Disclaimer: I own nothing. Which is why I write stuff like this. Hehe.
Kate Beckett sighed, putting her pen down and running her palms across her forehead. She could feel Esposito and Ryan's eyes on her back as she put her head in her palms and leaned on her elbows. They'd had a case they weren't anywhere near solving. They were almost six weeks into the case, and the most they had were the multiple murder weapons. They didn't even have anyone with a falsy alibi, which was probably their biggest problem. Someone had been killing a new person every week and people were finding them in a riverbed nearby.
The first week it was a sixteen year old high school girl, who had her eyes pulled out of her sockets and was stabbed multiple times with a metal spatula, which was left on the scene. She was found with her thighs cut open and a circle of blood around her body, which was laying in the fetal position. Her red hair was sprawled out against the rocks she was laying on, and she couldn't help but see Alexis when she looked. Castle had, of course, been the most determined to solve the case as he also noticed the similarities between the girl and his daughter.
In the second week, was a mid-forties black man, who was lying on his back with three boulders on top of him. Beckett thought he was crushed by the rocks, but Lanie later told her that his cause of death was actually multiple blows to the head, which they would assume were stones. They also found him in a circle of his own blood, but instead of his thighs being cut, his arms and thighs were cut. She knew it wasn't him, but whenever Beckett looked at the pictures of the murder, Montgomery's face flashed in her mind. His face when he said he was leaving, and she knew he wasn't. His face when he made Castle drag her out of the hangar. His face when he was lying on the cold hangar floor. Kate shivered and thought about the other three murders.
The third was the hardest for Ryan because the woman who had her skull smashed in with a hammer, ridiculously resembled Ryan's now fiancée, Jenny. As Beckett looked up at the murder board in the middle of the precinct, her eyes drifted to look at Ryan and Esposito. They then moved to Castle who was in his usual seat, looking at her. He glanced in her direction and caught her eyes. They both noticed all the resemblances. The first being Alexis, Montgomery, and then Jenny.
The fourth murder wasn't any better. Beckett tried to make Castle go home, but he wouldn't budge. He was just as stubborn as he usually was. The woman had on a bright red peacoat, and at least four inch heels. She had black leather gloves and red short hair. Her big blue eyes stared up at Castle whenever he glanced at her. Someone had taken a pair of scissors that were left behind with no prints, and carved the number "6" into the womans arm. Then he proceeded to slash from the top of her thighs to the tips of her toes, her stomach, and her arms. The only body part he had left behind not in pieces was her face. Even after the killer had sliced her arms, legs, and stomach he replaced her clothes and left her to soak in her own blood. The killer had, yet again, made a circle around the body with blood. When Castle had gotten home that night, the first thing he did was hug his mother and tell him he loved her for the first time in a while.
Kate knew he loved his mother, that he just showed it differently, and so did Martha. She didn't need Castle to tell her that he loves her for her to understand that he loves her, so when Castle had gotten home that night and just hugged her for a few minutes, she knew something was wrong. It took him a while to finally explain the case to Martha, but she knew it was a hard one considering they had been at it for a month now. If he was honest, Castle was terrified. He didn't know who was going to come next in this sequence of people made out to hurt his team, and he didn't want it to be anyone that involved Beckett. He couldn't imagine what would happen if someone like her mom showed up as one of the bodies.
The fifth, and what they thought was final, body took Beckett for a turn for the worst. She had walked onto the crime scene with a coffee in her hands and her partner next to her, joking and teasing her.
"Kate, Katie, Kathy, Becks, come on, what did your teachers call you?" Castle stepped over a few rocks and wobbled until he caught Becketts arm and was steady walking next to her, coffee in both of their hands.
"I asked them to call me Katherine, Castle." She didn't turn to look at him, but she rolled her eyes at his next comment.
"Why? What did your friends call you?"
"My friends called-" Beckett felt her breath catch in her throat and felt the hot cup in her right hand slip, but she didn't notice until she felt the hot substance through her shoes. Even then, her feet were grounded to the floor and she didn't dare move, thinking that if she did something worse could happen.
Lanie looked up from the body she was examining when she heard the coffee hit the rocks. She stood up and walked in front of Beckett, blocking the limp body behind her.
"Kate, I told them not to let them back here, I don't know why they did, I'm sorry." Beckett cleared her throat and bent down to pick up the coffee cup she dropped, turning to drop it in the trash can, and walking right back in front of Lanie.
"How did she die?"
"Kate-"
"How did she die Lanie?" Even though she was stressing to get the words out without letting the tears that came along with it fall, she managed to get out at least that much. Beckett noticed Lanie glance at Castle, close her eyes, and then look at Beckett straight in the face.
