Moving Day, and Punked
Rick looked up from his case file and smiled at his daughter. She took it upon herself to organize the Shaw's move to Casa Castle. She hired the movers after an extensive cross check and interview process. She and Kelly then supervised the pack up of Jordan and Kelly's apartment by using a color coded system. And she was supervising the unloading of the truck.
"No, that box goes in the guest room!" Alexis said chasing one of the movers down the hall upstairs.
"Your daughter is scary. You know that right?" Jordan said smiling from her spot on the couch next to him.
It was a lazy Monday for the two Feds. Something of a rarity of late thanks to a string of cases that had them both running all over looking for killers. They had the day off because they had just finished consulting on a multiple rape case with more than thirty victims in Boston. Instead of one guy it turned out to be a ring of four middle aged men with families of their own using the same MO to throw off the heat. Like a dad garage band the men would meet up in one of the dirt bag's 'man cave', drink beers, and plan the rapes. They even taped them and watched them as a group. When they made the arrest they found the group watching a home move. Rick had been tempted to leave bodies and not arrest the men, but they were unarmed. They had arrived home to find Martha and the girls waiting for them. It was the best gift they could have gotten after the things they saw in Boston. Because the case took their weekend they had today off and a half day tomorrow.
"I know she's scary. She has the makings of a truly horrible dictator in her. Seeing her standing there with that clip board shouting orders at the troops is giving me all kinds of flashback style nightmares. Your classic Type A overachiever with mild OCD." Rick said smiling softly.
"Well as long as you know." Jordan said laughing.
"Know? I'm just waiting to hide the bodies. Yes, I'm going to be one of those parents. The body hiding/cover up style ones." Rick said trying to hold it together.
"Good, those are the best kind. Anything less and I'd be sad. If you don't love your kid enough to hide the bodies then you really don't love them at all." Jordan said trying to breath through the laughter.
"Sure we laugh about it now but in a week when we run into a mom that keeps telling us Jimmy would never kill hookers you won't be laughing." He said laughing along with her.
"What are you two lazy bums doing?" Kelly asked pointing at the two with her own pink clipboard.
"Oh no, your kid has recruited mine as a submissive partner in crime. Note the way she dresses and the way she talks." Jordan said pointing out the fact that Kelly was wearing the same t-shirt and jeans combo as Alexis.
"You two have totally lost it now haven't you?" Kelly asked dropping into the middle seat between the two and smiling when Rick and Jordan both put their arms around her back.
"Don't blame us. Blame work. We just came off a really intense four day case in Boston, and before that I was consulting on a case for the NYPD and looking over old cold case files with Ken." Rick said closing his file so Kelly couldn't see the gruesome images inside.
"And on top of working lead on the Boston case we are coming to the end of my three month profiling class and things are getting a lot harder. Do you have any idea how tough it is to sit back and watch Jr. Agents bumble their way through a fake crime scene?" Jordan said.
"Speaking of, how did the group do?" Rick asked.
"Olivia and Dash were good but Will and Mike were unbelievable. They took apart the scene in minutes and had a full profile ready in under two hours. The rest of the class just barely passed or outright failed." Jordan said as she combed her finger through Kelly's copper hair.
"That's because they walked two real crime scenes with Esposito and Ryan. My boys are becoming the perfect support staff." Rick said proudly.
"Yes your minions are tuning out nicely." Jordan said rolling her eyes.
"Look at you three! Lazy! All of you!" Alexis said catching them all lounging on the couch.
"Sorry Ally, I sat down and mom started playing with my hair and I started to pass out." Kelly said.
"Well move over, I want some of that too." Alexis said tossing her clip board at Rick. "You get to take over. Boxes are marked and correspond to the chart." She said slipping her skinny body between Kelly and her dad effectively wedging Rick off the couch.
"Sure, take my spot and give me all the work." Rick said pouting.
"Oh poor Rick. Now go do your work, I want to talk to my girls." Jordan said shoeing him off.
"Fine! But I want reward ice cream for this." Rick said resolutely.
"Agreed." Jordan said laughing along with the girls.
Two hours later found them all at an old fashioned ice cream shop sharing a bowl of ice cream big enough the kill a diabetic.
