I own nothing that is associated with the original idea and concept of 'Castle'!

Chapter 1

Kimberly West a tall blond with stunning green eyes walked into her office early in the morning. She set her things down, booted her computer up and then walked down the hall to the employee kitchen to make herself coffee as she did every morning. She sighed. She hated coming to work early, but being the boss of the company made it impossible to come in any later. Checking the clock on the wall as she finished getting the coffee pot ready she made note that the other employees would be showing up in the next few minutes.

"Just another day in paradise." She told herself sarcastically. She turned to do a walk through of the cubicles once before her employees arrived. Checking each cubicle for anything that was not supposed to belong and to make sure what did belong was still there. "God forbid we have to shut down because someone broke in again." She rolled her eyes going to the next cubicle.

Two more cubicles and she stops dead in her tracks. Her hands reflexively go to cover her mouth, eye wide in horror at the site before her. In the fog of her fear, she can hear the elevator ding. The employees are arriving. Her mind does not care; its only focused on one thing, the horrifying sight before her. She lets out a shrill scream making the three workers who had just stepped off the elevator run to her.

Each one stopping, eyes wide in shock at the scene. "Oh my god!" The one woman with shoulder length black hair said as she turned away. The two men looked at the boy of a man sitting in the chair, slumped over. His head and upper body was swollen and bloody. Blood was all over, dripping from the mangled body onto the floor. The workers looked to their boss who was still too mortified to look away or say anything.

"Derek call 9-1-1." One of the men with shaggy auburn hair said to the other man with brown hair. Derek went to the next cubical and called 9-1-1 while the other man and the two women could only continue to stare in horror.

Castle walked over to the kitchen counter talking to his daughter before she was off to school. "Good morning." He said happily, as he kissed her cheek. "Going to school early?"

"I have a psychology test today." She explained. "I need to get to school and look at my text book. I was in a rush to get home last night I forgot to grab it."

"Good morning." Martha's voice ran through the room as she walked down the stairs and over to her son and granddaughter. She gave them each a kiss before going to get herself a drink.

"Good morning, Mother." Castle said as she kissed his cheek. "Where are you off to so early?" he wondered as she walked passed him dressed and ready to go out.

"I need to get to my school. We are getting things together for a fundraiser." She explained as she walked over to lean against the counter beside him. "We are trying to get some scholarships set up and help kids who can't afford the supplies to get what they need."

"I thought you had one set up in Chet's name?" Alexis asked.

"Yes, well that can only help so many. There are so many kids that came through the experimental course that want to attend but simply can't afford it." She explained before giving them each another kiss.

Castle's phone rang. "Well you are really good at that." He told her before putting his phone to his ear. "Castle…. No, I was just talking to my mother…." He turned away listening to Beckett.

Castle and Beckett walked out of the elevator to see uniformed officers busy about the large room, filled with cubicles. "So you're mother wants to have a fundraiser?" They had gotten a bit closer after the accident the month before. Beckett wanted to be able to tell Castle the exact words she had told him that day but her brain still refused to allow her to let go of the past and move on. She smiled, they were perfect the way they were… for now.

"Yeah; she feels bad that there are kids who aren't able to do what they love because they don't have the funding."

"I think it's great." She smiled.

"You would think that, but there's something up." He told her making her smile at him. "If you had seen the look in her eyes you would be worried too." He looked at her as she started to laugh at him.

"You're paranoid, Castle." She told him shaking her head

"You would be too. Last fundraiser she auctioned me off to some old woman. Remember?" He explained as they made their way over to where Lanie was standing beside the entrance to the cubicle. Castle glanced around to find Ryan and Esposito talking to four people, who must have been the ones to find the body. Beckett stopped beside Lanie and Castle stood on the other side of the opening.

"What do we have?" Beckett asked. She looked at the body Lanie was examining, thankful for the excuse to drop the memory.

"Blunt force trauma to the head and upper body. I'll have to run some more tests but it looks as if this hit here was cause of death." She pointed to a large gash across the base of the skull.

Beckett looked around the area. "Well it doesn't look like he was killed here."

"Beckett." She looked up and Castle turned to see Ryan and Esposito walking over to them. "CSU found a blue tarp in the trashcan by the elevators. It looks like someone shoved it in before they left."

"Who found the body?" Beckett asked the two.

