Tea with Honey Affair

by degunther

Sometimes it's the simple things that mean the most. When the weather and the flu bug threaten to paralyze their city, the simple things keep Kate and Rick on the path they need to follow.

The Tea with Honey Affair:

Sometimes it's the simple things that mean the most. When the weather and the flu bug threaten to paralyze their city, the simple things keep Kate and Rick on the path they need to follow.

Preamble:

The ball had fallen. Calendars had been replaced. The Polar Bears had completed their migration to the Hudson for their annual bath and the college football Bowl Games were finally over. The City that Never Sleeps rushed into the New Year with the confidence and swagger it had always had. Winter had yet to lay a heavy hand on the city and the residents rejoiced in the fact that there was plenty of snow in the mountains for them to enjoy and their city was relatively warm and dry.

The doom and gloom shouters were in abundance, and widely ignored. Seemingly they were predicting the collapse of the real estate market and the stock market daily, or they were predicting another terrorist attack on the scale of the 'Twin Towers' to occur within the next hour. New Yorkers took note of the warnings and moved on. They were confident in their ability to handle whatever life threw at them.

The current doom and gloom topics were the weather and the flu. The New Yorkers scoffed at the idea that the next storm would be the greatest Nor'easter of all times. 'So what if it snows and then gets cold. We've been through this hundreds of times. We have the greatest subway system in the world, our guys know how to handle snow, and if the water mains break, the crews will fix them. So what? The flu, who cares? You catch something. Maybe you feel lousy for a couple days. You take a pill or drink something and you're right as rain again.'

The City that Never Sleeps was about to learn a lesson.

Chapter 1: Is There a Doctor in the House

After sharing breakfast with Kate and seeing her off for work, and Amy, their nanny, had come upstairs to look after James; Castle took stock of the fridge and his pantry. Tomorrow was his normal grocery day, but if the TV news which Castle thought was more about entertainment instead of information was correct, then tomorrow could be a sloppy and a downright nasty day to do any travelling. 'Since I'm awake and they're open I'd might as well,' he thought. After making his list Castle offered to pick up things for Amy.

"Oh, one more thing," said Amy. "I'm going to need some honey."

"Honey?"

"Yeah, a big jar or bottle. I've found that tea with honey helps settle my stomach when I feel a cold coming on, and besides I just like tea with honey. You're a pretty good cook. I'm surprised you don't cook with honey."

"Your right I don't," admitted Castle.

When Castle went into the store it was sunny and in the lower forties. When he came back out to put his groceries in his car the clouds has rolled in and a mixture of snow and rain was falling. 'If the temperature drops a couple of more degrees then there is going to be ice under the snow' he thought. 'Drive safe love. It's bad enough you have to fight the bad guys, you don't need to fight the streets as well.'

By the time Castle had stopped in the loading zone in front of the Loft and popped the release for the trunk, the doorman was waiting with the grocery cart. Years ago Castle had got tired of making trip after trip to carry groceries upstairs. In the end he bought a grocery cart, stored it in the utility room for all to use and became an instant hero. Over the years other things like carts and hand trucks had been added to the utility room and had make life easier for the residents.

When Castle got off of the elevator from the parking garage he looked through the front doors and the snow was starting to fall heavily.

"It looks like you beat the nastiness Sir," said Tom the doorman for the building. "I called upstairs and Amy came down for the cart. Your little one sure has grown."

"Yeah, thanks, he sure has," said Castle. Gesturing toward the outside, "I sure hope that stuff doesn't mess Kate up."

"It won't. She knows how to drive in this stuff," said Tom.

Castle nodded his agreement and headed toward the elevators. By the time he arrived in the Loft Amy had already unpacked the bags, separated her items out and was putting Castle's items away.

"Say I noticed you bought two boxes of tea bags and two jars of honey. Are they both for me?"

"One box of tea bags and jar of honey is for me. I thought I would take your advice and look at some recipes using honey. Everything that I've heard says it's one of nature's best foods."

"I think so, but I'm prejudiced in the matter. You know buying groceries is part of my job description."

"I know but…"

"You mind if I drop these things off in my place when I take the cart back down?"

"No go ahead I think James can come to work with his Dad, at least till lunch."

"Work? That means no video games."

"What's the harm of a little 'Angry Birds?'"

"With you there is no such thing as a little."

"Point. Whose side are you on anyway?"

"Kate's. And I'm surprised you have to ask," she teased.

"Just checking. Come on Son," chuckled Castle as he reached for James. "Chapter 14 has an interrogation scene that is 'same oh same oh' and you can help me punch it up."

It was more than an hour-and-a-half after Kate's end of shift and Castle was looking out of the window. He couldn't see the street below due to the snow and he was starting to get worried. Normally Kate works a little bit beyond her end of shift and the normal drive time was around thirty minutes, so an hour after end of shift was her 'normal' time to arrive at home. If I double the drive time she still should be home by now. He started to call then stopped. Kate would be alright. He remembered the first time he called some two months after they were married. They could laugh about it now, but back then they were still working the kinks out of their married relationship.

Tonight was going to be stir-fry night using the wok so dinner preparation wasn't going to take a lot of time. He had already prepared the meat and the vegetables; the rice was in the rice cooker and ready to be served. The only thing he needed was his dinner partner. In a pot on the stove was chicken. He was reducing the chicken for chicken stock. Tonight he was going try his hand at egg drop soup for the first time and he had to admit that the broth looked great and the smell was fantastic.

Castle looked around, the table was set. The wok was on the stove and ready and the vegetables and meat were on the plates in the fridge ready to go. He checked to make sure that the chicken was on low. After a wishful look at the door, Castle retreated to his office. Despite James' help Chapter 14 still needed some work.

Castle heard the front door open and Kate's feet fly toward the bedroom. When Kate didn't appear, Castle went looking and the sounds he heard coming from the bathroom tugged on his heart. After the retching had stopped he opened the door and ignoring Kate's feeble protests carried her to her dressing chair.

He carefully removed Kate's jacket, credential, shoulder harness, and tactical belt. "Left foot," he said as he kneeled in front of her and removed her boot. "Right foot," he commanded.

"I can do that," mumbled Kate as Castle started to unbutton her blouse.

"It's okay. I've had lots of practice," replied Castle. Kate started to laugh but ended up coughing instead.

"That bad," she asked finally opening her eyes and looking at Castle.

"I've seen worse, especially when I look in a mirror. We'll get you cleaned up, dressed and put to bed. You've got a fever, so your body is starting to fight the bug. We'll help it by keeping you safe and warm, hydrated, and I fix you something to eat so you have the energy to continue to fight them."

With tenderness and care Castle finished stripping Kate and carried her to the shower. He took off his own clothes as the water coming from the shower warmed up. When the water was warm enough they entered the shower together. Gently Castle washed Kate and shampooed her hair.

"Is this how princess's live," she asked?
"I've told you many times you are the Queen of my Castle," Castle said gently.

'If men keep harems, what do you call the group of men a woman might keep,' thought Kate? 'I'll look it up later,' she promised herself. 'And all the ladies in the world can have all of the other men in the world, as long as they leave me the one I got, my Castle.'

After toweling Kate off, he wrapped her up in her bathrobe and walked her to her dressing chair where he started drying her hair. When Castle started with the hair dryer, Kate asked for her hair brush but was really too weak to use it. When Castle was satisfied that her hair was dry enough she stumbled over to the bed and sat down. Amused, she watched Castle pull a nightshirt and a pair of panties from her dresser. He helped her into her nightshirt and started pulling her panties up her legs. "You know," he said as he pulled Kate's panties up to her mid-thigh, "This is a first for me. I've never actually put panties ON a woman before."

Kate tried to laugh but croaked instead.

"Look," said Castle, "Get into bed, but prop yourself up. I'm going to bring you something to eat and drink." A minute later Castle returned carrying a cup. "This is tea with some honey. Amy swears that this will help settle your stomach." Castle watched Kate take a small sip, then another. Satisfied he hurried back to kitchen and returned with one of their bowl sized soup cups. He watched Kate's face light up when she took her first sip.

"Hey this is pretty good," she croaked. She managed to eat half a bowl before giving the bowl back to Castle. "Leave tea," she croaked as Castle reached for the cup.

Kate was almost asleep when she heard Castle say, "One last interruption. This is a bottle of water and this is your multi-vitamin and your vitamin C supplement. I know you always take them before bed. There's no reason why you shouldn't continue to do so. Kate nodded took the pills and surprised herself by taking a long pull of the water.

Castle tucked Kate in and took a long hard look at her. Her beautiful face was flushed by the fever, nothing more. He was convinced that he was doing the right thing by helping Kate kill the virus instead of trying to make her feel well by treating the symptoms. But he wouldn't hesitate to call a Doctor if Kate's fever got too high or lasted too long. Anyway he would ask Amy for advice in the morning.

The next couple of days were a blur of repetition for Kate, sleep, tea, soup, dreams and trips to the bathroom. Finally she woke up and she felt…better. She took a deep breath and she didn't rattle and her head did not feel stuffed. Sitting up, she was ecstatic that the room no longer spun around. The clock said seven-ten and if she had to guess she would have guessed it was night time. She stood up and started toward the bathroom and gathered strength with each step.

Kate's stomach grumbled as she reached for the doorknob of the bedroom door. 'I guess I'll seek out the other principal resident of this place, thank him for his care and persuade him to fix me something to eat,' she thought. Kate used her ears to find Castle. He was bundled up in his chair, the big screen had his beloved Knicks on, but the gentle snore and closed eyes convinced Kate that he was asleep. Just as well she thought, it was the middle of the first period and the Knicks were already down by ten. Castle had said many times this year that it wasn't easy to be a Knicks fan.

Kate padded to the kitchen and investigated the crock pot. Lifting the lid she smelled the chicken stock. 'So this is what's Castle's been feeding me. Smells good, but I think I'm all chickened out. Opening the fridge she started to reach for a yogurt and stopped. 'Something hot would be better,' she thought. Kate started to open and close cupboard doors. After the third one she turned her head and Castle was looking at her from beside the counter top. She didn't know what summoned him, perhaps the noise she made, maybe the connection they seemed to have, or his sixth sense when he thought 'someone was mucking around in his kitchen.'

"Hungry, love," Castle asked?

"Yeah."

"Then sit and I'll fix us something. Mac and Cheese?"

"Too heavy I think."

"Soup and sandwiches then," and when Kate didn't object Castle continued. "I take it that chicken noodle soup is off the menu, so how about some tomato soup?"

'Number two on the comfort food list,' thought Kate. "Okay"

"Tuna on toast or grilled cheese?"

"Grilled cheese of course, but with bacon."

Castle huffed. "You want bacon with everything."

"Not everything," replied Kate coyly.

Castle chuckled. "To drink juice? Water?"

"I've gotten used to the tea."

"Tea bags are up there," he pointed to a cabinet as started pulling out the griddle for the bacon and the pan for the soup. "A minute and a half is all you need to nuke the water and the honey is on the bottom side of the left hand fridge door."

While Kate waited for the water to heat up, she sat the table. Castle was going to tell her to stop, but outside of her color being a little off, she looked good, sounded normal and she hadn't coughed or sneezed once.

"Eh, Castle, exactly what day is this?"

"Sunday."

"You mean I've lost three days," Kate wailed. "You know what I was saving those days up for don't you?"

"Our second honeymoon, I know. Listen Kate it's nice having a world with north and south hemispheres that way when you have enough days to share I'm sure we'll be able to find a nice warm sunny beach to laze them away on."

"What if I want to go the mountains," teased Kate?

"Them too. All I know is I want my wife healthy and up to full strength, that way there will be no excuse when I wear her out in bed…"

"In your dreams mister," Kate laughed. "That seems like a challenge."

"A mutually enjoyable one I hope?"

"Yeah," said Kate huskily, "I'm still going to crush you."

Dinner conversation was mostly Castle bringing Kate up to speed on the state of the city. "The freezing rain before the snow made things miserable," Castle began. "Plus the fact we got eighteen inches of snow in a very short period of time and we really have no place to put it. Then the next day we got another ten inches. On some of the streets the city has just piled the snow into the right hand lane. The streets are crowded enough as it and now we're down a lane. The city has asked for some front loaders and dump trucks from the state so that they can move the stuff before the next storm hits. Highs for the last couple of days have been well below zero, creating a deadly wind chill. It's been cold enough for long enough that the water mains are starting to pop, and the cold and the snow pack has made it tough for the city workers to repair. I don't envy them. Also there has been a lot of talk on the talk shows about the police finding a lot of frozen popsicles once the thaw starts. They're saying that the Mayor should have done more to get the homeless off of the streets and into the shelters."

"But what's really kicking the city is the flu. On one of the TV stations an associate producer had to read the news because all of the 'on air' people were out. The hospitals don't have the staff to see all of the patients and the subway is running at thirty percent of capacity. One of the comments by one of the news anchors," laughed Castle, "was that all of the cabs are either in hibernation or have gone south for the winter."

"Good thing I drove my cruiser home. What about the fire stations and the police?"

"They don't say. Probably so they won't scare people."

Kate watched Castle start to clean up after dinner. "I'll guess I'll take a shower and head to bed. I do plan to go into work tomorrow."

"Want some company in the shower?"
"Sure"

"Give me a minute."

"My Lady," said Castle as he held out his arm after the chores had been completed.

"My Lord," Kate responded with a smile. On their way back to the bedroom they passed by the TV area again and Kate frowned when she saw the baby monitor on the coffee table and the pillows and quilt on the couch. Castle had obviously spent the nights on the couch instead of with her. "You are holding me tonight aren't you," Kate asked in a quiet voice?
"Certainly," Castle replied turning to look at Kate's face. "And on those nights when I didn't think I should, I was, especially from here." Kate's smile lit their way to the shower.

Tonight was almost a repeat of the night Kate came home sick. Castle washed, shampooed her hair and dried Kate off. After depositing her on the bed he fetched a nightshirt and a pair of panties. She allowed Castle to help her put on the nightshirt, but before he could begin helping her with her panties she held out her hand. "Gimme," she said. "I DON'T want you confused about which direction my panties should go."

Castle laughed, kissed his wife on the forehead and proceeded to dress. Kate watched him leave and return a couple of minutes later with the baby monitor. "James is out like a light. I don't expect to hear a peep out of him till morning."

Castle climbed into bed and started to cuddle with Kate. In moments Kate was lying on her side with her back touching Castle's chest, their legs were intertwined, and Castle's arm draped protectively over her with his hand gently touching her abdomen. "Night Babe," Kate said. She was asleep before she heard Castle's reply.

Chapter 2 Home Sweet Bull-pen?

Kate woke, dressed and arrived at the counter top just as Castle was finishing building her double bacon and egg bagel. She turned and looked at James whose squeal of joy was unmistakable. "Hey Tiger. Yes your Mom's alive and well thanks to Doctor Dad." Kate moved her food and her stool down next to James so that she could eat with one hand and hold James's hand in the other.

"Well I'm off," said Kate from the doorway of Castle's office.

"Let me walk you." Castle made them detour through the kitchen where he extracted an orange from the fridge and placed it in Kate's coat pocket. At the front door he kissed Kate and afterwards held her at arm's length.

"This won't do," he muttered. Castle proceeded to retie Kate's scarf so that it covered her nose and mouth and flipped up the labels of her coat to cover her ears. "Look I'm tired of feeding you chicken soup. I didn't play nurse for three days so you could catch cold on your first day back at work okay? So bundle up and stay warm."

Kate didn't know whether to be furious or laugh. Both trains of thought stopped dead when she saw the look of concern on her husband's face. "Babe," Kate said as her gloved hand touched Castle's face. "I'll ty, and I'll try to knock off early."

"That would be appreciated." Castle stared at the door for several seconds after Kate left, sighed and started back to his office. He needed to find a way to make the twist in Chapter Eighteen even twister.

Kate's drive to work took longer than she anticipated. Some of the streets were down a lane due to snow piles, other streets were still snow covered and rutted, and the water main break snarled traffic and forced Kate to take a lengthy detour. 'I doubt if there will be any high speed chases in the streets of New York today,' chuckled Kate. "That is unless the bad guys have a tracked vehicle," Kate vocalized. "That sounds like something Castle would put in one of his stories."

Kate breezed through the lobby, entered the elevator and waited for it to take her to her second home, the Bull-pen. Kate got off of the elevator and headed toward her desk. The normal vibrant hum and buzz of the workplace had been reduced to silence. The bull-pen made Lanies' office in the morgue seem incredibly loud.

"Good Detective, you made it," said Captain Gates. "How do you feel?"

"Fine Sir. Castle insisted that I stay home and kill the virus instead of just treating the symptoms and feeling well enough to run around and infect the public."

"I wish our collages were equally as pragmatic. How is Mr. Castle?"

"Insufferably healthy, when I was awake he kept telling me about the superiority of the Castle genes."

"Paybacks are hell."

"Yeah, except I'm the one who probably will have to play nurse. Where is everybody?"

"You are the only one who didn't call in, and we need help on the paperwork side at least. I know some of the teams didn't get a good start requesting the materials they need to begin the investigation."

"Other precincts?"

"They're in the same shape, manpower-wise, as we are. Some are worse."

"Police Auxiliaries?"

"I've called the last two days, no help."

"You aren't going to like it Sir, but I DO know one person who could help. He doesn't like doing paperwork, but he knows how to fill out the requests and the reports. He's very familiar with our procedures. He even has a current login. With the right incentive he might be persuaded to help."

"Castle," sputtered Captain Gates. "You think he would help us with the paperwork?"

"With the right incentive, maybe, what do we have to lose?"

"I do have some budget for…"

"Oh, he won't help us for the money Sir."

"What then?"

"A parking place. I'm surprised that this place doesn't have spaces set aside for spouses. If we offer a pass to allow him to park in the visitor's spaces, or in one of the metered spaces on the street I'm sure he would be interested."

'Spaces for spouses' thought Captain Gates. 'That's not a bad idea. Inspector Briscoe is always looking for some way to improve morale, and all this would cost is a couple of meter spaces.' "I'm sure I could approve something for the duration of the emergency."

"I said incentive Captain, not payment for services. The duration I was thinking about was a year."

"I couldn't do that how about a month?"

"No I don't think so. Nine?"

"Three?"

"I can't see him agreeing to anything less than six."

"Okay," said Captain Gates. "Six it is in." She laughed as the irony hit her. She was negotiating for the services of a man she didn't like. Why? Because she needed his help and the Captain was sure that Castle would hold up his end of the bargain.

Kate speed dialed Castle and placed the phone in speaker mode. "Hey Babe," she purred "What'ca doing?"

"Making Chapter eighteen twister. You okay?"

"I'm fine."

"We have a case?"

"Not exactly, but we do need your help."

"We?"

"Yeah I'm the only Homicide Detective that showed up to work this shift and Captain Gates is sure that other Teams got sick and went home before they even started their case paperwork. Other Teams started and didn't finish, you know and getting it up to snuff is the first priority. "

"You want me to do paperwork? Kate you know how I fell about that."

"Yeah, but Captain Gates has agreed to give you a permit that lets you park in visitor's parking."

"Me doing paperwork? For a favor this size the pass needs to be good for a year."

"She'll only approve it for six months. Look if you do a good job and don't piss her off afterwards maybe she'll extend it."

"At least I'll have six months," replied Castle. "Look this isn't a paperwork only thing is it? I mean if you catch a case, I'm still your shadow right?"

"You're my shadow until they kick you to the curb. Then we'll consider reopening 'Castle Investigations' except this time you might have a partner that's an ex-NYPD Detective."

"Okay I'm on my way. I'll check with Amy first to see if she has a problem staying a little bit late if we need her to. Love you."

"Love you too Babe. I'll have the workload planned by the time you get here."

When Castle arrived he noticed that Kate had moved the 'guest desk and laptop' near her. On a chair between them was an incredibly high stack of brown case folders.

"Apparently we got all of the new case files for the precinct, Homicide, Robbery, and Narcotics," said Kate. "The task is straight forward, examine the case file, determine what it needs and write it. Oh on the signature block for all requests and such go ahead and use the signature block of the Detective assigned to the case. I'll sign for them if the form needs to leave the precinct. One of the perks of being a Sergeant, I guess."

By the end of the first case report Castle was ready to quit. The mind numbing drivel of administratively worded requests were and anathema to a creative writer. Midway through the second case report Castle had found a better way.

The NYPD system was pretty good, virtually foolproof. It had to be. The Detective selected the form from a menu, based upon the information content, and the software guided him through the data entry. The problem was in the narrative section. The narratives tended to be the same for each type of form, with only the names and number changing, which was okay if the Detective was filling out the form for his case, but repetitive and boring and inefficient if you're doing more than one case at a time. Castle recognized this and created his narratives in 'Word'. For each narrative he only had to change the names and numbers to reflect the case, he did not have to replicate the required administrative wording. With this in place Castle was able to work through the case folders at an increased rate."

"What's your secret," asked Kate? When Castle told her she replied, "And why aren't you sharing?"

"Don't you already do it this way?"

"No because we typically are only doing paperwork one case at a time, and this will speed that up…..Well," asked Kate when Castle made no move to transfer his file?

"What's it worth to you?"

"My eternal gratitude."

"I'd settle for a smile."

"You can have as many of those as I can give," said a smiling Kate.

"Good," said Castle as he transferred the file. Their steady progress caused the mountain of cases needing attention to noticeably shrink. Just as Castle was thinking that this could be a one day affair, Kate's phone rang. They had caught a case.

Chapter 3 The Parkers

"Something wrong Babe," asked Kate as they pulled up in front of a swanky apartment building on the Upper West Side?

"I know two families who live here," he replied. "The Stevenson's are big supporters of the zoo, and we just meet the Parkers. We shared a table with them at the celebrity auction for the music conservatory over the holidays."

"The Parkers, they live here," Kate stammered? "I liked them. I know you tried to tell me their story but you kept getting interrupted and I lost the thread."

"He's a self-made multi-millionaire, a true financial market guru. He made his first million in a month by betting everything four consecutive times. Today he writes a private and expensive newsletter. I subscribe, and it's worth it because his Shadow Portfolios always outpace the market."

"They met while he was still working for a Wall Street firm and she just beginning her career as a concert pianist. He proposed to her in an Italian restaurant in Chelsea. On that night her right hand was collateral damage in a mob hit. The surgery was successful, but the flexibility lost…"

"I remember that hit," said Kate.

"It took him almost year to convince her that she was still worth marrying, and they been a successful and loving couple ever since. He's still a financial wizard and she is a Professor at Juilliard, a celebrated guest conductor for the New York Pops and an up and coming Composer. They got a couple of grown kids somewhere. Their life has a fairy tale based upon skill, work and love."

'Just like ours,' Kate thought.

The Castle's exited the elevator on the thirty-fifth floor, turned right and saw a familiar face at the door, Officer Hastings.

"Hey Detective Becket, Castle. I'm glad to see your back among the living. Doctor Perlmutter is with the bodies. Sarge is with Teresa Ramos, she's the cleaning lady." They entered the apartment and were immediately impressed. The place was at least twice the size of the Loft and laid out as a functioning apartment for people who valued practical substance over sensational fluff.

They caught up to Hasting's partner, Sargent Stevens and Teresa in the music room. The twin pianos dominated the room. The bookcases, filled with books on musical theory and history, and biographies of composers added a cozy feel to the room. The desk and work table with what looked like a composition in progress on it left no doubt that this was Penny Parker's creative sanctuary.

Sargent Stevens nodded when he saw the Castles. "Teresa Ramos this is Detective Beckett and Mr. Castle. They are the best in the city. I need you to relax and tell them the same story you told me. Detective I'm going to try to round up the building super and the entry tapes."

"Thanks Sargent. Teresa I'm Kate and this is Rick just relax and talk to us."

"I've been cleaning this apartment for these generous people for over twenty years. I come in three days a week Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I was ill last Friday so I did not come in. I last saw them on Wednesday. It was mid-afternoon. I was just finishing up and they came in. Mrs. Parker looked really bad. Mr. Parker looked very pale. I offered to stay and fix them some soup. Mr. Parker laughed. He said he wasn't feeling great, but he wasn't feeling that bad that he needed a cook, so I left. He is pretty finicky about what he eats. "

"This morning when I came in I started cleaning. Nothing was out of place. Normally at this time he's at his office and she's at school. When I opened the bedroom door to change the sheets I backed out quickly because I thought they were still asleep. An hour later maybe I went back in. They looked so peaceful."

"Is that when you called the Police," asked Kate gently?

"Yes. I also called his son John. Was that okay?"

"Sure. It's never easy to hear that a loved one has died. It is a little bit easier when the call comes from a friend." Kate saw Teresa relax. "Did you give the Sargent your contact information?"

"Yes."

"One other thing, when CSU gets here they are going to want to take your fingerprints. Your fingerprints belong here. You're part of the Palmers extended family. It will help them find strangers."

"Just like on TV," beamed Teresa.

"Yes," said Castle, "But I have to ask have there been any arguments between the Palmers?"

"Some things, normal for a man and wife, what to fix for supper, where to go on vacation, what color to paint the bathroom. These two loved each other."

"Visitor's" asked Kate?
"Just family. None for Mr. Palmer. On many times I heard Mister Palmer say that this was his home not his office. If they wanted to see him they could wait and see him there. Mrs. Palmer has some private students. She loved her music. Sometimes she would invite a student from school to come over. She said that sometimes the atmosphere at the school could be overwhelming and this place could help restore their balance."

"Do you know if Mrs. Palmer ever ah, dallied with her students," asked Castle.

"No! I should slap you! Mrs. Parker is a fine woman! She loved her husband! She would never do such a thing!"

"Teresa," said Kate gently. She reached out and grabbed Castle's hand, making sure both of their wedding rings were showing. "Mr. Castle is my husband, and if any woman is going to slap him it's going to be me. Forgive him please. Sometimes we have to ask questions we don't want to."

"Married? Truly?"

"A little over two years and we have a son named James," smiled Kate.

"Okay"

"Thank you for sharing your story with us."

"Sa Nada"

The Castle's walked through the apartment before entering the bedroom. Despite all of their wealth the place was furnished simply and functionally. The mixture of old and new told them that the Palmer's updated when they needed or wanted to and they didn't really pay attention to fashion or what was trendy. It told them that this place was a home not a display piece.

The Castles entered the master bedroom. It was a little bigger than theirs but laid out almost identically. Teresa was right they did appear to be asleep. From their perspective, Mr. Palmer was wearing a tee-shirt and Mrs. Palmer a silk pajama top.

"Ah Detective Beckett and Non-Detective Beckett so good of you to join me," said Perlmutter as condescendingly ever. "Ah, where is the rest of your posse?"

"Castle is the only one I could round up. What have we got?"

"My condolences. Right now I have two dead bodies."

"And"

"And nothing, oh they died sometime Saturdayish. Of what exactly I don't know. It presents as natural causes, flu related, but it doesn't pass the common sense test. So right now I'm labeling it a suspicious death."

"Why," asked Kate?
"These are intelligent, moneyed people. If they started feeling really bad they would have called the best concierge doctor money can buy," said Castle.

"Exactly," said Perlmutter. "This occurred entirely too rapidly to be complications from the flu, but right now that's what it looks like. If it was caused by the flu then I'm going to have to get CDC involved, and we could be seeing a lot more cases like this."

"Detective," said Hastings, "Hey you can't go in there."

"I want to see my parents one last time," said a relatively tall and thin man who appeared to me in his middle thirties. His cashmere topcoat, silk suit and snow marred Italian leather shoes spoke of comfort and wealth. "Teresa said you guys looked like you were …sleeping…Tell me Doctor…."

"Perlmutter"

"Tell me Doctor Perlmutter did they…"

"Suffer, I don't think so."

"Are you the one I contact when…"

"Yes. Here's my card. Just have the funeral home call my office. I'll let them know when your parents are available. It's going to take me a couple of days though. "

"Sorry for your loss," said Kate. "Let's head back to the music room and let Doctor Perlmutter finish."

"You mind if I grab a bottle of water out of the fridge?"

"I'll fetch," said Castle showing Kate his gloved hands.

"We are trying to limit forensic contamination just in case," said Kate.

Castle caught up to them just as they entered the Music Room. The man accepted the water with a nod and downed half of it in a single pull. "My name is John Palmer. Ken and Penny are … were my parents."

"We need to ask you a few questions," said Kate gently.

"Understood. If you would allow me to give my narrative first I would appreciate it. I'm sure it will answer some of your questions while sparking others."

"Okay," said Kate. "Begin when you're ready."

"Wait don't you want to take notes or record this or something?"

"I've found that taking notes is not the best practice. During the time I'm writing I'm not listening so I miss things. Then there is the fact the person I'm interviewing gets nervous every time I write something down so the flow of information becomes disjointed. So I decided to use this," said Kate pulling a digital voice recorder out of her coat pocket. "I've also found that if this is visible people become nervous and talk to it instead of me. When this isn't visible," said Kate putting the recorder back into her pocket. "People tend to talk freer."

"Astute," agreed Mr. Palmer. "When Teresa called me and said that my parents were dead and it looked like they died in their sleep I was shocked. I told Teresa not to worry everything would be work out for her personally. I knew for a fact that my parents had taken care of her in his will. I also told her to touch nothing and to call the police. It took me a couple minutes to regain my composure. I called my wife at home, and then I called Danny."

"Danny?"

"She's my sister, Daniel. After cursing me out for waking her up, she's a Professor of Geology and teaches at the University of Hawaii. She's a world authority on volcanos you know. Anyway after I told her the news and she regained control she promised to head home immediately. It will take her a couple of days with her family and all."

"The next thing you probably want to know is when the last time I saw my parents was. Well it was a week ago yesterday. Mom and Sarah, my wife, took the kids to a movie. Something involving penguins I think. Dad and I attended a matinée massacre at the MSG."

"At least we got to see one good basketball team," mumbled Castle.

"Right, the Spurs. They demonstrated why they are the World Champions. You a fan Mr. Castle?"

"A season ticket holder forever, but this year…"

"Could drive the most temperate man to drink. I know. Anyway after the game we all met back at our place. Normally we call for carry out, but that night my youngest convinced his Grandpa that 'Chucky Cheese' was the place to go. I think Dad had as much fun playing the games as my sons did. "

"That's a great memory for them to have," said Kate.

"Yeah. The next thing you want to know is when the last time I talked to my parents was. It was Wednesday, early afternoon. When you guys check the phone logs you can find the right time. He called to say that Mom wasn't feeling well and considering the snow, they weren't going to come over. You see Wednesday night is family night. When I was a kid no matter what Dad would come home early and spend time with us. Helping with homework, games, you name it we did it. When my eldest became two I decided to do the same thing. When Sarah suggested I invite my parents over I did, and they've been coming to dinner every Wednesday night since."

"That's nice," said Kate.

"Yeah it is," said John Parker reflectively. "The first one was almost a disaster. We invited them over and Sarah set everything up in the dining room. Mom asked where we normally ate. Sarah said the kitchen. So Mom got up and started moving everything back to the kitchen. Sarah went ballistic and confronted Mom. My Dad stopped me from intervening. "Your Mom's got this," he said. Through the doors I heard my Mom say 'Sarah we're family, not some client you need to impress or guests you need to entertain. We're family and deserve to be treated like...' and when my wife answered 'like family' I knew that those two had formed a bond that would never be broken. A minute later they came back out and my Sarah asked 'Well you two going to sit there all night our help us move.'

"That's a great story," said Castle.

"I tried to call my Dad on Saturday and Sunday, but they went straight to voice mail and I thought they were sleeping or went out. If I'd come over instead off…."

"You don't know that," said Castle. "You only hate yourself if you dwell on that. It sounds like you have a lifetime of good memories so keep them. You see I never knew my Dad as I was growing up and…"

John nodded, "Okay I guess you got some questions for me."

"Enemies," began Castle. "I subscribe to your Dad's newsletter and some of his ideas aren't exactly Main Street. Do you know if any of the members of the community had it out for him?"

"His ideas yes, him no. He has peers and rivals not enemies. His rivals are smart and powerful in their own right. They get no real benefit from killing my Dad because they know his ideas will live on for at least a generation and more in his books. Mr. Castle you know that my Dad published his advice and the rationale for it in the newsletter. No Mr. Castle the community is cut throat, but they wouldn't kill my Dad."

"What do you know about your Mom's students?"

"Not much," he admitted. "I know Mom loved Juilliard and from what I could tell Julliard loved Mom, and the POPs! You should see her contract, not only to conduct but to write original work for them. For this Fall Program Mom was planning to have a whole concert of original work. Last week she said she needed three more pieces and had ideas for at least five. All I really know about Mom's students is that she loved to teach and create music. "

All conversation stopped as they watched Perlmutter and his assistant move the bodies out of the apartment. "Again I'm sorry for your loss. You seem to have a good relationship with your parents. What about your sister?"

"Danny? Contentious a while ago, but resolved and now that Julie is playing piano… Look my sister had some serious talent," John said waiving his hand at the pianos, "but she chose science instead of music. My Mother was heartbroken for a while but respected her decision. And Julie...Julie is my niece she's seven no eight now and she's been playing the piano since she was four. When Mom heard she flew out there and arranged for teachers and everything. Once a month they Skype and play for each other. I know Mom's happy that at least one member of her family may follow a musical career."

"How will this affect your Dad's company," asked Castle.

"The Partners really knew what they were doing when they formed the company. When the signed the articles of incorporation they included the procedures for buying out a partner if he wanted to leave or if a partner died were established. I don't know if they will continue publishing Dad's newsletter, but the rest of the operation will continue.

"Do you think they will offer you the job?"

"Maybe, but if they do I'll turn it down. I'm not going to live in my Dad's shadow. On many occasions he told me how proud he was that I was my own man. I'm not about to disappoint him now. If there is anything else you need, you know how to find me. I need to go home, get a grip, and make some phone calls. "

"Of course," said Beckett as she shook Mr. Palmer's hand and watched him leave the apartment.

"Nothing there," she whispered to Castle.

"Just a good example," Castle replied.

Kate wandered back into the bedroom. 'When it's my time to go,' she thought. 'Dying in my sleep in Castle's arms wouldn't be a bad thing.' Thankfully, the ringing of her phone ended that train of thought.

"But Sargent I'm not through here…. Sure I understand. " Kate was trying to formulate a plan when Sargent Stevens interrupted her chain of thought.

"Sargent. I hate to have to tell you this, but we got a call."

"You too? Dispatch wants me to go to another scene where they've found a body." All eyes went to Castle.

"He is house broken isn't he," teased Hastings.

"Sort of," smirked Beckett. "I guess we could leave him here and he can explain to CSU. If they have any questions they can call me."

"Okay, I'm being left behind," said Castle. "What do you want me to do after CSU gets here and starts their thing?"

"Head on back to the precinct. If this body turns into a case I'll call you."

"Right, and you young lady be careful, bundle up and stay warm. Hear me?"

"Yes Daddy," Kate smiled to the chuckles of Hastings and Stevens.

Sue Burlington, the Chief Technician for CSU and her crew were waiting to get on an elevator when Beckett, Stevens, and Hastings were getting off. After Beckett explained the situation, Sue said in a sufficiently loud voice "I am not going to take direction from a civilian on how to conduct an evidence collect at a crime scene. Catch that Sargent Stevens?"
"Loud and clear Chief Technician Burlington. Consider your ass officially and if I might add quite stylishly covered."
"Jeans turn you on?"

"That's why my wife wears them when we go out."

"Honestly," laughed Sue.

"Unofficially, it shouldn't be an issue. We'll follow our procedures. If he can make a case for something special then I'll consider it. If he can't then I won't. After all he knows his way around a crime scene better than half the Detectives I deal with, present company NOT included, and his insights are really pretty good."

"Whatever you do Sue, don't tell him that. His ego would get super charged and I have to live with the man."

"Roger that, shall we," Sue asked looking at her people.

"Castle," Sue called out as she ducked under the tape and entered the apartment.

"In here Chief Technician," yelled Castle as he stepped into the hall from the music room.

"Teresa Ramos," began Castle once Sue and her assistant walked into the room. "This is Sue Burlington. She is the Chief CSU Technician and her assistant…."

"Hi, I'm Tom Jefferson and yes before you ask I am a very very distant relative of the original Thomas Jefferson."

"Guys Teresa here cleans the apartment for the Palmers. "

"So we are going to find her fingerprints everywhere. Tom?"

"Mrs. Ramos how about leading me to the kitchen? That way if I make a mess it will be easier to clean up and it won't be in a room as grand as this. It will only take a couple of minutes and you can be on your way."

Burlington and Castle watched Tom and Teresa head toward the kitchen. "You know we ran into Beckett downstairs as she was getting off of the elevator. She explained the situation and said I should consider anything you said as coming from her." Sue chocked her head and looked Castle up and down. "Imagining you in drag doesn't help. What do we have? If they live here then they're definitely high on the food chain."

"Nice to see you too Sue," chuckled Castle. "The Palmers are superrich, but really good people." As Castle walked Sue through the crime scene she noted his requests. All of them were typical; computers, phones, security system logs, recent mail, and so on.

"Why do you think they kept the medicine in the kitchen," asked Sue?

"Well the directions did say consume with food," replied Castle.
"You read the label? Of course you did," confirmed Sue.

Forty minutes after Sue arrived; Castle had caught one of the rare cabs and was heading back to the 12th.

Chapter 4 At the precinct

Castle had just sat his coffee cup down on the desk when Kate's call came in. The body they had found was that of a homeless woman and Lanie had done a preliminary examination and had already ruled that she had died from exposure. Another body had been found and she was on her way there.

Castle looked from the laptop to the chair containing the remaining case files to a blank murder board and back to the laptop. He sighed and reached for a case folder. As much as he wanted to start a murder board for the Palmer case he knew that once he started he won't go back to the old cases.

Satisfied Castle selected print and looked at the stack of remaining folders. He didn't know the exact count but he was sure that they had worked off two-thirds of them and after lunch they should be able to complete the rest. 'Six months of free parking for a day's worth of work, not bad,' thought Castle as he picked up his empty coffee cup and headed toward the printer and the break room. Castle waited at the entry to the break room, printouts and coffee cup in hand, as Captain Gates, Inspector O'Malley and another gentlemen walked by.

"Is that the draft of your next book Castle," teased Inspector O'Malley.

"No Red I'm helping Captain Gates catch up on the case paperwork. This is a batch of requests for phone and bank records that need to be signed and faxed to the 'Writing ADA'. I've also got some status sheets to let the Lead Detectives know the status of their paperwork. "

"Officer your badge needs to be visible at all times while in the precinct house. It's regulations you know," said the medium height, nondescript, rotund man in the charcoal gray suit with a club tie.

"I don't have one, ah Mister …." 'and when I do it say's U.S. Marshal' thought Castle.

"Gaston, Paul Gaston. What do you mean you don't have a badge?"

"I don't have a badge because I'm not a cop."

"Then why are here? Captain Gates how could you let this ill-trained, civilian have access to confidential police records, let alone process them?"

"Listen here," shouted Castle.

Captain Gates caught Castle's eye and shook her head no slightly. "Castle, how many years have you been Beckett's shadow?"

"Eight going on nine."

"How many cases have you participated that resulted in a felony homicide arrest," continued Inspector O'Malley?

"Somewhere between one-hundred and a hundred and fifty."

"So you've been part of a team of Detectives that has made over one hundred felony arrests. On these cases have you ever filled out the paperwork?"

"Yes when Detective Beckett and the rest of her Team are busy, yeah."

"I don't care if he's done it in the past. He shouldn't be doing it now."

"Castle what did you get on the Sargent's exam?"

"Wait, how could someone like him take the Sargent's exam?"

"It happened," began Castle as he closed in on Mr. Gaston, "when an egotistical, ass-kissing, turd of an IA Captain accused by wife of cheating on the exam. During the integration Kate mentioned that I helped her study for the exam, and even after she passed a poly they made here retake the exam. And either to embarrass her or me they said I needed to take the exam to help clear Kate."

"Castle," gentled Captain Gates. She knew that Castle would protect Kate at all costs and she had heard his voice grow slower and colder. "Castle, your score?"

"I got a ninety-one."

"He got a ninety-one on the New York State standard Police Officer test for Sargent? That…"

"Means he understands the law, and the procedures and the test was augmented with the unique laws and regulations for New York City," said Captain Gates. "He is a civilian, but he has demonstrated considerably capability and loyalty to the Force. He has never leaked anything to the press or discussed a case with people who don't have the need to know. Considering his experience and test score calling him untrained would be in error."

"But still…"

"Castle you said you had status sheets," asked Red?
"Yes, considering I really don't want Detective Beckett to answer a hundred questions when the other Lead Detectives return, I put together a small status sheet for each case. This way the Lead Detective will see what's been done without having to waste their time or Kate's time by calling. On the sheet we have blocks for when something was requested, received, and posted."

