AN: Should be a pretty short story, around 7 chapters or so. Takes place around the beginning of season five...

Disclaimer: I do not own Castle or it's characters.

It Has Only Just Begun

The young college student looked around the bus stop that he was waiting at, while playing silently on his phone to pass the time. His night class got out later than expected, and now, he must wait at the dimly lighted bus stop for the last bus to arrive. There was no one else around, so he took a seat as he continued to wait for his mode of transportation. A few minutes later, another person came strolling along and took a seat next to the young man. The young college student only spared them a glance, noticing that they were in a black hoodie and had on a navy-blue backpack. After his quick once over of the stranger, he went back to his phone which was dying from low battery. The person in the hoodie barely moved a muscle as they sat on the bench, making the young man uncomfortable, and wanting the bus to come already.

As the young man started to text his roommate about the creepy kid sitting next to him, his phone screen went pitch black, signaling that it had finally succumbed to its low battery. He let out a frustrated sigh, and put his phone into his pants pocket since it was of no use right now. Since the bus still wasn't there yet, and he had no way of calling a taxi or a friend, he decided to make conversation with the stranger.

"Hey, do you know what time it is?" he asked.

The young person in the hoodie only shook their head, and he let out another sigh. He wasn't sure if he'd get anything out of the stranger, but tried again anyway, "Do you happen to know when the last bus comes?"

Once again, they just shook their head and he got frustrated with the stranger. He turned to face them and said, "Yo, dude, what's your problem?"

The stranger finally looked up at him and said, "Everyone…"

The college student's brows furrowed in confusion as he stared at the stranger's shadowy face. Before he could make any kind of comment, a knife was shoved deep into his abdomen, making his eyes go wide with fear and pain. The knife was pulled from his abdomen and was jabbed into him a dozen more times. After the 13th blow, he was down on the ground, taking in large gulps of air, as he fought through the immense amount of pain he was in. As the blood filled his lungs, and he found it harder to breath, he sputtered out one question, "Why?"

"It doesn't matter," was all they replied before they slit the college students throat, putting him out of his misery.

The hooded stranger stared down at their victim for a few seconds, taking it all in, before they walked off into the dark of night, leaving the bloody scene behind.

Kate woke up to the sound of her phone going off, and let out a grown as she sat up in her bed. She raked a hand through her messy brown hair, and grabbed her cellphone off the nightstand. She saw that it was Esposito, and answered it, "What do we have, Espo?"

"A dead college student at the Brooklyn Academy of the Arts College," Esposito replied on the other end.

"All right, I'll be there in a bit."

"Okay, see you when you get here."

Kate got out of bed, stretching her aching muscles, before she went to her wardrobe to find something to wear for work today. As she picked out a simple outfit for work, consisting of a white dress shirt, black slacks, and a black blazer, she dialed her boyfriend to tell him that they had a case. She was still processing that she was dating none other than Richard Castle, but every time she looked into his dreamy blue eyes, she'd think of every feeling that she's had for him for the past four and a half years. Their relationship has had their ups and downs through those years, and it's been intense and rocky, but they had a lot of humorous and powerful moments as well. But now that they were together, Kate can finally relax and let her true feelings show for that adorable, yet annoying, writer she's fell for.

The only thing bad about this relationship, is that they have to hide it from everyone at the precinct, which isn't very easy, but they try. Alexis and Martha already found out their little secret, so at least that was one group they've gotten out of the way. At least they don't have to be extremely discreet at the precinct, because their banter with each other is pretty normal for them, and they came up with a way to show their affection with each other with just a handshake. It wasn't anything crazy, but it was something special that showed that they were on the same page.

The phone stopped ringing, taking Beckett out of her thoughts, and Castle answered, "Good morning, Beckett."

"Good morning, Castle," she said with a smile on her face.

"So, is this a romantic phone call or a work-related phone call?"

"Sorry to burst your bubble Castle, but this happens to be a work-related phone call."

"Ah, figured as much. But I'm excited about that too."

"Of course, you are," she said with a chuckle.

He chuckled back and said, "Maybe it'll help me think of a new idea for my next Nikki Heat novel."

"We'll see. Anyway, the crime scene is at Brooklyn Academy of the Arts College. I'll meet you down there."

"Will do, see you in a bit Kate."

"See you then Castle."

