The next morning both cops are at their desk chasing clues and running down reports. Beckett is standing at the Murder Board studying the picture of the crime scene, head to one side. The lift pings and Castle strides into the bullpen, coffees in hand.

Espo pauses in his perusal of the vic's records and glances at Ryan who has also stopped the traffic cam video he was looking at. They glance at each other and then turn to discreetly observe their boss and the writer.

There's a big grin on his face as he hands Beckett her cup and the two cops are leaning sideways to get a better view of the exchange. Ryan suddenly notices Beckett's eyes sliding past Castle's shoulder and heading their way, so he straightens up and ducks back behind the screen. Espo, unaware of the danger suddenly finds himself at the sharp end of the Beckett Glare and in pretending to be looking for something tips sideways out of his chair.

With undue haste he gets back to his feet and dusts himself down, carefully ignoring the raised eyebrows and smirks from his partner and boss. Carefully righting the chair, he clears his throat and as nonchalantly as possible heads for the break room, cuffing Kevin as he walks behind him.

Ryan slaps a hand to his head and mouths a silent "Ow!" before catching the jerk of Espo's head. Still rubbing his hand on the back of his head he follows him into the break room and closes the door behind them.

Espo stabs a finger into his chest "Not good bro! Not good at all!"

"Hey! Sorry, but it wasn't me falling out the chair!"

They both turn to the blinds and pull them apart to have a peek … only to hastily let them drop back into place as they find both hazel and blue eyes looking straight at them.

"Those two are up to something … " says Javi as he starts the coffee machine "… and we need to find out what!"

"Lanie not giving you any peace?"

Espo grunts "You just can't imagine!" then seeing Ryan's face "… ok, maybe you can. They still watching us?"

Ryan takes a quick peek through the blinds before letting them drop back into place. "They're at their desk"

Espo hands him a coffee, grabs his own and pushes Ryan out through the door. "Let's go see what we can find out!"

"Hey boss, Lanie says she has something for you" he ignores her suspicious look and slaps a hand on Castle's shoulder as he's about to stand up "said the boss only Castle!"

Ryan's ducking behind Javi's broad back so the boss won't catch the look of surprise on his face and once it's under control moves to the other side of Castle and grabs the writer's other shoulder.

Castle's head is swivelling back and forth in surprise between the two cops as Beckett gets to her feet and pulls her jacket off the back of the chair. She's still eyeing them both suspiciously "Why didn't she just call me?"

"Well .. uh .. I was just checking to see if she'd found anything and … uh .. that was when she said she wanted to speak to you .. I .. um .. told her I'd let you know" he finished in a rush.

All three watch her as she heads to the lift, two sets of eyes in hope, one set imploring. She turns after hitting the call button and glances back at them. She gives the writer an encouraging smile and then turns the full glare on both cops. They gulp, but man up as she steps into the lift and is hidden by the sliding doors.

They both move round to prop their backsides on Beckett's desk and turn their full attention on Castle. He's looking scared but manages to grin back at them … well grin isn't really the right term … more of a grimace.