Title: Innocent Until Proven Guilty
Disclaimer: I don't own Castle, just the words of this story.
Spoilers: Promo and sneak peek for Probable Cause.
A/N: This scene just popped into my head yesterday at work. Had to resolve the terrible angst from the sneak peek somehow.
"Kate, I'm being set up. I didn't do this."
He looked at her pleadingly through the bars of the holding cell. She had just entered the dark room, alone, and had yet to speak. The dark circles under her eyes reflected that she had gotten as little sleep the night before as Castle had. Since Esposito had arrested him the night before, he'd barely even sat down let alone tried to catch a few winks on the hard bench.
"I know. You couldn't do this, Castle."
She spoke the words so quietly that they were barely audible, but relief instantly flooded through him at her acknowledgment of his innocence. When he spoke to her at the loft, the mounting evidence against him seemed to cause her doubts. But despite the haunted look Kate still wore, despite the set of her jaw and the way her arms were folded across her chest protectively, one thing was clear.
She believed him.
He waited for her to say more, to explain how she was going to prove his innocence of this heinous crime. But as seconds passed, he realized that she had no evidence to vindicate him. All she had was that intangible belief that he was incapable of murder.
"What do we do now?" he asked finally.
When Kate spoke, she did so mechanically, more detached than he expected. "We're still investigating, but the DA is planning to bring you before the grand jury tomorrow. She says she has enough evidence for an indictment."
And they had nothing to disprove her. He waited for Kate to give him some reassurances, to say that they would find what they needed to have a judge throw out the case. But she showed no such confidence.
Continuing to speak, she said, "The DA will ask the judge to deny bail, and the judge will probably agree based on the weight of the evidence. You will hire a lawyer - a good one, I'm sure - who will do everything possible to find evidence in your favor. But your lawyer won't find anything. You will wait in jail for the next nine months to a year and a half for trial, if you don't decide to take a plea deal before that-"
"I won't," he interrupted sharply. He would not be admitting to this crime when he was innocent, not just to potentially avoid more time in prison. Kate met his gaze, and despite her emotionless speech, he could see tears forming in her eyes.
She continued, "And then a jury will likely convict you of murder. If we're lucky, you'll get something less than life in prison."
Castle struggled to digest the predictions she made so matter-of-factly, as though she had no hope of clearing his name. Surely there was evidence out there implicating the real killer? She was the best homicide detective in the city - if anyone could exonerate him, it was her.
And yet, she looked completely defeated.
"Castle, they have your fingerprints. They can link you to the jewelry you bought for the victim. They have phone records. Witnesses." She paused. "They even have DNA."
He looked up at the last statement. "They have DNA?" he demanded, incredulous.
Kate nodded. She asked evenly, "Did you have sex with her?"
"No," Castle said angrily, his response clipped. "We went out a few times, but I haven't even seen her in five years."
She nodded, accepting his statement, before saying softly, "Well, they have your DNA."
His head spun from the declaration. How could they have his DNA on the victim? How was that possible? Unless someone was framing him. But he could tell by Kate's expression that she had already arrived at that conclusion.
"I know of at least one person with the motive and resources to have you set up," she stated.
"Bracken."
As he said the name, all the pieces fell into place for Castle. The Senator had to know about his work with Kate. He might even know what the rest of the precinct had no idea about - that they were in a romantic relationship. And while Bracken could not go after Kate or those around her directly, he could try to take Castle out of the equation another way, by framing him. After all, he had done the same thing to Mayor Weldon a year earlier.
"We have to fight this, Kate," he said, knowing full well that he could not keep her safe from her mother's killer if he was behind bars. And if Bracken was willing to try something like this with even the threat of Kate releasing that file he did not know existed...
Shaking her head, she answered, "We can't fight it. The evidence they have is too much. I have no way to prove you are innocent without going after him."
And they couldn't go after Bracken, not without the file Maddox had inadvertently blown to smithereens. Not only would no one believe them, but Bracken could have not only them killed, but everyone around them.
"Kate..." he began, not sure what else there was to say.
She had already given up, clearly. So was this goodbye? Had she come to tell him goodbye? She believed him, and she wanted to save him, but it was an impossible task?
He was distracted by a flash of metal in her hand. As she slid it into the lock of the holding cell, he realized it was a key. Glancing behind her to make sure the coast was clear, Kate slid open the barred door.
