Summary:

"I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop." -Kate 4x23When Kate is arrested for the murder of Charles Smith there is no doubt in her mind that "the other shoe" has finally dropped. Can Castle and the boys prove her innocence before it's too late and Kate gets locked up for good? Spoilers for, and post Always 4x23

A/N

This started by me writing out the miranda writes and ended with me hoping that one day I will be a fraction as talented as some of the fanfic authors (you know who you are) that inspired me to write, and make it look so darn easy (it's not... they're just incredible authors)

Also for simplicity's sake let's just let Mr. Smith's name be Charles Smith.

I have no idea who actually owns Castle, but I can assure you it's definitely not me.

"Katherine Beckett you are under arrest for the murder of Charles Smith. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?"

"Espo, you can't be serious."

"Do you under-"

"Javi, what the hell is-"

"Kate." Javier said sternly with an edge of urgency and panic. "Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?"

"Yes I do." She replied, her earlier bravado and confidence slowly leaving "I read them out to REAL criminals all the time- I understand." The venom in her voice, however, could not be missed as she grudgingly turned away from her colleague, allowing him to cuff her hands behind her back and seat her in the back of her own cruiser. At least he was gentile.

They sat in silence for a few minutes as Esposito drove away from the crime scene, Ryan and Castle following in the car behind.

"Javi, this is ridiculous, you know I didn't kill anybody." He didn't respond. "Javi, please." She tried again, her voice pleading and finally betraying her to her true emotions as her voice cracked.

He turned around for a second, staring into her bloodshot eyes. He melted as a single tear rolled down her cheek. He had seen Kate Beckett cry three times before this: When she shot Dick Coonan, during that case with the sniper, and when he had followed her into the change room after Castle had left with Gina to go to the Hamptons. Each time she had broken his heart and had unleashed the fiercely protective older brother "if you mess with my family you mess with me" Esposito that he kept locked up for special occasions. But he did this. Her crying in the back of her own police car was his doing and he wanted nothing more than to turn around and floor it, maybe escape to Canada or something, but of course, he couldn't. He had to bring Kate to the 12 precinct, and sit her in the chair opposite to hers in the interrogating room and watch from behind the mirror as two detectives, who worked the other shift, tore her up. What could he even say to her? After he's probably, in the span of two minutes, ruined the life that he has saved countless times?

"I won't blame you." She said softly, looking down at her hands. And he knows that she won't.

"I know, and I know you didn't do it Kate but it's not about what I know. It's about what the evidence knows, and about what Gates knows from looking at the evidence." He offers timidly- hoping somehow his words will help.

"I know." Kate whispered, softer than before. "I'm just terrified. You know I've never been arrested before- so go easy on me." She added humorlessly, in a futile attempt to alleviate the heaviness.

"Gates took us off the case." He said, even though he knew that Kate would have assumed that. "She didn't take us of duty though, and she didn't assign us a new case. I think her exact words were: 'Go home, stay here, do whatever but Smith's murder is off limits, do you hear me? Smith's murder.'"

Kate smiled. "She didn't say anything about my shooting, or my mum's case did she?" Gates could be an infuriating stickler to the rules but even Kate had to admit, the woman was brilliant at creating loop holes around them.

"Nope." Esposito said, before stopping the care right outside the twelfth. "In fact she basically told us to go after it. I'm sure she isn't too thrilled that her best homicide detective was arrested for a homicide, especially after she appealed to have the both of us put back on active duty." He stepped out of the car and opened the back door, helping Kate out of her seat.

"I swear Kate." He said, his face becoming serious again after their more lighthearted conversation. "We will find a way to get you out." And with that he lead her through the precinct, in handcuffs.

It worse than any "walk of shame" that she had ever been on. And Kate Beckett had had her fair share of "walk of shames. She was beyond mortified. Esposito lead her past the desk Sargent, her hands behind her back. He gawked at her, not even attempting to mask his surprise, before he closed his mouth and shook his head reproachfully at her. Kate wanted to punch him in the face, she could only begin to estimate how many times she's seen that look on his face when she was the one hauling in murder suspects. She hated the feeling of him judging her, and the fact that she was wearing nothing but one of Castle's t-shirts and a pair of lulu lemon short-shorts didn't help her cause- well at least the boys weren't giving her crap for that, or for the pancake breakfast she was making when they barged in on her at his loft. A silver lining. Not.

As they made their way through the homicide floor Kate stared at the floor, trying to ignore the staring eyes that were burning holes into her back. She briefly looked at Capt. Gates through her office window, but her gaze remained blank and emotionless. She looked behind her at the crowd around the bullpen as she was ushered into the interrogation room, feeling rather like Lot's wife in that bible story, as she did. Only, she didn't turn into a pillar of salt. If only she were that lucky.

Kate sat across from the one way mirror and focused on not crying. She wanted to bang her head on the table- years of experience as a cop and the one time she has to be on the receiving end of the NYPD's wrath she can't think properly. Great. The knowledge that Ryan, Esposito and Castle were watching from the other side probably didn't help, although it did provide some comfort when the two cops, who Kate could only assume took over the case, finally waltzed in. At least she wasn't completely alone.

