This being my first fic I want to really thank my fantastic Beta readers…thanks so much for your feedback. Also to all the Loonies over at The Old Haunt for encouraging me to take the plunge….

Please review but also please be gentle with me…I do love constructive criticism so heave it all my way!

The first couple chapters of this one are pretty much stage setting; therefore, not much Caskett to speak of…but I promise if you stay with me there will be much coming and I do not think you'll be disappointed!

I do not own Castle/Beckett or any other persons mentioned here…nor do I work for ABC (If I did I would be wandering into a writers meeting or two) or infringe upon any of their rights regarding said characters

ENJOY!

"Burn all, burn everything. Fire is bright and fire is clean."

– Captain Beatty, Fahrenheit 451

She could still feel the heat from the flames clinging like a dense fog to the alleyway. She wasn't even sure how long ago the fire was put out but she could feel the difference in the temperature as the air hit the skin on her face. Her translucent green eyes scanned the scene; slowly, methodically as they always did when she first came across a body. A person; this person; was someone's child, probably a sibling, most definitely a friend, maybe even a lover.

Detective Katherine Beckett kneeled next to the body, being careful to not step too closely for fear of destroying evidence. She didn't want to get that glare from the County Medical Examiner; her best friend Dr. Lanie Parish. Lanie was kneeling next to the body as well, mirroring Kate on its right side. A clipboard was in her left hand, pen in her right, taking notes as to the condition of the body.

"Anything?" Kate asked her friend after registering the look of indignation on Lanie's face.

"Right now all I've got for you is female."

"That's all…?" Kate asked, a tone of irritation rising in her voice.

"Honestly, I don't know how much I'm going to be able to tell you before an autopsy."

"Well how did you get that?"

"Angle of the pelvic bone, length and breadth of the tibia's and rib cage…"

"Well anything else you can tell me is better than me sitting here twiddling my thumbs."

"You know how much I hate conjecture."

"Likewise, but I can't very well go to Gates and say 'we're scouring Uptown Manhattan seeing if someone is missing a female…' there's not even an age range in that! She'll bust my rank just for the Castle-ness of the comment…"

"Have you heard from him lately?"

"Lanie, not the time or the place…" Kate cautioned her friend.

"Oh come on, girl. He's been gone for three months on that stupid publicity tour and I know you've been keeping in contact… What all have you two been talking about to pass those long, late nights away from each other, huh?" Lanie asked with a sing-song quality to her voice, like it was the most natural thing to ask her best friend while standing over a body that smelled like a camp fire.

"Nothing…we talk…he asks how work is, and about cases, and I ask how he's handling being on the road around that douchebag of a publicist the studio saddled him with while on said tour…"

"Nothing else to add…?"

"Nothing at all," Kate said in response, lowering her head back down to the body, signaling that she was done with the current conversation.

"Well…I can say," Lanie said, giving in to her friend's wishes, for now at least, "this doesn't look, or smell, like an accelerant was used."

"So someone just lit a match and set sparky on fire?" came the low voice from behind her. The lilt in his voice made Kate grin, just slightly, then compose herself once she remembered where she was and what she was doing.

"Speak of the devil," she whispered to Lanie; then increased her volume to address him as he approached, "Hey, Castle, nice to see you deemed us worthy of your time today." Kate said as she stood and turned toward him. Her eyes met his light blue ones and caught the blatant playfulness lingering there as his lips turned upward in that classic smile. Richard Castle stood in front of her, hands outstretched with two white cups, which, as she knew so well, would be filled with coffee. 120, she quietly noted as he handed her the cup remembering his comment about her owing him about a hundred coffees.

"Well you know, "he said as he interrupted her thoughts, and placed his left hand into his pants pocket, "I figured it was time to get some 'slummin' in…hit the beat with the rank and file and all…"

"You mean the police…"

"You say tomato…"

"Anyways…" Kate interrupted, as she turned back to Lanie who was still situated at the girl's right side, "Just let me know what you find as soon as you finish the autopsy."