"What about analyzed," asked Mr. Gaston?
"That would be over steeping the line and a waste of time," replied Castle. "For me to analyze the data without the permission of the Lead Detective would be a breach of confidentiality. Department regulations also prohibit Sergeant Beckett from doing it without being directed by the Captain. Even if I did the analysis and wrote a report it still would be a waste of time. All Lead Detectives are prickly birds, and most are Prima Donnas. Regardless they are people whose feathers I don't want to ruffle, and analyzing the data for a crime that they are on point to solve without their permission would most definitely ruffle their feathers."

"But the report …"

"Would be disregarded and re-accomplished by them. Look Lead Detectives may be Prima Donnas, but they are also highly conscientious people whose ongoing concern is solving the crime and earing and maintaining a good reputation both in the Department and on the street. Because having a good reputation gives them the slack and status they need when cases get squirrelly.

"When a Lead Detective's make a call they make it based on what they know and can prove because it's their ass on the line," said Inspector O'Malley. "They don't take advice from outsiders easily."

"Speaking of Lead Detective's, where's yours," asked the Captain?

"On her third call Sir. After the first one she sent me back to," Castle lifted his hand which held the paperwork. "She said that if any of the calls turned into cases she would send for me."

"Good, one other thing. You've been deputized as a U.S. Marshal how many times?"

"Three."

"Awards and decorations?"

"Kate gets those I don't."

"To be fair, you were by her side for most of them?"

"Some most is definitely an overstatement."

The Captain nodded toward Kate's desk. Castle took the hint and left. "Mr. Gaston I know you're here from the States Attorney General's Office to see how this flu season is impacting the NYPD's ability to investigate and prosecute cases and maintain our oath to Serve and Protect the people of this great city. If you force me to dismiss Mr. Castle I shall demand that his replacement be of at least a Sargent's grade, with federal experience, and have participated in at least one-hundred and fifty felony arrests."

"That may not be possible."

"Oh, one other thing, your solution must have zero budgetary impact."

"I know that's impossible."

"Why? That's the solution I have in place now and if you force be to accept a more costly solution I shall write the AG and demand that he pay for it. Oh and you better be quick about it, because it looks like Castle and Beckett will be done with the paperwork chase by noon tomorrow and hopefully after that I'll be getting my people back."

Inspector O'Malley looked at Captain Gates and smiled. 'The next opening for Inspector is yours Victoria. I'll work with the Chef to make that happen.'

"Can we talk in your office," asked Mr. Gaston?

"Right this way." On the way to her office Captain Gates saw Castle put down his phone and reach for his coat. It looks like call number three or four is a real case.

Chapter 5 Kate

Kate hurried to her cruiser from the lobby of the apartment building. After starting the engine and buckling in Kate stopped before putting the car in gear. The magnitude of what she had done had just registered. She had treated Castle like a subordinate, not as her partner. Not as someone whose only reason for being there was so that he could be with her, but as someone she had ordered to stay behind. She should have gone back-up to the apartment with CSU. I still can, but that would only make the hurt worse. 'Castle seemed to understand the necessity,' Kate thought, "but I …. I took him for granted. Damn! In two weeks I have my next scheduled day off. Castle will be King on that day,' vowed Kate.' They say paybacks are hell. This one will be spectacularly delightful.'

When Kate arrived at the crime scene all she saw was one Blue and White and the ME's vehicle. 'I guess crime scenes don't rate site-seers when you're freezing your ass off,' thought Kate. She parked behind the Blue and White, got out and as she approached the Officer got out and opened the rear door of the cruiser. "It's warmer in here Detective."

Kate nodded and got in. "Thanks. I'm Beckett out of the 12th. "

"I'm Thomas," said the medium height, medium build black officer. Kate noted that he was a Training Officer and the hash marks on his jacket indicated that he had over fifteen years of experience. "Over there is Street. We're out of the 57th."

"Hey," said a relatively large red-head whose jacket indicated over five years of experience.

"What've we got?"

"Trash day," began Thomas. "When the guys showed up to empty the dumpster the truck couldn't lift it. So they got out and started to chop away the ice. When they walked around to the other side they spotted the victim. They called their dispatch who called…"

"They were waiting for us when we got here," continued Street. "As you can see from the pictures we took," pointing to the laptop on the tactical shelf between them. "Their footprints are around the dumpster, and there are none in the vicinity of the victim."

"Once we confirmed there was a body with dispatch we took the crew's contact information and sent them on their way," added Thomas. "We weren't going to let them lift the dumpster, and there was no sense making them stick around. They've got a job to do."

"Good call. Anything else?"

"We confirmed that the furniture store on the right owns the warehouse on the left and the absence of tracks to the dock indicates they been idle since the storm."
"Yeah I'd imagine that this is the first real workday since Thursday night."

"There appears to be a camera covering the dumpsters and the front of the dock. We figured you would want to talk to the furniture store people yourself to get copies of the video and determine who the homeless person is and why they let him or stay here."

"Your right I would want to talk to them to see if I detected any animosity. "

"Since that was the only place worthy of a canvas,.."

"And you only had one unit you decided to protect the crime scene."

"Right."

"Do you know who the ME is?"

"The only one I know on sight is Doctor Perlmutter. but he's not here. Street?"

"She's a black female. I've seen her around at a lot of scenes but I don't know her name."

"That would be Doctor Parrish. Good. Guys two things. Could you send me what you got…"

"Beckett out of the 12th," said Street has he connected and searched. "Sargent Beckett?"

"Yeah, I'm new and forget sometimes."

"Bullshit," said Thomas with respect. "Normally you don't care about the rank and you would rather have our co-operation than obedience."

"That's what I was taught and it does seem to work. And the second thing is when Doctor Parrish is finished you guys can wrap up. You mind," said Kate pointing to the car door.

Kate adjusted her stride to stay within the footprints made by the other people as she rounded the corner she hear sniffling. Lanie? Kate finished rounding the corner took in the scene and understood. The victim was sitting upright with her back against the wall. Lanie was on one knee beside her. They had found the blanket that she has wrapped herself up and removed that. With it went most of the snow. She looked peaceful, but she had died cold and alone, one of Lanie's biggest fears.

"She's not you Lanie," Kate pleaded. "You are not alone. You will never be alone."

"But I am cold," said Lanie with control and strength returning to her voice.

"Come by the Loft after work. I'll feed you all of the hot chocolate and peppermint schnapps you can handle. I know that will warm you up."

A smile returned to Lanie's face as she remembered the many cold and lonely nights when she and her friend had shared their hopes, dreams, and fears over hot chocolate, peppermint schnapps, and other things.

"Rain check? I promised Javier that I would look in on him."

"Lanie you don't need one."

"I know"

"….Okay what have we got."

"A female in her thirties or forties. You can never tell with the homeless, they age so quickly. There were no foot prints in the snow. We took off her covering. Her clothes were intact and there doesn't appear to be any signs of a struggle or foul play. Right now I'm calling it a weather related death. If anything changes I'll let you know, but I wouldn't hold by breath."

Kate noted the look of relative serenity on the woman's face. That combined with no unexplained tracks in the snow made her think that Lanie was right. "She's not you Lanie," Kate whispered as she walked away and toward the Department store. As Kate walked through the second set of double doors she felt the refreshing blast of warmth. She walked toward a knot of people that appeared to be waiting for her. "Hi. I'm Detective Beckett and…"

'I miss Castle already,' she thought. As she stopped before she introduced the partner she had left behind.

"You're here about Marching Molly," said a middle aged gentleman wearing a light green sweater that had seen better days over his checked shirt.

"Is that the name of the homeless person?"

"That's what I know her by, come on into the break room, get warm and have some coffee. I'm Steve. Steve Tanner this is my store. Tom could you?"

"I'll watch the store Dad," said a younger version of Steve.

Soon Beckett was in the break room, a cup of hot coffee in her hand and surrounded by the stores employees.

"I've made copies of the video for you. They wouldn't be of much use. Sometime Friday morning they became ice covered and we can't see through them. I called the security company and they said the only thing we can do is wait for the ice to melt. The only one with anything on it is from late afternoon Thursday. Sue?"

Sue started the CD. It showed a man and a woman walking into view than out of view past the dumpster, then a minute or so later retracing their steps. "That's me and my husband Mike," said Sue. "Mike makes the deliveries for us. Anyway we took Molly some food and begged her to let us take her to a shelter, but she refused to leave."

"With the snow emergency in place we decided not open on Friday and Saturday, and we are always closed on Sunday," said Steve. "So no one came in to check on her."

"We should have insisted," said Sue.

"It's a tough call," conceded Kate. "Why did you call her Marching Molly?"

"Because she walks around like she is on guard duty, you know back and forth."

"Did you ever have any trouble with her?"

"When she first got her she used to walk back in forth in front of the store. That disturbed some of the customers. When we asked her to walk in front of the warehouse it became a non-issue."

"I think she kind of helped," said Sue.

"We sort of adopted her," said Steve. "We gave her money for food, and sometimes we shared our leftovers from the previous evening. Some of our old time customers brought in clothes and soap and such."

"We let her use the bathroom right inside the dock door so hygiene wasn't a problem," said Sue. "I think her real name is Molly Abbot, she said she was a soldier. While on deployment someone broke into her home here and killed her husband and daughter. She never forgave herself for not being there to protect them."

The more Kate listened the more she believed that Lanie wouldn't find anything and the weather had claimed at least one victim, and one other thing. Castle would have loved to hear this story.

Kate arrived outside just as Doctor Parrish's assistant and the officers brute forced the gurney Molly was strapped onto into the ME's vehicle. Molly's upright position, the narrowness of the entryway and the slickness caused by the snow and ice all combined to make the scene resemble something Abbott and Costello had done on screen.

"Lanie," shouted Kate trying hard not to laugh. "The people in the furniture store think her name is Molly Abbott and that she is ex-mil."
"Ex-mil? That means her fingerprints are in the system. Thanks." Lanie looked at her friends face. "Not your typical homeless story I take it."

"No. It's one I wish Castle would have heard. "

"Speaking of Castle is he okay."

"He's fine and probably back at the station house by now… I ..I had to leave him at another crime scene. "

Lanie's expression said it all. She had abandoned her partner.

Before Kate reached her vehicle she had another case. This time the body was in Gramercy Park.

'This is a first,' thought Kate as she pulled up and parked behind the ME's vehicle and the single Blue and White cruiser. The crime scene was inside a private park. A big park too, she observed, at least forty yards wide and seventy yards long. As Kate stepped onto the sidewalk she almost stumbled from amazement. The sidewalk was completely clear of snow and ice, completely dry, and without a trace of rock salt. It was like someone had used a hair dryer on the sidewalk to dry it out.

As Kate worked her way through the double entryway she searched the snow for tell-tail tracks. She smiled when she saw the dog tracks. Apparently the owners of this park had designated it as dog run too and had installed this double entryway to prevent one of their pampered pouches from escaping. The interior central plaza as well as the trails were as clear of snow and ice as the sidewalk outside. Kate hurried over to the knot of people standing by a marble bench with the victim obviously lying on it.

"I'm Detective Beckett. What do we have?" The look of recognition on their faces surprised Kate because she couldn't place them. "Guys have we worked together before?"

"You don't remember us?"

"No reason she should we were out of it at the time," supplied his partner.

"How about the biggest drug bust in NYC History?"

"Officers Sato and Garcia," supplied Kate. "Glad to see you recovered and decided to stay on the force. You guys broke that case, you know, by recognizing the hitter and following him into the warehouse."

"We called for backup and…"
"We got enough," said his partner testily, "a crazy female Detective with more guts than brains and her loco civilian partner. Speaking of, where is Mr. Castle?"

"I had to leave him at the first crime scene. I told him I would call him if I needed him."

"What do we have?"

"Meet Mr. Edward Louis McDougal, age 24. He lives a couple of blocks away. Records show that he is married. We haven't done the notification yet," said Officer Sato. "As you can see there doesn't appear to be any kind of struggle. It looks like he fell asleep and died."

"It was called in by Mrs. Crawford and Misty, that's her Brittany spaniel. They talked to him last night around five. When they came here this morning Mrs. Crawford thought that Edward here was rude when he didn't return her greeting. After Misty took care of business she came back to give him a piece of her mind," continued Garcia.

"That's when she discovered he was dead and called it in. She asked us to notify her when we're done so that she could secure the park."

"Seems reasonable, after all this is private property."

"As far as I can tell he did die of exposure," said a sweet soprano voice. "My biggest question is why? Hi I'm Doctor Alice Kitchen. I just started here as an ME last week. Both Doctors Perlmutter and Parrish speak highly of you Detective."
"It's nice to have friends," replied Kate taking in the maybe five foot talk Doctor of obvious Asian ancestry whose ancient seeming, dark brown and overly serious eyes almost overwhelmed a very pleasant looking face.

"Castle is the normal story weaver, but I'm going to give this one a shot. He was out on travel when the storm hit and he couldn't get home. Even though he called his wife, she thought he was using the storm as an excuse to be with his mistress. He got home on Sunday, but she kicked him out of the house. He thought that she would cool off so he went to the package store and bought a bottle of…really good scotch," said Kate after she had pulled the bottle out of the brown paper bag.

"And he came here, to a quiet place, to rehearse what he was going to say to get back into the good graces of his wife. Maybe he was tired from travelling,…"

"Or his mistress," quipped Sato.

"…or his mistress," smiled Kate, "Then the adrenaline rush from the fight with his wife wore off and the alcohol took over. His head nodded and he fell asleep. In conditions like this, you don't wake up unless you have help."

"It sounds like you been here before Detective," said Doctor Kitchen.

"My partner and I almost died this way…I'm going to need one of you to accompany me on the notification."

"Come on," said Officer Sato. "Since this task requires us to go someplace dangerously warm. I volunteer."

The walk to the apartment was surprisingly pleasant. The temperature had warmed up into the mid-teens, there was no wind and the sun was threating to break through the high white clouds.

At the Apartment building Beckett pressed the button for 311, the McDougal apartment. "Yes" answered a female voice.

"My name is Detective Kate Beckett I'm here with Officer Sato. We need to talk to you about your husband. Could you buzz us in please?"

As they approached the door to 311, it opened, and a very tall, very beautiful and very pregnant red-headed woman appeared. "Hi, my name is Jean. Please come in."

They followed her into the living room where she turned off the television and carefully and gracefully lowered herself onto the couch. "Please," she said waving her hand at the remaining chairs. "Detective Beckett what type of Detective are you," asked Jean, her voice already beginning to break?

"Homicide"

"How did my husband die?"

"He froze to death in the park a couple of blocks away from here. Jean, when was the last time you saw your husband?"

"Yesterday around four. He went away on travel Wednesday night and when he didn't come back until Sunday afternoon I accused him of all kinds of things and kicked him out of the house. Why didn't he come back," she asked the tears starting to flow down her face?

"I think he intended too," gentled Kate. "That's why he went to the park, to put his thoughts in order to persuade you to take him back. "

When Jean broke down and really started to cry, Beckett handed her a tissue from the box on the coffee table. "Is there someone you can call? At times like this you should be alone."

"Yeah, my Mom. Let me call her from the bedroom."

While they waited Kate took out her card and wrote the ME's number on the back. Less than a minute later another tall, beautiful, stately but more elderly red head entered the room. She obviously lived in the same apartment building because she wasn't a coat or anything really warm. "I'm Jeans Mother, Karen. Jean said that Ed is dead, that he froze to death in the park? How did this happen?"

"It appears that Ed and Jean fought. Ed went to the package store and bought some scotch and went to the park. While he was waiting for Jean to cool down he had a little bit too much to drink, fell asleep and died from exposure. Ma'am your daughter's in the bedroom and she needs you. This is my card. When things calm down some call me."

After leaving the apartment the officers visited the package store where McDougal bought the scotch and obtained a video copy of the transaction from the security camera. On her way back to her cruiser Kate stole a glance at her Dad's watch. She couldn't believe it. It wasn't noon yet and already she had been on three calls. Only one of them might result in a case. "Beckett," Kate said answering her phone disappointed it wasn't Castle. It was Dispatch. "Another one … Yes I guess I'm done here."

"We got this," confirmed Officer Sato. "Please tell Castle we said hi."

"Sure, and thanks," said Kate. "I've got to run to a hardware store in Hell's Kitchen," said Kate as she speed dialed her partner.

Kate arrived at the crime scene and parked across the street behind a single Blue and White. The ME's vehicle was parked in front of the store. Manpower must be at a premium if all they can dispatch is a single unit to a crime scene, thought Beckett. She crossed the street and stopped just outside the crime scene tape and read the notice painted on the window. 'McCormick's is proud to be a family owned business since 1852.' Ducking under the tape she reached for and opened the recessed door. When she opened the door she heard a sound she hadn't heard in ages, the tinkling of a bell. Walking in, Beckett saw Officer Eastman a couple of steps ahead, behind him and to his right by at least a half-dozen steps was his partner Officer Laird and he was talking to a woman. In the 'U' formed by a pair of cash registers and the checkout counters slumped an elderly couple. Their tear streaked anguished faces left no doubt in Beckett's mind that they were the current owners and one of the victims was a family member.

"Detective," said Officer Eastman.

"What do we have?"

"A double homicide. Doctor Parrish has the id's and such. They were found by the woman my partner is talking to. What we can gather so far is they opened up at nine-thirty and were found here around ten-forty five. Multiple gunshot wounds, but from a single gun."

"Security footage?"

"The killer took the CD, maybe there's some intermediate storage point CSU can get something from."

"Where is CSU?"

"They've been called. They said we're in the queue. Whatever that means."

"It means there as short of people as we are and with the weather starting to break we're getting cases. Thanks and oh when Castle shows up. …"

"I'll send him to you. The bodies and Doctor Parrish are back near 'Plumbing Supplies'."

Kate walked over to the elderly couple and held out her hand. "Sorry for your loss," said Kate. "I'm Detective Beckett. I will be leading the investigation."

"Why did they have to kill Tommy and Aaron," wailed the woman? "We always told them to hand over the money or whatever they wanted. Insurance can replace money and merchandise, but it can't replace loved ones."

"This has happened before," asked Beckett gently?

"Not in the forty-two years I've been working here. This is the first and to have it end like this," said the elderly man. "I'm Harold McCormick, this is my wife Helen. One of the victims was our son Tom and the other an intern from NYU, Aaron… Aaron Weathersby. Cute as a button. We were kind of hopping that she and Tom would hit it off. She was a business major and wanted to study family owned businesses. Why did this have to happen to them Detective?"

"Right now Sir I don't know enough to answer that, or even ask a good question. That's about to change."

"If you need anything, anything at all, just ask."

"Thanks I will and again I'm sorry for your loss." Beckett spotted the 'Plumbing Supplies' sign and walked in that direction. In one of the aisles she spotted a covered body and walked toward it. "It's Aaron," Beckett vocalized softly. "Shot in the back too, a 10mm perhaps."

"That's what I think too," said Lanie's voice from the next aisle. "When you corner this guy watch it. Remember your vests don't handle 10mm and forty-five calibers all that well. And sweetie, if you haven't called your partner you had better do so because you got a real case this time. "

"Detective, Castle's here." Kate's radio burped. "He mumbled something about surprises."

"Speak of the Devil, "Kate said to Lanie. "Copy, send him back," laughed Kate.

Castle had never been so glad to hear Kate's voice in his life. From Castle's perspective Kate's call had probably saved Castle sanity. Even though he had found a way to avoid writing a lot of repetitive administrative verbiage and shorten the time to create a data request, he still had to personalize each request to the unique data for the case. You didn't need a creative writer for that. You needed someone who wasn't easily killed by boredom.

When Kate's call came in, Castle grabbed his coat and fled toward the elevator. He was trying hard not to break into a run. He pressed the down button and waited impatiently for the elevator to arrive. Looking back towards Kate's desk he figured he had another hour maybe an hour and a half of work to do. This didn't include the filing that needed to be when the data that had been requested finally showed up. But filing was a lot less creatively toxic than writing the requests. 'I can add 'NYPD bureaucrat' to my list of languages,' he muttered. 'Assuming I have a need to write another resume.' As he entered the elevator he was convinced he needed an hour of 'Angry Birds' or 'Zombies' to bring him back to normal. By the time the elevator door opened and he got off he was convinced he needed an hour of both.

"Hey Sargent Henry," said Castle as he approached the Desk Sargent's desk. "Do you have anyone heading into Hell's Kitchen? Normally I would take a cab."

"Except that they're rarer than flying pigs today. Hell's Kitchen Castle?"

"Yeah Detective Beckett caught a case in a hardware store on the corner of Sparrow and Elm."

"Dah," he smiled." Detective Beckett caught a case, "he repeated." Why else would you be heading to Hell's Kitchen? Yo Reynolds and Williams," he yelled spotting two Officers that had just left the Squad Room and were heading toward the police garage elevators.

"You bellowed oh great one," replied Sargent Reynolds. He was, by the hash marks on the sleeve of his jacket, a twenty-five year veteran of the force and probably a classmate of the Desk Sargent.

"Beckett caught a case in Hell's Kitchen and Castle needs a ride."

"Come on Castle before his nibs changes his mind and sends us on another snipe hunt for dead bodies on the Jersey side."

"Seriously," asked Castle? "In this?"

"Yeah," said Officer Williams. "Three hours very early this morning. I learned the true meaning of cold."

On the way to Hell's Kitchen Castle learned that Reynolds and Williams had been drafted to help the State Police look for bodies in one of the parks on the Jersey shore. The State Police were reacting to a tip that there had been a power grab by one of the families and the causalities had been dumped there.

"Castle we both know that's a crock," said Sargent Reynolds.

"Body dumping on the Jersey shore went out ages ago," agreed Castle. "Those guys have much more efficient waste management methods."

"Yeah. If they want to disappear somebody they bloody well disappear," said the Sargent.

"They're so good," added Castle, "that not even a Ghost Hunter can find them."

"Not even a Ghost Hunter," laughed Williams, "that's funny."

When Castle got out of the unit he saw water burst out of street like Old Faithful. As he continued to watch he saw water start bubbling up to the surface. Before he could knock, the Sargent had rolled down his window.

"Sargent it looks like…"

"We got traffic control duty until the "Works" people get here." It glanced at his partner who was already calling it in. "Castle ask the detail to come out. We certainly could use their cruiser to block the traffic."

"Sure." As Castle completed his walk toward the crime scene tape he looked at the ME's vehicle. Please not Perlmutter again he silently begged.

Castle ducked under the crime scene tape, heard the twinkling of a bell as he opened the door and walked into the welcome warmth of the hardware store. To his left was a grieving elderly couple wearing 'McCormick Hardware' aprons behind the checkout counter talking softly with a female customer. Unsurprisingly she was purchasing duct tape and plastic sheeting. 'A cold snap does have a way of making the drafts noticeable' mused Castle. Further back were Officers Eastman and Laird.

"Castle," said Officer Eastman, "The boss said to expect you."

"Could you announce me? The last time I surprised Detective Beckett I was in pain for the next two days. Oh, it looks like the water main just popped. Sargent Reynolds is outside and asked if you could reposition your cruiser to help block the traffic."

Eastman made the radio call while Laird headed toward the door.

"Copy, send him back," came Kate's musical voice over the radio. "Plumbing supplies," said Eastman as Castle walked off.

Castle's path took him directly to Doctor Parrish, who was working on Tom McCormick.

"Eh, 'what's up Doc?'"

"Seriously Castle," asked Lanine crossly? "I've had a very long and very cold morning and that's best you got?"

"Sorry Lanie."

"Sweetie, you had better talk to your partner before I put him out of my misery."

"You made good time," said Beckett.

"Another of couple of minutes without a break and I would have gone bonkers. This is?"

"Mister Tom McCormick, son of the owner and Aaron Weathersby an intern. "

"Let me guess, shot in the chest," said Castle pointing to Tom "and in the back," pointing to Aaron?

"Yeah," said Kate. "It looks like both of them came to greet the customer and he pulled a gun and shot them."

"A ten millimeter?"

"Think so," replied Lanie.

"Have you asked the owner for a list of the missing stuff?"

"Not yet," admitted Beckett, "Why?"

"If the guy wanted a cash score he would have hit one of the coffee shops or the fast food place. One only robs a hardware store when one is shopping for equipment. MacGyver would love this treasure horde."

"Who," asked Lanie?

"Not everyone has the time to watch reruns from the Eighties Caste," chided Beckett.

"The show made it into the Nineties," replied Castle. "It's a classic. That's not the point."

"Well, let's see if he took more than he could carry," said Kate as she headed toward the store's dock area. The store's dock had two bays. In one of the bays there were several store carts. In the second bay were several pieces of the black icy sludge that normal forms in the wheel wells of cars during snow storms.

"Castle no," Kate called out. "Use the door,"

"Yeah right. Fingerprints," Castle agreed, stopping himself from pressing the garage door button.

Kate beat Castle to the door looked outside then back at her partner. "I'll get Lanie's camera."

When Castle looked, he saw a set of tire tracks entering and leaving the bay, and a single set of shoeprints. Walking back into the dock area Castle noticed the propane recharge station. As he neared it he saw that the locks had been cut on the full and empty bottle storage areas. Convinced that he had found the primary target for the robbery, he waited for Kate to finish talking the pictures so that he could accompany Beckett and talk with the owners.

"Mr. and Mrs. McCormick, Detective Beckett again. This is my partner Mr. Castle. Sir we need you to conduct an inventory and furnish us with a list of the missing materials as soon as you can"

"I need to do that for the insurance claim anyway. What's the rush?"

"I notice that you have a propane recharge station," said Castle.

"Yes," said Mr. McCormick with a touch of pride in his voice. "The only one within fifteen square miles, certified and inspected every six months."

"Some of the folks around here use space heaters for their basement or attics," added Mrs. McCormick.

"Then we have the barbeque grills in the summer and several of the restaurants that have patios use heaters in the spring and the summer. Despite the hassle, it's been a good money maker for us. Why are you asking about it?"

"Well the locks on the propane bottle storage areas have been cut and almost all of the bottles are gone."

"I wouldn't worry too much. Those bottles are tough. Most of the talk about them exploding is urban legend and not fact at all."

"Unless he plans to vent the bottle into a room and provide a spark or flame to trigger it," interjected Castle.

"Ah well."

"That's why we need the list of materials that he took Sir," added Kate." We want to see if he has the material necessary to build triggers and how many."

"Why would he want to do that," wailed Mrs. McCormick?

"I need to find an answer to that question," said Beckett, "so that I can prevent him from killing others." Castle saw a grim and determined expression capture Kate's features. He had seen that look several times in the past. The Huntress was on the case.

"If you are pissed at someone," said Castle "you use a gun. At something, or a lot of some ones, you use a bomb."

"Another thing that we would need is your customer list, especially if you have had any complaints within the last week," said Beckett.

"We'll give you are mailing list," offered Mrs. McCormick "We've had no real complaints and what one, no two product returns in the last year."

"In both cases we took a product off of the shelf and made sure it worked before we gave it to them," added her husband. "We really don't know anyone who had an issue with the store or would want to hurt Tom or Aaron."

Beckett and Castle returned to the hardware store from canvassing just as Lanie and her assistant were preparing to transport the bodies to the ME's vehicle.

"On days like today I wish my vehicle had remote start," said Lanie.

"Yours doesn't? Mine does. Watch. Castle could you," asked Beckett sweetly as she dangled the keys in her hand and feigned a cough.

"Lady you cheat," growled Castle as he snatched the keys out of her hand and headed out the door.

"Someday you may go too far," laughed Lanie.

"If that day comes, I will gladly get down on my knees and beg and pled for his forgiveness," said Kate unashamedly. "I know the quality of my man I will do everything I can to stay by his side…. Oh Castle how many times have I told you that leather soled shoes on ice is a recipe for disaster," said Kate as she watched her partner slip and fall. She laughed when he waved that he was okay.
Kate's attention was drawn to the newly arrived Department of Public Works panel truck. She watched as the diver got out, hurriedly move to the rear, pull out some tools out and slam the rear door shut and hurry toward the hole the Works' people had dug in the street.. Kate watched as Castle tried to stand only to slip to his knees. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the truck moving slowly. Rolling driverless on the icy slick street toward…Castle!

Kate opened the door and ran toward the man she loved, "Babe," she called out. She watched his head turn toward her; recognize the danger caused by the truck and then fall flat on his face as he tried to scrabble to his feet. Kate's worldview narrowed to the task at hand. She had to beat the truck to Castle and somehow get him out of the way. Kate lowered her head and ran … hard. She had to get in front of the truck, across in front of it and get Castle out of the way, somehow. Kate's breathing became labored as she broke into a full sprint her eyes straining to find a good running path. She could not afford to slip or falter. Even with the truck, finally one step ahead, two, three, four, five, five and now the truck seemed to be picking up speed.

She dared a quick glance at Castle. He had stopped trying to stand and was trying to crawl out of the way on his hands and knees. He's still not going to make decided Kate as she darted in front of the truck and put on a last burst of speed. As she reached down for him she slipped and went into a slide that would have done any Yankees base-stealer proud. Somehow she managed to grasp Castle's coat, roll him across her legs and push him further out of harm's way.

Kate looked up and shirked with joy, they had made it! The front wheels had passed them then she groaned. The truck had started to fishtail; now they had to clear the back wheels and the back bumper. Kate became mesmerized as the back wheel slowly and steadily approached. 'I'm…I'm not going to make it. At least Castle is safe,' she thought. She felt a slight tug on her coat. Kate yelped when she felt a bigger tug and herself being pulled further out of the way. "I've got you love," she heard a familiar voice say. Kate felt time slowing down as the edge of the bumper slowly approached, a yard away, two feet, one foot. It seemed to hang an inch away from Kate's nose for an eternity. "YES!" she screamed when the distance finally began to increase. A moment later she heard Castle crash into something, and then she crashed into him.

"Babe?"

Hearing nothing she scrambled to her knees, still very high on the adrenaline rush. The upper part of Castle's back had hit the leading edge of the rear wheel well of her cruiser and Kate had slammed his lower back into the rear tire when she had hit him just above the belt. She looked at his face, he wasn't breathing. Quickly and carefully she laid him flat and started to breath for him. At the end of the fifth breath she sputtered and pulled away slightly. "Castle you cad," she whispered. Somehow he had turned the end of the fifth breath into a kiss. "You okay?"

"I was feeling great then my wife broke off our kiss and called be a cad."

"Seriously?"

"I could use a back rub, and I probably scrapped the skin off of both my knees, but I think I'm okay."

"Good," said Kate as she gently kissed his lips, confident that the curtain of her hair shielded her action from view. "More to follow," she husked.

Castle nodded his understanding. He too had heard the scampering of feet and the mixture of voices "Awesome", "They okay?" "Spectacular", "Not my fault", and Lanie "Gangway I'm a Doctor, give me room."

Kate slowly got to her feet and helped Castle up. She smiled and started to laugh when Castle showed her that he still had her car keys in his gloved hand. Kate turned to face the small crowd and raised her hand for silence. "We're okay," she said. "And there's no reason to call the Police. We're already here. I'm Sargent Beckett out of the 12th."

"And we can save the EMT's for the people who really need them," added Castle.

"Who's the driver of this truck," asked Kate, "and please tell me you at least set the parking break?"

"Ah, eh, no Sargent I didn't. I was in a hurry and…," said a young man in his early twenties at best.

"Was anybody hurt," Kate asked? "Was any public or private property damaged?"

"No, luckily the fishtail wasn't that bad and the truck stayed upright when it reached dry payment."

Kate shook her head, closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them again. "You know if I write this up as an Incident Report your supervisor will probably put you on driving probation and make you watch a couple of those God-awful safety videos. To me that's not going to cut it. No, you're going to write this up and explain what you did and didn't do. This is the surest way that I know of to make sure you really learn this lesson and something like this doesn't happen again."

"I'm still probably going to be on probation."

"But you probably won't have to watch those awful videos."

"Sure Sargent I'll do it. The rescue was awesome by the way."

Castle started the car as the crowd started to disperse. He got out of the car when only Lanie remained. "Sargent, your car is started. It is not quite warmed up, but I do suggest you get in and out of the cold."

Kate turned, but the smile on her face vanished quickly. "Babe you're bleeding. Lanie?"

"Kate, first aid kit. Castle you and me, back seat now."

"But I'm a happily married man Doc."

"Lanie if he gives you any more lip slap him," said Kate as she pushed the button to open the trunk, "but not too hard okay? I still want to take him home with me tonight."

Castle opened the rear door and started to crawl in so that his back would be to the Doctor. "Come on in Doc I guess I got time for a quickie."

"Castle," Kate warned as she hurried to the trunk to fetch the first aid kit.

"Just a shallow scrap," said Lanie. "And we all know how bad scalp wounds bleed. This may hurt," continued Lanie as she applied some antiseptic to the cut. "When was your last tetanus shot?"

"Last month when I…"

"Yeah right, you should be okay then. Kate, my prescription for you is you kiss Castle long and often. If he's busy kissing you he can't say anything to get himself into trouble."

"I'll consider it," laughed Kate. "Thanks Lanie."

"You bet sweetie."

After Lanie had exited the back seat and Castle was firmly strapped into the front, Kate deftly guided her cruiser through the ice field, found dry pavement and turned toward the precinct house. "Let's get back to the precinct, grab something to eat and start this murder board," she suggested.

"No" growled Castle. "You need something good for lunch, not the concentrated sugar, salt and preservatives from the vending machine. Setting up the board can wait. This is your first day back and you don't need to overdo it."

Kate recognized the warning growl of 'her Tiger'. She heard the love and concern in the growl and knew it was an argument she could not win so she chose not to fight. She thought for a second. Just two blocks out of the way, the food is good and relatively quick, especially since we're arriving at the end of the lunch hour. Kate parked in the loading zone, placed the 'Police Official Business' sign in the front window, and in a few steps Mr. and Mrs. Castle were on their way to lunch at the Painters Pagoda.

The Painters Pagoda was one of Kate's favorite Chinese restaurants, and it was unique in several ways. The owners had gone to great lengths and had sacrificed table space to give each diner the illusions that they were alone. The planters with plants and flowers and colorful silk screens blocked the diners from seeing other diners and the voices of the numerous fountains smothered all outside conversation. The maze like path to their table also added to the effect. The visual privacy and the ability to hold unmonitored conversations had earned the restaurant the reputation as a great place 'to make a deal,' and for lovers to share lunch or dinner.

The other unique thing about the restaurant was that almost all of the decorations were done by local artists and available for purchase. Everything from wall hangings, room dividers, vases, bonsai plants, and small nick-knacks were available, most at a reasonable price. Kate had bought the room screen, currently in their bedroom in the Hamptons, the Oak Bonsai, currently gracing the window sill in James's room and a small 'Traveling Buddha' for Castle's office here.

As usual Castle waved to the Maneki-neko, the beckoning cat, before stepping over the running water which was symbolic of a stream separating the real world from the restaurant an under the good luck Torii before heading to their table. The waitress was young, cute, and attentive. Their food arrived in no time flat.

Kate swiped a spoonful of Castle's egg-drop soup. "So this is what you been feeding me. I knew it wasn't your standard chicken noddle soup."

"If chicken soup is good for you, I figured chicken soup with an egg kicker had to be better," replied Castle.

Kate swiped another spoonful, "Yours is better."

"It had to be, "he beamed. "I was making it for a very special person."

The first part of the lunch time conversation consisted of Kate describing the two calls she made without him. Kate saw the special 'I've got a story idea look' cross Castle's face when she described the Marching Molly call. Kate wasn't a bit surprised that Castle had no sympathy what's so ever for Edward McDougal.

"…..and when it explodes each one of those things has the potential to kill everyone in the blast area plus the fire..."

"Easy Cindy," gentled Kate. Kate saw the effect of Castle's words had on their waitress. "My name is Kate Beckett. I'm a Homicide Detective out of the 12th," she said as she promptly displayed her badge. "My partner here was just describing something he read about it one of our trade journals, nothing really to worry about." Kate watched Cindy's eyes roam over her. From the badge to the shoulder harness, down to the tactical belt and back up to the badge. It appeared that Cindy was seeing Kate for the first time.

Kate saw Cindy lick her lips and then nod her head as if coming to a decision. After placing the small tray containing the check and a couple of fortune cookies next to Castle she stepped back a half of a step. "On the news this morning," Cindy said, "one of the anchors said that the when the weather warmed up the Police expected to find more than a hundred homeless people dead from exposure. Is this true Detective? I don't know whether to be angry or relived."

"I've had four calls so far this morning and only one involved a homeless person," offered Kate. "A hundred seems like a large number."

"Angry or relived," asked Castle with an edge to his voice that caused Kate to inwardly wince?

"My Mom thinks the Police should have rounded up all of the homeless and put them in shelters."

"I know," said Kate gently, "that Officers went to the homeless and suggested that go to a shelter for a couple of nights. Some did. Others refused to leave their homes."

"Homes," sputtered Cindy, "those boxes in alleys, and stalls under the bridges, homes?"

"To them they are, "said Castle sternly. "Even if the Police was successful in taking the homeless to shelters, what's to keep them there? Does your Mom suggest that we provide guards to keep them in? Those places are called prisons."

"Why not, they belong in prison anyway. Most of the homeless are drug addicts, losers, drop outs that will kill and steal anything they can get their hands on. If the winter kills a hundred or so I could consider that a good thing, except we are going to be stuck with the cost to bury them."

"Not all homeless are as you describe them," said Kate quickly to cut Castle off from responding. "A little over a year ago there was a nice article in the 'Post' 'Stories behind the faces.' In the article the author told the story of four homeless people. The primary reason that they were homeless is that society, us, failed them. It's a good read."

"Whatever," breathed Cindy dismissively? "I'll take that when you're ready."

"Here," said Castle after he had placed the fortune cookies in the middle of the table, extracted a credit card from his wallet and placed it on the tray.

Kate heard Castle exhale loudly. She watched him drain his cup of tea and then refill it.

"She deserves a decent tip Castle, she was a good waitress."

"But her views…"

"Are those of a naïve, sheltered person, and one yet to experience the realities of life."

"Perhaps that should be the next thing I write "A Realist's Guide to New York City."

"Well you are always looking for ideas for your opinion-editorial pieces."

Castle considered this for a moment," they wouldn't get published, too gloomy."

"Then make them compare and contrasts…"

"The city has some of the most beautiful building in the world and yet has neighborhoods in need of a wrecking ball."

"The park system is one of the world's best, but there are places were garbage and refuse just pile up."

"New York is home to some of the world's best and brightest, yet we still waste our human capital."

"The critics will say I'm just pointing out problems and offering nothing."

"Babe, acknowledge that and in the last of the series of pieces, challenge the Mayor, the Governor, the President, all of academia, the business community, and the common people of New York to help craft a solution."

"It's been tried before and failed."

"Exactly how many rejection notices have you received?"

"Point, I'll consider it."

Kate smiled cracked her cookie, read her fortune and took a sip of tea. After Castle had paid the bill and read his fortune he turned to Kate. "Ready?"

"Fortune first."

After reading it she deposited both hers and Castles in her pocket,' they're keepers' she thought. "Ready," she responded. Hers had read 'True love is close at hand', and Castle's 'It's the simple pleasures that add joy to life.'

Chapter 6 Back at the Bull-pen

After greeting the Desk Sargent, Beckett and Castle made their way toward the elevators. Kate knew that the waitress's words about the homeless still bothered her partner. "You know, while you're changing your pants if you decided that the heavy bag needed punching for a couple of minutes I would understand."

"No I'm good."

"Okay, but tomorrow we are sparing. I need the cardio."

"Sure," said Castle with a straight face. "I enjoy getting smacked around by my wife."

Kate got off of the elevator and confronted the silence of the Bull-pen with a firm confident stride. This morning she was the clean-up detail, now she had to solve a murder to prevent the deaths of countless others. The room tried to swallow the sound of her footfalls and failed. The Huntress had just accepted the mission and didn't plan to fail. Becket hung up her badly scrapped coat, stowed her purse in her desk and wrestled a murder board into place. Looking on the desks she found their coffee cups and headed toward the break room. Captain Gates was waiting for her when she returned.

"You guys okay?"

"Yes, why?"

"Your coat for one," said Captain Gates, "and this for another."

Almost as if on cue the TV started playing a video of Kate rescuing Castle. The video was obviously shot from someone's cell phone, but the quality was good enough to identify Kate, Castle and the number of the Public Works truck.

"Why aren't these people at the crime scenes," Beckett gripped?

"That would make your job too easy Detective. Castle?"

"He's in the gym changing his pants. He's fine. He has a scratch on his head and he scrapped his knees."

"Shoes?"
"Yeah"

"Save yourself some grief and force him to wear proper shoes. I don't want to lose a good Detective because of the vanity of her husband."

"Believe me Sir, proper shoes for my partner is number one on my list of things to do."

"Anything else?"

