Whew, this is a LONG chapter… another interrogation scene, so it follows the same back-and-forth format as Chapter Seven did. Hopefully it's not too confusing!

Thank you all for your patience as you had to wait an awfully long time for the last chapter, so I was did my best to get Chapter Ten done and posted as quickly as possible to make up for it. Chapter Eleven is almost complete, so I'm hoping to have it posted in the next day or two as well.

It looks like there will be fourteen chapters in total before the conclusion of this little "episode" that I have in my head, so we're almost there, folks! Thanks for joining me on this adventure and I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it!

As always, reviews are certainly welcome, no matter if your thoughts are good or bad! It's all constructive in some way, so keep them coming!

Without further adieu...

Chapter Ten

Sean and Angela sat in separate interrogation rooms, just as they had the day before. Ryan and Esposito waited in the adjoining room, on the other side of the one-way mirrors, their minds spinning with ideas as they anxiously awaited the arrival of their other two partners.

Beckett and Castle entered the first interrogation room, a determined look on Kate's face as she approached the table where Sean was sitting. His already-pale expression grew more worried, unsure of why he was there again.

"It seems as though you left a few things out of your story the last time you were here, Sean." Beckett started, an accusing gleam in her eye that caused Sean's heart-rate to increase.

Sean stumbled to find the words, finally squeaking out the only thing he could muster. "I'm sorry, but I told you everything I know…"

Beckett sat down in the chair across from Sean and kept her intent gaze focused on him, unnerving him even more. "Well, here's how this is going to work, Mr. Michaels… I'm going to ask you to fill in the blanks now." She started, the frightened young man nodding his head in agreement. "And this time, don't leave anything out."

Angela maintained eye contact with Kate as she agreed to her terms. "So what do you want to know, detective?"

Castle moved slowly and sat down in the chair beside Beckett as she began her interrogation. "Let's start at the beginning. What's your relationship to Sean?"

Angela chuckled before answering. "Are you asking if we're together?"

Beckett looked at her sternly. "I'm asking you to tell me the truth."

Angela nodded in agreement. "It's a tough question to answer, detective, and trust me, you're not the first person who's asked it."

"We've been friends since we were kids." Sean recalled, his mood lightening at the thought. "As we got older, everyone just assumed we'd get together."

Castle prompted Sean to continue. "So why didn't you?"

Sean thought about his answer for a moment before replying. "I don't know." He paused briefly. "I guess part of me was scared she wouldn't want to be with me." Castle couldn't help but steal a glance over at Beckett. His gaze lingered only for a moment before Sean continued, forcing Castle's attention back at the young man. "I just always assumed it would sort of happen on its own. You know, when the time was right, when everything was perfect and fate just took over for us."

"Do you believe in fate, detective?" Angela asked Beckett, after Kate had mentioned the idea of Angela and Sean being 'meant-to-be'. Beckett looked down at the table for a moment, a look that did not go unnoticed. "Well, I don't." Angela continued, causing the detective to look back up at her, a little thrown off by the unexpected response.

Angela shifted in her seat. "I don't believe that things were meant to happen a certain way. I believe that people make things happen, whether good or bad, and those actions have both rewards and consequences." Beckett stared back at the young woman in front of her, almost impressed with her. Angela continued, a softer tone in her voice now. "But sometimes acting on what you feel is easier said than done. I guess I was just too scared of losing Sean that I held myself back from telling him how I felt."

Beckett's jaw clenched and her eyes wandered to glance over at Castle.

"The funny thing is that my whole reason for coming on this trip was to have a weekend away with Angie, even if there were other people around." Sean continued. "I was planning on telling her exactly how I felt about her."

Castle replied. "And did you?"

Sean grimaced at the thought, shaking his head. "No, I never really got the chance to." He paused for a moment before continuing. "But after everything that happened, in that moment where we got away, we both came clean and told each other everything." He smiled. "We decided to give 'us' a chance. It almost made everything seem worth it, in the end."

Castle and Beckett looked over at each other, suspicion now starting to creep in for each of them.

Beckett was the first to speak. "Did you know that Chris and Jessica were working together to try to keep you and Angela apart?" She studied the confused look on Sean's face, wondering if it was sincere or not.

"What do you mean?" Sean asked.

