A/N: A big, huge, enormous, THANK YOU to the 'bike expert' who helped me with the technical details on this chapter. I hope it's alright.
On an other note, I'm not an expert on the NY geography so although I'm using a "real" place, I'm totally making up the road and the way it looks ^^

CHAPTER 2

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all" she thought as the engine of her bike roared under her, her back wheel spinning in the air generating as much smoke as her neighbours'.

She could probably have talked her way out of the dare, but they would most likely have lost the little trust they'd managed to earn over the past hour if she had. But she could have. And maybe she should have.

She had been on a bike recently, Josh's bike but they were only cruising, enjoying the scenery or going from one place to the next. She hadn't raced on a bike since... forever. She hoped she'd remember the tricks that make the difference between cruising and racing, between winning the race and seriously injuring herself... or worse.

She gave a quick glance over to Esposito who was smiling reassuringly and she let her gaze go further, behind him, over the road and into the forest. She knew that somewhere between the trees, he was watching. She smiled, although through her helmet, the distance and the dark night there was no chance in hell he'd see it.

The woman standing between them, who looked barely old enough to drink, waved her flag and before she knew it, her opponent was gone. Getting her head back into the race she released the clutch and off she went in pursuit of the man who had introduced himself as Terry.

This was a stupid idea. She hadn't had many of those in her life but she was smart enough to recognize one when it happened. And this was one of them.
Too bad it was actually too late to back down now.

She had absolutely no idea what the road ahead looked like. She knew the finish line was the parking lot so she expected there would be a U-turn to make at some point. She also knew enough of the turnpike to know it was mostly a straight path... At least she hoped it would be.

The road was dark, barely lit and she wondered for a second why the lights were off before deciding it wasn't the most pressing matter at the moment.

She squinted her eyes, focusing her attention on the white bike in front of her. The good thing about being second place is that she would be able to anticipate the turns by watching her opponent manoeuvre them before her.

She did just that during the first leg of the race and for a moment she relaxed. She forgot about the race, the undercover mission, the potential danger and simply enjoyed the sensations of a speeding bike engulf her.
She needed that. She needed that feeling of carelessness, of freedom. She'd been so wound up over the past few weeks, highly strung. She felt she needed a break from... everything and... everyone. In fact she'd considered asking the captain for a week off. Maybe she would. When all of this would be over.
Right now, being on the bike, she felt more alive than ever and it made her forget about all the frustrations she'd been cumulating; she was frustrated by her job, her life, her relationships, frustrated by... him.

But she didn't have time to think about that at the moment.

After a sharp turn to the right she saw the red brake lights on Terry's bike and quickly looked ahead for the reason of his slowing down. She saw nothing but decided it was best to imitate him. And rightly so. A few feet later she started to make out the shape of a car parked in the middle of the road just before the Newark bridge. She realized they had reached the U-turn point and also realized she hadn't slowed down enough for that kind of manoeuvre.

Her heart rate picked up in her chest as she clutched harder on the brake.

She saw Terry tilt his bike to the point where his knee nearly scratched the road and make his U-turn before he hit the gas, and wheelied past her.
Getting her focus back to her own bike, she frantically pressed her foot onto the lever to gear down and steered to the left, sliding on the side and stopping just short of the parked car.

She let out a relieved sigh before hitting the gas and driving back up the road to catch up with Terry.

The second leg of the race should be easier, she now knew the road and she could handle the various curves with more speed.

In fact, soon enough, the other bike was back in her sight and knowing that her Ducati had more horsepower than Terry's, she felt certain that if she kept her course and speed she could overtake the white bike before the finish line.

The point of the race was to participate, to show that she and Esposito were players and potential additions to their group, she didn't need to win. But if she had the opportunity to make it first to the finish line, why not take it...

She carefully sped closer to Terry knowing that a few feet away there would be a final bend to the right before the last home stretch.

As the curve appeared before them, she started gearing down and prepared to steer to the right. But, just as she did, the white bike unexpectedly gained speed and cut her path to the left. Beckett clutched the front brake and steered violently to the left as well.

Her bike careened dangerously and despite her best attempts, she was unable to correct.