"This is so good!" Kelly said in a state of euphoria. Her face, along with the rest of her family was covered in fudge sauce.
"We've been coming here for a long time. Every time we earn reward ice cream." Rick said stalling a caramel candy off the mound before his daughter could get it causing the girl to mean mug him.
"Caramel thief." She said smirking.
"If you're too slow, you're too slow. It's not my fault." Rick said sticking his tongue out at her.
"Very mature Rick." Jordan said laughing at the two. She loved watching them goof off together.
"I'll show you mature." Rick said pulling her into a fudge covered kiss.
"Cut out you two, we're in public." Alexis said.
"So?" Jordan said.
"Yeah, So?" Rick said kissing her again.
"So it's not polite." Alexis said smiling at the two.
"Is this polite?" Rick asked opening his mouth and making rude noises.
"Gorse!" She said looking away.
"I thought it was funny." Kelly said laughing.
"Right?" Rick said fist bumping Kelly.
"You are all crazy." Jordan said.
When they all settled down from their laughter Rick looked at the three women.
"Now that you two have officially moved in I think we should go over some house rules." Rick said in a serious tone. "Kelly. Jordan told me you have a tendency to be messy. Well, I want you to be as messy as you want. We have a team of maids that come in every day to clean Monday through Friday. And bed time is up to you if Jordan will allow it. I believe in letting kids set their own time limits. If you want to stay up watching a movie on a school night, that's fine with me. Like Alexis you're a good kid. I know you'll make it to school on time because this one is always on time." Rick said pointing to Alexis.
"That sounds fine with me." Jordan said smiling.
"Good, one last rule. You must learn the art of Laser tag and lightsaber dueling. No kid living in that house should go untrained for too long. That's why I'm presenting you with this." He said pulling a red wood box from the shopping bag at his feet. Inside were two shiny lightsaber hilts. "The plastic blades are at home. You're training begins tonight after dinner." Rick said with a huge smile.
"This is so cool!" Kelly said seeing her name engraved on the side of the hilt.
"I can show you all kinds of cool moves, and it's a good way to learn fencing." Alexis said.
"Now let's see if we can finish this before we get sick." Rick said attacking the ice cream like the ten year old he acted like most of the time.
That night while they were cooking dinner Rick got a call from Esposito. "Hey Espo!" Rick said.
"Hey Mr. FBI. I saw you on the news yesterday standing with Shaw. You never expect a group of suburban dads." Espo said shaking his head.
"You never do. What's up with you?" Rick asked changing the subject. Dead bodies he could handle, but seeing those women being hurt really broke something inside of him. He noticed he hugged the girls more since he got back. Some things you just can't un-see.
"We caught a crazy case and we were wondering if you would like to work it with us. So far we have some leads, but really me and Ryan just want to get your reaction to the evidence." Esposito said smirking.
"What, is it really bad?" Rick asked.
"No, in fact it's not too bad at all. Like I said. We just wants to get your reaction to the evidence." He said laughing.
"Come on, what is it?" Rick asked.
"You come in tomorrow and you'll see for yourself." Esposito shot back still smiling hard enough to be heard over the phone.
"Jordan, can I take my guys and work on a crazy case at the 12th?" Rick asked.
"Sure we have a really light day tomorrow." She said.
"I'll be there with my guys." Rick said.
"Good. I can't wait to see your reaction." Espo said before hanging up.
"That was odd." Rick said going back to chopping vegetables.
"What?" Jordan asked.
"They don't really want my help, they want to get my reaction to the evidence." Rick said frowning.
"That is odd. I wonder what they have?" Jordan said going back to the pot on the stove.
"I don't know. We'll see tomorrow." Rick said.
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"TIME TRAVEL!" He shouted excitedly causing Ryan to fall over laughing and Beckett to shake her head.
"I knew he would say it." Ryan said between laughs.
"Come on Castel, time travel doesn't exist." Beckett said rolling her eyes.
"No you come on, old clothes, and an old bullet, it all fits!" Rick said excitedly.
"I'm with the boss on this one. That's some Terminator type stuff." Will said.
