The next morning, Castle and Beckett were inside an elevator inside the Chrysler building. They were on their way to a meeting. Both were concentrating way too much on the numbers illuminating above the door, doing their best to continue avoiding certain subjects.

While they had gotten ready that morning, he had done his best to mask the growing frustration with his writing. He usually got up first to shower, giving her an extra 20 minutes to sleep by herself in the large bed by herself. Kate enjoyed moving over to his side of the bed, soaking in the extra warmth and inhaling his scent. This morning, however, Rick gave the shower 5 minutes to warm up before sneaking back into the bedroom and carrying her out of bed and into the bathroom.

She had done her best to conceal the growing longing in her for her job. She had picked out his suit for the day. Going through the motions, she had settled on what was her favorite. She selected the charcoal suit with the faint white pinstripe, on top of a professional white shirt. Since he didn't prefer to wear ties, she threw in a crimson red pocket square for color. Then, she matched him with her won lighter charcoal pantsuit, white blouse, and red scarf for color. They could have passed for a pair of news anchors who had color coordinated for the 11 o'clock news.

They stepped outside into a brisk September morning in New York City. The mugginess had faded early, which meant mornings were chillier than normal. Since he knew they wouldn't be spending too much time outside, Castle skipped the overcoat. Winter would be soon, there would be plenty of time for lugging around an extra coat. Beckett, meanwhile, grabbed her leather jacket, which was light enough to keep on inside, but gave her a good shield against the breeze.

They grabbed a cab and rode to the Chrysler Building. They were on their way to an appointment inside the famed skyscraper.

"How do you know this guy again?" Beckett asked, while staring at the numbers in the elevator.

"The Mayor knows him. And since I owe Robert big time, he strongly suggested that I should take the meeting."

Beckett was still confused. "Why am I here?"

"They asked for you, too. I have no idea what they want, but he sounded rather insistent on the phone."

"So…" Beckett persisted, "you have no idea what this is about?"

Castle shook his head back and forth, still somewhat distracted by his writing challenges. "Maybe he's a fan, just wants to meet author and muse?"

Their conversation was interrupted by the chime of the elevator. They stepped off onto the 50th floor. Walking around, they found the entrance to their destination: a political consulting firm called Lyman & Associates.

The receptionist recognized Castle as he walked up to the desk. He flashed a big smile in her direction. "Richard Castle and Kate Beckett here to see Josh Lyman. We have an appointment."

"Of course." The receptionist smiled back. But she didn't do anything, just sat there staring at him, smiling. This lead Castle's handsome smile to change into a perplexed grin.

"Right." She said, snapping back to reality before grabbing her handset. She punched in a few numbers, before saying "Mrs. Lyman, they're here." After a brief pause, she put down the phone and looked at Castle. "He's wrapping up a phone call, if you'll wait for just a moment." She gestured toward the chairs in the lobby.

"Thanks." Castle said.

Beckett led him by the hand to a loveseat in the lobby, which were both flanked by American flags. She was trying to think of where she heard the name Josh Lyman before. "Why do I know this guy's name?"

"Probably from the news. He worked for the last two presidents. He's a political heavyweight."

Beckett let the gears of her mind work through that for a bit. "Is there anything else?"

Castle remembered one of the more dark moments he remembered for Josh Lyman. "He was shot during an attack on the last president."

She snapped her fingers. "That's it. Thanks."

"Mister Castle? Miss Beckett?" a voice asked. The two looked back toward the receptionist to see a tall blonde woman in a sharp looking black business suit. Castle appreciated women who dressed professionally. It was part of what drew him to Beckett. The woman had a very visible bump in her midsection which gave her an extra glow.

"I'm Donna Lyman. Thank you for coming down on such short notice." At this, Castle and Beckett stood up and walked over to shake hands with her.

"It's nice to meet you Donna." Castle said.

"Hi." Beckett finished, shaking Donna's hand second.

"If you two will follow me, I'll take you back to Josh's office." With that, Donna turned around to lead Castle and Beckett into the office section of the business.

Castle tried to strike up a conversation as they walked. "So… Josh used to work at the White House, didn't he?"

"We both did." Donna replied. "Josh was the assistant Chief of Staff under the previous administration, and I was his capable assistant," They turned a corner, continuing down a hallway. "And then he was COS for the current president for 5 years. We got married once the administration was on its feet after the first election. I worked for the First Lady during that time."

"Seems like you had very successful careers." Castle said. "Why'd the two of you leave?"

"Josh had an ulcer and suffered a minor heart attack two months before the last election." Donna said. "His doctors told him that if he wanted to live for more than another 5 years, he'd need a career change. So after he got the president reelected, the president basically told him to leave or he'd fire him."

"After we left, we took six months off, but we wanted to remain in politics somehow, so we began this." She gestured to the area around her. "Lyman and Associates has been up and running for a few election cycles. It helps to get business having Josh's name on the front. Being involved in the leadership of four straight successful presidential campaigns brings in lots of business."

Beckett chimed in. "But isn't this basically the same thing in a different capacity?"

"No, this is far and away much more stress free." Donna continued. "Here, we mainly advise political campaigns on what to do… and they implement our recommendations."

Beckett elbowed Castle in the arm. "Imagine that… they tell others what to do… and they do it."

Donna laughed at that. "So I'm guessing he frequently doesn't listen to you?" She nodded in Castle's direction while making eye contact with Beckett.

"Frequently is an understatement." Beckett replied.

"Well, welcome to womanhood."

They turned into a large office, with a nice large desk. Behind it sat a man in his late 40's, with wavy brown hair, which seemed to be graying around his temples. He immediately smiled as the three of them entered the room.

"Rick Castle… Hi, I'm Josh Lyman. We spoke on the phone" He said as he stood up.

"Hi… nice to meet you, Josh." They shook hands across his desk. "This is Kate Beckett…" he said, motioning to his partner.

"Yes… Miss Beckett. Very nice to meet you." He shook her hand. "You're not how I imagined after reading the books."

"Well, I'm just a rough mold for Nikki Heat." She replied, eyeballing Castle for help.

"Still… I guess I need to work on my descriptions." Castle responded, smiling.

Lyman and Beckett broke apart from their handshake. He gestured to the seats in front of his desk. Castle and Beckett sat down in them as Lyman sat in his chair. Donna found a chair next to the desk and carefully sat down.

"So…" Castle began, "I understand you used to work at the White House. It must have been difficult to leave."

Lyman sighed. "Yeah. Health problems." He said, almost annoyed that he was forced to leave. "After we left, we took 6 months off to do absolutely nothing. It was… a different experience. That was when I found your books. Really liked them. Burned through them in two months."

"The Nikki Heat books?" Castle asked.

"No. All of them."

"You read all 26 of my books… in eight weeks?" Castle said in disbelief.

"I read fast." Lyman replied, confused by Castle's surprise. "Plus, they were really good. They were much more entertaining than legislative briefs."

"He really got into those Derrick Storm ones." Donna chimed in.

"Yeah." Lyman said, smiling. "I liked that guy."

Following that, there was a pause.

"So…" Castle began, "did you want me to sign something? Take some pictures?"

Lyman was confused. "Um… I guess… if you want to."

"Isn't that why you called us down here?"

Josh and Donna exchanged glances, then looked back at Castle. "No." Josh started. "We called you… because we need your help."

"What kind of help?" Beckett asked.

Lyman looked at her. "One of my employees is missing."