Previously on…

"No, Castle," she pushed her index finger into his chest to stop him in his tracks. "No more theories yet. Please. Let's just take a look around then get back to the precinct."

"You're going to have to hear them sometime," he warned.

"Do I?" she arched an eyebrow and started walking away.

"You do!" he vowed running after her. His grin nearly split his face apart.

40 minutes later

"So, Tyler…" Beckett drawled as she slowly opened up a folder. It was amazing how much information a cop could find in just 20 minutes. The boy gulped and nervously rubbed his hands together on top of the table.

"It seems you're actually a pretty decent kid."

He visibly deflated in his chair, slumping down and releasing a breath.

Beckett raised an eyebrow. "I said it seems."

He straightened.

"Let's go through what you saw again."

The teenager was quick to repeat his version of events.

"What direction did you see them coming from?"

"Uh… North… like, North-West, I guess?"

"Did you see them come around any specific street corners?"

"No, just saw them in the park."

"Were they already naked?"

"Yup."

"You didn't see them drop any personal belongings along the way?"

"Nope. Not a thing on or around them."

"And what time was this?"

"Uh… I first saw them… musta been… oh, hold on, I took a picture!"

He rushed to retrieve his phone from his pocket, not seeing the detectives eyebrow, raised even higher now, until he already had the picture up. His face turned red. "I, uh…"

"Just show me the picture, Mr. Perkins."

She accepted the phone and peered at the picture. The lighting wasn't great, the sun not yet in full blaze but it was indeed the victims, running through the park sans outerwear. Or underwear. The time stamp read 7:17am. She flipped to the next picture. As she suspected Tyler had in fact taken more than one. It was the couple on the ground, time stamp 07:25. If Lanie's TOD estimate of 7-8am held, Tyler's picture narrowed down the window of death significantly. She flipped again.

"Oookay then," she said, slapping the phone to the table. Good lord, was that really what teenage boys had on their phones these days? For anyone to just accidentally come across? "Only two pictures of the vicitms, then," she coughed. Tyler frowned then turned even redder, closing his eyes and looking like he wanted to disappear through the floor.

"Umm… yeah…"

"We're going to need to make copies of those. And to delete them from your phone."

"Sure, yeah," he mumbled.

"Did you send them to any of your friends?"

He cringed and nodded. Beckett sighed. "Alright then, we're going to need to see them as well."

He nodded while his face brightened just a touch. His friends might hate him for it, but they also might think it was awesome. Being called in by the police but not actually being arrested? Sweet for street cred. Emily Watcombe would probably think it was badass…

"Did you tweet, facebook, or post them on any other social media program or webpage?"

He shook his head. "I was going to but then you guys showed up."

Small mercies.

Beckett opened a new page on her notepad and poised her pen. "Alright then, names and addresses of everyone you sent them too, please."

She really hated modern technology sometimes.

Two hours later

"Oh god, Castle, you don't know how gooood this is…" Kate moaned.

He stared jealously at the cup of coffee he'd just handed to her. How he wished the break room wasn't a giant fishbowl of open glass walls. He shoved his hands in his pocket before he could do anything stupid. Everyone was used to them being a couple, they were getting married in a few months for crying out loud, but Kate still insisted they stay professional at the precinct. Sure it was part of their agreement with Gates for her continued acceptance, but…

He simply replied "I try."

"And succeed," she looked up at him warmly and he stood a little taller.

"Did the kid's story check out?"

Kate laughed softly and shook her head in amusement. "Yeah. Talked to his friends and their parents. He was culling alien hordes until seven. Woke the parents up early with their roars of victory. Of course the pictures on his phone prove he was at the crime scene extremely close to the time of death and probably during, but I have a feeling he didn't do it. Only scene he was involved with was the war zone of empty red bull cans and chip bags."

Castle nodded his agreement with a glint of understanding in his eyes that Kate didn't even want to know about. He really was just a giant kid.

"I've got LT and a few other Unis rounding up his friends and dealing with the pictures."

Castle shuddered. "I hope no one ever searches through my phone for evidence…"

She looked at him sharply. "What does that mean?"

Castle's eyes went wide. "Wait, no, I didn't mean…"

"Castle," she narrowed her eyes and stalked slowly forward. "What kind of pictures do you have on your phone?"

"I'm sure they're nothing like the ones on the kids'!" he spluttered. "I swear!"

"You don't even know what they were!"

"Well, no, but… I mean, I was a teenage boy once too and…"

"Sometimes I think you still are!"

She was toe to toe with him by now and he visibly cowered.