"She was strangled. Someone wrapped rope around her neck and strangled her, and then stood on the other side of the lake and basically used her as a target. He threw six different throwing knives; they landed in her heart, throat, both thighs, her head and her stomach." Lanie avoided Beckett's eyes and Beckett sighed and looked across the lake at the rocks which she guessed where the killer stood when he killed Madison.
"What aren't you telling me, Lanie?" Lanie hesitated for a moment before looking at Castle, and then back to Beckett.
"She was pregnant," Lanie watched as Beckett's eyes widened and her breath caught in her throat. She put her palm over her mouth and looked up, probably trying to stop the tears from falling. Castle stood, gaping, looking at Maddies fragile body lying on the rocks. Before he could say anything, Beckett turned and grabbed two pairs of gloves from the nearest medic, handing a pair to Castle.
"How did he hold her up while he was over there?" Lanie opened her mouth to protest, but when she looked in her friend's eyes and saw nothing but determination, she couldn't hold herself back.
"We don't know. We think maybe there was a partner," Beckett walked over to Maddies body and looked down at it. She then lifted her head and looked across the lake to the place where the killer stood and tortured her friend.
"Alright, let me know what you find when you do the autopsy," Beckett pulled off her gloves and threw them in the trash, walking to her car. Castle looked at Lanie, looked at Maddie, and then did the same.
Castles voice pulled her out of her train of thought, and she jumped a bit, turning to his chair.
"What?" She asked, noticing his eyes were full with question.
"I just said that maybe we're wrong about this whole thing. Maybe it isn't someone random, maybe because of who the victims are, its someone we know, maybe its someone we all-"
"Esposito!" Gates' voice bellowed through the precinct, and Castle jumped a bit. Beckett turned her chair to face Esposito and Ryan's desks, and watched as Gates stood in front of it.
"There's another body. Same place, call came in about ten minutes ago but I was using the phone," Gates turned to Beckett, "You're off this case."
Beckett opened her mouth to protest but was cut off by Gates.
"No, there are no negotiations, you're off this case," Becketts mouth hung open and she looked from Castle to Gates in astonishment.
"Why?" Gates face hardened when she heard the word slip from Becketts mouth.
"You're too close to this case."
"I don't care! Maddie was my friend and whoever this next victim is, whether I know them or not, deserves justice, and I intend to get that for them!" Gates almost looked like she was going to protest, but then she shut her mouth and narrowed her eyes at Castle.
"You do what she says, you listen to what she says, and you do not leave her side, understand me?"
"Uh, yes, of course," Castle sputtered. He followed Beckett out of the precinct and the car ride to the riverbed was silent. When they got there, Beckett hurried out of the car and to the scene, where she stopped abruptly and her mouth fell open. Castle wasn't far behind her and picked up his pace when he saw her kneel and put her head in her hands.
"Kate," he kneeled next to her when he was able to put his hand on her shoulder. He looked over and noticed Lanie and Ryan staring at them, Esposito talking to the person who found the body. Castle's eyes glanced at the victim and his eyes widened. He looked down at Beckett, whose head was still in her hands and released the breath he didn't realize he was holding. The woman who was killed was almost a mirror image of Johanna Beckett. He was still looking down at Beckett when she took the elastic from her arm and put her hair up into a small bun, standing up and walking over to Lanie.
"How was she killed?" Lanie gaped, just staring at Beckett. Lanie put her hand on Beckett's arm and looked down at the body.
"Go home, sweetie, we can handle this," Lanie tried. If she didn't go home, she couldn't do anything about it, but Beckett was her friend and the least she could do was try.
"Lanie-" Beckett was cut off by Castle, who had also stood up and made his way over to the ladies.
"Kate, come on, don't strain yourself on this. You have people that can do this for you. You have Esposito, and Ryan, and even me, I can do this. Don't do something you don't want to do, please," Castle tried to plead with her, hoping it would make at least a small difference if anything.
"Castle, I can do this, because my mom is dead and this isn't my mom. I am fine. She isn't her. Lanie, how did she die?" Lanie took a deep breath before answering her.
"She was stabbed," Lanie looked from Castle to Beckett and then she looked down at her clipboard. Beckett opened her mouth to say something but shut it when she heard a loud scream come from the other side of the riverbed. She turned to face them and pulled out her gun moving to stand in front of Castle.
"Put the gun down!" She heard multiple officers shouting, but the only thing she could focus on was the girl's eyes burning into hers. She couldn't be older than 17, and she was shaking holding the gun. Beckett stepped forward, and could feel Castles eyes blazing into her back.
"I'm putting my gun down, okay?" She took a few more steps forward and placed her gun on the rocks in front of her. She heard assortments of 'Kate,' and 'Beckett' being called as she moved even closer to the girl with the gun pointed at her.
