Katherine Beckett trudged up to the scene, prepossessing and seemingly out of place in a red coat and boot heels. A grey, crime-ridden estate in Brownsville is not where she had wanted to be at 9:15 this Friday morning, "So what's the deal with this guy?"

Ryan and Espo had arrived 15 minutes earlier to find Lanie already standing by with a clipboard to begin her report. None of them were particularly thrilled to be out in the damp east coast cold either.

However, they were the lucky ones. The young man lying crumpled on the ground was pale-skinned with a shock of dark hair. His white shirt was saturated with blood, two fair sized holes visible in the fabric, a jagged pool of red creeping through the cracks in the concrete around his corpse.

Lanie didn't look up from her clipboard, but gestured to the body, "Two rounds to the lower back, large calibre, long range. The shooter was messy, neither shot killed him instantly, poor guy bled out right here."

"Lying out in the cold, alone, two holes in your back? What a way to go." Ryan commented, arms folded as his blue eyes trailed up and down their victim sympathetically.

Esposito was crouched beside the body, "Probably shot him whilst hidden down the side of the houses. I can see if the security-"

"Where's Castle?" Ryan interrupted, seemingly only just realising there had been no snarky comments or questionable theorising. He peered around Beckett as though he expected the writer to be hidden there.

"Felix has a school assembly this morning. We thought at least one of us should show up." Beckett sighed, she actually preferred crime scenes and dead bodies to school halls and pta moms, but Felix had been chattering on about this assembly all week. He was playing an Alien. For Felix that was a dream come true. Why, exactly, there was an Alien in an assembly about the Boston Tea Party was a mystery she may now never solve. Maybe if they finished up quick she could catch the end.

"Sorry to call you out here, Honey. I know Felix wanted you there." Lanie looked genuinely apologetic.

"It's okay. He understands." Beckett lied; he was six of course he didn't understand. He'd sat on the stairs next to his dad and they'd both pouted at her as she'd pulled on her boots. Kissing them both on the head she'd repeated the word 'sorry' more times than she ever thought possible before closing the door to the loft and to their jutting bottom lips.

"Do we know who he is?" She brought their attention back to the man sprawled across the concrete.

"No Wallet. No ID." Ryan shook his head, "All I found was a couple of tissues, a bottled water, and car keys. Can tell you this though, these clothes are nice, really nice. Those shoes are Kurt Geiger, expensive and British. This guy's not from this neighbourhood, that's for sure."

Espo stared at his friend, a judgemental eyebrow ascending, "Kurt Geiger?"

"Jenny… uh," Ryan stumbled, "I got her a pair for her birthday. Cost near $200." The man flinched at the memory.

Esposito grimaced, "Man, that's ridiculous."

Lanie sighed, "No, Javi, that's love."

Esposito opened his mouth to reply, most likely to defend himself. Probably planning to mention some of the expensive gifts he'd given her over the years and subsequently embarrass himself.

"So, 'no wallet'?" Beckett repeated, loudly.

"You think this was a mugging gone south?" Espo's brow furrowed.

"Then why wouldn't the mugger take his car keys? And he was shot from at least 20 meters away, in his back, if this was a mugging it should have been point blank."

"Maybe our vic tried to get away, he's running, muggers a rookie, gets scared the guy's gonna go to the police, he shoots him out of fear." Ryan theorises.

Kate bit her lip, looking to Lanie, "No defensive wounds?"

The M.E. shook her head, "Nope, the abrasions on his face and hands are from contact made with the road when he fell."

Beckett voice was quieter as she considered the possibilities, "All my instincts say our vic had no idea a gun was pointed at him. This was personal. But why was he out without a wallet, unless…"

Her gaze fell on a set of stairs to her right, leading underground, like stairs to a subway station.

"Unless he wasn't." Kate concluded, "Ryan was he holding the keys?"

"Yeah, why d-"

"I need them." Beckett held out her hand.

Kevin Ryan dropped the paper bag into her palm and waited to see what she would do.

"Ryan, Espo, back me up. Lanie can you ride with the body back to the morgue? I want him autopsied ASAP."

"Sure." Lanie said to Kate Beckett's back as the three detectives hurried down the stairs to her left, not waiting to hear the M.E.'s response.

