shift uncomfortably.

"I just kept forgetting to take it out. It's really not that big of a deal."

"Uh huh."

"Look, I've got a killer to catch, can we be mushy about this later?"

"I'll be sure to allot some time for it."

She nodded just as Ryan and Esposito's car pulled in next to hers. "Let's go then."

***

Beckett's blood ran cold when she saw the studio door gaping open. The sight in front of her when she peeked around it did nothing to improve that. "We've got a body, guys."

She held up three fingers and counted down. And then there was a flurry of, "Police! New York City Police!" and "Clear!"

"She's not here," Ryan said, purely for forms sake, they all knew.

Beckett checked Linda for a pulse. "She's alive! Get the EMTs here now!"

***

They'd been sitting in the hospital waiting room for a few hours now. The fiancé didn't ask why, but Castle was pretty sure he knew. The killer had not meant for Linda to survive. If she found out that she had...

Well, she actually had to survive the surgery before that was much of a concern.

Not that waiting wasn't terribly exciting. About an hour in they'd been treated to quite the show.

Agent Matthews had stormed in, looking positively purple in the face. "Why wasn't I informed of the operation this afternoon?"

Beckett, who stood up as soon as the agent had entered the room, said in a calm voice, "Agent Matthews, if you want to talk about this in the hall, we can -- "

"I want an answer! My team should have been on site the moment you found out who the intended victim was. You let a killer get away and another person is dying!"

"Hey!" three sets of male voices said, as they jumped out of their chairs.

Beckett waved them off. "There wasn't time to get ahold of you and their certainly wasn't time to coordinate a joint effort. Now, if you want to discuss this further we can certainly do so, but not here."

"Detective Beckett, you are -- "

"Agent... Matthews, was it?" Jeffery Clifford spoke for the first time since Ryan and Esposito had brought him to the hospital. He sized up the agent, who probably bench pressed more than Mr. Clifford weighed, and seemed to find him less than impressive. "Detective Beckett has been extremely polite to you so far but I feel no need to be. My fiancé is in surgery right now and has the odds stacked against her surviving it, and you are yelling at one of the people responsible for her making it that far to begin with. Now, I don't know what kind of dispute you have with these officers, and frankly I don't care. You will not bring it into this hospital."

The room was filled with a stunned silence. Ryan whispered something like, "That was old school!" to Esposito, but was shushed immediately by his partner. Amidst this, Mr. Clifford sat back down and went back to studying his hands.

Beckett and Matthews had a staring contest, and, while Matthews was the first to blink, he didn't leave without saying, "We're going to continue discussing this first thing tomorrow in your captain's office."

"Sounds delightful." She gave him an insincere smile, waiting until he had actually left before allowing the scowl to settle on her face. "I'm beginning to dislike that man."

Castle put on his most innocent face. "Oh, but Baby, you hide it so well."

Ignoring the snickers from Ryan and Esposito, Beckett spun around to direct her glare at him. "Call me that again and I'll make sure you're not able to make any more of your own babies."

"Sure thing, Honey."

"Rick," she growled ominously.

Castle backed away, making sure there was at least one row of chairs in between them. "I'm feeling the strange urge for coffee. Anyone else want a cup? Mr. Clifford?"

"Oh no, kid, I'm not helping you get out of trouble with your young lady."

He turned sad puppy eyes on Beckett that he'd perfected as a little kid. She made a show of sighing loudly and rolling her eyes. "I'll take some coffee."

Now, two hours later, she was coming perilously close to falling asleep on his shoulder. He had a feeling that adrenaline was the only thing keeping her from nodding off completely.

"Kate, maybe we should..." was as far as he got, because the door of the waiting room opened and a man in scrubs stepped in.

Mr. Clifford shot out of his chair with a speed most 61-year-olds don't exhibit. "Linda?"

The doctor hesitated briefly before nodding. "She's in recovery right now. She made it through the surgery. You can see her as soon as she's settled, but I wouldn't expect much of a response. The drugs from the surgery alone will keep her out for awhile."

"But I can see her?" he repeated.

"Yes."

"And she'll be okay?"

Again the doctor hesitated. "Making it through the surgery does increase her odds but she's not out of the woods yet."

Nodding slowly, Mr. Clifford said, "Take me to her," and followed the doctor out.

Beckett ran a hand through her hair and turned to Ryan and Esposito. "I want someone on her room 24-hours a day. She's not getting a second shot at her."

"We're on it, boss."

***

"While Jeffery Clifford himself was not available to comment, his agent did say that he appreciates everyone's concern during this trying time. He has no doubt that his fiancé, Linda Blau, will make a full recovery and they will soon be able to get back to planning their lives together. It is unknown at this time if the police have any suspects."

A remote hurled its way across the room, smashing the TV screen.

Alive? She was alive? How had... Beckett. It had to be her, that bitch. Somehow she'd figured out the clue that was only supposed to make sense after the body was discovered. But how?

They would be watching Linda too closely now to even think about a second attempt...

No matter. So the Detective had somehow managed to suss it out. That just meant that she would have to pay for the life she'd saved.

***

"I really should go check in at the station and see if the uniforms found anything while they were canvasing the area," Beckett protested.

It was close to the billionth time she'd mentioned this so Castle wasn't really paying close attention anymore as he practically marched her to the elevator of his apartment building. "You are dead on your feet. You're not going to do them any good, even if you do put in a caffeine drip."

"I still have a few hours left in me." The effect of her words was ruined by the yawn that overtook her immediately after she spoke them.

"If you make it to bed before falling asleep I'll be a happy man. As strong as it would make me feel to carry you to bed, I'm not sure I have it in me tonight."

"If you even think about carrying me..."

"I think I could take you right now, Detective. Just one more reason for you to get some sleep. It would totally throw off the balance of our relationship if you couldn't beat me up anymore."

The elevator ride seemed to take longer than usual, but finally they reached the correct floor. They were halfway down the hall when they spotted it. Taped to the door was another damn letter.

***

Detective Beckett,

I suppose congratulations are in order.

I must say that you performed much better than I expected you to. Linda Blau owes her life to you. Unfortunately for you, that also means I owe you, and I do intend to pay up, Detective, make no mistake about that.

I can't wait until we get to meet properly, Kate. Until then, however, have a good night.

Forever in your debt,
Caesar

P.S. - Tell Rick 'hi' for me.