"The Hardware Store murders Sir. There could be complications."

Captain Gates glanced at the blank murder board. "Brief at the normal time?"

"Yes Sir." Both women looked toward the elevator when they heard it open, and both relaxed when they saw Castle striding toward them. "Detective," the Captain said as she retreated toward her office.

"Kind of late, don't you think," said Kate as she glanced down at Castle's feet, now wearing his gym shoes.

"Not if we have to go back out. How are we going to work this?"

"How about you input the information from the other three calls and then get back to the backlog while I set up the murder board?"

"Are you doing a board for the Palmers?"

"Can't. Not till Perlmutter declares it a Homicide. Besides the Hardware Store…"

"Does have a high degree of urgency," agreed Castle.

"Knock off a couple of minutes early and help me prepare the brief."

"Who to," asked Castle gesturing to the empty room.

"Captain Gates."

"Well at least the right person is in the audience."

"Castle, after we finish the brief let's order some food and start working through one of the death lists."

"No. Look Kate this is your first day back and you've been at it hard all day. This morning I didn't ask you to take it easy because that's impossible for you, just as impossible as stopping after one of the lists. "

"But Castle…"
"I know we have a deadline. I agree with the demolitions guy, Sargent Weber. Today was shopping, tomorrow is manufacturing, Wednesday is scouting and either Thursday or Friday is boom day. So we have some time. "

"But Castle…"

"Look if you overwork now there's a good chance that you will be in bed sick on game day. I want to be by your side when you catch her. I don't want to be by your side feeding you chicken soup again."

"But Castle…."

"You need to find your balance. You remember what you told me to do on the train ride to Chicago?"

"Yeah, but…"

"You need to find your balance Kate, the balance between doing the job now and being able to do the job tomorrow. Let me take you home at a reasonable hour, feed you a good dinner and put you to bed early. Tomorrow we will create our candidate suspect list. Who knows perhaps when we interview them we'll see the bomb stuff. The next day we'll put out lookouts to spot the scout. Then Thursday or Friday we round her up."

Kate threw up her hands in graceful defeat. "What's the use of having a husband if you don't listen to his advice…. occasionally?"

"I'm not going to get into the middle of a domestic argument," said Captain Gates, "but I am going to make a command decision about the health and welfare of one of my subordinates. Sargent Beckett at the conclusion of this briefing you will spend no more than thirty minutes doing wrap-up activities. You will then depart and you will make the one equipment procurement stop we talked about earlier. When you show up for your shift tomorrow I need you to be well rested and able to give the NYPD your best effort. Clear?"

"Yes Sir!"

"Forgive me for eavesdropping but what's this about 'her' and 'bombs'?"

"The hardware store murders Sir," began Kate, "the people who were killed there were at the wrong place at the wrong time. As far as we can tell the only reason the murder came to the hardware store was to collect material to make bombs."

"Why?"

"I have some theories Sir," said Castle ,"but let's stick with the facts for the moment."

"Okay continue."

"The owner of the store," began Beckett "gave us a partial list of the items missing. It included twenty-two compressed propane canisters..."

"Twenty-two?"

"Ten motorcycle batteries and spark plugs, they are for the 'scoters' that seem to be plaguing our streets, ten single-pole single-throw on-off switches, five kitchen timers, they were the only ones with accessible mechanical arms, and a soldering kit."

"We talked to Sargent Weber of demolitions," said Castle "and he said it would be very easy to make a detonating device with these materials. He said that the only thing missing was something to defeat the flow control spring valve on the canister. He gave us some ideas on how he would do it. The bottles are fairly heavy, but in a rucksack or duffle bag…Kate? "

"Right, we'll add bags to our list."

"Yeah two to a bag would be manageable."

"One duffle bag, no attention. Two duffle bags," asked Captain Gate?

"Right unless she's going in pushing a chart like she belongs there," said Kate.

"That's twice now you said she. How do you know?"

"At the crime scene the murder brought a vehicle into the loading bay of the hardware store and loaded it up. The only foot prints we have in the area belonged to a size 11.5 woman's boot. And I must say for the record that at the time of the murder Detective Beckett was sitting at her desk here in the 12th."

"Castle," squeaked Kate. "You know just as well as I do I was out on a call at that time."

"You know spouses are poor alibi choices Mr. Castle," teased the Captain?

"I know, but the extent of our forensics is the fact that the murderer used a weapon that shoots 10mm bullets, the list of the material stolen, a woman's boot size, and a tire print."

"The print is for a relatively new design, standard issue for Fords for the last three years. It's a five year tire so we are pulling that thread."

"Traffic cams?"

"Until this afternoon they were essentially inoperative," said Castle. "I talked to the traffic camera operations center this morning, ah for the other cases and they said the last week's freezing drizzle adhered to the environmental cover and basically blinded the cameras. They had to wait for it to melt off and it only started doing that this afternoon. Right now I doubt if half of the cameras in the city can see anything."

"You had some theories?"

"Yes Sir we did," said Castle. "Beckett?"

"We think the murder lives in the vicinity of the hardware store. She obviously knew that the store carried the propane canisters. As a first starting point we are using a five mile radius around the store. In that radius we're asking the DMV to furnish us with a list of registrations of the vehicles that could have this tire type, both personal and businesses. There really isn't a way to check the replacement tire market Sir."

"Our gut feel is that it is a small business. The owner can still use the snow emergency as an excuse to keep the people home. Moving stuff like this into a home could raise an eyebrow or two, into a business, probably not at all."

"That's all well and good," said the Captain, "but you haven't told me why she did it what's her motive?"

Beckett looked form Castle to her Captain, "Revenge."

"We think she lost a loved one during the last week."

"And she's blaming the medical staff for not seeing her loved one early enough, or the pharmacy for being closed or who knows what else. "

"Why five, ten, or twenty-two targets?"

"Easy," said Castle quickly. "First she goes to the walk-in clinic, it's closed. Next she tries an "Emergency Care Center', after a ten hour wait the Doctor tells her that the patient needs to go to the hospital. After a six hour wait at the hospital she's told that there are no beds. They give her a prescription , which the hospital can't fill, and the hospital sends them home. After making her loved one comfortable she goes in search of a drug store. The first one is closed, snow emergency, the second one doesn't have a pharmacist, and the third who knows. Finally she gets the medication, but it's too little too late and over the course of several days she watched her loved one die."

"Surely the wait times can't be correct."

"I've understated them Sir. Exactly how many Detectives reported for work today?"

"Three, you made your point Mr. Castle. Exactly how many facilities are we talking about?"

"Twelve walk-in clinics, four emergency care centers, two hospitals and too many to count drug stores, "said Castle. "We have asked the ME office and the facility administrators to provide a list of those people who have died of the flu or a flu related illness, or were treated for the flu."

"Most refused so we had Warrants issued. Now were in wait mode."

"We do have a couple of lists," added Beckett.

"Close hold on your theory," said the Captain. "We don't want to panic people and keep them away from the medical facilities because of a potential bomb scare. On the other hand I think I need to talk to the Chief. Remember what I said, finish up and get out of here."

"Yes Sir," they responded.

Kate took a sip of her cold coffee and grimaced. 'Why is it that,' she asked herself, 'cold coffee tastes like …. and cold tea still tastes like tea?"

"Great timing," said Castle as the elevator door opened before he could press the down button. "Oh, hi Inspector, where's, ah, your companion?"

"He went back to Albany," said the Inspector with a chuckle. "After your Captain cut him off at the knees, he stood back up and actually is going to help us. I came by to tell Captain Gates thanks. Night you two."

"Albany Castle?"

"Well while I was…" The inspector smiled and headed into the empty Bull-pen as the closing of the elevator door cut off the conversation. Captain Gates was standing in front of one of the murder boards with a look of concern on her face. "Captain I just came by to say thank you."

"Whatever for?"

"It seems your solution impressed our friend from upstate and he is allowing us to use some state emergency funding to hire some temporary admin support."

"Well that is good news."

"I also came by to see how Castle was doing."

Captain Gates turned and pointed at Castle's desk. "If I understand it, the files on the chair are the cases he hasn't touched. This pile the cases he has created the material to request the warrants, but has not faxed the requests to the writing ADA. This pile, the cases where requests have been forward to the ADA put the paperwork has not been filed in the case folder. This pile, paperwork filed and posted, and the last pile is the cases where the information has been received and posted in the case file structure."

"He's moved a lot of paper, and seems to be almost done."

"He is, but I really want him free to work with Beckett on this case."

The Captain used the murder board to brief the Inspector on the case and concluded by saying "I was just about to call the Chief."

"Captain you will have two admin people here tomorrow. Use them to free up Castle. Do you mind if I listen in when you call the Chief? I think I'm going to volunteer to help. And no I am not going to take the case away from Beckett. I can't think of anyone else I would trust with it. I think a Senior Inspector should be able to provide adequate top-cover. I am also quite skilled you know as an expeditor and red tape cutter. "

Chapter 7 Kate Richards

Castle followed Kate into the Police outfitters and bought 'two pairs of the ugliest shoes known to man.'

"Why two pairs," asked Kate as they walked to their cars.

"One pair to wear obviously, I plan to take the other pair to Ken to see if he can order the material and resole some of my other shoes."

"Still worried about your image," teased Kate?

"Not with you on my arm."

They egged each other on in the parking lot and once they turned onto the street the race for home was on! With four blocks to go Castle started to break for the light and cursed when Kate whipped around him, siren blaring and lights flashing. He watched helplessly as Kate breezed through this intersection and took a right at the next.

Castle got off of the elevator from the car garage and heard the music of his wife's laughter and the sound of their doorman's voice. "You know Mrs. C. I almost lost it when I saw you slide into the garage with your siren blaring and lights blazing."

"She cheated," said Castle good-naturedly.

"I just used the tools I had available" said Kate with a grin on her face as she walked over and looked up into her husband's eyes. "I thought tool use separated the humans from the Neanderthals?"

"It did," said Castle as he pulled Kate into a gentle hug. "Evening Tom."

"Evening Mr. Castle. You ought to know better than race your wife."

"Yeah I know. Impulse I guess." Arm-in-arm they entered the elevator that would take them up to their Loft, their home.

"There's nothing wrong with James's hearing," said Amy, as James literally jumped from Amy to Kate. "He heard you guys at the door and …."

James squealed as his mother kissed his forehead. "Castle could you while I lose my hardware."

Castle took James and watched Kate hurry into the bedroom. Both of them were very sensitive about guns and James. "Amy what smells so good?"

"When you left this morning you said you might be late so I took the liberty. I hope you don't mind."

"It smells delicious," said Castle as he lifted the lid on the crock pot.

"It's an old beef stew recipe of mine. It's ready. The oven's warmed-up. I didn't know if you wanted biscuits or hot bread. Oh, there is a jar of apple butter in the fridge. For some reason apple butter just seems to go with the stew."

"Biscuits," said Kate, "that way I know to stop after two. With hot bread I get carried away. Has he…" asked Kate taking James back from Castle.

"No I was just about to when you guys came in."

"Go ahead and start the biscuits. I feed James while they're cooking."

"Amy, thanks and…."

"Hush. One, you're welcome. I do miss cooking for my guys. Two, this will not be a regular occurrence and Three Martha says you are an excellent cook so inviting me for dinner would be an excellent form of payback and may result in additional unexpected performances."

"Noted," laughed Kate," and Castle is an excellent cook."

"Night guys, and Kate the next time you guys play tag with a truck, pick a smaller truck."

To no one's surprise the beef stew was delicious, and Amy was right, the biscuits, liberally covered with apple butter added additional flavors and textures to the dinner. Kate had opened a bottle of one of her favorite red wines and it blended smoothly with the stew. James, sat in his high chair, played with his feet and listened to the voices of his parents.

"You clean while I read," asked Kate unnecessarily?

"Sure"

"And bring the wine when you finish. Come on James let's see what trouble that resourceful Hobbit got out of this time."

It only took a couple of minutes for Castle to clear the counter top, store the remains of the stew, rinse what needed to be rinsed and place the dishes into the dish washer. Snagging his glass and the half full wine bottle he headed toward the front room where Kate normally read to James. He stopped short when he heard Kate's voice coming from their conversation pit.

Stopping at the threshold he looked down. Kate had left the lights off and had started a fire in the fireplace. He absolutely loved what the flickering light did to Kate's face and hair. She had taken a seat in the love seat with her legs tucked up under her in a way that was comfortable for her, but Castle wouldn't attempt on a bet. She had selected a radio station that only played light instrumental jazz, and the music seemed to blend with her voice. Castle walked in as silently as he could. He spotted and refilled Kate's glass. A quick glance at James showed he was wide awake and listening intently to his Mom.

Topping off his glass he sat down beside his wife and son.

"Please," asked Kate looking at Castle's glass? He held it so that Kate could take a couple of sips.

"Yours is over there."

"Yes it is," she replied, her eyes twinkling in the firelight.

"All right Tiger, back to the story I know," she laughed as James started to fuss. Five pages later Kate paused, James eyes remained closed. A sure sign he was asleep. From her right came the soft snore of her life mate. Kate shivered when a gust of wind touched the windows and reminded her of the outside world. She looked from the sleeping face of her son to the sleeping face of her husband and back. 'Oh God if this is dream please let me stay asleep, and if it's real grant me the strength to protect these two that I love. Amen.' Sighing Kate stood up. 'You,' she thought looking at James 'I'll put to bed. And you' looking at Castle, 'I shall share my bed with.'

After one final kiss, Kate placed James in his bed and covered him with the blanket. She saw him squirm for a moment, like he was burrowing in and then settle down. She knew that the 'night Mom' in her mind was imaginary. She would her it soon enough. Taking one last look around, Kate turned on the baby monitor and hurried out of the room towards her man.

"Aw, you're awake," said Kate the playful displeasure in her voice obvious.

"Yeah, I guess I fell asleep on you. Getting my ass saved by you took more out of me than I thought. I could pretend to be asleep if you want me to," said Castle, the playfulness in her voice finally registering.

"Now it wouldn't be a surprise." Kate sat down on the love seat, curled up in her fashion, relieved Castle of his wine glass for moment and took a sip. "Besides it's your turn to tell a story."

"My turn?"

"Yeah, don't deny it. At lunch when I told you the 'Marching Molly' story, your 'I've got a story idea look' spread across your face."

"I need to work on my poker face."

"Your poker face is fine. You need to work on the finger tapping though."

"'I've got a story idea face?'"

"Yes, and it's cute too."

"Well you're right. I do have an idea. I don't think it fits Nikki though. The premise is simple. A female soldier is deployed, and while she is deployed her husband and daughter are killed suspiciously. This soldier is no common Army grunt she has skills. She's either a Commissioned or a Warrant Officer…."

"Let's make her Commissioned, ROTC. Her husband doesn't like the fact that she has an obligation and is motivated to serve etc."

"Okay a little tension at home. I probably could use that as backfill, remembrances, or motive. Also I need to give him a professional job in the local community. Anyway, she is assigned to the Military Police and is trained as an investigator."

"Which means she's smart, knows how to shoot and has some unarmed combat skills," added Kate?

"Right. Let's make her as good a shot as you are and her unarmed combat skills would scare Esposito."

"Looks?"

"Athletic body of course, not overly endowed, and with fantastic legs. "

"Figures, you love my legs. Face? "

"Serviceable and you're right I love your legs and the rest of you. When she wants to turn heads she can, otherwise she's just pleasant to look at. Her husband and daughter were killed six weeks into the deployment, method TBD; she returns to bury them, serves out her deployment and then returns home. A month after her return, there is an incident involving civilians and soldiers."

"Where she meets and works with an eligible local?"

"Yeah, male of course, yin and yang. He's her principal antagonist so I will need to develop him and his back story. They impress each other as investigators and people. As a favor she asks to look at her family's case file. "

"Let me guess, it contains nothing."

"Pretty much."

"So she starts to investigate. I get it."

"While she is investigating she has other opportunities to work with the other Detective and a social relationship happens."

"Yes of course, a courtship ritual occurring while each is doing their duty. I think you know how to write that," Kate said with a hint of a laugh, "But how do you put them on a collision course?"

"What's the type of case you dread most?"

"People who kill children for no reason."

"Okay, I was thinking of cold…"

"Cold Cases, them too," acknowledged Kate. "Oh. That would be perfect. The Detective takes the case as a cold case."

"And finds that someone is a step ahead of him."

"Our gal of course, and they've relationship has evolved and they've become an item."

"Almost," said Castle. "I'm going to try to hold the tension as long as I can."

"Like us," asked Kate meekly?

"Yeah, but not that long," affirmed Castle. "The first body is a man. He was the owner of a strip club, killed with a small caliber weapon from point blank range. The power burns suggest that the weapon was held right over his heart. The second body was the manager of one of the 'Quick Cash' places you know one of those Payday places, his neck was broken. When the third body drops, a local slum lord, the Detective pieces it together. He 'knows' that the victims had something to do with the deaths of his ladies' family and even though there's a lack of forensic evidence that she killed them. He knows why her husband was killed, he refused to be blackmailed by the way and he knows who her next target is."

"What does he do?"

"This is where I'm stuck. How 'noble' a cop is this guy? How much does he love his Army girlfriend? Does he confront her? Does he devise a trap for her? Does he look the other way? Does he help her? Suggestions?"

"He marries her."

"What?"

"Yeah, he marries her. Look the people she killed were scum and had killed her family. The system had failed her."

"But she took the law into her own hands."

"And he can't prove it, and he's a bit of an old school romantic. He sees this as a Greek tragedy. Like Electra avenging the death of her father."

"I could make that work."

"After her commitment is over they join the U.S. Secret Service and become the best 'Investigative Team' ever."

"You've got this franchise planned out do you," teased Castle?

"Yeah, and I've even got a name for her. 'Kate Richards.'"

"You mean Reed Richards and Sue Storm's daughter?"

"Careful Babe your comic book heroes are showing," teased Kate.

Castle emptied his wine glass and then leaned back into the love seat. "One takes inspiration from a number of sources."

Kate relieved Castle of his wine glass, poured the contents of hers into his. After taking a sip she looked at Castle with a serious expression on her face. "Castle this story, it made me think. Seeing what you did for Alexis I know what you would do if something happened to me. I what you to know…."

"I already do," he whispered.

Kate put the wine glass on the table and kissed Castle deeply. When they broke her eyes searched his face. Finding only his love for her she sighed and put her head on his shoulder. A couple of moments later she heard Castle yawn.

"I guess I'm more tired than I thought."

"That comes from doing an honest day's work for a change," Kate quipped.

Castle rose and helped Kate to her feet. "Well at least I get to keep my promise to Gates. You've had a good dinner and are heading to bed early."
"And mine," said Kate as she went up on tip-toe to give Castle a gentle kiss. "After all I did promise you more."

That night both promises were kept.

Chapter 8 Fired

Captain Gates, with Inspector O'Malley by her side arrived at the 12th an hour later then the Captain liked but normal for Tuesday and Thursday. On those days all of the NYPD Command Staff attended 'Prayers' with the Chief. 'Prayers' was the nickname for the early morning face-to-face meetings the Chief held with his people. When they started Captain Gates resented the time away from 'her house'. But it didn't take long for her to appreciate the face-to-face time and the opportunity to hear about problems and solutions first hand, instead of through the rumor mill, and to discuss policy before she read about it in an 'Interdepartmental Memo' as 'Guidance for Commanders.'

The meetings had allowed the Captain to accept kudos on behalf of her people and to further publicize their accomplishments. All and all, the 'Prayers' had proven very useful, but they made for a very long day.

The Inspector noticed that the Officers leaving the Squad Room for their patrol vehicles greeted their Captain casually but respectfully. The 'Morning Sir' or 'Morning Captain' sounded genuine, not forced or perfunctory. "What did the Chief serve this morning Sir," asked Sargent Henry as they approached his desk.

"His wife must be on him again about his weight, so we had fruit and yogurt."

"That would drive me to drink."

"Everything drives you to drink Sargent."

"Got that right Sir. The trick is what you chose to drink. The Morning Report looks a lot better. Manpower is no longer "Critical', but we aren't flush either."

"Good . Anything else?"

"Quiet so far, we only had three calls of significance, nothing requiring a Command presence. Two domestic altercations and one involving a dog."
"Domestic"

"One of the idiots hit his wife in the presence of the Officers."

"Who?"

"Hastings and Stevens"
"Oh my God, did Hastings..."

"Sargent Stevens said that Officer Hastings acted with uncharacteristic restraint. The idiot is in holding. The wife is at the hospital and the kids are with her Mom."

"And the dog?"

"Both parties are in holding, and the dog is with animal control. I really don't know the details Sir."

"Thanks"

And as the Captain turned to walk away, "Oh, I forgot. The new admins are with the LT."

"Thanks, right," acknowledged the Captain.

"Sir my I introduce Sally Grimm and Nancy Flowers," said LT after he had stood up when the Captain entered his office. "They are the Admin's that the Inspector arranged with the upstate people," he continued with a nod toward Inspector O'Malley.

"Inspector"

"LT"

"They are knowledgeable on our system our processes and forms. I've got them badged and logins. I have secured two terminals for them and have arranged for them to work in the empty office next door. We were just about to go up and check on Castle's status and relieve him of the hard copies."

"Nice to meet you two," said the Captain holding out her hand. "We can certainly use your help. Let's go up and get the records so you can get started."

Detective Beckett was only vaguely aware that the Captain's party had entered the Bull-pen. "What do you mean the Judge has agreed that they don't have to turn over their records? Don't they realize that their institutions could be targeted?...What? I have to destroy the records I already have? That's just plain stupid. Can you buy me some time? ...Okay I'll destroy them by noon."

"Crap," Beckett hissed loudly as she hung up the phone.

"Problem Detective," asked Captain Gates?

"Yes Sir. The Judge has agreed that the hospital doesn't have to turn over their patient lists, and has also ordered us to destroy the records we have. We were hoping to use that as a pointer for the gal's target. Now…"
"I've got some things to take care off. You can bring me up to speed when I when I get back."

"Yes Sir." Kate watched the Captain, LT and two young women walk over to Castle's relocated desk.

"Mister Castle I must ask you to stop working on the case documentation. "

"You firing me Captain?"

Castle's flippant remark had caught her by surprise. She turned and looked around. The expression on LT's face would have done a sphinx proud. The shocked expressions on the faces of the admin's were really quite amusing. Turning she scanned the Bull-pen. The three Detectives present were veterans of the 12th and understood Castle's 'special standing'. They were trying hard to look uninterested, and failing. Glancing back she saw the frown on Beckett's face change to a grin when the Inspector finished whispering in her ear.

"Yes Mister Castle I am. You see the State has provided us some emergency funds to hire these two PROFESSIONAL Admin's to help with our documentation, and the Department really can't afford your generous salary for this task."

"I see," said Castle in a somber tone. The Captain had already given him the parking pass and she was obviously playing him like he had tried to play her. "No need to show me out LT I know the way."

"I was hoping," purred the Captain, "that you would explain to the Admin's where you are and what needs to be accomplished, and after that you would stay on in your, ah previous capacity."

"Times are tough do you think?"

"I'll see what I can do with respect to your next paycheck," replied the Captain with a straight face. She checked out the Bull-pen on the way to her office and even the LT was smiling for everyone knew that Castle was an unpaid consultant. She shook her head as started to work through her emails. Castle had turned a potential awkward situation in a humorous one and the laughter and smiles had helped everyone in the room. The Captain waited until the cart with the files and the two Admin's left the Bull-pen before approaching the murder board.

"Ready Sargent?"

"Yes Sir, guys"

"Before you begin, Sargent there is something I need to say," said Inspector O'Malley. "When Captain Gates briefed the Chiefs last night on the potential explosiveness of the case, pardon the pun, I asked to be assigned to it. They agreed. My role is limited to advisor, top cover and expediter. Sargent Beckett YOU ARE running this case period. It was thought, because of its nature some NYPD Departments might decide to step in and try to run it. One of my tasks is cut them off at the knees. Should that occur you can refer them to me and I will personally introduce them to the Chief. You have his, hell both Chiefs absolute confidence in this. I don't mean the vote of confidence they give an investigator just prior to throwing him under the bus but true confidence."

"I appreciate that Sir. I do have a couple of tasks for you. You can help us till noon on a data reduction task. We have a hard-stupid stop at that time and after lunch I would appreciate you visiting a certain agency. I haven't heard so many excuses since I was dating Castle," she grinned.

"Wait what, not true. Oh so not true," said Castle.

"Captain the hard stop is caused by the Judge reversing his decision and saying the health care providers do not have to give us their patient lists for the period we asked for and we have the use of the data that we have only until Noon today. Then we have to destroy it. Right now we are working hard to co-ordinate the patient list with the DMV data to generate a potential interview list. Oh, I've conscripted Detectives Rodgers, Blaine and Smith to help with the task."

"Conscription approved," quirked the Captain.

"The only real positive updates occurred because of Sargent Weber out of the bomb squad. Operating on his own initiative I might add. The first one is something I should have thought of. He contacted all of the hardware stores within a five mile radius of the victim's hardware store and asked to be notified if anybody bought more than one of the mechanical type kitchen timers. You know the same type that was stolen. He got a hit from a store a little over three miles away. Which helps confirm our hypothesis the killer is a local. In addition to five additional timers the killer bought some thick gauge wire that the Sargent said could be fabricated into something to defeat the flow spring lock. A sketch artist has been sent. The clerk said he would co-operate, but not to expect much. He said she, another confirmation, was wearing a hoodie and tinted snow goggles."

"Didn't that strike him as suspicious," asked the Inspector?

"No. The clerk thought that she was smart, considering the cold, wind, blowing snow and stuff. Anyway I expect we'll have something in an hour."

"That means she has the material to make ten bombs," said the Captain.

"Yes Sir. One of the other things Sargent Weber did was contact a NYU professor they have on retainer. He explained the problem and asked a couple of questions, like what is the optimum size of room, time to vent for maximum effect and explosive power. The answers are scary. If they are placed near adjacent load bearing columns they could bring down a building, near glass windows the shrapnel would be deadly out to fifty feet. If the explosions were staggered the initial could rupture the water feed for the sprinklers and the fire the next one would cause would be devastating."

"Not a pleasant thought, "said the Captain.

"The last thing the Sargent did was build one using the parts on the list we gave him. It works."

"They love to blow stuff up," said the Inspector.

"The plan is to try to match-up the patient list with the list of vehicle names and addresses provided by the DMV to develop a contact list. We'll split the list up and make visits after lunch. Inspector one piece of data we don't have is the list of the people who have died during this period. The ME's Office has put up a stonewall that would make the best bureaucrat green with envy. If you could" asked Beckett with a glance toward the Inspector?

"You have learned how to delegate upward," joked the Inspector. "I'll get it for you Sargent."

"Thanks. That's all I got Sir."

"Find her before she gets the opportunity to use her bombs Detective…. Carry on."

The Team, augmented with the Inspector and Castle settled in and tried to build a potential suspect list. About an hour and a half later Beckett looked up when Castle placed a sandwich and a bottle of water in front of her. "What's this?"

"We still sparing at lunch?"

"Yes"

"Amy says we will get more out of it if we fuel up and hydrate before we exercise."

"What is it?"

"Peanut butter and honey on whole wheat with …."

"Cranberries," exclaimed Kate after she had taken a bite. "This is good." Pitching her voice low she continued "Is this why we always have a good dinner before we…."

"It wasn't before, but it could be now," chuckled Castle.

"I'm still going to kick your ass you know. "

"I know you're going to try," replied Castle.

As the deadline approached the Team hustled to create as many targets as possible. "Sargent Beckett," yelled a short, balding man in the traditional dress of lawyer from the edge of the Bull-pen.

"Here."

"I need for you to stop using the data from the hospitals and such."

"Why, it's not noon yet? Has something changed?"

"No. I just want to be sure we comply with the Judge's order."

"We will," warned Kate. "My team will stop at noon."
"I must insist that you stop now. I don't want there to be any question that we complied with the Judge's order."

"And whose name will be on the Arrest Warrant for interfering with an on-going investigation," replied Beckett testily.

"I'm … I'm the ADA assigned to this case, Tom Rhoads and this is my assistant Allie Hill."

"My Team will use all of the time available to develop our suspect list Sir, "said Beckett with a tone of finality as she turned back to her desk.

"Detective," the ADA pleaded to no avail. Several minutes later the alarm on Kate's watch went off.

"Time guys," she called. "Give me your matches and let's give the hard copy to ADA Rhoads."

"You can destroy the hard copy Sargent, but we need to see you delete the source from your files."

"So you trust us not to tape the strips together", quipped Castle as he handed his hard copy to Beckett. "My matches are in your folder."

Beckett gave Castle a dirty look, accepted the hard copy, and called up the files in the case file directory. "Could you get the source CD's out of the box?...Counselors?" she asked. "If you care to observe?" Kate deleted the file and pointed to the CDs. "These CDs contain the source information."
"Are there any other copies?"

"Paper and CD's no," said Beckett. "There is an electronic copy in the daily archive of the files. It would take a written request to restore the files. So if that happens there will be a paper trail…. Castle could you," said Kate looking at the pile of paper and the CDs.

"Sure"

"Detective is there someplace we can talk about the McDougal case?"

"Castle, small conference room," yelled Kate to his retreating back and his acknowledging wave.

"This way please," said Beckett as she lead the way to the conference room. "I don't recognize you Sir. How long have you been in the office?"

"I just started in this office two weeks ago," said ADA Rhoads. "Prior to that I worked out of the DA's office in Brooklyn."

"Six months Sargent," said Allie. "My former boss mostly caught the white collar crimes, never a homicide."

"Please be seated, I'll grab my partner and notify my Captain." Kate left them before they could respond.

Castle caught up with his partner just as Beckett and Captain Gates approached the conference room door.

"Captain this is ADA Tom Rhoads and his second chair Allie Hill. Counselors this is Captain Gates. She commands the 12th, and this is my partner Mr. Castle. They want to talk to us about the McDougal case."

"Has there been a status change," asked Castle? "I thought the MD declared the death to be caused by the weather?"

When the ADAs hesitated Captain Gates asked, "Has there been a status change?"

"Not really Captain," replied ADA Rhoads, "just a different way of interpreting the death. Mr. Castle you're a civilian right? I don't see how you could know anything about the case. The case report doesn't mention you at all."

"Apparently the storm caught Edward McDougal got out on travel. He returned home on Sunday afternoon, had a fight with his wife, and bought a bottle of a good single malt scotch. He then went to the park, had a bit too much to drink fell asleep and died," said Castle testily.

"As I said, he's my partner," said Beckett in a conciliatory tone. The ADA had rubbed Castle the wrong way when he tried to cut the investigation off early and now he was doing it again. She thought she needed to smooth things over before Castle's legendary ego and temper took over.

"Captain I must insist that as a civilian," the ADA said with a slight sneer, "Mr. Castle be excluded from this discussion."

The Captain paused and looked at Castle. "Babe," whispered Kate, "Please consolidate the contact list and put together a contact plan. Remember the Inspector has another assignment. I'll bring you up to speed." Beckett was proud and relieved when Castle left without creating a scene.

"Captain," said ADA Hill, "there really is no need for you to be here."

"We kind of want to talk to the Detective alone," added ADA Hill.

Captain's Gates face took on a look of disgust for a second. She raised and lowered her right eyebrow, reached for her phone, checked a number and dialed it on the conference room phone. "Hey Mary, Captain Gates, is he available?"

"His calendar is clear Sir, but his door is closed which means he's with someone. Oh, the door just opened, I'll ring you through."

"Victoria," said the familiar voice of District Attorney Arthur Thomas. "I take it this isn't a social call."

"Sorry Arthur, it's not. You're on a speaker phone in one of my conference rooms. Two of your people want to kick me out and hold a private conversation with Detective Beckett. I thought I would give you the chance to tell them why that's not going to happen before I put them in holding for interfering with an Officer in the course of an investigation."

"Your evil Captain," chuckled the DA. "Who are my two idiots?"

"Introduce yourselves to your boss."

"Tom Rhoads and Allie Hill Sir," said ADA Rhoads.

"Mr. Rhoads, consider this part of your extended orientation," said the DA. "The Captain and if the precinct is so staffed, the Lieutenant of Detectives have an absolute need to know everything about the cases originating in their precinct period. Why? They provide the people and resources used to do the initial investigation and any other follow-up that we might need. The Captain has the responsibility to use the resources at her command wisely. If things go screwy they take most of the flack, and they don't need that. We need their co-operation and assistance. We are part of the same Team. You have as much right to ask the Captain to leave as a Defense Attorney would have to ask me to leave if I decided to listen in to your conversation. Got it?"

"Yes Sir, but they had a civilian who seemed to know everything about the case and…"

"Let me guess. His name was Castle."

"Yes Sir how did…"

"Sargent I take it, your partner is no longer in the room?"

"I sent him to work on the double homicide Sir. I can always bring him up to speed on this case."

"Good. You need to catch the woman before she does something catastrophic. Listen up you two. If you work here long enough you will find out that Castle and Beckett have a well-earned reputation as the best Detectives in the city even though he is a civilian. Clear?"

"Yes Sir," the ADAs chirped.

"Victoria I had a working lunch with the US Attorney General in DC last week. He sent his warmest regards. Beckett, he says you still owe him an answer."

"I thought I was clear Sir," said Beckett with a glance at her Captain. "I told them that unless the offer included my husband then the answer was no."

"He said he didn't know how to do that."

"It's easy," said Beckett quickly. "Deputize him as a US Marshal and assign him to the Team as a liaison. This gives him enough status to accompany me without drawing unneeded attention. He draws no salary so that's not an issue. They get an extra person at no cost under the quasi control of the Team and responsible to the Marshals and to me for his conduct. Considering his demonstrated history here and the case he broke while I was there they should jump at the opportunity. If they can't trust Castle to act responsible and be an invaluable asset to the Team then screw them. "

"You haven't enlightened them have you," asked the Captain?

"If my boss isn't smart enough to figure it out then I don't want to work for him."

"Words to live by," said the DA. "Anything else Victoria?"

"Nothing Sir."

"Good. You two see me when you get back."

"Yes Sir."
Beckett suppressed a laugh, because the looks on the ADAs faces was priceless, "interpreting the death," she asked?
"Did she say anything else in your interview Detective? We've heard that they have a history of arguments and his response was always to get something to drink."

"So you think she picked an argument with her husband, knowing that he would go get something to drink?"

"Yes"

"You also think she knew he would go and drink in the park?"

"He's done it in the past," replied Allie.

"But it was wicked cold. Okay," said an exasperated Beckett. "I'll give you an audio copy of my interview. "You do realize that she is around seven months pregnant?"

"Eh, she is?"

"Yeah."
"No matter. If she did it knowing that her would react the way he did then she's responsible."

"If you lock up every woman that caused her man to take a drink then we would need a lot more jails," quipped the Captain.

"If the husband died as the result then yeah," said ADA Rhoads.

"Come on," said Beckett. "I'll give you a copy of the interview." Kate frowned then smiled as Castle faded to the break room at their approach. 'Out of sight out of mind I guess.' After Beckett gave them a copy of the interview ADA Rhoads looked at Captain Gates. "Castle, the double homicide case?"

"Stays," affirmed Captain Gates. "If you disagree, take it up with your boss. Let me escort you on your way."

Kate walked into the gym and proceeded to her normal place on the mat, placed her quarter staff by her side and started stretching. Glancing around her, she noticed that the place was almost empty. Only a few of the regulars, like the LT, were here but for the most part the place was empty. 'Good' she thought, 'We won't have to worry about people getting in the way when we do our sparing.' Kate hadn't stretched in a week and she felt her muscles complain as she started her stretching routine. In a minute her partner joined her and the serious stretching began.

In the beginning the rhythmic clack-clack of staff hitting staff filled the gym. As the Castles ran through their basic attack and defense drills the sound echoed in the gym and made them the center of attention. Their pace increased as they moved from the simple to the more complex and intricate exercises. Over the last minute of their exercises the 'clack-clacks' were occurring at a ferocious rate. So often did their staffs meet that the sound seemed continuous! When they stopped the silence in the gym seemed deafening.

After drying off their quarterstaffs they stood facing each other and all activity in the gym stopped. The veterans knew that this was sparing time, and the newcomers took their lead from the veterans. Kate chose the classic high guard position. It made her look, long, lean, and deadly, which she was. Castle chose the low guard stance which Kate knew from experience disguised the advantage he had in reach. They held their positions for a long second before Kate struck with a feint to her left and a spinning sweep to her right. Castle had anticipated this, spun out of the way and was trying to split Kate with a mid-body strike. Kate performed a near body block with her staff and slip-stepped away assuming a mid-guard stance. The audience watched as the dancers continued to strike and counter with incredible speed and precision. Whenever the dance ended with a touch, the dancers would retake their positions and start again.

The last dance ended spectacularly. Castle had managed to close the distance and ended up almost shoulder to shoulder with Beckett. His strike slightly unbalanced her. As he disengaged he stooped and positioned his staff behind Kate in an attempt to scoop her legs out from under her. Kate tried to jump over Castles' staff, but Castle caught just enough of her calf to cause her fall. As she fell she shirked then started to laugh after she hit.

"I guess it's time to go catch bad guys," said Castle as he offered Kate a hand up. They held hands until they broke to enter their respective locker rooms.

"Nobody said you had a goddess performing martial arts demonstrations," said Officer Williams, a new transfer to the 12th. "If I had known that I would have transferred sooner."

"It's a perk and a well-kept secret," responded his partner. "Sometimes when they spar, its standing room only down here."

"They only spar when they're working a case together," offered the LT. "Otherwise Becket stretches and either hits the weights or the bags. Sometimes instead of sparing she puts him through his paces in hand-to-hand."

"She seeing anyone," asked Williams?

His partner made eye contact with the LT. Both of them knew that the major reason for Officer Williams' transfer were allocations that he had taken advantage of situations with several female Officers. While no formal charges were made the informal scuttle-butt made the Officer a pariah and the 12th was his chance for a fresh start.

"Sort of," replied his partner with a smirk.

"Serious?"

"She's married," said the LT dryly. "To the man she was sparing with."

Officer Williams paused mid-way through his set on the exercise machine. "That's as clear a No Trespassing sign as I have ever seen. Too bad you can't carry a quarterstaff on the job."

"They both carry combat batons," said his partner in a tone filled with awe.

"They ever use them?"

"Beckett twice," said LT. "Once when she was jumped by a killer who had black belts in more forms than I have letters in my last name. She held him off until the cavalry arrived. The second time she was working undercover. She got jumped by men wielding bats and knifes. When help finally arrived they found six bleeding semi-conscious men littering the alley."

"The other guy? What's his name?"

"Castle," said his partner.

"One time and no one talks about it," said the LT. "He was with a female Marine JAG Officer. They spotted the killer and followed him into an alley. It was a trap. When Beckett finally 'rescued' them the alley was littered with guns, knives and the broken and bleeding bodies of the gang members. The carnage was such that a Command Incident Response Team was sent and I accompanied the Captain." The LT paused for a second and looked around the room. "When I asked the Marine Captain what happened she told me that the gang and lured them into a trap, pulled their weapons and threatened to rape her and kill him. When I asked what happened next she responded with three words. Care to guess."

"Clueless LT," said Officer Williams.

"Me too," echoed his partner.

"She pointed at the gang members still lying on the ground and said 'Stupidity' pointing at Castle she said 'and Artistry'. … You see Castle is of the eldest school when it comes to his attitude about protecting women and he's very …very good with a combat baton."

"The only reason they're still alive is that they didn't threaten Beckett," said Officer Williams's partner.

"Mess with Beckett and you get to meet a very pissed off and singularly focused Castle," confirmed the LT.

"The survivors are serving life sentences or are dead," said his partner.

"Do all of the goddess here have their own bodyguards?"

"Officially they have the Captain," said LT.

"And unofficially," said Officer Williams partner, "they have their partners and most of the female Officers here look up to Sargent Beckett, and SHE has Castle."
The LT and Officer William's partner locked eyes and nodded to each other. They hoped the new transfer got the message. Continue with his predatory practices and face the consequences. If he was lucky he would meet only the Captain. Otherwise two hungry Tigers would protect their own and pay him a visit he would never forget.

"Castle," Kate asked as soon as her cruiser had entered the street? "Have I ever caused you to take a drink?"

'Where's this coming from,' Castle asked himself as he searched for a good answer? "Yes….Every night I say a silent toast to the extraordinary, beautiful, and sexy woman who said yes and agreed to marry me. I also pray that she doesn't come to her senses."

"Castle," Kate smiled "that's not what I mean. We've fought before and …"

"The first time you followed me to the couch and pinned be so hard against the back I could scarcely breathe let alone move."

"That was my intent. My Mom… We never had time for many Mother-Daughter talks, but the one thing she told me was to never let my man sleep alone."

"Does that mean on my trips I can…"

"Of course not," Kate laughed.