"The boss. Kimberly West came in this morning before everyone like she always does. She was doing a sweep to make sure everything was here. Found the body and screamed making the other three who had just gotten off the elevator come running. Derek Stetson was the one who called the cops." He pointed to the man with short brown hair. "Adam Jackson and Sarah Tolby were friends of the vic." Esposito ran down his notes.

"Vic's name is Tarence Perry. From what Sarah and Adam say he just got engaged to a Elana Brown." Ryan picked up where he left off.

"Are these cameras hooked up?" Beckett asked the boys.

"They're dummies. Boss said they were put in by the company to try to deter thieves and the workers from doing anything." Esposito responded. Beckett gave a soft sigh and looked around the area.

"That doesn't seem like it would do much good in an office on the twelfth floor." Castle chimed in. Beckett had been surprised he remained silent for as long as he had. "I mean if people are going to break in and steal things they would do it where they could make a quick escape. Not where they would have to run down flights of stairs or wait for the elevator. It just makes so sense to be worried about things being stolen." He shrugged.

"See what CSU can pull from the area and it probably won't do any good but see if they can get any prints from the elevator buttons and the trashcan. Don't know how well that's going to work in such a public place but it can't hurt. Maybe we'll get a hit." She shrugged before she turned to walk away with Castle following in tow.

Half hour later Beckett put the car in park out front of the precinct. Castle glanced at her hearing a soft sigh. "You okay?" He asked making her turn to look at him.

She nodded. "Yeah. Just…. I hate doing this. I hate being the one to tell someone their loved one was taken from them. I don't want to be the one to give them the worst new of their lives."

"But you're also the one who finds out who did this and makes sure they are punished for what they did. You give these families closure." Beckett watched his blue eyes search her face as he spoke. Trying to ease the pain of what was inevitable. "You're the one to set them at ease."

She took a breath and nodded. "Let's get this done so we can find out who did this." The two climbed from the car and walked into the precinct, rode the elevators to the fourth floor where Ryan and Esposito were leading a crying woman into the lounge. The two men stopped at the doorway as Beckett and Castle walked over.

"Figured we'd get things started." Esposito said making her nod.

"I'll start on the board." Ryan said as Beckett and Esposito walked into the room leaving Ryan and Castle to get the murder board set up.

"I just…" The woman said as Beckett sat across from her in a chair and Esposito stood off to the side. "I can't believe he's gone. We were just talking about our wedding last night."

"Elana…" Beckett said making the woman look at her. "You weren't worried when he didn't come home last night?"

"No, Tarry was working late and then he said he had to go help his mother. She hasn't been doing too well mentally recently, and he was spending a lot of time with her. Making sure she was okay at night and everything. We took turns with his sister and brother."

"Why didn't you go with him last night?"

"With work, the wedding, both our families…. Things have been very stressful recently and he told me to relax and take the night for myself. He called me before he left work and said he would see me today after he was done work." Elana started to cry again at the thought of not having her fiancé beside her any longer.

"About what time was that?" Beckett asked.

"Um, it was about six last night." Elana responded softly.

"Do you know of anyone who he had been in fights or arguments with? Anyone who would want to hurt him?" Esposito asked making her shake her head.

"No, no. Tarry was so loving and kind. He was the one stopping the fights. He was the mediator and made sure everyone was fair and kind." Beckett nodded and the room fell silent.

"How long had you been together?" Beckett asked to get all the information she could not only for the case but also to be able to calm the grieving woman down.

"We went out for two years and we were back and forth. We both wanted to be together but were too afraid and stubborn to do anything about it. We used to work at the same company, that's how we met and thing got tense when our coworkers found out. They all said we were perfect for each other and that we were going to be that old married couple everyone sees in the park.

"That kind of made us feel pressured to push on in the relationship even though we weren't ready. He even asked me to marry him several times and every time I turned him down and then we got into a big fight and broke up again. Finally, we got things under control and blocked out what everyone told us and the way people were looking at us. We just went our own merry way, at our own pace." She looked down tears falling from her sad brown eyes. "I just wish that we would have seen what we really had a while ago so we could have had more time together happy rather than always fighting and arguing over there out future should go and what we were doing with our lives."

