Author's Note: Part one of my latest Castle story. Feedback is welcome.

Transitions

Richard Castle, best-selling mystery novelist, was asleep at his computer.

Standing in the doorway of his office, Kate Beckett took in the scene before her. She'd awakened not too long before when she rolled over in bed and encountered only empty space where his body should have been. At 5 AM, it didn't take a trained detective to figure out where the author had disappeared to. She'd expected to find Rick typing the next chapter of his latest Nikki Heat tale, and in fact his feet were propped up on the corner of his desk, fingers curled over the keyboard of the computer resting on his thighs. The image of hard-working author was ruined, however, by the fact that his chin slumped down to touch his t-shirt covered chest and a soft snore emanated from his mouth every third or fourth breath.

Smiling, Kate walked around the desk, gently removed the computer from Rick's lap, and leaned over him to place it on the desk. She then straddled his thighs as Rick started to shift in his seat. His arms wrapped around her waist, and he lifted his head, displaying a dreamy smile. "Mmmm," he hummed, pulling her closer and nuzzling her neck. "Not the laptop I was expecting."

Kate shivered at the feel of his breath on her neck and chuckled at his comment. "Disappointed?" she asked, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Rick pulled away slightly to meet her gaze. "Never," he assured her. Still hanging on to her waist, he slowly dropped his feet from the corner of the desk. "What are you doing up so early?" he inquired, planting a kiss on her neck.

Kate shivered again. "Came to see where you were," she replied. "Did you get any sleep?"

"Some," he stated. Kate resisted the urge to ask how much; she could easily guess. After a long day of paper work the previous day, they'd gone to the Old Haunt for a late dinner and drinks. To Kate's mild embarrassment, this had been followed by a rather heated make out session in the nearly private booth they occupied, which stopped only when their waiter informed them the bar would be closing in fifteen minutes. At that point, the party moved back to the loft, and it had been almost three in the morning before a sated Kate had dropped off to sleep cradled in Rick's arms. "Okay," the author interrupted her thoughts, "only about an hour or so." He smiled at Kate's raised eyebrow. "You were 'not asking' quite loudly."

Kate laughed at their private joke. "Did you at least get some writing done?"

"Two chapters," he replied proudly, and hummed again when Kate leaned in to kiss him full on the lips. Between her memories of last night and his actions this morning, Kate felt a little frisky. From her position on his lap, she could tell that Castle was also (ahem) up for a little action. She began running her fingers through his hair as she deepened the kiss. In response, he began rubbing her bare thighs, pushing the hem of the oversize t-shirt she wore higher and higher. Kate was just beginning to toy with the hem of Rick's t-shirt when her phone started blaring from the living room.

Damn it! Kate was tempted to ignore the call and stay put, but as the phone rang again her sense of duty won out. Rick moaned as she pulled away and got up from his lap. Kate bent over to kiss him in apology and barely made it to the phone before it went to voicemail. "Beckett."

"Hey boss," Esposito's voice greeted her. "We got a fresh one. I just texted you the address."

Kate pulled the phone away briefly to check that she'd received the message. "Got it. I'll be there in twenty."

"Want me to call Castle?"

Kate felt a slight twinge of guilt at the question; at her insistence, she and Castle had yet to tell anyone other than his family that they were together. "No, I'll pick him up," Kate told her fellow detective now. "We'll see you soon."

"See you soon." As the line died, Rick's arms encircled her waist from behind. Kate leaned back against his chest.

"New case?" he asked.

"Yep. I told Espo we'd meet them there."

"So much for good morning sex."

Kate huffed out a laugh as she turned to face him. "You'll survive," she assured him, planting a quick kiss on his lips. "C'mon; I promised we'd be there in twenty."

An amiable silence enveloped them as Kate drove them to the crime scene, and Rick couldn't resist resting a hand on her thigh. Amazingly, she let it stay there until she pulled up behind a blue-and-white and turned off the engine. "Ready?" she asked him.

