Thanks for the lovely reviews. They mean heaps. =D This story is going to have a lot of laughter, I hope. Not so much "seriousness" so I'll keep it to the one murder. I don't want to bog it down in gory details, since it's too light-hearted and funny. Beckett may be a bit OOC for parts of this chapter, but Castle is certainly himself. Enjoy, and thanks for the support!

Castle knew they were in for it before they reached the top of the stairs. Beckett stood with a determined stance, hands on her hips and lips pursed into a thin line.

"What were you doing, Castle?" she queried, her voice dangerously quiet.

Castle cleared his throat. "Uhum, we were, just, playing around," he said, avoiding her glaring gaze.

"Why?" she tapped her hip impatiently and her knuckles turned white as she clenched her hand.

"Why not?" Castle knew it was risky saying this, but he took the chance.

Beckett exploded into a fit of anger, and Castle restrained from laughing as he imagined curls of smoke wafting from Nikki Heat's hair. He repeated in his mind, again and again, Not funny, not funny; don't laugh if you want to be alive tomorrow, not funny…

"You were irresponsible, Richard Castle. We are an organization that prides ourselves on being efficient and organized, NOT being stupid and acting like a child!"

Castle looked towards the ground, at the threadbare carpet beneath his glistening wet shoes.

"I'm sorry. We…Esposito, Ryan and I got distracted and wanted a snow fight." Castle became distracted once again at the sight of Ryan standing near the stairwell, an enormous, mushy snow ball in his hands.

Don't even think about it, Castle mouthed to Ryan. Or you'll be dead.

Seriously? Come on, man, what's life without a bit of fun? Ryan mouthed back. Beckett tipped her head to stare at Castle as though he were some famous statue that people stood around and admired.

"Everything alright? Talking to oneself is one of the first signs of madness, you know," Beckett snapped.

"If I recall correctly," Castle said as he slowly sidestepped out of the line of fire, "I said that exact statement myself to you, not so long ago."

Esposito interrupted before Beckett stared daggers.

"Actually, this psychiatrist in the 1800s said that," Esposito said, cheerily.

Castle narrowed his eyes, "Maybe that was me in a past life. It'd explain why I'm surrounded by such nutcases," he muttered, receiving a sharp punch on the arm. Ryan chose to lodge the snowball at this moment, his police training behind the throw. Naturally, it was a direct hit. It slapped into Beckett's head, and disintegrated. Castle stood, shocked, frozen to the spot.

He gulped. We're all going to die now.

Beckett slowly turned around to see Ryan at his desk, shifting through papers.

"Castle. What, the hell, was that?" her voice neared an even more dangerous low, and Castle and had sudden visions of himself being dangled out the window by his feet.

"Don't ask me. It was Ryan," Castle said, pointing to the now empty desk on the far side the room. Castle spun around to see that the office was deserted.

Now would be a good time to run.

Castle started running towards the elevator, glancing behind him to see Beckett giving chase. He leapt over the plastic waiting chairs, and pulled himself over the couch on the far side. He could hear Beckett dodging the couch behind him, and decided to take a not-so-short short cut. Castle stylishly managed to get his shoes off mid stride, and knew that running in socks on floorboards would be an advantage. He skidded to a stop, and slid on hands and knees. Crawling beneath the table, he saw multiple scratch marks beneath the desk and reminded himself to occupy his mind by checking them out later. Suddenly he was free from the desk, and leapt over another chair, before accidently landing shoulder first on a swivel chair. His momentum carried the chair forward at a fast pace, and Castle regained his normal rightful sitting position. Only then did he realize he was at the top of the stairwell. The chair ricocheted off the first step with great speed and sent Castle hurtling down the stairs. He ended up face first into the wall, and broke through the thin plaster. Ryan saw all of this from his nifty position at the top of the stairs, just behind the adjoining wall.

"Haha. And that's for getting me in the face with a snowball," he chuckled.