Bracing herself, she felt the bike tilt to the side and her shoulder hit the pavement hard, followed by the rest of her body, her left leg squashed under the weight of the bike.

The last thing she felt was the loud bang of her helmet on the concrete before she blacked out.

"This was definitely not a good idea" she thought as she started to come to.

How long had she been out? When she saw her front wheel still spinning in the air she inferred it hadn't been that long.

Letting out a bunch of heartfelt swearwords, she extracted her leg from under the body of the vehicle. The movement forced her to put more weight on her injured shoulder and she let out another string of colourful insults.

Before getting on her feet she took a moment to mentally check that all her body parts were there and responding. She had been lucky.

As she took her helmet off with a wince, she saw a shadow appear around the bend and run toward her.

The figure quickly found himself in the beam of her headlight and she recognized him immediately. She smiled despite herself.

"Kate!" shouted the approaching man with a desperation in his voice she had only heard a couple of times before and that broke her heart every time "Kate! Are you alright?"

She put her hand on her temple checking that there was no blood where her head ached like hell. Castle threw himself on his knees and promptly put his own hand on top of hers. At the same time, another man appeared around the bend. She recognized him as well.

"Castle!" shouted Esposito as he saw the man kneeling by the detective's side "Get out of here!"

She knew Castle had no business being there and that if the other participants saw him, their cover was blown but after the scare she'd had she felt comfort in his presence. She let her fingers intertwine briefly with his before Esposito reached them and pulled Castle away.

"Dude, seriously, you've gotta go."

Castle didn't even acknowledge the latino detective as he was hoisted up. He kept staring right into her eyes and she silently held his look.

She told him she was ok, she told him she appreciated his concern and was glad he was here, she told him she was happy to be alive to see him again, she thanked him for being there for her, once again, she promised him things would change from now on... She just hoped he read all that in her eyes.

And then he disappeared back into the shadow of the forest and Esposito was kneeling by her side.

"Are you ok? Anything broken?"

"No. I don't think so. I'm ok."

Esposito put his hand on her temple.

"How does it look?"

"Like a big bump that's gonna leave you a nasty bruise. You sure you're ok?"

She moved her head up and down and on the sides.

"Yeah don't worry" she then checked her shoulder and noticed the torn fabric of her leather jacket "Damnit!"

Esposito checked her shoulder as well and saw the bloody scratches that marked her skin.

"You were lucky" he commented, noticing it looked like the only apparent injury she had sustained.

"Yeah. Help me up will you?"

She groaned when she put her weight on her left leg.

"Is your leg ok?"

"Just a little soar."

She limped to her bike and picked it up. Esposito stepped to her side, and placed a hand on her arm.

"Beckett?" she turned to face him and meet his worried eyes "That was stupid."

Honesty and trust were a big part of what made her work with Ryan and Esposito so damn efficient. They had each other's back, they supported each other through the worst of situations and they accepted the mistakes that the human beings that they were could make at times. Seldom did they actually criticize each other's work or decisions. When they did, it meant something; something serious.

"I know" she admitted.

He raised an inquisitive eyebrow and she nodded. That was all the conversation they needed to have on this.

"I know" she repeated.

She grabbed her helmet from his hands.

"But I've got to finish this race" she mounted the bike, ignoring the various pains that shot through her body "Hop on" she told him with a nudge of the head.

Esposito sat behind her and held on to her hips as she started the bike and drove it at reasonable speed to the finish line.

As soon as they dismounted, Beckett took her helmet off and, when she saw Terry and his men approaching, the fear from her fall she'd tried to hide and ignore morphed into uncontrollable rage. She saw red and pounced on Terry, grabbing him by the collar and throwing him against a nearby car. Her shoulder sent a painful signal to her brain in protest.

When the two 'bodyguards' tried to come to their boss's rescue, Esposito moved swiftly and neutralized one with a jab to the throat, making the other think twice about interfering.

"You son of a bitch!"

He tried to grab her arm and push her away but instead he received her elbow in his jaw and she got a better grip on his shirt. He spit some blood out and laughed bitterly.

"You think this is funny? You almost got me killed out there!"

"So?"

Esposito gave a quick glance over his shoulder at his partner when he heard Terry's body being slammed again against the metal of the car.

