Hi everyone! As promised, I have new chapters prepared for you all! At this rate, it looks like every episode in season one will get a chapter; I'm not sure about season two yet. Again, I want to thank everyone who has supported and encouraged me, and thank you all for sticking with the series!
Remember to watch the intro on YouTube at: /watch?v=YKZes7F4ngk&index=1&list=PL6LmUqpaEVKEsYaxZjnnlDez3-umhLsDP (preferably when you see the words WORLD'S GREATEST DETECTIVE written as such).
So here it is; Nanny McDead. I hope you all enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Castle, I do not own Batman. I WISH I did, but I don't.
"Mr. Castle, be advised. If you get injured following Detective Beckett to research your next novel, you cannot sue the city. If you get shot, you cannot sue the city. If you get killed–"
"My lifeless remains cannot sue the city," Castle deadpanned.
"Your heirs, Mr. Castle," the attorney corrected, making Castle nod in understanding.
"Do I have to wait for him to sign it, or can I shoot him now?" Beckett wondered, making Castle smirk at her.
"Mr. Castle, these waivers are serious business," the attorney continued. "Perhaps you'd feel more comfortable referring the matter to your attorney?"
Castle let out a laugh at this; he already put his life on the line every single night, and following a detective around? He wasn't going to see anything worse that what he already dealt with on a nightly basis. Considering the NYPD didn't know about that part of his life, he fell back on the playboy millionaire cover. "Are you kidding?" he chuckled. "He'd never let me sign these. Fortunately, it's his job to get me out of trouble, and not to prevent me from getting into it."
The shrill of a cellphone interrupted the lawyer from commenting further. Beckett answered the call with the usual greeting of her surname. As she listened for the information, Castle watched with interest. Looks like they were going to get to work right away.
"Woah-wait- where are you going?" he asked as she walked out of the room.
"I have work to do," Beckett replied.
"We have a case?" Castle grinned.
"No, I have a case. You have paperwork." And she was gone, along with the smile on Castle's face. But the detective was right; he couldn't go anywhere near the case (as Richard Castle, at least) until all the paperwork was done.
It took less time than Castle expected, mostly thanks to the fact that most of the required documents had already been gathered and filed. He was out of there in under thirty minutes, and he was quick to call Alexis.
"Pumpkin, I need you to do me a favor," he said. "I need you to find any recently called in murder scenes within the precinct's jurisdiction."
"How far back am I looking?" Alexis asked over the phone; Castle could hear her already typing away.
"Try within the last two hours," Castle suggested, calculating the time it would take for Beckett to be informed.
"Okay…" The typing continued. "I've got it; texting it to you now, along with the case details they have so far."
Castle grinned proudly. "You're the best," he thanked.
"Don't make the detectives feel too incompetent, okay?" his daughter joked.
As he hailed a cab, Castle shook his head. "I'll try."
As the elevator door opened on the twelfth floor, Beckett froze when she saw Castle standing there. "Thought you ditched me back at the precinct, didn't you?"
"You're right Castle," Beckett said with a roll of her eyes. "My bad."
"Nanny's name is Sarah Manning, she worked for the Petersons for about two years."
"Detective Beckett, NYPD."
"Richard Castle, just… NY."
WORLD'S GREATEST DETECTIVE: GENESIS
"Do you know of any way that I could reach Sarah's parents?"
"Are you really the one who has to call her parents?" Castle asked Beckett when they were alone in the elevator.
"Easier to write about than to live through, huh Castle?"
"If you're hungry, there's lots of leftovers," Alexis commented as Castle helped her with the dishes later that day.
"Thanks, but I already grabbed some food on the way home," the writer assured. At that, Alexis paused, giving him a considering look.
"You're not turning into a cop, are you?" she asked, making Castle look at her with a raised brow. Alexis shrugged, "I kinda like our vigilante status."
At that, Castle grinned at her. "Trust me Pumpkin; I like our vigilante status too."
"Is that the prodigal son I hear, returning from the night shift?" Martha called out, coming down the stairs. "Catch any perps today, kiddo?"
"Not yet," Castle responded easily, "but the night is still young." His phone suddenly rang with a text, gaining his interest as he read. "Looks like the perps get an extra few hours," he commented. "Beckett needs me to meet her at the ME's office." He kissed the top of Alexis' head. "If I'm not back by midnight, go to bed, ok?"
Alexis nodded in slight reluctance. "I'll call you if anything urgent comes up," she offered. Castle squeezed her shoulder, before moving to Martha.
"You will help her do the dishes," he stated. "And make sure she's not in the Cave all night," he added in a low whisper.
"Be careful," Martha called after him as he left.