It was dark, a concrete cavern. The artificial light from the grimy overhead lamps flickered and shifted, glancing dully off mismatched rows of old vans and battered Chevys'. The air was heavy with the scent of fuel, must and cigarettes. This was exactly the sort of place where bad things would happen if this was one of Castle's books, Beckett thought to herself.

She slowed as she reached the centre of the lot, gun in one hand, pointed at the floor, a dead man's car keys in the other. She lifted the keys up and pressed down hard on the center button.

A flash of light and loud click two rows over sent a shot of adrenaline through Beckett's heart.

"Nice." Esposito muttered.

The trio jogged over to the vehicle.

"Smart car, a brand new Ford's not too common in a place like this." Ryan commented looking around at the other, less aesthetically pleasing vehicles.

Beckett seemed indifferent to his observation. As soon as she was a few meters away she saw something that made her blood run cold. Red spotted the inside of the passenger-side window, pooling and drying at the base of it. Beckett swore, reaching into her pocket for her phone.

"Ryan go, don't let Lanie leave. Get CSU down here. I want this whole lot swept, now!" Kate Beckett held the phone to her ear, hearing it go to hold, waiting to call in the second homicide.

Esposito tugged open the driver's door and Ryan sped off.

"You got anything? Who are they?" Beckett's teeth were gritted.

"It's dark in here but uh… I'd say young white female. She's wedged in-between in the two front seats, like she was trying to get into the back when she was shot in the same way as our vic. Two rounds to the back. Think I found our John Doe's coat… and wallet."

He handed it to Beckett swiftly, going back to gently poking around in the car.

Kate flipped open the wallet, pulling out a blue credit card, 'Simon. .' She flicked through, a modest wad of green notes confirming that this was definitely not a robbery. That's when she discovered a small pocket in the back of the wallet, only big enough for a couple of receipts or a bank note, in this case there was a small photo. It was no bigger than ticket stub. It was a family. Two Caucasian adults, a man and woman, both young, and a child, a boy that looked to be about six years of age, all of them smiling. Beckett recognised the man as Simon. , their original victim.

Her heart raced as she went round the other side of the car, peering inside. The woman slumped over the gearstick was the woman from the photo. Beckett steeled herself.

"Espo…" She gulped, feeling a little faint. She couldn't handle this. The little boy was the same age as Felix.

"Yeah?"

"Please tell me there's not a little boy in the back of this car?" She stepped back, eyes wide, breathing shaky. Child Homicides were the worst, she'd only dealt with two, and not catching the killer, it had taken everything out of her. Beckett wasn't sure she could handle dealing with the murder of boy not so different from her own son.

"Uh…"

"Espo." She added desperately.

He reached for the flashlight at his hip, pushing his thumb to the button a bright light burst forth. The detective leant over the driver's seat awkwardly, careful not to contaminate the crime scene, "No. No. But there's an empty booster seat." Esposito confirmed, relief obvious in his tone.

Kate let out a shuddering breath.

"Why'd you ask?" He said, coming to stand up straight beside her, turning off the flashlight.

"I know what we're looking at here." She pursed her lips.

Esposito waited.

"If you're trying to get away from someone with a gun at the drivers window, and you're in the passenger seat, where do you go?"

Javier looked at her as if he wasn't sure whether or not it was a trick question, "Out the passenger door?"

"Exactly. Except she was trying to get into the back seat."

"She wasn't trying to get away." Esposito added.

"There is only one reason that a woman would throw herself into the back seat of the car when she has a clear route out and a gun at her back." Beckett paused, "She was a mother, and her child was in the back seat."

Beckett's eyes were burning with the effort of holding back, her jaw tight. She had never cried at a crime scene before… but this. This was so close to home. She looked down at the corpse of the woman draped over the seats, limp. Kate would have done the same for Felix. Hell, she would do the same for Alexis, sure, but, it was different when a child was small. When they were vulnerable. Her son had no comprehension of real evil. The kid called a lack of cookies, or cancelled playdates 'evil', with no true understanding of what and who that word actually represented in Kate's eyes. Men like 3XK, like Bracken. Evil that was all-encompassing and immortal, Kate Beckett had looked it in the face so many times it had just become part of her life. Seeing the pure innocence in children, in her son, in his friends, reminded her that there were still people without scars like hers that needed protection. She would keep him safe from the dark side of humanity as long as she could.

