Thanks for the great response to chapter one. I'm glad so many people are willing to come with me on this strange little journey, it's certainly the most ambitious story I've ever undertaken. Some might even call it 'stupid.'

There are a few minor references to episodes from both shows throughout this chapter. I don't know if they count as spoilers, but just in case...

Ashamed as he was to admit it, Jane too had rather enjoyed the spectacle of Lisbon and Beckett battling it out. The only way it could have been improved was if the door had been open and he'd been able to actually see it all unfolding, rather than just listen. But no matter, Lisbon may have gained the upper hand for now, but something told him that Detective Beckett was not one to give up easily. There'd be plenty more conflicts where that one had come from, he was sure.

And by the sounds of it, Castle was looking forward to it just as much as he was. The writer was right, there was something inherently alluring about watching two beautiful, strong women vying for supremacy.

He grinned slyly at Castle, and answered his question. "It'd be wrong not to," he said.

A grin made its way across Castle's face and the two men chuckled quietly for a moment, before Castle's cell phone rang. He dragged it out of his pocket, and his smile widened as he checked the caller ID.

"Hi, sweetheart," he said into the phone, turning away from Jane as he did so. "What's up?"

Though curious, Jane left him to it. He considered looking in on Lisbon but decided she was probably still too agitated to be very hospitable at the moment. So, with nothing else to do, he went and lay down on his couch and closed his eyes.

"What is he doing?" he heard Ryan's voice ask.

"When we don't have cases, we do paperwork… and Jane takes naps," Van Pelt answered.

"And your boss lets him get away with that?" asked Ryan, surprised. "God, if we pulled a stunt like that at work, Beckett would murder us."

"Jane tends to get away with a lot of stuff that most people wouldn't," said Van Pelt, and left it at that.

Jane heard footsteps approaching and then Castle's voice.

"OK," he was saying. "I'll call you later, honey. I love you." There was a snapping sound, presumably of his cell phone being closed. "Alexis says hi," he added, presumably to Ryan and Esposito. "And she said to tell you to make sure I get back from California in one piece. Apparently she thinks I can't handle myself."

"She's right," said Esposito, and he and Ryan laughed.

"Shut up," said Castle indignantly. "Just you wait 'till you two have kids, you'll be begging for parenting advice."

"Probably," agreed Ryan. "And then we'll call Alexis, and ask her how she handled bringing up the biggest kid of all: you."

More laughter from he and his partner, and an irritated sigh from Castle.

"You have a daughter?" asked Van Pelt, intervening before it got any further.

"Yeah," Jane could hear the pride in Castle's voice now. "She's seventeen."

"She's a smart kid," Ryan put in.

"God knows where she gets it from," said Castle. "Certainly not me, or her mother. Meredith's idea of great literature is the Cosmo sealed section."

Jane worked at keeping his face impassive as everyone else laughed. So Castle had a daughter, almost the same age that his own Charlotte would have been by now if only…

He caught a few more words from Castle. "Thank God I have plenty of money in her college fund, she wants to go to Harvard, she's even mentioned Oxford, and knowing my little girl she'll get into whatever school she wants."

How Jane wished he would shut up, for all this proud father talk was making him dredge up old memories of his own daughter. He imagined what would happen had things been different. Maybe he would be standing there boasting about Charlotte like Castle did about Alexis. Perhaps she too would have been a high achiever in academia, or she might have liked sports, or dancing or singing. Maybe she would want to be a carny like he and her mother had once been, or go a different way completely and end up as something boring like an insurance broker or a lawyer somewhere.

Thanks to his own arrogance (and to Red John of course) he would never know. He had been robbed of the chance to get to know his little girl, to watch her grow up. He'd been so naïve back then. He hadn't even imagined that somebody would ever do something so cruel to another person, and all that had changed on that fateful night when his wife and his little princess were taken away from him.

He'd missed out on her first day of school, her first love, her first broken heart. Her life had been blotted out before she'd even really started living it. And Richard Castle had gotten to experience everything that he had been denied.

He wondered if Castle had ever truly considered the possible consequences of doing what he did. Just because he wasn't a true police officer didn't absolve him of the risks involved in police work. Jane knew that only too well; but luckily the most important person in his life these days carried a gun. And he would make damn sure to never let his nemesis know just how much she meant to him. He'd learnt from last time. He didn't think he could stand having another death on his conscience.

He hoped Richard Castle knew what he was getting into by tangling with a serial killer. Perhaps he needed someone to open his eyes before it was too late. Nobody deserved to go through the pain of losing a child.

Should he say something? It would mean explaining his dark past, reliving things he buried deep within himself, which so far he had only managed to talk about to Lisbon, and even then, only in part. But it could also mean the difference between saving and losing another young life.

