Doppelgänger 7

Snohbal's eyes snapped open and she was suddenly afraid. Nothing looked like it should. "Damn, she'd been caught and was in some weird prison."

But as she woke up and became more aware of her surroundings, she worked out where she was. "I'm in Kate Beckett's apartment." Sitting up she looked around and saw everything just like she remembered. "Must have fallen asleep." A growling sound coming from her stomach told her she was starving.

She was also hearing a beeping sound that was coming from her. She searched herself till she found that thin flat thing. "Communication," she suddenly remembered. It was showing a time and was flashing and beeping. Touching the button stopped it.

"Why?" She searched her memories. "An alarm so I can get up, get dressed and go somewhere." Snohbal tried to think. "My job as a cop… of course." She was ready to smack herself.

She was up and went into the bedroom where she stripped off yesterday's clothes. "Kate takes a shower… with water!" This was going to be interesting.

Stepping into the bathroom where the shower was, she saw herself in the mirror. She thought she looked pretty. Her breasts were a bit smaller than her natural ones. Cupping them in her hands told her how much smaller. She also pinched her nipples which brought a sudden wave of pleasure followed by a flood of memories. Castle was licking, sucking, and biting her breasts and nipples. The memory was enough that she closed her eyes as she pinched her own nipples till she felt herself have an orgasm.

"Castle gave Kate an orgasm just by touching her breasts!" That was new for her. Then she let her head fall forward till it rested against the mirror. "If I kiss him I'll kill him," Snohbal moaned. She had always wondered why she had been born a succubus. Now she had reason to wish she wasn't. "Kate loves him and I'll kill him." She raised her head. "So I won't kiss him or go anywhere near him. If she loved him, she would hate me if I killed him." She was firm in her resolution. She would avoid the temptation, the desire to kiss him and have sex with him.

"This is going to be bad." She could feel that Kate wanted him even if she feared what that might cause. "But why?" Kate Beckett wasn't a succubus. Her kisses wouldn't kill him. Just what did she fear?

It took a little work but she was soon standing in the shower, feeling water hitting her body as she washed it using the products that she found in the shower. "Oh, I'm going to love this!" Maybe two showers each day. Maybe three!

Snohbal opened the armoire that was in her bedroom and studied her clothing choices. "What did you wear, Kate?" She tried to search her memory and began pulling out clothes including a bra and panties.

"How do you put this thing on?" She understood the need for a bra but getting the stupid thing to fasten behind her back with her hands turned inside out was a pain.

She put on the boots that had a rather high heel. Her memories told her these were Kate's favorite, that she wore them a lot. She got up to walk to the living room. "How do you walk in these things?" She grabbed hold of the armoire to hold herself upright.

She walked carefully with a jacket in hand to look for her weapon, cuffs, and other things. She put her dagger in an inside coat pocket with the intent of finding this place later today. "How do I get there and where is it?" She tottered over to her book and opened it. "Where is the 12th precinct?" Kate asked it and saw it start to glow. She tried to memorize the route between here and there.

"Now how do I get there?" Snohbal headed for the door thinking she needed another one of those yellow cars. She locked her door. "I know how to drive!" She rested her forehead against the door. "I'm in so much trouble." Still she liked it here better than her old home.

She just wished she could actually kiss this Richard Castle with whom Kate was in love. She didn't want to send him packing. Having sex with him sounded like so much fun. Plus she had promised. "There has to be something." She stepped into the tiny room that moved and went outside.

Flagging down one of these yellow cars was getting easier. Simply telling him 12th precinct got him moving. After handing him his money and watching him pull away, she stood there for a moment looking at the building.

Now for her first big test. Kate Beckett worked here in a position she herself knew nothing about. "Please don't let me screw this up," Snohbal asked the empty space in front of her.

Going inside, she paused for a moment, seeing the 12th through Kate's eyes. "I need to be on the fourth floor." She looked around for this building's moving room.

Stepping out into the bullpen, she almost stumbled from the flood of memories that hit her. People's faces, names, events. Kate had spent a lot of time here. She even knew where her desk was. She only saw a few people. She felt like she knew them but couldn't think of their names. Sitting down, she wondered what to do next. She was soon opening drawers and rifling through them. Then she pulled out something that actually caused her to tear up.

"Her mother was murdered." Snohbal put the crude stick figure back in the drawer and closed it before she really did start to cry. Next she began looking over everything on her desk. What the big thing was escaped her for the moment so she kept looking. "What are these?" She picked up something that had what she took to be a family of some type of animal. It looked interesting but she carefully set it back down.

There was an item right in front of her that had letters and numbers all over it. Picking it up she found it weighed almost nothing.

"BECKETT! When Castle gets here I want both of you in my office," a black male yelled at her, his voice telling her she was in trouble.