"I know I'm capable of doing some incredibly stupid things," said Castle. "But I will never ever do anything on purpose that will cause you to doubt my love for you. I couldn't bare…"

"I know Babe," Kate whispered. "Castle have I .. . you know," she asked a moment later?

"Three times," confirmed Castle after a long moment of silence. "Since that stormy night in May when you exited your walled fortress, ascended to the Loft, climbed into my bed, claimed my heart and cemented yourself into my life. "

Kate reached out and patted Castle's knee with her right hand. He captured and kissed it before she could return it to the steering wheel. "They were?"

"You know."

"Please?"

"We weren't dating when the first one occurred. It had been a while since you had been shot and I thought we were coming together. I was going to tell you I loved you and wanted to take our relationship to the next level and then the occupation and bombing occurred. I remember being in the observation room as you interrogated the pick pocket. He was using amnesia as an excuse. You told him that you had been shot and you remembered everything. I was so pissed I…."

"Yeah, we've talked about this before. I … I wasn't ready to share my life with you or anyone then. I'm sorry."

"Forgiven. The second one was when you kissed…"

"He kissed me and it didn't mean anything!"

"To you maybe, to me it was a dagger in my heart."

"Sorry, The other?"

"When you went to DC..."

"And didn't tell you before hand," Kate finished.

"Kate, what's this all about? Have I done something?"

"Yes, no. Look I think you should be furious with me for…."

"Leaving me at the Palmers. I am, I was, but there was never been time to talk about it. The next time we talked it was at the hardware store crime scene, and I'm not going to bring it up there. Do you know hard to stay mad at your wife when she risked her life to save yours, all because I'm vain about my appearance and insist on wearing stylish shoes? I was going to bring it up last night, but we did a verbal outline for Kate Richards instead. This morning I finally figured out the name."

"Took you long enough."

"It's also hard to remain angry when you're making love with a beautiful, passionate, enthusiastic, and incredibly skilled woman."

"When we first met I told you, you had no idea," she reminded him.

"I do now."

"Castle if I do…."

"I'll ask you to join me."

"You do realize I'm a Tennessee whiskey girl," she teased?

"You may have to make a sacrifice."

"I'm willing." Kate took her right hand off-of the steering wheel and drifted it in Castle's direction. She smiled when Castle captured, kissed and held onto it. They held hands until Kate turned onto the narrow, snow covered, and rutted street that their first contact lived on.

The street Beckett had turned down was in one of the older neighborhoods of Hell's Kitchen. Even though the buildings had been replaced many times, the street remained the same width as it was in the horse and buggy age. This made it entirely inadequate for an automobile based society. On the best of days, with cars parked on both sides of the street, it took a very skilled driver, or a crazy man, to transverse these blocks at better than twenty miles per hour. With the snow packed, rutted streets and the tunnel like effect of the cars parked along both curbs still with twelve to eighteen inches of snow piled on top Kate was inching forward the best she could.

To Castle it appeared that the residents had opted to use public transportation until the weather started to improve. Who could blame them? For the last several days it had been extremely cold and with a deadly wind-chill. Given the quantity of the snow and the underlying ice it probably would take someone at least an hour maybe two to dig out their car, and for what, to drive to work and find no place to park? Even if they did clean off their vehicles the only place to put the snow was the street. That didn't help matters much because the street was so narrow that no city plow or salt truck could enter to clear it.

Castle remembered one of his friend's, the Mayor, first promise. He was going to extend the snow emergency routes into the neighborhoods. It was a disaster that turned in a success. After the Mayor had made the proclamation and got it passed the neighborhood associations asked one very distinct question. 'If we can't park on the street where do we park our cars?' The embarrassment the Mayor felt was counter balanced by an outpouring of good will when the Mayor acknowledged 'That the best of intentions must bow to the realities of the real world.' In short it was an inexpensive lesson that served the Mayor well throughout the remainder of his administration.

"There's the place," announced Castle.

"See the truck or a place to park?"

"Negatory One Mary Fourteen" said Castle in his best parody of Police Dispatcher's voice. "I got nothing," he added in his own. At the end of a long, extremely cold, slippery and windy nine minute walk Castle was finally able to push the doorbell.

"Yes," responded a tall, late twenties to early thirties tall burnet that even Castle had to look up to. She was wearing a partially buttoned wool plaid shirt over a gray sweatshirt, both obviously her husbands. The dish towel in her hand made it clear that they had interrupted her household chores, "Can I help you?"

"I'm Detective Beckett and this is my partner Mr. Castle we need to talk to you about your truck."

"What's happened? Is my husband okay? Is Mike okay?"

"As far as we know both of them are fine. Look can we come in its cold out here," said Kate.

"Of course, where are my manners? " She stopped them before they could move past the mat on the gleaming hardwood floors in the entry way. "You mind leaving your shoes here? It seems like every day I'm mopping the hall at least a half dozen times. I'll be happy when the snow finally belts and Spring comes."

"Not at all."

"And another thing, do either of you two have a cold? Coughing? Sneezing? My guys are just getting over a bout with the flu and I don't want to fight round two."

"I just got over my bout a couple of days ago," said Beckett. "My half devil half angel of a husband played nursemaid and pretty much kept me quarantined in the bedroom. Out of sell-preservation I guess. At least this way our son didn't get it."

"Angel then, if your son didn't catch it because there is nothing worse than sick child. And you Castle is it?"

"Yes ah…"

"Margret, Margret Smith."

"Yes Margret so far I've managed to stay one step ahead of the bug."

"Then don't stop moving. Come on then," Margret said as she turned and headed toward the kitchen. "Want some coffee? I just made a fresh pot."

"Not necessary," said Kate.

"Actually a hot cup of coffee would be most welcome," said Castle.

"Good answer," laughed Margret. "Since you're guests in my house and will be sitting at my kitchen table you might as well enjoy a cup of coffee." On their way to the kitchen Castle spied a couple of boys bundled up in quilts watching 'The Lego Movie' probably for the hundredth time.

"Say Margret, if you don't mind my asking how old are your guys?"

"Robbie's eight and Gene is four," Margret replied the affection in her voice obvious. "The company is doing real well and we are going to try for a third. A girl I hope. You know what they say, a Valentine's Day romp and a near Thanksgiving Day birth is the ultimate in good timing."

"I never heard that," said Castle. "Why?"

"For the Mom to be, easy, she doesn't get too big until after the heat of summer has passed. For the child, well 'she', I hope, gets to have all of the Christmas toys already in the store and available for her birthday."

Kate laughed "I hadn't thought of that. That's something to consider," she continued as she beamed at Castle.

After the Castles had been seated and the coffee, cream and sugar had been dispensed Margret sat down asked. "Okay what's this about our truck?"

"We're investigating the killings at the McCormick Hardware Store," said Beckett, "And the only real clue that we have is the tire tracks."

"You see it's a fairly new tire and has been installed by the factory only on several models of Ford trucks and vans like yours," added Castle.

"That's not much of a clue," said Margret. "I thought you guys had cameras and DNA and other stuff."

"On TV sure," complained Beckett. "Working cops never get that lucky."

"How many trucks, vans, whatever?"

"Over thirteen hundred in a five mile radius of the store," said Beckett.

"That's a lot of stops," she said. "We read about the murder. Terry, my husband, and Ted, Tommy's bigger brother went to high school together. They were two years ahead of me. We buy all of our supplies and tools from them. You see my Terry has his General Contractor's license. He specializes in carpentry and furniture repair. They helped us out when he first started the business and we had ah cash flow problems. Now we're doing great. Two full time employees that we can pay 'Master Craftsman' scale to, a couple of other full timers at Apprentice rates, and others we use to fill our work crews. Hell, we can even afford to pay me. I do the books, scheduling and normally man the phones and the desk for the walk-ins. Minimum wage, but it's still a legitimate paycheck."

"Did your husband build this," asked Castle waving to indicate the kitchen area? "I mean it's great. A lot of function and no wasted space, and of course your touches make it beautiful."

"Yeah he did. He's a great carpenter and has incredible vision," she said with unabashed pride. "He wanted to be an architect. Frank Lloyd Wright was his hero but not enough money for college…Somehow he scrapped up enough money to become a carpenter's apprentice and the rest…."

"Where is his shop located? We probably should go and talk to him as well as look at the vehicle. "

"Here let me get you a card. We're on the same street but five blocks or so the other way."

"Margret you said that Tom had an elder brother Ted. I didn't talk to him at the store."

"Oh he and his second wife took off for Jamaica a day before the storm hit, sort of a second Honeymoon. Ma McCormick is getting antsy about the lack of Grandkids. She thought that the trip would help….And now with Tommy gone."

"Thanks for your time and the coffee," said Beckett. "As you said we have a lot of stops."

"Find the person who did this Detective. The McCormick's are good people and don't deserve this."

"For the record," said Castle as soon as Kate had swing the cruiser into traffic, " I love Valentine's Day romps, President's Day romps, Groundhog's day romps."

"Castle," Kate warned.

"Johnny Appleseed's day romps, oh Fourth of July romps, and of course Edgar Allen Poe day romps.

"Johnny Appleseed, seriously" Kate laughed? "I get it you love romping. It's too early to start our second, but I'll let you know."

"Valentine's Day?"

"If the timing is right lover, if the timing is right."

The 'ding-dong' of the electronic chime announced the Castle's as they entered the rather Spartan but stylish reception area of 'T&M General Contractors; Specializing in Carpentry and Furniture Repair.'

"You must be Detective Beckett and Mister Castle," boomed a strongly built six-footer wearing a well-used green coverall with a 'SMITH' nametag. The thinning and mused black hair and the safety glasses provided a gentle counterpoint to the smile he had on his face and the general joy in life he seemed to radiate. "My Magee said you would be by soon."

"Right," said Beckett as she adjusted her badge until it was clearly visible on the outside of her coat. "Even without the nametag I would recognize you as Margret's husband. The picture of you two together that Margret had on her desk in the kitchen was adorable. "

"This is my partner Mike Fischer."

"Hey," said a similarly dressed, and equally a powerfully built man with an easy-going smile who was easily six-six.

"Your Margret's brother," asked Beckett extending her hand to Terry?

"Yes how did you know?"

"Almost identical face shape and eyes," replied Castle.

"And your sister is not exactly a midget," added Kate.

"Mags certainly isn't," laughed Mike.

"Come on back," offered Terry as he raised the counter top. "What's this about my truck?"

"We're investigating the McCormick Hardware murders," offered Kate. "The only real clue that we have is tire tracks. The tires are relative new and installed on late model Fords like yours. Could we look at your vehicle Sir?"

"Sure this way, follow me." The Castle followed the pair down a short hall, through a set of double doors and into a rather generous work area. In one area was a woman sewing together a cover for a couch cushion. In another area a pair of workers looked like they were putting together a kitchen.

"That," said Mike "Is one of our huge competitive advantages. We workout the design, woods colors etc. with the customer in advance. We measure the crap out of it. We build it here, disassemble and kit it."
"When we get to our clients place all we have to do is take out the old and put in the new. Very little fuss and a whole lot less mess and a whole lot quicker, for most kitchens' we are in and out in less than a day, and our customers absolutely love that."

"I know I would," offered Castle. "I'm very finicky about my kitchen."

As they walked toward the truck the Castle's noticed mechanical timers, propane tanks and scoters.

"Scoters," asked Kate as they walked by a pair on the way to the truck?

"Yeah," said Mike. "Both of us have one. You've been to Terry's house and you know how difficult it is to find parking. My neighborhood is the same way. Ninety percent of the time we ride these to and from work. They're cheap, reliable and since traffic is congested and slow, very safe as long as we're sensible."

"I've been known to abandon the road and move to the sidewalk when the crazies are out," confided Terry. "Well there's our truck. You're looking for a dent or something?"

"Can't say," said Kate.

"Oh right."

"Sir," said Kate, "May look at the serial numbers on the propane tanks?"

"Ah why?"

"The killer made off with a batch of material after killing Tom and Aaron," said Castle. "Among the items were batteries and spark plugs for the scoters, propane tanks and mechanical timers," continued Castle as he first pointed at the scoters, the tanks, and waved in the general direction of the timers.

"That wasn't in the paper," said Mike. "Don't you need a Warrant?"

"You think I killed them," bellowed Terry.

Kate made a settle down motion with her hands. "Not everything is released to the press, and based on what I saw at your home and here I don't think you did it. But. But my only clues are the tire tracks, "said Kate as she pointed to the truck, " and the stolen material," she continued waving to the rest of the area. "Terry let us take you off of the suspect list."

"Warrant," asked Mike?

"To compel you yes," said Castle, "and based on what we have seen it would be easy."

"But none is needed if we have your permission," finished Kate.

"Tommy," whispered Terry.

"Let us look and find nothing and then we will be off looking elsewhere for Tommy's killer, "Beckett said softly.

Terry took a deep breath and looked at his partner. When Mike nodded he turned to face Beckett. "You have our permission to search."

A quick showed that the tanks weren't on the list of stolen material. "Thank you Sir for your time and co-operation," said Beckett offering her hand.

"Detective please find the son-of-a-bitch who killed Tommy before he uses this stuff. Propane as an explosive, the battery and spark plugs as a trigger, this guy could be making bombs."

As they walked to the cruiser Beckett noticed a strange look of concern come across Castle's face and stay there. "What's wrong Babe," she asked after they were safely in the car and the cruiser was warming up?
"What if I'm wrong about the theory of the crime? What if it is just a simple robbery?"

"I'd be delighted if it was a simple robbery," said Beckett in a firm voice as she edged the cruiser out into traffic and on their way to their next stop. "And ecstatic if the propane canisters are used to heat rooms and fire-up backyard grills and not made into bombs, but the items stolen lead me to think that you are right. The killer wants to make bombs."

"What if I'm wrong about the motive?"

Beckett stole a glance at her partner. Normally Castle was supremely confident and relatively cavalier on his theory of the crime. This time he openly doubts himself why? Oh, a lot more lives are at stake. "Was the hardware store the target?"

"No, I don't think so. If it was there would have been vandalism or damage. The store was untouched."

"That means that going through the customer list is probably a waste of time yes?"

"Yes"

"Our other clues are the gun, which isn't in the system, and the tire tracks AND we ARE using a subset of the DMV output for this look. If it doesn't pan out, we'll look deeper. I know you guessed big time about the motive, but it's the best guess we have. "

Castle sighed, "Could we at least run the financials on the family and the business?"

"What do you hope to prove?"

"Nothing I hope."

"Okay," replied Beckett as she called the request into the Writing ADA.

The next two stops were clean misses, just Moms with recovering kids. There was nothing outside of the normal apprehension of the unknown to attract their attention. The next stop was in a slightly more affluent neighborhood. In this neighborhood the people lived in side-by-side duplexes instead of row houses. In the drive way at the address of their next stop was a very snow covered vehicle. From the depth of the snow covering it one would assume the last time it was moved was before the storm. Under the roof on the protected part of the driveway was a ten year old Audi. The bigger vehicle completely blocked it in. The lower portion of the driveway and the sidewalk had been cleared, probably with a snow-thrower, thought Kate as the unmistakable sound of a snow thrower was heard. Between the half inch of new fallen snow and the wind caused drifts, both the sidewalk and the driveway needed attention.

"My name is Detective Kate Beckett and this is my partner Mr. Castle," said Kate when the door opened to reveal an elderly, but still handsome and shapely woman.

"Come in dears," said the handsome and athletic looking silver haired woman. "It's cold out there. Now what can we do for you? I'm Mary Sue and this is my husband Henry. His gout flared up so he's a little grouchy."

"Hi, smiled Kate. "My name is Detective Kate Beckett and this is my partner Mr. Castle. A vehicle similar to yours was involved in an incident a couple of days ago and we need to check all of them out."

"Yours doesn't look like it's been moved since before the storm. Do you mind if I brush the snow off-of the license plate to be sure?"

"Go ahead," said Henry. "I'd be obliged if you could brush the snow off more than the license plate."

Castle stole a glance at Beckett. "Do you have a broom or something I could use?"

"Right by the door on the front porch," said Mary Sue. I use it to sweep the porch so I can put food out for the birds."

"Be back in a bit," said Castle.

"That's awful nice of your husband to do this for us," said Mary Sue.

"Husband?" croaked Kate, as she looked from one to the other. When they started laughing Kate made a conscious effort to close her mouth. "Is my expression that funny," she laughed?
"Yes," said a chuckling Henry, "and at the risk of earning my wife's ire I'd say it was quite adorable. You don't think we would fail to recognize our favorite author and his wife when they came to our door did you?"

"Now Henry," said Mary Sue," you're making her blush, and I do believe she taken and a happily married woman."

"I am most definitely taken," confirmed Kate. "And so is my husband, so missy don't you go batting your eyebrows at him," retorted Kate with a laugh.

"Oh," remarked Mary Sue as she clapped her hands with glee. "If I was forty years younger and not already married to the most wonderful man in the world, I'd make you hustle your butt to snag him."

"Mary Sue," confirmed Kate. "I would definitely hustle my butt off."

"Come take your coat off and sit down dear. We always wondered how you introduced yourselves when you worked a case," said Mary Sue, "and now we do."

"Do you think Castle would start the truck for us," asked Henry?
"Give me the keys and I will do it. Castle can turn it off when he comes back in."

When Kate came back in she took off her boots and left them on the entryway rug and took off her coat as she walked from the door way to the living room.

"Something hot to drink dear?"

"No, but a glass of water would be great. You know something hot when Castle finishes would be fantastic."

"We know how you met," said Mary Sue after she handed Kate a glass of water. "But no one seems to know how you two fell in love. Would you mind telling us?"

"Castle is the storyteller and story-collector," smiled Kate. "I'll tell you my side of the story," said Kate, "only if you tell me yours. Deal?"

"Seems unfair," said Henry, "Because our story is nothing compared to yours."

"Castle would say that all stories are important. They just seem unimportant to the people living them. Looking back I can't really say when I fell in love with Castle. I had …. commitment issues, and well Castle was my focus for working through them. I'll tell you what. I'll tell you the story when I first told him I loved him. Earlier in the day I…I almost fell off a building and as I'm hanging there certain that I'm about to die the only thing I could think about was I didn't want to die without seeing Castle's face one more time."
"That's sweet dear," said Mary Sue.

"I was rescued of course and I sat on a swing in the park through an early evening rain storm and a thunderstorm trying to decide what to do about Castle. I guess my unconscious took over and the next thing I knew I was knocking on his door. When he opened the door I know I looked like a drowned dog and he was still mad at me. You see we have fought the night before. When he asked me what I wanted I told him 'You' and kissed him. I knew we would be okay when he kissed me back. When we broke from his kiss, I looked up into his eyes I knew that by his side was where I wanted to be."

"What about Federal Agent Beckett," asked Henry softly?

Kate grimaced," I almost lost him, but that's another story. Now it's your turn. How did you guys meet?"

With almost no prodding they told Kate their story. It included four kids, seven grandkids, with two more on the way and their very happy and successful married life. Midway through, Kate whished that all of her interrogations were this easy. In the pause that followed Mary Sue's ending the story Henry looked out the window at Castle and the truck. "He's almost done Mary Sue."

"Oh, Kate what would your husband like to drink, coffee, tea, or hot chocolate?"
"If you fix him hot chocolate he will adore you forever."

"Toast?"

"He can be like a stray puppy, if you feed him, he may want to stay around."

"Somehow," laughed Henry as he got up out of his chair and stiffly headed toward the kitchen with his wife, "I think that if you got up and headed for the door the puppy named Castle would be by your side."

It wasn't long before Castle opened the door and walked in. "Stay on the mat," Kate called out as she extracted her gloves from the pocket of her coat and headed toward him. "Mary Sue is making you something hot to drink and I'm not going to let you track snow into her home." Kate knelt gracefully in front of Castle and proceeded to bush the snow off of his pants and untie his shoes. "Left foot, step forward … Right foot." Castle stumbled and as reached down to regain his balance he inadvertently pushed Kate's face into his pants.

"Sorry," he whispered. "Here let me help you up."
When Kate looked up Castle averted his eyes. "Sorry" he repeated.

Kate frowned for a second then her eyes opened wide with understanding. She hadn't done this for them since…since she first knew that she was pregnant. Way to long she concluded. This has to come back into our playbook. As Castle was pulling her to her feet she pushed up on her tip-toes and kissed Castle on his cold cheek. "That's for being a sweetheart," she whispered. "And this," she husked as she gently kissed his lips, "is for being my sweetheart. Come before your drink gets cold." Kate led him into the kitchen and sat him down in the empty chair just as Mary Sue was finishing pouring hot chocolate into his cup.

"You made hot chocolate and toast for me," he exclaimed, his astonished face morphing into a huge smile. Kate took a peek at their host's faces. By their expressions Kate was sure that Castle's outburst had warmed them in places that the hot chocolate would never touch.

"What did you guys do while I was cleaning off the car," asked Castle after he had taken several sips of his drink and devoured a piece of toast.

"Story time," responded Kate gaily. "The wanted to hear the story when I first realized I was in love with you and in exchange they told me about how they met and so on."

"I would like to hear that," whispered Castle, meaning Kate's story. "Both stories in fact," he amended.

"What about it Mister Castle," said Henry? "Care to share when you first realized you were in love with Kate."

Castle dunked a piece of toast into his hot chocolate and ate it before answering. "When I first meet her I knew Kate was extraordinary. That's why I convinced the Mayor to let me be her shadow," began Castle his eyes locked with Kate's. "The more time I spent with her the more I knew she was … very special and someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with." Castle ate another piece of toast as he thought. "I guess the first time I realized I loved you," Castle said oblivious to the presence of the Idaho's "was when I saw you kiss your FBI-ex in the break room. I got kind of jealous."

"Why didn't you tell me" Kate whispered?

"I tried and couldn't. I was afraid you would say no, laugh, kick me out and I would never get to see you again. Remember when I invited you for the weekend in the Hampton's with Alexis and Martha. I was going to try to tell you there, but you said you had to work and later when I heard you had booked a weekend cabin with the other Detective I figured I would be nothing more to you than your shadow."

"Oh Babe," Kate exclaimed. "I broke it off with Deeming and was about to tell you that I would come with you. Then your ex appeared and attached herself to your arm. Is that why you didn't call when you got back? Is that why you started to see your ex again? You thought I was still with Deeming and no hope for us?"

"Yes, and by then you were with your Doctor friend."

Kate hung her head a little and reached out and wrapped her hands around Castle's which were wrapped around his cup.

After a long moment Castle exclaimed, "Well Detective Beckett I think it's time we got back to your day job."

"Before you go," asked Mary Sue, "Could you autograph a book for us?" When Castle nodded, she hurried off and returned with a first edition of the first Nicki Heat book.

"May I," Kate asked holding out her hand for the book and the pen?
"To Mary Sue and Henry Idaho," Kate verbalized as she wrote. "Thank you for sharing your home and your warm hospitality when my husband and I came to your door on this very cold early February day in search of clues for a case that we were working. The stories you shared about your family while Castle was busy digging out your truck give me hope that, if we work at it, our marriage can be as successful as yours. May your dreams for all of your grandchildren come true!

Detective Kate Beckett."

"Castle could you add your…?"

"Sure."

After Castle had signed Kate took back the pen and added.

"aka Mr. and Mrs. Richard E. Castle"

"P.S. The hot chocolate was fantastic!"

"You aren't going to get too mad if I give your wife a hug," asked Henry after the Castles had put on their coats and were heading for the door.

"Depends."

"Castle," chided Kate as she turned and kissed Henry's cheek. "Henry you take care of Mary Sue now."

"You bet," he replied with a smile.

Their next stop was a short three blocks away and like the Idaho's residence, a side-by-side duplex. When they arrived there were no lights on in the residence of interest, but the mostly clear driveway, cleared sidewalk, and cleared paths from the porch to the sidewalk and to the driveway indicated that the house had been used since the storm. "Neighbors," Castle asked when no one responded to the doorbell or their knocking on the door?

"Neighbors," confirmed Beckett.

"You're late so that's half off," said a skimpily clad raven haired beauty who had barely reached her twenty-first birthday as she opened the door, "oh," she giggled.

"I'm Detective Beckett and this is my partner Castle."

"I thought you were the pizza guy. Robbie," she yelled, "There cops at the door. You deal with them." She giggled again as she backed away from the door.

"Put your eyeballs back in their sockets and put your hands in your coat pockets," whispered Kate. "Before you go grabbing something that does belong to you. " Kate watched Castle close his mouth and quickly stuff his hands into his pockets. She really couldn't blame her partner. The young woman was drop dead gorgeous. The skimpy clothes she was wearing made a string bikini look like the ultimate in sunblock protection, and the sheerness of the material left no doubt as to the fullness of her breasts, the shape of her ass and her natural hair color.

"What's this all about," asked a cross, handsome, well-built young man, in sweats, also in his early twenties?

"Probably nothing," admitted Castle in a bored tone of voice. "It's about your neighbor. You see a vehicle like hers was involved in an incident a day ago, and since it's our only clue we need to check it out.

"Hers and all thirteen hundred similar vehicles," added Beckett. Kate watched in amazement as Castle's words seemed to reduce the tension and make the canvass seem like a conversation between friends rather than the start of a possible interrogation. "Did you see them this morning," she asked gently?

"Not really," he replied, "She was backing out of the driveway just as we were heading out."

"When was that?"

"About eight-thirty. She normally gets back around nine."

"How well do you know them?"

"We've only seen her and her daughter, but to answer your question not well. We got married right after Thanksgiving and moved in here between Christmas and New Year's. We really haven't introduced ourselves yet. When the grass shows itself, we'll make the rounds. Baby, the Detectives are asking about our neighbor's truck. Did you notice anything unusual today?"

"Not really," she giggled as she came back into view and latched onto her husband's arm. "Except that it was dirty and the name of the store was covered up. Normally the truck looks like it gets washed every day."

While the conversation was going on, Kate heard the sound of a racing motor, screech of the brakes and the slamming of a car door. Looking over her shoulder she spotted what she suspected. "It looks like your dinner is here. That's all for now and thanks for your co-operation."

"I wonder what she wears when she's sun-bathing," muttered Castle once they were back on the sidewalk.

"Where are you going," asked Beckett when Castle headed back to the porch of the suspect's house?
"I want to check on a few things. Let me have your flashlight."

"Where's yours?"

"Home, office, right hand bottom drawer. Look."

"That looks like a size eleven and a half woman's boot print to me. Hold the light stead and I'll take a picture with my phone."

"Face the street and close your eyes please."

"Why? You aren't going to pick the lock to the house are you?"

"We tried that in LA. The results were ah, mixed."

"Well if you're going to look through her mail at least use your evidence gloves. That way you won't leave any fingerprints or fibers."

"Yeah, right. Good idea."

"Well," Beckett asked when she heard the mailbox lid close.

"Small amount of mail probably just from today."

"Well" she insisted?

"Nothing useful, I was hoping for a hospital bill or something. It was mostly Valentine's Day and President's Day advertisements."

"James has been home for how many months now and we still haven't seen anything from the hospital?"

"I guess I was being too hopeful."

"Speaking of Valentine's Day, what do you plan to get for your sweetheart?"

"I still get queasy when I think about Valentine's Day jewelry. Christmas and your birthday I'm fine, it's just Valentine's Day."

"Well if you hadn't tried to give my earrings to Captain Gates perhaps you wouldn't feel that way,"

"Point," said Castle.

"Two years ago you gave me a memory that I will cherish forever. The all day spa for Lanie and I, then great seats at the ballet for the four of us, and I know you don't enjoy the ballet. Dinner and then the carriage ride. That was a first class date night Mister Castle, and one I'm not going to forget anytime soon."

"Espo wouldn't speak to me for a month after that," mumbled Castle. "He absolutely hates the ballet. Last year you accused me of condoning mass murder and you hit me on the head with the box of chocolates I wanted to give to you. Not exactly the response I envisioned."

"I can't believe you didn't know how I fell about cut flowers and the candy would go straight to my hips."

"I did offer to help you burn off the calories."

"Yeah, sex every other night for two months. You made sex with me sound like a chore. "

"I'm willing to do my share of the chores."

"So making love with me is a chore," Kate added testily. She was grateful that the wind had caught her hair and was covering the huge smile on her face. Kate loved their banter. Sometimes it went over the top and when it did the apologies came quick, were heart-felt, sincere, accepted, and the make-ups were fantastic.

"No Kate I…," stammered Castle. A couple of steps later he reached out and grabbed Kate's gloved hand and gave a forceful squeeze. "Would the Lady," continued Castle. He emphasizes 'Lady' as if Kate was royalty. "Katherine Houghton Beckett Castle who is the Queen of my Castle, the Captain of My Heart, and the best life-mate a man could ever want answer a question?. …What do you desire as a present from your husband on Valentine's Day? It needs to be special because my Lady is without peer in the universe. Her beauty takes my breath away. Her touch excites me as no others can and the love I see in her eyes makes my every day exciting and worth living. Kate, thank you for saying yes. I really don't know what I would do without you."

They walked on as Kate contemplated the question. Kate stopped after she passed the lamppost that was a few yards away from the front bumper of her cruiser. After partially spinning Castle around to face her, she reached out and grabbed his other hand, completely ignoring her windblown hair that was streaming across her face. Kate looked up and captured Castle's eyes. "Her Ladyship," Kate started. "YOUR Lady," she corrected, "unequivocally desires that the gifts her Lord and life-mate shower on her each day continue forever. …His companionship makes each day a joy for me to live, his friendship is the bedrock of my life. When we are apart the knowledge that he has unfailing faith in me, that his trust will never waver and that his loyalty is absolute gives me the strength and confidence to do the things that I must. I know that no matter the end result my CASTLE will be by my side."

"When we are together, I too thrill at his touch, and reveal in his undivided attention. I am always warmed by his affection. His sense of joy and wonder makes me feel young and excited about living life. His love," Kate chocked. "His love is the structure of my world and safeguarding his love is the star I use to steer the course of my life by. I know if I lose his love my world would be flat, lifeless and dark, for there would be neither sun nor star in the sky."

Castle loved what the cold and wind had done for the color of Kate's cheeks and the shadow across her face caused by the streetlight made her look so mysterious and exciting. "Kate I," Castle stammered. "Kate I," he tried again. "Kate I promise to do all that you ask and more….I so want to kiss you right now."

"I would so kiss you right back," Kate replied. She reluctantly let go and headed for her side of the car. They did have one last stop to make.

"Loftcheck," asked Castle with a straight face.

"Loftcheck," confirmed Kate with a laugh.

"And a bauble, just because I love you?"

"Just because," Kate answered her laugh blossoming into a huge smile.

"Come with," Castle pleaded?

"Anything to help you get over your shopping phobia," Kate teased.

After requesting financials for the Bennett's, the not at home resident, they moved on toward their last stop of the day. It took them another fifteen minutes to get there. Unlike any of their other stops; this place was a stand-alone house. When they arrived the house was dark and appeared to be unoccupied. The sidewalk had been cleared, probably by a neighbor, but the driveway was snow covered and there were no tire tracks to show activity. The walk from the sidewalk to the porch was still snow covered and tracked, probably by the paper boy or the mailman.

"When these people came back from the hospital where did they go," vocalized Castle?
"As long as they're not the murders, it's a mystery I can live with," said Beckett. "Come on, we need to make sure no one's home."

After trudging through the door, their knocks elicited the expected results. "You go that way and I'll go this way and we'll meet at the back door," suggested Kate?

"Do we have to?"

"Yeah we do," Beckett insisted. "Off you go, now mush."

"Arf" replied Castle as he turned and headed off of the porch and down the right side off the building. Beckett turned and headed the other way.

"NYPD show me your hands. NYPD show me your hands," shouted two distinct voices and snapping Beckett out of her temporary state of routine boredom. 'Oh no Castle!' She saw the tell-tale flashing of a Blue and White's red and blue lights. "Oh Castle don't do anything stupid," Kate verbalized as she grabbed her badge in her left hand and ran toward the front of the house, cursing the deep snow as she sort of hopped into her previous footprints.

"NYPD he's with me," Beckett shouted as she cleared the front of the house. "NYPD he's with me," she continued as she approached one of the Officers.

"You STOP," commanded one of the Officers, shifting his aim with his drawn weapon from Castle to her.

"I'm Sergeant Kate Beckett. I'm a Homicide Detective out the 12th. That gentleman is my partner Mr. Castle. My badge number is 41319. We're investigating the McCormick murders. We need to talk to the people who live here and were checking the place to make sure they weren't at home." Beckett saw the Officer's flashlight center on her badge for a moment and then move to her right shoulder. From there, there was enough light to illuminate her face without blinding her.

"I recognize you Detective," said the Officer as he relaxed and started to holster his gun. "Lew relax. He's one of us, well sort of. Detective last summer we worked a case together in Mid-Town."

Beckett started walking forward when she saw the Officer relax. When she got close enough to recognize him she responded. "Yes we did Officer Clark. Two kids hit a bodega on another gang's turf, and collected a scalp. This was their initiation ceremony into their gang."

"Yeah, you and your team rounded them up the next day."

"What can I say, I work with the best. You okay Castle?"

"Better now. Lewis and Clark uhn?"

"We've heard them all so don't start," said Officer Lewis.

"If I hear one more Sacajawea joke I swear I'm going to hurt someone," affirmed Officer Clark.

"I will heed the warning," Castle said with a laugh.

"Detective, ah about the "Incident Report?"

"Write it up as it happened. You were on patrol and spotted a person casing the place. When you confronted him you found out that his the partner of a Homicide Detective out of the 12th. You were acting to try to prevent a robbery. We were trying to see if any one was home so we could eliminate them from our suspect pool. No operation was impacted in any negative way. Your Watch Sargent will be pleased that you paid attention during Stand-up and my Captain will be pleased to know I wasn't just out cruising around."

"You make it sound simple," said Officer Lewis.

"Because it is," affirmed Beckett.

"Break ins on the rise," asked Castle?

"Yeah, especially at houses like this one. No lights, snow not removed, it just screams rob me."

Kate took a glance at her partner and frowned. "I know that look Castle. Talk to me."

"Nothing, I thought I had a good idea, which on a second look is a very bad idea."

"Spill it."

"I thought that if we put Crime Scene tape on the front and back doors it would scare of a potential bad guy, but…"

"It would probably act like a flag," finished Kate. "Your right it was a bad idea….Shall we Castle? We still need to do a walk around."

"Together this time?"

"You suddenly become a sacred-de-cat or something?"

"Well yeah," Castle replied waving a hand in the general direction of Officers Lewis and Clark.

"Come on then." When they finished their circuit of the house Officer Lewis flashed the lights of the Blue and White and sped off.

After calling for financials on the owners of the empty house, Beckett called Detectives Blaine and Smith.

"Where are you guys?"

"At the precinct."

"Rodgers?"

"He's here, and the Captain is hovering by the murder board."

"Okay, grab the troops. I'll call my desk phone, put me on speaker and we'll do the end of day tag-up."

"Roger that."

"Okay guys" said Beckett. "I guess will start. Our first contact was a possible if we believed that robbery was the motive. In the place of business they had all of the elements, tanks, timers, scooters, etc."

"I wish we could assume it was just a robbery," offered Captain Gates. "But I think we had better assume the parts were stolen to make bombs."

"Right Sir, that's the conclusion we came too also. The next three visits were busts. The last two we need to re-accomplish because no one was home. I have asked for financials so we can talk to them at their workplace. The next to the last stop was interesting for two reasons. One the neighbors said the driver of the vehicle was a woman. We did take a picture of a boot-print for comparison. The other reason is the truck was dirty and that could mean a change in behavior. How about you guys? Blaine?"

"Just Moms with kids. Nothing really to attract attention."

"Okay, Rodgers?"

"The same Moms with kids."

"Has the Inspector obtained the information from the ME's yet?"

"No," answered Captain Gates. "He said he would have it first thing tomorrow. Looking at your board I'm worried about the timeline. Your 'Shop on Monday, manufacture of Tuesday, scout on Wednesday and then Thursday or Friday as an action day' is beginning to bother me. I'm thinking that since the triggers are so simple to make, the bomber took care of that yesterday, which makes today the scouting day and tomorrow action day. … Mr. Castle you've been uncharacteristically quiet. What's troubling you?"

"You could be right about the timeline Sir," acknowledged Castle. "But what's troubling me is motive. What if I'm wrong? I'm sure that the stolen material screams that there will be a future bomb, and the lack of damage to the Hardware store indicates that the grievance isn't with the McCormick. But what if the grievance isn't the death of a loved one? What if it's something like the person is pissed that a plow hit her vehicle. That would open up the target list to be city wide."

" Or they could be pissed that the city hasn't plowed their street yet," added Kate. "We were on some of those streets this morning and I know if I lived there I would be upset."

"Water mains," added Castle.

"Yeah," said Detective Smith. "If a water main broke and it flooded a residence before the city could fix it that would be a huge burden for the home owner. In winter drying it out would be a bi.,.. bear," he corrected.

"Blaine you get in contact with the city garage and find incidents within five miles of the hardware store. Rodgers you do the same with the Public Works guys,"

"Got it," they chirped.

"Castle," asked Captain Gates? "What's the best story?"

"Death of a loved one Sir. People will go to great lengths to avenge the death of a loved one. They will do stupidly wondrous things. "

"I agree. Beckett you and your partner keep that as your number one focus. The others can handle the other plausible candidates."

After Beckett terminated the call, she stole a glance at Castle, and his expression bothered her. "Babe?"

"I'm just worried that I'm wrong about this and people could die. I've always scoffed at 'profilers'. Now I realize they have a tougher job and more responsibility than I thought. The consequences of a wrong guess... "

Kate reached over and gently patted Caste's thigh. "What are you going to tell Amy to get out the fridge to defrost?"

"I don't feel like cooking tonight. How about we pick up some take out on the way?"

Beckett started the cruiser, pulled out into traffic and headed for home. "Roy's," she offered after a couple of minutes?

"The usual?"

"As long as you share."

Kate's mouth started to water in anticipation as Castle called in their order, two salads with Caesar on the side, double order of breadsticks, seven layer lasagna for her and chicken Florentine for him. Roy's is not a name you would associate with a good Italian restaurant, thought Kate, but so much for names. She remembered the first time Castle took her there. She thought she was walking onto the set of the 'Godfather'. She fondly remembered the small tables with the checkered table cloths, the sound of families enjoying dinner, and the smells. What was most memorable was the food. She always enjoyed going there. Kate frowned. She could not remember when they last visited. This is something we will have to change she vowed.

"And a chilled bottle of a good Pinot Grigio," Kate whispered.

As usual Castle cleaned up his kitchen while Kate and Jim enjoyed the adventures of Bilbo Baggins. What surprised Castle today when he went into the TV area to be with Kate and James was that the TV was on to the Cartoon Channel and both of them were asleep on the couch. Castle sat down in his chair and finished watching the Roadrunner cartoon. When it was over he changed the channel to a one of the music channels that Kate liked and lowered the volume. Next he looked at his sleeping wife and son and tried to figure out how he could extract James without waking either one of the two most precious persons in his life.

When Kate shifted and lowered her arm slightly Castle seized the opportunity, and gently extracted James from his Mother's grasp. As Castle carried James's toward his bedroom his son began to fuss. "I don't blame you a bit," whispered Castle soothingly. "If someone pulled me out of the arms of the most beautiful and wonderful woman in the world I would be pissed too. Just remember I saw her first." He watched as James smacked is lips while yawning lazily. "One of my dreams for you," Castle continued softly "is that you find your 'Kate' when both of you are ready for each other. I also hope you find her sooner in life than I did. Here we are. Sleep tight." After Castle had tucked in James he went in search of the sleeping beauty he had just left and wasn't disappointed. For a long time he stood behind the couch and just watched the beautiful woman that was his wife sleep. Eventual he unfolded a light quilt and covered her up. He decided not to kiss her forehead. He didn't want to wake her up. After dimming the lights he retreated to his office. He wanted to get the 'Kate Richards' story Kate and he worked out the night before on paper while he remembered it.

Kate woke slowly then with a start as she felt something was missing…James. She relaxed and settled back down when the impact of the changed TV channel, dim lights, and the quilt covering her took hold. 'Ah Castle the Dad', she smiled. Kate sat up and slowly stretched upward. She cocked here head and listened to the mumbling coming out of Castle's office. 'He always does that when he's stuck on a plot point. I guess I could go help him.'

"Hey Mister, what'ca working on," asked Kate in her best schoolgirl voice.

"Kate Richards," Castle replied immediately as he got up and pulled out the chair closet to him. "Come help?"

"Really," replied Kate, her schoolgirl voice forgotten.

"Yeah, I think it has a future. The best way I could think of to make it work was to start the series with both of them already being agents and their current assignment brigs them back to the city where they first met."

"Won't the temporal shifts confuse your readers?"