"Besides we have a good suspect. Panofsky lost four million dollars, and he has a whole collection of antique firearms. We'll have ballistics match in a few hours." Beckett said ignoring both of them.
"I'm not sure about all this, but if the guy drives a Delorean I'm in." Mike said laughing.
Esposito came off the elevator with a neck brace. He was waving a piece of paper and he had a huge grin on his face. "Traffic just got a hit on Our vic's car! Castle you're going to love this!" He said handing the paper to him and bypassing his boss.
"He Drives a Delorean!" Castle shouted causing Mike fall over.
"It's still there. You want to go check it out. " Esposito said excitedly.
A half hour later Mike and Ryan walked around the corner and spotted a Delorean. "Well that settles it for me. We are definitely dealing with a time traveler." Mike said taking pictures of the rare car.
"Castle's going to love this." Ryan calling the rest of the teams that were looking down the other side streets.
"I Called It!" Rick said rushing up to the car with Beckett lagging behind looking shocked.
"This does not make it time travel." She said still looking a bit taken aback.
"Buzz kill." Rick said smiling. It was fun to banter with her again. It was fun to work with the team again. He looked at his two guys and they both had huge grins on their faces making the whole thing even better.
"Well we have CSU checking the park we should head over there and see what they found." She said trying to find something to take their mind off the time travel angle. "Ryan can you check out the vic's car and see if we can get anything from it.
"I'll stay with him boss I want to get a few more shots of the car. For forensic purposes." Mike added just a bit too quickly.
"It's cool just don't sit in the car until Ryan tells you it's okay." Rick said laughing as the rest of the team walked away.
When they showed up at the park CSU was pulling a second lead ball out of the ground. It took Castle all of three seconds to figure out what went on that night.
"Will stand where the first victim was shot." He said standing by the second ball. He raised his arm and pointed at Will. "This park is a few blocks away from St. James church. You said your victim's time of death was around midnight right? I bet you can hear the church bells from this park. This wasn't a murder. This was a good old fashioned duel!" Rick said.
"You think Panofsky got mad at the vic for losing his money and challenged him to a duel?" Beckett asked.
"Him or someone else." Rick said. "Your vic got on someone's bad side and it landed him in a duel. A duel that he lost." Rick said walking off the distance between him and Will. "Forty paces. Two men stand back to back. They each walk twenty paces. Turn and fire." He said as his phone rang.
"Hey Boss we found a bunch of receipts in the car. It looks like work reimbursement. One of them is a hit we'll meet you at the park." Mike said.
"That was Mike. He said they got a hit off a receipt in the car. He coming to tell us about it." Castle said to the group.
"Castle. You read our vic's file, what could he be mixed up with to get him to enter a duel?" Beckett asked thinking about the new information.
"Money, honor, a woman. You said your vic had almost no social skills. What if he tried to talk to the wrong man's girl? We've seen a lot worse for a lot less." Castle said as Mike and Ryan came up to them with a receipt in an evidence bag.
"This receipt says coffee with Troy Kenworth. Now that name popped for me because his dad had one of the worst sob stories from the investment fund that went bust. His dad lots two million bucks, then he lost his house, and his marriage, and then two months ago he killed himself. Now Troy was looking like a good suspect until we found Panofsky. He has a bunch of arrest on his record from the last two months for bar fights." Ryan said.
"Well there you go! Revenge is the oldest motive in the book. Maybe Troy thought your vic besmirched his father's honor and challenged him to a duel." Rick said.
"And Donny, being the shy and introverted kid that he was accepted because he felt guilty." Beckett said.
"They meet at the park. Donny wearing the proper clothes for the event. They stand back to back. Twenty paces. Turn and fire." Rick said with a smirk.
"They both pull the trigger. The guns are loud and there's smoke everywhere. When the smoke clears Donny's dead and Troy panics and strips him of his clothes and wallet hoping to buy some time before we figure it out. No clothes, no duel, no connection." She said.
"Maybe, that last bit is a stretch, but everything else?" Rick said.
"Now I see why the boss talks like that." Will said.
"Yeah, it's weird to see both sides of the conversation we usually just get his side." Mike said.