***

Swallowing harshly, Beckett looked up to meet Castle's eyes. "Hi."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

11.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"I want to know how this happened!" Castle demanded loudly, causing the doorman to flinch. "How does someone get into this building, for the second time this week, and you not know about it?"

"Mr. Castle, I have not been away from my post since I came on four hours ago. No one but tenants has come in or out." Beckett was impressed that his voice didn't shake once; in fact, he sounded slightly irritated.

She let Castle get in one more snarl before stepping forward to play good cop. "I'm sure you didn't, John. It's just that we were under the impression that this was the only way into the building. You can see why we're concerned, right?"

"Yes, ma'am," John agreed, clearly glad to be talking to her now instead of getting blasted by Castle. "This is the only way in or out of the building. There is, of course, the emergency exit, but if anyone opened that an alarm would have gone off."

"Why don't we go check it out anyway," Beckett suggested. "And I'm going to need the security footage again."

"I'll have to double check with the owner, but it shouldn't be a problem."

She let John lead the way, waiting until he was a decent distance in front of them before tugging on Castle's sleeve. "He didn't write the note; ease back a bit."

The alarm was indeed still on, as evidenced by the loud shrieking noise that emanated from it when they tried opening it.

So how did she get in?

***

"Tim, please tell me you've found something," was Beckett's greeting when she arrived at Blau's studio.

Tim looked at her apologetically, sparing a quick glance at Castle, who was standing beside her. "Nothing yet. We've got a lot of prints, but if I had to guess, I'd say they all belong to the victim. I did find this laying next to those bags by the door." He held out an evidence bag to her. Made you look. "Appears to be the same as the others."

"Yeah, thanks." She handed the bag back to him. "We're going to take a look around. Let me know if you find anything."

"Of course."

Without saying a word, Beckett and Castle went to opposite sides of the studio. Everything looked about how you would expect. Every surface had some amount of paint splatter on it, but the supplies themselves seemed to be in meticulous order, with every brush cleaned and all of her paints shut tight. Beckett paused at a canvas with a country landscape on it that resembled one of the pictures hanging on the wall. The poor kid was homesick.

One canvas over had a bunch of articles, each speculating in some way about the artist's relationship with her fiancé, glued to it with red paint slavered over it making it look like the papers were covered with blood. Gee, what could this one mean?

"Kate! You might want to take a look at this."

Taking one last look at the canvas, Beckett walked over to where Castle was studying the contents of a wardrobe. From a distance all she could see was smocks. "What?"

He pointed to the back of the wardrobe and stepped back so that she could have a better look. "I don't think she was wearing that while she painted."

Hanging there, slightly obscured, was a garment bag with the words Sandra Lewis written across it in a flowing script font.

"No, probably not," Beckett agreed, already dialing. "She probably kept it here so Clifford wouldn't find -- Hi, this is Kate Beckett... Yes, I was there a few days ago and unfortunately got called away. Yes, I would. The soonest time available would be great. Tonight? No, that's fine. Thank you."

"Why don't you just bring her in?" Castle asked when she'd hung up.

"On what evidence? Should we just start bringing in all the designers of our victims' clothing? Do we pick up Calvin Klein next?"

"This is different."

"We don't know that it is. And even if it is, how am I supposed to sell that to the DA? She's not even linked to all of our victims."

"She didn't sell dresses to all of the victims; that doesn't mean they didn't go in for a consultation."

"No, it doesn't, but I need more for a warrant so I can find that out."

Both seemed to remember that they were surrounded by the CSU team at the same moment and stopped short. Beckett latched onto Castle's arm and steered him out into the hall. However, the door was still standing wide open, so when Castle spoke again his voice was lower. "I'm going with you tonight."

"That won't look strange at all. Tell me, Rick, you've gotten married twice, how often did you help pick out the wedding dress?"

"Fine, if you won't let me go, at least take Karpowski with you."

"I might as well go in with a SWAT team. Karpowski practically screams 'cop'."

"They know you're a cop!"

"Yes, but they'll be looking at me like a bride, which means everyone in the store will be relaxed and more willing to talk. I show up with another cop and all of sudden people start feeling like I'm seconds away from shining a light in their eyes and interrogating them."

"Lanie! You can't possibly have an objection to Lanie going with you."

Beckett had several reasons for not wanting her best friend to go with her, but she had this image of Castle sitting outside the store in the bushes, wearing a trench coat, a fedora, and sunglasses, trying to blend in if she didn't agree to some form of back up. "I'll ask her," she conceded.

***

Beckett didn't get a chance to call Lanie until much later in the day. She told herself that it wasn't that she was putting it off, but between the meeting with the Captain and Agent Matthews, who had calmed down only slightly in the hours since their confrontation, and going over the background checks she'd had Esposito run on Sandra Lewis and her employee, Lauren Scott, she hadn't had a free moment.

"Dr. Parish," Lanie answered after only three rings.

"Hey, Lanie -- "

"I was wondering when you were going to call me."

Trying to remember if she'd forgotten about something, Beckett cautiously said, "Yeah, sorry, it's been kind of crazy..."

"Uh huh. So, do you want me to meet you at the shop or do you want to drive over together?"

"How did you -- ?"

"Castle called me."

Checkmate. If she hadn't been planning the best way to kill him, she might have been impressed with the strategy.

"I'll meet you there."

***

This time when she arrived at the boutique it was Lauren who greeted her. "Welcome back, Miss Beckett."

"Thanks, Lauren." Taking in the woman's appearance, Beckett noted that she looked exhausted. There were dark circles under her eyes that no amount of make up was going to completely cover up. She made no comment, but filed the information away for later.

"Mrs. Lewis is just finishing up with a client." Lauren looked around nervously, whether by her boss' absence or her soon-to-be presence, Beckett wasn't completely sure. "Detective, can I ask you a question?"

The change from 'Miss' to 'Detective' did not escape her, but again Beckett didn't mention it. "Sure. I'll even answer it if I can."

Lauren smiled without much humor. "Is it true Linda Blau was hurt?"

Beckett's eyebrows inched up. That information was all over the news. "Yes, she was."

"Do you... uh... have any idea who might have done it?"

"We're investigating a couple of people right now."

"Oh, well, that's..."

"Lauren? Is something wrong?"

Lauren looked at her in the same way Beckett imagined a child did when she accidentally broke a lamp while playing ball in the house. "I -- "

The door to the store swung open, causing Lauren to jump a foot into the air.

