About 4:30 A.M.

New York was relatively quiet. Little did anyone know that a death had occurred in the city. A man was found dead in an alleyway.

Couple hours later-around 6:30 A.M.

NYPD Detective Kate Beckett was woken up by the sound of her cell phone ringing.

"Beckett," she answered.

"We have a body in an alleyway down on Grant St.," Detective Kevin Ryan told her.

"Ok, I'll be there in about 15 minutes," she told him.

"Ok, bye." He said and hung up. She got up out of bed and headed to her bathroom to shower. She showered rather quickly and almost rushed to get dressed and leave her apartment. She didn't have any idea of what to blame her sudden urge to hurry on.

'I could always blame it on Castle,' she thought. She also had this urge to call him and tell him what was going on. She pulled out her phone and dialed Castle's number.

Castle's Loft

The sound of a cell phone ringing woke the author up with a tired look to his face.

"Castle," he said into the phone.

"Castle, it's me, we have a case down on Grant St.," Beckett told him.

"I'll be right there Detective," he told her and hung up. He quickly showered and got dressed. He made his way in to his living room where his mother and daughter were sitting eating breakfast.

"Another case, Dad?" Alexis, his 15 year-old daughter, asked.

"Yeah, Beckett called me and she wants me down on Grant St. ASAP."

"At least stay and have something to eat for breakfast, Richard. It's the most important meal of the day, you know." His mother, Martha, told him.

"I can't Mother. Beckett called and she said we have a case down on Grant St. I told her I'd be right there," He told her. His mother just sighed and watched him walk out the door.

At the crime scene

"What do we have?" Beckett asked.

"20-25 year-old Caucasian male," the M.E., Lanie Parish, answered.

"According to the victim's driver's license, his name is Chris York." Detective Javier Esposito told her.

"What was the apparent cause of death?" Beckett asked Lanie.

"He appears to have been strangled, but I'll know more when we get back to the 12th." She answered. As soon as she answered Beckett's question, Castle appeared on scene.

"What do we have here?" He asked. Beckett filled him on the case and what they had so far.

"Do we have anymore information on our victim?" Castle asked her.

"Not until we get back to the station, Castle." She told him. They packed up their stuff and headed back to the station.

At the 12th Precinct

Beckett, Castle, Ryan, and Esposito were staring at the murder board. It had a picture of their victim, Chris York, and all of his activities prior to his death. Beckett walked out of the room, Castle at her heels. She walked to her desk and sat down at her computer. She began to do a search. She typed in Chris York and found out that he was a contortionist for a circus down on Avery St. She told Ryan and Esposito to do some more digging into the life of Chris York. She then told them that her and Castle were going down there to talk to his employer and coworkers to find out any more information that might help them find the killer and solve this case.

At the Avery St. Circus

Beckett and Castle walked into the main arena and saw a man and a few other people in the show ring.

"Excuse me, but I'm Detective Kate Beckett and this is Richard Castle and we're here to talk to the manager of this circus." Beckett told the man.

"That would be me, I'm the manager, Kyle Wyman. Why do you want to talk to me?" He asked.

"Did you have an employee named Chris York, Mr. Wyman?" Beckett asked him.

"Yes, he was my contortionist. Did something happen to him?"

"I'm very sorry to tell you this, Mr. Wyman, but Chris was found dead in an alleyway early this morning." She told him. Wyman had a very shocked look on his face when he heard this. Suddenly, Beckett's phone rang. It was Lanie with an update on the victim.

"Our victim's cause of death was strangulation," she told her.

"Can you figure out what he was strangled with?" Beckett asked.

"Yeah, from the bruising patterns, I'd say someone's bare hands." Lanie told her.

"Ok, thanks Lanie." She told her and hung up.

"How was Chris killed?" Wyman asked.

"He was strangled Mr. Wyman. Did he have any enemies who might wish him harm?" She asked.

"Not that I know of, Detective. He did have an ex-girlfriend though. You might want to talk to her. Her name is Hayley King. I personally thought she was clingy, but Chris loved her. They broke up about a month ago."

"Alright, thank you for your time Mr. Wyman. If you can think of anything, please call me." Beckett told him while handing him a business card. Beckett made a mental note to talk to the other employees another time, but for right now they would go back to the station and run with possible leads from there. They walked out of the circus tent and back to the car.

"He didn't do it, Beckett." Castle told her. "His face was genuinely shocked when we told him, he had to ask how he died, and he made a point that we should talk to the ex-girlfriend."

