A/N: Okay, so here's my disclaimer: I do not own Castle. If I did, they would be moving from the current limbo status they are at now, including longing looks and significant phrases…and straight into an actual relationship. Oh, how I hate this stage in fictional relationships. For pity's sake, people, not every couple in the universe is actually this dense…anyway, read and please review, I'll be updating as soon as possible. Enjoy.

It was a typical Monday morning at the twelfth, though generally quiet. There had been no murders, as of yet. The detectives were all sitting at the respective desks, going through paperwork. Castle was diverting from his usual repertoire, playing Angry Birds on his phone instead of staring at Beckett, which only helped her so much.

She found it quite amusing to watch him instead. Every so often, his eyebrows would raise and his lips would part, just slightly, indicating a score of some kind. And when something in the game went wrong, he would narrow his eyes and wrinkle his nose just a little bit.

This went on for a couple hours, and Beckett managed to get one and a half reports finished before Castle finally spoke.

"Enjoying the view, Detective?" he said, glancing up from his phone with a playful smirk on his face. Beckett opened her mouth in shock.

After a few moments, she recovered.

"Oh, whatever, Castle…" she mumbled, turning back to her paperwork.

At that moment, Beckett's phone rang.

"Beckett…" she answered.

She listened for a few moments, and Castle watched in fascination as her whole manner changed. She relaxed visibly, shoulders dropping as she leaned back in her chair, "Oh, hey, honey," she greeted the mystery caller. She caught him looking at her and cocked an eyebrow, "Yeah. Okay, just send me your flight information." She rolled her eyes, for once, not at Castle and chuckled, "Oh, yeah, it'll be fun." She paused again, "I'm sure you will…Puh-lease, you two haven't been separate for this long since you were six. Whatever …yeah. I'll see you soon. Love you, too."

"Who was that?" he asked, watching her expression carefully. It was unguarded, happy. It didn't look like the expression she wore when she was talking to Josh, nor did it look like the relieved, reassured expression she wore after speaking to her father. Though, when he thought about it, he couldn't remember Kate ever saying, 'I love you,' to either of them in front of him before.

"Ellie," his partner replied simply, as if he were supposed to know exactly what she was talking about. Castle flipped through his mental, 'Book of Beckett,' and found that the name was not familiar in the least.

"Who's Ellie?" he asked. She smiled, glancing down at the file in her hands and taking a sip of coffee before answering him.

"My cousin," she replied, "She's going to be staying with me for a little while." Castle's eyebrows nearly hit his hairline.

"Wait, what?" he said, obviously confused, "You have a cousin? How have I never heard of her before?" Beckett cocked her head to the side, contemplating her answer.

"She came to visit me last year, too…" she mused aloud. A crease formed between her eyebrows, "but you were in the Hamptons by that time."

Castle sat back, noticing the tension in his partner's shoulders as she thought back to his summer in the Hamptons. Another layer of the Beckett onion he'd yet to pull back. But before him was a new mystery: Ellie.

"And is that all I get to know?"

Beckett chuckled, rolling her eyes at him. He continued to look at her, eyes lit up by curiosity. She wanted to laugh.

"What's to know, Castle?" she teased. He pouted childishly, and she laughed again, "Okay, her name is Eleanor Murphy, though call her Eleanor and she will break you in half. She likes to be called Ellie. She's twenty four, just graduated from Stanford Law."

"So she's just coming to New York for a visit?"

"Yes and no," she answered him, "She is going to begin as the new assistant district attorney next month and is staying with me until she finds a place of her own in New York."

"So you two are close?"

"Yeah…Don't tell me you're looking for another muse..." she teased playfully, thinking back to his jealous over her time with Alex Conrad.

"Other than you? Never," he answered, grinning, "But this should be interesting…Another Beckett to roll her eyes at me, oh, joy."

"You are such a dork, Castle. And, technically, she's a Murphy, not a Beckett."

"You say potato, I say potahtoe…" Castle told her.

"Can't you come up with a better way to say that than stealing worn-out clichés?"

"There's a fine line between cliché and classic, my dear Detective."

They continued to banter like that for a few more minutes, at which time the boys got up and invited the two of them to lunch. They eagerly accepted.

They drove to Remy's in separate cars, and occupied their usual booth. Once they settled in and ordered, Castle turned the conversation back to his partner's upcoming guest.

"So, have these two met Ellie?" Castle asked.

Both of the male detectives looked up at him in confusion, and then to Beckett. She chuckled.

"She called me back at the precinct to make sure she had the right email address for her flight information," she told them.

"Wait, so Ellie's coming?" Esposito asked. Castle observed his expression, which was much softer than usual, and decided that Beckett's cousin must a favorite of his.

"Dude, she's getting a job at the D.A.'s office, don't you ever pay attention?" Ryan teased, "When is she coming?"

"Sometime next week or the week after," Beckett answered, "Not quite sure yet. You know Ellie; she's a fan of last minute planning. How she got through law school, I will never know…"

"A genius level IQ and energy drinks?" Ryan surmised.