"You haven't found a dress yet, have you?" Lanie's voice rang through the waiting area.

"I'll just go check on Mrs. Lewis' progress," Lauren excused herself.

Once she left Beckett let out a heavy sigh and collapsed into one of the chairs.

"Okay, what's going on?" Lanie demanded.

"Nothing."

***

Jeffery Clifford shifted restlessly in his seat beside Linda's bed. He had yet to go home, sure that the second he did she would disappear and he'd never see her again. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. She was the young one; he had never expected to have to face the possibility of losing her. But here he was, watching as machines kept track of her vitals and an IV needle sticking out of her hand.

He was staring so hard at her face that he didn't notice when the fingers of her left hand flexed.

***

"Kate, I just wanted to let you know that operation 'get Dad to stop hovering' is in full effect. Gram and I convinced him to take us out to dinner, so that should give you a couple hours of free time. We'll be at Remy's if you change your mind and want to join us. Anyway, I better get going. See you when we get home."

Beckett couldn't help but smile as she listened to Alexis' message. Somehow she managed to fit sweet innocence, mischievousness, and concern into one phone call and sounded sincere with each.

She really needed an hour to turn her brain off, not think about the case, or the psycho that was trying to kill her. She needed to not think about what Lauren was trying to tell her.

She'd hoped to get another chance to talk to her, but soon after Sandra had come out to talk to them, Lauren had left.

But she couldn't think about it anymore tonight. Maybe if she thought that a couple more times, she'd actually be able to accomplish it.

Beckett had managed to drag herself up the stairs and not just let herself collapse onto the couch. Most of her actions after that were purely out of habit than something she put any thought into. Shoes were kicked off, jacket slung over a chair in such a way that would have normally made her feel like a slob. She unholstered her gun and placed it in the drawer of the bedside table, where she'd been storing it since she started staying at Castle's. She'd just let herself collapse face first onto the bed when the buzzer rang through the silent apartment.

Would it be an overreaction to start crying?

"I don't know who you are," Beckett grumbled, somehow getting her legs to work again, "but you are so lucky I don't have the energy to shoot you."

The buzzer rang several more times before she got to the door. Opening the door a crack, Beckett was instantly more awake at the sight of Lauren Scott. Swinging the door open the rest of the way, she had just enough time to take in Lauren's tear streaked face before a movement to her right had her instinctively reaching for a gun that wasn't there.

The other figure pushed Lauren forward like a shield with one hand and held a gun pointing directly at Beckett's heart in the other.

"Detective, I'm so glad we finally get to meet."

***

Esposito was shutting his computer down for the night when his phone rang. He let out a long sigh; he'd been so close to getting out, before picking it up. "Esposito."

"Hi, Detective, this is Officer Baxter. I'm here at the hospital guarding the Blau room."

"Has something happened?"

"Yes, sir. Blau's woken up and her fiancé seems to think she's okay to answer some questions. There were instructions to contact Detective Beckett if there were any changes, but I can't get in touch with her."

"Ryan!" Esposito called out to his partner, before returning to the phone. "We'll be right down there, Officer. Keep trying Beckett; she'll want to talk to her."

"Yes, sir."

Ryan looked at him questioningly. "Blau's awake," was his only explanation, but it was all that was needed.

Maybe they would finally catch a break on this case.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

12.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

When Ryan and Esposito arrived at the hospital they were a little surprised that Beckett hadn't beat them there.

"Detectives," the doctor who had briefed them after Linda's surgery greeted them as soon as they approached her hospital room. "My patient is in a great deal of pain. I do not appreciate having to wait to give her medication in order for you to speak with her."

Esposito automatically switched into what Ryan called his 'Ice-posito' mode. "The man who tried to kill her is still out there, and probably looking for more victims. We'd like to make sure that you don't get any more patients, Doctor."

"Which is the only reason I held off, but I will not have my patient's health put in jeopardy. Your investigation does not take precedence here."

"Then maybe you should let us speak to her so that we can all get back to our jobs."

A brief stare-down occurred before the doctor nodded shortly and stepped aside to allow them access to Linda Blau's room.

The young artist looked more pale than some of the corpses they came across, but her eyes were alert and her mouth was set in a determined fashion. Jeffery Clifford sat beside her, but his appearance was only marginally better.

"Miss Blau," Ryan said in a low voice, "thank you for agreeing to speak with us."

"Anything to help you catch this bastard."

"Do you remember who it was that attacked you?"

She nodded, clearing her throat as if she was having to force the words out. "Ian Ford. Ian Ford is the man who shot me."

***

Beckett was staring into the cold eyes of Ian Ford and was trying very hard to not be stunned by that fact. "Ford?"

A grin split across his face in some sickly form of pride. Pulling Lauren's trembling form more tightly against him, ensuring that his human shield wasn't going anywhere, he kept his gun trained on Beckett. "You had no idea, did you, Detective?" The way he sneered her rank made it sound like a curse word he could barely bring himself to say.

"No," she agreed, figuring that she would at least start with ego stroking before moving on to another tactic. "You had us all fooled. We were looking for a woman."

Ford shook his head, with a look on his face that said she should be wearing a dunce cap. "So, you fell for my little messenger diversion here." He kissed Lauren on the cheek in acknowledgement, causing the woman to jerk her face away violently. This seemed to amuse him greatly.

"I assumed whoever was doing these murders had enough balls to deliver his own mail."

She thought she might have pushed him a little too far when his finger twitched on the trigger. However, his attention was no longer on Lauren.

Ford visibly reined in his temper, though there was an audible hiss in his voice when he spoke. "You're really a terrible hostess, my dear Katherine. I'm surprised someone who throws as many parties as Rick does agreed to marry you."

"Oh, I'm sorry, was I supposed to offer you a drink before or after you pulled a gun on me?"

"I'm not thirsty, but let's move this conversation out of your foyer, shall we?" He gestured towards the couch with the gun, making sure everyone knew it wasn't a suggestion. The next few seconds were filled with a complicated dance. Beckett slowly walked backward, while Ford and Lauren moved like they were the uncoordinated couple in the three-legged race.

"Sit down, and keep your hands where I can see them," Ford instructed. "Now, we're going to have a nice little chat."

***

Alexis was going to take her father's watch away from him if he glanced at it one more time. "You know, Dad, Grams and I are going to start thinking you don't like spending time with us if you keep that up."