Castle filled in the blanks for him. "They set the rest of you up. There was no murder-mystery game. Chris and Jessica rented the house and made it all up. It was part of some elaborate scheme to break the two of you up and keep the pieces for themselves."

"I knew…" Angela admitted.

Beckett's brow furrowed at the response. "You knew?"

"How did you know?" Castle asked.

Angela swallowed hard before continuing. "I overheard Jess and Chris arguing about their plan not working."

"When did this happen, Angela?" Beckett asked.

"Maybe an hour or two before we found her body." Angela looked at the table, visibly shaken by her own comment.

Beckett changed her tone of voice to attempt to comfort Angela, hoping to get more details from her. "I know it's difficult to relive this, but I need you to tell me everything that you remember about their argument."

Angela looked back up at Beckett and took a deep breath before she continued. "I didn't hear or see much, really. The door to her room was closed. All I really heard was that Jess was ready to give up on the plan and Chris was trying to convince her to keep going with it. He seemed pretty angry with her, though…" Her voice trailed off.

"What made Jessica so willing to give up, especially so soon into the weekend?" Castle asked.

Angela replied. "She had gone to see Sean while we were all unpacking. She tried to seduce him and I guess he shot her down."

"So you had an argument with Jessica just hours before you all found her dead?" Castle asked Sean.

"It wasn't like that." Sean started to reply, his voiced raised at the accusation. He toned it down as he continued. "She came on to me, she had the wrong idea about how I felt about her, and I just told her that I wasn't interested in her like that."

"How'd she take that news?" Beckett asked, suspiciously.

Sean shook his head. "She was upset, obviously. But she just left." He looked back up at the detective before continuing. "Alive."

"So you think Chris killed Jess because she was ready to come clean about their plan?" Angela asked.

"We're weighing out all of the possible options." Castle replied. Beckett grinned at his statement. Maybe I've rubbed off on him a little bit too, she thought to herself.

Beckett turned her attention back to Angela. "The one thing we're still unclear on is why Chris would murder Nicole."

Angela looked down at the desk as Castle added. "Maybe you can fill us in, let us know what the situation was like between them…"

"Well, they really didn't like each other much." Angela offered, a dry tone to her voice.

"Especially after Nicole got in Chris' way with Angie the other night." Sean continued.

Beckett's brow furrowed at the comment. "What do you mean?" She asked.

"Chris was a good guy, but he had a bit of a temper. And an ego." Sean started. "He had gone to Angie's room the first night that we were at the house. I guess he was hitting on her, as usual. When she turned him down, which is typically how it went with them, he got pretty mad. Nicole had been on her way to see Angie and walked in on him. He had Angie pinned against the wall, his hands holding her wrists so she couldn't fight him off." He shuddered at the thought, clenching his jaw before continuing. "Nicole pulled him away from Angie and he stormed out, yelling at Nicole on his way."

"Lucky for you Nicole walked in when she did." Beckett stated. "You can always count on your best friend to be there at just the right time, can't you?"

"If you say so, detective." Angela replied, dryly.

Castle looked at the young woman, puzzled. "You don't agree?" He asked.

Angela looked down at the table again. "Let's just say she hadn't been much of a best friend lately."

"You two were on the outs?" Beckett responded. "Why was that?"

"It's my fault, really." Sean continued. "About a month ago, we were all at some party and I guess Nicole and Angie had gotten into an argument. Nikki wanted to get back at her so she came to me and told me that Angie left with some other guy."

"She lied to you?" Castle asked.

Sean nodded in agreement. "I was pretty upset about it. And I'd be drinking. A lot." He paused, having trouble getting the next part of his story out.

"What happened?" Beckett prodded him.

"We were just talking, me and Nikki. I was hurt and drunk and so was she. One thing led to another…" Sean trailed off.

"So your best friend slept with the guy you'd been after for years?" Castle exclaimed, unable to hide his amusement by this twist in the storyline.

Angela and Beckett both glared at him.

"It took a while, but Angie finally forgave me for what happened." Sean continued. "She said she didn't blame me for it and that she was willing to just work past it."

"But you couldn't forgive Nicole, could you?" Beckett asked.

Angela shook her head. "Forgiving is the easy part, detective." She replied. "It's forgetting that's hard." She paused, noticing how those words seemed to resonate with the cop sitting across the table from her. "It's hard to get past it when someone you trust so much lets you down like that."

