So before I go on, I should mention. When I started writing this, it was before "Poof You're Dead" but then I posted it and I figured I could incorporate the breakup with Gina into the story without disrupting anything major so this will be be between "Poof Your Dead" and "Knockdown" - which is amazing by the way. I've watched them kiss I don't know how many times. If you haven't watched the sneak peek - and you're a Caskett fan - I recommend you YouTube it right away. January 24th cannot come fast enough. Anyways. Thank you for reviewing my last chapter. This one is a little longer but it's just getting them on the road. Once February starts, these chapters will get farther apart and less... well-written - cause they're so good now - so I appreciate everyone's feedback now. I'm hoping those who are reading this are enjoying it. Well, I'm off to watch more Castle. Have fun. Live long and prosper. Review. 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle or anything associated with it.


The pair wandered around the room, taking in their surroundings. The first thing that caught their attention in the bodiless room was the strewn pile of books at the foot of the bed. Crouching down to examine them, Beckett began flipping through the titles.

"These are all law books." She observed curiously.

"According to her wallet, she was a student at Columbia; third year." Ryan was standing at the victim's bedside, shifting through her belongings, looking for something to work on.

"A struggle?" Castle questioned from above Beckett.

"Could be." The detective mused. "But it's more likely she was just studying and didn't put her things away. Nothing else in the room seems to be disturbed." She raised her left hand distractedly to her lips for a moment, her fingers curled into a 'c' shape, before she looked down with a confused expression that Castle didn't miss.

"What?" She looked up at him with those hurt, bambi eyes that he rarely saw – and was glad of it because he knew he couldn't handle them very often.

"Where's my coffee?" Castle looked stunned for a moment before his mind began racing a mile a minute, trying to figure out what had happened to the ritualistic coffee. Finally he came to a single conclusion.

"I guess I must have forgotten it this morning…" He trailed off before shaking his head. "Do you want to stop for some on the way back to the precinct?" She shook her head, still feeling uncomfortable and slightly empty without the coffee cup in her hand.

"No it's alright. We'll just get some when we get back there." She slowly stood and faced away from him. Castle eyed her wearily. How could he have forgotten to get Beckett her coffee this morning? It was their sacred morning ritual that had barely been disturbed in the years since they had met. Nothing was unusual this morning; it had just slipped his mind.

"Yeah…" The writer looked around slowly, desperate to move on. "For a beautiful girl in her twenties, her room's really meticulous; nothing out of place."

"Yeah well not all of us were party animals in our college years. I'm sure you did enough partying for most people." Beckett smiled teasingly at him as she distractedly continued to examine the room.

"True." Castle conceded after little thought; glad to put it behind them for the moment. Rolling her eyes but not acknowledging him, they continued their sweep. Their search of her bedroom/living room/kitchen proved fruitless but a quick sweep of her bathroom proved to be slightly more interesting.

"She thought she was pregnant." Beckett pulled the used pregnancy test out of the trash bin carefully with only two of her blue gloved fingers. Turning it over, she confirmed emotionlessly. "Negative."

"Boyfriend?" Castle wondered aloud as he opened her medicine cabinet, making a muttered verbal checklist of everything in there. "Band-Aids, Tylenol, Q-tips, Nail polish remover, Condoms… Tamp-tampons," He stuttered as he moved the item out of the way, causing his partner to roll her eyes and hide a smile; "tons of floss." He picked up one of nearly a dozen boxes of floss and turned it over, observing it casually. "She was even meticulous about her health."

"There's no indication of a boyfriend anywhere but we'll know more once we start asking around." Esposito informed her, popping his head into the doorway. Beckett stood up from the bathtub.

"Don't start asking around just yet. I want confirmation from Lanie on the cause of the death. If her death turns out to be natural causes, I don't want to be wasting precious resources. But find her next of kin; she has to have family out there somewhere." With an affirmative nod, Esposito and Ryan returned to the main room to find her family's contact info. The writer/detective duo finally left the bathroom.

"You don't think it was natural causes." It wasn't a question so much as a statement. Beckett shrugged.

"My gut says no but I have to be certain."

"It could be a suicide." He suggested casually.

Beckett turned to her partner with sheer amusement. "What Castle, you don't have some wild theory?"

