It started as a normal day, well as normal as a day does for a homicide detective; gruesome murder, several of Castle's crazy theories, the shooting down of Castle's many crazy theories, suspects, alibis for said suspects, then the emerging of the real killer. Now all that was left was to head to the Old Haunt for some well deserved drinks courtesy of Castle.
"I'm telling you Beckett, I knew it was him all along. He gave me the creeps."
"As I recall Castle you also knew it was the Butler, ex-wife, next door neighbour and let us not forget the rabid cat theory."
"What? They really looked like little claw marks, I would know, got Alexis a kitten when she was six, the sweetest thing you've ever seen, but apparently he saw me as his new scratching post. Let's just say Sir Furrlock didn't stay for too long in the castle home, never been able to look at cats the same way."
Beckett couldn't keep in her laugh any longer, where to start?
"You named a cat Furrlock?" Seemed like a good place to begin.
"Yeah, Furrlock Homes. He had the hat and everything, such a pity."
Her laughter only intensified. "Somehow I'm not surprised. But wasn't Alexis sad when she couldn't keep her new pet? I always wanted a cat or a dog but with mom and dad's work hours it wasn't really a practical idea."
"Oh no, luckily I'd decided to keep the new arrival as a surprise and brought it home while she was at school, by the time she was home any evidence of the thing being there was gone, well except we had an excessive amount of milk and cream for the next couple of weeks. But no, she never had to know."
"Too bad, I could imagine you with a little creature, pampering and spoiling it, probably a bit too much."
"Why would I need a pet detective? I have you, and I pamper and spoil you all the time; bring you coffee, bring my best wit and charm, offer theories that according to the laws of probability will someday prove correct and then whisk the whole team back to the best bar in the city forfreedrinks. If only you'd let me pet you."
Beckett picks up her coat and Castle begins helping her slip into it, turned away from him she utters quietly "Maybe someday Castle." When she feels his arms still she can't hold back her triumphant smirk. But Castle recovers rather quickly, well not without first choking on his quick intake of air which he tries to cover with a deep cough. It's winter right? Right now he's not sure what year he's in let alone the season. Coherent thought comes rushing back as he feels her winter coat in his hands. Yes winter! He could be getting a cold. He's been standing here a while hasn't he, she's going to think something's up. Of course she'll know though, she set him up for this. Damn woman would be the death of him, but what a death it would be.
As he finishes helping her into the coat she turns around again, and although she tries to hide it he can see the slight smirk she's fighting to stifle. The best death, he concludes.
"So the Old Haunt? I have a drink waiting with your name on it." He breaks the slightly awkward yet comfortable silence.
"Yeah let me just get these reports to Gates. You can hurry the boys along."
They both cast a look at the two men still bickering about who had gotten the guy to talk.
"Dude, it was all me. You see how he crumbled when I gave him my best 'you're in deep trouble, don't mess with me' look."
"Come on Espo, you know he was looking right at me when he confessed. Let it go, sometimes going for the 'I'm your pal and just want to help you' approach is more successful."
"Guys, guys! Can't we just settle for the good cop, bad cop routine always works and go to the Old Haunt already? Drinks are on me."
The boys both let out a long sigh and start collecting their things, Esposito's the first to talk, holding out his hand to Ryan. "Fine, I guess we both did pretty good in there."
Ryan shakes his hand. "Yeah man, I guess your look was pretty scary, I mean I'd confess."
A not so subtle cough turns their attention to the man next to them. "Not to interrupt the bromance moment, but it's pretty well." Both detectives offer him a confused expression. "You know 'I guess we both did pretty well in there' 'pretty good' is grammatically incorrect."
Both detectives' expressions change from confused to slightly irritated but before they can give any rebuttal Beckett strolls over with an amused look on her face. "Come on Castle, you want to go for a drink with us you've got to leave the grammar snob at the-"
There's a silence as she seems to catch sight of something behind them. "-door."
Castle has seen her face take on many expressions over the years: happiness, sadness, empathy, smugness, jealousy (though she would never admit it), sentimental, worry and of course that pissed off glare, directed many a time towards suspects but more often at him. But this is a new one; she's gone pale, really pale. It's like she's seen a ghost or something. Shock could be partly how to describe it, but he had seen her shocked before, this was much more intense, it worries him and is enough for him and the boys to turn around ready to encounter the cause of such a look.
Standing only a few feet away is a man; he looks a little older than Castle but really not by much, he's tall, freshly shaven face and it would appear hair, a suit that is a little bit too large for him as if he's still growing into it. He's holding a small briefcase but by the effort it seems to be taking to hold it Castle can tell for a small case it holds something quite heavy, something of importance. The hand holding the briefcase: knuckles coated with many small scars, but they look old, almost beginning to vanish from the skin, only a faint reminder of…his past? Castle knows it's probably just the writer in him assuming, when he was younger his mother would scold him when he did a similar analyse of her new 'friends', though he was usually right.
"Katie." The man speaks his voice rough with, Castle's guess, emotion. His eyes stare deeply into hers and Castle suddenly realises that they have this whole time, and she's looking right back into them. But as the stranger takes a small hesitant step forward Beckett seems to awaken somewhat, she blinks a few times before turning straight on the spot and rushing towards the stairs, her head low and her shoulders sagging.
Castle thinks he's never seen her like this. No matter what has happened she has always walked off with her back straight and head high. So when the man goes to follow her he feels obliged to step in his way, blocking any exit. And apparently the boys have a similar idea as they both join him.
"I need to talk to her." He says, eyes pleading with them to let him through.
But there's something Castle wants to know before he lets this man anywhere near Kate. "Who are you?"
Nothing could prepare Castle for what came next.
"I'm her brother."