Beckett looked away, not wanting to reveal her sympathy. The young woman in front of her was still a suspect, she reminded herself.

"No matter how hurt Angie was by what Nikki did to her, though, I'm sure they would have worked things out eventually." Sean added. "I figured that if I told Angie how I felt about her and we could move forward, she'd have an easier time putting that whole thing behind her." He paused, swallowing hard at the thought that now crossed his mind. "You should have seen how broken up she looked when she saw Nikki's body lying on the ground outside."

"You were the one who found her like that?" Castle asked.

Angela nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I heard this loud sound of shattering glass and ran out of my room. I saw the window at the end of the hallway had been broken and I looked out and saw her."

Beckett winced at the thought. She knew what it felt like to see a loved one in that state, and she wouldn't wish it on anyone.

"I got out to the hallway just after Angie did. I tried to console her, but she's always been a lot stronger than any of us and she just turned away from the window and tried not to think about it." Sean continued.

"And that's when you saw Chris coming up behind you two?" Castle asked.

"Yeah," Sean replied. "It was a shock to both of us to see him there. We thought he was dead."

Beckett's brow furrowed. "Did he say anything to you?"

Sean thought about it for a minute. "I can't really remember. Everything happened so fast after that, it was hard to take it all in."

"He came at us, his shirt still soaked in the fake blood." Angela added. "We were both terrified."

"So Sean hit him over the head with a candlestick and the two of you ran?" Castle asked, remembering the last interrogation.

"Yeah, I just did what I had to do to protect us." Sean replied. "We ran outside and tried to get away, not knowing how long Chris would be out for."

Beckett raised an eyebrow as she rehashed his original statement. "But Chris caught up to you out at the gate. You each struggled with him at certain points, you ended up being knocked unconscious, and when you came to, Angela had handcuffed Chris, who was out cold, to the gate and the two of you got away and ran down the road?"

Sean nodded in agreement. "Pretty much." He paused, a slow smile creeping up on his face. "Except we didn't run down the road right away." He started.

Both Beckett and Castle looked at him, confusion showing through both of their expressions. "What?" They asked in unison, Beckett quickly looking over at Castle to squash the jinx that she knew he was about to utter.

Sean's smile grew as he recalled the minutes after they escaped. "It's a little personal..." He started. "Let's just say we had a moment."

Beckett raised an eyebrow. "A moment?" She asked, sarcastically.

"We'd just survived this terrible massacre, detective." Angela responded. "It was horrifying and yet exhilarating at the same time. Escaping death, fighting for our lives, being so close to losing each other. We both knew we couldn't waste any more time because we never know how much time we've got."

Castle nodded in agreement. "I get it, I do. Almost had a moment like that myself once." He started, causing Beckett to turn her attention over to him as he continued. "Except someone was too cranky about almost being blown up. And oddly self-conscious about being naked at the time too…" He trailed off, grinning at the memory.

Beckett glared at him. "Castle…" The warning tone in her voice wiped the grin off of his face pretty quickly.

"So how did Thomas fit into all of this?" Beckett asked.

Sean thought about that question before he replied. "I honestly don't know. Everybody liked Tom, especially Chris. They were pretty close." He paused. "I felt really bad for Tom when he was the one who had to check and see if Chris was dead when we found him stabbed in his room, just like Angie had to do with Jess. Both of them were really brave to go and do that. I know I couldn't have…" He trailed off.

"Maybe Tom caught on to what Chris was up to." Angela responded. "I mean, Chris had used Tom's trick knife and stage blood to fake his own death. Maybe Tom figured it out and realized that Chris had killed Jessica."

"Maybe he tried to stop him…" Castle added.

Angela nodded in agreement. "Chris was a lot stronger than Tom was, though most people were. Tom wasn't much of a tough guy. It wouldn't have been hard to get that noose around his neck, especially with nobody else around to hear them struggle."

"I shouldn't have left him alone…" Sean trailed off. "But the girls were taking too long outside and I got worried."

Beckett's brow furrowed at his comment. "I thought you said before that you knew Angie could take care of both of them?"

Sean looked back at the detective. "I did. But if anything happened to her, I wouldn't have been able to forgive myself."