Castle didn't respond right away, until he felt both women staring at him. "Hmm?"

"Really, Richard," his mother said in exasperation. "The poor girl just needs a little time to herself. You don't have to act like you were put in a time-out."

"I don't know what you're talking about." He looked at his watch again.

"You're pouting, darling, and I had such hopes that you would have outgrown that by now."

He was saved from having to come up with a response by the ringing of his phone. "Castle."

"Castle, it's Ryan. Is Beckett with you?"

"No..." He reminded himself not to panic. "She should be back at the loft by now."

"We've been trying to get in touch with her all night. She's not picking up."

"Dad?" Alexis asked cautiously, having watched her father go slightly pale.

"Call Kate. Right now," he told her before returning to Ryan. "Did you try Lanie? They might have gone out for a drink or something after they finished shopping."

"Yeah, man, she says Beckett was going straight home. Listen, if you find her, tell her we have a warrant coming in for Ian Ford."

"You can't arrest someone for being a hack."

"You can arrest him for being a murderer."

"She's not answering," Alexis voice had taken on a nervous quality.

"Did you try the house phone?" Martha asked and Alexis immediately began dialing again.

***

"You have to let me answer that," Beckett said as the house phone began to ring for the second time.

"I'm not an idiot, Detective."

"That's debatable," she mumbled, but made no move for the phone.

"Kate, are you there?" Alexis' voice spoke when the answering machine came on. "I know you're probably just sleeping, but Ryan and Esposito have been trying to get in touch with you and now Dad's freaking out because we can't either. If you want your two full hours alone I would pick up the phone..."

"Put it on speakerphone. If you say anything I interpret as a warning I'll put a bullet in your brain and you won't get to ask me any of those questions you've worked so hard to get the opportunity to ask."

She nodded and got up to answer the phone. "Hi, Alexis."

"Oh, Kate, thank God. We were getting worried."

"Yeah, sorry about that. The battery on my phone died and I didn't notice until just now."

"It's okay. I think we're heading home now."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ford raise the gun to the level of her head.

"No, no, no. Alexis, you've got to keep your dad out of my hair for a little while longer."

"Kate, I don't think..."

"Tell him if he needs something to do he can run to the grocery store."

"The grocery store?"

"Yeah, we could use some apples."

"Okay, I'll try that..."

"Thank you so much, sweetie. I've got to go. I think the bathtub is overflowing."

***

Alexis was staring at her phone as if it could explain the conversation she'd just had with Beckett. Turning to her dad, she tried to put a confidence in her voice she didn't feel. "She sounded fine."

Castle remained unconvinced. "What did she say?"

"That we should go to the store and pick up some apples."

Martha tilted her head slightly. "We just got a whole bushel of apples from the farmer's market."

Castle shook his head. "She's in trouble."

***

If this were a Nikki Heat novel this would be the scene where Rook would run across town, after deciding a cab would take too long, in an effort to come to Nikki's aide. Castle was now sure that Rook was an idiot.

Once he'd come to the realization that Beckett was in danger, he'd rushed out of the restaurant, Alexis and his mother calling for him to wait. He had tried to flag down one of the ten cabs in the immediate vicinity, each of which had ignored him. He then ran about three blocks before he realized the ridiculousness of what he was doing. He wasn't Usain Bolt.

Holding out a hand, he once again tried to hail a cab, this time successfully. Castle was reaching for the handle on the door when it swung open.

Alexis' head poked out of the cab. "Need a ride?"

***

"Ian Ford! This is the police, we have a warrant!" Esposito called through the door of Ford's apartment. He and Ryan exchanged a look from opposite sides of the doorframe. Holding up three fingers, Esposito silently began to count down. He'd just gotten to three when he turned his body more towards the door and kicked the door in and went through first.

"Clear," Ryan called out.

"Clear," Esposito confirmed. He began to turn back to his partner when his eyes landed on the nearby wall. Flipping on the lights, the faces of the murdered women all smiled back at him from a large corkboard. "I'd say we got our boy."

"Dude, take a look at this." Ryan was standing in the middle of the sparsely furnished room, next to a table. Scattered across it were dozens of clippings, a good portion of them written by the psycho himself. And all of them were about Beckett and Castle.

"Where is this sick fuck?"

Ryan didn't get the chance to respond as his phone started ringing. "Ryan. You're heading where? No, don't do anything! We'll be right there." He hung up and immediately started for the door. "The Castle family seems to think they're the SWAT team. We have to hurry."

***

Lauren Scott could feel her entire body shaking as she tried to block out the feel of Ian's arms holding her securely to him. She wanted to believe that there was no way she could have seen this coming throughout their long years of friendship, but she knew that she'd ignored sign after sign and was now paying for it.

She hadn't been able to look at the other woman in the room since they'd arrived. Lauren barely knew Kate Beckett, but she'd been nice to her on both of the occasions they'd met. She couldn't believe that the detective deserved the things Ian said she did.

Ian had been expounding on his mission for the last ten minutes, like some mad comic book villain. The look in his eyes as he told his story confused Lauren though. It was like he was waiting for Kate to tell him he'd done a good job, but at the same time he seemed to eye her with disdain.

She said very little however, and Lauren prayed that it was because she was coming up with a plan and not because Ian had bored her into a stupor.

"You've been awfully quiet, Detective. Don't you have anything to ask me?"

Lauren could feel the ice that flowed back and forth between Ian and Kate. If she hadn't already been shaking, she would have shivered.

"Why?" The question was so simple, but that one word concealed so much anger.

"Maybe I'm just a psychopath," Ian posed, amusement tinging his voice.

Kate shook her head. "There's always a story." She stared him down for a moment before continuing. "You wanted to tell me this, Ford. You wanted to brag about how you fooled everyone, to peak my curiosity. Well, you've got my attention now and I want to know. Why?"

Her voice had raised progressively throughout her rant so that when she ended on the why she was screaming. The events that followed the word leaving the detective's lips were all a blur.

She remembered Ian jerking the gun at Kate right before the front door seemed to explode open. Ian's head snapped towards the door automatically, his hold on her loosening just a little. Someone yanked her out of his grasp and threw her to the floor, covering her with their body as voices around them yelled.

A gun went off.

She screamed and could feel the warmth of blood spread over her, but she didn't feel any of the pain that should have accompanied the feeling.