"He sounds like he was a really great guy." Beckett started before moving over to sit beside the woman. She reached out putting her hand on the woman's arm and looked into her eyes. "A guy who really loved you. He held on through everything in your relationship and made sure you were happy. He wanted to have a life with you, and I'm sure you both have plenty of memories, good and bad, that can show you that you can only go at your own pace. You needed to go through those silly fights to make the connection between you stronger"

"I just….. I don't know how I'm going to keep going. I loved him so much."

Beckett gave her a smile and nod. "You will get through this. You're strong, you proved that with how long you pushed to be with him, and this will only make you a stronger person. I promise you that I will find who did this and I will make sure they are punished."

"Thank you detective." Elana said wiping the tears from her cheeks as the two women stood. Beckett nodded and the three walked out of the room. Elana walked to the elevator still crying as Becket and the silent Esposito went to the murder board.

"Did she know anything that could help?" Castle asked as Beckett stopped beside him with Esposito beside her.

"He was supposed to go to his mother's last night. Apparently she's not doing well and his brother, sister and the victim take turns staying with her." Beckett told him as she picked up the marker and moved to the board. "She said he called when he left work at six last night." She wrote the note that the victim left work at six pm and stepped back to look at the line.

"So where did he go next?" asked Esposito.

"And how did he end up back in work?" Castle added as Beckett continued to look at the board as Ryan tried to find something in his notes and papers to explain anything.

"First stop his mother's house." Beckett told the three men before pulling her keys from her pocket. Castle stood up straight and followed her back out to the car.

"Did Esposito sound off?" Castle asked Beckett as they walked up to the house of Eleanor Perry, the mother of their victim.

"I don't know, Castle, I don't just sit and compare how everyone sounds everyday." She rolled her eyes at him as they reached the steps to the porch.

"No, I mean he sounded like he was off somewhere else, like there's something bothering him." Castle explained and saw Beckett turn to look at him with an amused smirk.

"Never knew you were that into him." Castle paused for a minute before he opened and closed his mouth several times, but never spoke. Beckett's smirk grew bigger as she shook her head. "I'm sure he's fine. If he wants to talk about it he will." She knocked on the door.

"Yes?" A tall woman with short brown hair and green eyes asked. She opened the door. "Can I help you?"

Beckett held her badge up. "I'm detective Kate Beckett, NYPD. This is Richard Castle. We have a few questions to ask you about Tarence Perry." She put her badge away as the woman put her hand on her hip.

"What has my brother done now?" She asked.

"Your brother?" Beckett asked, clarifying the relationship.

"Yeah, I'm Alisha, Tarence's sister. What's going on?" Alisha watched as Beckett nodded.

"His body was found this morning." Was al l she said. Alisha's mouth dropped open and she stared, speechless for a moment.

"Are- are you sure?" She shuddered. Beckett nodded sadly and the woman burst into tears making a man run to her side from around the corner.

"Ali? Ali, what's wrong?" he asked making her turn to him.

"It's Tarry…. They found his body." She cried as the man pulled her to his chest and held her.

"Who would you be?" Beckett asked, trying to stay on topic.

"I'm Ali's husband, Tom Peterson. What happened?" He answered.

"That's what we're trying to figure out. Is it alright if we come in and ask some questions?" the man nodded and led the way, his arm still holding Alisha to him. The four sat in the living room, Alisha, pulling herself together. "You and your brother were close?"

"Yeah, me and Tarry are twins. We did everything together. Oh my god." She looked a bit frightened. "Elana. His fiancé. How am I going to tell her?" Fresh tears came to her eyes.

"We actually spoke to her about half an hour ago." Castle told her.

"I… I have to go talk to her. She's got to be devastated." Alisha said sadly. "They were so in love. It took a lot of long nights of talking to them to get them to finally settle things between them." She wiped tears from her eyes again and looked at Beckett and Castle.

"She told us that he called her before he left work last night to come here." Beckett prompted.

"He was supposed to come over last night to relieve our older brother Justin. When I got here, Justin was half-asleep and not happy at all. I wasn't sure why he was still here but I figured him and Tarry had switched or something."

"Can you think of anyone who would have wanted to hurt your brother?" Beckett wondered.

Alisha shook her head as Tom answered. "No, everyone loved him. He took care of everyone, went out of his way to do what he could for anyone. He was a great guy."