They stared at her for a while before finally talking.

"Detective Beckett, I'm Detective O'Brien, and this is my partner Detective Shields." Kate rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I know. We're colleagues, remember?" She stated bitterly. They ignored her.

"Would you care to tell us what happened on the night of the murder?" O'Brien asked. She, in turn, ignored them.

"Would you like to tell me what you want from me? You've already arrested me, so you clearly think you have enough evidence to incriminate me, and you aren't trying to get a confession. There is absolutely no benefit to me talking with you right now." The two men looked at each other and smirked, before Shields answered.

"Well, you're half right there, we don't need a confession. We have your prints on the murder weapon, which was your piece by the way, DNA at the scene, motive means and opportunity."

"Pray tell what motive means and opportunity did I have?" She asked sarcastically.

"The connection the man had to your mother and your beloved former Captain's murders." O'Brien said slowly, deliberately trying to hurt Beckett, "You went to his home to confront him and maybe he didn't cooperate and you did something stupid, it wouldn't be the first time that you did something wrong because of this case. Or maybe it wasn't that, maybe he pulled the gun first, and you had a little episode of PTSD, that also wouldn't be the first time, so you pulled the trigger and ran. And as for means and opportunity there's your gun and you still haven't told us your whereabouts during the time of the murder, which conveniently occurred within the five hour window between when you were kicked out of the precinct, and when security cameras were able to place you at Castle's." He said, pointedly, staring accusingly at her attire (or lack thereof) "Does that answer your question, Detective?"

Kate fought hard to keep her anger from boiling over, and the tears from spilling out from all of the hurt that the other detectives managed to dredge up.

"Well, you half answered my question. You still haven't told me what benefit there is to me talking to you two right now, and that, detectives," She stated, standing up so that the could take her out of the room, "is because there isn't one, especially without legal council. I know my rights, and Detective Esposito over there" she nudged her head to the wall of glass, "was very thorough in reading them to me, so nice try and thank you, oh so very much for the nice chit chat."

Her point would have been made a lot better had she been able to confidently walk out of the room, leaving the two man staring in confusion in her wake, but she had to stand there for a minute, waiting for someone to come and taker her to lock up, while the two detectives smirked at her, demeaning her. Kate was also pretty sure that least O'Brien was staring at her in a way that was not at all appropriate. She would also bet that Shields was doing the same thing, just more discreetly. She is (or hopefully, still is) a detective after all. Damn shirt.

She was lead through the bullpen again, but this time there was a crowd of people leaving the observation room, pretending not to look at her, and laughing as if they all shared an inside joke with each other, and with Beckett. Probably because they did. Despite the fact that she was the one being interrogated Kate had dominated the whole interview. If interrogation was a sport it would be safe to say that Kate Beckett kicked ass. She managed to make O'Brien and Shields give away their whole hand, and she didn't reveal a smidgen of information. She could just imagine Montgomery standing behind the mirror telling whoever would listen that she was a like a tiger in there, like he had often liked to do, especially to newbies. And, for a brief minute she was happy, and confident, but then the cop who had been taking her to lock up tapped on her shoulder and opened the door to her cell, before shutting it behind her, flashing her an apologetic look, and speed walking away. Kate may have been under arrest but she still had her good reputation.

Kate spent three and half hour sitting in the cell, by herself, with her back pressed up against the bars until Ryan, Esposito and Castle finally made there way to visit her.

"Nice of you to show up." She said, playfully sarcastic.

"Well Beckett, some of us do have to work... we can't all be lazy and sit around doing nothing all day." Ryan responded, matching her tone.

"What about you Castle?" She tried, using the old "lets make fun of Castle because he isn't a real cop"

"I was at the loft, dealing with hoards of police... they wanted to get a statement from me... harboring a fugitive and all." He joked. Kate smiled, appreciative of the light mood everyone was keeping.

"Didn't have the foresight to bring me some clothes, eh?" She asked, indicating the flimsy pajama top she was wearing. Well, Castle's pajama top.

"No." He answered sheepishly, his face going red.

"You did great in there Beckett." Ryan said after a friendly silence.

"Ya, you gave us a lot to work with..." Esposito continued, before noticing the love staring contest going on between Castle and Beckett.

"You know what?" Ryan added after noticing it too, and taking it as a cue to leave, "You got a lot of information out of O'Brien and Shields, so much, in fact, we should probably go work on it now- we'll be back to visit later, okay?"

Beckett broke her gaze with Castle for a second before nodding, gratefully, to Ryan. Then the two walked away, finally leaving Castle alone with Beckett.

Thank you to everyone who read, I hope that you enjoyed this so far! Next chapter we have some Beckett and Castle time where we will out more about what happened leading up to Beckett's arrest. Stay tuned, and please let me know what you thought!

Also, if you see any mistakes, spelling, grammar, or otherwise please PM me to let me know, as this is not beta'd.