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Reason: Chapter 9

Oo..oO

Ryan smiled. "Got something good, too."

"You ran their financials"

She shrugged. "It was a dead end-"

"And you figured you had to do something." I finished, nodding slightly.

Ryan watched us with amusement. He is amused by us frequently.

Beckett turned back to the aforementioned amused man. Make that men. Esposito looked pretty entertained as well.

"What did you find?" she asked, ignoring the glance that passed between the two men.

"Well, when we first ran Carlson, something popped," began Esposito.

"Two withdrawals of $10,000," said Ryan

"When we ran Albeni, we saw he had deposited $10,000 a week before his death,"

"But we check Carlson's again and we see someone wired him $10,000 the day before Albeni's murder,"

"We trance the transfer and, guess who?"

Both Ryan and Esposito smiled.

"Who?" Beckett and I asked in tandem.

"Guess," challenged Ryan.

"I'm not guessing," Beckett said, putting out a hand to accept the folder.

"But..." He looked at me and I cocked an eyebrow. He handed over the folder and Esposito shook his head at his partner's antics.

Beckett opened the folder and I leaned in to look as well.

"Well, well, well," she turned her head slightly to look at me. "Look who lied."

Oo..oO

Aaron Gallagher fidgeted nervously in Interrogation Room One. His hair was messy and his clothes rumpled. He looked like he hadn't slept.

Beckett and I observed him from behind the one way glass. Once in a while he would glance at it, as if wondering if anyone was back there.

"What's our approached going to be here?" I asked, glancing at Beckett.

"Soft at first but we can go in harder if need be."

The innuendo in that struck me dumb. I think I may have squeaked because Beckett looked over at me and seemed to realize what she had said. Her mouth opened and closed quickly and a light blush coloured her features for a millisecond. Then she recovered.

"Mind outta the gutter, Castle, it's a valid interrogation tactic."

"Well," I began in a low voice, "If that's how you interrogate then I have something to conf-ow!" I broke off as Beckett grabbed my ear and twisted.

"Apples, apples, APPLES!" I yelled in pain. Her fingers were deadly!

She let go with a smirk and turned away quickly, her hair hitting my face.

I smelled cherries.

I lifted my hand to my ear and rubbed it gently. Then I followed her out.

"I think you broke it! It may never be the same!" I called after her, my voice high and whiny. A tone I knew annoyed her.

I could tell she was rolling her eyes.

Beckett walked into the room, eyes on Aaron. I followed soon after.

She chose a seat across from him and moved it to the head of the table so she was closer. That must be the soft approach. Okay, I could do that too. I took the other chair and moved it to the place hers had so recently been evicted from.

Beckett opened her mouth, probably to begin the interrogation but she never got started.

"I'm sorry," Aaron burst out, looking between Beckett and I with frightened eyes.

"You lied, Aaron," Beckett said softly.

"Why did you lie?" I asked, keeping my eyes on him. He continued to shift his gaze between the two of us.

"I-I felt so guilty," he began.

"About what?" Beckett asked, "Did you kill him?"

Aaron looked stunned. "No!" he said forcefully. "I would have never hurt Colt." He said never another time under his breath.

Beckett and I glanced to each other. Hard approach time.

Aaron doth protest too much.

"Then why, Aaron?" continued Beckett. "I have another body here. A man that you wired $10,000 to. You want to know what we're thinking?"

Aaron did not respond. I continued the tale.

"You loved him, didn't you?" Aaron glanced up at me then back down.

"What happened, you tell him and he laughs at you? Gets disgusted? Closes you out?"

Beckett picked up where I left off.

"Your feelings were hurt. You opened yourself up to him and he crushed you. He needed to pay."

"But you couldn't do it yourself," I continued "You still loved him."

"But if you couldn't be with him, well, no one could."

"So you paid Gary Carlson $10,000 dollars to do it for you."

"But he screwed you over. He hired Cobb to deliver a message to Colten telling him he was in danger."

"So you killed Colten yourself."

"Then you went on to Gary."

When Beckett finished saying that Aaron bolted upright.

"No!" He cried, "That's all wrong! I didn't kill anyone!"

"Then tell me what happened," said Beckett, her voice loud and commanding.

Aaron closed his eyes.

"Colt and I needed money," he murmured. This part was true; we had seen it in the financials.

"Colt said he'd find something. But something found us first."

Beckett and I both leaned in. Aaron kept his eyes shut.

"He said that all we had to do was take something and leave it on a bench in Central Park. He said it wouldn't be hard, that the items weren't even on display."