"Always do…"

Kate took one more moment, just a second, to gaze back into the girl's face. There wasn't much there now, just a glob of burned up flesh without much distinction.

"Do we even know who she is?" Castle asked her, breaking Kate out of her moment with the victim. Kate looked up and into Lanie's face attempting to see some semblance of an idea there as to how to identify this girl.

"Not yet," answered Kate.

"And we obviously can't count on fingerprints in this case…" Lanie noted as she held up the girl's right hand which was merely a mass of fully charred, blackened flesh.

"Well at least there isn't a decomposing body smell."

"Way to look at the glass as half full, Castle." Kate said to the man behind her with a smile to Lanie.

"I'll have to contact a Forensic Odontologist for this one…but I won't even have anything to compare dentals to unless we can ID her…" Lanie said, her voice trailing off slightly as her thoughts took over. Kate could almost see the wheels in her best friend's head turning at triple speed.

"So the two buildings on either side of the alleyway here are abandoned, thank you economic recession." interjected the ever-constant voice of Detective Kevin Ryan as he and his partner, Detective Javier Esposito, walked toward Beckett, Castle and Lanie. "Castle! Hey...you just get in?"

"Yesterday."

"What and you didn't even call? No email, no message?" Esposito countered, looking at Castle with mock indignation creasing his features.

"Yea really, you don't even give us a heads up..." Ryan continued, "And you didn't even bring US coffee...nice to know where we stand after three months of barely any contact."

"Do you ladies want us to leave you alone so you can have this argument in private?" Kate asked, her eyebrows raised at the three men standing in front of her. "Or can we get back to the dead body?"

"Right..." Ryan said burying his face in his notepad.

"We'll finish this later..." Esposito said quietly, narrowing his eyes in the writer's direction.

Ryan turned back to Kate Beckett and continued his briefing, "Across the street is a basketball court built for the neighborhood kids by some hot shot NBA star which is closed and locked by 11pm every evening, and after that I'm guessing there isn't too much foot traffic since this isn't really a commercial area, and the closest residential area is about a quarter mile from here on either side."

"So TOD would have to be after 11pm then…" Esposito said, as he looked to Lanie.

"That's a pretty fair assessment since I'd hope that if someone saw a fire burning in an alleyway they would at least stop to see what was burning…" Lanie answered.

"If only because New Yorker's just love to poke their noses into things." said Ryan.

"So no one to canvas…" Kate interjected.

"That's the basic idea."

"Well, I'll let you know official TOD and COD once I get her back to the morgue" said Lanie.

"We've had rookies and uniforms dumpster diving in a grid over a stretch of about a quarter mile from here…they found a wallet in one about one block west of here…" Esposito handed Kate the long, thin, black wallet. She opened it and gazed at the photo on the driver's license.

"Says the name is Evelyn Masters, Oregon license with an address in SW Portland…she's 21 years old…"

"What is she doing all the way out here in the middle of the night…?" Esposito interrupted.

"Maybe she needed a walk…" Castle postulated.

"A walk?" Esposito looked at Castle, putting a voice to the looks on the other four faces surrounding him.

"Yeah why not? She's stressed, in need of some relaxation…maybe a little clean air…"

"Clean air? Dude…" Ryan said.

"So she wakes up and decides to take a 2,800 mile plus walk from Portland, Oregon to Manhattan in the middle of September?" Kate questioned. He knew the look in her eye as she stared at him with her eyebrows raised and that slight upturn at the edges of her lips.

"I didn't mean a walk from…" Castle stammered.

"As always your theories are cracking this case wide open Castle." She retorted. "As I was going to say, there's a school ID here for Pace University," she interrupted him as she held the small plastic rectangle in her gloved hand. Kate looked from the small porcelain skinned face of the auburn haired girl in the photo down to the charred remains on the ground. Evelyn's picture didn't match the face in front of her. "But we don't know for certain it's her" Kate continued, "and if we go to the family asking for dental records and it's not her…" Her voice trailed off. The others did not need her to finish her thought, they knew exactly where the sentence was heading. Losing her mother as a teenager had affected Kate Beckett deeply and they knew she would never want to invite that pain upon a family without knowing for certain that the body before them was, in fact, the person they thought she was. She felt Castle's presence closer to her before she heard his voice:

"Kate, it may be the only way." He said quietly, trying to gain some sort of thoroughfare into her mind. He stepped back as she turned toward him, then to Esposito, Ryan and finally turned toward Lanie once again.