"Ryan you're with me, let's go pick up Mr. Kenworth. Castle we'll meet you back at the precinct." Kate said walking off with Ryan.
A half hour later and Rick was watching Beckett work the suspect over in the room. She was using a soft voice and an understanding tone. But it wasn't working. The kid had good answers for every question she asked. Donny tried to get his father to diversify. His parents were on the rocks before anything with the fund going bust happened. To top it all off he had a good relationship with the vic. The meeting was to see if any cash was left in the fund at all. When Donny told him there was nothing left he took pity on the kid and got him a job and that's where the interview got interesting.
"Look I was at work the night Donny was shot." Troy said.
"At Berman and Rose?" Beckett asked.
"No." He said looking uncomfortable.
"Then where?" She asked dropping the mothering tone.
"Look I can't tell you or I'll get fired! I signed a confidentiality agreement." He said.
"You want to go to jail for murder?" She asked trying to get him to talk.
"Look that job is keeping a roof over me and my mother's head." He said.
"Is the job on 82nd between Lex and 3rd?" She asked.
"Yeah. How did you know that?" He asked looking shocked.
"Is it some kind of private club?" She asked.
"Yeah." He said.
"Sit tight Troy, we have to check your story." She said walking out of the room.
"Good work in there." Rick said meeting her by the door.
"Well now we know where Donnie was the night he got shot. Let's go check it out. Ryan stay here and check the ballistics report on Panofsky's guns. You two can act as our back up." She said to Will and Mike.
"Here, take my car and follow us." Rick said tossing Will the keys and he walked with Beckett. They walked out to her old Crown vic and Castle smiled when he sat in her uncomfortable passenger seat. "That something I don't miss." he said making a face.
"What's that?" She asked pulling out into traffic.
"That spring poking me in the ass." He said wiggling his butt around in the seat to get comfortable.
"I've missed this." She said softly as they drove.
"What" He asked looking at her.
"The banter, the theory, the… fun." She said glancing at him.
"This has been fun, but what did you expect with a case like this? 200 hundred year old bullet in a naked guy? Old clothes? A time machine custom Delorean? Honor duels in the park at midnight? Come on. This had our name written all over it. We had to work this one together. It's a classic Beckett and Castle case. It has everything." he said talking excitedly.
"True, I can't imagine working this case with anyone else. There's the club." She said pulling into the spot by the side. Will found a spot up the block.
"Hey Kate, we needed this one." He said smiling at her.
"We did." She said. "But it's going to make next week's case even harder." She said.
"Call me, I'm always ready to help. And my team is no joke. They're getting good fast. We're always ready to play. Even if we have a case. You know there's always a lull in the case and time to talk." He said getting out of her car. "Now let's see what we're dealing with." He said as they walked up to the green door.
Beckett knocked and a man in a funny looking hat and goggles answered the door he asked a few rapid fire questions about Jules Verne, but Beckett flashed her badge and got them in. The place was full of oddities.
"Where are we?" Beckett muttered.
"Victorian London." The door man answered.
"When are we is a better question." Rick asked.
"1892." He replied with a smile.
"What is this place?" Beckett asked looking around.
"Gaslamp! A private steampunk society!" The door man said with a big grin.
"Because that explains everything." Will said.
"It does." Mike said taking the lead into the room. "It's a society that loves the old timey culture of the past and the futuristic tech of the industrial revolution. This is with the world would look like if the culture never changed." Mike said.
A conversation with the owner and president of the club netted them a set of antique dueling pistols. As they were looking them over Beckett spotted the guy that worked with Donnie at his office. He took one look at her and booked it. Unlucky for him Will was on that side of the room with Mike. He saw the guy run. He heard Beckett yell. And he clothes lined the guy.
They barely got him in the box before he starts confessing to the whole thing. He says it was all a joke. A stunt to impress his secretary. He said Donnie did the math and told him it was impossible to hit each other at forty feet. There was crying and the girl was no help at all. She was sobbing before she even got into the room. Beckett walked out of the interview room shaking her head.
"How do you point a gun at someone and pull the trigger and not expect to kill the other person?" She asked looking pissed off.