"I don't think so, but I'm going to have to label each chapter carefully"

"It's going to be a big book."

"Yeah, I know, and I think I'm going have to devout at least the last third of the book to the real time case."

"Tell me about their real-time case," Kate demanded as she slid into the offered seat. The more Castle talked the more she thought that 'Kate Richards' would see the light of day and not die on the editor's desk.

"You've got one more chore," teased Kate as they neared the bedroom.

"This," said Castle as he let his hand drift down off of Kate's back and gently cup her ass "will NEVER be a chore."

'Great answer," Kate decided as she turned to share a kiss with her husband. She sighed when Castle picked her up and carried her rest of the way to the bed. "You do remember which direction my panties go don't you," she whispered in his ear?

Chapter 9 Wednesday

Beckett felt the waves of tension coming off of Castle during breakfast and even on the ride to the precinct. She knew that somehow Castle felt responsible for the bombers actions. If the bomber should strike… She didn't know what to say, so she reached out and gave her husband's arm a firm squeeze and a warm smile when he looked toward her.

Once in the Bull-pen Castle hustled to the guest Officer's desk, signed in and started to frantically search for something. Beckett stowed her coat and purse and signed in. The ME's information wasn't in her mailbox, but the three sets of financials were. After storing them in the case folder she opened the 'Bennett' file and started reading. She stopped when Esposito and Ryan walked into sight. "Well looked what the cat drug home," she called in greeting.

"Two days ago no self-respecting cat would have laid a paw on me," answered Esposito.

"Me either," admitted Ryan.

"How you feel?"

"Good enough to come back to work," said Esposito. "The McCormick double-homicide" he asked nodding at the murder board?

"Yeah."

"Beckett do you know where Sandra Bennett works," asked Castle? The urgency in his voice was unmistakable.

"She and her husband own a ceramic shop and novelty store on Sycamore. Why?"

"We need to get there now. Her husband died almost two months ago. A screw-up in the Operating Room for a routine procedure from what I can tell, and her daughter died last week."

"How?"

"Don't really know about the daughter, pneumonia from natural causes is all the Death Certificate said. I had a hunch and checked and both of their Death Certificates were filed. Come-on."

In their haste to get on the elevator they almost ran over Captain Gates as she tried to exit.

"Detective?"

"McCormick homicide, Bennett's novelty on Sycamore," rushed Beckett as Castle repeatedly punched the down button.

Captain Gates continued into the Bull-pen and spotted Ryan and Esposito by the murder board. "Welcome back Detectives. Do you know where those two are going?"

"A novelty store on Sycamore," said Esposito. "Castle mentioned something about the husband dying two months ago in an operation and a daughter dying last week of pneumonia."

"Backtrack Castle's research and see if the name of the hospital was mentioned."

"What's going on Captain?"

"The McCormick case, the killer stole materials to make several bombs. Castle guessed the motive, but we're clueless as to where."

"The hospital?"

"What would you do if you thought both of your loved ones died because of a hospital's screw-ups? … I need to alert the Bomb Squad and call the Chief."

It took Ryan and Esposito several minutes to find the Death Certificates, but the hospital was not mentioned. It took them another twenty minutes or so to figure out that the doctors that had signed the certificates had privileges at the same Hospital, Mercy General, and it was one of the two that provided service for Hell's Kitchen.

"You guys head over there," said Captain Gates. "Met with the person in charge, but don't mention the hospital deaths. Advise them that we have an unconfirmed bomb threat and what you're during is only a precaution. Also mention that we have people actively working to confirm or negate the threat information. I'll have the Bomb Squad pull the building plans just in case. Any word from Beckett?"

"Hell's Kitchen," said Ryan? "Given the streets and the traffic, they're probably not there yet."

The 'Clay Kup' was in one of the strip mills on the corner of Sycamore and Seventh. The strip mall was prime real estate in the eighties. Like a lot of other retail ideas and locations, this mall had been overcome by events and changes in customer buying habits. Now the principle tenants where the Salvation Army, an Asian grocery store, a Hobby-Gaming store, and of course 'The Clay Kup'. The parking lot had been cleared and the snow dumped into a small mountain on the southeast side. From the look of it the neighbor kids had attacked it and turned it a couple of lengthy sled runs, several forts for snow-ball battles and in general a snowy amusement park .

"The truck's not here," said Castle as Kate skidded to a stop. "Not open yet," said Castle disgustedly as they approached the front door."

"I see movement inside," said Kate as she seriously attacked the door.

"We're not open yet," shouted a voice from inside.

"NYPD," yelled Castle at the top of his lungs. "We need to talk."

A minute later the door opened half-way. "The manager's not here right now," said a young woman.

"I'm Detective Kate Beckett," announced Kate grasping her badge and making it easy for the person inside could easily see it. "And this is my partner Mr. Castle. May we come inside? Despite what the weather people said this morning, it's still pretty cold out here."

"Sure," said the woman reluctantly as she pulled the door open wide. "What's this all about?"

"Has your boss, Sandra, been in today, eh Helen," asked Castle reading the name off of her nametag.

"Yeah, she was here when I got here. She was loading up the truck to make a delivery. Funny though, the items aren't due till next week."

"Who was she delivering too," asked Beckett as calmly as she could.

"Mercy General Hospital. We supply novelty cups, flower vases, ceramic toys and such to their gift shop."

"When did she leave?"

"Maybe twenty, no more than twenty-five minutes ago. Is she in some kind of trouble? What's this all about?"

"If I may ask," said Castle in a calm tone, that Beckett did not share. "What type of kilns do you use? Electric? Gas?"

"Both, why?"

"Natural gas or propane?"

"Propane, why do you ask?"

"Can we take a look, it's really quite important," added Beckett, taking her clue from her partner.

"Sure, this way, I don't see why not. Are you going to tell me what's going on?"

"Someone stole some stuff from a hardware store a couple of days ago and they used a truck similar to the one you guys use for the store. We're just trying to cross you guys off the suspect list."

"Sandra took Tom's death hard and has been acting funny since her daughter died, but one thing is absolutely certain she is honest as they come."

Helen opened the door and stopped dead in her tracks. "Where did that stuff come from?" In the work room where the kilns resided were a lot of propane tanks, gym bags and backpacks, obviously from the Salvation Army Thrift store, motorcycle batteries, spark plugs, switches and mechanical kitchen timers. On the workbench were a schematic, the soldering kit, wire cutters and several pieces of heavy coiled wire. Their shape was pretty close to that described by Sergeant Weber for defeating the gas flow lock.

Castle pushed past Helen and moved toward the stack of propane tanks. He started to compare serial numbers with the list of the stolen tanks he had on his phone. When he looked up, Beckett was already on the phone. "Twelve bottles here, that means she took ten," Castle softly verbalized. "Five batteries and timers," Castle muttered. "Beckett, she built five devices, probably two tanks each."

"Got it, CSU is on the way. The Captain is taking care of calling the Bomb Squad. Helen this is the stuff from the hardware store. Please don't disturb it. A group of Officers will be here shortly to collect it. Sorry we can't explain more. We need to run. Castle!"

Castle sat white-knuckled in the passenger seat as Beckett made the six point four mile trip from 'The Clay Kup' to the hospital parking lot on the snow-packed streets and through the heavy morning traffic in less than ten minutes.

"Swing around to the loading dock," advised Castle. "Let's see if we can spot her truck."

"Not my first rodeo," muttered Beckett. "She's here," Beckett whispered unnecessarily.

Castle was hard pressed to maintain the pace as Beckett hurried as fast as she could without actually running toward the front doors of the hospital. "You know," he gasped as he lengthened his stride to stay even with his partner, "If this Police thing doesn't pan out, I'm sure I could get you a gig as a NASCAR driver."

"Or as a New York City cabbie," Beckett retorted slyly as they had to slow down to let the automatic doors open for them.

"Third floor," shouted the Security Officer, as soon as he spotted Beckett's badge and gun as they cleared the inner door. "Sam, grab the elevator for the Detectives."

As they exited the elevator and turned right towards the Hospital Administrators office Castle veered towards the Men's Room.

"Kate I'll meet you there."

"You shouldn't have had the second cup of coffee at breakfast," she teased.

"It's not the coffee," replied Castle uncomfortably. "It was the drive," he teased back.

Castle took longer to complete his business in the Men's Room than he planned. When he exited, he literally ran over a hospital employee pushing a cart containing dirty scrubs and towels. After apologizing, and helping the woman right the surprisingly heavy cart, he turned and hurried to catch up with his partner. As he rounded the corner he stopped dead in his tracks. "Son of a Bitch," he verbalized. "That was her hiding in plain sight."

Retracing his steps he was relieved when he spotted the woman and the cart turn left down a corridor. Hurrying to catch-up, Castle slowed to a more casual speed as he approached the interaction. As he took the left he saw the woman maybe two-thirds down this hallway and attracting no attention from the people that had passed her and were now heading in Castle's direction. When she made the next left Castle sped up again. Rounding the corner Castle spotted his quarry. He slowed down when, near the end of the corridor, she turned left into a room.

The abandoned cart clearly marked the spot. 'Research Library' said the sign on the door. 'Hospital Staff Only' proclaimed a placard below the name. 'In Use' proclaimed yet another placard. Castle didn't know the geometry of the hospital all that well, but he thought that this room was immediately behind the Hospital Administrator's Office. Reaching a decision he reached for his phone to call his partner.

As soon as Kate opened the double door, the receptionist's head snapped around and tracked her as she approached. "Good morning I'm Detective…"

"Doctor Reynolds is in the Conference Room with the other Officers," she supplied briskly as she pointed to her right.

"Thanks," Beckett replied and headed in that direction. She paused for a second after knocking on the closed Conference Room door, and then entered.

"You guys made excellent time," she said spying the six-person Bomb Squad and Esposito and Ryan.

"We figured out the hospital from the names of the attending physicians on the Death Certificate," said Ryan with a touch of pride.

"When your Captain called and suggested that I pull a copy of the plans, I asked for a history and Sargent Weber told me that this was your case. I thought we would come over now and avoid the panic," said Lieutenant Evans, the leader of this Bomb Squad detail. "What do you have?"

"My partner and I were just at her shop. Ten canisters and five sets of switches, timers, batteries, etc. are missing."

"Enough for five bombs," said the Lieutenant.

"Yes, and we saw her truck at the loading dock. So she is definitely here."

"The threat is confirmed Sir. I suggest you start evacuation procedures immediately," said the Lieutenant.

"How much time do I have?"

"No more than an hour," said Beckett. "More likely around thirty-five minutes."

"Can't be done. It would do more harm than good. I can't get enough ambulances here in time. Why can't you guys use dogs or something to find the bombs?"

"The explosive is propane gas, not dynamite or C4. Oh we can smell it and we have detectors, but we are going to go over every square foot of this place. And Dr. Reynolds you have a really big hospital here."

"Then you better get started."

"One other thing," interjected Beckett, "We figure she spent all day yesterday figuring out where to place the bombs. So I don't think they will be easy to find."

"Ridiculous. Our Security Staff would have spotted her."

"Have they spotted her this morning," asked Beckett testily? "Espo call and get us some Uniforms to help search. Sir I strongly suggest you close the hospital to visitors and evacuate all non-essential personnel. If we can't find all of the bombs in time then we can at least not bleed as much."

"I guess we can do that much."

"Sir, do we have an idea on how to search a place of this size," Beckett asked Lieutenant Evans? Beckett stopped when her phone rang.

"Castle? Where are you?"

"I followed her Kate. She's in a Library room on the third floor. I think she's placing her last bomb there."

"Wait I'm putting you on speaker. …Go ahead."

"When I came out of the Men's Room I almost ran her over. I was so busy apologizing I didn't recognize her. After I did I followed her. Left out of the men's room, then left at the first corridor, then another left. Then almost at the end of the hall she went into a Research Library room reserved for hospital staff."

"That's right behind my office," shouted Doctor Reynolds. "Go in and stop her."

"That's the rub," said Castle. "If the Police go in they can stop this bomb, but not the other four."

"You guys can make her talk," said Doctor Reynolds.

"Not if she doesn't want to," said Esposito.

"And if she says the magic four words 'I want a lawyer' we're hosed," added Ryan.

"The Police have nothing to offer her," said Castle. "They have no leverage or any bargaining chips."

"I don't believe that," said Doctor Reynolds.

"Why not? She's already lost everything she holds dear. Besides she's already killed two, what's a hundred more? Add to that she holds this hospital responsible," supplied Beckett. "You have an idea don't you?"

"Yeah, let me go in and talk with her. I'm an author, a storyteller and a story-collector. What I can offer her is the chance to see the story of her husband and daughter in print. I'll give her a chance to make the lives of her loved ones mean something again. I think I can convince her that they didn't die in vain."

"How are you going to do that," asked Beckett.

"Don't know. I'll probably try to refocus and narrow her desire for revenge to people instead of a thing, the hospital. Beckett we're running out of time. Let me try."

"Castle," Beckett temporalized.

"I forbid it," said Doctor Reynolds. "You have no idea what you're risking? Does your partner have any psychological training? …. No I thought not. It's clear. Go in and get her. Force her to tell you where the other bombs are."

"That won't work. Kate let me try this."

"Lieutenant, order the Sergeant to tell her partner to stand down. She has no idea what she's risking."

The Lieutenant locked eyes with Beckett. "The Sergeant knows EXACTLY what she's risking. The fact that she hasn't rejected the idea out of hand tells me she thinks her partner might succeed."

"At least twenty minutes for the Uniforms Beckett," said Esposito.

"Damn it Kate! We're running out of time. Let me go in."

"Go. Be safe Babe. Remember I'm always by your side. Phone on mute."

"Detective you can't do that."

"Javier, Kevin grab some of the locals and block off access to the corridor I don't want Castle disturbed, and tell them to stay out of sight. We'll replace them with our guys when they show up. Oh and tell the Captain what we're doing. My phone is kind of tied up at the moment."

"On it," they chirped as they made their way to the door.

"Lieutenant I need your help in devising a search plan." Beckett pulled out her digital voice recorder, turned it on and placed by the phone as she slumped into a chair. Once seated she said a silent prayer. 'Please don't make this the last recording Castle ever makes.'

"Locked," came Castle's voice over the phone. "Let me see. Yes, one NYC Library Card is always good for a free admittance."

"Did he just," asked the Lieutenant?

"If he needed to yes," responded Beckett with a touch of pride. "The MAN does have SOME skills."

Castle unlocked the door, made sure it stayed unlocked and stepped into the room. He was in a narrow corridor formed by floor to ceiling bookcases. Both bookcases seem to contain nothing but medical periodicals. Roughly six steps ahead was a medium sized table. It had a number of LED displays and laptop docking stations. The chairs around the table appeared to be high-end conference room chairs, built for comfort and durability.

"Sandra,…Sandra Bennett you still here?"

"Who the Hell are you. How did you get in here? I thought the door was locked. How do you know my name? What are you doing here? What do you want," said an excited and scared female voice off to Castle's left?

"That's a lot of questions," said Castle as he walked up to the table and turned left. "Whoa! There's no need for that," said Castle as he looked down the business end of a gun.

"One other question I forgot to ask. Are you a cop?"

"No, no I'm not. Nice gun. Glock Twenty is it?"

'Good boy' thought Kate we know that she's armed.

"Yeah"

"Yeah the door was locked, but those locks are just for show you know. Say, is that the one you used to kill the people in McCormick's?"

"Yes, how do you know about that? Who are you?"

"Okay, introductions it is. My name is Richard Castle and I'm an author," said Castle in his light, crisp conversational tone. "I know you are Sandra J. Bennett and I know your husband, Tom, and daughter, Pamela, died in this hospital within the last two months. What I don't know is what the J is for."

"Jane and they were MURDERED by these incompetents," bellowed Sandra.

Kate saw the look of shock register on Dr. Reynolds face. "What are they talking about," he whispered?

"Later. First things first, let's neutralize the bombs," replied the Lieutenant.

"My I sit down. I feel like I've been running around in circles all morning. First checking the Death Certificates, and then taking with the nice girl Helen at your shop. She showed me your workshop. That's how I know you've built five bombs. She also told me about your early delivery here today and now I'm here taking with you. "

"No, what you are going to do is take out your phone and remove the battery and place it on the table here …. Okay now go over to that post and place your arms behind you."

"He carries two phones," whispered a voice in the room.

"Yes," nodded Beckett. "This isn't his first rodeo."

"Okay why?"

"That way I can use the zip ties to handcuff you so to speak. That's what I was going to do to the people in the Hardware store, except the man just had to be a hero so I had to shoot him and the girl. Why didn't he do what I asked?"

"It's in the male handbook. Chapter three I think 'Stupid Things' or 'Stupid Gestures'. We males will do incredibly stupid things to protect those we love."

"Am I going to have to shoot you?"

"Hope not," Kate heard Castle grunt as she envisioned Sandra tightening the cable tie. "No one is here with me, but the girl is why I tracked you down. You see she's a niece of a neighbor. My neighbor knows I'm a writer and had my own PI business …so she asked me to look into it and I did. It was really quite easy you know, tire tracks and Death Certificates. I'm sure the Police have discovered the connection by know, but I'm here for another reason."

"And what would that be?"

"Your stories. As I said I'm a writer. Tell me your husband's and daughter's stories and I will try to tell them in such a fashion that nothing like this will ever happen again."

"My Tom and Pamela didn't deserve to die," Sandra wailed, "and these people, these MURDERS need to pay for their crimes."

"By destroying the Hospital?"

"Yes!"

"Destroying the hospital won't really hurt these people. The Doctors will just practice medicine elsewhere while the hospital is being rebuilt and you're going to make the hospital administrator a hero."

"I…I don't believe you."

"After the bomb goes off the administrator is going to collect from the insurance company, then he's going to strong-arm a couple of medical companies for contributions, and then go on the talk-show circuit. He might even do a televised fund raiser. When he's done and everything's rebuilt he's going to dedicate the rebuilt facilities in the name of the victims. That will make him a media darling, back from the ashes and so forth and inscribed on the bronze memorial, and prominently placed for all to see forever will be his name. Displayed there forever reminding everyone of the work he did to rebuild the Hospital. Instead of destroying him you helped make him a hero and helped him forge a lasting legacy as an able administrator. Your Tom and Pamela will be reduced Tom and Pamela who? That's not what you want. Also the Doctors that took temporary jobs in other hospitals will be welcomed back with open arms fated, and hailed by the media as righteous survivors willing to work once again in a place touched by tragedy. So much for your grand scheme. "

"Also you know what the media is going to immediate focus on right, the casualties. Your Tom and Pamela won't even get mentioned. It will be all about you and the lives you took and the injuries of the survivors. There probably will be cries and calls for beefed-up security at hospitals, but your targets won't get touched. You won't get revenge because the people who are responsible will get a free pass because you focused on the physical destruction of the hospital instead of highlighting their actions which caused your husband and daughter to be taken from you for all to see. Anything you say will be discounted. Why. Your creditability will be crap because of what you did. Frankly what you plan to do greatly exceeds what they did. You will be categorized as just another whack-job. No if you want revenge, you attack them in the area where they are vulnerable and the area they value the most, their reputation. You show that their practices harm the public and they shouldn't be held in esteem. I can help you do this. I can help you create a legacy for your Tom and Pamela, but I can't be successful in doing it if you are a mass murderer. I don't think Tom and Pamela want you to be remembered that way either. "

"How dare he," mumbled Doctor Reynolds?

"You got her Babe," whispered Beckett into the lingering silence, "Close the deal."

"How are you planning to destroy the Hospital? Are you attacking it structurally or are you going to try to kill the most people?"

Everyone held their breath until Sandra broke the silence. "My Tom died in Surgical Theater Two. In the women's scrub room there is a locker room with one conveniently locked locker. On the other side of the wall in Theater Two are oxygen tanks and the gas distribution system. The secondary explosions should be awesome. Right behind the receiving desk in the Emergency Room where the money grubbing, coffee drinking witches and whores sit on their asses and play video games instead of working is a janitorial closet. The night swift locks the closet around seven-thirty in the morning. The day people won't have anything to open. Know what else is stored in that closet? The propane tanks they use for the outside patio heaters. My little surprise is hidden right there in plain sight. That explosion will be awesome. That one is for my Pam. Those people sat and did nothing while Pam died in my arms."

"The others," asked Castle timidly.

"I locked one of the bombs in a cabinet in the storage room behind the Gift Shop. That one is for me. The bitch that operates the shop is always shorting us and hanging on our money for several extra months. This morning she actually told me that if I wanted to continue to do business with her I needed to do something to sweeten the deal. You know, she actually held out her held like she wanted money. No secondary explosions, just one righteous payback. "

"The last one, well the last one could destroy the entire South Wing. This place like most hospitals uses a centralized oxygen system. It's efficient, smart, safe, and saves them a fortune. Safe? Not the why these cheap bastards did it. This place isn't safe. They bring the oxygen in from the outside safe enough, and then they split it so that the oxygen can flow to the different floors. After the splitter the pipes are properly labeled and protected. The splitter is a different matter. It's just plain unprotected copper tubing. The explosion is going to rip through that like tissue paper and I'm going to have a nice and hot fire fed by one hundred percent pure oxygen. And a couple of other things," giggled Sandra "Since I attached the package to the subfloor above, the fire will start above the sprinklers. Up there the fire will flow and follow the subfloor structure unimpeded by anything. All that water flowing out of the sprinklers on the first floor will be for nothing. You know there is also a small chance that the explosion will crack the pipe feeding the water to all of the sprinklers. Imagine no sprinklers to combat the fires before the firemen get here. We could have a total burn down not only of the South Wing and most of the Hospital.

"What was Sandra Janet Bennett before she became a wife and mother," asked Castle quietly? "You sound like you have some impressive mechanical engineering and demolition skills, and frankly like someone I wouldn't care to mess with."

Beckett tuned out Sandra response as she watched Lieutenant Evans deploy his troops and Doctor Reynolds delightedly flee the room. She looked at her Dad's watch. Nine minutes, it had taken Castle only nine minutes to gain the woman's trust and extract the information.

'My turn' thought Beckett. "Oh Babe, how am I going to get you out of there," she asked the empty room?

Beckett half-hearted listened to dialogue. She was waiting for the Lieutenant to return and confirm that the bombs had been neutralized. "Tell me about your Pamela," asked Castle. "I've only met one other Pamela. She was a red-headed temptress I would have done anything for."

"You never mentioned her buster," Beckett verbalized, suddenly listening with great interest.

"That is until she punched me in the stomach and took my lunch money. You see I was in the third grade and she was in the sixth."

Kate chuckled, closed her eyes and contemplated the problem of rescuing her husband. She opened them again when she smelled the coffee.
"Hey Detective Beckett, I saw the others rush out and I figured you could use something to drink. I'm Doctor Reynolds personal assistant November June."

"I'm sure there is a story behind the name," smiled Beckett, "that my partner would love to hear. Me I would kill for the coffee and my body absolutely needs the water," continued Beckett as she spied the water bottle in the ladies other hand.

"Glad I brought both," smiled November as placed the drinks within easy reach of Kate and lingered for a moment. "Detective, can I ask you a couple of questions? The rumor mill is overflowing with some scary stuff."

"Sure, I'll answer what I can. One of the things we don't need is a panic lead by the staff."

"Good. Did the' lady's husband and daughter really die in this hospital?"

"I personally haven't seen the Dead Certificates, but yes. My partner says so, and he rarely ever makes a mistake like that."

"Did she place five bombs in the hospital?"

"We think so. My partner was able to get locations for four of them out of her. We're sure the fifth is in the room behind Dr. Reynolds office."

"How much time do we have?"

"She got here around twenty-five minutes ahead of us, and in those twenty-five minutes and the five we spent before my partner followed her, she managed to deploy those four bombs. It took Castle around ten minutes to get her to talk. Worst case scenario in fifteen to twenty minutes the bomb swill start to go off. Me, I would opt for an early lunch or be running an errand away from the hospital. If the hospital is still here when you return then we were successful, if not…"

"We already have reservations for fourteen at Appleby's in fifteen minutes. Join us."

"Can't I'm working. Call me next week and I'll come. I always enjoy listening to other professional women describe what they do and how they balance their family life with their professional life."

"We'll do that."

Beckett finished off the warm coffee in two large swallows. She opened the bottle of water and drank half of it before placing it back on the table and getting up and walking back to look at the building plans. "Now how in hell I'm I going to get you out of there in one piece?"

"That's my job," said a deep and gruff voice. "Captain Peterson," exclaimed Kate as turned to face the door. "No one told me they called SWAT. Glad to see you Sir. Sir," continued Beckett nodding to her Captain. "Lieutenant by the smile on your face I'm assuming that everything went well?"

"Four packages neutralized, in the truck and on their way to my barn. A fingerprint team will meet them there. One more and it will be a great day."

"Detective, what do we have," asked the SWAT Captain?

As Beckett turned back to the building plans she did not see ADA Rhoads and Hill enter the room.

"What we have is one female suspect armed with a Glock 20 and a bomb placed next to this wall in this room. We also have one civilian restrained by cable ties to this post. As you can see this corridor created by the bookshelves constrains movement big time."

"Detective, Castle my not be a sworn officer, but he's not a civilian. He's one of us. He's paid his dues and more. We protect our own. He knows enough to hit the floor and become small once the game begins."

"Thank you Sir. Oh one other thing. Castle is wearing is personal body armor. It may not stop a Glock 20 at point blank range but it helps."

"Good to know. How much room from here to here," asked the Captain pointing from the door to the table?

"Approximately fifteen feet."

"Lieutenant Miles?"

"Three man Team. The first one has a Shield and a flash bang. He pops it when he sees or hears the suspect. After he pops it he charges. The second man has a Shield and a smoke grenade. He also pops it on detection and charges. The third man is a shooter. He engages if the Shield men can't trap her and neutralize her weapon. "

"I would recommend against that Sir," said Lieutenant Evans. "The nature of the bomb is propane leaked into the atmosphere and ignited by a spark, simple and powerful. I'm afraid that the flash heat from the flash bang, or the smoke grade would ignite the gas. I'm not sure, but I think the discharge of a firearm would set the gas off too."

"Then it's a three man bull-rush Sir," said Lieutenant Miles.

"You mean you guys don't have any non-firearm weapons like bows and arrows, crossbows, shuriken, knives, whips, ropes, nets, boomerangs …" said Beckett with a touch of anxiety. "Hell, give me one of your shields at least I got my combat baton."

"That's a question your partner would ask," the Captain said quietly. "A good one, and unfortunately I don't have answer. Lieutenant!"

"Got it Sir, another Team homework assignment, after we rescue Castle.

Castle's voice pierced the silence. "Wait your just going to walk away and leave me like this?"

"No I'm going to gag you first. My toys will start to go boom in just over fifteen minutes. Its five minutes from here to the loading dock and other fifteen minutes or so I can be back at my shop watching this whole thing on TV. It will take the TV crews' time to get her so I'll probably stop off at the Mexican restaurant two blocks from my shop. Their breakfast special on Wednesdays is really pretty good. You really are quite persuasive. If I had the time to safe all my toys I would probably let you write the stories, but I don't. So good bye Mister Castle."

"Of course," exclaimed Beckett! "We don't have to rescue him. She still thinks her bombs are going to go off and she wants to be elsewhere. We nab her once she hits the checkpoints at the end of the corner, you guys," she continued looking at Sergeant Weber and Lieutenant Evans, "can defuse the last bomb and I can cut my partner loose."

"Two things."

"Don't blow it Castle," Kate verbalized.

"For the gag, I got a clean handkerchief in my top inside left jacket pocket, use that please, and hurry up and leave. I'm going to need all the time I can get to try to get out of these things."

"I'll tell you what, if you escape I'll let you write our stories, if not I'll shop around until someone gives me the best deal for my exclusive."

"Deal, now hurry up."

"This is ADA Thomas Edward Rhoads, I demand that you release Mister Castle at once and come out into the corridor with your hands up. If you do that you will not be harmed."

"What the fuck, cursed Sandra. "You do have a radio. Where is it or so help I will …"

"No radio another cell phone. It's in my jacket on the right side. I have a pocket down near the hem."

"Son of a Bitch," screamed Sandra.

Beckett didn't wait for the sound of the phone crashing on the floor to move. She had heard the sound of a gun hitting flesh and the yelp of pain from her partner. In a flash she was out of the door and three steps later she was at full speed and running toward the bitch that had hurt her…..life-mate.

The room broke into bedlam after Beckett left and then quickly quieted down. All of the Officers knew that the mission had gone from a perfect slam dunk to a clusterfuck and that there could be personal consequences for members of their team. After a couple of moments they all started running after Beckett.

Hasting looked up when she heard Beckett turn the corner run into the corridor. The expression on her face was…"Move it rookie," shouted her partner. Together they moved the barricade out of the way before Beckett passed them. "Ryan, Espo," called Hasting on the radio. "Something's up. Beckett just ran by here like she was being chased by or chasing the Devil himself. And the expression on her face… She looked like she was in hell. "

Beckett skidded to a halt just in front of the Library's door and started. For the first time in her life she wished she had x-ray vision so she could see what was on the other side or super hearing so she could hear. She had nothing and she could only stare. After a while there was an annoying buzz in her left ear. Then it moved to her right ear.

"Beckett," shouted Esposito standing right in front of her.

"Espo? … She pistol whipped him when the jerk blew his cover, she…"

"Kate," asked Captain Gates gently. "What do you plan to do?"

Kate took a deep cleansing breath and nodded her head. "Castle had her Sir. You heard that," said Beckett as she slowly started to undo her Police Vest. "What I plan to do is go in there and remind her of his arguments and gently tell her that since all her toys have been disarmed and she hasn't become a mass murderer yet Castle's plan will still work. I'd better give you this," said Beckett as she handed her gun to her Captain "and this" placing her combat baton in the Captain's other hand. "Else I…"

"You can't send her in there," shouted an out-of-breath ADA Rhoads. "What type of hostage negotiations training does she have?"

"OJT with me," added Captain Peterson with a bit of a smirk. "And she did just fine."

"Look the bomb in there will explode in fifteen minutes or less unless we do something," said Lieutenant Evans.

"I thought all of the bombs had been recovered," said ADA Hill.

"All except the one in there. Gonzales, Chin escort the ADAs to the hospital lobby and keep them there until you hear from someone in the chain."

"Yes Sir."

"Captain I protest," shouted ADA Rhoads.

"Cuff them if you have to. Just get them to safety," and out of my sight, thought the Captain.

Everyone watched Beckett walk to the door, pause for a second and then open it. "Hey Babe! You've been gone a long time. Miss me?"

"Hey Babe," whispered Captain Gates?

"She will probably get a lot closer by pretending to meet her lover than shouting NYPD."

"Yeah," chuckled the Captain. "I can see that. Okay all of you back off to a safe distance."

"Please don't make that an order Captain," asked Esposito.

Gates eyes flicked to Sergeant Weber who was leaning against the wall right next to the door. "Sir I respect your authority and I appreciate your concern, but there's a bomb in there and I'm going to do my best to prevent it from exploding."
"Tom" said Lieutenant Evans, "If you make me fill out even one form I'm going to kick your ass so hard you'll forget what day it is."

"Roger that."

Next Captain Gates looked at Stevens and Hastings, "We're with them," the Sargent said pointing at Esposito and Ryan.

"Alright you five stay the rest of you retreat to a safe distance."

"You have a lot of good people in your house Captain," whispered Captain Peterson. "My compliments, now about the ADA."

"I'm going to complain directly to Arthur and let him handle it."

"There won't even be a skid mark."

"Who are you and what do you want," screamed Sandra Bennett?

"Kate Beckett, Sandra Bennett. Sandra Kate she was on the other end of the phone," slurred Castle.

"What I want," said Kate calmly and smoothly as she steadily closed the distance between them, "is to tell you that Castle's solution to the problem is your best bet. That is the only way your message will get out and there's still time to do it."

"There's not enough time," Sandra said smugly. "We couldn't make it to all of the bombs in time." Sandra had placed herself by Castle's side and a good twelve feet away from the edge of the table. Kate did the calculation. Sandra could probably get off two shots maybe three before Kate could reach her. If the bullets didn't kill her then the explosion certainly will. 'Wait, be patient, your partner's right there, trust him to create an opening.'

"She wasn't the only one on the phone," slurred Castle.

"Meaning?"

"By now the only bomb still active is the one in this room," slurred Castle.

"You Bastard," she yelled. The first blow caught Castle unprepared. Before Sandra could administer the second blow Castle kicked out with his legs and knocked Sandra slightly off balance. The second blow hit and Castle saw stars.

When Castle kicked out his leg Kate pounced. The battle for spatial superiority was over quickly. Although out-massed and not as strong as Sandra, Kate had the leverage and the tactical knowledge. When the two hit the floor, it was Kate on top and in complete control of the gun hand. Kate used her legs to keep her opponent tied up and unable to generate any signification movement. Kate smashed the gun hand to the floor, no result. On the second attempt the gun went off and she heard Castle grunt. On the third attempt the gun went flying through the air landed on the floor and slid to the wall. Letting go of the gun-hand, Kate swung and connected with a loud back-hand slap. As Kate was about to hit her again she heard Castle growl. The growl made Kate pause and look at Sandra. Sandra was crying…like a baby. Kate understood. The dam that Sandra had built to contain her emotions had broken and they were flooding everywhere. Kate deftly grabbed the handcuffs off of her belt and cuffed her prisoner. As she helped her to her feet she saw four sets of anxious eyes.

The quick gunshot caught everyone by surprise and galvanized those by the door into action. First through the door were Esposito and Ryan followed by Weber and then Stevens and Hastings. The scene in the room surprised them.

"Sargent Stevens here," said Kate handing him Sandra. "Please be gentle with her. I think she is just starting to grieve for her loved ones. Read her, her rights when she's coherent. Oh and have Psych talk with her. I'm not sure she should be alone just yet," continued Beckett in a gentle but firm tone." And will someone GET A DOCTOR FOR CASTLE," she bellowed as she moved toward her whimpering husband. The whimpering lessened when Beckett cut Castle's bonds and the pressure on his tortured shoulder lessened.

"It's alright Babe. I've got you. Yell, scream if you want. You've earned it. We're in a hospital and Hastings went to fetch a Doctor. She WON'T comeback empty handed."

Castle opened his eyes and looked at Kate, and for the millionth time marveled at the extraordinary woman that was his wife. The sight of her calmed him. Her voice soothed him, and he drew strength from her presence.

"Boom, booms all gone?"

"Yeah the Bomb Squad found and disarmed all of them. Wait was that supposed to be what's his names voice from Star Wars?"

"Yeah."

"Needs work," Kate said with relief. Castle's coping mechanism was humor, and he just tried to make me laugh. He may be in pain, but she knew he was going to be alright.

Hastings hopped back and ran out the door. "We need a Doctor. We need a Doctor."

"Stop shouting," said a five-foot nothing, conservatively dressed woman. "I called for April as soon as I heard the shot. She's our trauma lead in the ER. Now scurry over to your Captain. I'm sure she's dying to know what's going on."

"Yes Ma'am," stammered Hastings. She didn't know who the woman was, but she acted like someone who was used to giving orders and expecting them to be obeyed.

"Sir," began Hastings but before she could continue Sargent Weber walked out of the Library door with the last bomb.

"Last weapon secured Sir. Let's head back to the barn and place it with its brothers. I know it's only January, and its cold outside but I still say we fire up the grill. It does feel like a burger and dog type of day."

"I'll think about it," smiled Lieutenant Evans. "Captain, we're leaving while the time is right. I've got a feeling that once the news breaks, this place, and you guys are going to be up to your eyeballs with news folks."

"Thanks Lieutenant."

"Captain," Hastings started again, only to be interrupted by the sight of her partner and the suspect leaving the Library.

"Come on Rook, we need to be gone before the Captain assigns us crowd control duties."

"I was trying to give a status report."

"The last weapon was secured by the bomb disposal Team. The suspect is in custody and on her way downtown to be processed. Sargent Beckett has requested that the suspect talk with Psych and Castle received a serve pistol whipping. He's going to be on the shelf for a while, but I don't anything there's any permanent damage, and unless I miss my guess that's his medical team," said Sargent Stevens as he nodded toward the three people in scrubs heading toward the library. "Was that so hard? Come on Rook."

"I've been with you for over six years, why am I still a Rook," asked Hastings as she scurried after her partner?

"Because I haven't finished training you yet," replied the Sergeant with a knowing wink to his Captain.

"My turn," said Captain Peterson. "I think the Lieutenant was right and you're about to be invaded."

"Rat," teased Gates.

"Rats have survived for centuries, besides a certain Detective of yours gave us a very good homework problem to solve." The Captain turned and started to walk away. After a couple of steps he looked back over his shoulder and said "Incoming."

Captain Gates shifted her position, 'The Chief of Detectives, a public affairs weenie and the ADAs were headed in her direction. Well at least some of them are friendly,' she thought. The Captain's attention was drawn back to the Library door and Esposito and Ryan heading her way.

"Beckett?"

"The Doctor ordered her out too," started Esposito.

"Beckett said I've grown quite attached to this hand, and I'm going to hold onto it for as long as I can," continued Ryan.

"The Doctor knew she was going to lose the fight so she gave in," finished Esposito.

"What's your status," asked the Chief of Detectives?

"Almost mission complete Sir. All of the bombs are in bomb disposal's hands. The suspect is being transported downtown to be processed, which includes a session with Psych. The only thing I'm waiting on is Mister Castle's status, and the medical staff is with him now. Excuse me for a second, Gonzales and Chin, you guys can return to your normal duties."

"Yes Sir"

"Excuse me," said the PR type, "but is that wise?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"The story has leaked about the bomb attempt, and it being a slow news days almost all of the stations are sending trucks and crews here."

"The NYPD has no interest to protect here. The bombs and the suspect are elsewhere."

"There're going to want human interest stories," continued the PR guy.

"Sergeant Beckett ran this operation, right" said the Chief of Detectives?

"Yes Sir."
"And listening to the ADAs and the Senior Administrator for the Hospital she made some unusual calls" added the Chief.

"She did, and if it wasn't for an incident outside of her control, Castle would be unharmed and it would have been a perfect op."

"We need to make Beckett and Castle available to the press," said the PR guy.

"Beckett easy. Mister Castle that's another matter. First off is we don't know his medical condition and second, he's a civilian and outside of our Command. He co-operated in the past, but considering his injuries and how they were received we should NOT count on his participation in any kind of briefing."

"Surely he …,"

"No the Captain's right. Mister Castle is a civilian we can ask we can't compel."

All eyes were drawn to the Library door as it opened and Castle supported by Beckett and another man in scrubs appeared and walked Castle slowly over to the waiting gurney. "Off you go," said a woman, obviously the lead Doctor by the respect the others were giving her. "If they give you any lip, call me."

"No have them call me," said the woman who had called for the Doctor. "And I shall ask them if they would enjoy working every weekend and holiday between now and forever."

"November, you cheat," smiled the Doctor. "But have them call me first. We can save the big guns for the big targets. … They won't allow you to be with him," she said turning to Beckett. "He is going to be fine. The broken collar bone will slow him down, but I don't think there will be any other complications. I think you have three to four hours of wait time. I would suggest lunch, but not downstairs and some quite time, but not in the waiting room."

"Will I be able to take him home tonight?"

"I don't know? I don't see why not. Those concerned faces belong to you," said April looking in the direction of the Police party.

"More like I belong to them. If you don't mind? Could you tell them about Castle?"

"Sure"

"Guys" said Kate. "This is November June, she's the Personal Assistant to the Hospital Administrator, and this is Doctor April Hunter. She gave Castle the once over. November and April, Detectives Esposito and Ryan, my partners out of the 12th. Captain Gates, my immediate supervisor. The Chief of Detectives for the NYPD, Officer Larry Miller out of our PR department, and ADA's Rhoads and Hill. They will be trying the case."

April took them all in with her gaze took a deep breath and began. "First, Castle owns whoever told him to wear his vest today a big one. It saved his life. It turned a potentially fatal wound into a couple of stiches."

"What vest," asked Officer Miller? "Castle's Writer's vest is right there by the door."

Kate balled her fist and wrapped herself sternly on her chest. The sound of a heavy thunk was clearly heard.

"Personal body armor," acknowledged the Chief.

"But's that's prohibited," replied Officer Miller.
"Not to a civilian."

"But…."

"Later," ordered the Chief.

"His most significant injury is the broken clavicle. They are probably going to perform an operation to put a pin in. That will strengthen the area and allow him to heal faster. It will still take six-to-eight weeks to heal and he will need a month to two months of rehab to get full strength and range of motion back."

"Next he either has a broken or dislocated jaw. The pictures will tell us which and we'll respond accordingly, some discomfort but no big deal. Also we need to take some pictures to see if any of the bones that protect the eye are broken. Hairline fractures are okay, basketball players get them all of the time. We will be looking for splinters. If they're there, then we need to go in and get them out of there. The last thing is we are treating him as if he has a concussion. He doesn't have any of the symptoms, but still it's safer this way."