Kate hung up her phone, and finished getting ready before she headed out of her apartment and to the crime scene.

When she arrived at the crime scene, Castle was already standing by with two cups of coffee in hand. She was grateful like always that Castle had brought her coffee, and today she needed it because last night was a nightmare for her. She didn't fall asleep until about 4 in the morning because her neighborhood decided to be hectic all night, from car alarms to blazing horns, it was terrible. She took her cup from Castle and said, "Thanks Castle, I needed this today."

"Rough night?" Castle questioned with a smirk.

"It was horrible, there was so much noise last night in my neighborhood, I wanted to arrest everyone on the block for disturbing my sleep."

"Well, you can always stay over at my place."

"I need a good night's rest Castle."

He grinned and said, "Oh Beckett, I like the way you think."

She rolled her eyes while grinning back at him, but before she could say anything else, Esposito came up to them, "Hey, glad you could make it."

"What do we have, Espo?" Kate asked him.

"Twenty-one-year-old male, whose name was Patrick Connors. He was a sophomore here and was studying animation and technology."

"Did he have class last night?"

"According to the dean here, Patrick did have a class last night at 6:30pm. It was an elective, Art History, and apparently it ran late."

"Who found the body?" Castle asked.

"A few students who were making their way to school this morning. They notified campus police, who then notified us."

"Anything else?" Kate asked.

"Not right now. Lanie's still looking at the body, and Ryan is talking to the campus officers to see if he can get any surveillance footage."

"Okay, thanks Espo."

"No problem."

Castle and Kate walked over to Lanie, who was going over the last bit of information that she got from the body.

"Hmm… Stabbed multiple times, and a slit throat. I figure that's what killed him," Castle said as he looked at the body of the young college student.

"Yes, more than likely. But I still have to do an autopsy to make sure," Lanie said.

"Robbery?" Kate questioned.

"Doesn't seem like it. Everything was still on him when we got here, money, phone, backpack, wallet."

"Crime of passion. Young college lovers get into a heated dispute when he decides to break it off, and she goes into a fiery rage because she's still in love with him, and ultimately kills him," Castle said.

"Decent theory Castle, but we don't even know if he had a girlfriend. Until then, we just have to leave this as an unexplained murder," Kate said.

"Fine."

"No luck guys," Ryan said as he went over to Kate and Castle.

"No surveillance footage?" Kate asked.

"No, they haven't had cameras working over here for years. Not many students or faculty members use this area, especially at night, so they haven't replaced them."

"Okay, well maybe we can track him from his class last night and find out if anyone was following him."

"Got it, I'll go see if I can get that footage."

"Thanks Ryan."

He nodded before he walked away to go speak with the campus officers again, so he could get the security footage from last night. Kate looked around the area before she said, "They must have known this was a desolated area to commit the crime here."

"So, it was probably a student here," Castle said.

"That's my guess, or pretty much anyone who frequented this school."

"My theory still stands."

She rolled her eyes and said, "Come on, let's go talk to the dean and see if I can get Patrick's parents contact information, and any other information that they may have on him."

Castle nodded and followed Kate towards the school's administration office. As they made their way to the office, a young girl around Patrick's age, got knocked down by a bunch of rowdy boys who were messing around as they made their way to class. The young student huffed as she tried to pick up her fallen notebooks and textbooks from the ground. The rowdy boys kept walking, not even noticing that they had knocked her down. Kate walked over to the girl and helped pick up the rest of her items.

"Um… Thanks, I appreciate it," the young girl said as she looked at Kate.

"It's no problem," Kate said as they stood up.

"Are you a cop?"

Beckett looked at the girl confused, but answered her question, "Yes, my name is detective Beckett. This is my partner Richard Castle."

"Oh, the writer, and you're the one he based Nikki Heat after."

"That's correct."

"I hope you find out who murdered Patrick. He was a nice guy."

"You knew the victim?" Castle asked the girl.

"He was more like an acquaintance, or peer. I had a few classes with him, including last night. It's crazy to have seen him in class, and now he's gone."

"Did you happen to notice anything unusual last night with Patrick?" Kate asked.

"No, not really. He seemed perfectly fine to me, but like I said, I really didn't know him too well, we were only classmates."

"How about when you left class, did you notice anyone else around? Someone different?" Castle asked.