***

Beckett heard someone scream. Was it her? No, it wasn't, she was almost positive.

Why was she in so much pain?

"Beckett?" Ryan. That was Ryan's voice. She tried to respond, but couldn't make any words come out. "Oh God, get the paramedics in here now!"

Paramedics?

And that's when her brain figured it out. She'd been shot... Well, fuck...

She could feel the sticky warmth of her own blood soaking into her blouse and then someone's hand applying pressure to the wound.

That scream was definitely her.

"Shit!" another voice exclaimed, and she had to agree with him. "Kate... What... Oh God..."

Rick.

She tried to reach out towards his voice, but couldn't find him. She almost tried to call out, but then he was there, holding her hand, stroking her hair.

She heard other people moving around her, but now her attention was focused solely on him.

"It's going to be okay, baby," he was telling her. She could hear tears in his voice so she let the 'baby' comment go this once.

"Rick..."

"Yeah, honey? I'm right here."

"Hurts."

"I know, I know, but these guys are going to fix it. You're going to be fine." He sounded so scared.

"Love you."

She didn't remember anything after that.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

13.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Castle walked alongside the gurney the paramedics had put Beckett on. He was still holding her hand even though she had long since lost consciousness; he couldn't let that connection go. As they approached the ambulance one of the paramedics placed a hand on his shoulder.

"We don't have room for a passenger, buddy." His voice was compassionate, but brooked no argument.

Castle started to tell him that one of them could stay if they were really concerned about space because he was going with her when he felt Ryan step up beside him. "Come on, Castle, we'll give you a ride. Where are you guys taking her?"

"St. Marcus."

And then she was gone. For a few moments Castle just stood there in a daze.

"Come on, man, let's get you out of here."

Castle turned towards him, but it wasn't Ryan his gaze landed on. Before anyone could react, he had sprinted the short distance to the cluster of police cars outside his building.

Esposito had just enough time to say, "Hey!" before Castle had grabbed a fistful of Ford's shirt and slammed him against the car.

"You fucking son of a bitch, why?"

"Castle!" Esposito yelled at him, but did very little to actually pull the man off.

"The bitch deserved far worse than she got," Ford spat back, but quickly regretted his words when Castle's fist collided with his jaw. He pulled his fist back to land a second punch, but this time Esposito did act, latching on to Castle's arm and yanking the man back. Ford's eyes blazed as he yelled, "That asshole just punched me!"

"You ran into the car door," Esposito said in a deceptively calm voice.

"You really are quite clumsy," Ryan agreed, coming to stand on the other side of the author.

Ford made a strangled sound of outrage. "You should be thanking me for taking out that gold-digging tramp before you had to participate in a shot-gun wedding."

Castle tried to lunge for him, but Ryan and Esposito each held firm to an arm. Esposito looked around before catching the eye of one of the uniforms. "Officer Miles! Will you makes sure Mr. Ford here arrives safe and sound to his holding cell? We wouldn't want him to run into anything else."

They waited until Ford had been safely escorted away before turning fully to the writer.

"Dude, that was badass!" Ryan practically squealed.

"Yeah," Esposito agreed, "I didn't know you had it in you. I thought you were going to rip his head off."

"Beckett's going to kick your ass for assaulting a suspect, though."

"Ours too probably."

"Oh yeah, I guess we better not tell her then."

"That would be for the best."

They looked at Castle expectantly, waiting for him to jump in with one of his usual remarks, but all he did was allow the right corner of his mouth to twitch up slightly.

"You've got one anxious kid over there," Esposito pointed to where Alexis and Martha sat, still waiting for news. "Why don't you go check in with them and then we'll take you to see Beckett on our way to the precinct."

Castle nodded and walked in a zombie-like state to his daughter, who immediately threw her arms around her father's waist, burying her head in his chest. Mrs. R stroked his back in a comforting gesture.

The two detectives watched the family cling to each other before Ryan broke the silence. "You should have let him kill the bastard."

Esposito didn't blink and when he answered his voice was low and dangerous. "I thought about it."

***

Jim Beckett was having a hard time getting to sleep. He must have laid in bed for a good hour and a half before giving it up for lost and getting up. He hadn't had this much trouble since just after Katie had graduated from the academy.

He had just put on water for tea when the doorbell rang. Glancing at the clock he tried not to wonder why someone would show up at his door at this time of night and instead went to answer it.

"Mr. Beckett?" a man in a suit, who Jim vaguely recognized as Katie's captain, asked.

"Yes..."

"I'm very sorry to have to tell you this, but there was incident tonight..."

Jim barely registered the rest of the words. All he could think about was the image of his baby girl lying in a hospital bed somewhere. "Where is she? I need to see her."

"Of course. I'll take you to her."

***

Lauren sat under the bright lights of the interrogation room. She really just wanted to go home and hide there for the rest of her life. Most of all, she wanted to get out of this shirt. She was spending all of her energy not looking at it, but even so she could still feel where the blood had pooled on it; she could still smell it.

She needed to get out of here.

"Lauren," she heard her Aunt Mona's voice, but it took her a moment to realize that she was was actually in the room. "God, honey, what happened? I'm going to get you out of here, but you have to talk to the police first. I'll be here the entire time."

"Miss Scott, we're sorry for the wait," Esposito said as he and Ryan walked into the room. They took the two chairs across the table from her and her aunt sat next to Lauren.

"My client has had a difficult night, Detectives. We'll need to keep this as brief as possible."

"Your client is about to be charged with accessory to the murder of four women, as well as the attempted murder of two others, one of whom is a cop. It'll take however long it takes."

Lauren's eyes grew wide and she started shaking her head very quickly back and forth. Her aunt placed a reassuring hand on her arm and leaned forward, challenging the detectives.

"On what grounds?"

Ryan opened a folder, pushing part of its contents across the table for them to see. "That is you, isn't it Miss Scott?"

Lauren was looking down at a picture of herself, shoving an envelope under the door of Richard Castle's apartment. "Yes, but..."

"Lauren," Mona warned. "All that proves is that my client delivered a letter."

Esposito snorted in disbelief, his eyes focused directly on Lauren. "A letter that threatened the lives of two people. Do you really expect us to believe that you had no idea what was going on?"

"I didn't!" Lauren yelled over Mona's warning. "I swear. I had no idea what Ian was doing."

"Then why the disguise?"