"That definitely helped."

"Yeah…she's terrifying with the energy drink thing…"

The rest of the hour was spent exchanging stories about Ellie. The boys were a lot less mysterious about Beckett's cousin, and gave him some actual warning for what to expect from her. Apparently, Eleanor Murphy was prone to obsessive tendencies, could quote random science fiction movies in a heartbeat, and was a talented singer. She'd been dating Jared, her childhood best friend, for two years now, and the pair was strikingly different. She was passionate and loved to read, particularly Jane Austen, though Beckett did admit she'd also read his books. Castle enjoyed listening to the detectives talking, and Beckett seemed particularly pleased with the brotherly overprotectiveness Esposito and Ryan had over her cousin.

The day ended, and a new week began, bringing a case that had their time entirely occupied. Especially since this particular case had taken place at a family reunion, where at least one hundred people had been present. The family, as it turns out, had more problems than the Jacksons: drugs, affairs, twisted scandals and secrets, secret love children, scorned exes, most of which seemed to tie in with their victim. After sifting through days and days of the World's Most Screw Up Family, the answer ended up being rather simple: an heir killing his father for money. Castle found this to be a most monotonous ending, and decided he'd write a family just like this one into his book, except with a far more interesting conclusion. Beckett merely rolled her eyes at him. The next morning they brought the son in and read him his rights. Castle ducked out after the fuss was all over, with the intention of grabbing lunch for his partner.

He was headed for the elevator, carrying a bag of Beckett's favorite take-out food, when his phone fell out of his hand. He glared at the ground, willing it back up to him with his mind to no avail.

"Are you trying to Jedi-mind-trick it to come back to you?" a voice beside him asked. He looked up, startled.

A woman sat on the bench next to the elevator, phone in hand, eyebrow raised in amusement. She leaned over and picked up his phone.

"Thank you," he said dumbly. The woman smiled.

She was pretty, young. With dark hair and startling blue eyes surround by thick, black eyelashes. She smiled a bright, dazzling smile that he was certain if she were really trying, could warm the coldest of hearts. He turned to head back to the elevators, when her voice stopped him again.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

He stopped, confused.

"Umm…why not?" he asked. She patted the bench beside her, punching a couple more buttons on her phone.

"Because they just started maintenance on it five minutes ago," she told him, glancing up from whatever she was doing.

"Oh," he mumbled, somewhat incoherently.

"Can I ask you a question?" the younger woman said, looking up at him once more.

"Sure."

He sat down next to her, putting the bag of food right by his feet.

"How the hell am I supposed to get past the tenth level of Angry Birds?"

Castle blinked, stunned. Of all the things to ask someone in the middle of a police precinct, that was not one he would have expected. He burst out laughing. The stranger seemed to find this amusing. She put her phone down on her knee and grinned at him.

"Do you always ask questions like that?"

"I'm a fan of random moments. Usually, I can get a smile out of people. Deep in thought right there, you looked like you needed it," she told him.

"What are you…some sort of psychologist or something?" he asked. She shook her head.

"Mind-reader," she replied.

"Ah…a mind-reader in a police precinct…come to bring us the latest information on a murder?"

"Actually I play Angry Birds in the lobby of every precinct I've ever been to," she answered him. She raised an eyebrow and leaned towards him, "What about you? You don't look like a cop…nor do you look like a criminal."

"I've got a friend in the precinct. Thought I'd bring her lunch."

It sounded innocent enough, but the stranger didn't seem fooled.

"A friend or a girlfriend?" she asked. Castle opened and closed his mouth a couple times in shock.

"A friend who is a girl, or, well, woman actually," he answered eventually. She watched him intently for a few moments, and Castle grew more and more anxious under her scrutiny.

"But a friend who is a girl that you want as a girlfriend?" she finally decided. The corners of her mouth turned up playfully and his jaw slackened.

"I…uh, no."

The woman giggled.

"For such a charmer, you're actually a pretty awful liar. Don't be offended, I'd actually prefer it that way…"

"I'm sorry, I don't even know your name…"

"Now where would be the fun in that?" she said. She put her phone in her pocket and grinned, "See you around. Say hi to your partner for me…"

Castle watched her walk away, entirely stunned. It took him a few more moments to gather up his thoughts, pick up his bag of takeout, and head up the stairs to bring Beckett her food.

She wasn't at her desk when he got there, and the boys nodded their heads towards the break room. Coffee break, Castle briefly acknowledged. He sat down at his usual spot at his partner's desk. He sat there for a few minutes, first checking his phone to see if he'd missed any calls when he heard an eerie voice reply:

"Well, if this is what the NYPD does when you aren't tracking down bombs, I think you are highly overpaid…"

A/N: So I know this wasn't as much as you probably hoped for, but I promise to update soon. Thanks for reading! And yes, this was really random…it actually sounded more random when I posted it than it did when I was reading it…go figure…