"Can we get a number for that address on her license? See if it's hers or maybe her parent's'." she asked as she handed the license to Esposito.

"Will do" Ryan and Esposito said in unison as they took notes on their police notepads, folded them up, placed the notebooks in the inside pockets of their jackets and walked back down the alley to where it opened up onto the street.

"Espo, Ryan…" she called after them. "Check missing persons, as well, just in case…see if maybe someone tried to report her missing. If she's a student from out-of-state then she likely lives in an apartment or on campus, and hopefully has some roommates who just might be missing her…" Kate turned back to the body and added, "especially since it doesn't look like she ever came home last night…"

Richard Castle stood watching his partner in silence. It was moments like these he knew he would never truly be able to fathom the depths of Kate Beckett's ability to draw off her own past and reach into the lives of those who had loved and lost as she had. Evelyn, if the young woman lying in front of them was actually Evelyn Masters, never came home last night – and she never would again. Just like Johanna Beckett never came home again after Dick Coonan took her life nearly 14 years ago.

"So, didn't your plane land yesterday morning? What have you been up to for an entire day?" Kate asked, interrupting Castle's train of thought as she turned from the body and began walking toward him.

"Alexis…"

"I'm not sure the tone in your voice means that as a good thing or a bad thing…"

"Me either…"

"Does she not like college so far?"

"It seems like she does…I mean it's Columbia for crying out loud…she really loved the campus when we did the tour in the Spring, and then she was so excited picking out her classes and moving into the dorms…"

"Then what's with the tone?"

"She just seemed a bit off, ya know?"

"Off how?"

"Like she's lost"

"She is Castle"

"Huh?" He stopped, looking at her with the most bewildered expression she thought she had ever seen from him in four years.

"As much as you both will never admit it, you are ridiculously close. As much as she wants to venture out on her own, be mature and live her own life, she doesn't want to let go of what she had. She was comfortable, safe and secure in high school…in the loft…with you…, and now she's out there all by herself and she doesn't completely know how to handle it."

"Ok I'm getting this strange 'speaking from experience' vibe here…" he said.

"I was so ready to move out and live in the dorms when I went to school, and I am grateful I did, but it was tough in the beginning."

"So what do I do…?"

"You…"

"Drive over there, Alexis-nap her and tie her up in her room so she can never leave me ever again…" he spouted in one rushed breath cutting her off.

"I was going to say 'let it go' but yours just reeks of overreacting and co-dependency so I'd go with that…" Kate said, letting the smile on her face seep into her voice.

"That's just what I was thinking." He said as he reached for the handle of the Crown Vic sitting on the curb in front of them and dropping into the passenger seat.

Kate stood momentarily letting the smile take over her expression. He really did amaze her sometimes, though she would never admit it out loud. Her mind wandered once again to how much she loved his concern and love for Alexis, how he would do anything for her and his obvious adoration for the woman she was becoming. She watched him through the window as she walked slowly around the car to the driver's side. As she reached out to pull open the door. he caught her eye, and even through the glass partition between them, she could see the concern in his eyes. In an instant it was gone and the tiny spark of impishness resurfaced in his countenance. She opened the door, slipped behind the wheel and buckled her seat belt.

With her left hand on the wheel and her right hand on the gearshift, she stole one more glance to her right and met his bright, blue eyes with her light green ones. They held each other's gaze…maybe a moment too long, or not enough…then she turned her head to look over her left shoulder and threw the car into reverse, then into drive as she pulled away from the curb and headed east toward the 12th precinct;, letting the smile creep slowly onto her lips and linger there as she recounted the look in his eyes.

"So, you haven't really mentioned how everything went…" Kate ventured as they sat idling at a red light.