He'd never been good with these moral dilemma type things, but luckily he knew someone who was. Lisbon was the most principled, moral person he had ever met. She'd know what to do. She always did.

Beckett sipped at a cup of coffee, nowhere near as good as the espresso machine at the 12th, and heaved a deep sigh. They'd only been at the CBI for half an hour and already hostilities had been opened. She knew she was setting a bad example for the whole team by engaging in a shouting match with Lisbon, for how could they all be expected to work harmoniously while their two leaders were at each other's throats?

She certainly hadn't intended to start an argument, she'd simply suggested the idea that she and her team take the lead, which hadn't been well received and she hadn't expected Agent Lisbon to be so damn stubborn about it. Though she couldn't claim to be entirely blameless in this, she too had dug her heels in, and the whole thing had disintegrated from there.

"Hey," a familiar voice said, somewhere over her shoulder. Castle of course; she could never get rid of him for more then a few minutes, it was like he was magnetized to her side.

"Are you OK?" he asked.

"Fine," she said, forcing a smile. He didn't smile back, merely shook his head.

"You're not fine," he said. "You're angry, you're upset, you're caffeine-deprived and a little jet-lagged."

She resented being told how she was feeling by Castle. He was right, but that was hardly the point.

"I said I'm fine," she repeated, tersely.

"Of course you are," agreed Castle but she could tell by his tone that he didn't believe her. "That was quite a show you two put on for us just now," he continued.

"I'm glad you were entertained," she said irritably, taking another sip of coffee. "This is why I hate collaborating on cases, there's too many egos involved, and everybody's so busy trying to one-up each other, we all get distracted from what we actually came for."

"To be fair," said Castle cautiously, "everyone else seems to be getting along just fine."

She glared at him, and saw him flinch.

"Look I get it," he explained hastily. "It doesn't take a genius to see what's going on here. You and Lisbon are both strong people, and when strong people meet other strong people, there's always going to be fireworks. Not to mention, you're probably both used to being unquestionably in charge, and now you've been forced to share. She can't proceed without our knowledge of 3XK, and you can't proceed without her permission because it's her jurisdiction. You two are stuck at some kind of impasse, and I can't speak for her, but I know you well enough to be able to tell that annoys the crap out of you."

"If I wanted a psychological evaluation I'd go on Dr Phil," she snapped.

"It's not psychology, it's common sense," he retorted. "And you know I'm right. You won't admit it, but I am."

She said nothing, as she finished off the last of her coffee.

"You know what I think?" he went on, presumably taking her silence as agreement. "I think there's something else going on here as well. You're usually way too driven to let something like this keep you from diving right into a case. What's wrong?"

She really hated the way he could do that; make her acknowledge things that she would rather stay hidden. Most of the time, she liked the fact that he knew her so well, but in instances like this, she really, really wished he would learn to keep his mouth shut.

He was right of course, something had been bugging her about this right from the beginning, and she supposed it had only been a matter of time before he noticed something. Sometimes she kind of missed being able to hide her feelings from other people; something she hadn't been able to do since he had come along. He was just always there, watching and questioning and seeing things she didn't want to be seen, and knowing things she didn't want to be known.

Sometimes it drove her crazy, and other times she didn't know how she'd ever get along without him. And it was kind of comforting to know that no matter how hard she pushed him away, he'd always be back for more.

"Why did he come here?" she found herself asking Castle. This was the question that had been plaguing her ever since she'd got on the plane to Sacramento. "New York's been his hunting ground for so long, and now all of a sudden he drops everything and comes to California. It doesn't add up."

"We don't know it's 3XK yet," Castle reminded her. "It could be a coincidence, or a copycat. The papers were pretty detailed about the crime scenes, it wouldn't be exactly hard to come across the information on the internet."

"But why here?" she asked again. "And why now?"

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

"What do you think?"

He sighed. "Oh Beckett, I don't know."

"Well you must have an idea, you always do. Or is the best-selling crime novelist finally out of twists?"

He frowned at her, but she saw the familiar teasing twinkle in his eye.

"Number one," he said. "Richard Castle is never out of twists, and I'm offended that you would even suggest it. Number two…something did cross my mind," he admitted quietly. "But it's just a theory, and it's probably totally wrong-"

"Spare me the fake modesty," she said. "You obviously think you're right or you wouldn't have mentioned it. And I have to admit you are right more often than not."

"I think you need another coffee," he said, reaching for her empty cup. "You're obviously not quite yourself, you just came dangerously close to actually"-he lowered his voice dramatically-"paying me a compliment."

"OK Mr Comedian, very funny. Come on, be serious." She reached over to move the cup away and her hand brushed against his. She tried to apologize, but for some reason the words seemed to have stuck themselves in her throat, and he didn't seem to require one anyway. In fact, he too seemed to have temporarily lost the power of speech. She wondered if he too had experienced that odd feeling of electricity passing between them.

