Being somewhat annoyed with the lack of what I deemed as worthy Caskett moments in the last episode (4X11), I got the idea to write this from the preview clips for 4X12. As I wrote this, there have not been any sneak peeks yet. Although I'm sure that any sneak peeks will render this totally and completely off-the-charts AU, I'm still going to do it to satisfy my need for some positive forward movement in the relationship (hint). And I do realize that the quotes shown in the preview clip are probably not exact, but I'm still going to go with them anyway. I took the title from the line in the preview that was uttered by Captain Gates, in an utterly chilling voice, if I might say that.

This one is very short, especially for me. I guess I want to gauge response and see if people actually want to see something like this. I haven't been stalking new fanfics lately, so I don't really know what's out there or if this theme has been overdone. It won't be a long one if I continue; at most, a three-shot.

Disclaimers: Don't own any of the characters.


"The minute you move on him, I'm gone."

Castle's eyes held hers, deadly serious. It wasn't a thought that hadn't gone through her mind at least a dozen times in the short while since their investigation started pointing toward the Mayor. The Mayor was Castle's all-access pass to the department, to her...and even though she couldn't formulate the words to admit it, she was scared, and she was conflicted, for perhaps the first time in her career. Their eyes didn't waver for several seconds as the impact of that thought, now spoken out loud, settled into each one of them. She knew the stakes. And they were high. Even though she couldn't put that into words.

"Beckett," he said in almost a pleading voice, "I've known him for twelve years. He's not a killer. He couldn't do this."

She looked away, Gates' stinging, almost threatening words ringing in her head. 'Do your job, whatever the cost', she'd said. But Beckett knew what she wanted to say, but she couldn't, for more reasons than just the fact that they were in the station. So even though it was hard, she gave him the response that she knew Detective Beckett needed to give him. "Castle, you're too close to this investigation. You need to step back, and let me do this."

His eyes got slightly larger when he heard her stark, stern words, with not a hint of comfort in them, spoken in the tone of the no-nonsense Detective Beckett. He looked at her and shook his head slightly, pleading with her. "Beckett, don't do this."

"Castle, you can't be objective on this one. Go home." Then, a little bit louder, she said, "Ryan, you're with me. Let's go." And without looking back at him, she strode off, leaving Castle looking after her forlornly. Ryan shot him a sympathetic look, but didn't say anything as he left to follow the senior detective.

And then he did what she told him, albeit grudgingly, because he had no choice, and he knew he had no choice. He went home.

And he had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that his reason-his outwardly public excuse-for being around Kate Beckett was about to come to an abrupt end. And what was he going to do then?


Like I said, I know it's short. I have part of the next chapter written, but before I went any further, like I said, I wanted to see if there was actually interest in seeing more. Because if not, I can think of a lot of other things I could do (like clean my toilets, so I really hope there's interest, if you know what I mean!)