"Mr. Castle, nice to see you again," Lanie greeted.
"What killed her?"
"Temporal bleeding… without medical attention, she didn't stand a chance… She had sex within the hours before her death."
"She knew the guy," Beckett realized.
"Well he was cheating, just not with our victim."
"Guess who wasn't where they said they were the day Sarah Manning was killed?" Ryan smiled.
"No way," Beckett said as she looked at the paper Ryan handed her.
"You lied to me, Mrs. Peterson."
"My cheating husband has no idea that I'm about to serve him with divorce papers."
It was still early night when Castle was home from the precinct, sitting in command chair in the Batcave. He could hear Martha humming from the stairwell leading into the lair, along with her footsteps, and turned towards her as she reached the bottom step. "Hello there," she greeted when she saw him. "What are you up to?"
Castle turned the chair back towards the supercomputer. "I burned a DVD from security cameras that the police are looking at; I'm trying to figure this out."
"The police just let you burn a DVD?"
"No," Castle scoffed with a grin. "But when has that ever stopped me from obtaining evidence?"
"You do realize that you need to be more careful with your habits now that you're working with the NYPD?" Martha warned. "And I thought the whole purpose of you following this detective around was to help you to write?"
"It's research!" Castle argued indignantly.
"You already fight crime, and solve cases as the Batman. Does Richard Castle really need to be working murder cases as well?" Martha asked.
"Richard Castle, Batman, potato, potahto," Castle replied. He was saved from any further comments from his mother as Alexis walked into the Cave.
"Hey," she greeted with a smile. "What's going on?"
"I'm working on a case, she's butting in," Castle answered, earning a playful swat from his mother.
"Is it the Riddler again?" Alexis wondered with a mixture of worry and annoyance, making Castle shake his head.
"No, Enigma's been completely silent these past few months," he replied. "This is the case I'm working on with Detective Beckett. The police can't find the nanny's cell phone," he began to explain. "It's in her hand the first time she went down to the laundry room, but then she doesn't have it when she goes down to use the dryer."
"Did she leave it in the apartment?" Alexis wondered.
"No, the police say that they can't… find it…" Castle's voice trailed off as he leaned forward, getting closer to the screen. "Wait a second…"
Alexis also leaned closer. "What?"
Slowly, a grin came onto Castle's face. "There's a five second time difference… She rides the elevator twice to the basement; the first time is to put the clothes in the washer, the second time in the dryer. Only the second time takes her five seconds longer."
"Why would it take her five seconds longer to travel the same distance?" Alexis questioned. Castle shook his head once, knowingly.
"It wouldn't."
"It takes 32 seconds to reach the twelfth floor," Castle explained. "The second time it took her 37 seconds… The second time she was coming from the…"
"The fifteenth floor?" Beckett asked in confusion.
"Prior to her murder, we believe that Sarah Manning came here… Did you see Sarah?"
"Ian, who the hell's phone is this?!" Mrs. Harris demanded.
"What time did she leave your apartment?" Castle asked as he and Beckett interrogated Ian Harris.
"Maybe 10 minutes before Chloe got back."
"Chloe's going after Ian Harris. We need to find her before she finds him."
"Ian Harris is up there; came home about an hour ago."
"Chloe would've been there waiting for him."
"We're gonna have to go in on our own."
"Woah, what about him?" Esposito asked, motioning to Castle.
"He stays here," Beckett stated without a second thought.
"Woah, hold on!" Castle protested. "I already signed my life away, what more do you want?"
It was true; he hadn't expected Beckett to continue to bench him, and especially not after the Tisdale showdown. While he was fairly certain that Beckett, Ryan, and Esposito could handle the situation, Castle was also acutely aware of an innocent little girl and a betrayed wife who may be caught in the crossfire. And he needed to make sure that they were ok.
"Alright Castle, but it's accompany and observe. Not participate and annoy. Got it?" Beckett ordered.
"Participate and annoy is a lot more fun, but ok."
"Where's Chloe, Mrs. Harris?"
"There's a girl in the laundry room, and she's got a knife."
"So what's the plan?" Castle asked, wondering what approach Beckett was going to take. There weren't any hostages at stake; the only life at stake was Chloe's. Thankfully, lethal force wasn't necessary, but they could still make a tactical strike. Maybe if Castle distracted Chloe, while Beckett snuck around back through the service door–
"To make sure everyone gets out of this alive," Beckett said quietly, leaving Castle to pause, taken aback. Not the answer he had been expecting, but…
"Good plan," he agreed. As they approached the entrance to the laundry room, Beckett stopped, placing a hand on Castle's chest to keep him in place.
"You don't go in. You understand?" she asked. Castle shook his head.