She wanted to scream in frustration. They'd barely even touched for heaven's sake! Josh's touch had never given her this feeling, and he was her boyfriend. Something was very, very wrong here.

As quickly as the moment had come, it was gone, as if it had never been. Castle was smiling gently at her again, and she tucked her wayward hand safely into her pants pocket, ignoring the almost overwhelming instinct to grab for his hand, and never let go.

And she also should try to stop wondering what it might feel like if he were to ever touch her for real. If the hand-brush had been any indication…

No. Focus. She was supposed to be working, not fantasising. And now Castle was speaking again, she realized, and she hadn't heard a word of it. Very professional, Kate.

"-if I was writing it, I'd say he was testing us," Castle was saying, thankfully not appearing to have noticed her momentary distraction. "He's changing the circumstances. He wants to see how far he can push us, until we break."

"And what in your endless wisdom would you suggest we do about it?"

"Simple." He looked straight into her eyes. "We don't break. We've been through more together in three years than most couples do in a lifetime. We can handle anything."

"We are not a couple, Castle!"

He rolled his eyes. "Really? Out of that entire little speech, that one word was the only part that sunk in?"

"We're not a couple," she repeated. It was crucial that he understand this. He couldn't use the word 'couple' in relation to them; it could give people very dangerous ideas.

People like her, for instance.

"Fine. 'Partners' then," he amended. "We've been shot at, frozen, nearly blown up and yet we're still standing. I know we can take whatever this psychopath can throw at us. And we'll come out the other side, stronger than ever."

"Are you considering a career change as a motivational speaker?" she asked, "Because I think you should stick to murder mysteries."

He smiled ruefully. "I somehow get the feeling that you're deliberately missing the point, Detective," he said. "Now do you think you and Agent Lisbon can play nicely together now? 3XK or not, we have a killer to catch."

"I'll do my best," she said, and the two of them began to walk back towards the bullpen.

"Hey Castle?" she said, after a while.

"Yeah?"

"I got the point."

Meanwhile, across the office, Patrick Jane was standing outside Lisbon's door, holding a cup of tea in one hand and a coffee in the other. Castle had long since left the bullpen to check on Beckett, and the others had all decided to take an early lunch, since none of them had anything to do.

As they were all heading out, Cho had told Jane to "call when they were done with couple's therapy, and ready to get on with some actual work," and Ryan had added that he might want to tell Castle the same thing. He agreed to pass on the message, but first things first.

Lisbon had been shut up in her office for the best part of forty-five minutes and if he left her alone in there to brood any longer, he knew she'd be especially moody when she did come out. And she'd be wanting her coffee by now too, so he'd brought it as a peace offering.

"Lisbon?"

"Go away, Jane," she said. "I'm busy."

"I've got coffee," he said, coaxingly. "If you want it, you'll have to let me in."

Silence for a minute, then the sound of her footsteps, and the door was opened.

"Give it to me," she said, holding out her hand.

Jane pulled it away from her, careful not to spill any. "Manners, Lisbon," he said.

She heaved a deep sigh. "Give it to me, please," she said, in the kind of long-suffering voice a person might use when talking to a particularly stubborn toddler.

"That's better," he said, handing it to her. She glared at him, and without saying anything else, walked back inside.

Any other person would have interpreted that as a clear dismissal, but as far as Jane was concerned, if she'd really wanted him to leave her alone, she'd have shut the door behind her. On a subconscious level at least, she must want his company.

And more to the point, whether she wanted it or not, he was going in.

"So are you planning on hiding out in here all day?" he asked her, as he followed her in and settled himself on her couch. She didn't even bother to look surprised, just annoyed, as she lifted her gaze to meet his.

"I'm not hiding," she said, with what he supposed she considered to be great dignity.

"Sure you're not," he said, with a grin. "Just like she's 'not hiding' in the breakroom right now."

"Is she?' asked Lisbon, with a bad attempt at nonchalance.

"Mm-hmm," he said. "Just like you."

"I'm nothing like her," she said, angrily. "She's stubborn, and pushy, and impossible, and she doesn't know when to back down."

"Any of that sound familiar?" he asked. Lisbon was silent. "Face it," he said. "She's basically you in stiletto heels. That's why you're clashing so much."

"Who wears shoes like that for police work anyway?" she said. "Totally impractical."

Jane took a sip of tea in order to keep from smiling, and redirecting her ire onto himself. She flipped open the case file, and began to scan it.

Teasing her been a welcome respite from the war going on inside his head about whether he should say anything to Castle, but now all those thoughts were back with a vengeance. He really didn't know what he should do, and he had to ask her.

"Lisbon, I need your advice about something."

"If it's for some grand plan, the advice is the same as every time," she said. "Don't do it." She chuckled to herself.