"It was good." He said. Something in his voice made Kate glance to her right, her eyebrows cocked in a way that told him she did not for one second believe the fake optimism he was trying and failing to force into his voice. "No really, it was great getting to spend some time with Natalie and the guys; and seeing the whole movie press junket from that perspective was just crazy!"

"So what's with the tone, then?"

"It was just a long three months…" he exhaled, the words carrying a weight they both could feel touching their souls and bearing down on them like a ten-ton weight. So much was said; but also left unsaid the last time they laid eyes on each other three months previous. She could still see it, hear it, feel it, all so clearly…

They stood in front of the door leading into the 12th precinct as the sun began to set behind the high-rises looming around them.

"Castle, what is it…honestly, you look like a freshman trying to ask a senior to the prom…" she smiled as he rolled his eyes at her comment regarding his uneasiness.

"Black Pawn and the studio have banded together to hoodwink me into going on the press junket for Heat Wave…they're hoping it will help to stir up a little publicity for the new book before it launches in September." He spouted in one breath.

"Press junket? So that means…"

"I'll likely be gone for at least the next couple months, if not longer…"

"I take it you've already told Gates?" Kate asked.

"Did she do a happy dance the moment I walked out of the bull pen?"

"Pretty close..." They both smiled then. Their eyes locked and held each other's gaze as they had so often done over the past three years.

"So…" Kate said finally breaking their silence and lowering her gaze from his, "I guess I'll talk to you in a few months." She stammered, willing the disappointment out of her voice; afraid it wasn't working as well as it might have years ago…before he had so easily begun to break through her shell and expose all the things she was trying so desperately to hide. Dr. Burke's question rang in her memory "what are you scared of, Kate? That he won't wait for you, or that he will?" She still wasn't completely sure she knew the answer to the question…or at least…that's what she kept telling herself.

"Actually, I was hoping we could keep in touch while I'm gone…" he said. Without realizing it, they were standing less than five inches from each other. Who had closed the gap between them, and when? They had just walked out of the precinct and were standing at least anarm's length from each other…but now…she could almost feel his breath on her face.

"Really…?" she asked, letting that teasing tone creep into her remark.

"Well, I was hoping to be kept in the loop, at least a little bit, so that when I get back I'm not struggling to catch up on cases or what's been happening…" he stated, trying and failing to cover his intentions. He really was an open book to her sometimes.

"Well, I could see if Ryan and Espo would be willing to keep you up to date, maybe some emails or something?" Kate said as she began moving away from him toward the subway entrance. He began walking with her.

"Oh…um…yeah I guess that could work…" he faltered. Open book. She stopped then, and turned toward him and he stopped short, nearly bumping into her before he was able to catch himself.

"Castle, if you have something to say, just say it…" she countered.

"Well…"

"Castle…" she stepped closer to him. Just a hair closer; but close enough so they could both feel the difference.

"I don't want to go another summer without speaking to you. Been there, done that…three years running and I, personally, do not want to do it again." he said with a bravado she had only seen occasionally in the time she had known him. And, as with all those times, it was causing her stomach to flutter and her heart to quicken. Something about that tone in his voice and the look in his eyes, she knew she felt the same way. She didn't want another summer without him either…now she just had to muster up the courage to say it to him. Just say something, she chided herself, say something…

"Then how about we don't..."

"It's going to be a busy week isn't it?" She ventured through the silence that still hung in the air between them once her mind shifted back to the present. "The book launch tonight and then the Heat Wave premiere this weekend…"

"Yeah its going to be an interesting one…you still coming to the launch party tonight?"

"I was planning on it…as long as this case doesn't get out of hand."

"Good…" he said, mostly to himself as Kate pulled the car into an open space in front of the 12th. She looked to him and smiled as she unbuckled her seat belt, opened her door and stepped out of the car. "Good." He restated to the empty car. He took a deep breath and then got out of the car following his partner into the precinct.

Hopefully Chapter 2 will be coming your way soon…leave a comment if you have a moment!

Thanks for stopping by!

3 AM Ward