"What did you do Kate?" Snohbal needed to start searching her memories. "Sir," she replied but it didn't slow him down a bit. He closed his door hard enough that the blinds rattled. "Great."

"Beckett… how was LA?" A man with a tan complexion moved past her to sit down at a different desk. "I wouldn't want to be in your shoes; he's mad."

Snohbal opened her mouth then closed it. "His name is Javier Esposito. Javi or Espo." She decided to tease him. "Jealous, Espo?"

"Sunshine, beaches filled with bikini clad women. Hell, yes," Espo retorted then turned to start his work. Kate watched him turn his screen on so she started feeling around for the button on hers to do the same.

Espo looked at her and spoke again. "You at least got the guy, Beckett. I'm sure Royce's happy. Just get ready to have your ass handed to you when Montgomery decides to remove it."

"Yeah." She looked toward where the black guy had gone. "He did sound mad."

"Furious is more like it, chica. You and Lanie are going to need an entire bottle tonight to forget today." Espo could only guess where Kate would go and do to get over today.

"Lanie, yeah." Snohbal knew the name and even had a face to put with it. However, it sounded like she and this Lanie knew each other well and that was bad. "Maybe another night." She didn't need the trouble dealing with someone who knew her well so soon.

Espo raised an eyebrow. "As if Lanie is going to give you a choice." He huffed a laugh and turned back to his work. That did not make Snohbal happy.

It was a little later that she watched a thin white male walk in and sit across from Espo. He didn't say a thing, though he did look at her.

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Rick lifted his head as he sat up quickly which only caused him to moan in pain; his neck hurt like hell. What had awakened him? Realizing it was early morning had him guessing it was the front door, meaning Alexis had just left.

His head thumped in time with his heartbeat. He screwed his fists into his eyes then start to rub his temples which was when he found that the terminal was still attached. "Oh, yeah." He pulled it off and flinched at the pain. "They could at least make one of these that didn't hurt," he moaned.

His body stiff and aching, he got up so he could go take a shower. All that did was remind him that he had fallen asleep on the desk and it wasn't just his neck paying the price. "I'm going to need a pain pill." He staggered to his bedroom and stripped.

A now clean, dry, and naked Rick stepped into the walk-in closet for the first time. "Wow, this Rick has clothes… and shoes." He found a lot of quality garments and accessories to choose from. With his choice laying on the bed he started opening drawers. "I should have slept in this bed." He really wished he had and vowed to sleep in a bed tonight.

It was a little difficult to remember but he needed to be at the 12th precinct to start his day. "Chasing down killers." He was going to like this job. The writing part of his second job, not so much.

He couldn't find and couldn't remember Rick carrying a weapon, however that didn't stop him. He had on his wristbands so he was well-armed. Extremely well-armed.

Flagging down a taxi, he tried to remember what he had been reading and had learned. He needed to fit in like he was the real Rick. He paid the taxi driver and went inside, straight to the elevator.

Stepping out of the elevator felt very familiar. After a short walk, he saw her. Kate Beckett. Instantly his mind went to them making love and listening to him tell himself that he loved her. He knew he couldn't push her or she would reject him.

"Extraordinary," he whispered and kept walking.

Rick had only just reached her chair where she still had her back turned to him. He was all set to lean down and kiss her cheek when what he really wanted to do was kiss her deeply.

"BECKETT, CASTLE, MY OFFICE!" a voice bellowed as both of them looked at the captain's office.

Rick saw a well-dressed black man retreating from his door into his office. "What did I do?" He tried to search his memories but came up empty. Looked like it was going to be another long night learning and getting this Rick's memories.

He let Kate go first. He couldn't help but notice that the look on her face showed that she was worried. "CLOSE THE DOOR," the black man commanded, sitting at his desk. Since Rick was the last one in he shut it. He couldn't help but notice two men and really the entire office looking their way.

"We must be in big trouble." Rick vowed to find Rick's memories after this to find out for what he was about to have his ass chewed off.

"You two…" Roy was really mad. "I can barely think of one reason why I shouldn't take your badge and gun and kick you to the curb." He'd actually considered firing her. "You knew what you were doing was wrong, but did that stop you?" He was just getting warmed up.

"Sir…" Snohbal had a good idea why Kate did what she'd done, but she also knew that doing it would get Kate into trouble.

"Did I ask you for your opinion?" Roy glared at her and then stared Rick down; the writer wisely remained silent. "The only good thing out of all of this was solving the theft of those dissolving bullets." Roy could only guess what a group could do with those. They left behind no ballistics with which to convict someone. He hoped the manufacturer couldn't reproduce them. "And that's the only thing. Even after I told you to drop it and come home you disobeyed my direct order." Roy really was pissed. Pissed that he had let Kate do this. He knew just what she'd planned to do and yet he'd done nothing to stop her.