"Not that I can recall. It was pretty much everyone from our class, and I think another class got let out late too. Other than that, no one really out of the ordinary."

"Thanks, I appreciate you talking with us. Here's my card if you happen to think about anything else," Kate said as she handed her a card.

She took the card and said, "Okay, I will."

They parted ways, and Kate and Castle continued on their way to the dean's office. When they got there, they were prompted by the secretary to go ahead into his office. The dean was on the phone when they walked in, and he said quietly to them, "One moment."

They nodded to the man, before they took a seat in the chairs that were in front of his desk, and waited patiently for him to get off the phone. Not too long after they had entered, he hung up the phone, and addressed them with a sad smile, "Sorry, that was my five-year-old son. He loves to talk sometimes. So, I assume this has to do with Patrick."

"Yes, Mr. Spencer, I'm Detective Beckett and this is Richard Castle. We just wanted to ask you a few questions, and get his parents information," she said.

"Sure, anything to solve this gruesome murder. It really is a tragedy."

"Yes, it is. Do you happen to know anything about Patrick? Was he a good student?"

"Well, I don't know everyone at this school, but Patrick was one of the few who took part in different activities and helped out around here. He was on the dean's list, all A's and B's in his classes. He was definitely going to graduate in a couple of years, no problem. It's terrible to see that he won't be able to follow his dreams."

"So, he didn't get into any trouble?"

"Not, that I'm aware of. Sure, everyone has something outside of their school lives, but from what I saw, he was a fantastic and caring young man. The only thing I can tell you is to talk to his roommate, Chase. They've been roommates since they've started college, so he'd probably know more about his personal life."

"Thank you, sir. I appreciate your time."

"No problem," he grabbed a piece of paper from his desk and said, "This is his parent's information, his class list, and his apartment number. I hope you find who did this."

"Thanks, we'll definitely do our best to solve this case," Kate said as she took the paper.

He nodded and they headed out of the office, making their way back to the precinct.

They got ahold of Patrick's parents, and they came to the precinct to answer a few quick questions that they had for them. It went pretty quick, and the investigation was still at square one. It turned out that Patrick wasn't currently in a relationship with anyone, and his parents said that he was a good kid who never got into any trouble. The only person left to get answers from was his roommate, Chase, and if that didn't come up with any new information, then they would be hitting a dead end with this case.

Castle and Beckett arrived at the college apartments that Patrick was staying at and went to room 302. Kate knocked on the door, and after a few seconds the door opened to reveal a young man around Patrick's age. Kate showed her badge to the young man and said, "I'm Detective Beckett and this is Richard Castle. Are you Chase, Patrick's roommate?"

"Yes, I'm Chase. Did you find out who killed him yet?" Chase asked.

"We haven't found who did this yet. We're here to ask you a few questions, maybe look around."

"Yeah, sure. Come in."

Kate and Castle walked into the dorm room, and found tons of trash and laundry strewn about. There was no denying that two college boys lived there. Chase cleared off the mess on the couch they had, and said, "Sorry about the mess. We haven't had many visitors in here lately. We were actually planning on cleaning this weekend, but… Yeah…"

Castle and Kate took a seat on the couch, and she said, "I understand that this is hard for you Chase."

"I've spent almost two years with Patrick, and hung out with him, played video games with him, took classes with him. Now he's gone…"

"I know. Do you know of anyone who might have wanted to hurt him?"

Chase shook his head and said, "No. Patrick was a great guy. Everyone got along with Patrick, and we even hung out with the same group of friends. We did some volunteer work, went to arcades, and the library. On occasion, we'd go to the bar near our campus, but we'd have a drink, maybe two… Three if it's a special occasion, or if it's just one of those weeks. We weren't really ones to get drunk."

"Did he have a girlfriend?" Castle asked.

"Well, no. Um… Patrick wasn't really into chicks if you catch my drift."

"Oh…"

"He wasn't too sure himself, until a few months ago. He's been on and off with a few girls, but he experimented one night, and next thing you know he's telling me that he's gay."

"Were you two?"

Chase's eyes went wide and he said, "No, no… I'm not gay. I supported my friend, he didn't even tell his parents yet, but I like chicks."

"Got it."

"Was Patrick seeing anyone before he died?" Kate asked.

"Not that I'm aware of. He was still figuring things out as far as I know."

"What time does Patrick usually get back from class?"