When Felix had been born Kate had made Rick promise, promise that they would keep their family life separate from their work life. She had expected him to disagree, to insist they could have their cake and eat it too, but he hadn't, he'd regarded his son's tiny scrunched-up newborn features and nodded. They had kept Felix away from the precinct as soon as he was old enough to see anything beyond his own toes, scared he would see something on one of the murder boards he would not be able to unsee. Kate kept case files locked away when she brought them home, moved Rick's more graphic crime novels to the top shelves before Felix had been old enough to stand, warned the boys and Lanie never to talk about cases around her son. As a result, Felix had, until recently, little idea what his parents did, or what they were capable of. He was also much more safe.

Keeping Felix out the public eye had been a task. An announcement of his birth had been released personally by them so that it wouldn't be 'news'. Then, a year ago, The New York Hedge had named them Manhattan power couple no.3, mentioning their 'adorable 5 year old son Felix Roger Castle; the spitting image of his father' and that it would be 'interesting to see what traits he's inherited from his mother. No doubt bright and charismatic, with a successful novelist and philanthropist for a father, and a detective favoured to be New York's youngest ever female senator for his mother, he is one to watch when considering the future of New York.' A picture of their son had been published. A bright candid of him in his school uniform walking past a bank in upper Manhattan, his little hand in his father's. Castle had gritted his teeth and remembered that day; he'd picked Felix up from school promising him a hot cocoa, but that he had to be good and they had to quickly drop something off at his publishers first. There would have been cameras outside that office building. It was a highly regarded office space, a bank on the first floor, very central, lots of high profile organisations with equally high profile clients used floors in that building. Chances were the photographer hadn't even been waiting for him, and that they'd just been looking to make a quick buck, snatching at the opportunity when it arose.

'New York's no.3 power couple,' had come down like a ton of brick on both the Hedge and the photographer in question, pressing charges, making an example out of them. It was too late though, the paper, the story, it was already out in the world. Printed in ink and posted to news sites it was impossible to erase. A few more sites had picked it up before their lawyers had managed to pass the injunction on the photo.

For months Castle had to endure questions in interviews, mentions in his fan mail, and compliments from strangers about his son. Primarily well-meant or not it was terrifying and Castle had politely refused to discuss Felix. Eventually people got bored and the interest died slowly away.

Kate Beckett and Richard Castle had their fair share of enemies, some of whom who might even stoop so low as to abduct or even harm a child to get what they wanted. It was the reason they'd kept information on Felix private. It was the reason that they'd broken their number one rule, one they'd made the day he was born, when the New York Hedge story broke: 'Do not bring Felix to the precinct.' They'd been paranoid, terrified for Felix's safety, and what was safer for a cop's son that a building filled with cops? So, when he wasn't at school, and Castle had to write, the boy had made himself at home in the break room where his mom could keep tabs on him. Luckily he wasn't big enough to see over the partition, so he couldn't see the murder boards. His mom had laid down the law with him; number one was 'stay out of the bullpen.' number two was 'do not touch anything that isn't yours.' And number three was 'don't wander off.'

… 'stay out.'… 'don't touch'…'don't wander off.' Why had she even bothered? He was Castle's kid too.

She'd had had him handed back to her by disgruntled but amused colleagues more times than she could count. They'd found him messing with the pots in the cafeteria kitchen, playing spy under a desk in narcotics, messing with the earmuffs in the arms range, and… hiding (to scare Lanie) in a morgue freezer? That last one had been the talk of the precinct for months. Mini Castle seemed to liven up the place even more than big Castle.

Felix Castle was precocious, smart, and determined, but he was still not much more than a baby. Beckett couldn't bear to imagine him in the same situation as this child. His mother murdered in front of him, his father dead too, taken from everything and everyone he knows. If it was Felix… 'if…' Beckett felt nauseated at the mere thought of it. She had to save this little boy or she'd never be able to live with herself.

"Kid's gone. Think this is what it looks like?" Esposito asked.