"I'm going to ask just One. More. Time," she said in a low voice. "What do you have on your phone that you're afraid someone might find?"

Beckett knew they had photos of each other that NO one else would EVER see. But they'd explicitly agreed that none of those kinds of pictures would stay on their phones. Way too hard to properly hide and secure. Neither of them could afford any kind of mishap or leak.

He still wasn't answering. Her glare intensified and finally he squeaked an "Okay, okay! Geez woman!" and took his phone out of his pocket. His face scrunched in embarrassment as he sifted through to find a specific picture. With a deep breath he closed his eyes and showed her.

For the first second she could only stare, her mouth dropping. Then she burst into laughter.

"Hey!" Castle pouted.

"Oh god Castle, I was actually worried for a second there, but… this…!" She clapped a hand over her mouth and tried to stifle her laughter, already seeing a detective in the main bullpen look curiously over.

"Shut up," he mumbled, serving only to intensify her glee.

"I'm sorry, babe, but… this is just…"

He growled and plopped down into a chair.

She toned down her laughter and shook her head at him in affectionate disbelief. "Sometimes you…"

He looked up at her with a hurt-little-boy-face, but in the depths of his blue eyes she could see actual worry. She took pity on him and sat down on the couch facing him, reaching out to grasp his hands. "Sometimes you make me wonder how I could ever deserve the love you give me," she admitted quietly. His eyes lit back up again.

"No, Kate, it's me who couldn't possibly deserve…"

"Okay, stop right there," she laughed holding up a hand. "Let's not get into this discussion again, okay?"

He rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand. "Fine," he sighed dramatically. She grinned, gave a brief scan of the bullpen, then quickly leaned forward and pecked him on the lips.

"Good, cause we have a case to work on!"

"We do indeed!" he nodded smartly. "Anything from Lanie yet?"

"Actually yeah, she just called. Definitely no outward causes of death. She's got blood work and tox-screens going now. She's pretty sure it'll just be poison."

"Amazing how we live in a world where poison is pre-faced with 'Just'." Castle observed.

"Yeah, well, we do."

"And how lucky we are. To still be the ones living, that is."

She smiled again. "In the meantime, though, we still haven't found out who they are. We got some pictures from the morgue which I've sent to the uni's on site. Hopefully someone in the area will recognize them."

Castle shuddered. "I hope if I'm ever found naked and dead in Central Park with no ID that my fame will be enough for whoever finds me to immediately identify my rugged features. Morgue table portraits are not flattering."

"Wow, Castle," she laughed and shook her head at him. "I think if you're dead, an unflattering picture will be the least of your worries."

"You don't know that," he argued. "I could be floating around in heaven looking down at the besmirching of my handsome face, expounding the woes of my Earthly legacy melting away until all I'm remembered for is a picture of my pale, cold corpse."

"More likely you'll be far away from the precinct haunting some poor, unsuspecting soul."

"You may be right about that."

She took a smug sip of coffee. "I know I am."

He was about to suggest a lunch break when her desk phone rang. She hurried over to it.

"Beckett," she answered. He waited with bated breath as she nodded, "hmm'ed" and wrote something down.

"We've got a possible ID!" she said as she hung up.

"Already?"

"Apparently the woman's roommate had noticed her acting weird last night. She was worried and when she didn't come home, she'd kept her eyes open for any police alerts. She's heading to the morgue now."

"Shall we?" He asked, standing up and making his way from the break room to her desk, grabbing her coat from her chair.

"We shall," she nodded, accepting his help into the long, brown trench. As they walked out the door she realized she still had his cell phone in her hand. They boarded the elevator, another detective joining them at the last second.

"Hey, Gordon!" Castle greeted cheerfully. While the two struck up a conversation, Kate glanced down at her fiancé's phone, swiftly touching a few buttons and texting the secret picture to her own phone. She had to bite her lip to keep from giggling as she pushed send.

It was a picture of her from the day they visited the Museum of Natural History. She was grinning like a mad fool in love in front of the African Elephant display. He had walked behind her all the way to it, his hands over her eyes, her laughing like a child as she kept asking "Are we there yet?" not even knowing where they were going. He'd wanted to surprise her. It had been a perfect day. The picture itself was heartwarming. But it was the fact that he'd used some kind of app to circle her face in a giant pink heart with the letters "R + K" written underneath that had made her laugh. Yes, sometimes Richard Castle was like a teenage boy. But sometimes he was even more like a teenage girl. And she wouldn't have him any other way.