"Kate..." he warned, trying to bring her back to reason without compromising their cover.

She heard him.

And continued.

"You do that often? Drive people off the road?"

The more she raised her voice the more she felt like her head was going to explode and she winced, fighting against the pain.

"If you can't handle a little challenge, stay off the road sweetheart"

That nickname earned him another meet with her elbow.

"Kate!" interjected Esposito while stepping to her side, an eye still on the other bodyguard.

"Is that what you told yourself when Jeremy was thrown off his bike because of one of your stunts?"

At the mention of that name Terry's eyes grew wider.

"How d'you know that name?"

"He was a friend of mine. A good friend."

"The two of you must've gone to the same driving school for losers then" he spat back "the idiot got in over his head. You... You got lucky."

Terry looked somewhat surprised when Beckett released her grip on him and a faint smile appeared on her face.

"So... you killed him then?"

"Didn't kill nobody hun'..." he replied while smoothing his shirt "He just wasn't good enough."

Beckett gave her partner a look and he shrugged with a smile, reaching into his pocket for his handcuffs.

When the black van reached the 12th precinct, Castle jumped out and, not bothering to wait for the elevator, he climbed the stairs two-by-two. As he reached the homicide floor he bent over on his knees, catching his breath and thinking that he ought to hit the gym more often. When he had taken a few, much needed breaths, he lifted his head and scanned the precinct. It was mostly empty at this hour. Too empty in fact.
He stepped into the bullpen and lifted an eyebrow when he didn't see neither Beckett nor Esposito. They had left the turnpike parking lot before them though...

The 'ding' of the elevator made him turn his head only to see Ryan come out of it.

"Where are Beckett and Esposito?" he asked the younger detective.

Ryan dropped his coat on his chair and the recording tapes on his desk.

"Esposito is probably still down at processing with our suspect and Beckett..." he looked up at Castle "I'm guessing she went home."

"Home?" he repeated, walking over to Ryan's desk and sitting on the nearby chair "Why would she go home?"

"Why wouldn't she?"

Ryan picked up a folder and started filling out a form.

"We've got the guy and they won't interrogate him 'til morning. Esposito took him into holding. She got injured. Of course she'd go home."

"I just thought..." Castle sighed and looked over to her desk sadly "I don't know."

With a sorry expression on his face Ryan signed the form on his desk and got up.

"Come on, accompany me to 'evidence' will ya?" he asked the writer cheerily as he stuffed the tapes in an envelope and stuck the form on top of it "I could use the company" he added sincerely.

Castle gave him a sad, albeit thankful smile. He knew very well what the detective was trying to do and although he was tired and just wanted to crawl under his covers and sleep the disappointments of the day off, he couldn't very well refuse the offer.

"Let's go."

Both men headed down to the basement - the evidence storage floor - to drop off the envelope containing the tapes and took the stairs back up to the entrance of the precinct.

"Yo" greeted Esposito as he came back from processing "you two heading out?"

"Yeah, dropped off the tape in evidence. How's our man?"

"Comfortable in his new digs I'm sure."

Esposito turned to Castle who was unusually quiet, he noticed the thoughtful expression on his friend's face.

"You ok Castle?" the latter turned his attention to Esposito who carried on "Listen man, I'm sorry about earlier, for telling you off, but I couldn't risk them seeing you, you know?"

"I understand"

The two detectives exchanged a knowing look.

"So, can I offer you boys a ride back home?"

"In that low-rider of yours?" asked Ryan with an excitement that made Esposito chuckle.

"Castle, you coming?"

As the three men headed out the door, Castle looked at his watch and realized he'd forgotten his coat in the bullpen.

After telling Ryan and Esposito that he'd take a cab back home and watching them disappear behind the door, he went up to homicide again and grabbed his coat. He gave a quick glance over to Beckett's desk on his way back to the elevator and sighed.

He had been telling himself he should move on for a few months now...
Maybe it was time he actually did.

"Good night Tommy" he told the officer on duty as he pushed the precinct's door.

With a heavy but resolute heart he stepped onto the Manhattan sidewalk and walked a few paces to reach the intersection.

When a yellow cab approached, he shot his hand up in the air.