"Honestly I don't have much to go on." He shrugged as they both turned towards the door blocked by yellow 'crime scene' tape. "I mean a woman found dead in her apartment – no visible indication as to what could have killed her. The best I've got is that she simply died in her sleep." He held up the tape for her to duck under. "For all we know, this could be a suicide."

"It's not a suicide." Lanie announced matter-of-factly as the pair entered the cold, bleak morgue. "At least I don't think it is." She was still confident in her prognosis.

"What's the cause of death?" Beckett followed her friend to one of the occupied metal tables covered in the pale white sheet, matching the face of the poor soul underneath. Flipping it open to just reveal the girl's face, Lanie stood on the opposite side.

"Sudden Cardiac Arrest caused by Ventricular Tachycardia." Castle opened his mouth and closed it once as he blinked at her.

"I'm going to need that in English." His emphasis made Lanie glare at him playfully as Kate rolled her eyes – about to make the same request to the medical examiner.

"Her heart sped up so fast that it stopped." She used her arms to assist in her explanation.

"What-"

"What causes that?" Beckett interrupted him, glancing at him briefly before looking back expectantly.

Lanie raised an eyebrow for barely an instant before continuing. "In most cases, it's a genetic heart disease that naturally causes the heart to speed up but there are some cases where it was an increase in stress or adrenaline. Based on the way her body was found and the fact that her family has no history of heart disease, I'm ruling with adrenaline or stress which means that this was definitely not a natural death." Beckett took a moment to process the information.

"When you say 'the way her body was found' what do you mean?" Lanie glanced at Castle wearily for a moment before looking back at her friend.

"You sure you wanna know?" She cringed slightly at her friend's exasperated expression.

"Yes Lanie." Her voice annoyed but obviously curious.

"I think she died in her sleep." She pulled it off like a Band-Aid, knowing her friend wouldn't like it and was completely right. She heard Castle release a breathy 'huh' before tilting his head towards his partner who reciprocated with a tilt and a glare. Lanie raised her eyebrows in apology as Beckett turned back to the ME frustratedly.

"How the hell does someone die in their sleep?" Switching back to work mode, Lanie turned her attention back to the body lying between them.

"There are several ways but in this case, I'm guessing Night Terrors." Not acknowledging the detective and the writer's mirror looks of expectant confusion, she continued. "Usually when people sleep, they don't move no matter how action-packed their dream may be but in extreme cases where you have enough adrenaline pumping through your body like in terror or… arousal," She waggled an eyebrow at a glaring Beckett, "they will move around."

"That'll explain her clenched fists." Castle pointed out, missing or ignoring Lanie's innuendo.

"Exactly." She pointed at the writer.

"So you're telling me that she was so scared of something in her dream that she died in the real world?" Beckett tilted her head, trying to completely comprehend the situation.

"Literally scared to death." She confirmed almost triumphantly. Castle looked between the two girls.

"Can you actually prove that that's the cause of death?" Lanie tilted her hands uncertainly.

"Officially, I'll need to run a few more tests to make sure but unofficially," She turned to the detective, "this is your best bet." She nodded to the body which now looked just as peaceful as when they found her but knowing her cause of death seemed to create this cloud around her that made her face seem anything but tranquil.

"Anthing else?" Beckett glanced at the body before returning her gaze to her friend. Lanie wiggled her eyebrows in response as she reached for the victim's hand. Turning it over, she indicated three fairly long scars on the inside of her wrist.

"These scars are healed but they're deep."

"She was cutting herself?" Castle whispered in disbelief. Lanie pursed her lips.

"Not anymore. I didn't find any fresh cuts on her body so I'm guessing she hasn't done it in a while. Beckett nodded emotionessly.

"Thank you, Lanie." She spoke matter-of-factly before turning towards the doors, followed closely by Castle.


He was half-way down the hallway when he spotted his partner taking an eraser to the murder board. Quickening his pace as fast as possible with two steaming mugs of espresso in his hands, he set them both on her desk before coming to stand impossibly close beside her.

"What are you doing?" He sounded almost hurt. They hadn't managed to get much up on board other than the victim's information and a photo of the crime scene but it was still something.