"Detective Beckett had been in the shop recently; I didn't want to take the chance that she'd recognize me. Ian said that she and Mr. Castle weren't returning his phone calls and he needed an exclusive with them to keep his bosses happy."

"I can see how you might buy that the first time," Ryan allowed, "but the second?"

"Do you automatically assume your friends are lying to you, Detective?" Lauren snapped.

He ignored the question. "How'd you get in the building without the doorman noticing you?"

"I've been staying with my aunt," unconsciously her eyes darted to Mona, whose eyes slipped shut for the briefest of moments. "We live just a couple floors down. The doorman sees me everyday."

Esposito jotted down something on a piece of paper. "And you never once suspected that Ian Ford was a murderer?"

"No! At least..." She lowered her eyes to the table.

"If you want any chance at a deal you better tell us everything you know."

"Is that offer for a deal genuine, Detective?" Mona asked, cutting off her niece.

"If she talks."

"All charges dropped or we walk out of here right now, you get nothing, and we leave this up to a jury."

"If what she has to say helps our case against Ford, we'll make sure the DA is in the right mood."

Mona and Esposito stared each other down for a few seconds before she turned to Lauren and nodded.

"Yesterday, I went over to his apartment to check on him; he's been acting really strange lately, and I saw his new wallpaper. All those clippings... I still didn't let myself believe it. When I saw Detective Beckett tonight, I tried to tell her but I didn't get the chance. He was waiting for me when I got off work. He asked me to get him in the apartment building. I told him I wouldn't and confronted him about what I saw at his apartment. He pulled a gun on me and told me he was sorry. I really don't think he wanted to hurt me, but he just had this look in his eyes..."

"You suspected that he had killed four women and you didn't think he would hurt you?"

"I didn't remind him of her."

Ryan leaned forward. "Her who?"

Lauren swallowed hard and glanced at the three faces staring at her intently. "What do you know about Ian's sister?"

***

Jim walked into the observation room of the surgery bay. Just through the window he could see doctors and nurses dressed in scrubs gathered around his daughter. She looked pale, and the only real indication he could see of life was the steady beat on the heart monitor. It was one of the scariest things he had ever seen in his life.

He pulled his gaze away from her to look at the man standing in front of the window. Even with all of the activity of surgical team, Jim could see that Castle's eyes never left Katie's face.

"You know they have chairs in here; you don't have to stand the whole time."

He expected some kind of acknowledgement of his presence, but all he got was, "I'm fine."

"As a writer, I would expect you to have a firmer grasp on what the word 'fine' means. Cause I've got to tell you, son, you are about as far from it as you can get." Castle did turn to him briefly then, and for the first time Jim noticed that he was clutching something in a death grip. He didn't want to take the time just yet to figure out what it was since who knew how long he'd have his attention. "Sit down. You'll still be able to see her."

The younger man still looked hesitant, so Jim took his arm and gave him no choice but to follow him.

"It's my fault." His words were spoken so softly that Jim wasn't sure he'd heard them at first.

"From what Captain Montgomery told me she got hurt protecting a hostage. Were you the hostage?"

"No, I -- "

"Oh, so you pulled the trigger? I didn't know they let famous authors carry weapons."

"I wasn't there."

"That sounds like more evidence that it wasn't your fault, not that it was."

"If I'd been with her -- "

"You would have what? Jumped in front of the bullet? And then Katie would be sitting here instead of you, feeling guilty because not only had she not done her job, but you got hurt in the process. And that poor girl I met in the waiting room? You really want her to go through what we're feeling right now? That sounds pretty selfish to me, Rick." Castle looked more lost than before. "Now, my baby girl is one of the strongest women I've ever met. She's going to pull through this, but she's going to need you when she does. You better tell me now if you can't handle that."

Castle looked down at the bag in his hands and for the first time Jim could see what it contained: the chain with Johanna's ring, his watch, and Katie's engagement ring.

"Yeah, I can handle it."

***

"We've got more than enough evidence to convict you right now, Ian," Esposito said, already tiring of the man's posturing. "You shot a police officer in front of other cops. I'm sure that we'll find that it matches the gun that shot Linda Blau, who identified you as her shooter. Not only that, but we have a signed statement by your buddy Lauren. This is merely a formality at this point."

"No jury is going to convict me," Ian said with a surety that was almost terrifying. "They'll understand why I had to do what I did."

"And why is that, Ian? Because they reminded you of Tina?"

If Ian hadn't been cuffed he would have sprung out of his chair. "Don't you dare say that cunt's name!"

"Why not?" Ryan asked conversationally. "She's why you did all of this, isn't she? You owed her and every woman like her."

"She's the reason my sister is dead! Her and that dickless excuse for a husband, Robert. She just walked into Robert's locker room one day and started taking away everything that belonged to Carol.

"It destroyed her! Do you know what it's like to come home one day and find your sister... God, there was so much blood..." He choked on a sob as he looked at his hands, as if he could still see the blood. "God, Carol..."

"So you had to punish these women. Women who were taking what didn't belong to them," Esposito pushed.

"Yes! They were destroying people's lives and they had to be stopped! Don't you see that?"

"All I see is someone who used the loss of one person to justify taking the lives of four others. All I see is a murderer."

***

Beckett knew immediately that she wasn't laying in her own bed. The pillows were all wrong for one thing, and she was pretty sure it was a twin and she hadn't slept in one of those since she was 10. She tried to pull her eyelids apart in order to take in the rest of her surroundings, but they weren't cooperating. Though judging by the beeps of machinery and the smell of antiseptics her brain supplied 'hospital'. Which was probably for the best because she felt like crap.

"I can't believe you're playing possum on me now," Castle's voice teased from her left side.

Managing to get her eyes to half-mast, she took him in. He had the appearance of a man who hadn't slept in days. There were deep circles under his eyes and his hair was sticking up at odd angles, as if he had run his hands through it too many times. "You don't look so hot."

He attempted a smile that didn't fool her, despite her painkiller haze. "There are several women on the nursing staff who would disagree."

"Mmm, they offer to give you a sponge bath? Because it looks like you could use one."

"Man, sit vigilantly at a woman's bedside and this is the thanks you get."

"I'd thank you properly, but I'm not sure I can move my... anything."

He moved to stand by her head so he could stroke her hair and watch as her eyes slipped all the way closed again. "Why don't you sleep a little while longer?"

"Kay. Did I tell you I love you or did I dream that?"

