Disclaimer:The show Castle and its characters are the property of Andrew Marlowe and ABC

Chapter 1

A steady click of heels echoed through the concrete ground as Detective Kate Beckett made her way towards the crime scene. She was pissed and it showed in the echo of her steps as this call had disturbed her much needed night off and ruined her perfect bath and add to it the unsettling feeling in her mind that has been nagging her for the past 2 weeks since she returned from her disaster beach weekend getaway. A part of her mind whispered that she has been feeling this way since Castle left for the summer and she had ignored it till now but the quiet was just getting too much. She had thought she would enjoy a little break from him, but just two weeks in 'the separation' as the boys had called it, she begrudgingly accepted she missed him. She missed his antics, his playful demeanour which he used to bring levity in the precinct's serious atmosphere and keep the people motivated. She had come to get a good read on him after working with him for almost two years. She still remembers the day she brought him in for questioning for the Tisdale murder, how excited she had been to finally get to talk to her favourite author and how disappointed she had been after the interview. But after spending practically two years with him she found that just like her he had a wall built around him, a wall made of the playboy and jackass facade to protect him from heartbreak just like her.

Shaking herself from her musings, she focused on the crime scene ahead of her and internally groaned when she spotted her new temporary partner, Demming. She had been surprised to say the least when Captain Montgomery had told her about his temporary transfer to Homicide and since her team was the only three Detective team Montgomery had no choice but to team them together with just a warning to act professional in the precinct in lieu of their romantic relationship. She had thought this partnership would be great for them but she soon found out that she was wrong, monumentally wrong. She soon found out that Demming was completely different from her, while she focused on getting closure for the victims and strive to see each case to the end, Demming focused on reducing case time, focusing on how quickly he could close a case not really caring about the victims. He didn't have the same drive she and her team members have and even though they had worked together before and connected, she found now it was only because they had the same line of thinking, a cop's way of thinking and he lacked the desire to think out the box (unlike Castle...SHUT UP). To add to these it didn't help that Ryan and Esposito felt oddly betrayed with this decision and felt like she was replacing Castle which she had clearly denied but the looks where still there.

So yeah professionally her life was not good but comparing it to the disaster that her personal life was it felt like heaven. Things had been rough between her and Demming for the past week, the spark between them had vanished during the weekend. And add to the fact the constant unsettling feeling in her mind since Castle left has kept her constantly thinking about him told her a lot more about what or who she really wanted. She grimaced as she remembers how she and Demming had singled him out during the last couple of cases, how they had ridiculed him for his suggestions, ignored him in their theory building and played with his insecurities of not really belonging their since he wasn't a cop. It was like a switch had been flipped and she couldn't control her mouth but now realized it was her way to retaliate to him growing closer to her heart after her stay at his loft. She had panicked and pushed back, maybe a little too hard remembering his face when he found out about her lie and her awkward excuse and now he was gone and she missed him and was stuck with Demming as a punishment. Not that Demming noticed any of that and was still lost in the daydream of their perfect relationship. She pushed back the thoughts to the back of her mind to focus on the task at hand.

"What have we got?" Beckett asked Lanie now in all business mode.

"A bloody mess, that is what we have got; six gunshot victims spread out across the walk path."

"Six victims?" Beckett asked looking around the walk path her eyes falling on the body of a small girl near the juice stall.

"Yeah, six shots fired by a sniper from that parking garage over there," Ryan said pointing towards a building at a distance, "Espo took a couple of uniforms there for canvassing and we found this lodged in the juice container over at the juice stall," showing them a perfect bullet in a evidence bag.

"If he missed one shouldn't there have been seven shots?" Demming asked as he joined them.

"Well the fifth victim, a Bethany Stewart was running while carrying her child, the bullet probably hit her and went through to hit her daughter. She probably would have survived but in all the chaos, no one came to stop the bleeding and she bled out just when the first responders arrived," Ryan mentioned sombrely.

Taking charge of the situation Beckett said," Lanie you take the bodies to the morgue and start working on their preliminary reports, CSU has already combed through this area, Ryan you finish taking the witness statements and get the footage of all cameras around the crime scene and meet us at the precinct."

She turned around to find Demming in her personal space with a smile she thought was meant to be assuring but one look at his eyes could tell her that he didn't mean it. She took a step back and started walking back towards her car all the while hoping there was a different man trailing behind her.

She could feel the sombre atmosphere in the precinct as she stepped of on the Homicide floor. Six victims shot down by a sniper was a big thing. She was surprised the FBI hadn't stepped in yet. She walked towards her desk to find Esposito already putting the information they knew on the whiteboard. Sensing her approach he turned towards her and told her about the sniper's nest and shell casing he found there.

"I found a white Ford Transit with its plates removed leaving the garage around the time of the shooting in the surveillance footage and lab is working on the prints found on the shell casing."

Ryan stepped at that moment reading from his notes, "Witness reported the first shot at around 5:34 with the shots coming at a 2-3 second gap," he finished as Esposito let out a low whistle.

"That means the shooter was a professional or from a military background," Demming said getting 'well duh' look from the other Detectives just as Esposito's phone rang.

"Yeah..yeah...got it," Esposito said as he finished writing what was relayed," Lab got a match on the print, Edward Jennings former marine, was stationed in Afghanistan for two years and then recalled, no record so far. Lives in a studio apartment in Brooklyn."

"Let's go," Beckett said snatching the paper from his hands.

On the way to Brooklyn, Demming kept grumbling about why they couldn't take his car. Beckett had to fight to keep herself from snapping at him, but god was he getting on her nerves. She just decided to tune him out and thought about her actual partner. What would he think about this case. It was definitely different than a normal pop and drop. Maybe they were all ex-CIA agents gone rogue or maybe they had national secrets or aliens Beckett, her Castle voice whispered. God she had a little Castle in her head, she couldn't help but shake her head as she thought what he would think about her thoughts. She was snapped out of her reverie as Demming pointed towards a white Transit parked outside the apartment block of their suspect. They made their way up the building with a SWAT team trailing behind them. They approached 504 and when there was no answer they barged in to find a man sleeping on a single bed and on the far side a work bench with .308 bullets and casings and five shells in a plastic bag along with all a reloading press and the sniper rifle.

As they arrested the half conscious man, Beckett had a feeling in the back of her mind that this was too easy. Demming strolled towards her with a smug smile and said, "See, I told you we make a great team."

She tightly smiled back but the feeling still remained.

Beckett looked through the two way mirror where Jennings sat at the interrogation table just staring and scratching the base of his right thumb oblivious to his surroundings. Beckett had sent Esposito in hope he could get something out of him owing to his military background but Jennings never broke just kept looking at his thumb.

A frustrated Esposito entered the observation room, "Nothing, I tried everything down to brother's in arms card but still nothing. It's been two hours and he just keeps scratching his thumb and looking good knows where."

"Beckett?" Montgomery prompted.

"I'm gonna take a crack at him," she stated moving towards the door of the observation room not noticing Demming following her. She was to focused to pay him any attention. As she sat down she saw Demming stay close to the door leaning against the two way mirror. She looked at Jennings and started spreading the crime scene photos on the table.

"You can see that we have enough evidence to tie you to the shooting. The DA is impatient and are itching to make this a terrorist case and hand you to homeland. Your only saving grace is to confess now and maybe the DA would go easy on you," she finished with sliding the notepad and pen towards him.

Jennings didn't say anything just picked up the offered pen and started writing. Demming smiled and started walking towards Kate but his smile faltered as he noticed what Jennings had written.

Picking up the notepad Beckett frowned and narrowing her eyes she asked, "Who the hell is Richard Rogers?"