"I don't know, usually around nine or nine thirty. If class ran late, possibly ten thirty."

"Are you usually here when he gets back?"

"Sometimes, but I sometimes go over to my girlfriend's place and crash there."

"Were you here last night?" Castle asked.

"Yes, I was studying for my upcoming midterm."

"When did you notice Patrick wasn't here?"

"This morning… I thought I didn't hear him come in last night, but I did crash after a few hours of studying."

"Do you mind if we check Patrick's room?" Kate asked.

"No, go ahead. If it leads you to finding his killer, then I'm all for it."

"Thanks, Chase."

"No problem, it's the door to the left. I'll be in my room if you need anything."

They nodded before they headed off to Patrick's room to look around for clues. Kate opened the door, and found a decently spotless room compared to the disastrous living room.

"Well, I wonder who the messy one is," Castle said as he looked around.

"Yeah, I wasn't expecting this," Kate said.

"Should be easy enough to find any clues."

"Hopefully, or it could be another dead end."

"Yes, but at least we found out he was gay. No one really knows that yet, so maybe something fishy is going down."

"Maybe…"

They checked around his room, and found pretty much everything you'd expect to find in a college boys room. Kate was giving up hope that they'd find anything in here, but when she tried to open one of his drawers it kept getting caught on something. She dug around the drawer and found a thick journal that Patrick was hiding. She held it up to Castle and said, "Looks like Patrick was trying to hide something."

"Ooh, a secret diary. I wonder what juicy secrets he has in there," Castle said with excitement.

"Well, I hope it's one that helps us find his killer."

Kate started flipping through his journal, which he started writing in since he started college a couple of years ago. They finally got up to more recent events and found out what was haunting Patrick.

"Wow, this kid seemed really confused," Castle said as he read through the diary.

"Yeah, he didn't know what he was," Kate said.

She flipped through a few more pages and said, "Look, he's been talking about this guy named Tucker for quite some time."

"Yes, and it sounds like they were having a good time a few weeks ago," Castle said with a smirk.

"Castle… Seriously though, if we find this Tucker, maybe he'll help us out."

"True, does he have any more entries?"

"Let's see," she flipped through some more and said, "It looks like he's doubting his sexuality again."

"Man, this poor kid… I feel bad for him."

"Me too. Wait, he's starting to fall for some girl, Alley."

"That was a week after he slept with Tucker."

"I see that. I wonder who Alley is?"

"Me too, but apparently Alley and Tucker had his heart and his mind split into two."

"I wonder if Chase knows who these people are."

"Let's go ask him."

They left Patrick's room and went over to Chase's, who had the door open, so they could enter. He looked up from where he was sitting on his bed, and asked, "Did you find anything?"

"We found his diary. Did you know he had this?" Kate asked.

"No, I didn't. Was there anything in there about me?"

"Not much, but he did say you were an awesome roommate, and that you had some fun times together," Castle said.

He smiled and said, "Cool… So, was there anything in there that could help?"

"Maybe… We were wondering if you knew a Tucker or an Alley?" Kate asked him.

"Oh yeah, I know Tucker. We play with him on the weekends, we go to like a gaming thing in town. It's kind of like a nerdy hangout for comic lovers and gaming nerds. We try to go at least twice a month just to hang out. He also lives in the building, room 102, and works at the bar we go to. He makes our drinks a lot."

"Were you aware of their relationship?" Castle asked.

"Wow, um… No. I wasn't even aware Tucker was gay, let alone dating my roommate. Was it serious?"

"He seemed confused, and wasn't quite sure what he felt for Tucker."

"Man, I wish I could have been there for him. I didn't even know."

"Do you know who Alley is?" Kate asked.

"Alley!? He wrote about Alley!?"

"I take it you know her," Castle said.

"I've had her in a few classes. She's a strange girl. Doesn't really talk much, but pretty nice. I asked her to borrow a pencil once, and she lent me it, but other than that, I don't really care for her."

"She's strange, just because she doesn't talk."

"I don't know. She just gives off this weird vibe. She's probably super cool, but I saw her totally freak this one-time last semester, and she was talking to herself, like a full-blown conversation."

"Hmm… that is a little strange."

"Do you know how she knew him?" Kate asked.

"I think she has class with him. I think it was last night's class now that I'm thinking about it."

"Thanks Chase, we appreciate the help."