"You did. You want to take it back?"

"No."

"Good because I love you, too." He leaned over and brushed a kiss across her lips. "Now go to sleep."

"Kay." And mere seconds later she was.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

14.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Can you see me through this forest?" Castle called from the door of Beckett's room, making a show of peeking around a particularly large bouquet of flowers.

"Your ego can be spotted from space; I'm pretty sure I can see you across the room," Beckett groused. Today was 'freedom day' and it was not a minute too soon for Beckett or any of the hospital staff that had been dealing with her on a daily basis.

Castle ignored her and pulled out the card from the gigantic display. "'Detective Beckett, I hope you feel better soon. We all miss you here. Tim Pendrell.' Why doesn't he just ask you to go steady with him while he's at it?"

Beckett shook her head disbelievingly. "How did you zero in on that particular arrangement?"

"Because of its ridiculous size, it had to be from someone trying to impress you," he stated matter-of-factly. "I bet I can figure out who each of these are from without looking at the cards."

"No, you can't."

"Wanna bet?"

"No!"

"Afraid you'll lose?" He threw in a raised eyebrow for good measure.

She glared at the obvious challenge in his voice. "Fine, if you want to make yourself look ridiculous, go ahead."

"But what will you give me if I win?"

She ignored his playful leer. "A round of applause?" With mock solemnity she clapped her hands while moving them in a circular motion to demonstrate.

"Tempting, very tempting, but how about the winner gets to pick the movie tonight?"

She considered him before deciding that sounded safe enough. "Fine."

He pointed to the the first bouquet next to Tim's. "The plastic shaped like flowers with candy filling and a dozen 'get well' balloons tied to their vase is from Ryan and Esposito."

"That one was too easy."

He ignored her and continued. "The yellow roses are from JT." She started to ask how on earth he could know that, but he waved her off. "The mixed roses are from from the station, but I'm pretty sure Roy picked them out himself. The white daisies are from the doorman at your dad's building. Hank?" He barely waited for her nod before continuing. "Even though she can't believe she bought them, the sunflowers are from Lanie because they're your favorite. The pink lilies are from my mother. Those purple flowers with the bear hugging the vase are from Alexis..."

Beckett stared at him in disbelief as he named off each arrangement, never hesitating more than a couple seconds on each. She was so distracted by trying to figure out how he knew each one that she barely noticed that he'd made his way across the room to her side.

"And this..." he pulled the very worn stuffed duck that she'd been hiding under the covers. She instinctively made a grab for it but he held it just out of reach. "... is from your dad. What's his name, by the way?"

"Dab-dab," she said through gritted teeth, "give him back."

He tossed the duck back to her before reaching into his inside pocket and pulling out a single red rose. It was looking a little thread-bare, probably thanks to the journey inside his coat, but he presented it to her with all of the chivalry of a knight bestowing a gift on a princess. "I'm a traditionalist." She waited a beat before taking it from him, just to make him sweat it out a little. He took her acceptance as an okay to sit beside her on the bed. "So, how'd I do?"

She brought the rose to her nose to cover her smile. "So well that I'm pretty sure you came in with prior knowledge."

"I didn't, I swear. It's just a gift."

She still didn't believe him, but let it go. "Uh huh. What movie are we watching?"

"I'm thinking Howard the Duck." He barely got the words out before she whacked him with Dab-Dab. "Ow! Okay, okay, we can watch Dr. Doolittle. Ow! You are the only woman I know who a duck in her hands is a lethal weapon, you know that?" He made sure she wasn't preparing to swing again before saying, "Fine, I'll come up with something else."

"Miss Beckett?" an orderly asked from just inside the door. "Are you ready to get out of here?"

"More than ready."

***

"We're going the wrong way," Beckett commented when she noticed the car service turn the opposite way of what it should have.

"Don't be a backseat driver," was Castle's only response. "I'm sure he knows where he's going."

"The only way this would be the way to my dad's is if we went around the world and I don't have 80 days to spare right now."

"Ah, well, there's an easy explanation for that. We're not going to your dad's."

"Rick..."

There was a warning in her voice that he chose to ignore for now. "It wasn't a realistic plan. The five of us never would have fit comfortably at your dad's. Sure, at first the sleeping bags in the living room would have felt like camping, but the shine would have worn off really fast when you realized there was absolutely no privacy."

"The five of us weren't going to stay there."

"Well that's also unrealistic. Alexis and I are a package deal and mother cannot be trusted to her own devices for longer than an hour. So, unless your dad wanted to stay somewhere else..."

"I told you..."

"And you were outvoted, 4 to 1 if you're curious. It was very democratic." He brought a hand up to cup her cheek, turning her face so that they were looking directly at each other. "Just let me do this for you."

She shook her head resignedly. "You know the sad puppy eyes aren't going to work every time."

"But they will now, right?" Castle smiled widely at her, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah," she said on a sigh that was a mixture of affection and acquiescence, "this time they'll work."

"Shiny!" He shrugged at her confused look. "Don't ask, I have no idea. It just seemed like the right thing to say."

***

"Do you think my dad will be okay?" Beckett asked as she and Castle got ready for bed.

"Kate, he's fine," Castle said in the tone of voice people get when they've answered the same question several times. "But if you feel you need to check on him during the night, he's right down the hall. Unless you want me to pull out the baby monitors I used when Alexis was little."

She rolled her eyes at him. "I was just asking."

"No, you were 'just asking' the first time. Now you're fretting."

"I'm sorry, I'm what?"

"Shut up," he said when he heard the laughter in her voice. "I have something for you, by the way. Well, a few somethings actually. I've been trying to find the right time to give them to you." He tried to sound casual, but his face had taken on a serious expression.

Beckett watched as he rummaged around in his coat pocket. "You didn't have -- "

"Why don't you wait and see what they are before you tell me 'I didn't have to'? Take a seat."

She barely contained a wince at his words. "I hate when you say that. That usually means I'm going to end up crying and/or pissed at you." But she sat down anyway.

He found what he was looking for, but shoved them into his pants pocket before she could try and figure out what they were. Walking back to her, he sat next to her on the bed and they both shifted so they were facing each other.

"I don't have to tell you how scared I was when I found out you'd been shot. I don't think I've ever gotten up the flights of stairs to this building faster than I did when I heard the call come down for the paramedics. I knew you weren't dead, but at the same time..."