"No, seriously," he said. Something in his tone of voice must have surprised her, because she looked up from the file, without a trace of humour.

"What is it?" she asked.

"What if, hypothetically, you had some information that might be beneficial to someone else, but in order to make them understand, you had to tell them about something that you never, ever talk about. Would you do it?"

"If you want my help, you're going to have to give me more than that," she said.

He sighed. Part of him wanted to tell her just to forget it, but he knew that now he'd brought it up, she'd keep at him, and at him until he eventually told her. It was a particularly irritating habit of hers, but he also had to admit, it had it's uses. He wanted to keep her out of as much of his dirty dealings as possible, but sometimes there was a problem that was just too big for him to handle on his own, like the time he'd hired Donny Culpepper to steal something from LaRoche's house, and the idiot had gotten caught.

He'd spent that entire weekend trying to fix things until eventually, Lisbon had forced it out of him. But as soon as he'd told her she'd made it go away, just like that. It seemed like she was always making things go away, bailing him out of whatever messes he got himself into.

He really shouldn't be putting any more of his problems on her shoulders, but at the same time, it was kind of nice to know she always had his back. He hoped one day, he'd be able to return the favour.

"Tell me the truth, Jane," she said.

"Castle has a daughter," he said. "She's about the same age mine would have been if…you know. He's chasing a serial killer, just like I was when my family was taken from me. I can't help but draw certain parallels between his situation and mine. But if I warn him off it, he's going to want to know why, and I don't talk about her, ever, at least not to anyone but you."

"What would you have done if someone had said something to you?" she asked after a pause. "Would it have stopped you?"

Jane thought back, though he had a hard time remembering himself pre-Red John these days. It felt like a lifetime ago. He remembered being arrogant, feeling invincible, laughing off Angela's pleas to stop his psychic act. And when the local cops had asked him to help track down Red John, the serial killer they were chasing, he'd thought of nothing but the extra exposure it would generate, the new clientele, the mounds of extra cash that he would be able to make.

He'd come home from his first day of consulting for the Malibu police, to find Angela in tears on the couch. The moment he'd walked in the door, she'd thrown her arms around him and begged him to reconsider, that it was too dangerous, they didn't need the money, how she wouldn't be able to bear it if something happened to him.

He remembered kissing the top of her head, and telling her that she was worrying about nothing, everything would be fine. He promised her that when the case was solved, he'd arrange for them all to go on a nice long vacation to Paris, because she'd always wanted to go.

Exactly two weeks after that, he'd come home to the smiley face on the wall and the bodies of his wife and child on the floor.

Yes, he had fancied himself untouchable, but it had never occurred to him that others he loved might have to pay the ultimate price in his stead. If somebody had told him that, well things might have turned out very differently.

"I don't know," he answered her finally. "But nobody else should have to go through what I went through. No parent should have to bury their child."

She left her desk and came to sit next to him on the couch.

"I can't tell you what to do about Castle," she said. "That's your call. But you have got to stop blaming yourself for what happened to your family."

"I can't." How could he? It was all his fault. He should have listened to Angela, and kept his goddamn mouth shut. It had been a hell of a way to learn about the value of silence.

"Well can you at least try?" she asked. She shifted a little closer to him on the couch, and he could feel her gaze boring into the side of his head. "The Red John case is killing you, and it's killing me to see it happen."

He turned his head so his eyes met hers.

"I wouldn't blame you if you cut and run."

"Too late," she said, ruefully. "I'm in too deep now. I'm always going to save you, Jane, whether you like it or not."

He couldn't help the grin that spread across his face as she said that. Memories of the two of them in a locked box, his proposal that they draw straws to figure out who got to eat who first, her refusal to 'draw straws with a professional cheat,' how beautiful she had looked when the sunlight fell on her hair…

"That's plagiarism," he said. "You can't use my own words against me like that. I'll sue."

"Good luck finding a lawyer who'll take that case," she said. They smiled at each other, and he noticed that somewhere during their talk, one or both of them had shifted so their legs were now touching. He had no desire to correct this; her presence was comforting.

There was a brief knock on the door, and Cho came in.

"Not interrupting anything am I?" he asked.

"No," they said in unison.

Cho raised an eyebrow.

"Everyone's back from lunch now," he said to Lisbon. "Ready to get started?"

"Absolutely," she said, getting up.

Jane followed her back out into the bullpen where everyone was waiting. He noticed she avoided Beckett's eye.

"OK people," she said, and everyone stopped talking at once. "I know we've had some delays this morning"-there were several snickers, which she quelled with a steely glare- "but we have a killer to catch. Let's get to work."

Real case development will happen soon I promise, I just couldn't resist giving my two favourite couples a 'moment' before getting down to the important stuff.