"So you left Thomas alone in the house with a killer?" Castle summed it up.

Sean nodded solemnly. "We had already packed up the girls' stuff, and mine, all that was left were Tom's bags." He replied, pausing at the thought that crossed his mind. "It's just so weird that I saw him packing that noose, along with all of his other prank stuff. And the next time I saw him…" His voice trailed off, the colour fading from his face.

"Trust me, detective, we both grasp the gravity of what we lived through." Angela started, a sad look on her face. "And we have to live with pretty some horrific memories of what happened in that house." She paused, noticing the look of understanding on Beckett's face before continuing. "Both Sean and I are more than willing to do anything and everything to help you close this case, but we also just want to get on with our lives and move on. I hope you can understand that."

Beckett nodded. "I can." She stood up from her chair and extended her hand towards Angela. "Thank you for your help, Ms. Porter."

Castle and Beckett sat in silence in the break-room. It had been a long day and the interrogations had run late into the evening. As usual, the precinct was fairly empty, most of the other cops having headed home for the day.

Ryan and Esposito joined their partners.

"Sean and Angela were escorted home safely." Ryan confirmed.

"And the lab results came back for our murder weapons." Esposito added. "No prints on the letter opener at all, and no prints on the rope, aside from the vic's, of course. The only prints they found were Angela's on the rock that killed Chris."

Beckett grimaced at the lack of positive news. "Well, we already knew her prints would be on the rock. I was hoping we'd get a hit on the other two, though." Kate drew in a deep breath and exhaled before continuing. "Alright, let's call it a night and start fresh in the morning."

Esposito and Ryan gathered their coats and looked over at Castle and Beckett, who were still sitting at the table, both seemingly too tired to even get up to leave.

"We carpooled in this morning. Can we give you guys a ride home?" Esposito asked them.

Before Beckett could respond, Castle spoke up. "Actually, it's supposed to be a nice night out tonight. I think I'd rather walk." He grinned at the boys. "But thank you for the offer."

Ryan looked at him, questioningly. "With all the crazies out there, you want to walk home alone at this time of night?"

Castle laughed. "You're right. Maybe I should enlist the help of one of New York's finest to escort me…" He turned and grinned at Beckett. "You're not afraid of the crazies, are you, detective?"

Kate grinned. "Not at all, Castle. In fact, I work with one of them every day." She replied, sarcastically. "I'll make sure you get home safely." It was then that she noticed the suspicious glares of her partners and felt the need to come up with a better cover for herself. "Plus, it'll give us a chance to dissect the case a little better, maybe figure out what we're missing, come up with a starting point for the morning."

Ryan and Esposito shared a knowing look between them, grinning at Beckett's attempt to throw them off. They were trained detectives, and it certainly didn't take one to see what was going on here. At the same time, they knew better than to cross that line right now. They had seen Castle go through hell in the spring when Beckett was with Demming, and they had also seen Beckett take on her own share of heartbreak when Castle left her for the summer. Both wanted nothing more than for these two to work things out, so they knew well enough to stay back and not interfere.

"Have fun with that. We'll see you two in the morning." Esposito said, grinning as he and Ryan made their way to the parking garage.

Beckett left the break-room and collected her belongings from her desk, Castle following closely behind her. She put on her coat and scarf, readying herself for the cool fall night that awaited them.

Castle caught himself staring at her and smiled sheepishly when she looked back at him, slightly unnerved. "Shall we?" He asked her, trying to distract her from his embarrassment.

Beckett smiled. "I'm ready if you are." She replied.

They walked to the elevator and pushed the button. When the doors parted and Beckett started to step forward, Castle instinctively placed his hand on her lower back, resting it only for a moment before he caught himself and quickly removed it.

Kate felt a smile start across her face when she felt his hand brush against her. She did her best to fight back the blush of her cheeks as well, knowing she could not let Castle see how easily he could affect her like that.

Castle thought he caught a glimpse of a smile on Beckett's face and couldn't help but grin at the thought.

They both turned around when they got into the elevator, facing the still-open doors. There was not much space between them, but there certainly was plenty of tension there.

A thought popped into Castle's head and he looked over at Beckett, slightly confused. "Wait, so am I walking you home, or are you walking me home?"

Beckett turned to look at him and smiled at his confused expression as the doors slowly closed on them.