Beckett began to walk away, handing him her phone, seeing Lanie descending the steps at the other end of the lot, "Call it in as a double homicide and kidnapping."

…..

Kate Beckett tried not to charge through the crowd, very aware of small people and little feet. She knew she must look intimidating and tried to loosen up her shoulders by rolling them, not that it did much good. She still looked like she'd seen a ghost. The muscles in her face were taught, eyes dark.

The school auditorium was full of bright colours and children's laughter, all which seemed out of place in a world she knew to have such a dark side. This brightness, this side of her world, it was what kept the darkness from tightening its grip on her. It used to have such a strong hold on her but those days seemed so distant now it was like someone else had lived them. Her life used to be consumed by horrors; every day she would dance with death, shake hands with murderers, hopefully lock a pair of cuffs around their wrists too, and then go home to sit in the dim light and fixate on 'how?'. What could persuade a person to commit such a heinous act?

Now when she came home she was too preoccupied with her colourful family; a mother-in-law who flittered around like a beautiful red butterfly, a strong-willed step-daughter with a kind heart and a insuppressible intellect that drove Kate's husband to the brink of madness with worry, a son that forced her to ponder first grade math and dinosaur-shaped chicken at home rather more than murder, and, of course, a husband that seemed to orbit her, so often in her presence with a smile in his eyes and a witty quip on the tip of his tongue. She had found home, and the thought of losing it, of losing Felix especially, she couldn't, and didn't want to, imagine.

"Kate!" Castle's voice met her ears, grounding her a little, she'd stopped right in the center of the auditorium so it hadn't take long for him to notice her. He was stood amongst a group of well-groomed elite parents; moms with perfectly styled hair, and dads with creaseless shirts. Small, first graders in blue and maroon uniforms were scattered around, some hovering around their parents, some playing with their friends.

Kate recognised the couple Castle was talking with; Alan and Heather Teller, lawyers with a 6 year old girl called Annie in Felix's class, and a son in third grade. The perfect all-American family stereotype. The other man was Tom? Ted? Something beginning with a T… his son was in Felix's class too, but Kate couldn't remember the name.

"Hey," She breathed, entering the group, sidling up to Castle. He placed his hand on her waist. "Where's Felix?"

'Sir…' Kate had begun, fidgeting in front of Captain Gates' desk, 'Given the nature of this case I was wondering-'

'Go, Detective,' the woman interrupted her in a softer tone than Kate was used to from the Captain.

'Sir?'

'Right now you can't concentrate, you need to see your son more than we need you. Esposito and Ryan can look into our victims, that'll take at least a couple of hours.' Gates had looked at her pointedly.

Beckett had been unable to hold back her grateful smile, 'Thank you sir.'

Her husband nodded to the corridor leading off to their right, Felix's classroom was the third door, "Dynamo's getting changed, everyone thought his costume was awesome by the way. I'm saving the 'I told you so' for later. He'll be out in a minute." Kate made to go, her expression still strained, but Castle stopped her with a hand in hers, "Hey, you okay?"

Kate kept her voice low, "The call I got this morning, turns out its double homicide… and a kidnapping."

Castle clenched his teeth, "Little kid?"

Beckett nodded, "Little boy, about 6 years old. Both parents took a couple of fatal rounds to the back trying to protect him."

Castle's grip on her loosened completely, visibly pained by the news.

"You came!" By the time she turned around Felix had already hit her legs at full force. Castle pressed a hand to her back with a smile to steady her as she wobbled.

"Hey, Turbo, of course." Katherine Beckett looked down at Felix's face. His bright smile was akin to a thin smirk, a mischievous glint always in his eyes in a way that was distinctly Richard Castle. Kate remembered the first time Felix had smiled, still just a small baby, and he'd looked just like his dad, her heart had stopped. She'd yelled for Alexis, and the girl had thundered down the stairs to excitedly confirm that yes, she agreed, Kate wasn't just imagining it.

"Stay for the picnic?" Felix gripped his mother's arm tight and jumped up and down, "Pretty please!" His wide, green eyes boring into her, the previous events of the morning, and the indignant flare of his nostrils, all making her weak to refuse him.

"Looks like it's going to quite the event." The guy who Kate thought was called Tom or Ted finally spoke up. If their audience had overheard her and Castle speaking about work they had elected to stay out of it.