"Aaron," Beckett said, "What did you have to take?"

I had a feeling we already knew.

"Treasure," he told us, his voice almost a whisper. He opened his eyes and looked at us. "Pirates treasure. From a museum by Central Park."

"But you didn't go," I said, understanding. Aaron shook his head.

"I couldn't" he said in a strangled whisper. "I just- I've never broken a law."

I nodded in understanding while Beckett kept her focus entirely on Aaron.

"What were you supposed to do?" she asked.

"I was supposed to be the distraction. I would make some noise or act drunk until very eye was on me. He knew that the alarm system hadn't been set up yet. Don't ask me how, I don't know. Colten was supposed to get the treasure and sneak out the back. After ten minutes, I was supposed to leave," Aaron looked down at the table again. "But I bailed. I left him alone. And now he's dead." His voice broke on the final word.

I couldn't imagine what he must be going through.

"Who hired you to do this?" Beckett asked quietly, her voice soft and understanding. She still managed to be commanding though, a skill I envied immensely.

"Gary Carlson," Aaron choked out.

Well, I'd been expecting that. I could tell from the way Beckett nodded that she had been as well.

"Did anyone else know, Aaron?"

Aaron shook his head. "No. He delivered the money to us. Cash. Ten grand."

There was a brief silence.

"You were right," Aaron said, "Before. I- I love him. Loved, I- I guess."

Another pause.

"Thank you, Aaron." Beckett said, standing up slowly. She opened the door and an officer entered. "You may go."

Aaron stood up and the officer began to escort him out.

I couldn't resist. "Just don't leave town!" I called out.

Beckett didn't even dignify that with a look.

Oo..oO

We stood in front of the murder board, staring, both trying to make something click.

"Poor Aaron."

That statement was unexpected. It took me a moment to respond.

"Yeah, poor guy. In love but never got to say anything."

"He should have said something," Beckett said, looking at the murder board.

"Maybe he was afraid that Colten would break his heart," I countered, also not looking at her.

"It's always worth the risk. If it really is love, it's worth that risk."

"Not if it comes at the cost of destroying a friendship! He could have lost everything," I said.

"But look at the pain he's feeling! He would have told him eventually, he's smart. But he may have waited too long."

"Well, it's obvious he waited too long, Colten's dead."

"But if he wasn't. Colten may have felt the same way but given up when Aaron didn't make his move."

"Then Colten should have said something!"

"Maybe he was scared," she almost whispered. "Maybe he wasn't sure how Aaron felt and didn't want to ruin the best thing that ever happened to him."

I lowered my voice as well. "That's what I was saying."

"If they were thinking the same thing-"

"Hypothetically."

"Yes. Hypothetically, if they were thinking the same thing and scared for the same reasons-"

"Then they should have just talked."

We both turned to look at each other. I took in every expression flitting through her eyes and across her face. Her walls had fallen. I knew this look. I had only seen it a handful of times but I knew it meant that she was open. She had let that impenetrable Beckett guard down. If there was ever a time for me to make my move, it was now.

"Kate," I began, "I've been thinking..."

I saw a ghost of a smile on her face. I knew why. She was thinking of all the other times I'd said that.

And I was going to tell her. I honestly was. I opened my mouth to begin and-

Her phone rang.

She shut her eyes and bit her cheek. I looked down and took a deep breath.

"You should answer your phone more often," I finished lamely, trying to make it seem like that was what I was going to say the whole time.

She smiled joylessly. She was trying to make it seem coy and funny, like she also thought that was what I was going to say, but I knew her so well that I saw right through it.

She looked at her phone and sighed.

"He's been calling all day," she said, tiredly. "I should probably answer."

And just like that, her walls were back.

"Yeah," I agreed, feeling like I should be screaming no and throwing her phone. But I couldn't.

The moment was gone.

I doubted it would arise again.

"I'm going to go," I told her. She looked up. The first thing I saw was confusion that quickly changed to weary acceptance.

"Yeah," she agreed, brightening her voice back to normal. "It's late."

"Until tomorrow, Detective."

She smiled. A real smile this time.

"Night, Castle."

And I smiled back.

A/N: And cut! So the whole fighting over Aaron and Colten but really fighting over them thing just swooped into my room and attacked me so if it seems strange and OOC, I apologise. The story started writing itself. As always, your comments are welcome. More than welcome, actually. I'd love them. I could marry them, I love them so much. Creepy? Yeah, I do that.