Castle rolled his shoulders as he poured himself some coffee in the break room. Slaughter had asked him to tackle a feeing suspect today while he held his gun on another. Castle had tackled the guy about a block away and had landed on his back. His shoulders were tight and his lower back ached. He was also a bit peeved that the guys they had captured were not the guys who had gunned down the young boy who had been forced to join the gang. It had just been a really crappy day and no matter how much he tried to forget Beckett it just wasn't happening. He missed being himself. Slaughter didn't seem to appreciate his humor and kept telling him to grow up. He missed the amused looks Beckett tried so hard to hide when he was just being himself. Slaughter didn't want him to be himself; no he wanted him to be a tough guy with no emotions. He was working hard on the no emotions part. "Maybe I should get lessons from Kate," he thought. He shook his head trying to get her face out of his mind.
"Castle, how's the back?" Slaughter asked, as he came into the break room, grabbing the coffee pot from Castle.
"Awesome."
"What did I say about that word, Castle?"
'Sorry."
"Yeah, well I'm sorry too."
"For what?"
"Heard that muse of yours quit."
"She didn't quit being my muse. She was never my muse. Trust me. If she thought for a second I called her that she would break my legs. She use to be my partner not anymore though" Castle replied taking a sip of his coffee.
"Man you really don't know."
"Know what?"
"Castle, man, Beckett quit. Punched a suspect in the face and quit before Gates could fire her."
"You're lying"
"Ask your boys if you don't believe me"
After sweeping the bullpen with his eyes and noticing the boys weren't there Castle pulled out his phone and quickly dialed Esposito. "Is it true?"
Castle felt his legs wobble when Esposito confirmed what he was begging wasn't true. "Yeah, I can meet you at the Old Haunt in fifteen." Castle hung up the phone slowly sinking into the nearest chair. He noticed he had wandered out into the bullpen and had in act sat down in his chair next to Beckett's desk. He picked up one of the elephants that lined the desk. He wondered if Beckett would come back for them. "Why would you quit the job you love so much?" Castle muttered as he placed the elephant back on the desk. He stood and made his way to the elevator hoping the boys had some answers for him.