She bit her lip as she watched the battle of emotions rage over his face. "I'm okay now. I'm right here," she reassured softly.

"And then you were in surgery," he continued on. "I couldn't watch what they were doing. I didn't want to know, but I had to keep watching your face. As long as I could see your face, I knew you were okay."

"I'm so sor -- "

He shook his head. "Don't. You didn't do anything wrong." She searched his eyes, making sure he really believed that, before nodding. "One of the nurses came to talk to me right after they'd prepped you. She told me that the doctors were saying your odds were good, asked if I needed anything while I waited, and gave me your personal effects to hold for you." Her eyes widened slightly in understanding when she saw him pull her father's watch from his pocket.

Lifting her left hand, he fastened the watch to her wrist. "For the life you saved."

Next, he replaced the chain with her mother's ring around her neck. He briefly toyed with the ring until she brought her hand up to cover his with her own, so that they were both, in effect, holding on to the ring. "For the life you lost."

He then held up her engagement ring to her eye level and they both watched as it glinted in the low light of the bedroom. "And for the life we're going to have."

As he slipped the ring onto the ring finger of her left hand, she cursed herself for being right. He had made her cry. "God, you had to make this hard, didn't you?"

He shook his head in confusion. "Wha -- ?"

"We're not ready to get married, Rick." He tried to pull away from her, but she held on tight. Her voice pleaded with him to understand. "It wasn't that long ago that we weren't even speaking to each other. I don't want to mess this up because we moved too fast. You being worried or scared that I might have died is not a reason to get married."

"That's not why."

"Really? Not even a little?" He looked away and she knew she was right. "Someday I want to marry you. You'll wear a tux, I'll wear a white dress, and we'll say 'I do'. But I want it to just be about us and not because some psychopath got trigger happy." She gently placed a finger under his chin and tilted his head up. "I promise you are the only serious candidate I have."

"I better be," he stated simply and she was relieved that none of the malice she was afraid would tinged his voice was there. She started to take off the ring to give it back to him but he stopped her. "Keep it. As a promise."

She hesitated then nodded. "So we're what? Engaged to be engaged?"

He laughed and shook his head. "Yeah, good luck finding a card for that." He rubbed his thumb across her knuckle, just above the ring. "Does this mean you won't move in with me either?"

She pretended to think about it. "I don't know, Rick... You think you can handle living with three women?"

"Mother can move out," he said immediately.

Beckett laughed and leaned forward so that they were only a breath apart. "I don't know that I can live with a man who is so willing to toss his mother out on the street," she teased.

"Fine, she can stay," he allowed, leaning even further into her so that if either of them spoke their lips would graze.

"Then yes, I'll move in with you." And she sealed the promise with a kiss.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Epilogue.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Six Months Later

Linda Clifford looked around the art gallery, trying to read each person's face as they went from piece to piece. She'd been trying to get the butterflies out of her stomach for the past week, but instead they seemed to have multiplied.

"Relax," Jeff said, coming up to her and handing her a flute of champagne. "Everyone's loving the show. You're a hit."

"Like anyone's going to give you an honest opinion," she teased her husband.

"Linda!" Both Linda and Jeff turned to see Richard Castle and Kate Beckett walking towards them. Linda and Beckett had formed an odd survivors' bond which had morphed into a friendship.

When the couple reached them, Linda pulled them each into a hug. "Thank God you two are here; I needed to see some friendly faces."

"What are you worried about?" Castle asked. "All of the pieces look great."

Jeff choked a laughed into his own glass of champagne. Linda glared at him.

Castle looked back and forth between them. "Did I miss something?"

"Often," Beckett teased. "I'm going to steal Linda for a few minutes, Jeff."

Linda had gotten pretty good at reading her friend's face, so she knew that something was bothering her. When they got far enough away from any prying ears she asked, "Kate, what's going on?"

"Did you hear that Ford lost his last appeal?"

"Yeah, the DA called me."

"How are you holding up?"

"I'm just glad that it's finally over, you know?"

"Yeah..." Suddenly a smile spread across Beckett's face. "When did you find out you were pregnant?"

"What?" Linda said just a little too loudly, which she only realized when several people turned to look at them. She smiled shyly and waved before grabbing Beckett's arm and tugging her further away from the crowd. "What?"

"Oh, come on. You haven't touched the champagne you've been carrying around for 5 minutes, you look slightly green around the gills, and you put your hand protectively over your abdomen when you said you were glad this was all over. And I'm also guessing that Jeff doesn't know yet."

"I had to befriend a detective!" Linda pointed a warning finger at her. "Kate, you have to promise me that you won't tell anyone until after I've told Jeff. Especially Rick."

"My lips are sealed."

"Alright. I've got to mingle a little, but don't leave without saying goodbye, okay?" Castle walked up to the two of them and Linda made a teasing sweeping gesture, "You can have your date back now, Mr. Castle."

Castle bowed in return. "Thank you, kind madam." Beckett and Castle watched as the artist walked away to mingle with buyers and critics. "So, she's pregnant, huh?"

Beckett smiled briefly before squashing it. "What makes you say that?"

"Please. She hasn't touched that champagne since she got it."

"Not bad, writer boy."

"I know, sometimes I impress even myself."

"That's not hard to do."

His eyes skimmed down her form and she barely suppressed a shiver. "When we go home I can work on impressing you."

She lowered her voice and smirked at him. "That could take a lot of doing."

"I don't mind hard work. We could leave right now so that I could get started."

"We are here to be supportive. Staying for only 15 minutes is not supportive."

"Is 30 minutes supportive enough?"

"Rick..."

He held his up his hands defensively. "Okay, okay." He slipped an arm around her waist and they started walking around the gallery. "How's she holding up?"

"She's fine."

"And you?"

They stopped in front of a canvas covered with newspaper clippings and red paint. Beckett thought about the first time she'd seen it in Linda's studio, and she thought about the young woman walking around now, shaking hands with potential collectors. And she thought about the warmth of Castle's arm wrapped around her.

"I'm good."

The End

Author's Ending Notes: Okay, by a show of hands... who's still here? Mwah! You guys are the best! I hope you had as much fun reading this as I had writing it (even if some chapters and I had fights Aims had to mediate...)

I don't know that I'll do anything else in this universe. We'll see, but for now... That's all folks!

Name: Dancing Through Life
Online Since: 07/29/2005
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