"Well they were blinded by the romance of it all and Donny did the math." Castle said with a shrug.
"Well between this and the lower Tide fund Maybe he's not such a genius after all." She said.
"Or maybe he's just unlucky?" Castle said.
"Well then I've got a problem because I have to make a recommendation to the DA between murder and Manslaughter. The difference between those two is life in prison or just a few years. I mean, are antique guns really that inaccurate?" She asked falling into the desk chair.
"Well there's really only one way to find out." Rick said with a big grin on his face.
One call to the antique gunsmith later and they were standing in the firing range in the basement of the 12th with two loaded guns.
"This is so cool!" Rick said as they lined up in stalls next to each other and held the guns like duelers. They fired and hit nothing. Thirty shots and countless shooting aids like rests, sand bags, and even laser sights and they hit nothing. "Manslaughter it is." He said with a big grin.
"Manslaughter." She said nodding.
"Beckett, I would like to thank you again for this most enjoyable day of investigation. We found your killer, we figured out he didn't mean to kill his friend, and we had fun shooting antique guns. But it five o'clock and that's quitting time. I know you have a lot of paperwork to do but why don't you drop by the house later for dinner. Bring Tom with you." He said slinging his arm around her shoulder as they walked up the stairs to the main lobby.
"Sure Castle." She said with a smile as she walked the Feds out the front door.
"Good, we have to do this more often." He said hugging her one more time before they got into his car and drove away.
When they got to the FBI building Jordan came down and they went straight home. Rick told her all about his day and she enjoyed the look of happiness in his eyes as he talked about working the case. They cooked a nice dinner and the girls came in from fencing class. They were about to sit down to eat when there was a knock at the door. Rick got up.
"That must be Kate and Tom." He said getting the door but it was only Kate. "Hey Beckett, Tom couldn't make it?" He asked but she just walked into the house. "Kate?"
"Adam Murphy didn't kill Donnie Goldstein." She said.
"But he confessed." he said looking confused.
"And I believe he believes he killed his friend. But he didn't." She said.
"Okay, I'll bite." He said.
"look it bothered me that we couldn't hit the target at all. So I had ballistics run the two bullets and they weren't a match. The bullet that killed Donny didn't come from Adams gun." She said turning around to see the whole family sitting at the table. "Hi, sorry to barge in at dinner." She said blushing.
"You were invited remember. Now take a seat and explain yourself." Rick said taking her coat and ushering her into a seat next to his mother.
"Hello Kate." Martha said with a fake smile.
"Be nice mother, we've sorted this all out. You can go back to being friends. Now have some chicken and tell your tale. This sounds like a crazy grassy knoll Conspiracy theory." Rick said as he passed the platter of chicken around the table.
"Right, thanks for dinner." She said looking at Jordan and the message was clear. Sorry for barging in and taking up his family time.
"You were invited. Now what happened, Rick filled me in on the case as we made dinner. This sounds like a crazy one." Jordan said smiling a warm smile at Kate telling her it was alright.
"Well There was a third shooter at the park that night and he's our killer. The bullet that killed Donny matched the set we found but there was no black powder residue on the ball. It was fired from a different kind of gun. We need to go back to the park in the morning and figure this all out." She said taking a bite of chicken. "This is really good." She said.
"It's called home cooking. You should try it more often." Rick said.
"That's funny Castle." She said rolling her eyes.
"I thought so." Rick said smiling.
"So can you and your guys come out to the park tomorrow? Esposito is hurt and we could use the help. Plus you worked the case this far." She said.
"Sure if we're not doing anything we'll meet you out there." Rick said.
"It looks like a light day unless we get the call." Jordan said.
"Good, I could use your eye for detail." She said relaxing back into her chair.
There was a knock at the door and Rick got up. "That must be Tom" He said.
"No it's not. He's working a steak out tonight." Kate said.
Rick opened the door and saw Neal and Sara. "Hey guys. What's going on? Would you like some dinner?" He asked waving them in.
"I can eat." Neal said sniffing the air.
"We just had dinner with Mozzie." Sara said following them to the table.