"Oh, she really did a job on his face and it's going to look fubar for a week or so. How vain is Castle?"

"Pretty much," Kate replied. "But I got this covered. I'm going to do for him what he did for me. I was VERY body conscious after I had James, and Castle read me the riot act. He said that there was only one person's opinion I should ever be concerned about and that was his, and if he wanted me on his arm that should be good enough for me. He was right so I'm going to use the same speech but different directions. He's vain, but we'll work through it."

"Wow," said April. "If you can do that for him that would be fantastic. I was going to go into my depression and cave troll prevention speech, but somehow I got the feeling that neither one of you are going to let that happen."

'Damn straight' thought Kate as the memories of how Bracken had tried to manipulate them came flooding back. "We got this."

"I guess I better had back down to the ER before November threatens to dock my pay."

"Never," replied November.

"And speaking of November," continued Beckett, "I thought you were heading out to lunch?"

"When you guys ran out of the room you kind of pulled me with you. Curiosity you know."

"Sorry"

"For what, you guys have nothing to be sorry for. I can see fights on TV any night of the week. What I got to see was something special. I got to see six brave people make courageous decisions not once but twice, and a Commander that has implicit trust in her people. That's a scene I will remember for the rest of my life."

"Thanks," whispered Captain Gates.

"From all of us," added the Chief of Detectives.

"Permission to withdraw Sir. I'm still on the clock and their things I need to do."

"Forgetting something," asked the Captain holding out Beckett's gun and combat baton.

"Yeah, right," agreed Beckett as she quickly re-attached the items to her belt.

"Before you go there are a couple of other things to discuss," said the Chief. "This place is starting to fill-up with news people and they want to know the story."

"Then hold a news conference," said November. "I can make the Hospital Auditorium available. Let's say a one-o'clock start?"

"Officer Miller?"

"I'll set it up Sir."

"Detective Beckett you are going to need to be present for the news conference," said the Chief.

"Of course Sir."

"One other thing. In light of the several situations playing out here, I think its best that you go on Administrative Leave immediately after the press conference for, ah, let's say four days. I don't want you showing up at the 12th until your normal Monday morning shift. If the situation is more complex than we've been lead to believe then call your Captain. Some additional time could be arranged."

"Sir I don't understand," stammered Beckett as she looked from the Chief to her Captain, who raised an eyebrow in response to Beckett's gaze. "Of course Sir I will obey my orders." Beckett nodded her understanding, and she did. The ADA's interference with the operation had to be dealt with in a manner that did not poison the working relationship between them. The Chief had effective said he would handle it, and he had given her four days to get Castle back up on his feet. "Permission to withdraw Sir?"

"Granted. Auditorium one o'clock Sargent."

"Yes Sir." Kate reached for her phone and came up empty. "November, I guess my phone is still your conference room."

"I relocated it and your DVR to my desk drawer. Come on," said November as the two ladies turned and headed back down the corridor. "Afterwards, would you want some company for lunch in the cafeteria?"

"But April said…"

"She was half right. The soup and salad bar is always good. April is not a salad person. She was grousing about the hot entry line. The old joke is the two best things about the food from that line are when you get sick from eating it you will already be in the hospital, and your illness will be very easy for the Doctors to diagnose."

"Four days Administrative Leave is NOT how I would have handled it," announced ADA Rhoads after Beckett and June had turned the corner and were out of sight. "The decisions that.."

"Counselor," interjected Captain Gates strongly. "You interfered in an on-going Police Operation. Your actions directly resulted in the injury of a civilian, and it almost resulted in the detonation of the last bomb. Sergeant Weber texted that he estimated we only had two minutes left before the bomb in the library would have exploded." The Captain paused and looked at the Chief of Detectives, "I'm seriously considering filing formal charges."

"But Beckett's decisions,…."

"Were about to result in the perfect operation, the suspect was about to gag Castle and walk out the door. We would have picked her up at the checkpoint, neutralized the bomb, and cut Castle lose, unharmed!"

"Return to your office," said the Chief gently. "You have an arraignment to perform. The DA will be informed of what happened here today." The Chief glanced at Captain Gates, "whether he's told formally or informally is uncertain."

"See here,"

"Tom," said ADA Hill. "Come on. They're right. We've done nothing but harm here. Cone on."

ADA Rhoads looked from the Police Officers back to his partner. "Harm?"

"We almost killed Mister Castle and blew up a hospital."

The auditorium was a state of the art tele-communications wonder. It had been revamped three years ago from the old-style 1980's auditorium into its present stadium seating configuration. As a teaching hospital, the hospital used the facilities to present to and be briefed on interesting cases by the other hospital's that were part of their world-wide network. Conservatively the hospital estimated that the collaboration achieved by these presentations had saved thirty lives in this hospital alone over the last two years and had positively affected the quality of life for scores more. With the proceedings being recorded and distributed by the hospital's communication's facility, this meant that the auditorium was uncluttered by equipment and only contained the news people. When Beckett entered the room from the front she was surprised at how full the room really was. After ascending to the stage, Beckett quickly found the Chief, Officer Miller from the PR Department, and Captain Gates. She was not surprised by the absence of the ADA's. With the suspect in custody, their work really began.

Beckett zoned out as the Captain briefed the case after being introduced by the Chief. "…I'll have the Lead Detective, Sergeant Kate Beckett join me for your questions."

Beckett gathered her wits and joined her Captain at the podium.

"Detective, what specific forensic evidence did you have that linked Sandra Bennett to the deaths at McCormick's?"

"Specific evidence, none. Now we have the weapon she used to kill Tom McCormick and Aaron Weathersby, but before this morning nothing."

"None?"

"Right, we had no fingerprints, no video, no DNA, and no identification of the murder weapon. The only things we had were a woman's unremarkable boot print and tire tracks that matched at least thirteen hundred vehicles in a five mile radius around the hardware store, and of course the list of the stolen material."

"That's…nothing."

"Pretty much. We guessed that the stolen material could be used to make a bomb, so we contacted or bomb disposal unit. They agreed and ran some numbers to determine the practicality of making a bomb and the explosive potential of the device. "

"So at this point you thought you had a bomb maker, but no motive or idea where she would strike?"

"Exactly, my partner observed a long time ago that when you get mad at a person you use a gun. When you get bad at something or a lot of somebodies, you use a bomb. We guessed that the most likely cause for a spur-of –the moment act like this was death of a loved one."

"That's a big leap."

"It was," confirmed Beckett, "and last night, after our initial run of canvases, we doubted ourselves. We postulated two more scenarios and had assigned personnel to proceed along those chains of thought. Unfortunately that increased the target size to New York City instead of just Hell's Kitchen locations."

"How did you narrow it down?"

"This morning my partner decided to search on recent Death Certificates. He used the names we had used in our first canvas and found a match. Financials told us where she worked. We went there and saw her workshop and learned of her delivery to this hospital and here we are."

"Independently, two other Detectives Esposito and Ryan out of the 12th used the information from the Death Certificates to determine that they were issued here. We alerted the Bomb Disposal Unit and they came here to co-ordinate activities," added Captain Gates.

"What happen when you got here?"

"We were incredibly lucky," said Beckett. "While I went to talk with the Hospital Administrator, my partner went to the Mens room. When he came out he literally ran over Sandra Bennett. He didn't recognize her at first, but when he did he followed her to a staff library where she was placing the last explosive. He kept his cell phone on and went in and talked to her. Ten minutes later we knew the location of all the bombs."

"Risky."

"I didn't like any of the alternatives," said Beckett as started to tick them off her fingers. "One knew we had no more than forty minutes before the first bomb would go off. Two, we didn't think she would give up the locations of the bombs if she was in a captive situation. Additional Officers to conduct a search had been requested but were at least twenty minutes away. Four, this is a big place….I decided on a layered plan. First I would give my partner a shot. He is pretty good at listening and getting people to talk. When support arrived we would start a search and we would go in and grab her and hoped direct questioning would work."

"We heard that there was some shooting. Care to comment."

"Some time after my partner had obtained the information, his status was compromised and Sandra knew that what she had told him had leaked out of the room. I went in to try to talk her out and get Castle's release. She attacked Castle and during the resulting struggle the gun was discharged."

"I don't see Mister Castle. I'm guessing he was injured. How extensive are his injuries?"

"I'll know more in approximately ninety minutes," said Beckett with an obvious glance at her Dad's watch. "That is a hard stop for me. I will be there when the Doctor wants to talk with me about my husband….At first blush not too bad. The most sever thing is a broken clavicle. Also he may have a dislocated jaw and maybe a concussion. He'll be on the DL for six to seven weeks, but will be available should the Yankees invite him down for spring training."

Beckett's joke brought smiles, chuckles and some laughter and helped ease away some of the seriousness of the situation. She continued to answer questions for several more minutes but finally held up her hand. "Guys, we seemed to have circled the wagons. I think I'm being asked the same question, but with a slightly different twist. Good integration technique by the way, but I really don't have any more to share. Sir?" asked Beckett looking at the Chief.

"Guys and Gals," said the Chief when he got to the podium. "I think this one is a wrap."

"Thanks Chief," one of the reporters said. "Captain, Detective informative as always."

The auditorium emptied in near record time. "Detective," said Captain Gates "I don't want to see you before Monday. If you and Castle need more time…"

"Thanks for the days. I was furious at first, but I think I understand. I get to get my husband back on his feet and I'm out of sight for the ADA discussion."

"Thoughts?"

"Earlier today I had an idea of lining Sandra and Tom up back to back, borrowing one of 'Dirty Harry's' pocket cannon's and testing it's penetrating power. Now I… I've only met the DA twice, impressed would be an understatement. He doesn't suffer fools. Tell him what happened let him decide."

"Not bad, want some coffee," asked Gates. "An hour plus is a long time to wait in a waiting room."

"Rain check Sir? I thought I would go to the chapel. I do have a couple of prayers to say."

"I'll leave you to it then. Remember, not before Monday."

"Got it Sir, and Thanks"

Beckett took the ten strides from the anterior room door to the door of the chapel slowly. The thick brown carpet and rich wood paneling of the anterior room seemed to eat up the sound coming from the hospital and suggested that she was entering a quiet and serene place. The chapel was moderate in size, easily twenty-five by forty with vaulted ceilings and quiet, but not silent, noted Kate. The designers had incorporated two; no three fountains into the room and their voices kept the noise of the hospital at bay and helped soothe the minds of the occupants.

The designers had tried to make the chapel a religious place, but not a place for a specific religion. Kate didn't know if they succeeded for everyone, but she felt comfortable here. As Kate eased herself into a pew in the middle of the chapel she continued to look around. She approved of the patches of green and colors provided by real living plants instead of cut flowers. The stained glass window depicting the sun over a field with a small stream running through it was beautiful and soothing. Settling in she stretched her senses and thought the room felt sad.

"Not many tears of happiness shed here I guess," Kate vocalized. "Don't worry. I won't add to your burdens. I'm just here to say thanks." With that she slid forward and silently said her prayers. When she finished Kate slid back into the pew and closed her eyes. The voices of the fountains were soothing. She thought of her husband and immediately felt his presence by her side. Kate knew it was her wishful thinking but still… As the tension of the day flowed out, Kate's head began to nod and she began to daydream.

In the dream she and Rick were holding hands and standing at a central point. There were paths leading in all directions. A light breeze seemed to push them down a path. Kate felt the rush of extremely powerful and pleasant emotions. The joy of being successful and the ego building praise of her peers as Beckett was recognized as one of the best in the world at her field. Those euphoric feelings were easily burst when she saw Rick lying dead at feet, and alternately through Rick's eyes, she lying dead in his arms. The image that forced Kate to grab Castle and run back to the beginning was one of their son James, maybe ten years old, standing with Martha and her Father behind him looking at two coffins.

Arriving back at the nexus, Kate shivered, resisted the breeze and started down another path. Like the previous path, Kate felt the rush of extremely powerful and pleasant emotions. The joy of being successful and the ego building praise of her peers. In front of her was a veil. Steeling herself she stepped through and found herself in a corner office in One Police Plaza. She knew that she had become the youngest Inspector in NYPD history and was currently the Commander of a very prestigious and powerful Task Force. Traditionally this Task Force was the final grooming ground for the next Deputy Chief of Detectives or Deputy Chief of Intelligence. This feeling of accomplishment and extreme self-worth was strong, gratifying and oh so intoxicating. After a while Kate felt that something was missing. 'But what?' I'm successful and being groomed for one of the top spots in the NYPD. What am I missing?' When she looked down she couldn't see her shadow…Castle! Rushing to the door of her office she flung it open and looked in the room "Castle," she asked tentatively?

"Yes Inspector," answered Rick. Kate inwardly groaned at the sight. Gone was the twinkle in his eye. There wasn't a trace of humor or warmth in his voice, or hint of a smile on his face. Gone was the sense of energy and wonder she always felt in his presence. Kate understood. They both had survived the physical pitfalls of being on point in the fight against crime and Kate was living here dream, but the cost to her life-mate was more than she was willing to pay. "Come," Kate said as she reached for Castle's hand. When they touched Kate found herself handing hands with Castle back at the nexus.

Kate resisted the breeze that wanted to blow her in a new direction. She closed her eyes and listened. Off to her left was the sound of voices, children's voices, her children's voices, and they were happy. Keeping her eyes closed and a tight grip on Castle's hand she walked in that direction. Kate stopped and opened her eyes when she heard the water. The path stopped at the edge of a strongly moving stream. The path seemed to continue on the other side. "We need to jump this," Kate said to her dream Castle.

Together they ran and jumped. Kate landed in their bedroom at the Loft looking at herself in a mirror. After a moment Kate continued putting on the earring. When she finished she scrutinized her appearance. Tonight she was wearing her hair in a French braid, simple and stylish. Her hair had a touch of gray. Not much, just a touch and it seemed right, like it belonged there. Her face was a little more careworn but still quite serviceable. Her figure was a little fuller, but Kate thought that she had surrendered no more than one dress size to the march of time. Looking down she saw her wedding ring firmly in place and around her neck was a necklace, the first major piece of jewelry that Castle had given her. She knew that she only wore it on special occasions, so this must be one.

Satisfied with her appearance she left in search of her children and her husband. Sitting in front of the TV were her three children. Her youngest boy squirmed the way all boys do when they are kissed by their Mothers.

"Mom" asked her daughter after Kate had kissed her cheek? "Dad said he was going to dance your feet off. He isn't going to do that is he? Will it hurt?"

"No," Kate laughed. "That was him just telling you that he loved me, and we both like to dance."

Kate saw her daughter assume 'the stupid parents' face that Kate had worn many times in her youth. "Why didn't he just say so?"

"Sweetie," Kate whispered in her daughter's ear. "Sometimes Mommies and Daddies speech in their own special language."

"Okay," said her daughter, whose attention went back to the TV screen.

"Don't worry Mom," said James, who Kate thought was growing up into a handsome young man. "We won't blow up the place while you're gone."

"I hope not," teased Kate as kissed her son's cheek. "I love this place, and especially the people who live here with me."

Kate left the TV area and headed toward the kitchen counter. A movement by the door caught her attention. "The car will be here in about ten minutes Ma'am," said a man in a dark suit, tie and a tell-tale bulge under his jacket.

"Thanks," responded Kate automatically. 'Why do we need a guard,' questioned Kate?

At the kitchen counter appeared to a twelve to thirteen year older version of the neighbor's daughter, babysitter? She turned smiled a huge smile and gave Kate two thumbs up. Kate waved her acknowledgement walked on and stopped short of the conversation pit. Peaking around the corner she saw Castle in his usual place standing by and looking out the window. Kate took a deep breath and hurried around the corner. She saw Castle notice her reflection in the window and turn to greet her. Inward Kate was ecstatic. His tie was untied of course, but the twinkle in his eye and the hugeness of his smile flooded Kate with familiar warmth.

She hurried into his loose and gentle embrace. After kissing his check and feeling his arms encircle her waist as they had done many time s in the past she leaned back and tied his tie. When she was done she looked up into his eyes and saw only his joy of life and his love for her, as she pulled his face down for a kiss, Kate's head bobbed and she awoke back in the chapel. "Why do I wake-up before the good stuff," she asked out-loud?

"Well at least I don't have to settle for a 'dream man'. My 'Dream Man' is real and waiting for me," she continued.

Kate settled back and contemplated her experience. "I have to make a leap of faith," she said out-loud. "I get it. Could you help me out a bit? When I have to make this leap could you kick me in my ass so that I can jump high and broad enough to make it?"

With lots to think about Kate headed toward the door of the chapel. Once there she paused and looked back into the chapel before leaving. The "Thank you" she whispered seem to echo forever.

"I'm Dete…Missus Castle. Do you have an update on my husband Mr. Castle," Kate asked the nurse manning the 'Surgery Recovery' desk?

"Mister Castle is in room five."

"Do you know if he will be released or be kenneled her tonight?"

"Kenneled," teased the nurse?
"Bad choice of words," laughed Kate. "But if he was my dog he'd be the most pampered pooch of all times."

"I understand," smiled the nurse. "It says her 'outpatient surgery'. That normally means we are going to release him. Room five; you can go back if you want."

"Thanks"

In short order she found the room, but it was empty. "Castle," she called out? "Babe," she said even louder.

"In here, the bathroom," came Castle's weak voice. "I need your help."

Kate rushed to the bathroom door, flung it open and saw Castle, dressed in a shirt, struggling to button the fly of his pants. "Could you," he pleaded? "I haven't got this one handed thing down yet."

Kate grunted, half spun him around, hiked up his pants until she heard Castle yelp and then buttoned his fly.

"What was that for?"

"For scarring me half to death, I thought you were in real trouble. Come on out of there. Let's get you dressed." She grabbed his belt and started feeding it through the hops. As the leading edge of the belt got around to Castle's backside, Kate reached around with her other hand to help. Effectively, Kate was giving Castle a hug.

"I could get used to this," said Castle as his free hand came down and lightly held Kate to him.

"Don't get too used to it buster."

"Sweat pants for me I guess."

"Only for a couple of days, I don't want you becoming a House Troll."

"Me either, they're smelly and ugly and … and… But I may need some help."

"Ask properly and you shall receive."

Castle bent to kiss his wife and stopped. "It looks like I'm going to have to heal some first."

"Probably, agreed, Kate. "I'll wait," she said as she hugged Castle fiercely, which Castle returned the best he could.

"Now sit," Kate said pushing Castle into a chair. She fished around in Castle's bag of clothes from her cruiser that she had dropped off earlier and extracted a pair of socks and his shoes. "Left foot," she said, rolling the sock onto his foot. "Right foot." After putting on his sock, she tied his shoe in place and moved to do the same to his left foot.

"Missus Castle I trust," said a rich bass voice. "I'm Doctor Morrison."

"If not then this guy is in big trouble with his wife," laughed Kate as she finished tying Castles shoes, got off her knees and offered her hand to the Doctor. "I understand I can take him home with me?"

"Yes, just some paperwork to be signed. The wheel chair has already been called for. First the prescriptions have already been sent to your drug store. Here are the release forms and a recommended rehab schedule. "

"Tell me about the medicines," croaked Castle.

"Just two, an antibiotic and a heavy duty pain reliever, two days only with no refill."

Castle looked at Kate and shook his head. "Doctor we probably won't be picking the pain reliever up."

"Why? Oh, is it because you're a cop and can't have a substance like that in your house? It's there by prescription so it should be okay."

"No it's not that. You see one of my husband's deepest fears is getting hurt and becoming addicted to the pain medication."

"Not going to happen. The dosage isn't THAT heavy nor is the duration that long."

"Is there any reason why Castle can't take a drink?"

"Certainly not with the narcotic drug, but outside of that… What do you have in mind?"

"Prior to our son's birth we got a bottle of a hundred and fifty year old Napoleon Brandy as a gift. We decentered it. I know from personal experience that after a small slug of that stuff I was feeling no pain."

'Good to know," thought Castle with an inward smile. He remembered the day the bottle arrived. It came with a handwritten note and a chip from the Casino Royale. 'To celebrate the joys of parenthood,' the note began. 'Unfortunately I've often had to celebrate alone. Two days after the birth of your son at seven PM Eastern Time please raise a glass and join me as I drink to the health of your son and your beautiful wife.' Castle nodded, Brandy sounded like a good idea. He knew that he could control the alcohol. Earlier in his life he had spent a lot of time drunk, but he was never a drunkard. One other stop they would make on the way home was for another bottle and decanter. The present from his Dad was for special family occasions only.

"My husband knows he can control the alcohol Doctor, he's worried about the drugs."

"Brandy has often been used as a medicinal," smiled the Doctor. "The next two days are going to be fairly bad for him. How you guys handle it I'll leave it up to you. In two weeks he needs to see his own Doctor to get the stiches out and do a range of movement check. Again after a couple of days get him into rehabilitation routine. If the shoulder starts to atrophy then full recovery will be longer and a lot more painful."

"I'll see to it," said Kate. "We both know a thing or two about the joys of rehabilitation."

"I can see that," said the Doctor. "Mister Castle has a lot more scars than I would ever associate with a novelist."

"I'm making it my number one priority to see to it that this is his last time in surgery."

Everyone looked at the door when the volunteer with the wheel chair arrived. "Rides here Castle," quipped Kate. The trip from the recovery room to Beckett's cruiser was not without peril. Still camped out in the lobby and waiting for an interview were members of the press. Chief among them was the chief reporter for the 'About Town' section of the newspaper and the hostess of a similarly named three times a week TV show. Both of them had treated Castle extremely well in the past. Kate saw anger, grief sympathy, and finally relief wash across their faces as they looked at Castle. Castle reached up, grabbed Kate's hand and shook his head no.

"Guys," said Kate talking to the group, but only making eye contact with the two ladies, "Castle's had a very bad day. How about I have his Publicist call you and make some appointments in a couple of days." Kate's call for restraint didn't stop some of the reporters from shouting questions, which were ignored, or the photographers from taking pictures.

Chapter 10 The Chicken lays the egg (The next Monday)

Beckett waved to the busy Desk Sergeant as she passed by his desk on her way to the elevators, which would take her up to her second home in the Bull-pen. The days off had flown by. The first day or so was rough for Castle, but by Friday morning Castle was back to being Castle and by Sunday when her Dad came over to watch the NFL Conference Championships he was coping just fine. She had arrived a little early, primarily to be sure that everything on the McCormick Homicide was complete, and she promised Castle that she would call Perlmutter about the Parkers.

Entering the Bull-pen she was surprised to see Esposito and Ryan already here. When she glanced at the murder board she understood why. "You guys caught the Swanson case," she announced.

"Yeah," replied Esposito. "We're pretty sure who did it. We're still fuzzy on the why..."

"And the case has some complications that are close hold at the moment," added Ryan. "How's Castle?"

"His needy Lordship is back to being just Castle," Beckett replied. "Frustrated, the one-handed thing you know."

"Frustrated," repeated Esposito with a gleam suddenly in his eye. "Don't tell me you; ah you cut him off just because he only has one hand?"

Kate felt the blood rush to her cheeks. "Heavens no," she replied! Locking eyes with Esposito she continued. "Having a bum shoulder and only one hand does limit the playbook, but I assure you, last night he was spectacular."

"Too much information," coughed Ryan as the three broke into laughter.

'It's good to have close friends,' thought Kate, 'and good to be back.' Beckett stopped laughing we she recognized the people who just entered the Bull-pen. "What are they doing here," she hissed?

Ryan and Esposito followed her gaze. "Internal Affairs is one of the complicating factors on this case," said Esposito. "Their exact involvement is something we can't discuss right now."

"It's strictly case related," added Ryan. "They're not investigating us. They're here for a meeting."

"I'll leave it to you then," said Beckett as she continued to her desk stowed her coat and purse and logged onto the NYPD system. The only thing in the emails requiring a response was an invitation to lunch from November June for Thursday at the Appleby's near the hospital. After accepting Beckett turned her attention to the McCormick Homicide Case Files. Ryan and Esposito had done their usual thorough job in preparing the paperwork, but as the lead investigator, there were things she needed to complete.

The first one was uploading the recording that her DVR had made of Castle's and Sandra's conversation in the library. Once uploaded Kate emailed the ADA's to notify them of its existence, and Tech Services to ask for a transcription. 'Considering she confessed to the murders' thought Beckett. 'That should make the trial a grand slam.' Next Beckett dug in and completed the case paperwork. Glancing at her watch, Beckett decided to make a phone call she didn't want to make, but had promised Castle.

Beckett dialed a number from memory; "Perlmutter" was the response.

"Doctor, Detective Beckett, has there been a change in status on the Parker case?"

"Yeah, I'm putting down 'Natural Causes resulting from complications due to the flu."

"Okay, just checking…. Perlmutter, have we seen more cases like the Parkers?"

"No so far they are the only one."

"Drug interaction is out?"

"Yeah, the two prescriptions were perfect compliments and have no history of adverse interaction."

"Are we sure that the bottles contained the medicine identified on the label?"

"That sounds like a question the 'other' Beckett would ask. I'm sure I did that test, let me look….I can't seem to find the result. I know that they're your husband's friends…"

"Not really," replied Beckett. "Just people he knew and respected…. One of the things that I've learned about some of my husband's friends is the price of a favor. Perlmutter if you rerun the test and the result is negative then I'll buy you a bottle of whatever you're drinking. If not, then I have a case and remember I'm a Tennessee whiskey girl."

"Deal. It's something I should have done anyway. It's kind of slow right now. I've the results around lunch-time."

"Thanks Perlmutter," Beckett replied. After refreshing her coffee Beckett opened up "A Preliminary Bomb Damage Assessment Report," prepared by the Bomb Disposal Unit. The Conclusion was devastating. Sandra Bennett's placement of the bombs, either by luck or skill, probably would have resulted in the total destruction of the entire hospital and the deaths of all of the immobile patients and most of the hospital staff.

"The report you provided is comprehensive and scary," Beckett told Lieutenant Evans over the phone. "How releasable is it? Can I take it to the Hospital Administrator for instance and where do we go from here?"

"For public release, it's needs to be run through the PR guys. I really don't see an issue for them to withhold permission, but making the report public is something we don't ordinarily do. There is nothing wrong with giving the Hospital Administrator a complimentary copy without PR's approval, that's standard practice. They are the affected institution and I'm sure they will protect the contents of the report as well as do something about the vulnerabilities. As things go, this was a cheap vulnerability study .As to the next step, we have none."

"But the potential loss of life."

"I know, but according to our in house guy, the hospital has committed no code violations so we don't have any leverage to force a change. We can point out what would have happened, but we can't mandate any action. The only possible leverage is that of public opinion, and as you know that is something the NYPD doesn't meddle with. And as far as forcing them to construct a reasonable evacuation plan, that one would require a lot of other organizations to participate, like other hospitals, companies that provide ambulance services, fire and rescue, the city for traffic routing, both vehicular and airborne and who knows who else. I just don't know how to get it done. I think there is some kind of city or state organization that oversees these things, but I don't really know. "

"You know I know someone who could get me five minutes with the Mayor without breaking a sweat. He's also pretty good with shaping public opinion."

"Yeah, I think you do. Will he help?"

"I'll ask," Beckett replied before she hung up. On a whim she dialed Inspector O'Malley.

"Detective Beckett Sir, are you still flying top cover for me on the McCormick Case?"

"Yes," the Inspector replied. "What do you need?"

After providing a link to the report and parroting back the conclusion, Beckett revealed her concerns and plan. A half hour later the Inspector's email arrived. "Make the appointment, I'll be there… with friends." Beckett confirmed the appointment for Thursday, right before her lunch with November. Glancing around the Bull-pen she was surprised that Esposito and Ryan were still in the meeting with Internal Affairs. It took Beckett a split second more to decide to get a workout in before lunch and Perlmutters call.

When Beckett returned from her workout she was perturbed that Perlmutter had not called or emailed her. On a whim, as she was eating the salad she had packed for lunch, Beckett called home to check on her 'guys'. She was surprised when Amy answered Castle's phone. She laughed when Amy told her that both of her 'boys' had played hard, eaten their lunch and were taking their naps. The big kid was sleeping in his chair in front of the TV with either the History or the Nature channel on. The little one was securely tucked in and sleeping on the chest of the big one. "I've taken a picture using Castle's phone," Amy advised Kate.

"I'm envious," vocalized Kate. "Did Castle do any of his range of movement exercises?"

"Yes," replied Amy. "All of them. Twice. Between the two of us nagging him, his recovery will be a piece of cake. Speaking of cake do you need anything from the store? I got Castle's list this morning."

"No, I'm good. Wait, see if we have enough tea and honey and tell Castle I'll bring home dinner. I've had the Golden Dragoon on my mind all morning."

"Okay I will. See you later."

Kate was walking back from the Break Room with a fresh cup of coffee when Doctor Perlmutter called.

"Perlmutter," said Beckett. "What's the word?"

"I'm sorry Detective."

"That's okay. Just tell me what you're drinking and I'll settle my bet."

"I'm sorry Detective. You're going to have to tell your husband that his friends were murdered."

"How," whispered Beckett, as she gingerly sat down in her chair.

"Someone swapped out the medicines."

"Both of them?"

"Yeah. Whoever did it knew what they were doing. Someone with some pharmacology knowledge removed the original medicines and replaced them with a pair of drugs that don't play well together. There is some comfort though. The pair of medicines interacts, slows and eventually stops the heart. So the death was painless. I can't believe I missed the chemical tell-tales in the autopsy."

"Send over the details, I'll open up the investigation."

"Sure thing Tennessee-whiskey-girl," replied Perlmutter.

Beckett called Tech Services and told them to start processing the collect from the Palmer Apartment. Next she pulled over a clean white board and started populating it with the information from her notes. Glancing at her Dad's watch Beckett nodded, grabbed her coat and purse and headed toward the elevators.

"Ma'am," asked the doorman at the former Palmer residence?
"I need to go the Parker Apartment," replied Beckett.

"It's a private, family affair, and forgiving me for saying this, but you aren't family."

"You're right. I'm Detective Beckett," said Kate making her badge visible to the doorman. "And unfortunately this is Official Business. Why don't you call ahead so Mr. Palmer isn't surprised?"

"Sorry Detective I should have recognized you."

"No harm in trying to protect your people," said Beckett distractedly. "No harm at all."

Mr. Palmer was waiting outside the door to his parents' apartment when Beckett got off the elevator. The redness of his eyes was the only thing that Beckett noticed.

"Detective?"

"I'm sorry for your loss, and I'm sorry to inform you that the death of your parents has been ruled a homicide."

"But the ME gave us a 'Natural Causes' Death Certificate."

"That was before he reran a couple of tests. He called be with the status change a bit after one pm."

"Intentions?"

"Inform you of the status change in person and notify you that a murder investigation is now open."

"Thought so. Come inside we're almost done with the family gathering. You can explain the situation to them."

When Beckett entered the almost crowded music room she saw a young girl with a tear-stained face playing the piano, and she was playing beautifully, until the very last. "And that was the last song Grandma and I played together," her voice cracked. Getting off-of the bench she hurried into the embrace of a woman who looked like a much younger version of Penny Parker. 'Danny and Julie' thought Beckett.

Beckett watched as a young man and woman seated themselves at the twin pianos. "This piece is one of the new ones she wrote for the POPS. It's entitled 'Ticket Gate,' said the young man.

"The whole work for the POPS was about attending a baseball game," said the woman. "This piece is about a pair of people joining the crowd as it's being funneled through the ticket gates and then follows them as they walk to their seats greeting vendors and friends alike along the way." To Kate, a lifelong Yankees fan, and someone who has made that walk many times, the piece was perfect.

After the polite applause had ended Mister Parker spoke up. "Teresa, why don't you take the kids into the kitchen and get started on the cake and ice cream? Can I have everyone else remain here for a moment? This is Detective Beckett and she has a couple of things to say."

"Go on Mano," said Danny talking to a man of obvious Hawaiian ancestry, "help Teresa. I'll be in in a minute. Remember more ice cream than cake for Julie." Julie looked up, grabbed her father's hand and led him toward the kitchen.

'Ah kids and ice cream' thought Beckett as she remembered the last time her 'big' kid just had to have a banana split. Of course she helped him eat it. Oh the sacrifices, remembered Kate.

"Sorry for your loss," Beckett began after the kids had left the room. "It's my unpleasant duty to inform you that there has been a status change in regards to the death of your parents. The ME had thought they died from natural causes due to complications from the flu. Now he is sure they were murdered. The NYPD will be opening up an investigation and I will lead it. I read in the paper over the weekend that you would be celebrating your parent's lives here today so I thought I would come over and tell you in person."

"Why didn't he find out earlier," asked Danny with some heat?

"I asked him to rerun a couple of tests. When the results came back, he reconfirmed the results. Your parents were murdered."

"That's not even a good excuse," added Danny hotly.

"Look," said Beckett as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I only got to meet your parents socially a couple of times. The last time was at the charity event for the music conservatory over the holidays, and I liked them. My husband…my husband both respected and admired them. He respected them as professionals and admired how they gave back to the community. He thought that your parent's love story was the stuff of legend and exemplified all that is good about New Yorkers. Tonight…tonight I'm going to have to tell him that people he admired did not pass naturally."

"Sorry," said Danny softly. "Murdered… a week wasted. How did they die?"

Beckett thought for a long while before answering. "They died peaceably in their sleep. Someone swapped out the medications and the reaction caused their hearts to slow down and eventually stop."

"Shit!" Exclaimed Mr. Parker, "That means that…"

"Yes," said Beckett. "Those people with access to the apartment form the immediate suspect list."

"I can see that. Is there anything else I can help with?"

"Yes. Several things in fact. You can help me prepare the list of people who have or had access."

"Done."

"Next either tomorrow or the next day I would like to walk through this place again."

"Let me give you my cell phone and the land line number to this place," said Danny. "We're staying here. A little creepy I admit, but it's better than a hotel, Julie can still practice, and if it's occupied people won't try to rob it."

"Thanks I appreciate it. The next thing I need is the name of your father's attorney."

"Why? Oh the Will, of course. Dad's attorney is the same as mine, Ted Smith. I'll give him a call to tell him to expect you and inform him as the Executor of the estate I waive privilege. Danny you okay with that?"

"Sure."

"The last thing that I know I need is interview you and your wife. "

"Call my secretary. ALL of my events are on the calendar. Find a place and a time, either at the office or at home," said Mister Parker.

"Call before you come over," added Missus Parker. "That way you won't waste a trip."

"Thanks. Again I'm sorry for your loss. I need to head back to the precinct. I need to make appointments with your fathers partners and people who knew your Mom at Julliard's and at the POPS."

"Before you go Detective, how is your husband," asked Missus Palmer? "My brother is a surgeon and has privileges at Mercy General. The rumor mill has Castle preventing the destruction of the hospital."

"The broken clavicle is slowing him down. He's copping and coming along fine. I know for a fact that he has included a one-handed character in his idea book, whether her uses it or not in one of his stories I have no idea. And you're right about the Hospital. If Castle hadn't provided the bomb squad with the information they needed to find and disarm the weapons, the hospital would probably have been completely destroyed."
"Let me walk you out," offered Mister Parker.

Back at the precinct Beckett made appoints with the deceased business partners, the Dean at Julliard's, and the Director of the POPS. At the case review at the end of the day, Beckett learned why IA was so involved in the Swanson case. The prospect frightened her.

Chapter 11 Ugly Duckling (Wednesday)

Beckett slammed the dumbbells back on the rack with a bit too much force.

"Hey now, what did the dumbbells do to you," asked Sargent Hollingsworth, a thirty-year veteran and one of the precincts most decorated officers, and currently serving as one of the Watch Sergeants?

"Sorry," she said apologetically. "They didn't answer my question," she continued sheepishly.

"They never do," he chuckled. "You need to practice on your technique."

"Yeah," chuckled Beckett. "I guess I do."

"Case problems?"

"Yeah, that obvious?"

"Need to talk it out?"

"My husband is meeting me for lunch."

"He'll do," agreed Hollingsworth with a nod.

That last day and a half had not been productive by any stretch of the imagination. The interviews with Mister Parker's Partners had not revealed anything new. Sure there was jealousy, egos, competition, and office intrigue, but the bottom line was no one had a reason to kill Mister Parker.

The interviews at Julliard and the POPS went along the same vein. Penny Parker was liked by all of the other teachers, demanded technical perfection from her students, which they expected and did their best to deliver. All of the students that Kate had interviewed thought Penny Parker was an excellent teacher, an inspiration for anyone who took the time to learn her story and they admired her for challenging the students to be technically good but also maintaining their creativity. Beckett's interview with the Director of the POPS gave Beckett no new information. Sure Penny parker was demanding as a Conductor. All good Conductors are, but she treated everyone like adults and they respected that and reciprocated. The POPS management was intrigued by her proposal for the theme of the summer session, and after she played the first two works for them, they closed the deal.

The interview with Mister and Missus Parker was a replay of the interview they had last week with Mister Parker. Also their alibi for Friday afternoon and early Friday evening was rock solid.

This left her with no suspects and no motive, not a situation that Beckett enjoyed. Then there was the forensic evidence, or lack thereof.

Despite being ill, the two of them had been relatively active on their cell phones and laptops. Wednesday and Thursday morning their activity was spotty, but Thursday afternoon and Friday they seemed to have recovered enough to rejoin the world. The last outgoing email from Mister Parker was around five pm on Friday. It was his weekly market assessment report which formed a part of the Newsletter that Castle read every Monday morning. Missus Parker's last two emails went out on Friday around three-thirty to the Vice-Dean stating that she most definitely will be able to teach on Monday, and to the Directory to the POPS proposing a rehearsal schedule.

This gave her a timeline. Both of the Parkers were feeling pretty good prior to dinner on Friday night. If they took the medicine with their food around dinner time they would have died in their sleep four to six hours later, which was consistent with Doctor Perlmutter's findings. The open question was who changed out the medicine and when, because right now the window of opportunity appeared to be from after lunch to before dinner on Friday afternoon. Which is all well and good, except the security system did not show the door even being opened on Friday? Beckett had already contacted the Security firm for a copy of the company logs for the Parker apartment. They were due after lunch. 'Hopefully they will shed some light on the problem,' she thought. "Hope is not a viable investigation technique," Kate repeated for the zillionth time.

"What I got," verbalized Beckett as she sat in front of her locker, "is someone they trusted being in the apartment on Friday afternoon. That person swapped out the medicine, then maybe someone else or the same person, with access, showed up on Saturday to wipe the system? But who? And where did the new drugs come from?" Beckett sat lost in thought with her head in her hands trying to figure out her next steps when her thoughts were interpreted by the buzzing of her phone.

" Desk- w r u," was Castle's text.

"Gym – shower"

"Company!"

"2 nite," texted a smiling Kate!

"Tease," was Castle's immediate reply.

Castle leaned against Beckett's desk and walked through the information on the murder board. It didn't take him long to come to the same conclusion on the timeline as Beckett. He nodded in agreement as he read the 'TO-DO' list Beckett had attached to the board with a sticky note. "This person has skills," he verbalized, "or friends with skills," he corrected. "The suspect has Pharmacology, and Security system wiping knowledge, and access to the apartment. Let's hope that the Security Firm kept a separate access log. Also we need to do some video reviewing of Friday and Saturday's activity and interview the doorman again. I wonder if the elevators are covered by the cameras. … But the biggest question remains, why kill them?"

"Ah Mister Castle," said a familiar, surprised, but otherwise friendly voice. "It's good to see you up and about. What brings you to my house?" He must feel better than her looks, thought the Captain. The cuts on Castle's face did not require stitches and were healing nicely and probably would not leave a scar, but the bruising was there and like autumn leaves on a maple tree, were just reaching their peak color intensity.

"Lunch Sir," said Castle as he turned to face Captain Gates. His eyes narrowed when he recognized the Internal Affairs personnel with the Captain and Esposito and Ryan. "I've got a couple of appointments downtown," he continued in a level voice, "and Beckett said she would be free for lunch. So…."

"Good to see you out an about," replied the Captain as she walked with the IA people toward the elevator.

"What's that all about," Castle asked Ryan after the Captain and the IA party had entered the elevators.

"Sorry, we really can't tell you," said Ryan shrugging his shoulders. "Its case related and something the Department doesn't want to make public right now."

"Felling okay," asked Esposito? "Because you look like hell bro. You do have this nice raccoon thing going," he said pointing at his eyes.

"Yeah. Right now my face only hurts when I look at it. That's why I shaved with my eyes closed this morning."

"Arm?"

"Shoulder is a constant annoying ache, and that's slowly going away. Your case?"

"Not much to tell. We know who, why and how. We got an APB out and eyes on all of their known spots. It's just a matter of time before their spotted and we scoop them up."