"Stop moving!" Beckett heard the girl yell.
"What's your name?" Beckett was trying to stay calm, but she knew, she just knew that this was the girl who did this. This, probably sixteen year old girl murdered her friend and had hurt Castle. The girl even hurt Beckett.
"I said stop moving!" She screamed again when Beckett tried to get to the rocky path that was almost like a bridge to the other side, where the girl was standing.
"Okay, okay, can I at least know your name? I'm Detective Kate-"
"I know who you are!" Beckett inched closer and closer to the bridge, and was still trying to talk to her.
"Good, then you know my name, what's yours?" Beckett looked down and tried to angle her steps correctly. Wearing heels probably wasn't the smartest thing she could do going to a place like this. Then again, she didn't know she was going to have to do this.
"You don't care about my name. You know I did this. All you want to do it put me in handcuffs and leave me in jail to rot forever. You don't care about where I go or what happens to me as long as you get your damn justice!"
"Sure that's true. You killed my friend and you hurt my family. Why should you be any different than the other criminals that get put in jail? Is it because you're a girl? What are you, sixteen? You're not any different than the forty year olds that rape girls like you. You're no different than the men who abuse their wives, or the woman that beat their children. You're just as bad as them, worse even. Why should we let you go?" The girl now had tears streaming down her face and she dropped to her knees, the gun skidding across the rocks and into the water. Beckett took her steps faster until she reached the girl. Even though this girl murdered her friend and hurt her family, it hurt her to pull out her handcuffs and pull the girl up. They walked back across the bridge and Beckett basically handed her off to the other officers who were ready to put her into their squad car. When Beckett turned around, the girl lifted her head and looked to Beckett.
"I'm sorry," the girl whispered. "But this is your fault."
"Her name was Hannah Philipe, she was sixteen. Her mom died when she was four and her dad killed himself about a month later. They found her in the closet when they found the dad." Esposito dropped the file on Beckett's desk, causing her to look up.
"Jeez, hard life."
"Gets harder," Esposito continued, "She was in and out of foster homes because none of her family wanted her. When she was eight she was in a foster home for about 4 months, raped almost every night. One of her aunts took her after that, but the aunt turned to drugs when Hannah was nine, and then Hannah ran away. She'd been missing until she was fifteen, and then she was found and placed into another foster home. This family looked like her mom and her dad, and she ended up killing them, found the bodies about two weeks ago, when she ran away. She's been hiding out in some warehouse near the riverbed ever since then. She was schizophrenic."
Beckett's mouth was gaping, but Castle was the first person to actually comment on it.
"Where was she from the ages of nine to fifteen?"
"She said she just kept running. Sleeping on trains, going from state to state, living in alleys. Ended up back here somehow, and then all of this started."
Beckett stood, taking her jacket off of her chair, and sliding her arms through the holes.
"So then why did she kill Maddie? Why did the bodies resemble people we know?" Esposito looked from Castle to Beckett, and then down at his hands.
"She says Castle's books saved her from killing herself. We don't know how she got the books, guessing one of the foster families owned them, but she was jealous you were based on Nikki. Thought you two were dating."
"Well that's a new one," Castle mumbled.
"Kind of weird. Makes sense. Girls are crazy. How was Maddie held up when she.." Beckett couldn't finish the sentence and everyone knew why.
"She took two bookcases and lined them up behind her. Leaned her against them and threw the knives. Cops found the bookcases at the warehouse where she was staying."
"Hmm.." Beckett thought for a moment, and then put her files in the outgoing pile. "I'll see you guys tomorrow." She waved at the boys, and turned, walking towards the elevator.
"Hey wait, where are you going?" Beckett turned to see Castle jogging after her. He stepped into the elevator and pushed the G button.
"Uh, my house? I'm going home, Castle. Where else would I go?" Beckett rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. It had been a hard month for her, and for Castle and she knew that.
"Come over." Beckett's head whipped up at the statement.
"Excuse me?"
"Come over. Hang out a bit, have some wine, we can watch movies, even pop some super buttery popcorn." She had to admit, it was exactly what she was thinking.
"Fine, Castle, but no funny business, okay?"
"Understood, Detective." He answered and they walked out of the elevator together when it opened. Later, neither of them would mention their hands touching as they walked together to Castle's car, nor would they mention Castle's hand rested on top of Beckett's on the drive home.
A/N: Okay, this is a little thing my best friend and I came up with. It was supposed to be a lot weirder and creepier than this, but I guess I sort of like how this turned out. I'm sorry if Beckett is a little OOC towards the end, I just really wanted to add that part in. I didn't expect it to be so long, but let me know what you think!