"Ready," he assured her, pulling back his hand and opening the car door. Rick blinked a little in the early morning sunlight, then blinked again as he took in the building they'd parked in front of. "Wow." Once upon a time, this building had been a home for one very wealthy family. Now, its interior had been renovated and split into eight mid-scale apartments. The body had apparently been found in one of the first-floor units, and the hallway was a bustle of CSU personnel. As they entered the apartment, Rick spotted Ryan and Esposito sitting in the living room talking with a young man, maybe a roommate of the victim. Rick watched as Kate and Espo conducted a silent conversation while Ryan continued to question the third man. "This way, Castle," Kate told him in a low voice.

Further down the hall, the duo turned left into the bedroom of the victim. A couple of CSU guys were in there, photographing the shelves which lined three of the four walls. One of the CSU officers paused to pass Kate and Rick each a pair of gloves; Kate nodded her thanks as she headed to where Lanie stood over the body on the far side of the room. Rick also silently thanked the officer, and began pulling on his gloves as he followed Kate.

The body lay sprawled on the low bed, which was pushed under the room's only window. "What've you got, Lanie?" Kate asked as they approached.

"Single GSW to the chest," the coroner said, standing up. Rick nodded a good morning to Lanie as he took in the details: Young man, mid- to late twenties, wearing only red plaid pajama pants. He was lying in a small pool of blood with his legs hanging over the side of the bed and his arms splayed out, leading Rick to theorize that the force of the gunshot had sent the kid sprawling. He was muscular but not bulky, and aside from the bullet hole he appeared to be in perfect health. His eyes were still open, revealing irises the color of milk chocolate. His brown hair was cropped short, and he had a two-day beard. In other words, a perfectly ordinary looking young man. So far, not one of their more interesting cases. Rick listened with half an ear as the two women discussed exit wounds and possible defensive wounds, turning most of his attention instead to the room at large.

If the body was rather tame, the room Rick found himself in almost made up for it. Books and assorted knickknacks filled most of the shelves that CSU was photographing, although the corner near the door was set up with an electric keyboard and music stand. Rick's feet carried him over to inspect the piles of paper and books in that corner, which turned out to be sheet music for a variety of songs. Knowing that there would be time to inspect things in more detail later, Rick turned away and nearly tripped over a low tripod set next to the keyboard. Puzzled, Rick spent several seconds trying to figure out the tripod was for. Unsuccessful, he mentally shrugged and moved on to inspect the other shelves.

Jackpot. The shelves contained books, hundreds of them. As he looked, Rick noticed that each shelf or grouping of shelves held either similar books or an entire series' worth of novels. Rick saw historical fiction, science, fantasy, and biography, but most of the works fit solidly in the category of science fiction. It was only when his eyes lighted on the shelves of Star Wars tales that Rick took closer notice of the knickknacks that shared space with the books. On these particular shelves, an assortment of action figures was displayed alongside the novels. Closer inspection, however, revealed that not all of the figures were store bought. In fact, Rick thought, looking closely at several of them, they were not action figures at all, but rather clay models, molded and painted in intricate detail. I wonder… Rick shifted his attention to another shelf, smiling at the sight of the entire set of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars novels. That smile only grew wider as Rick noted the presence of more sculptures: John Carter, a calot, Tars Tarkas, Dejah Thorris, and several others. "Wow!"

"What did you find Castle?" Kate's voice called from the bed.

"Come see!" Rick motioned for her to join him. When she did, he pointed excitedly at the tiny statues. "This guy is an artist!"

"Musician, actually," Esposito's voice cut in. Rick and Kate turned around to see the other two detectives striding over. "According to his roommate, Mr. Tom Jamison, the sculpting was a hobby."

"Do you have an ID?" Kate queried.

Ryan nodded as he came to a halt. "Rod Heinlein Stonebender, age 28. Professional trombone player and leader of the band Rocketship Jazz."