"He was strangled with bare hands Castle. I doubt a woman could do that kind of damage."

"You could," he muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, Detective." Soon they were back at the precinct.

Back at the precinct

"Now we know how he was killed, now all we have to figure out is who had the strength to kill him." Ryan said.

"We didn't interview any of the other employees, but I did go through and run background checks on all of them." Beckett told them.

"And-" Castle asked.

"The clown, Alonzo Jackson, had a record for assault and battery, and other crimes in his youth." She told them.

"We should talk to Alonzo then," Castle told her.

"You want us to bring him in for you?" Esposito asked her.

"No, I want to talk to him in a comfortable environment. I don't want him thinking he's done something wrong, when we can't prove that he did." She explained. Beckett and Castle drove down to the Avery St. Circus and found Mr. Wyman.

"Detective," he greeted her.

"Hello again Mr. Wyman. May we speak with Alonzo Jackson?" She asked him.

"Sure. Alonzo!" He screamed. When Alonzo heard his name being screamed, he took off out the back door.

"He's running," Beckett muttered to herself. She started to run after him and caught up with him a few blocks away. She handcuffed him and walked him back to the car. It was a silent drive back to the station.

Back at the precinct-Interrogation Room 1

"Hello, Mr. Jackson. Do you know why you're here?" Beckett asked.

"No, but I suppose you'll tell me?"

"Did you have any problems with Chris York?"

"No. Why am I here?" He demanded.

"Chris York was found dead in an alleyway down on Grant St."

"Well that's a shame, but I didn't do it."

"That makes it sound like you didn't like the guy."

"The only time we ever saw each other was at work. It wasn't like we hung out or anything."

"Did you ever have any altercations with Mr. York?"

"We had a couple arguments, but that's it."

"Would you like to explain them to us?" She said looking at Castle, who sat looking intently at the man in front of them.

"They were petty arguments, like over routines and stuff. He proposed that he could do his contortionist routine at the same time as my juggling routine. I told him that would confuse the crowd, you know with watching two routines at the same time and all, and he said it would hold people's attention longer if we just combined the two acts."

"Is that all?"

"No, there's one more argument we had. About one week ago, I caught Chris in Kyle's office. I didn't know what he was doing at first, but then I saw piles of money sitting on the desk. I think he was embezzling. I went in and asked him what he was doing and he screamed at me to get out. Then he came to me later to apologize and plead that I not tell Kyle. I reluctantly agreed to his request, even though I knew it was wrong. I should have told Kyle and maybe none of this would have ever happened."

"Maybe it still would have happened if you had told Mr. Wyman. Thank you for your time Mr. Jackson, you may go." Beckett told him. She turned to Castle and sighed.

"The theft of the money gives Wyman a perfect motive to want York dead," she told him.

"Yeah, but Alonzo said he never told Wyman, per Chris' request."

"Maybe Wyman found out."

"I think we need to pay another visit to Wyman."

"Yeah, but with no evidence that he did murder York, what can we hold him on?"

"Let's go talk to him again," Castle told her. She silently agreed with him.

Avery St. Circus

"Detective, Mr. Castle, what can I help you with this time?"

"We would like to ask you a few follow-up questions, if that's ok."

"That's fine. What about?"

"Did you know that Chris York was stealing money from you?"

"Yes, I did, but not at first. Alonzo came to me after he saw Chris in my office about a week ago."

"What did Mr. Jackson tell you?"

"That he saw Chris taking money."

"What did you do about it?"

"Well I wanted to fire him, but I didn't."

"Why not?"

"Because he was always an audience favorite and not many people could do what he could."

"Do you have any idea who might have wanted him dead?"

"No, but it wasn't me."

"Well, we figured it couldn't have been the ex-girlfriend right off the bat." Castle told him, chiming in.

"Why?"

"Because a woman wouldn't have the strength to strangle someone with their bare hands, but a man would."

"I'm going to tell you this for the last time, I DIDN'T KILL CHRIS YORK!"

"Well, then WHO DID?" Beckett yelled.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Wyman yelled, flustered.

"I just have one more question, Mr. Wyman, why did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Murder Chris York by strangling him with your bare hands."

"I told you, I didn't murder Chris." He stated angrily.

"Yes, you did. When you learned that he stole money from your office, you grew angry. You weren't going to fire him, you were going to get your money back and when York wouldn't give it back, you followed him, you backed him into an empty alleyway, and you killed him." Castle told him.

