Richard Castle strolled down the street, a mysterious half-grin plastered on his face, quickly approaching the NYPD . He reached out and opened the cool metal door handle, pushing his sunglasses past his forehead to rest tourist-style upon his head. He found his way into a room he had come to know very well: the office of a certain Detective Kate Beckett. He stopped in the doorway and briefly surveyed his surroundings. An extremely attractive woman with short, dark, and layered hair sat hard at work behind her wooden desk. She rested her head in her hand while her other hand scribbled furiously with a pen on a stack of lined papers. He laughed to himself. Was there no end to the work piles of this woman? He attempted to enter the room quietly, realizing how irritable Beckett got when forced to do paperwork. He crept across the concrete floor stealthily until suddenly his shoe gave him away, emiting an obtrusive squeak. Looking quickly up and on alert, Beckett's eyes met Castle's and narrowed ever so slightly.
"Oh," she said, obviously annoyed at his presence, "it's just you."
"Were you expecting someone, because the only person I bumped into was Esposito, but I'm sure he'd be very pleased to keep you company instead," Castle replied, flashing her his famous grin.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, that would be great. Oh, but don't worry about finding someone to keep me company. I do fine on my own as I'm sure you are aware. Besides, someone has to fill out this paperwork." With that, she closed her mouth and turned back toward her desk, continuing with the stack of papers she had been previously concerned with.
She must be more stressed than usual, Castle thought, if she actually believes I would leave. He took a few steps closer to where Kate was sitting and chuckled quietly at his thoughts.
Beckett's head snapped up again. She rolled her eyes when she noticed that Castle was still in the room.
Castle took an empty seat next to her desk and watched her work. He studied the way her hand cradled her chin, how her fingers curled under themselves for extra support. His eyes traced over the hollows of her cheekbones, the way her dark hair shone in the light, and the beautiful tint of her preoccupied eyes.
Sensing his gaze, Kate looked up from her work, again annoyed at having her work disturbed. "Can I help you?" she asked sarcastically.
"Yes actually---" he started, but was interrupted by the ringing of a phone.
"Beckett," she answered, pressing the phone to her ear. "Yes. Of course. I'm on my way." Without wasting any time, Beckett climbed out of her chair, shoved it quickly behind the desk, grabbed her jacket, and tucked a strand of her loose hair behind her ear. Castle too jumped out of his chair and trailed right behind Beckett as she left the building and headed toward the car.
As the two arrived at the location where the murder apparently had taken place, they climbed out of the car and walked brisquely to the front of a seemingly old mansion. Ivy twisted its way up the sides of the house, clinging tightly to the dark brick structure. Dark black wooden shutters hung loosely on several of the windows on the second story.
As Castle and Beckett ascended the cracked stone steps, Castle traced his fingers along one of the broken stone pillars of the porch. "Looks like something right out of a horror movie," he joked, "just look at this place. Ivy creeping menacingly up the walls, faded stained glass windows with hidden shadows behind their panes, eerie giant towers that could be holding--"
"Castle," Beckett barked, "if you haven't noticed, you are most definitely not sitting in front of your computer screen and this is most definitely not a piece that you are working on, so keep your thoughts to yourself and let me do my work!"
"You're cute when you're mad," was his only reply.
"I'm sure you'll be cute with a black eye," Kate retorted.
"You think I'm cute?" he raised his eyebrows questioningly.
"That's not what I meant! I--"
"Youuuu think I'm cute! Just admit it!"
"CASTLE!" she yelled
"Okay, okay," he said, trailing behind Beckett as she reached for the intricately-designed doorknob of the mansion. But he couldn't hold back a smile that made its way to his lips as she twisted it open. "You think I'm cute," he whispered again.
Upon entering the main entrance of the mansion, Castle noticed two things: despite the crumbling outside of the house, the architecture of the inside was still in fairly decent shape. It was beautifully decorated and the architecture was very unique; second of all...
"Hey Kate uhh...where's the body?" he peeked over her shoulder as she come to an abrupt stop in the middle of the foyer.
"Hey sir, what's going on. Wasn't this a murder call?" Beckett inquired to the man, her boss, standing next to her.
"It was reported to be a murder," he started.
"Reported?"
"Yeah, we got a call saying someone had been killed. We showed up here and all they've got to show is a bloodstain on the carpet."
"Hey isn't that like that Michael Jackson song? This obviously was done by a smooth criminal. Ohhh the bloodstains on the carpet. So Annie are you okay? Annie are you okay, are you okay Annie?" Castle began singing aloud.
Both people in the room turned to look at him. Beckett glared.
"If looks could kill, I'm pret-ty sure I'd be dead," Castle said matter-o-factly..
"Got that right." Beckett snapped and turned away from him to continue her conversation with the chief.