"Beckett, you are the best I've ever seen, yet you just won't see the politics of what you do. To you everything is completely black and white. There's no gray in anything. It's part of what makes you so good, but it's also your Achilles heel." Roy paused since he'd already made up his mind. "You leave me little choice." He hated this but if he didn't 1PP would come down on his head for not gaining and keeping control of his precinct.

"You're suspended for 2 weeks without pay. I suggest you use this time to reflect on why. Now get out." Roy was done with Kate. "As for you, Castle, you are not employed by this department so I can't actually do anything to you. But since you are Beckett's partner, you are also suspended for 2 weeks.

I don't want to see either of you in here for another 2 weeks or you'll force me to make it permanent. Get out. Both of you." Kate and by extension Castle needed to be taught a lesson. "Now would be good." Roy was done with them; both of them exited his office. He was only a little surprised that Kate didn't fight back a little harder. Though he had meant not to give her a chance.

Kate stopped at her desk to collect her things and turn off that box on her desk. She was vaguely aware that Espo was working his way toward her desk with the thin white guy right behind him.

"What'd he say?" Espo was going to let Kate tell him even if everyone on the floor had heard him.

"Two weeks," Snohbal told him and checked to make sure she had everything.

"Without pay," Rick added. "Not that that matters to me." He withered under the look Espo and Ryan gave him.

"We'll be here if you need us, Beckett." Espo wasn't sure what he could do, but he would do what she asked of him.

Snohbal simply turned and walked to the moving box. She could feel Castle right behind her.

"What have you got planned now?" Rick asked her as the elevator descended.

"I'll think of something." Mostly she'd be learning more about her new life, but she couldn't tell him that.

"You can come to the Hamptons with me. Alexis and my mother will be there. I'm sure we can find space for you." And by finding space he meant in his bed.

"No thanks, Castle. That's not a good idea." Snohbal didn't need the distraction or for him to weaken her resolve and kiss him. Kate loved him and she could not kill him.

"Kate…" Rick was willing to try and get her to change her mind. Except she cut him off.

"No, Castle." She exited once the doors opened and left him in her dust as she headed outside, flagged down a yellow car, and drove off.

He stood there watching her go. "I need to do some homework myself." He thought he was 100% sure that Kate loved him. He knew this Rick loved her. "I need her address and a plan."

Two weeks in whatever this Hamptons was sounded like the perfect plan. "Hamptons… need to find out what that is, too." He had so much to do.

He flagged down a taxi himself and headed home. He planned to review a number of things and get ready for the next two weeks. Kate Beckett was coming with him. No wasn't an answer.

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Rick had pulled out all the stops. It had been a long time since he had tried to woo a woman and get her to see things his way. Granted women had looked his way but for the most part he'd ignored them. Most ran the second they found out he was a hunter. Partly because it meant he would never be home. Plus living on a ship wasn't that grand.

Another was because he dealt with violence on an almost daily basis. And he did try to capture and not just kill, so his ship would have to have a place to hold them. One that was escape proof. Unfortunately now that ship was gone and he was betting it was presently being crushed and burnt to dust inside this system's sun.

Right now he was going up the elevator with his hands full. He was hoping that most women would see this as being special. The lady at the shop had congratulated him on his choices.

Rick sighed heavily and bolstered his determination. He had done a lot of work last night and had gotten lucky in that he didn't see this Rick's Alexis. He was still worried about that. If there was going to be someone that would trip him up and question who he was, it would be this Rick's daughter and mother.

He knocked on the door and waited.

Snohbal had been going over her memories of Kate. She had two weeks to be ready for her job of chasing down killers. She needed to know how to do that. "I gave her my promise and I'm keeping it." What she didn't know what to do was what to do with Rick.

She could feel Kate's love for him. Her internal conflict over how she felt. Her fears of losing him. Losing him before loving him would hurt. Losing him after she fell in love with him would kill her. "You let your fears rule you, Kate. You should have risked your heart." Snohbal was certain of that especially after she found a heartfelt letter from someone named Royce.

He seemed to know just who Kate Beckett was and what her fears were. She didn't miss that she had her own fears. It was just that hers weren't about her heart. They were about what she was. She may look like Kate Beckett but that was were it ended. She was still a succubus underneath and her kisses would drain him. Enough kisses and she would literally drain him dry.

Presently she was in the kitchen making a list. She needed to go shopping or she was going to starve. Kate Beckett apparently didn't know how to cook since this place was completely devoid of food.

Hearing a knock on her door startled her. Every interaction with people that Kate knew and that she barely knew gave her butterflies. Who this could be only intensified that feeling.

Opening the door, she found Rick standing there dressed in clothes that made him look incredibly handsome. She was stunned; he was holding a massive bouquet of flowers and plants. Even worse he had a long narrow box in the other hand. Kate's memories told her just what would be in a box that looked like that. And he had a broad smile on his face.

Kate loved him and she could just feel that she would want to kiss him. Her worry was what was he here for?