Alan Teller smiled wide, "Heather made her famous white chocolate brownies." He gave his beaming wife a fond look.

Castle gulped, he did love white chocolate brownies.

"I…" Kate looked torn, they should be getting back to the precinct.

The look in Felix's eyes was heart-breaking.

"Come here." Kate whispered, crouching to his level and locking her arms under his rump, lifting him up. He wrapped his arms around her neck and tucked his head in instinctively. He seemed so small still, but it was getting harder to carry him like this, like she had when he was a baby. A few more years and she wouldn't be able to manage it anymore, and he wouldn't want her to. That day couldn't come slow enough.

"I want to Little Man, but there's another little boy we need to go help."

"Why can't his own mom and dad help him?"

"He…" Beckett faltered, her mind going back to the broken bodies of Mr and Mrs Ryder, "doesn't have a mom and dad."

"Why not?" The boy murmured into her shoulder.

"That's what I'm trying to find out." It wasn't a lie, she'd gotten good at not lying whilst still not telling her son the gruesome truth. Felix knew she 'caught bad people', but he didn't know the horrors she saw every week. He didn't know he was her anchor, the one she had sorely needed for so long. He reminded every day her why she'd become a cop in the first place; because of the people she loved, and some fierce need to protect them. Felix was like his dad in that way, good at warding off the darkness. Castle kept her amused on the job, he protected her from letting the seriousness of murder crush her underneath the sheer weight of its anguish. He'd once said 'Let's not let a little thing like murder get in the way of having a good time.' And despite its jovial, jokey nature it had stayed with her. Whenever she saw a body she reminded herself that their death was just another reason to keep on living, because they couldn't anymore at least someone else should. Living for those who've passed on makes a lot more sense to her than letting their deaths consume her.

There was a pause.

"Okay." Felix agreed, and it felt like a blessing.

She put him down and straightened his uniform as she spoke, centring his tie, "Gram's picking you up today. I'll see you at dinner. Help your sister, but no touching the knives this time okay."

The boy huffed like she'd just said something completely unreasonable.

"Be good." She pressed a kiss to his head.

The boy's expression morphed into a smirk, "You too."

Kate raised an eyebrow, quietly saying, "I will, it's your dad we have to worry about."

Felix giggled, nodding, "Yep!"

"I love you Felix." She said, the words were to comfort her more than him, having needed to say them so desperately for the past couple of hours since she'd found that blood splattered empty booster seat.

"Love you." The boy said absently, his gaze wandering behind his mother to where the food was being laid out. The words were a natural end to the conversation to him and held little real meaning, they were just a certainty. Felix had never known a lack of this particular emotion. He had grandparents, parents, and a sister, all of which would be willing to take a bullet for him just as Mrs Ryder had for her little boy. In fact, there was a whole floor of the 12th precinct, a good 15 homicide detectives, their subordinates, and a captain, all who'd known him since he was no more than a few weeks old, who would do everything in their power if the time ever came. If anything ever happened to Felix, god forbid, there would be no problem finding people willing to do anything and everything to get him back.

The Ryder's boy played on her mind, all blond curls and freckles, he was so different from Felix but it still hit too close to home. Kate wondered if there was anyone else out there looking for this other little boy, a grandparent, a friend, or if maybe she was all he had now.

…

"Should have told Felix to sneak me one of those brownies." Castle grimaced at his rumbling stomach.

Beckett ignored him, eyes trained on the murder board. She was missing something. She could feel it.

Javier Esposito shot Castle a withering look from where he was leant against the wall by the board, "And now you're all for encouraging the 6 year old to steal?"

"It's not stealing," Castle defended himself, turning his nose up at his friend, "I would never encourage my children to partake in anything illegal."

"Liar." Espo muttered.

"You taught Alexis to pick a lock." Beckett said in a monotone voice, eyes still on the board.

"It was for research." Castle stressed the word 'research'.

Beckett shot her husband a look, "She was ten."

Castle smiled sweetly, "And look how wonderfully honest she turned out to be. Just goes to show that experience of all kinds, good and… questionable, are important ingredients in producing a balanced individual."