"Ugh…" Jaime interjected, snapping everyone out of the trance the story had woven. "First of all… really, Dad?"

He blushed and Kate stroked his cheek, grinning.

"Secondly… why does everyone think teenage girls all draw hearts and rainbows everywhere? Seriously? I have never once…"

"Okay, woah there buddy," Kate laughed. "We're not making any commentary on you here. We know you're much more evolved than your weak, pandering classmates."

"Sure am," she mumbled. "Rather draw crime scenes than flower bushes."

"And we're so proud," Castle beamed.

"Are we forgiven? Do we have permission to continue?" Martha theatrically inquired.

Jaime nodded.

"Hi, I'm Detective Kate Beckett, and this is Richard Castle."

The hall outside the morgue needed better lighting. The dim cast to the hallway made everyone's skin sallow, shadows drawn, and the mood even more somber than it already was.

"Hi," the short, brown haired roommate replied with a nervous smile, shaking their hands. "Jill. Teedly."

"You had some concerns about your roommate?"

"Yes. My roommate, Natalie. She was acting really weird last night. Her boyfriend is bad news, so when I woke up this morning and she still wasn't back…"

"Let's go see if we've found her," Beckett suggested gently. Jill took a deep breath and nodded her head, wringing her purse strings in her hand.

They entered the morgue, brighter, but no less intimidating. Lanie smiled gently at the young woman as they came to the table.

"You ready?" the ME asked.

Jill nodded again and Lanie pulled back the sheet.

"Oh god," Jill choked, a hand flying to her mouth. "That's her. That's Nat."

"And…?" Beckett subtly led her to look to the other table. Lanie revealed the second victim.

"Kyle."

"Do you know their last names?"

Jill looked at her with watery, somewhat glazed eyes.

"You know what," Beckett redirected. "Why don't we head outside and we can sit down to talk while Castle gets us some coffee."

The writer nodded sharply and held the doors open for them before hurrying off. Beckett and the roommate found a bench a little ways down and sat.

"Natalie Jenkins and Kyle Swaslie," she sniffed.

"Take your time, it's okay."

"She works… worked at the Vitamin Shoppe on 8th. That's where they met. He came in asking for some protein supplement or something. She liked the bad boy vibe. I never did. I only met him once but he just didn't seem good, you know? I tried to tell her, I knew he would get her in trouble someday but I never thought…" She broke off with a sob, her hand flying to her mouth. "I should have tried harder, made her see that he was going to get her into trouble! I…"

"No, Jill, no! This was not your fault in any way. I'm sure you did everything you could."

The young woman continued to sob but nodded her head. Beckett stayed silent, letting her gather herself before offering her a tissue. Jill gave a wobbly smile of gratitude before blowing her nose.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly.

"No need to apologize," Kate smiled kindly. "Do you think you're ready to talk some more, or do you need another minute?"

Jill rolled her shoulders back and sat up. After a deep breath she declared "No, I'm good. Let's talk."

"Alright, our victims are Natalie Jenkins and Kyle Swaslie." Beckett wrote their names on the murder board as she spoke, big bold letters. Espo, Ryan and Castle listened with rapt attention. "31 and 36. She's a native New Yorker, worked at the Vitamin Shoppe on 8th, and had recently gone back to school to become a pharmacist. Swaslie had no discernible job that we've found yet. We've sent pictures of his numerous tattoos to the gang unit to see if he's with anyone. According to Natalie's roommate Jill, he was bad news. They met at the Shoppe two months ago and immediately started dating."

The detective turned to look at her team.

"Espo, I want you on phone and financials. Ryan…"

"Let me guess... Any and all possible surveillance in and around the area?"

She grinned.

"And me?" Castle piped up.

"We are going to Natalie's apartment. Jill said she was there and acting weird last night before going out to meet Kyle. Let's see if we can find out why!"

The couple gathered their coats as Kate gave a final instruction.

"Let me know if you find anything, and tell Lanie to call me when she gets the results of the blood and tox screens."

"As you wish," Espo nodded, already focused on his computer. Ryan waved a hand in lieu of speaking, already on the phone. Kate's lips quirked upward. Her team... What would she do without them.

"My lady?"

She turned around to look at her fiancé, who held one arm up for her to loop hers into while the other was flung out, gesturing them on their way. Her smile grew and she breezed past him, ignoring the arm he'd offered as he knew she would. Once they left the precinct, however, he had big plans for some hand holding. Oh yeah. Crazy case, and a hot, badass detective fiancé. Life was good.

To Be Continued…

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