Chapter 9
Threads
Beckett closes the door behind her as she reaches the hallway. She looks around, but Castle is not there.
Where is he?
In a panic, she looks both ways to see where he could have gone.
"Castle?" she yells out.
"Yeah?" the muffled answer comes from the back end of the hallway. Taking few hurried steps towards the sound, she finds Castle there, slumped against the wall, his eyes closed.
"Castle?" she asks again. "What happened?"
He doesn't answer, but lets loose a long sigh instead.
Beckett notices his ripped shirt and she closes the remaining distance between them. She grabs his mutated hand and raises it to inspect it closer.
"Oh, Castle," she whispers when she sees the rough green skin of his. "It has gotten worse?"
He only nods and opens his eyes.
"It's not the only thing that has taken a turn for worse..." he mumbles.
Beckett's face falls. Thoughts start to race in her head. Has his health gotten worse? Is he feeling sick? Is he gonna black out?
Castle stops her train of thought by settling his left hand on top of her hand and squeezing it gently.
"Other than the pain I had, I… I don't feel bad. It's just…" he moves his green hand, "this is a bit freaky."
Beckett nods. She understands. Any normal person with a forming mutation would feel that way. Even though his powers were exciting at first, but never in his life would he have expected to turn green. Beckett shuts her eyes for a second. Is this the downside of his powers? Will he change into something else?
"Although, this is not the worst part," he continues. Beckett's eyes flash open.
"What do you mean?" She is confused, still holding onto his hands.
Castle pushes himself away from the wall and holds onto her hand, tugging her slightly behind him.
"I gotta show you something," he confesses.
He leads her around the corner. It's a slightly private alcove in the hallway of the morgue that has no doors, only a faint flickering light above them.
"Castle, what is it?" Beckett worries, due to the seriousness of his tone and his face. Her heart races and her palms are sweating. But she doesn't let go of his mutated hand. She needs his strength in the times like these. Reassurance that he is still there. That he is okay.
He lets her hand go, even when she doesn't want to disconnect from his touch. But she understands. She ends up just standing next to him, her arm touching his.
Castle doesn't say anything but his hands travel downwards to his pants and he unbuttons them. Beckett arches an eyebrow at him. But Castle shakes his head. It's no time for jokes.
He pulls down his zipper and eases his pants away, his fingers moving under the waistband of his boxers. Beckett is now eyeing his movements with great curiosity. This certainly wasn't what she was expecting him to do.
Castle motions with his head for him to come closer. She nods and snuggles tighter.
He pulls the waistband of the boxers away from his stomach and now Beckett sees it too.
There is a long moment of silence, before either of them says anything. Finally, Beckett draws in a short breath. "Shiny."
"Seriously?" Castle stares at her unbelievingly. "You are making that joke right now? It's serious!"
"It's not a joke," Beckett defends herself, corners of her mouth rising a bit when she understands the double meaning of what she just said. "But," she stares back down again. "... it is luminescent…"
"I know!" He squeaks out. "What am I going to do?"
"I have no idea," Beckett sighs, stepping away from him and rubbing her nose in frustration. The situation is much worse than she anticipated. "Is this the first time …. how long has it been like this?"
"You didn't see my… uh… green lantern yesterday, did you?" Castle throws back at her, tucking his shirt back to his pants.
"No, no I didn't," Beckett shakes her head, thinking wildly how they got from last night's cosplay to him actually changing into some kind of a green monster. Right, only his hand has mutated for now and… well… his unit is glowing… but what will happen when the colour and the glow spreads all over to his body? What will become of him?
Suddenly she makes a connection between the morgue and his condition. "Castle? Did you start feeling pain after you saw Donnelly's corpse?"
"Yes?" he nods, not sure what should be the right answer.
"Donnelly's body was covered with some kind of strange chemical."
Castle nods again. He is not sure where she is going with this theory, but he plays along.
She continues. "You started to feel the pain right after you were exposed to it. Whatever is covering Donnelly's body must have something to do with your mutation."
Castle takes in a deep breath, trying to wrap his head around what she just said. Before he can open his mouth to ask Beckett something, she interrupts.
"Did your mutation spread?"
Castle nods, rolling up the sleeve again to show her his now green elbow. "It went from my wrist to my elbow within few minutes. I fear I will be green all over in a few hours."
"Oh, Castle," she sighs and crashes her body to his, wrapping her arms around him. He does the same, his newly formed claw digging into her back.
"Ow," Beckett whines.
"Sorry." Castle eases the grip of his right hand but keeps her close, not letting her go. They stand for few minutes, comforting each other.
Finally, Beckett breaks the silence. "We need to check out the place where Donnelly was found."
"Why?" Castle murmurs into her hair.
"Because whatever killed Donnelly is connected to your new abilities. I am sure of it! There must be a connection."
"Okay," he nods. "Do you have the address?"
"Yeah," Beckett answers, pushing her slightly away from his grasp, letting their lower bodies rest against each other. "Lanie gave it to me."
"Where did they find the body?" he enquires, sliding his good hand against her cheek, brushing her earlobe.
"61 2nd Avenue."
"Seriously?" His face is alert now. "Do you still have that paper we found in Donnelly's shop?"
Beckett furrows her brows in confusion but digs into her pocket, fishing out the tiny paper they found a few hours before. She places it into Castle's waiting hand.
He opens the wrinkled paper and beams a smile at her.
"Don't you see the connection?" he asks, turning the paper in his hands for her to see. '61/2 SSSR'
"Oooohh," Beckett breathes out. "61/2 That's the address!"
"There is definitely a connection here," he gesticulates wildly, flapping the paper in his hands. "It's the same damn address! I … wonder what the combination of letters means… USSR?"
Beckett grabs his hand and drags him from the dark corner. "Come on, we need to go."
Second Avenue is just around the corner from the Morgue building. For a second, Beckett thinks of ditching the car but quickly she reconsiders her first thought. The building shouldn't be far away, but it would take much more time if they would go on foot. And the time is what they don't have.
She starts the car when Castle plops himself onto the passenger seat and closes the door. She takes off from the parking spot, making her way from East 6th Street to Bowery and quickly turns back onto East 4th Street crosses the Second. When they reach the Avenue, Castle looks both ways and mutters, "It has to be here somewhere."
Beckett takes a gamble and turns her car to the right.
"Look, 65," he points to the doorway between two cafés. "It should be close."
"Yeah," Beckett sighs back to him. "Right there! Look!" She points at the garage door that has a big sign on top of it. The sign says 'Shoe Store & Shoe Repair'
"SSSR!" Castle yelps. "And here I was thinking it meant something of Soviet origin." Castle shakes his head as Beckett snorts a strangled laughter.
"Come on, let's check it out." Beckett opens the door of the car and steps out, Castle is already out on the sidewalk. Getting closer to the door, they hear weird sounds coming out of the shop. Beckett places a hand on his chest, signaling him to stop his approach. She takes out her gun and steps closer to the door, Castle just at her heels.
The garage door opens with a rattle and before their eyes can adjust to the darkness they hear a voice with heavy accent nearby.
"Mister Castle. I have been expecting you."
A/N: Aaaand here you go, you have two chapters in one weekend! Crazy isn't it! I know, I am as surprised as you are. I told you I try. Hopefully I can write again soon, the story seems to be rolling in my head now and I need to write it down. *fingers crossed*
Thank you for my fast and furious betas. And you all – who have liked my work or reviewed it – LOVE YOU! Keep doing it!
Review? Thoughts? What will happen next? :O
