Quiet Before the Storm

The loft was quiet, peaceful even; it was after eleven so Alexis was deep in here zees. The only thing audible in the room was the quiet ticking of the sleek wall clock. Martha, his dear mother, was usually reading about now in the living room while enjoying a late night toddy; however, no noise reached his ears from that direction.

The quiet of the evening had settled into him, he felt a sudden wave of drowsiness come over him. Coffee he needed coffee and he needed a snack, some sugar to keep him going. Cookies, he thought and remembered observing Alexis baking some after dinner.

With a plan in place to exploit the product of his innocent daughters labor, Castle leaned forward to place the laptop onto the desk. The screen saver had kicked in minutes ago, the text "You should be writing" was flying across the screen.

As he left his office he scanned the living room for signs of his mother. The drink glass lay on the coffee table with a copy of People magazine nearby; but his mother was nowhere to be seen. Early night? She must not be feeling well. He mused as continued into the kitchen.

The counters were clean and the sink empty, Alexis of course. That girl needs to have more fun. With that thought firmly in mind he opened the fridge door to find a note scrawled over the cellophane wrapped cookies. He frowned as he read it quickly.

DO NOT EAT, FOR SCHOOL PARTY AC

P.S. THIS MEANS YOU DAD.

Surprised and disappointed at his daughters scrawled warning he considered whether or not to risk her wrath. Choosing to play it safe, he closed the fridge and decided to call it a night. He turned to leave the kitchen when he heard Detective Becketts voice calling from his pocket "Coming Castle?" Since she wasnt here with him he knew it must be his phone.

Taking the phone from his pocket he fingered the accept button. "Is it murder most foul?" he cackled into the phone. "Nice Castle, I am so happy that bad people of the world can keep you amused," before he could respond she continued "and yes there is a murder at 3rd and east 25th; coming castle?" He laughed at her usual line, "KB, I am so there."

Rick arrived at the crime scene and was waived through the police cordon. He quickly parked his Aston Martin DBS next to the MEs corpsemobile. He quickly exited his car and approached the back of Detective Becketts more modest sedan where he procured two pairs latex gloves from the open trunk.

"Really Castle," Beckett appeared from the other side of her vehicle, "You drove the sex machine here?" Castle smiled cheekily, "Actually I think of it as my Secret Agent car; but, I like your name better, would you care for a ride?" She groaned rolling her eyes while castle pulled both pairs of gloves on. "Not tonight darling, I have a headache," she quipped with a wink. "Saucy," he leers at her with an eyebrow perched higher than the other, "tomorrow night it is!" Becket tone dipped into her serious voice, "I would love to toss this ball back and forth with you all morning, but I have work to do."

Beckett left him there and approached the crime scene. Esposito detached himself from the crowd formed at the cordon and walked toward Beckett with hand raised and called "Yo, Beckett". Beckett hearing him changed course. When they got closer she asked, "Crowd see anything?" Esposito rubbed his temple with one hand and flipped through his notes with the other. "No one saw what happened to our vic; though several said they heard gunshots." She nodded, "Any concrete number on the shots fired?" He shook his head, "One guy said four, but another woman said three, even had one loon said he heard ten rounds." Beckett responded intrigued by the strange number, "the guy who heard ten rounds fired, you sure hes crazy?" Esposito grinned, "Oh yeah, it was barrister Jim." Beckett nodded her head in understanding.

"Whoa," castle spoke up, "who is barrister Jim? There has to be story behind that name." Esposito responded, "nuh-uh, he used to be a lawyer; supposedly he didnt want to split his wealth with his ex-wife and gave everything away and now lives on the street." Castle shook his head, "I have one word for the man pre-nup. " "Very romantic Castle," Beckett continued, "Ok, Esposito see if you can help Ryan find the impact points maybe we can get an accurate number." Before either man could respond she was off again.

"Lanie, what do you have for me tonight?" Beckett asked. The ME stood up from her crouched position and then knuckled her back as she arched it. "Doll, I have a dead white boy with 45 slug in his ass, but dont ask me for C.O.D. cause I aint got it yet," she complained and resumed her position inspecting the body. "He was shot in the Ass?" Castle chimed in with a laugh. Beckett scowled, "Im so glad we can be here to amuse you Castle." He feigned hurt feelings, "You malign me madam, its just that if I wanted to kill a guy the gluts are that last place my gun would be aimed. " Lanie eyed castle and said, "Congratulations Castle, now you know why I havent found cause of death. " Castle continued, "What If the guy who shot him isnt the guy who killed him?"

Beckett sighed, "an interesting idea Castle but we dont like to speculate, it makes us look bad when were wrong. So how about we wait until we get some more evidence." Castle shrugged, "Ok, but you have to admit theres more to the story here than this crime scene is saying."

It was three in the morning before the detectives started for their vehicles. The body had left for the morgue an hour before with a very annoyed ME along for the ride. Castle followed Beckett back to her car when Beckett turned on him. "Following me home Castle?" Castle grinned, "Is that an offer Detective?" He didnt give her a chance to respond, "Actually, I wanted invite you to dinner this Friday evening. You should know both Alexis and Martha have missed you terribly; they have been looking for a chance to catch up with you."

Beckett threw castle a calculating grin, "Uh huh, you sure youre not just using your family as an excuse?" He drew closer to Beckett, dropping his mouth close to her ear and whispered, "Is it that obvious?" She tilted her had to put her mouth to his ear, "yes, but on one condition." "Anything", he returned snappily. She sneakily reached up and grabbed his other ear. Castle yelped, "Apples Apples, sheesh." Beckett glared at him, "Never call me madam."

AUTHORS NOTE

This is my second attempt at fan fiction; my first was a miserable failure. Of course we all know ABC owns this Castle stuff. Thanks for reading, and thanks even more for reviewing.