"At a vegan place. Please Sara, we both know that wasn't food." Neal said dropping into the seat next to Alexis. "Hey Lex." he said making a plate.
"But we're invading their dinner." She said sitting next to him.
"No you're not, I made extra but Kate's boyfriend couldn't make it. Would you like a plate Sara? I opened a nice bottle of merlot." He said grabbing a plate, glass and silverware.
"Yes please. He's right the mush on a plate we had for dinner was terrible, and this looks really good." She said.
"Guys This is Kate Beckett my old partner from my cop days. Kate this is Neal Caffrey and Sara Ellis. Neal works in white collar and Sara works for Sterling Bosh." Rick said.
"Nice to meet you." Neal said between bites.
"You two had dinner with Mozzie? How is the little guy?" Rick asked.
"He's done with his first draft of the book. Here it's on this flash drive. He wants you to look it over and tell him what you think. He said it's a little on the light side, but this is more of an outline then a draft. He want's your opinion before he goes back and fills in all the dialog." Neal said handing the flash drive down the line to him.
"I'll look it over tomorrow after lunch. I'm working at the 12th, I'll bring a box full of bacon cheese burgers." Rick said.
"Sounds good to me. We're not working a case at the moment so we're just hanging around to office." Neal said.
A canvas of the park outside the dueling line turned up a red clothing fiber, and Rick knew who the shooter was. A call to Judge Markway and they had a search warrant for Troy Kenworth's apartment. A quick search of his room and they found a modified shotgun. They showed up at the Gaslamp and he confessed as soon as they told him they had the gun. They drove him back to the precinct and booked him on charges.
Kate sat at her desk and Rick sat in her desk chair next to her desk. "I see you're still using my chair." He said with a smile.
"It helps me think." She said smiling softly as she looked at the worn leather arms.
"It's a good chair." He said smiling too.
"Well, I think it has more to do with the man that sat in it then the chair itself." She said looking at him.
"Getting sentimental on me?" He asked with a grin.
"Shut up Castle." She said rolling her eyes.
"There's the detective I know. Now I'm going to take my boys out for a burger at the pub. You want to join us?" He asked.
"I think I will. The paperwork can wait." She said standing up and grabbing her bag.
"Good. We should do this more often. Case or no case. We'll pick a day and stick to it if we can. Of course you're welcome to join my Saturday night poker game. This week Neal will be playing. It's fun when he plays, we don't let him sit at the table unless he blows an .08 on the breathalyzer." Rick said leading her and the rest of the guys to the elevator.
"Why, is he that good at poker?" She asked.
"He has an undercover assignment where he plays an underground poker game every other week. The take home is $900,000. He's won it four times in a row." Rick said smiling.
"Wow. I can see why you get him hammered." She said.
"You talking about Neal?" Will asked. "He still won. We have to try something else this week the booze didn't help that much." He said.
"Maybe we'll have Sara sit in his lap the whole game and distract him." Mike said.
"Now you're thinking kid. We'll also keep feeding him booze." Rick said making the group laugh.
Beckett walked with them and listened to them talk. She had a smile on her face the whole time. They had worked together on a few cases since the break up but this was the first time she felt like they were friends again. They sat at a big table in the back corner of the pub. They ate, talked, and laughed for an hour and a half. When they were done Rick had Will and Mike take the two boxes of burgers out to the car and Kate had Espo and Ryan go back to the office ahead of her. Rick turned back and saw her standing by the pub.
"Detective Beckett you look happy and content. It's a good look for you." He said smiling.
"I feel good. I don't think I've felt this good in a long time. Yesterday and today were great." She said smiling too.
"Well all you have to do is make one phone call, and we can work a case like that again, and you can call me about other things too. We're friends Kate. Friends call each other." He said.
"Friends, I like that." She said nodding to herself.
"Now are we good?" He asked.
"Yeah. I think we are." She said.
"Good, bring it in." He said holding out his arms. She stepped up to him and hugged him. She pulled back with a grin.
"Now I have paperwork to do." She said.
"See you latter Kate." He said.
"You too Ca… Rick." She said before shaking her head. "No, it just doesn't sound right to me. Let's stick with Castle." She said laughing as she walked back to the station.