"You think our shooter killed these two people and kidnapped their kid because his daddy didn't let him play with tension tools?" Beckett crossed her arms, eyebrow raised.

"It's improbable, not impossible." Castle conceded, "And why are we assuming the shooter is a he? Perhaps it was a desperate mother who'd lost her child. Unconvinced of her own son's death she sees a young boy, the Ryder's son, who looks just like her own, walking hand in hand with two strangers. She follows them, gun in hand, to get her 'son' back. Waits for the right moment and then strikes, killing the people she perceives to have taken her son and kidnaps Ryder junior.

Javier and Kate were staring pointedly at him, as enamoured by his stories as they ever were, which is to say not very.

"Well, there is one thing you touched on that we need to find out to crack this: Why would anyone be willing to kill to kidnap this particular 6 year old?"

Before Castle could answer with another wild theory a file was slammed down next to him.

"Well I can't answer that but I do have some answers." Ryan began, "Our vics are Simon and Fiona Ryder, sons name is Barney Ryder, six years old, as far as we know they went missing from their home in Boston 3 days ago. Simon's a big-shot lawyer, owns the firm Ryder and Brooks, Fiona's a Communications Exec there. Company's been looking for them since 10:00 am Tuesday. Secretary says they tried to call Simon and Fiona numerous times but their phones went straight to voicemail."

"They were obviously into something." Espo concluded.

"That's not all. There were a bunch of bags in the trunk. Food, clothes-"

"Impromptu holiday?" Castle suggested sarcastically.

"Yeah, not so much." Ryan continued, "Bags also contained fake passports for all 3 of them, and Mexican peso, 50,000 good old American dollars' worth."

"They were running for the border." Kate looked to Castle.

"Then maybe whatever they were running from caught up to them." He said, mind racing. This just got more intriguing by the minute.

"Espo, look into this guy's company financials, client list, I want to know if there was anything weird going on." Kate turned to Ryan, picking up the file he'd dropped on her desk, "Ryan look into their family life, find any relatives you can, interview them, see if they can shed some light onto what was going on."

"Detective!" Gates called from the door of her office, summoning Beckett, and in that way Castle as well.

Beckett was surprised to find another person waiting inside the office. She hadn't seen him in so long she almost didn't recognise him. Will Sorenson was older now, squared-jawed as he ever had been but with a trim beard. His hair was longer, streaks of silver barely noticeable, but definitely there. He'd put on some weight around his mid-section. The slim, dark suit didn't seem to fit as well anymore. Even though he'd changed so visibly there was something very familiar and certain in his eyes, still that same piercing blue. Then again, that was why she'd been attracted to him, he'd been familiar, someone like her, the safe option.

"Kate Beckett," Sorenson whipped his hand out his pocket to offer it in a friendly handshake. Kate had to admit she was relieved since she'd been momentarily afraid he'd go in for a hug. That would have made the situation even more awkward.

"Hey, Will." When he let her hand go she backed away, right into her husband's chest. He'd been stood right behind her, no more than a few inches, staring Sorenson down like a pit-bull.

"Castle." Sorenson offered Castle a respectful nod.

After a moment Castle's solid façade softened and he returned it.

"As we know now Detective," The Captain looked dubiously from the couple to Sorenson, "The Ryders were Massachusetts residents, making this a Federal case, a Federal Kidnapping. Agent Sorenson and his people will be taking point on this but he's agreed to the participation of the 12th."

"Has he now." Castle muttered through gritted teeth. Kate's elbow promptly hit him discretely in the liver. Wincing, he pursed his lips.

"I expect you to follow his lead on this," Gates looked pointedly at the precinct's resident writer and man-child, "I'm talking to you, Mr Castle, any of your antics and I will send you home."

Kate bit her lip, desperate not to laugh at Castle's scandalised expression.

"We good here?" Gates looked between the three of them.

"Yes, Sir." Beckett nodded, praying for Castle to keep his mouth shut.

"Ok, that's all." The Captain sighed, sitting back down at her desk.

The three of them filed out the office. Kate felt the familiar press of Castle's hand on her lower back and rolled her eyes. A week of male posturing between her husband and ex-boyfriend was really not going to help with the investigation.