"What are you-"
"We don't have time, Castle," she said as she took his hand and pulled him from the cell. He had taken two steps to follow her before realizing what she was doing.
Escape.
She was breaking him out of jail. Or a police precinct. Close enough.
"Kate, you can't-"
"It's the only way, Castle," she cut him off. "In a few hours, they'll take you to central booking and then I won't have any chance of getting you out."
She tugged at his arm insistently, but he refused to move. Even if they got past the officer on night duty outside the holding cell, even if they snuck through a police station full of cops, and even if he was able to make it out of the country before they figured out he was gone... they would instantly know who had helped him escape.
The enormity of it hit him like a brick wall.
"You'll lose your job," he pointed out. "They could send you to prison, Kate."
For a moment, she stopped trying to get him to follow her and just looked at him. She was still holding his hand, her skin warm against his in the chilly room. The unshed tears in her eyes glistened in the low light.
"I won't let them lock you up for something you didn't do."
"Kate-"
"I don't care if I get fired. I don't care if they prosecute me. I won't let them send you to prison, Castle. Okay? That doesn't happen."
The thought of Kate behind the same bars he'd just spent the night looking through made Castle sick to his stomach. She wouldn't flee with him to another country, he realized. She'd stay and fight the charges and do the time. How many years was helping someone escape from jail? Would they charge her as an accessory after the fact? It didn't matter. He couldn't put her in that position.
"I can't let you do this, Kate," Castle said slowly. He knew it was likely his only chance to escape a murder rap, but the consequences she faced were too great. Not to mention that this one action would undermine all the good she'd done for the city as a police officer.
He had stepped back into the cell before she could fight him. And even as she tried to pull him with her, to bodily take him out of that room, he slid the cell door shut between them, letting go of her hand at the last second.
"Castle-" she began, her voice full of emotion, but no words would come.
"I'll take my chances at trial," he said, hoping to reassure her. "We may still find evidence to prove I'm innocent. We can't give up hope."
But she was shaking her head. "I'm worried you won't make it to trial."
The thought hadn't occurred to him, but now that she said it... If Bracken could orchestrate such an elaborate plan to frame him for murder, surely he could hire an inmate in Rikers to take him out. Actually, he'd had that done before, too.
"I'll be okay," he told her even though he did not believe it himself. Taking her hand once more through the bars, he said, "You just have to keep looking, okay? Innocent until proven guilty, right? Whatever evidence they have, you know it's fabricated. The witnesses are lying. The DNA was planted. Figure out who is behind this, Kate, or just find enough to discredit them. I need you. Okay? I need you."
At first, Kate did not look up. Instead, she kept her eyes locked on their joined hands - possibly the only physical contact they would be permitted for a long time. But as she raised her head to meet his gaze, he saw the twin trails of tears down her cheeks.
"I'll keep looking, Castle," she told him. "I won't stop looking. But if we can't find anything. If you go to trial..."
"You will move on with your life, stopping by now and then to visit me, of course, or send me letters," Castle interrupted. He kept his voice light, although it sounded hollow behind the bars of the holding cell.
Ignoring his statement, she said bluntly, "I'll get you out."
"Kate, no..."
"Castle, I want you to listen to me. If we can't prove you're being framed, I will not let you rot in prison. If Bracken could get Lockwood broken out of a courthouse, I can get you out."
She spoke with such determination that he could not bring himself to contradict her. Besides, Castle could see there would be no dissuading her.
"You know, I'm just so glad you believe it isn't me," he said with relief. "When Esposito arrested me, I thought..."
"No one believes you're guilty, Castle," she told him. "We had to act the part to stay on the case or Gates would have yanked us. But we're all behind you, including Javi."
Leaning in to give him a kiss through the bars, Kate stopped at the sound of the door to the room opening behind her. She instantly let go of his hand.
"Everything okay in here?" the officer on duty asked, sounding suspicious.
Kate turned slightly as she answered, "Everything's fine."
Not moving to leave, the uniform said, "The captain called, said she wants to see you in her office. Pronto."
With a nod, she answered, "I'll be right there."
The officer just stood and waited as she turned back to Castle.
"I'll get you out, one way or another," Kate told him quietly before turning to leave. "Always."
After she was gone and Castle was once again left in the darkened room by himself, he repeated the word back.
"Always."