"No problem. Please find out who did this."

"We'll do our best."

They left Chase and Patrick's apartment, and went down to room 102, so they could talk to Tucker. Kate rapped on the door a few times, and movement could be heard from within the apartment. Kate knocked again and said, "Tucker? This is detective Beckett with the NYPD. I have a few questions to ask you about Patrick Connors."

A young African American man opened the door and said, "What about Patrick? Is he okay?"

Kate and Castle gave each other a quick glance before she answered him, "Patrick was found dead this morning on campus grounds."

Tucker's eyes went wide and he stuttered out, "I… I can't believe this. Patrick didn't deserve this."

"We know this is hard for you Tucker, but we need to ask you some questions," Castle said.

"Um… Sure, come in."

Tucker led them into the living room, and they took a seat on the love seat while he sat on the sofa. He ran a hand down his face and asked, "You don't know who did it yet, do you?"

"No, that's why we're here. We're trying to figure out who did this to him," Kate said.

"Honestly, I don't know who would have wanted to hurt him. He was a great guy. He volunteered at several centers, and went to a lot of school activities. He pretty much got along with everyone, and that's what attracted me to him."

"Do you know if he was involved in anything?" Castle asked.

"No… I mean, I didn't really know him well. Sure, we live in the same building, I hang out with him at this gaming club, and serve him and his roommate drinks occasionally, but he didn't really share much about his personal life."

"Weren't you dating him?"

"We hooked up a few times, sure. Most of them long drunken nights, but he was still unsure of what he felt. He was still finding himself and I wasn't going to push him."

"When's the last time you saw him?" Kate asked.

"I think last week at our gaming club, but I didn't talk with him much while we were there. We decided to get some space for a while, you know, so he could figure out his feelings and what not."

"When did you decide this?"

"About two weeks ago, give or take."

"Do you know who Alley is?" Castle asked.

"I think he might have mentioned an Alley before. I really don't know her, he said she was kind of sweet, yet strange. Is she a suspect?"

"Possibly, but as of now we're just following up on some leads," Kate said.

"Oh, got it."

"Thank you for your time, Tucker."

"Anything to help you find Patrick's killer. He was a cool guy."

Tucker led them out of the apartment and Kate and Castle started to walk to her car, so they could head to the school to find out who Alley is. As they made their way to her vehicle, Castle said, "I feel bad for Patrick."

"Yeah, he seemed to be extremely confused, but it's a shame someone would do this to him," Kate said.

"Think this Alley girl did it?"

"Not sure, we're just going to have to wait and see."

"True… This case seems to be taking a lot of wild turns."

"I agree. We have little evidence and anyone could be a suspect."

"Yes, and my theory is slowly dissipating. Hopefully, Alley will help lead us to more information."

"We can only hope," Kate said before she hopped into her driver's seat.

Castle jumped into the passenger seat, and soon they were off to see the dean, so they could get answers on Alley.

They were sitting in the dean's office once again, and Kate said, "Sorry to bother you again, but we were wondering if we can get some information on a girl who was in Patrick's class last night."

"It's no problem at all detective. I want to catch this killer as much as you do," he said

"Thank you."

"Let me pull up the class list here, and I'll give you what you need."

He typed on his computer, and clicked on a few things before he said, "Okay, I got it up. Who are we looking for?"

"Her name is Alley," Kate said.

"Alley!? Alley Lockhart!?"

"It seems that Alley is pretty known around here, and not in a good way," Castle said.

"No… No… Alley is a fantastic student. She's… She's different from a lot of students who come through here, but I wouldn't believe that she'd be caught up in this."

"Different?"

"She's a sweet girl. She's kind of a loner, and doesn't really get involved in many of the school activities or anything. She likes to stick to herself."

"Really?"

"Yes, I rarely see her with anyone when she's on campus. So, I didn't think she'd even really know Patrick."

"You don't think she'd hurt anyone, do you?" Kate asked.

"No, I don't think Alley would do something like this. She doesn't seem like she could even hurt a fly."

"Do you know where we can find her?"

"Yes, she lives in the West Side apartment complex, room 203. Most of our art students reside there."

"Okay, thank you for your time."

"No problem. I hope Alley will be of help."

"We do too."

They left the school, and headed to the West Side apartments, hoping that this wouldn't be another dead end.