"Fine, yes, no use in denying it anymore. I killed Chris York because he stole money from me. I tried to get it back but he wouldn't give it to me. I backed him into an alley and I strangled him."

"Kyle Wyman, you're under arrest for the murder of Chris York. Do you understand?" Beckett told him, putting handcuffs around his wrists.

"Yes, I do." Beckett had already called for backup, so there was uniforms outside waiting. They took Wyman and put him in the squad car. Beckett and Castle walked out of the tent and back to the car.

The 12th Precinct

"Time for the victory party," Ryan and Esposito said, together.

"You guys can have a victory party, I'm going home." Beckett told them.

"Ditto," Castle said.

Parking garage

Castle was silently following Beckett to her car. They were almost inn front of her car when Beckett suddenly spun around.

"Castle, what the hell are you doing?"

"I was going to see if you wanted to accompany me for some food."

"I want to go home, Castle."

"Well, then let me get some stuff and I'll come by and we can have dinner together."

"No, Castle."

"Fine, then let's go out."

"Fine, Castle, and then we're both going home after this."

"Fine, let's go."

Restaurant

They walked in and got seated right away. They looked over the menu and decided that they would both get the same thing. They both ordered chicken Parmesan and were talking over a glass of wine.

"You said yourself, in the beginning, that Wyman didn't do it. Why did you change your mind?"

"He fooled me into believing that he didn't do it. I couldn't see through his facade until the very end when his mask came crumbling off."

Suddenly a feeling rushed through Beckett's veins. While she was sitting there hearing Castle talk, her heart was beating wildly at the sound of his voice. She tried to drink more wine to cover it up but no amount of wine or any other alcohol in the world could cover up what she felt at this moment in time. She knew what she needed to do. They finished their wine, their dinner, and Castle paid the bill. They got in her car and Castle started to tell her to take him home, when she interrupted him.

"Would you like to come back to my place?"

"Why, Detective Beckett, are you planning on seducing me tonight?"

"No, I just wanted to know if you wanted to come in for a cup of coffee before you went home." She said, flustered.

"Sure, Detective, I'd love to."

"Great."

Detective Beckett's apartment

"Wow Detective, you clean up nice."

"Yes, I do and call me Kate. Would you like that cup of coffee now?"

"Yes please."

"Let me change first and then I'll get you some."

"Ok."

She went into her room and dug out the sexiest thing she had to wear. Lanie had made her buy it on a trip to the mall. It was a white silk nightgown that stopped just above her knees. It had a slit up the side, but it didn't show much. She took down her hair and walked out of her room and back into the room where Castle was. When she walked into the living room, Castle's head turned. He stared at her with wide eyes.

"Like what you see, Castle?"

"Um-well, yes."

"You seem a little flustered, is there anything wrong?"

"Um-no." 'Yes, there is something wrong. What you're wearing is wrong,' he thought.

"Good."

"Where's that coffee that I was promised."

"You can have it later," she said moving towards him in a seductive way, "much later."

"Kate, what are you doing?"

"You're wearing too many clothes, Rick."

"I'd be more than happy to undress for you, Detective."

"Or, I could do it myself." she said, kissing him.

"You're very good, Detective, but why?"

"I'm tired of lying to myself. I'm jealous when I see you with some bimbo hanging off your arm, and I know you're jealous when I have some guy interested in me. So, why not get together and end all that."

"What about work?"

"They don't have to know."

"I like you more already, Kate." He kissed her, just like she did him before. She kissed him even more. They continued this as Castle moved his mouth to her neck. He began kissing down her neck, down to her collarbone. He could feel her pulse under his lips and it was racing.

"You want to move to the bedroom?"

"Mmm sure," Kate moaned. He picked her up off the couch and immediately, her legs wrapped around his waist. They made it to the bedroom, where they layed down in the bed and went to sleep.

The next morning

Kate Beckett rolled over in bed and hit something solid. It was a chest, but not just any chest. The chest belonged to Richard Castle. She sat up and looked around. When she felt content that nothing was wrong, she layed back down. She was pulled onto Castle's chest by his strong arms.

"Good morning, Detective."

"Good morning, Castle."

A/N: I think that's the end. I'm planning on a sequel because I ended on a cliffhanger. I just need some ideas of what I should put in the sequel. Character names would greatly be appreciated. It'll be a contest of sorts and the best names will be used in the story. The winners will get an acknowledgement.