Esposito caught her eye as she walked through the door frame and, seeing Sorenson, wiggled his eyebrows conspiratorially. Yeah. This was going to be hell.

It was another 35 minutes before Will asked after her. She'd distracted him with a briefing on what they'd uncovered so far, not eager to talk about her personal life. Her marriage to Castle was bound to bring with it a slew of questions she didn't want to answer.

But then Castle had gone to make coffee and left her 'unguarded'.

"How you been, Kate?" How did she even begin to answer that? So much had happened since they'd last seen each other. She'd nearly died numerous times, solved hundreds of cases, fallen in love, moved apartment, gotten married, and had a child. All those ups and downs, where did she begin?

"Good. You?" It was the stock answer. The safe one.

"Same." Sorenson's hands were in his pockets. He always used to do it when he was nervous to stop himself fidgeting.

Beckett continued to write on the murder board, the squeak of the marker pen, the hum of computers, and muttered background conversations filled the quiet moment between them.

"So you uh…" Will began.

Kate braced herself, eyes rolling to the heavens.

"…married Castle?" He finished.

"Yep." She took a deep breath and then continued to write.

"You know I-" Will went to continue talking.

"Will." Kate Becket huffed, turning to face him, trying to look as calm as possible, "I do not need this right now, please stop, I do not want to spend this case wedged uncomfortably between you and Castle."

"Kate." Sorenson tried not to squirm under the intensity of her gaze. "I was just gonna say I saw it coming."

Beckett was taken aback.

"Not the marriage thing, but I always knew something was gonna happen with you guys."

"Who guys?" Castle asked, catching the end of Sorenson's sentence as he placed Beckett's blue coffee mug on her desk and cupped his hands around his own.

"We need to go to Boston, there's no way we're going to be able to solve this without finding out where your vics and my kidnap victim started out." Sorenson diverted attention from his previous words with finesse.

"Sorenson's right." Kate sighed, picking up her coffee, "The key lies in Boston. We can't perform a time-sensitive investigation properly from a desk in NY."

"Field trip!" Castle grinned.

"We can take my car." Sorenson said.

Kate's face fell, "Boston can take 7 hours in a car, and we'll have to stay overnight."

Both men paled at the idea of 7 hours stuck in a car together.

Beckett continued, "I told Felix we'd be home for dinner. He's helping Alexis make Carbonara tonight, I said since it's a Friday he could-"

"Stay up to play laser tag and watch a movie. Yeah, I know." Castle looked completely and utterly disheartened. If there was one thing Richard Castle couldn't bear it was letting his kids down.

"I guess I could… go by myself?" Sorenson suggested, his hands back in his pockets, awkward at the mention of his former girlfriend's son.

"No, Will. Thanks." Kate dismissed the idea. It was unprofessional to let Sorenson do her work for her. Beckett felt awful about Felix though, not to mention she'd really been looking forward to tonight herself.

"He'll be fine." Castle reassured her, "We'll do it next week instead. My mother can look after Felix for a day or so. After all, she raised me and I turned out okay."

Kate narrowed her eyes at her husband, "I… uh… I'll call my dad, he can take Felix out somewhere tomorrow to distract him."

Castle quirked his head at her.

"I don't want Martha to feel overwhelmed," Kate shrugged.

There was a pause.

"Guess I'll go bring the car round then?" Sorenson made to make a move.

"Oh." Castle's eyes widened, hands going up in a gesture of realisation.

"What?" Sorenson said, wondering if he was going to regret asking.

"Kate, you remember when I bought that helicopter to do some research for Electric Heat?" He gapped at his wife excitedly, eyes shining.

"Yeah?"

"It's still on the helipad. That's only 30 minutes away."

"You bought an entire helicopter for research?" Sorenson said, staring at Castle in a mixture of awe, disgust, and disbelief.

"Yes," Castle shot him a withering look, "buying half of one didn't make much sense."

Will gritted his teeth.

"That's still 4 hours there and back we won't get home in time, Castle." Beckett said, taking a sip of her coffee.

"No, but it means we don't have to spend 7 hours stuck in a car together which I think we can all agreed no one here is keen on."

There was silence, and that was enough of a response.

"Ok then," Castle smirked, "I guess we're helicoptering to Boston."