"No," he countered, making the detective tense up. "She's unstable, and she's armed. You may have a gun, but like you said. 'Everyone gets out of this alive.' If there's two of us, she knows she's outnumbered, and she's less likely to attack." Beckett looked away from him to the door, pensive. "I won't say a word; I'll let you handle it. Just… let me have your back in there. Alright?"
At that, the detective looked back at him, her eyes hard. "Not a word?" she questioned.
"Not a word," Castle promised. Beckett let out a small breath before nodding. She then turned and slowly opened the door.
"Chloe?" she called out. "Chloe, it's Detective Beckett. Do you remember me?"
"Please, just go away," Chloe replied in an almost monotonous voice, holding the knife to her thigh. Beckett entered the room at that, her gun out but pointed down. Castle entered behind her, automatically assessing the situation before him.
"I can't do that," Beckett countered, taking slow steps towards Chloe. The young girl moved suddenly, making Castle tense up for action, but all she did was dig the knife into her thigh, drawing blood. Beckett swallowed at that, but continued to talk to the girl. "Look… you're hurt. Why don't you put the knife down and let me help you?"
Chloe let out a crazed sob. "Why don't you just shoot me?" she pleaded.
"Hey! Look at me!" Beckett demanded. "Look." Slowly, Chloe turned her gaze to the detective, not moving the knife. When she saw that she had the girl's attention, Beckett moved the gun aside in a surrendering manner. "No one's going to shoot anyone." Castle wasn't sure if he was impressed or disappointed when he saw Beckett place the gun on the floor.
"He was sleeping with Sarah," Chloe finally said.
"I know," Beckett whispered.
"Only the whole time, he was sleeping with me. Telling me… that he loved. Me. He would say that… that he was going to leave his wife… for me."
"Guys can be like that sometimes, Chloe," Beckett responded. "They can lie. And I know, when you find out, how much it can break your heart."
"I'm pregnant," Chloe suddenly said, surprising both Beckett and Castle.
"That's even more reason for us to get you some help," Beckett continued. "Right?"
Chloe looked at Beckett, tears clouding her vision as she shook. "I just wanted to talk to her," she began to explain. "That's all. I just… wanted to tell her that Ian and I were in love."
"What happened to Sarah was an accident Chloe," Beckett acknowledged. "I know that… I know you didn't mean to kill her."
"Sarah was my friend!" Chloe went on. "But she didn't get it!" Castle took a step closer to Beckett; Chloe was becoming more and more unstable. She was beginning to brandish the knife, and her breaths were getting quicker. "So when she turned around, I just grabbed the bleach, and I… I hit her with it!" Chloe let out a sob. "And… she fell. I… I was so scared, I didn't– I didn't know what to do! I ju – I put her in the dryer." She looked at Beckett. "I was just so angry! I was so mad!"
"Chloe, put the knife down and let me help you," Beckett urged. Castle looked from Beckett, to Chloe, then back to Beckett. "Put the knife down."
"I'm so stupid," Chloe cried softly, before dropping the knife. Beckett moved to handcuff her, and Castle let out a sigh of relief. Crisis averted.
Castle walked out of the Cave into his office, coming home early from patrol to get some writing done.
"Dad?" Castle looked over at the door of the study, seeing Alexis walk in half-asleep. "You just get back?"
"Yea," Castle replied softly, wrapping an arm around her as she neared him.
"I saw the files on the NYPD database," Alexis murmured. "You got the guy. Was it who you thought it would be?"
"Actually, it wasn't," Castle admitted.
"Wow," Alexis said, now wide awake. "It must have been a pretty good story to surprise you." Castle chuckled at this. "You better be careful," Alexis continued, "or else you'll lose your 'world's greatest detective' status."
"Woah, hey," Castle warned, a small grin on his face. "You just ruined it." Alexis laughed.
"You know Dad… It's ok to be surprised sometimes," she said. "That's the fun." Castle smiled up at her.
"You surprise me," he stated. "All the time."
Alexis smiled at him before kissing his cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Good night pumpkin."
"And Dad?" Alexis said, pausing at the door. "Thanks for being my nanny."
Castle nodded. "No sweat kiddo." As Alexis walked out of the study towards her room, Castle looked at the picture he had on his desk, of himself and a three-year-old Alexis in the park. He reminded himself why he did what he did. Why he became the Batman, and why he fought the criminal underground. It was for Alexis; to make sure she could live and grow up in a safe world.
It was all for Alexis.
This crossover series means so much to me, and I'm happy to be continuing it. I'm glad you are here to join me on Castle's journey, and there is so much more to come!
Thoughts? Ideas? Let me know!
Love you all!
Katrina Castillo