"Seriously?" Rick asked. "What a sci-fi geek! I mean, he'd have to be with a name like Stonebender, but the name of the band! It's got to be homage to Heinlein's Rocketship Galileo-"

"Slow down there, Nerd Boy," Kate interrupted the writer. Rick shot her a wounded look, but she had already turned back to the other detectives. "So Jamison called it in?"

"Yeah, he found the body when he got home from work around five this morning."

"Okay. I want to talk him myself. You and Ryan start trying to track down next of kin. Go ahead and pull phone records and financials as well; see if you can find anything out of the ordinary."

"You got it," Esposito responded.

As the other two detectives left the room again, Kate turned around and ran directly into Castle's chest. "Jeez, Castle, personal space," she muttered, gently pushing him aside.

"Sorry Detective," he murmured. He tried, and almost succeeded, in suppressing a grin at the flush his words elicited from her, and how she couldn't quite meet Lanie's eyes as the pair discussed some last minute detail or other. When they finally exited the room, Rick wasn't too surprised at the poke Kate directed at his ribs. "Oops," he said, completely unapologetic. Kate glared at him, but offered him a small smile just before they returned to the living room.

"Mr. Jamison?" Kate greeted the young man seated on the couch. "I'm Detective Beckett. I'd like to ask you a few questions about your roommate."

There were days when Dr. Lanie Parrish hated her job.

Granted, the life of a medical examiner was never going to be one of fun and games. Well, unless you enjoyed seeing what literally made a person or in playing such games as Musical Corpses. Usually, Lanie delighted in solving the puzzle that was the victim's final hours and helping Kate and other detectives to bring justice to those who deserved it. It gave her a sense of purpose, and a feeling of pride to know that she was helping in some small way to make the world a little safer.

Every once in a while however, something about a victim would catch her attention in a different way, and she would have to work hard to not break down at the scene. Such was the case today. While the victim looked nothing like him, the crime scene reminded Lanie strongly of Joey, a cousin who she had been very close to when they were small. From an early age, Joey had had two passions: music and the written word. He now worked out on the west coast, writing songs for several big music stars. Lanie hadn't spoken to him in a couple of years, but the mix of music equipment and books in the victim's room had forcefully reminded her of him. Now, in the back of the Morgue-Mobile, she could allow herself a few quiet tears and to be grateful that it wasn't her relative in the body bag.

The jolt of the breaks alerted her to their arrival at the morgue. A quick dab at her eyes before the rear doors opened, and then it was time to follow the tech as he pushed the gurney down to her work area. "Thanks, Isaac," she told him, setting down her clipboard and unzipping the bag.

"No problem Dr. Parrish," Isaac replied, taking the now-empty body bag and exiting.

Pulling on a pair of gloves, Lanie started the audio recorder and began. "Victim is Rod Heinlein Stonebender. White male, age 28 years old. Single GSW to left pectoral region, above the heart." Lanie lifted the man's left arm and tried to flex the elbow, wrist, and fingers. "Rigor mortis is increasing, suggesting the victim died less than twelve hours ago." Laying the limb back down, Lanie proceeded to strip off the plaid pajama pants covering the lower half of the body, revealing a pair of white briefs. "Lower limbs are equally rigid. No wounds or…" Lanie trailed off as she noticed something odd. All of the muscles in the body were stiff except for one: the penis. Without hesitation, Lanie pulled off the victim's underwear and examined his genitals. She reached out and lifted the organ, planning to take a tissue sample for examination under the microscope. She was completely unprepared for it to detach from the body.

"Jesus!" Lanie swore, dropping the penis on the ground and jumping back as if it would bite. She waited a moment for her heart to slow down before crouching down to examine it. As she did so, she reached into her pocket for her cell phone and dialed the number automatically.

"Kate," Lanie stated as soon as her friend picked up. "You need to get down here right now."