This has been on the edges of my mind for a long time and I've decided to throw it into the mix.

WARNING: If you are so steeped in canon that estrogen levels dip or you're uncertain about who you really are, don't read another word. - You've been warned!

Castle's the cop, Beckett's the writer. It's interesting. And very AU but a fun read as it progresses. It must be fun. I laughed and I find very little funny anymore.

Mirror Image by Oldest Man

Part 1

Loft Apartment
3rd & Parkview
Lower Manhattan
2am Monday

Katherine Beckett walked out of the master bath wearing a towel wrap and brushing out her freshly washed hair.

"Oh, you're still here? I thought you'd be gone by now. Is there something else?"

The man she'd met at her publisher's dinner party and been dating for a few months and finally brought home was still here. She liked it when they finished up and left. Especially when they weren't all that good.

"Well, I noticed you didn't – I mean when we made love you didn't – "

"Oh. Well, first of all, we had sex, we didn't 'make love'. I've never 'made love'. You really need to go. I have an interview on a morning show at 7:00 and I have to be up by 5:30. Please show yourself out."

"Jesus, the talk on the circuit is right. You screw anything and everything and then just move along. Never the same guy twice. I was going to ask you if you wanted another 'go at it' and see if you could – "

"Look, you're a nice guy and all, but you're just not what I'm looking for. All that talk? Just that - talk. This is a rarity for me. You seemed nice and genuinely interested in me as a person but I see now that all you wanted was sex and the connections I could provide. Well, you got the sex. Go home. We're done. I've wasted months on you only to find - "

She heard the door slam and sank down on the bed. She had hopes for this one. He seemed nice and asked all the right questions and gave all the right answers but in the end, all he wanted was to paw at her and rut like some animal and take advantage of her celebrity for his own purposes. She should have suspected something. He was an actor.

She sighed and wondered if she was ever going to find a man who could truly love her for the person she was, not the celebrity everyone thought they knew, and wouldn't take advantage of her for his own purposes.

She'd just keep looking for her 'One and Done'. Her friends from college had all been married and most were divorced or on marriage #2 or in a few cases, #3.

She didn't want to be a notch in some one's belt.

Castle's apartment
4:45am Monday

"Castle." He rolled over and grabbed his phone from the charger and glanced at the clock. 'Doesn't anyone die during daylight hours?'

"Okay. Be there in 20 minutes." He rolled over on his back and let his palm rest lightly on the buttock of his naked partner, sleeping partner not domestic, and gently shook her.

"Rora? Ror', honey? I got to go. Got a body. Don't bother cleaning up, please? Last time I couldn't find anything for a damned week."

Aurora DiGrasso flexed her buttocks in response to his intimate caress and growled. "You could at least have coffee ready before you take liberties with your hands, Rick. And honey, all I did was put the dishes in the dishwasher and turn it on. Didn't you know you have a dishwasher?"

"Yeah but it's just me and I run out of dishes before I got a full load. C'mon, I have to go. Don't sleep in, Aurora. I don't want your Captain getting in your face. You've only been at the 19th a few months."

"Nag, nag, nag. Listen, before I forget – it's your birthday Saturday, big 3-9, and I'm taking you out for dinner and dancing and then, if you're really nice to me, I'll let you unwrap the present I bought for you at Victoria's Secret."

"Rora, y'know I hate birthdays. Just leave it in the bag. I'm not into cross-dressing, y'know? That's so wrong on so many levels."

"I'll be wearing it, Rick. And almost nothing else. You better get a move on, sweetie. You're already 5 minutes into your 20."

A quick kiss that should have lasted longer and he was up and in the shower. Ten minutes later he was out the door and into his unmarked police car and on his way to the address the dispatcher had given him.

Crime Scene – Vacant building scheduled for demolition

"Espo, what you got?" Esposito and Castle had been teamed up after Rick had Aurora transferred to the 19th. He didn't want any crap about being in a relationship with a subordinate. It wasn't really a relationship but he didn't date anyone else and neither did she that he knew of.

"Freaked out homeless guy found the body parts about 3:30am. Flagged down a passing patrol car. They're over there giving their own statements. Homeless guy is in the wagon on his way to a shelter. His statement is pretty much useless."

"Where's Ryan?"

"New guy's doing the canvassing but so far no joy. Parish just got here. It's messy, boss man, very messy. Watch out! Don't step in new guy's puke. I don't blame him, really. Like I said, messy."

Castle stepped around the steaming pile of breakfast and knelt beside the M.E., Lanie Parish. The floor of the abandoned building reeked of urine, garbage and something rotting. It was a shooting gallery and used syringes were littering the floor.

"Sorry, Lanie, no coffee. I know you just got here but what can you tell me?"

"Castle, you're right, I just got here. I'm still trying to match up the parts. Forensics has taken about all the photos anyone would want of this – this slaughterhouse. Give me a couple of minutes, will ya? And here, dab some of this Vicks up your nostrils. This is really gruesome and the smell would gag a maggot."

"Oh, shit!" Castle turned and tried not to puke. 'Messy' was a gross understatement. Someone had dismantled the vic like a butcher would.

"Lanie, did the Forensics guy get a panoramic view? You're moving stuff around and I think I see something with the way the parts are displayed."

"You don't listen well, Detective. I said they got more photos than anyone would want. I assume a panoramic shot was procedure. Oh! Move outta my way – "

Castle jumped up and moved. Lanie Parish was a professional but even professionals had limits. She quietly emptied her stomach and then walked back to the crime scene, again in control.

"I heard about the Lieutenant's Exam. Sorry, Rick. Next time for sure. But hey, DiGrasso passed the Sergeant's Exam. You two will be equals and no one can get in your face if'n you two decide to go public with the romance. Seriously Rick, you two are good together. You should – "

"I know we're good but she doesn't want more. She's satisfied with the status quo and doesn't want to rock the boat. Lanie, I want more. I want to make a commitment, establish a relationship. She likes 'friends with bennies'. I'm the one who wants more."

"Rick Castle, perpetual bachelor, finally seeing the light. Hallelujah." She raised both hands heavenwards and Rick just laughed.

"Hey, I was willing to try it with us. You're the one who went to the darkside."

"One time. One damned time I experiment and you have to find out. It was just a phase, Rick. You should have had patience, it was just a phase."

"Lasted 3 months, Lanie-poo, and that was more than an experiment. That was a re-lay-shun-ship."

Lanie sighed and pushed him away. It had been a mistake. Castle would have waited, put up with her shenanigans but she'd pushed him away and told him she wasn't 'in to him'. He took it well but she often wondered about why she'd catch him looking at her with those hooded baby-blues and a needy look on his face.

"What-evah! Look, time of death indeterminate. Cause of death, dismemberment. Best I can do until I get him on the table and kinda reassembled. I'll let you know what I find out, okay? Best I can do, Rick."

"Um, Lanie, where's his skin?"

Continuation dependent upon interest.

OM