All eyes turned toward the entrance of the Bull-pen when they heard the rhythmic tapping of boots on the floor. It only took a heartbeat for all of them to recognize Kate's walking pattern. "Hey Castle," she said with a smile only subdued by the location. "Ready? Let me get my coat and purse."

"What about us," asked Esposito? "We eat lunch too."

"Unless it's a family thing," said Ryan quickly.

"It's a POLICE family thing," confirmed Beckett. "And you guys are always welcome."

"Suggestions?"

"Misty Blue's on 15th," offered Esposito immediately.

"You just want to say 'hi' to your new sweetie, "chided Ryan with a grin.

"So?"

"We'll meet you there," laughed Beckett.

Misty Blue's was the name of the sixth restaurant that had tried to make it in this location. The new owners had not changed the basic layout, medium size centrally located bar, a large main room to the left of the bar containing twenty plus tables and a smaller room containing five booths and five tables. The major change appeared to be in the fact that the new owner had carved up some space for live entertainment, a trio or quartet perhaps, and they simplified the menu to contain only quickly turned basics, burgers fries, soups, salads and hot sandwiches. The lunch quickly turned into a discussion of Kate's case when Esposito remembered that Wednesday was one of the days when his new girl had afternoon classes at NYU and Castle revealed that his appointments were with Sandra Bennett's Defense Attorney and ADA Rhoades. "I want permission to write Sandra's husband's and daughter's story," said Castle. "But I don't want to contaminate the jury pool. That's why I'm giving the office of the District Attorney and the Defense Attorney the opportunity to stop publication until after the trail is concluded. The City suffered a tragedy when Pamela died. I want to prevent that from happening again, but I don't want a killer to walk."
"Babe," said Kate softly. "I hope your story can find the proper balance."

Castle had just placed enough cash on the tray to cover the check when Esposito's phone rang. "19th and Long in Murray Hill," he repeated. "One of the units just saw them go into the warehouse there. Come on."

"Where are you going Castle," demanded Kate as Rick jumped up and joined them in the rush for the front door?
"With you. Look I'll stay in the car with the doors locked and pretend to be invisible, but…"

Kate wanted Castle safe and she also wanted him by her side. She knew she couldn't have both, but Castle in the cruiser was definitely better than no Castle at all. "Come on then, and you only come out when I call you."

"Deal"

When the Detectives arrived on the scene a single uniformed Officer was waiting for them outside the entrance to the warehouse. "Detectives good, we have one unit in the alley behind the place to keep an eye on the rear exit and another to the south to cover that exit. Sargent Lloyd took a …."

Bam…Bam…Bam…Bam

"Shots fired this location, call it in," demanded Beckett as she broke into a trot to follow Esposito and Ryan. "And stay here to co-ordinate the perimeter."

Castle was standing beside Beckett's cruiser when he heard the shots. He had just finished struggling into his blue Writer's Vest and had taken several steps toward the warehouse before he stopped. "Be safe love," he whispered before resigning himself to the passenger's seat.

On a silent count of three Ryan opened the door and Esposito took a quick look inside before returning to the street side of the door. "One officer down," he grimaced. "The other two are to our right and behind some crates. There is cover straight ahead and some more cover to our left. "

"Where is the biggest block of cover," asked Beckett?

"Straight ahead. Let Kevin and I head in that direction. You take the pile of creates to the left."

"Okay. Let's announce ourselves on the way in. I don't want to be shot by friendly fire, and the announcement of backup may make the bad guys reconsider their position."

"NYPD" they all yelled as they flowed into the warehouse.

"Good Detectives you're here. Look they are at my ten o'clock. Provide covering fire so we can move in. Ready NOW."

The trio of Detectives sprang to action as the team in Blue moved forward to another area of cover provided by creates on pallets. Instead of ducking behind cover Beckett watched the situation. She watched muzzle flashes from a pair of guns almost directly in front of her and another muzzle flash from a single gun at her two o'clock. "There are two groups in here," she yelled out. "A pair at my twelve o'clock and a single shooter at my two o'clock." She watched as both groups of hostiles fired again and then faded deeper into the warehouse. Crouching behind cover she heard sounds of boxes hitting the floor. 'Their making the terrain slower and more difficult,' thought Kate.

"Guys," Kate called out.

"Follow me," yelled one of the Officers in Blues as he fired and moved forward. To her horror she watched Esposito and Ryan scurry forward.

"Guys," yelled Kate again, "too much warehouse too few cops."

"We got this," replied Javier. "Take care of the wounded and lead in the reinforcements."

"Shit," Kate verbalized.

Over the radio Castle heard. "Officer down at the warehouse at Long and 19th. Need EMTs. Request SWAT assistance. Castle, bring the first aid kit from the trunk and meet me by the door."
In a flash Castle turned off the cruiser, pocketed the keys, retrieved the kit and was on his way to the warehouse door. On his way there he was passed by a speeding Blue and White. Hastings and Stevens popped out of the cruiser and ran toward the door ahead of Castle. Castle entered the door and found Becket sitting beside a wounded officer and talking to the Hastings and Stevens.

"Castle, see what you can do before the medics get here. I'm heading in."

Castle looked at the enormity of the warehouse and shook his head. "Too big. Recall those guys, cover the exits and let SWAT handle it."
"Ryan and Espo are in there."

"Recall them."

Bam…Bam…Bam…Bam

"1911's and Glocks," said Sargent Stevens.

"Recall them Kate," Castle pleaded.

Bam…Bam…Bam…Bam

"Probably too late Castle," said Kate as she turned and darted to the first batch of cover, followed immediately by Officer Hastings.

"Guys," yelled Castle. "At least try to be the hunter not the hunted."

"You mean huntresses," replied Beckett. "And we will." For a brief moment, Castle had the vision of two Siberian Tigers, the alpha female taking her daughter out for a hunt.

"Officer Norris," said Castle looking at the prone Officer in front of him. "It looks like you have a through-and-through on your leg. I'm going to clean the wound sites, apply some disinfectant and apply a pressure bandage. That should help keep the warehouse out and your blood in." Castle looked at the abdominal wound and locked eyes with Sargent Stevens. "It appears that the bullet pierced your vest and entered your abdomen. The only thing I think I can do is clean the area and prevent further contamination by lightly bandaging it. That should hold you until the EMTs get here."

"Castle I'm going to send the kid from the street in to watch your back. Even though your behind cover here I don't like it one bit."

"Yeah, sure," said Castle distractedly.

Sergeant Stevens looked down. Castle was using both of his hands to cut away part of the Officers pants, and he knew for a fact that that had to hurt. "Why is it,' he thought as he made his way outside, 'that some civilians have a better grasp of tactics than the so called professionals. I don't know the name of the Sergeant that lead the charge, but we're going to have a little talk.'

Castle flinched each time he heard gunfire. 'The gunfire isn't the problem,' he thought. 'It's what will I do if I hear bad news on the radio.'

Beckett called a halt at the second piece of cover. She tucked her badge under her mock turtleneck and re-laced her vest. Next she jumped up and down and frowned at the clatter. "That won't do," she muttered disconnecting her combat baton and trying again. "Much better."

Kate looked over at Hastings. She had taken off her hat, tightened her belt, repositioned the handcuffs in their container and dropped her night stick. "No noise," she grinned.

"Castle's right," Beckett whispered. "This place is way too big." On one of their last trips to their house in the Hamptons they had gone to one of the huge home improvement – hardware stores. This place was only slightly smaller than that. Beckett reached into a pocket and extracted her phone. After starting an App, she dialed a number from memory. A couple of key presses later the display showed two dots. "This is us," she told Hasting, "and this is Espos phone."

According to the App, Espos phone was maybe one-hundred and fifty feet to the east of them and to their left by another fifty feet to their left. It looked like Espo and Ryan where moving to Beckett's right.

"They should pass in front of us," said an excited Hastings.

"Right. We'll move up and cover their back. Let me tell them we're coming." Beckett texted, 'on hunt, trk ur fone, moving to ur 6'

'Rodger' was the answer.

As the pair moved out Beckett walked on the left side of the aisle, as close to the boxes and crates as she could, and Hastings walked on the right. At each aisle intersection they stopped. They would crouch down and peek around the corner, nod to each other and move on up. It wasn't long before they spotted the boys several intersections in front of them. To Kate it appeared they were following something, because they didn't check the aisle and moved slowly across the throat, maximizing their exposure.

Beckett and Hastings where still crouching when, two intersections away, the suspects rapidly and silently crossed the aisle they were on without looking. "We got them" one of the suspects whispered.

"Yeah, three more rows and Sandi starts shooting, they hole up and we take them down from behind. Piece of cake,' whispered the other.

Beckett reached for her phone but stopped when the shooting started. They ran, speed was more important than stealth. Beckett stopped and looked down the aisle the suspects had used. They were just turning up an isle that would put them behind her guys.

"Come on," she whispered. "There three rows ahead of us. Let's cross so we can get an angle to see down the aisle. If need be I have the target on the left." Beckett and Hasting ran turned the corner crossed to the other side and in a crouch scurried toward Ryan and Esposito. Beckett stopped and assumed a kneeling firing position when she could see a bit into the aisle the bad guys were coming up. She felt exposed, but the intel was the intel. Glancing to her left she spotted Ryan and Esposito, maybe fifty feet away, crouching behind a crate that had been left in the middle of the aisle. 'It's a trap', concluded Beckett. 'From this distance it will be like shooting fish in a barrel.' Movement in the aisle attracted her attention.

"NYPD drop your weapons," screamed both Beckett and Hastings when both shooters came into view.

"Get them," shouted one of the shooters as he turned to face Beckett and Hastings!

Beckett fired four shots in rapid succession and watched her target fall. She switched her focus to Hasting's target, but he too was slumping to the ground. She was aware that the suspects had fired four rounds. "You hit?"

"No," replied Hastings in a weak voice.

"Get under cover," Kate whispered as she ran over to check on the suspects. "Sandi," Beckett called out, "These two are dead. Drop your weapon and surrender."

"Noo," wailed a female voice followed immediately by gunshots. Kate snuck a peek. Sandi had two guns and was charging Esposito and Ryan. They were keeping their heads down. She would be right on top of them before they could react. Kate lined up the shot. It was a lot longer than the shots she normally took on the firing range, paused and squeezed the trigger.

"She's down," yelled Kate. "But approach her with caution; she may still have a gun."

"Dispatch, this is one Mary fourteen," said Kate's cool and calm voice. "Be advised that the incident at the warehouse on 19th and Long has been resolved. You can cancel the request for SWAT assistance. We need EMT transport for four people. We have three Officers down and one wounded suspect. Also be advised that we have two customers for the ME. There has been an Officer involved shooting so we will need a Commanders Incident Response Team. Over."

"Copy all One Mary Fourteen. Original two EMT's show that they are less than two minutes out. Two additional have been called. A CIRT was anticipated and already in route. ETA two-zero minutes. SWAT ETA thirty plus. Over."

"One Mary Fourteen confirm the SWAT cancel. Over."

"Roger, One Mary Fourteen. Will cancel the SWAT call."

Less than a minute later, Castle's cell rang. "I'm okay Babe," said a soft, slightly shaky, but oh so cherished voice.

"Good," hushed Castle. "The two…"

"Not from the 12th."

"Good….Shit I mean…"

"Me too, you're forgiven."

"How are they?"

"I don't know. I don't even know where they are. Yours?"

"Shockey," said Castle locking eyes with Officer Norris. "It sounds like the EMTs are here so I don't need to offer to help with the others. As soon as they get him off of this cold floor and starting topping of his tank the better off he will be. I'm no expert on abdominal wounds, but I think he's going to make it with no complications. No sweat. …The ME customer, yours?"

"Yeah and Hastings."

"How is she?"

"Too hyper. I'll help bring her back to earth.

"Just remember I've only got one good shoulder, and a certain lady has dibs."

"YOU remember that….Castle there's a Team coming and…"

"As soon as the EMTs take care of Officer Norris I'll hide in your cruiser. Bye love the EMTs are here."

"Love you Babe."

"What do we have," asked a burly EMT.

"Through-and-through on the leg. I cleaned the entrance and exit sites and applied a pressure dressing to both areas. Abdominal hit. All I did was clean the site and cover with a bandage to prevent further contamination. "

"Let's get him on the gurney and to the hospital. We can start an IV on the way."

On his way to Kate's cruiser, Castle told Sargent Stevens that Hastings was uninjured and had killed the other shooter.

Castle awoke with a start. Kate was pounding on the driver's side window.

"After lunch power nap," she teased.

"Yeah that plus an adrenalin crash, and the relief that the love of my life was unharmed… Let me see Badge and Gun. It appears that one of us is still gainfully employed. "

Castle watched Kate's hands tighten on the steering wheel. "It didn't take them long to declare it a good shoot. Then they ripped us a new one for our complete disregard for the tactical situation."

"Pride, esprit de corps, over confidence, and personal attachments can cloud tactical judgment. "

"Almost word for word what the Team said," Beckett confirmed. "We may lose a guy," said Beckett softly. "At last word one of the uniforms was still in 'Grave' condition." Beckett slowly eased the cruiser into traffic and headed back to the 12th.

Castle spoke up as they neared the station, "When we get back you need to take the first aid kit and get it topped off and I need to wash and change."

Kate glanced at her blood splattered husband. "You need to learn to be less messy," she teased.

"What I hope is never to do this again."

Kate reached out grabbed and squeezed Castle's hand, hard. The words were one thing, and the subtext that Castle didn't want Kate as patient came through loud and clear.

A clean and freshly attired Castle exited the elevator and entered the Bull-pen. "Where's Beckett?" He asked a subdued Ryan and Esposito.

"In the Ladies Room with Hastings," said Esposito.

"They been in there a while," offered Ryan.

Castle turned, looked behind him and started off in the direction of the Ladies Room.

"You don't think," whispered Ryan.

"Castle IS Castle bro," was Esposito's equally whispered reply.

Castle paused at the door to the Ladies Room. No one was in sight. Taking a deep breath he opened the door walked in and stopped before he rounded the corner into the ladies Room proper. "Kate, are you in here? You okay?"

The door of the elevator had just opened just wide enough for Captain Gates to see Castle enter the Ladies Room. 'What in the hell is he up to,' asked Captain Gates as she charged in pursuit.

"Castle? What are you doing here? I'm okay. I wasn't hit."

"I know that's why I'm not at the hospital. It's the nonphysical side of Kate I'm checking on." In the background he heard someone with the dry heaves.

"Is that you Hastings? You okay?"

"Better," came the tortured response.

Castle heard the outside door open, ignored it and refused to look. "Listen Hastings," he said in a soft and gentle voice. "The taking of a life affects everyone and everyone handles it differently. How you handle it is up to you, but you need to handle it. We both know that the streets are dangerous enough as it is and every time you go out there you need to be on your 'A' game. If you're not on your 'A' game then deep shit could happen. One of the big things you need to realize is that you don't have to face this alone. How you handle it is most definitely you, but others can help you find your path. Kate for one. Your partner for another, and of course Captain Gates. Don't forget the Department has shrinks on staff. They know what you're going through and they sincerely want to help you find your solution. They really are pretty good. Kate and I went to them for couples counseling after she lost her mind and said yes."

"Castle," warned Kate in a tone that promised other, more pleasant things.

"Want to know how Kate handles it?...I'm sure you saw her stoic game face after the event. In a little bit that facade will crack and she will become a wild woman. She we will howl and scream at the world and she will ask the world why the person she shot had to be so stupid. Why couldn't they just surrender? Eventually the howling stops and the tears start. When they do I try to make sure that I'm there for her and to remind her that she's human. Eventually the crying stops and she says two prayers. One asking for forgiveness and the other is her normal daily prayer asking for help in protecting the people who need protecting. I know the words to her prayers by heart, but they're Kate's prayers and I completely respect that. After the prayers I know my Kate is my Kate again and I don't worry about her. Well no more than normal."

"This time I'm a little worried. You see in the 'All Male Handbook', Chapter Seventeen – Daddy's Duties is the chapter title I think, it says that the only tears a child should see on his Mother's face is tears of joy. I'm going to do my best to make sure that happens."

"You are going to have to show me the book sometime," whispered Kate.

"Even if I did, you wouldn't be able to understand it. It's a chromosome thing."

"A chromosome thing," scoffed Kate. She loved her husband even more for wanting to be there for her and wanting to protect James as well.

"Anyway Hastings I'd offer you a shoulder except I'm down to only one and that is reserved for the exclusive use of my Lady. Also if Kate saw us she might overreact before I had time to explain. I'm sure she'll buy the explanation, but I really don't want to put myself into a situation where I have to explain. Lastly, you already have a guy with two perfectly good shoulders. "

"I'm not sure he would understand," said Hastings.

"Bullshit," said Castle softly. "I know from experience that you womenfolk underestimate the sensitivity of the male of the species, especially when it concerns the people we love. He'll be there for you." 'If not I'll kick his ass,' thought Castle.

"Maybe," offered Hastings.

"One last thing. Your solution, no matter what it is, or who you used to help make it, must be permanent and leave you free from doubt. Because the next time the world puts Officer Hastings in a situation where lethal force is required to preserve life, she must be able to respond quickly, accurately, and with a clear conscious. Indecisiveness can lead to hesitation and hesitation to disaster. Disaster not only for her, perhaps her partner, and maybe to the people she has vowed to protect. Remember you don't have to face this alone."

"Castle, have you ever killed anyone," asked Hastings in a soft voice.

Castle paused for several long moments before continuing. "Several children whose parents were working on a movie broke into the props trailer one night. We found and started playing with a prop gun. It went off and one of us died. It was ruled an accident, and the only way I'm going to talk any more about it is if someone gets me falling down drunk. I haven't been that drunk since I first starting dating Kate. She's worth the life-style change."

"I see, thanks. That helps a lot," replied Hasting in a clear and strong tone.

"Castle you had better go."

"Go-go, like go home?"

"Don't you dare leave without me," replied Kate quickly. "No go before someone sees you. I'd hate for them to kick you to the curb because of a trumped up morals charge."

Castle turned and looked at Captain Gates, and she was smiling. "I used all of my ninja skills to come in here. I 'm sure no one saw me. I'll use them when I leave. I'll be in the break room."

Captain Gates opened the door and preceded Castle into the corridor. "Mister Castle, there are times you piss me off so badly that I just want to strangle you. Other times you surprise me and redeem yourself. What you tried to do for Hastings was…"

"What friends do."

"More than that."

"Truth be known, I went in there for Kate. You don't think a gender based placard or a set of doors is going to stop me do you? Hastings was a freebie."

'No,' thought Captain Gates, 'where Kate is concerned the fact that she is a continent away and surrounded by an army would just be an inconvenience.' "Even so that was a first class counseling session Mister Castle. It was sensitive, personal, on point, I think you reached her, and I thank you for that."

"Thank you Sir."

Castle wasn't surprised to find Sargent Stevens sitting at a table in the Break Room with a half full cup of probably cold coffee in front him. "Warm up yours," offered Castle after he had poured himself a cup?

"Nah," replied the Sargent. "Warming it up would mean throwing this away and getting a fresh cup. I would take a sip to be polite and then it would just grow cold like this one. No I'm good."

"Mind if I join you."

"No. How's my girl?"

"She's with my girl," replied Castle immediately. "That's not an answer," he admitted as he moved into a chair beside the Sargent. "I think she's going to be okay."

"What did you talk about?"

"I told her that shootings affect everybody. That she needed to cope and fine her balance and that she wasn't alone."

"That and more," said Captain Gates as she moved into the Break Room to refill her coffee cup. "Castle conducted a first class counseling session that I think Hastings responded to. I shouldn't have to ask…"

"I'll look after her," replied Stevens and Castle simultaneously.

"Kate," said Castle pointing to himself with a chuckle.

"Hastings," confirmed the Sargent with a grin. 'And Beckett if she needs it when you're not around' he thought.

"Good, I'll leave it to you then," said the Captain with a grin as she hustled back to her office.

"Some partners, huh," observed Beckett as she and Hastings walked into the Break Room. "Here they are drinking coffee instead of doing their share of the chores."

'The best, both of them,' thought Hastings.

Castle looked form Kate's red-eyed puffy face to the look of determination on Hastings and back. 'It looks like she had her cry' he thought, and I wasn't there for her. Castle's fears subsided when Kate gifted him with her special smile. On reflex he stood up when Hastings approached, but nothing prepared him for the kiss he received.

"Don't worry Mister Castle I pre-cleared that with your boss."

"That's good to know," Rick replied immediately, "Because she is in the room and watching us. Need I remind you she has a gun and knows how to use it?" Castle saw Hastings eyes flash for a second. "Sorry" he muttered. "Too soon?"

"Yeah, but it's okay. You see I've decided that it's okay to shot strangers before they kill my friends. Besides I don't think Kate would kill you. Slap you around absolutely. Kill you no."

"Come on partner," said Hastings. "I think I have a ton and a half of paperwork to do."

"Mostly done," replied Sargent Stevens as he stood up. "You need to read it to be sure I got the details stated the way you want them and you need to put in the exact count of ammo expended, but it shouldn't take us more than ten minutes."

"You see," said Beckett, her eyes sparkling. "Real partners help their partners with all things, including the simple ones like paperwork."

Castle's answering glare was ferocious and affected Kate no in the least.

"Appointments," asked Beckett after Hastings and Stevens had left.

"Moved to tomorrow morning."

"Come with?"

"Always. Where we going?"

"Mister Parker's lawyer and back to their apartment to look around. I feel I've missed something. Let me get my stuff."

When they entered the Bull-pen, the area around Esposito's and Ryan's desk was crowded with excited people.

"The warehouse," Beckett asked Ryan when she got close enough to speak comfortably?

"A gold mine," he confirmed. "When CSU processed the place they noticed a broken create. It contained guns."

"They got a Warrant and we found a lot more guns," added Esposito. "I'm heading down there to help with the collect, specifically the 'TO' names and address."

"I've got another Warrant and I'm heading over to talk with the owner of the warehouse," added Ryan.

"Congrats guys," said Beckett enthusiastically. "If the addresses are out of state then you probably are going to need some ATF help."

"We're meeting with ATF and FBI tomorrow."

"Can someone tell me what the great secret is," asked Castle. "After all I know that the bad guys were using armor piercing rounds, but that can't be it."

"The ammo is bothersome," said Captain Gates when she got a 'no' headshake form Beckett, "but what is really causing us to lose sleep is the source of the guns."

"Source of the guns," Castle repeated slowly. "A lot of meetings with Internal Affairs," he verbalized. "That makes me think that the guns were stolen from the NYPD, from the evidence room perhaps, or from older cases."

"That would be an infield single," said Kate.

"I hate baseball analogies," muttered Castle.

"Right idea, short on vision," confirmed Gates. "The Department has paperwork that shows us that the guns used in the Swanson case were destroyed five years ago."

"Not only that," said Ryan. "But guns that were reported destroyed last month are showing up on the street."

"Wow," said Castle. "I see what you mean. This could be a PR disaster. With the warehouse bust, it looks like you got the distribution end sewed up."

"I don't know if the warehouse owner is part of the management chain or just an innocent businessman, but that's my next stop. You available," Esposito asked Beckett. "We could use another set of eyes on this stuff."

"Unless the Captain reprioritizes, Castle and I are heading out on the Parker case."

"Continue on," said the Captain. "We may try to steal some of your time tomorrow. "

"Yes Sir. Come on Castle."

Neither Becket nor Castle were surprised that Ted Smith, Mister Parker's lawyer, worked for one of the oldest and most prestigious law firms in the city, nor that the offices was downtown. The building directory credited the firm with using fifteen floors and that all visitors should go to the forty-seventh floor.

"Ah," said one of the receptionists when they entered the controlled chaos that was the reception area. "Detective Beckett, Mister Castle, let me tell Shelly you've arrived."

"I can validate your Parking Ticket," offered another.

Castle looked at the third and was sure that between the three of them, they could turn a hurricane into a gentle spring rain or cause a hurricane to appear on a moment's notice.

"Fifty-second floor," advised the first receptionist. "Shelly will meet you when you get off the elevator."

Waiting for them when they got off of the elevator was an athletic looking, medium height brunette whose green eyes flashed over them and seemed to catch every detail. Kate smiled to herself. Shelly's business outfit was something Missus Castle, not Detective Beckett would wear.

"Detective Beckett, Mister Castle I'm Shelly Jones. I'm the associate for Mister Smith that is handling the Parker Will. His office is this way. Follow me please. Did you find a parking place okay…"

Castle tuned out Shelly and Kate trading small talk and tried to absorb the atmosphere. 'Old money' he thought, 'and fresh hunger. Great combination, this place will be successful as long as they can maintain that mix.' He wasn't surprised when Shelly led them to a private meeting room in a corner office. Waiting for them was Ted Smith.

"Detective Beckett, Mister Castle,' said a barrel chested, athletic looking, balding fifty-year old. "Welcome."

"Glad you were still able to see us Sir," responded Beckett shaking the lawyer's offered hand.

"Detective, from the news stories this afternoon, you've already had a full day and have an absolutely valid reason for missing your earlier appointment time. I played midfield for Johns Hopkins," said Mister Smith when he saw Castle admiring the only personal items in the room, a pair of short lacrosse sticks mounted on the wall. "They're there to remind me to keep running."

Castle suppressed a wince when he thought he heard an often practiced line. He locked eyes with Mister Smith and remembered that he was Mister Parker's lawyer, and he did NOT suffer fools. When is a line not a line? Answer, when it represents the truth.

"Still active," asked Castle shaking the lawyer's hand?

"I used to help out at the High School, but now I that officiate the occasional game I had to stop. But that doesn't stop me from throwing the ball around. The kids today are bigger, stronger, smarter and faster than I ever was. Ah the glory days. Now then the Parker files. Please me seated Jill has brought us some water and coffee. Please help yourselves. As Shelly probably told you she is the Associate that is going to be doing most of the work on this account for me. Now then how can we help the NYPD? "

Beckett finished taking a sip of the water, drew a deep breath and began. "We have recently determined that the Parkers were murdered, and quite frankly we don't have a motive."

"And sometimes the Will or more importantly changes in the Will give insight into motive," offered Counselor Smith. "I'm afraid this Will won't be much help Detective."

"Could you, in general terms go over the Will," asked Beckett?

"Sure Shelly?"

"Not surprising the estate is large and minus the bequeaths, the estate is to be split evenly between the two siblings Robert and Daniel. The bequeaths are typical for a couple as successful as the Parkers, scholarships for their alma maters, and trusts for their grandchildren. They also set up trusts for their favorite causes. For Mister Parker it was the NYC Parks Department and the NYC Runners Club to support the maintenance of the running pathways and for Missus Parker the Music Conservatory. The only slightly out of the ordinary one was a cash gift and an annuity for their housekeeper."

"Any recent changes?"

"They review the Will every two years and the last change was four years ago. They added the Julie trust, money for any of their grandchildren to study music."

"Understandable," remarked Beckett. "Anything more recent?"

"Mister Parker did indicate that he was going to adjust the housekeeper's gift."

"Up or down?"

"Probably up, because he didn't ask for the letters of recommendation to be destroyed. "

"Letters of recommendation," asked Castle?

"Oh yes," said Mister Smith. "Both of them wrote letters of recommendation for Teresa Ramos. They thought that she shouldn't be penalized by their death. I mean they were her last employer and if they died who would write them?"

"Point," said Beckett. "Castle our housekeeper," whispered Kate.

"Yeah we will," he whispered. "That seems like something that Ken Parker would do," said Castle.

"It does," said Shelly. "Both of them are down to earth people. Let me read you part of what Penny wrote. 'Guys you're hearing this because your Dad and I are both dead. I hope we passed together, because I don't think I could enjoy life without your Father by my side. Never doubt that we love you and all of our Grandchildren and wish we were around longer so that we could watch them grow up and give you the problems you gave us. Did I mention how proud we are of both of you and how much we love you?"

"Now we tried to be far when we split up the pie, but how it's going to work is going to depend on you guys, so love and look out for each other. We're only human so we didn't think of everything, so for those things we missed that causes tension may I suggest you settle things the way you did when you were kids – Rock-Paper-Scissors and trust the universe to even things out. Love Mom. "

After a moment Beckett asked, "How did the reading go?"

"Hugs and tears," said Shelly.

"Detective," said counselor Smith. "I don't think the Will helps you in your search for a motive."

"Probably not," confirmed Kate. "Did Missus Ramos seem surprised that she was mentioned in the Will?"

"No, I asked her and she said that Mister Parker said she was written into his Will many years ago. She was surprised at his generosity."

"If it's permissible, how generous?"

"From Missus Ramos perspective, very. From the viewpoint of the estate, pocket change."

"Thanks again for your time Sir," said Becket as she rose and headed for the door.

"Our pleasure Detective, our pleasure," said counselor Smith.

Beckett saw the Doorman grimace with pain as they approached the curbside door of the Parker's apartment building.

"Tom you have that package for us, right," asked Beckett?

"Ah, no, see Detective there's been a problem. Mister Carson is inside he'll explain everything."

"We he now," said Beckett a touch to loud as they entered the lobby. "And which one is Mister Carson?"

Castle winched at the edge in his partner's voice. "Gently Kate," he advised as a portly middle aged man in the unmistakable uniform of a lawyer headed their way. "If you snap at him he just might faint, then we'll have to wait for him to wake up," whispered Castle.

"Mister Carson I'm Detective Beckett and this is my partner Castle," said Beckett as she offered her hand. "What's this nonsense about not having the surveillance footage? If it's a matter of a Warrant I assure you I can have one he in…."

"It's not that Detective. We simply don't have the imagery. Look why don't you let me show you. This way please," he said as he turned and them toward the converted coat closet where the video equipment was stored. The apartment building was built well before video surveillance became an everyday part of life. The older buildings added the cameras for the purpose of providing additional security for their tenants and as an attempt to lower their insurance premiums. The problem was there was no good place to house the equipment. The building's Super's office would have a logical choice, but it was small, cramped and overcrowded. Instead, this building had opted to convert the coat closet on the lobby floor into the video surveillance equipment room.

"Detective I'm Tom Carson. I work for the legal firm that the owners of the building use. I ah need to rely on your discretion."

"I hope you have a good explanation. "

"I don't. Just a very embarrassing situation."

"There are only five keys to this door," said Mister Carson with a touch of seriousness when he stopped in front of the room housing the video surveillance equipment. "We are trying to determine which key holder violated their trust."

"No need," said Castle. "By my count there are more like fifty-thousand keys out there."

"What was that," asked counselor Carson.

"That lock is worthless," said Castle as he reached into his wallet, extracted his library card and used it to bypass the lock and open the door. "As I said that lock is worthless. Now what else did the culprit do?"

The look on the counselor's face was one of sheer disbelieve. After a moment he recovered. "He made two duplicates of last Thursdays CD. Last Friday he took out the active recording, replaced it with the copy, put the system in playback mode, synched the time and left. The guard came in, saw the clock running, stopped the system, extracted and labeled the disk put a new disk in and restarted the system. The culprit did the same thing on Saturday."

"Is there another way to get here besides the front door," asked Beckett.

"The garage," Beckett and Castle said together as a resident appeared from around the corner pulling a small cart containing several grocery bags and headed toward the elevator. "And with the system in playback mode he'll escape undetected."

"Detective when the word leaks out about our video system the residents will be up in arms and the insurance company will no doubt raise our rates and the rates for the tenants."

"Not my problem," said Beckett. "I suggest you fix this situation quickly. Look I'm not going to go running to the press, but if I'm on the stand and the DA asks, I'm not going to withhold any facts either. Still give us the compromised CDs. Maybe the killer got sloppy and left us some prints."

"They're in the bag Detective, and thanks for your understanding."

"Understanding," exploded Beckett. "Your clients, cheapness, and inattention to detail have robbed us of a clue to the murder's identity. If there was some way I could charge your clients with stupidity then I would, but I can't. Look, now you know the weakness of your installation and if you don't take steps to fix it and something like this occurs again…"

During the course of Beckett's outburst she had gotten louder and louder until she was almost screaming at the end. Also she had inched closer to counselor Carson until she was almost nose-to nose with him.

"Mister Carson," said Castle in a soft southing tone. "As you can tell my partner is very passionate about her vow to protect the citizens of this great city. I suggest you remind your clients of that fact and don't let them take overlong to correct the situation. Come-on Beckett we still have a murder to solve."

Castle grabbed Kate by the elbow and firmly walked her toward the elevator. "Warehouse," he whispered?

"Warehouse," Beckett confirmed with a sigh. "Thanks"

"That's what partner's do."

"What I don't get," said Castle once they had entered the elevator, "is why the killer risked coming back on Saturday?"

"Missus Ramos," said a surprised Beckett, "I didn't expect to see you here."

"It's Wednesday Detective, my normal cleaning day. It's what I do; besides Danny asked me to continue to clean this week. They're heading home on Saturday."

"'How you holding up," asked Castle?

"They were like family to me. I miss them."

"Plans?"

"They were most generous. I don't have to work. But I would be lost if I didn't."

"I thought I heard voices," said Danny as she came out of the music room and headed toward them. "Afternoon Detective, Mister Castle. You said you needed to look around the place?"

"Yes," began Beckett. "When we first responded, it looked like your parents died from natural causes. As a consequence we didn't dig that deep. Oh we did have CSU come in take some pictures and pull the computers, phones, security logs and so forth, collect prints and so forth, but we really didn't dig. I want to compare the pictures CSU took with the physical place to get a feel."

"Now we need to get an idea of how difficult it would be for someone to come in and swap out the medicine," said Castle.

"Mano and Julie went to the Guggenheim right after lunch and should be back soon. Where do you want to start?"

Beckett opened the portfolio and looked at the first set of pictures, "Let's start with the bed room."

'Nothing,' she decided, and the same with Mister Parkers Office. The real scene of the crime was the kitchen. The pictures clearly showed the medicine vials in plain sight on the kitchen table. "Castle," asked Beckett, "How long do you think, you know, to remove and replace."

"No more than a minute."

"So if someone knew the medicine was here and had an excuse to come to the kitchen then they could swap out the medicine without raising suspicions."

"Yeah"

The last room they visited was the Music Room. As Beckett checked out the pictures Castle moved over to Penny's desk and work table and Castle being Castle reached down and opened a notebook. In it were songs. "Beckett, what does the picture show for this area?"

"Pretty much what you see now, why?"

"The title of this book is 'Songs for the POPS Summer 2015 Program, Book 2. Where is book one?"

Beckett looked at the picture then back at Castle. "The picture also shows a vase with some fresh cut flowers in it. I remember thinking that the flowers looked to be several days old. If the Parkers were too ill to go out, where did the flowers come from?"

"Mom always liked fresh flowers," added Danny. "I think that was her only vice."

"Maybe she had them delivered?"

"I wouldn't think so. She loved to pick them out and make the arrangements."

"She still does," added Teresa.

"We'll still check with the Doorman," said Beckett. "Castle what are the names of the songs in the book?"

"'Safe at First', 'Stolen Base', 'Play at the Plate', 'Seventh Inning Stretch', 'Closer', 'We Win!', and 'See You Next Game,"

"That books not finished yet," said a young girl's voice. "Grandma hasn't finished it yet, and I can't find the first book. 'Stolen Base' is my favorite, but it's the toughest to play, all of the time scale changes. I could play it for you if you like."

"Julie," said an exasperated Danny, "The Detective…"

"Actually sweetie I would like that very much, but could you answer a couple of questions about your Grandma's music first?"

Julie let go of her Fathers hand and skipped across the room into her Mother's embrace. "Okay"

"When the young man and young woman played 'Ticket Gate' for your family, where did they get the music?"

"Tommy brought his own copy," said Julie and "Nancy got hers from here." They watched as Julie skipped to the desk opened a drawer and pulled out a folder. "They're pretty good, but they should have varied the Tempo more to emphasize when the people going to their seats were interacting with the vendors and friends. Can I play the song now?"

"Right after I ask Teresa something hon," said Beckett sweetly. "Teresa did Penny have students come over on Friday?"

"Normally yes Tommy from Ten to One and Nancy from Noon to Two. I normally fix lunch for them, just soup and sandwiches, or soup and salads. That allowed them to talk theory separate from the practice. She enjoyed the companionship. Last Friday I wasn't here so I don't know."

"Now" demanded Julie?

"Yes please," said Beckett as she moved to stand in front of Castle and leaned back into his embrace. For the duration of the song Detective Beckett would not exist, only Kate Castle.

"That was wonderful Julie," said Kate enthusiastically. "I'll say one thing for sure, your Grandma is a great composure and she certainly knows and loves her baseball. It's a shame your Grandma didn't get to complete it. Does anybody know her favorite team? I mean was she a Yankees fan?"

"Yes," said Mano with a huge smile. "I went to school at Harvard and became a Red Sox fan."

"And she still let you marry her daughter. She must have really liked you."

"She made Mano come with us to a Yankees game and wear a Yankees hat," said Danny with a huge smile.

"Ah the sacrifices we make for those we love," he added smiling at his wife.

Kate leaned back into Castle for a moment before stepping forward and becoming Detective Beckett once again. "Thank you for time," said Beckett "You've given us something to think about, and Julie you played your Grandmother's song beautifully."

"Babe," said Kate once she had parked the Cruiser at the 12th. "Why don't you head home? If you leave now you'll just be a little late. I've still got some work to do."

"This isn't my workaholic wife relapsing is it," laughed Castle.

"No," smiled Kate. "It's Sergeant Beckett realizing that she hasn't filled out the paperwork from the warehouse shooting. I won't be long. After all I do have a shower date."

"Yes you do," confirmed Castle. "Supper?"

"Simple, I know I need to eat but I'm not that hungry."

"Chef's surprise it is," said Castle as he exited the cruiser and headed toward his car that was conveniently parked in one of the Visitor slots, courtesy of Captain Gates.

Detective Beckett opened the door to the 12th Precinct Lobby and heard the familiar buzz of all of the conversations, felt the energy that seemed to permeate the place, and marveled at the number of people and the activities going on. As a Watch Sargent she appreciated the job the Desk Sergeants did to prevent the normal activities that occurred here from exploding into pure and utter chaos. But tonight the energy tasted different. Something out of the ordinary had happened. It had tainted the energy pool, but had not disrupted operations.

"Beckett," said Captain Gates looking at her watch, as soon as Kate entered the Bull-pen. The sub-text was clear, didn't you read the memo about our overtime budget situation.

"I won't be long Sir. I just need to complete the warehouse shooting paperwork."

"Okay, and Beckett we lost one today. Not the one that Castle treated, one of the uniforms that Esposito and Ryan followed into the warehouse."

"Oh," said a crestfallen Beckett. She understood why the energy in the house felt different.

Detective Beckett took a couple of minutes to update her murder board and then settled down to finish the paperwork. Twenty minutes later she was done and settled back in her chair to contemplate the death of a brother-in-arms. In her mind she could not help but replay the events from this afternoon and couldn't overcome the feelings of guilty. She wondered if the Officer would still be alive if she had gone with Esposito and Ryan instead of staying with the wounded one and calling for Castle.

So deep was Beckett in thought that buzzing of her phone started her. She had been here almost two hours. Castle! "Babe I'm sorry," Kate muttered. "I'm on my way."

Kate entered the Loft and out of habit immediately began sorting the mail. 'It can wait,' she decided placing back on top of the shelf. I have a lot more important things to do. Her ears and eyes told her that James was in bed and Castle was in his office. Quickly climbing the stairs, Kate peaked in on her sleeping son. As always she marveled at the miracle of birth and offered a silent prayer that James was healthy. She never ceased to be amazed by the similarity in James and Castle's sleeping faces. I hope my sleeping face is so… thought Kate.

Tip-toeing quietly, Kate left James's room and headed downstairs to her bedroom. After stowing her credential and weapons, Kate changed into her 'house' clothes and headed toward Castle's office to apologize. Approaching his office she heard the soft murmur of one of Castle's favorite jazz songs and him verbalizing dialogue between Rook and Heat. She didn't remember how it happened, but one moment she was in the doorway of his office telling Castle that they had lost a brother in arms and the next moment she was completed engulfed in his protective embrace.

"So," Castle said softly to the top of Kate's head. "You spent hours feeling guilty and replaying scenarios where the Officer would have lived if you only had accompanied Esposito and Ryan."

"Yeah," said a shivering Kate in a weak voice. "I know it's illogical, but I couldn't help myself."

"Did you replay all of the scenarios? Even the ones where you are ambushed like Esposito and Ryan were going to be?"

"Yeah, and that scared me the most." Kate leaned her head back and looked up into her husband's eyes. "I knew they shouldn't have followed. I should have insisted that everybody stay put until SWAT got there."

"It sounded like the other Sargent didn't agree and forced Esposito and Ryan's hand by his actions. I really don't see them letting the Sargent charge off unsupported. Have you talked to them yet?"