"The case is closed Castle, there's no murder. As strange as her death is, no one but herself killed her." He reached over her body to grab the well-worn eraser brush from her hands and turn to her.

"Something or someone gave her those nightmares. Normal people don't get night terrors so horrifying that their heart stops beating." Beckett turned to the writer, peeved that he had both invaded her personal space and tried to take control.

"Look Castle, I'll admit that what happened to her was unusual and tragic but one person is not to blame for a girl's dreams." She snapped the eraser out of his hands but continued to stand toe-to-toe with him. "Let it go." She turned back to the board to continue her task.

"I have to know." He once again made a grab for the eraser but Beckett held it away from him.

"Why is she getting to you?" She snapped as quietly as possible. So far, no one had taken notice to their exchange and she wanted to keep it that way.

"Because it's an interesting story." He stopped struggling for the bar. "And besides, I thought when someone is murdered we're supposed to find their killer."

"She wasn't murdered!" Her voice was sharp enough to turn a few heads but still not attract too much attention. The pair looked around to ensure that their conversation was still fairly private. "Look, I'm sorry to disappoint you Castle but just because her death is interesting doesn't mean we're going to investigate." Her voice was low and harsh.

"I'm not letting this go." His tone matched her's as they continued to stare down at each other, neither really moving until they heard someone clear their throat and they broke apart slightly frustrated.

"Am I interrupting something?" Esposito hid his smile, misinterpreting their close proximity.

"Yes."

"Yes."

They spoke simultaneously, causing the Hispanic detective's brown eyes to widen in temporary shock before he remembered why he had come.

"Anyway, I was just downstairs and Lanie told me to give you this." He handed them a pale folder with the victim's name written on the side. As Beckett opened the folder and leaned against the back of her desk, having regained her composure, Castle followed Esposito back to his desk.

"You were just downstairs, huh?" He teased. "Doing what?" The detective cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"Working." His voice was much too defensive to pass up. Castle was about to continue when Beckett called him over distractedly, having turned to loom over her empty chair. Rushing over obediently, he stood over her shoulder to read as she spoke.

"Lanie finished running a second tox-screen on our victim. Apparently there were trace amounts of Zolpidem in her system." She enunciated the drug name, not familiar with it. "Apparently the traces were so small that her preliminary examination missed it."

"What is Zolpidem?" She didn't look at him as the both continued to read the report, him faster than her.

"It's a drug used for Insomnia." They spoke simultaneously, having reached the same line on the report. Their heads both snapped to each other in an instant, their gazes unwavering as realization sank in. A moment later, their expressions didn't change from the open-mouthed blankness.

"Oh no." Her voice was monotone as the slightest hint of a smirk played at the writer's lips.

"Oh yes." Rolling her eyes and groaning internally, she turned back to the report and continued to read it, conceding finally to confirm his unspoken suspicion.

"If she was taking drugs and stopped taking them, it would explain the night terrors."

"And if someone forced her to stop taking them…" He prompted smugly.

"Then we have cause to investigate." She suddenly closed the folder and turned to him, slapping his chest with the papers.

"Don't look so smug, it's very unattractive." His face lit up for a moment.

"So you do admit that I can be attractive." Rolling her eyes as she grabbed her leather coat off of the back of her chair and her keys from her desk – coffee forgotten for the second time that day – she began walking towards the elevator knowing the writer would be behind her in an instant.

"It's like working with a child." She muttered as they stepped into the elevator together.

"So where are we off to?" He bounced on his heels as the elevator descended to the bottom floor.

"We're going to go and talk to the victim's friends. Maybe they can give us something to work off of."

"You know you were awfully quick to jump on the murder train, detective." He smirked, causing her to avoid his gaze.

"I jump when there's something to jump on." She closed her mouth and looked thoughtful for a moment before turning to the man-child, pretending to hide a snicker. "You know what I mean." Thankfully the elevator dinged indicating their arrival in the parking garage. Stepping off together, the writer refused to let it go.

"Still, you were so set that I was wrong and all of a sudden you expect me to believe that you're just going your job?"

"I am doing my job." Her voice rose a bit as they continued to walk towards her car. His hands shot up defensively.

"Whatever you say detective." With a quick glare from the female detective, the subject was dropped but not forgotten as they made their way into morning traffic.