Chapter 1 - "Close"

"Mr. Castle, Detective Beckett, I want to see both of you in my office." Gates said, shouting a very serious look, trying to make sure they both understood it was serious business.

"Yes sir." Beckett replied, following Gates as she started walking, as Castle did the same.

"Close the door, if you please." Castle was the last one to walk in the room, and after the Captain's order, he immidientely turned around to close the door, without questioning her, without even speaking. "I already know about everything."

"Excuse me, sir?" Beckett frowned her eyebrow after shouting a preoccupied look at Castle. Did she just say she knew about everything? Everything?

"I know everything, and I'm very disappointed with both of you. Well, I was expecting this from Mr. Castle, but not from you, detective." her fingers interlaced as she talked, resting her elbows in her table after sitting down.

"I, huh-" she tried to explain herself, but her words were interrupted by her Captain.

"I have no idea why you didn't tell me about this." her serious face suddenly turned into a happy face. Too happy, really. Her wide smile was somehow shocking, and Beckett was speechless, not sure of how to take her reaction. She knew about everything, yet, she was happy? Castle had his mouth somehow open, also shocked with her reaction.

"Sir, I'm sorry, I don't understand...?" she finally questioned her, her eyebrows frowning as she turned her head slightly to the side, completely confused.

"You could have told me you saved New York from a bomb and earned a medal." she said, making both Beckett and Castle sigh in relief at the same time. "I was going through some papers and found this," the captain picked a paper from her table and handed it to Beckett. It was a file about it, and in Beckett's lips, there was now a smile.

"I didn't think it was important, sir. It's been a while." she replied, handing the paper back to Gates as she smiled, Castle now trying to contain laughter. They really thought they had been caught.

"Well, I'm happy to have a detective and... a writer, in my precinct that earned a medal. Good job." seeing the captain smile was quite shocking. "Both of you." she looked at Castle and nodded. "But I didn't call you here just for that." looking back to all the papers in her table, her face was now back to serious. "You have new case."

"Let's have some fun!" Castle finally opened his mouth, making Gates look up to him. If looks could kill, Castle would have died in that moment. "I mean, huh,... let's get this killer."

"Here's the address," she looked back to the papers in her desk and picked one up. "They just reported it, and the medical team must be on their way."

Castle reached for the paper but Gates placed it on the table again, not wanting him to grab it. They could both hear Castle whisper "Right" as he stepped back, and then after shouting a small laugh, Beckett finally grabbed it.

"We'll do our best, sir."

They both turned around, trying to contain laughter, reminding themselves that for a second, they thought they had been caught. After passing through the door and closing it, they couldn't hold it back anymore and both laughed. Not too loud, but they did, enough for a few people at the precinct to notice. As they sat next to Beckett's table, the laughter stopped, and they were now looking at each other with tenderness, after a couple of sighs.

"That was close," he confessed, looking into Beckett's eyes, a very playful and challenging smile playing across his lips.

"It's not funny, Castle." her eyes slid from his face to Gate's office, then back at him, as she sighed in relief once again.

"I didn't say funny, I said close." a small laugh escaped from his lips again. "Besides, you laughed too."

"I laughed because I was relieved she didn't find out."

"Find out what?" Esposito approached them, and stood right behind Beckett's chair, as she rolled it to take a look at him.

"Nothing," Beckett quickly said, without even thinking.

"Don't worry about it." Castle shouted at the same time Beckett did, making Esposito frown his eyebrow. He was getting used to this.

"I heard we got a new case," he nodded his head, and quickly changed the subject.

"Yeah, huh, I almost forgot. Lanie and the rest of the team are on their way there. We should get going, too." the brunette said, not sure of what to do or say, embarrassed for the previous moment. She got up, right after Castle did, and they both looked at Esposito again. "Where's Ryan?" she asked.

"I'm right here," they saw Ryan approaching them with a wide smile on his face.

"Bro, where were you?" Esposito looked at him.

"Jenny called. Her parents want us to visit them this weekend." he replied, his smile disappearing and turning into a concerned face.

"Good luck, dude." a laugh escaped from his lips as he noticed Ryan's face.

"Not funny. Not. Funny."

"Hey guys...? We have a victim to check out and a killer to find." Beckett reminded them as she rolled her eyes and turned around, then started waking, leading the way.

"What've we got?" they all approached Lanie as she checked out the woman's body, trying to identify the cause of murder and any other things relevant for the case. Beckett was always the one the question her.

"It's a woman, I'd say in her middle age, between 35 and 40 years old. Time of death between 10 and 11 pm."

"Any ID?" Beckett asked, her eyes travelling through the dead body in front of her, as she saw Esposito approaching it and lowering next to Lanie, grabbing a purse and then getting up again.

"Here," he placed his hand inside the purse and took a wallet from it. "Jessica Blake, 37 years old."

"It obviously wasn't a robbery... Cause of death?" she asked, now looking at Lanie.

"The marks on her neck indicate she was asphyxiated, and I think she didn't fight it much." her hands slid to the woman's neck, revealing the marks so they'd see them.

"What do you mean?" Castle interrogated her.

"I believe this woman was sleeping and woke up with someone's hands on her neck."

"Yikes!" Castle shouted, making Beckett frown her eyebrow as she looked at him.

"This here," Lanie continued. "Indicates that the killer was wearing gloves."

"No fingerprints, then. Our killer isn't definitely dumb." Beckett concluded, then looked at Ryan. "Find out more about the victim, I want to know everything about her. Family, friends, enemies..."

"Got it!" Ryan shouted and turned around, as Esposito started following him, but got stopped by Beckett.

"Espo, I need you to take the neighbors to the precinct, we need to see if they heard or saw someone near the house by 10pm."

"On it, boss." he replied, going after Ryan, but then both going on separate ways.

"You and I are going to have fun." she said as she looked at Castle, and smiled, not realizing what was going in his mind.

"Fun... huh?" he bit his bottom lip after shouting a wide and provocative smile, Lanie watching them as she tried to contain laughter. They were completely forgetting the was there, too.

"Interrogating the neighbors."

"Oh." the smile on his face quickly disappeared, turning into a disgusted face, really odd thoughts going through his head.

Note:

This first chapter was more of a "fun introduction" to a very touching story. With this story, I want to show their relationship, how much they're connected, all they've been through... and their love and trust will be put to prove.

I know this seems like crime and all at the moment, but most scenes will be around Caskett, and if you're a shipper, I believe this story will get to your heart. I will update every day, sometimes even twice a day, depends on the follows and reviews this gets! Get your shipper heart ready, because this story will make you... well, just read to find out.