"No, they were gone when I got back to the precinct. I should have been more forceful."

"Some people just don't listen to reason; especially after blood has been spilled."

"Your right," Kate said with one final shiver.

Kate laid her head back down on Castle's chest and gave him a forceful hug. Like always his words were insightful and his presence comforted and strengthened her.

"Are you hungry? Don't tell me you ate vending machine food."

"Yes…NO. Yes I'm hungry, but not very and I haven't eaten vending machine food since you embarrassed me last year."

"You deserved it. Soup and sandwiches then," said Castle as he disengaged from the hug and started to walk toward the kitchen with his arm around Kate's waist.

"Mister Castle have I told you I love you today?"

"I've got that line copyright protected. You can't use it without paying me a royalty fee."

"I believe you are mistaken Sir," said a Kate delighted by the playful banter. "The line you have copyrighted is 'Missus Castle have I told you I love you today?' What I said was, 'Mister Castle have I told you I love you today?' Didn't you hear the difference?"

"Ah, I guess you're right," Castle admitted as he pulled Kate's chair out for her. "I guess I'm going to have to come up with an answer."

"Just out of curiosity, how much is the royalty fee?"

"This," said Castle as he leaned in and shared a meaningful kiss with Kate.

"I most definitely can afford that," Kate breathed in Castle's ear when their lips parted. "Castle you still owe me an answer."

"Sufficient, but not often enough."

"Sufficient, but not often enough," repeated Kate. "Let me correct that. I love you. I love you. I …" Kate had to stop as Castle kissed her again. "…love you. Now hurry up, I'm hungry," she laughed.

'Comfort food meal number two,' Kate concluded as she watched Castle pull out the griddle and put several strips of bacon on it. Next he opened a large can of tomato soup, added milk and started heating it. Lastly he grabbed several pieces of bread and slices of cheese for the grilled cheese sandwiches, hers with the bacon. Satisfied Kate got out of her chair, went to the cupboards and pulled out the dishes, cutlery and set the table. "Drink?"

"What are you having?"

"Iced tea."

"The same."

Kate nodded and poured two glasses, one with a lot of ice for her, and the other with no ice for her husband. Lastly she pulled out the jar of dill pickle chips out of the fridge and placed several of the chips on the plate for her sandwich. Kate screwed the lid back on the jar of pickles and watched the myriad of expressions play across Castle's face as his eyes went from the pickle jar to her face and back to the pickle jar.

"I'm not pregnant Babe," she laughed.

"I would ask if you're sure, but you would probably hit me."

"Damn straight, but not too hard." Kate locked eyes with Castle and felt her smile burst out across her face.

When she had been pregnant with James, she had cravings for pickles. She didn't know how many different types of pickles there where. She did know she nearly drove Castle crazy asking for another type. Castle got so desperate that he asked for help from his fans on his website. The response was gratifying and overwhelming.

The native New Yorkers answered Castle's request of where to shop for the best and different varieties of pickles. The response from the fans in the rest of the US and around the world was completely unexpected. They sent 'pickle care packages.' Kate hand wrote every thank you note, but the response was so great that she asked for help from Castle's publicist to address and mail the notes.

"We were up to necks in pickles, weren't we Babe," Kate said fondly.

"Yes and yet somehow you made them disappear."

"Castle," Kate squeaked. "I was eating for two."

"So that's where James's green eyes came from."

"Castle," warned Kate her green eyes blazing.

"Yours too," he continued with a straight face. "Sit dinners ready."

Kate took he seat still mock glaring at Castle. 'I do love you Richard Edgar Castle,' she thought. 'It's because all of the little things you do that let me know I'm loved.' She reached out towards Castle across the counter with her left hand as she had done so many other times in the past. Kate groaned inwardly as she watched Castle grimace as he gingerly extracted his arm from the sling and carefully reached across the table and grabbed her hand. All Kate wanted to do was hold her husband's hand like they had done so many times in the past, not cause her life-mate pain. Her concerns evaporated when she looked up from their joined hands to Castle's face. His smile warmed her in places the tomato soup would never reach.

Dinner was a silent affair. Everything that needed to be said was said by the gentle pressure each applied to the hand of the other. As dinner progressed Kate felt herself start to crash. "Castle, can I give you a 'Loft check' for our shower date? All I really want to do is brush my teeth and crash."

"I guess so," he complained. "All I seem to be getting lately is IOUs."

"Well," began Kate perking up a little and trying to imitate the voice of the actress that does the credit card commercials for airline miles. "'Loft checks' have no monetary value, are redeemable only by the party they were issued too, do not expire, and have no scheduled blackout dates, just an occasional disruption caused by temporary conditions." Grinning madly Kate continued, "Unlike all other loyalty programs, 'Loft checks' can actually increase in value over time."

"You mean mine for a kiss from several nights ago could turn in to...?"

"Yes," replied Kate with a touch of color highlighting her cheeks. "And the one from tonight could morph into the 'Deluxe Shower Package' complete with karaoke."

Castle leaned back in his chair. His grin changed into a chuckle and soon Kate joined him in outright laughter.

"I formally accept your 'Loft Check,' "he tried to say with a straight face, but failed. "Great accent by the way."

"Thank you kind Sir, are you going to be long?"

"Five minutes to clean up, Oh I need to shut down my laptop. I know it went to sleep and should be okay, but I like to be sure everything's properly saved and closed. "

"You take care of that and I'll handle the dishes," said Kate.

After the chores were completed, the Castles looked in on James, journeyed to their bedroom and were soon fast asleep.

Chapter 12 On Thursdays Brown Bears make Better Hunters

Castle woke slowly. Keeping his eyes closed he reached out his right arm slowly and gently in Kate's direction. When he came up empty he blinked his eyes open. A quick check of the alarm clock should it to be just a bit before his normal 'post James' wake up time. Siting up he strained to hear the shower… nothing. I wonder where she is. I normally hear her phone when she catches a case. I can understand her leaving me on the bench but…

Castle hurriedly dressed and positioned his arm comfortably in the sling. Three steps out of the bedroom his nose told him that everything was perfect in the world. "Sit Babe," said Kate as she poured him a cup of coffee. "Breakfast will be finished in a couple of minutes. Juice?"

"No," said a still sleepy Castle after taking a sip of the coffee. He hungrily watched Kate construct his favorite breakfast sandwich, a triple decker with two fried eggs, bacon, lettuce and tomato. Next to the sandwich she heaped a large portion of hash browns and covered it with chili. Not just shredded fried potatoes, but shredded potatoes with diced tomatoes, onions, cheese, mushrooms and jalapenos.

"Marry me Kate," Castle exclaimed when Kate put the plate in front of him.

"I tried, but you left be hanging at the altar." She watched his fork stop on its way to his mouth. "But I gave you a second chance, and you made it to the altar on time. I'm glad I did. Now kiss me you fool."

"Something from the Missus Castle collection," asked Castle midway through breakfast finally noticing Kate dressed in one of her best business suits? "Who are you trying to impress?"

"I've got a late morning meeting at the hospital to go over the Bomb Unit's final report and Red warned be that there will probably be some VIPS in attendance. I also have a luncheon meeting, and I definitely do NOT plan on chasing bad guys today."

"What report?"

"The Bomb Squad marked the location of the bombs that Sandra placed on the plans for the building and asked the Professor at NYU to do an assessment. He concluded that if all of the bombs went off the place would have been destroyed. When I read that I thought the message needed to get to the hospital. I asked the Inspector for help and he did."

Kate saw the blank look on Castle's face nodded to herself and continued. "The reason you haven't read the report is because it's being closely held. We don't want to cause a panic over hospital safety. On the other hand the Hospital needs to fix and change some things."

"Did anyone check Sandra's background? I mean that lady seems to have some serious skills."

"Yeah and we got nothing. Born and raised on a farm in southwest Ohio and she married her husband while they were in college. The husband is from NYC, they moved back to Hell's Kitchen after he finished his degree. That was about five years. The business is profitable and growing."

"So you're not free for lunch?"

Kate paused at Castle's tone of voice. Did she detect a touch of jealousy perhaps? She was gratified that Castle didn't take her for granted. She also knew one of his deepest fears, being abandoned by the women he loves. No worries here, the truth works.

"The last time we were there November June, the Chief Admin for the Hospital asked my opinion of what was going on. I suggested that she take the staff to an early lunch. She invited me. I declined and asked for a rain check. This is it. We're eating at an Applebee's near the hospital at twelve-thirty. I've already got the PR Department to cover my time as a community outreach activity."

"Works out," he admitted. "November June?"

"I'll try to find out the story behind her name during lunch. Your appointments," asked Kate?
"Sandra's defense Attorney and ADAs Rhoads and Hill. I'm going to ask Sandra's Attorney to get me permission to write Sandra's husbands and daughter's story. But only from the viewpoint that better resource management is needed in times of stress. I need their active participation and support in order to get the document, records and the access to other information that I need. I could wing it without them, but it would be easier with. I don't want to poison the jury pool so I'm giving both parties the right to block publication prior to a verdict being given. After that I don't need their permission to publish."

They were midway through their second cup of coffee when the newest member of the Castle family made his presence felt. "I got him," said Castle. "The one of us that is employed needs to go to work so she can stay that way."

Kate smiled at Castle's often repeated line. They both knew that if Kate quit the force and Castle never sold another book, they had enough money to maintain their life style forever. "Let me get my tools and I'll be off." Kate had noticed that James's cry's had changed since he had been home. There was no doubt that the first week or so James was crying because he needed attention. Now his cries were more like calls. Calls from the little kid to the big kid of the family 'I'm awake let's play.'

Kate was at the door and ready to leave for work. She paused when she heard Castle leave James's room. In a few seconds later she saw a sight that always made her feel wonderful, her happy and healthy son in the arms of an equally happy and healthy Castle. This time they were walking down the stairs toward her.

"Mommy's waiting for us," said Castle when they reached the bottom of the steps. "Let's give her a kiss before she goes to work."

When Kate leaned in to do just that she wasn't prepared for James reaching out and pulling her into a hug. She would remember that wonderful pressure in her chest forever.

"Looking good," committed Sargent Henry as Beckett walked past the Desk Sargent's desk on her way to the elevators. "Interviewing for a new assignment?"

"Nah, just a meeting with some VIPS and a PR event at lunch."

"Well play nice anyway."

Kate walked into the Bull-pen and felt the familiar feeling of being home. The energy of the place was subtly changing. The nightshift was slowly winding down their activities and the day shift was just arriving and beginning their shifts. Beckett's first order of business was to print off a couple copies of the report just in case. That done she settled down and started to look at security company's data for the Parker Apartment and relooking at Missus Parker's calendar and her email traffic.

From Beckett's perspective the most important email from Penny Parker was the one informing her students, Tommy Nelson and Nancy Lawson that the lessons for Friday were on. The door opening and closing log provided by the security company provided some interesting information.

On Thursday the door was opened and closed three times. Once around nine o'clock, 'Paper' Beckett thought then two more times around three-thirty, 'Mail check' thought Kate remembering the mailboxes along the entryway.

On Friday there were eight events. One around seven o'clock, 'Paper probably, they must have been feeling better. The next one a little before ten, 'That would be Tommy arriving,' thought Beckett. A little before noon – 'Ah Nancy arriving for lunch'. A little before one, 'Tommy leaving'. Two around two thirty, 'Mail check probably.' The one a little after three is Nancy leaving. What about the last one nine minutes later?

'Something's wrong I need to rethink this," verbalized Beckett. "What if the two around two-thirty isn't a mail check? What if it's something else? What? ….The killer entering and leaving? Okay, what about the last two? Right after three is Nancy leaving. What about the last one….nine minutes mail check? Of course one of the Parkers left with Nancy, checked mail and came back."

"Teresa said she did not clean on Friday so that means that Mister Parker was home and would be the one to let the killer in. Missus Parker was with Nancy in the music room and with the door closed I don't think they would here the doorbell."

"But he wouldn't let just anybody in, and they would need a reason." Becket's eyes drifted to the book of pictures from the crime scene. Slowly she turned the pages until the picture of Penny's worktable in the music room came into view, the one with the flowers.

"Of course! Flowers. They came down with the bug late Monday, probably from the grandkids. They went to the Doctors on Tuesday and have stayed home since then. The students must know Penny's love for flowers and if one of them brought fresh flowers he certainly would have let them in."

"Okay I think I have a motive – a stolen song. A suspect – Tom Nelson. The means – he got access to the kitchen by bringing flowers for his teacher once in the kitchen he swapped out the medicine. But how did he get the medicine, why did he come back on Saturday and how did he get in on Saturday?"

Beckett hastily checked the log for Saturday, two entries a little over a half hour apart. Enough time to dump the security log and pick up a book, but why dump the security log?

I need to talk to these two after lunch, concluded Beckett as she uploaded their contact information into her phone. I wonder if I can get Castle to come with? Beckett checked her Dad's watch, nodded, packed up the material she needed for the meeting and the case and headed out of the Bull-pen to the Hospital.

Castle moved quickly up the steps, through two sets of double doors and entered the queue for the metal detectors.

"Hey Castle, what brings you to this place," said a familiar voice to his left.
"Officer Little," responded Castle. "How's John Wayne doing? You guys on a call?"

The Officer looked down at his K-9 partner who had looked up at the mentioning of his name. "Good. You know, putting our nose into other people's business. Yeah 'Intel' said there was a possibility so here we are, and not a tree or piece of grass in sight. You?"

"Good . I have an appointment with ADAs Rhoades and Hill."

"Seriously. After he …Well if those two quit being ADAs and opened their own firm I bet they would call it 'Hilly Roads'."

"Don't lose your day job. Seriously I think you gone to too many open mics at the comedy clubs and drunken people will laugh at anything." Castle looked down at John Wayne, whose mouth had come open and his tongue had fallen out. If Castle didn't know better he would swear that the dog was laughing.

"What's so funny fur face," asked Little? Castle watched John Wayne sit up and nudge his partner's hand with his head. "Me uhn," said Little as he scratched behind his partner's ears.

AS Castle was talking with Officer Little and John Wayne as he was also emptying his pockets on a tray to pass through the x-ray machine. He was caught completely off-guard by the Security Guards' reaction. Two phones -not that unusual these days, keys - check, pens-check, combat baton- whoa.

"Stay where you are and put your hands up Mister," bellowed one of the guards.

Castle froze, "Why?"

"He's got a combat baton."

"So what, they aren't illegal and his wife makes him carry it," said a smirking Officer Little. "And he knows how to use it," he continued his voice touched with respect. "Wait, Rhoades and Hill, Castle you weren't…?"

"Seriously? I'm going to assault and ADA that everyone knows I have a beef with in his own office? I wouldn't have my stupidest character do that. Beside if Kate even thought it was going to do something like that she would clubber me. After she finished, what was left would easily slide under the cell door or could be easily stuffed between the cell bars."

"There is that," chuckled Officer Little. "Let him keep it guys. Trust me if the shit hits the fan, your ADAs are much safer with Castle having the baton in his hand than you having it in the call box."

"He any good with it," asked one of the guards as Castle passed through the metal detector and was on his way to the elevators?

"Having only one hand will slow him down some I guess," confirmed Officer Little. "But a little over a year ago he and his wife were sparing in the gym at the 12th. Ten Officers with night sticks jumped them. Thirty seconds later the only two people that were untouched and still standing were Beckett and Castle. Yeah I'd say he's pretty good."

As Officer Little was talking with the guards a UPS driver came in pushing a chart. As he unloaded the third package John Wayne alerted and all activity ceased.

"My dog doesn't like one of your boxes."

"I noticed," said the driver.

"Could you put it back on the floor and step away?"

"Absolutely."

"Guys," said Officer Little.

"Making the calls now ," they called out.
"John Wayne," Officer Little asked.

The German Shepard walked over and batted the box that had been set aside and then walked over to the cart and worked his way through the packages. After sneezing he went over and sat down next to the box he had alerted on and looked up at his partner.

"I'm not going to make it to my next delivery on time am I," said the driver.

"Probably not," affirmed Officer Little.

"The Tech is on her way with the whatever machine to look inside the box, and the Bomb Squad has been notified and is on their way," announced one of the guards.

"Just out of curiosity," asked the driver. "Just what is your dog trained to detect?"

"Explosives."
"You mean I've been driving around with a bomb?"

"Probably. John Wayne doesn't miss much and he hasn't false alarmed yet."

"Two things, can I scan the package number and pass that back to my dispatch. They, like you guys, are going to want to know where we picked that up at and how it slipped through our checking procedures. "

"Sure, and the second thing?"

"When we're done, could you guys walk through my truck?"

Castle got off of the elevator, checked in with the receptionist and got directions to ADA Rhoades' office. On his way there he was intercepted by ADA Hill and guided to a meeting room where ADA Rhoades was waiting."

"Thanks for seeing me," said Castle offering his hand.

"Glad to," replied Rhoades as he shook Castle's hand, "Please," he said waving at a chair. "You indicated that this was about the McCormick case."

"Yes I'm just been to…" Castle started, stopped and started to rise when DA Arthur Thomas opened the door and entered the room."

"Seats," said the DA. "I thought I'd listen in. You don't mind do you Mister Castle."

"No and if I did trying to kick you out of a meeting in your house would be an exercise in futility."

The DA smiled and nodded for Castle to continue.

"I've just been to see Sandra Bennett's Defense Attorney. I want her Client to grant me permission to write her husband's and daughter's stories. I asked that they grant me access to the documentation, records, and other materials I might need to writ e the story. I told them that the central point of the piece would be resource management in times of stress, and under no circumstance would I allow my work to poison the jury pool either positively or negatively. To ensure that the jury pool remains uncorrupted, I told her that I am going to allow both the Defense Attorney and the DA's office the right to block publication of the story. That right expires when the jury reaches a verdict. "

"Reasonable," said ADA Hill. "The girl's death was a tragedy and you want the discussion while the incident is still fresh in the mind of the public."

"Yes, but I think my efforts to preserve the jury pool are moot."

"Why," asked the DA.

"Unless I've lost the ability to read upside down, they intend to file two wrongful death suites against the Hospital. If they should go to trial before you…"

"Then a potential emotional back swell may be there when we pick a jury," said ADA Rhoades.

"You still have a strong case," said Castle.

"Yes we do. Mister Castle, I want to thank you for coming in, "said the DA. "We rarely meet a writer who puts the people ahead of his by-line."
"I'll bet that none of them are married to a NYPD Detective, " retorted Castle. "Being married to Beckett has altered my perspective on numerous things."

"Speaking of your wife, I'm hoping she is successful at the Hospital today."

"She'll make her point Sir," said Castle with conviction in his voice. "Anyone who considers my Kate nothing but fluff will have their head handed to them. "

"I've noticed," the DA said rising from his chair.

Detective Beckett strolled through both sets of double doors at the Hospital, nodded to the Security Guard and walked toward the elevators. Compared to the last time she was her he pace was downright pedestrian.

Exiting the elevators Beckett entered the domain of the Hospital Administrator and immediately spotted a friendly face.

"Everyone is in the Conference Room across the hall," said November June. "The same one you were in last time."

Beckett hastily looked at her Dad's watch and the wall clock.

"You aren't late," said November, "and they only just arrived. We still on for lunch?"

"Yes, I'm looking forward to it."

"Beckett is ah, do you think Mister Castle will join us for lunch. I mean has he …"

"Castle is down at the DA's office," said Beckett as she mimed for pen and paper. "This is his cell number. I told him I was eating lunch with you guys so he should recognize your name. You can ask. If he thinks he can make it time than odds on he'll eat with us. If not he'll decline."

"I'll persuade him to make it," said November. "You guys are a matched set. One without the other just doesn't make sense."

"Later," said Beckett as she rushed across the hall and into the Conference Room.

I wish I had Castle's knack with names and faces, groused Beckett as she annotated a seating chart with the names of the people that the Inspector had brought with him, and the Hospital Board members on the other side of the table. Of the Hospital people she recognized two, Doctor Reynolds, the Hospital's Chief Administrator and Bill Gordon, Castle's friend from the Library board.

The Inspector's 'friends' were impressive, the Councilwoman for this district, a very senior staffer out of the Mayor's office, and a Deputy out of the Regional planning office. Besides Red and Beckett the only other NYPD Officer here was Lieutenant Evan's boss Captain Snow. With a Doctorate in Civil Engineering and twenty-plus years of experience, there probably wasn't a technical detail of the report he couldn't explain. Beckett clearly recognized that she was the junior person present, which meant she better take good notes.

As expected the meeting started out cordial, and Captain Snow did a great job of working through the findings of the report. The friction started when the discussion of what was to be done and who was going to pay for it began. The Mayor's staffer was clear on three points. The Hospital must develop a disaster plan and co-ordinate that plan with the Regional Planning Office. The Mayor would provide staffing to make that happen. The second point was that because this was a public for profit hospital, no taxpayer money would be used to fund capital improvements, and the third point was the Mayor took a dim view of business that put their customers at risk, and he would be monitoring the Hospital's progress personally.

The Hospital staff countered by stating that this year's Capital and Discretionary Budgets had been allocated and they couldn't begin to address this situation for another six months. Beckett could see by the Senior Staffer's body language that this was unacceptable.

Councilwoman Carroll informed the Hospital staff that Community Development Money was available at a relatively small interest rate. Kate could tell that the Hospital Staff didn't like the idea of taking on debt. When it looked like the meeting was winding down and nothing was going to be done to improve the safety of the Hospital Beckett finally spoke up.

"At least get the propane tanks out of the closet near the emergency room. There has to be room for them somewhere away from the patients, the loading bay for instance. I thought I a saw a tool shed how about there? You may not be able to take care of the major points until your funding refreshes, but this," Beckett pleaded.

"You're right Kate," said Bill Gordon. "We should be able to handle that one. Carl?"

Doctor Reynolds shrugged his shoulders and smiled a weak smile. "Yeah, we can do that. Thanks Detective for pointing out to us we should be thinking about what we can do instead of complaining about what we can't."

The meeting ended cordially and soon after Kate was following November to Applebee's where to her delight and surprise Castle was waiting. Lunch started slowly, but with Castle leading the way lunch soon turned into a lively story sharing session. The most interesting thing that Kate learned was November had two sisters. They were named April and May!

On the way to interview Nancy Lawson Beckett brought Castle up to speed on her findings and her theory about the crime.

"That's a great story about Tommy," said Castle. "But as a very wise, and I might add very beautiful Detective tells me on a regular basis without the evidence to back it up 'a story is just a story.'"

"And as my partner, who is ruggedly handsome by the way, would say 'yes, but now we know where and what to look for.'"

Beckett cursed under her breath and slid into the Loading Zone and stopped. Placing the 'Police – Official Business Sign on the driver's side of her cruiser she carefully navigated her way to the sidewalk. The snow and slush from last week still made walking and driving more hazardous than usual. On a whim she looked down at Castle's shoes.

"Yes I am," Castle offered. "I haven't had a chance to take the other pair to Ken to see what he can do for me yet."

"You ARE trainable," Kate laughed.

Castle offered his arm and Kate gratefully accepted it.

They walked down the sidewalk and turned on the walk leading to the door of the apartment building. They stopped when the door opened. On the walk coming toward them was Nancy Lawson and another young woman.

"Detective Beckett," said Nancy "I was wondering when you would come around."

"We need to talk."

"This is Wendy Adams. She is also one of Professor Parker's students. We were going to eat a late lunch at the book store a couple of blocks away. Their tea is excellent and their food is cheaper and better than most of the restaurants."

"Allow me to treat," said Castle. "I do remember what it was like to be a student. Detective Beckett and I have had lunch,…"

"But a cup of tea with honey would be delightful," completed Beckett.

The book store was one of the smaller east coast chains that Black Swain, the company that published Castle's novels, did not have a distribution deal with. Kate latched onto Castle's arm as soon as they entered the store. She was sure he wanted to explore and see how his books were displayed, what titles etc. 'Knowing him' she thought. 'He just might go to the store manager and arrange for a reading or a book signing.'

"I can't believe I haven't been in this store," said Castle looking around the store with practiced eyes. "Don't worry love," he whispered patting Kate's arm. "I know why I'm here. "

The food preparation area was in the middle of the store and against the right wall. When they approached it Castle knew it was unlike any configuration he had seen in other stores. The food preparation area was elevated. To get there you had to climb four steps. The area had the standard order placing and pickup stations. In addition it a dozen stools like the old time five and dimes stores. Castle was impressed that all of them were full. The upper level had around dozen tables on the upper level, most configured for two quests. The bigger tables were on the main floor.

On the way there they saw a lot comfortable chairs configured into conversation pits. Several were in use with people reading, using their laptops or tablets. The deeper Castle walked into the store the more he liked it.

"I take it they have free Wi-Fi," said Castle.

"Better than our apartment," confirmed Shelly "That's another reason we like coming here."

"Sit," said Kate pointing to a table for four "I got this. Don't worry I will make it clear that the Castle's bought lunch not the NYPD. I too remember being a student," she whispered. After giving Castle a peck on the cheek she joined the girls in line.

Eventually the ladies rejoined Castle, the food was eaten and Kate was ready to begin a friendly interrogation.

"Nancy," Beckett started. "Tell me about your Friday, beginning when you arrived at the Parker's apartment."

She nodded, took a gulp of her tea and settled back in her chair. "I arrived a little before noon, and was surprised when Mister Parker answered the door. Normally it's Teresa."

"Have you met him before," asked Castle?

"Formally once, but more often than not we see each other when I leave on Friday. He would be coming into the building as I was leaving. I know I've heard the Professor say that Friday night was date night for them and he always came home early so that they could attend the early show or whatever."

"Sorry, go on."

"He hung up my coat for me and asked me to help with lunch. 'Penny asked me late,' he said 'so its soup and sandwiches.' He had me set the table as he started the tomato soup and pulled out the griddle for grilled cheese sandwiches. You know he used a whisk to mix the soup with the milk. I mean what type of person goes to that trouble?"

Castle raised his hand.

"Yes he does," confirmed Beckett. "Go on."

"He also asked me to make a bowl of tuna salad just in case. By the time I had finished that we were joined by the Professor and Tommy."

"Did they take their medicine at lunch time?"

"Yeah, Mister Palmer really didn't want to, but the Professor read him a polite version of the riot act. It really was kind of sweet."

"What did you talk about?"

"Music for the POPS mostly. The Professor said that she had started work on the final piece. It was going to be relatively short, but very loud and energetic."

"Just like a victory celebration should be," offered Beckett.

"Exactly!"

"Anything unusual happen during your session?"

"No, well yes. Tommy tried to walk in quietly and put flowers on the Professors desk. It was a bit comical, and I could tell that the Professor was touched by his thoughtfulness. The Professor loved her flowers."

'Got him,' Beckett thought. "I was here when you guys played 'Ticket Gate'. Julie said that you got your copy of the music out of the desk, but Tommy had his own."

"Yeah, I wondered about that too."

"When you left on Friday were both books of the POPs music on the Professor's worktable?"

"Yeah. When we played for the family I noticed that one of the books was missing, but I didn't think it was important. Why?"

"It's missing," confirmed Beckett. "Julie searched the music room and couldn't find it, and I do trust that she searched hard for it because she wanted to play her Grandma's music, and when I asked the Director of the POPs he said she hadn't left it with him and he would check with the various first chairs. So far I haven't heard anything."

"Have you noticed any tension between Tommy and the Professor, especially when they talk about the POPs music?"

"No, not any one song, but the entire project yes."

"I don't understand."

"A couple of semesters ago we had the Professor for Composition Theory. Her only piece of advice was to choose something we were passionate about and suggested we take a quick look at Aaron Copland's works. Last semester, when the announcement appeared in the paper that the Professor was going to do a program of all new and original music for the POPs we congratulated her and asked if she had a theme yet. She said no, and Tommy popped off in class and suggested that she let her passions be her guide."

"So he's taking credit for the entire program," asked Castle with a look of utter disbelief on his face.

"Sort of," offered Wendy. "We date sometimes, and sometimes when he has a little too much to drink he blames the Professor for stealing his idea."

"Baseball? She absolutely loves baseball," said Beckett.

"I know, but that's what he thinks, sometimes."

After the silence had stretched out Beckett cleared her throat. "Nancy you have been most helpful. Thanks for spending the time with us."

"Thanks for lunch. Detective could I ask you a personal question," asked Nancy with a sideways glance at Castle?

"I take that look to mean its girl talk?"

"Yes"

"Five minutes Castle," said Kate as Castle got up to scurry off and explore. "Five minutes or I will embarrass you on the store intercom."

"I'm too old to be embarrassed."

"Will Martha's little boy Ricky please…"

"You cheat!"

"Absolutely!"

"Go ahead Nancy," said a laughing Kate, "I'll answer the best I can."

"You and Castle are married right? And you work together. That's supposed to be a relationship killer how do you…?"

"First off Castle is an author and he only shadows me. The Department allows him to do that in exchange for presenting the NYPD and the City in a positive light in his books," said Kate giving the standard Department answer to the question. "That doesn't mean he spends eight hours every day with me at the station. No he's only with me when I work a case and when he has the time to join me. That means we aren't tied at the hip every second of every day."

"But that's still a lot of time together, don't you get on each other's nerves."

"Not really, it does get testy when we disagree on a course of action or an interpretation of some evidence."

"Physical danger? I mean last week at the Hospital."

"That too. Look the bottom line is that we love each other. He's my Shadow because he wants to be, and I can't think of a place I'd rather be then by his side."

"Kate you got to see this," said Castle bursting in on the conversation with all of the enthusiasm of a seven year old opening presents on Christmas morning. "You won't believe what they've done."

Kate and Nancy exchanged smiles as Kate got up, grabbed Castles free arm and went with him to see this amazing wonder.

The store had Castle featured as one of the prominent local authors. They had several of the cardboard manikin's that Black Swan had made to promote new books set-up around a conversation pit. The conversation pit had several comfortable chairs and loveseats forming three sides of a 'U'. At the top of the U was a bookshelf that seemed to contain at least one copy of all of Castle's works.

"I'm sorry we must be sold out again," Kate heard one of the store staff tell a customer. "His last two books are fantastic reads and we can't keep them I stock."

"Can I reserve a copy?"

"The people at the help desk can do that for you," he said. He looked up at the Castle's "Evening folks, Something I can help you with?"

"Just admiring your set-up here."

"It boasted sells big-time. Not that his books needed the help. But still it's always nice to promote local talent."

"That it is," replied Kate. "Babe we do have one more interview to do."

"Yeah, right," agreed Castle as he let Kate lead him away.

"Say," said the store employee," Has anyone told you that you look an awful lot like Richard Castle?"

"That's because I am," replied Castle. And the look on the employees face was as they say priceless.

It took Beckett over twenty minutes to navigate the combination of slushy and icy streets, one way streets, and fight the traffic before they arrived at Tommy Nelson's apartment.

Their knock was answered by a nervous bare-chested young man. "I'm Detective Kate Beckett, this Mister Castle. We need to speak to Tommy."

"He's not here."

"May we come in?"

"Ah, do you have to? I've ,ah, I got a guest."

"Could you at least tell us where Tommy is?"

"Oh, that's easy. He's at his part time job, you know at the CVS pharmacy on West 106th near Grand."

"Castle," said Kate as she hurried towards her cruiser.

"Pharmacy I heard."

"And it's maybe twenty minutes walking distance from the Parkers.

"Tommy Nelson," asked Beckett showing the cashier her badge.

"Aisle seven I think. He was late so he got inventory and restocking."

Rounding the corner of aisle seven Kate saw Tommy kneeling on the floor and pulling bottles out of a hand basket and placing them on the shelves. "Tommy Nelson? I'm Dete…"

Beckett flung up her hand to protect herself from the bottle of shampoo that Tommy had flung at her face. Her arm stayed up and she ducked as the basket came flying at her head. She saw Castle move past her slip and fall as he stepped on a bottle of shampoo, lose his balance and became entangled with the shopping cart.

Kate backed up drew her weapon and watched Tommy leap up and race toward the back of the store. She ran and leaped over the shopping cart, her prone partner and followed in pursuit. Turning right at the end of the aisle she raced through the still swinging double doors that lead to the stock area only to find herself flying through the air. "Goddamn rookie mistake," she heard herself say right before she hit the floor hard enough to knock her weapon from her hand and to see stars. When she regained her senses Tommy had her gun and was roughly hauling her to her feet. An eternity later a pissed-off Castle walked through the doors.

Castle walked through the doors and did not like what he was seeing. Tommy had Kate's gun near her head and to Castle's eyes Kate was still dazed. He needed to buy some time for Kate to regain her senses. He was confident that his partner could handle the situation once she recovered. Slowly he pulled out his phone, speed dialed and pretended to text.

"Stay right there," shouted Tommy.

"Esposito," came the familiar voice from the speaker which only Castle could hear.

"I need you to me mute and listen hard," said Castle hopping Esposito would take the hint.

"Shit" whispered Esposito as he punched the Mute and speaker buttons.

Castle felt heartened when Kate's eyes cleared and she focused on him. "I don't like the fact that you have a gun pointed at Detective Beckett's head. I don't like it one bit."

"What are you going to do about it, old man?"

"Well as you can see I just texted 911 to Detective Esposito at the 12th precinct. It's only a matter of time before they realize I called from the CVS Pharmacy on West 106th near Grand, " said Castle as he slowly walked toward Tommy.

"On it," said Kevin as he dialed dispatch.

"So what, I'll be long gone before they get here."

"Answer one question before you go," said Castle as he placed the phone in his right hand jacket pocket, the pocket containing his combat baton.

Castle saw Kate's eyes widen in understanding. "I ain't going anywhere with you," she declared as her hip bump rocked him off balance.

"Stop that or I'll leave you as a bloody mess," hissed Tommy as he shifted his attention to Beckett and squeezed her close to him.

Kate looked back at Castle. Her distraction had worked. His hand was out of his pocket and hidden slightly behind his leg, and he was still inching closer.

"One question," Castle repeated. "Why did you have to kill Penny Parker? She was your teacher."

"Why? What is it to you?"

"She was and acquaintance, but that's not the point. I'm mystery writer you see, and I'm always fascinated as to the reasons why people kill each other. Did she steal your material for the POPs concert? I know that would piss be off. If my teacher stole my work I don't know what I would do."

"First Pitch," said Tommy in a dry voice. "My composition for this year sounds a lot like her song First Pitch. So much so that I thought she stole it from me. "

"And," said Castle as he inched ever closer?

"Professor Parker," he said with disgust "wrote the core to that piece as a tone poem called 'At the Game' over four years ago. She just reworked it somewhat and added an ending that is supposed to be the umpire making the call."

"You must have heard her playing it. It stuck and you went on from there. That must happen all the time. Surely the school would understand and allow you time to come up with other piece."

"Fat chance."

"Is that why you stole the first book of songs? You didn't want people to hear the similarities in the music?"

"Yeah"

"Using the flowers to get in the second time was a nice touch," said Castle as he edged even closer.

"You noticed? I'm impressed."

"Obviously Mister Parker let you in and let you have access to the kitchen so that you could put the flowers in the vase. You made the medicine switch then?"

"Yeah I had all of the time in the world."

"Why did you come back on Saturday and how did you get in?"

"For the book of course and these people," he said shaking his head in amazement. " They got a ten thousand dollar security system and a door lock that's twenty bucks at most, I mean one bar, one pick, twenty seconds and you're in. The chain was the tough part and that took a whole thirty seconds."

Castle and Beckett locked eyes. They had missed the detail that chain was undone. Finally Castle stopped moving. Kate smiled, he was finally in range.

"Hon, why are you letting him hold you like that?"

"I had to wait for you to get close enough…Old Man." Kate snapped her head back as hard as she could. The crunch of the nose was a sweet sound. Maintaining control of Tommy's left arm she spun down and to her left to avoid any inadvertent weapon discharge. Coming up slightly behind him she was ready to apply an arm bar. Kate must have closed her eyes, but her ears told her everything she needed to hear. The 'sprung' of the Castle's deploying baton was as familiar as any New York cabbies horn. The swoosh of the speeding baton, followed by the smack of the tip hitting flesh and the yelp of the suspect told her that Castle had struck true. Kate opened her eyes and saw Castle finish the maneuver he had practiced so many times in the past. The pivoting slip-step followed by a pile-driver into the midsection was a work of art. The one-handed strike to the abdomen didn't have the same amount of force as his two-handed blow had, but it was good enough to force Tommy to double over in pain. The pressure Kate applied on the arm bar forced Tommy all the way to the ground. Kate easily cuffed him, brought him to a vertical position to be sure his airways remained open and started reading him is rights.

"Esposito if you're there you can come off mute."
"You need another trick bro, this cell phone thing is becoming old…Old man….You guys okay?"

"A unit will be there in about five," added Ryan.

"We will need the EMTs. Kate crunched his nose big time and I smacked his hand pretty good. Also I want the EMTs to look at Kate."

"I'm okay," Beckett insisted.

"Then it will be a short look," growled Castle. Kate nodded her acceptance. 'My master's growl,' she lovingly thought with a grin spreading across her face. 'He doesn't do it often, but when he does no matter what he growls, it all means the same thing, I Love You. I most definitely can live with that.'

Postscript

The EMT's had taken one look at the bump on Kate's head and had bundled her up in the ambulance for a ride to the Hospital. An hour later they released her and instructed Castle to monitor for signs of a concussion. "Not out first rodeo," remarked Castle when they tried to tell what to look for. "Trust me. I will most definitely keep my eyes on her." Doctor Morrison noted the serious look on Castle's and the loving smile and on Kate's and concluded that her patient would be well looked after.

It was almost an hour and a half after the normal end of shift time when Beckett and Castle got off of the elevator and started to head toward the Bull-pen. Like this morning Kate could sense the energy of the place changing. The buzz and bustle of the day-time crowd was being replaced by the just as vital but different vib of the night shift.

"Kate" asked Castle when she disengaged from his arm?

"I've got to go," replied Kate waving in the general direction of the Ladies Room. "Look I'm fine," she continued seeing the look of concern on his face.

"Fine?"

"Not 'Italian Job' fine. I'm Kate Castle fine."

"Okay if you're not Freaked-out, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional, then what are you?"

"Fine for Kate Castle means I'm," said Kate as moved to within whisper range "Fantastic"

"Of course you are."

"Inventive"

"In more ways than one."

"Nasty" as two spots of color appeared on Kate's cheeks in response to Castle's last comment.

"Just ask Tommy."

"and your word Extraordinary."

"From the first moment you crashed by book release party."

"Castle could you…"

"A bottle of water? Sure."

Castle entered the break room as Kate headed into the Ladies Room. Finally entering the Bull-pen Castle was delighted that not all of the day-folk had left. Ryan and Esposito were hanging out around their desks and Captain Gates was in the vicinity of the Murder Boards. "Hey guys," he called out.

"You Okay?"

"Fine, Kate's in the Ladies Room." He watched Captain Gates eyebrow go up and the ends of her lips twist up in amusement. "I'm supposed to monitor her for concussion symptoms, but outside of that she's okay."

Castle completely ignored the cane and mounds of paper that had suddenly appeared on his chair. He placed Kate's water on her desk, took a sip of coffee and looked at the final annotations on the Murder Board ' Statement obtained and sent to the DA, Transport for arraignment scheduled.' He looked up when he heard the familiar sounds of Kate's footfalls.

"How you feeling Detective?"

"Fine Sir," replied Beckett her surprise that the Captain was still around obvious on her face. She continued into the room and sat down at her desk.

"I had to be sure that Castle's report that you were being taken to the hospital for evaluation but would be released soon was accurate."

"Glad to say that it was Sir. Tommy Nelson?"

"We took his statement and he's in holding," said Esposito.

"It was easy we just reminded him of things he said to you guys that we heard over the phone. And Esposito's right Castle the cell phone trick is getting…old."

Kate pushed off and rolled over to Castle's chair and grabbed up the mound of paper that had been placed there and started reading out loud.

"Flyer for a villa in a retirement village, How to file for Social Security, Enjoying your retirement," Kate read on laughing as she went. "Guys" Kate said with tears of laughter in her eyes and holding up the papers, "Fun is fun, but to be clear, the only person that can call Castle an Old Man in this place and get away with it is me. And that's because he's my 'Old Man.' All others beware my wraith!" Kate snuck a peek at Castle and he was laughing like the rest of them. She breathed a sigh of relief, 'No ego damage sustained.'

"You can finish the paperwork up tomorrow," said Captain Gates. "We need to conserve our overtime funds."

"Olde Haunt," suggested Esposito.

"Concussion watch," replied Kate. "No booze. Tomorrow? I'll reserve our room? Snacks?"

"Yeah, sounds great"

"Captain?"

"Maybe for one drink."

"Great. You guys ready? ….Night Sir."

"Night Detectives." Captain Gates watched her Detectives and Mister Castle head toward the elevator and concluded, not for the first time, that she had the best Homicide Squad in the City.