Grey clouds filled the sky and covered the city in thick, eerie shadows. Kate was ducked in behind a dumpster with her partner just waiting for their perps to exit out of the side building door into their waiting presence and take them down. It was hard though. Neither of the detectives had any idea of how the next ten to fifteen minutes was going to go down. They both couldn't see the door so whatever the suspects had with them, or didn't have with them; Beckett and Espo had to deal with it within seconds.

The waiting was the worse though. After a while the adrenaline would wear off and cramps would slowly start invading the joints in your legs. It's when your brain gets bored that it becomes a real problem. There's nothing that can prepare you for that. You start counting the bricks in the wall and become so preoccupied that you can't even remember why you were there in the first place.

Their breaths grew louder as the suspense grew stronger. They wouldn't be able to wait much longer and they would have to completely reanalyse their case.

"Five more minutes Becks then we're out of here," Espo whispered. He didn't usually call her Becks and it was a pet name that she had always hated but now wasn't a time to argue.

Kate just simply gave an agreeing nod. She couldn't sit here much longer either.

Suddenly a click of the rusty, old door that occupied the alley was a sign that in fact they wouldn't be going home any time soon.

The long, high pitch squeal that the door produced made each of them wince but soon sprang into action when they heard heavy footsteps hit the pavement.

"NYPD hands where I can see them!" they yelled in conjunction. It was something they had naturally learned to do on their many cases together.

"Up against the wall!" Espo yelled but Kate stood still in her tracks.

"CASTLE!" she yelled angrily, "What the hell are you doing here!"

Castle turned from the wall he had ran to and walked over to his wife.

"I was doing some research for my next book since someone won't let me back on their team," he said in a 'don't blame me' tone.

Rick reached in to kiss her but Beckett quickly dodged it and walked over to her partner. Yes they were fighting. Well they were fighting for the second time this week but Rick just didn't understand that Kate couldn't have him back as her partner. He had died in her arms that day he was shot. Being in the line of fire was her job, not the job of her husband and certainly not the job for the father of her children. He just didn't understand.

"I'll meet you in the car Beckett. Don't take too long," Espo called out as he walked back towards where they'd parked their car much earlier in the day when they had started their stake out. He didn't need to be there for one of their fights. He'd seen enough grief and pain become of his previous partners death and he certainly didn't need to see more.

"Don't wait up Javie. I'll go home with this guy," she yelled out and pointed towards her now smiling husband.

Rick tried one more time and pulled her in for another kiss. This time she didn't pull away but more the opposite. She deepened the kiss further until they both needed to come up for air.

"You know why I can't have you back on my team Rick," she said and ran a hand along the stubble on his chin.

"I know," he pouted, "but it doesn't mean that it doesn't suck."

"I know, I know," she replied and grabbed his hand to pull him to his car. She knew that he would eventually have to lead the way as she had no idea where it was parked, but she just really needed to get out of this alley.

Her phone then vibrated in her pocket to indicate that she had a text.

Espo: Hey Becks don't worry about coming back to the precinct; I got this all under control. You owe me one!

She laughed at it and appreciated the friendship that they had acquired since they had become partners. As tragic as Ryan's death was, it somehow brought them closer together. But Rick on the other hand, it tested their relationship more than anything. Kevin had died saving Rick's life and almost failed to do that. Castle still blamed himself for it. He said that leaving a woman alone with three kids because his butt had to be saved was something worse than dying. Jenny had forgiven him though; she even told him that there was nothing to be forgiven for. Kevin was doing his job. It was what he'd signed up for. What Kate didn't understand was how he could think that way when if he had died he'd be leaving behind her and their two kids and with one on the way, and also Alexis and her two kids. Ryan didn't deserve to die but her family didn't deserve to lose a husband, a father and a grandfather either. Many fights had started from this as well. Most of the time Kate just kept it to herself. Nothing ever good came from fighting with the man who had a crazily great gift with words.

They finally found the car which Rick had actually forgotten where he had parked it, and drove back to their new loft which was conveniently three doors down to the old one. It was structurally the same but three extra rooms were added on for the increasing amount of children flooding in every day.

Kate loved it though. She loved her two kids who would come in every morning and wake them up to make them breakfast or just jump into bed with them until they were both ready to get up. She was also one month pregnant. They had only just found out but were both over the moon at the news. Kate also secretly liked being a grandmother. Being 37 and being a grandmother was far too young but she also guessed that being 37 and pregnant was classified as being too old to have a baby. Nothing was normal in the Castle household.