"He did tell me he had to break of a fight the other day with someone at work. Said the guy was having a bad day and another worker said something to him and the guy just flipped. Tarry said him and his friend Adam had to get between the two and break them up. The guy who was having a bad day apparently didn't appreciate that."

"Do you know names?" Beckett asked her,

"Yeah, the guy who was having a bad day, Tarry said his name was…" She trailed off thinking for a minute. "Morgan. His name was Morgan and the other guy was Derek." She looked between Castle and Beckett "You don't think he was killed because he stepped in to stop a fight do you?"

"It's a possibility." Castle said.

"We'll look into it." Beckett said watching the husband and wife. "Is it possible to speak with your mother?"

"Mom's not exactly with it. She thinks it's the 90's and me and Tarry are in high school. You can try if you want but she hasn't been with it for almost six months now."

"Do you know what caused it?" Castle asked, ever curious.

"The doctors diagnosed her with Alzheimer's about a year and half ago and it's just become worse and worse. These last few months have been the worst, that's why my and my brothers have been staying with her around the clock."

"It's fine. We'll look into the fight and some other possibilities. In the mean time, if you think of anything else he might have said or done recently, call me." Beckett said handing her card over as she stood. Castle followed her as they let themselves out.

"You really think he was killed because he stopped two guys from going at it?" Castle asked Beckett as they walked back to the car.

"I don't know. Like you said it's a possibility." She shrugged when they reached the car. "I'll call Esposito and have him and Ryan run down the employees while we dive."

"Where are we going?" Castle asked as Beckett began calling the boys.

"We're going to see what we can get out of the workers."

"What are you doing down here?" Lanie asked as Esposito and Ryan walked into the autopsy room.

"Beckett and Castle are talking to the employees again." Esposito explained. "Beckett said for us to find out what you found."

Lanie looked at him a minute before looking at Ryan and then finally moving to where the body was laying on the steel table. "I found markings over the wound paths." She pointed to one of the small purple marks on the man's chest. "There are over 100 of them all over his upper body and head. I found pieces of concrete in the wounds of his face."

"Like his face was slammed into the ground?" Ryan asked.

"That's my thought." She nodded. "Whatever was used to hit him was small and hard. I'm still trying to find out what the weapon was from the marks but I have no idea. I do know that this hit on the back of the head," She turned to show the x-ray on the light board. "Is the one that finished it? He was hit, from what I can count he was hit another thirty times after his heart stopped. I'm still going over the body for anything else that can help but that's all I can get so far."

"I'll call it in to Beckett." Ryan said making Esposito nod. Ryan walked out of the room. Esposito may not have told him anything or said anything but they were still partners, brothers if you will. He knew when he needed to leave. Lanie looked at Esposito who was trying to make himself look busy.

She put her hands on her hips and raised her brows. "What's going on?" He looked at her. "And don't even try to give me the, 'nothing's wrong' thing." He looked about to argue but thought better of it as she tilted her head ready to push.

He sighed softly and shrugged. "Just been thinking is all."

"About what?" She asked not giving up her no-nonsense stance. He looked at her and she dropped her hands from her hips and sighed. "We've been over it a million times." She shook her head.

"I know, but I think maybe we should think about it again." She paused looking into his eyes. She knew something was going on in his head but she didn't know what, and she didn't exactly want to know.

"Javi-" She was cut off as an assistant rolled another body into the room. He nodded and left. Lanie turned back to Esposito who was turning to leave. "Javier." She said making him stop and look at her. "We can talk about this tonight if you want." She offered, seeing how much it was bothering him. He nodded and left.

They may have broken up months ago but she still cared a lot for him, even loved him. After Ryan's wedding they had begin to talk more and more, trying to reclaim and grab a hold of the feelings that were still floating in side. They had talked about getting back together but everything always ended in a fight, stopping any hope of getting back together. She sighed; she really did love the man. Shaking her head, she tried to push everything back as she went back to work.

"You ready?" Esposito asked Ryan who was still on the phone with Beckett.

"Yeah, Esposito and I will check it out." Ryan said as he hung up. "Beckett wants us to find a guy who breaks into the places to steal electronics. She said this guy has broken in a few times for computers, phones, printers and stuff like that. No one has a name for the guy but his face apparently is well known for it."

"Well he's probably not homeless and he's bound to have some sort of rap sheet if he's well known for it." Ryan nodded and the two men were back off to their desks to see if they could find anything to help the investigation.