Winter was never a fun time to be working in Homicide, and while some claimed the worst for murder cops was Hallowe'en, Beckett had seen and heard enough to know that the weeks leading to Valentine's day were equally hellacious. Lovers' quarrels, marital spats that could usually be resolved with a little space often ended badly thanks to freezing temperatures and sub-zero wind chills. Even with the near-midday sun shining brightly couldn't raise the mood.

To make the cold even more irritating, Castle was following her into a scene and doing nothing but bitching about the cold.

'I know the phrase is 'cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey', but I think the nose off this Castle is a close second. I'm certain this is what hell freezing over feels like.'

Because it was just the two of them, Beckett gave a little. 'Don't you mean hell Hoth no fury?'

'I knew there was a reason I fell in love with you and it's not because you come with handcuffs.'

Beckett only rolled her eyes, and adjusted her red and white tam to cover the tips of her ears. They badged the uniforms standing guard, walked through the cavernous first floor of the building to where their dead-man lay on a plastic dropsheet. Perlmutter was their ME today, looking as miserable as Castle felt; his nose was bright as Beckett's cherry-red pea-coat as he processed the body.

'Victim is Evan Tam, about thirty to thirty-five years in age, blunt force trauma with a very heavy, possibly jagged device to the skull above the left ear. Eh-choo!' He let out a ghastly sneeze that made Castle jump back when he made no move to cover. 'Damn cold is going through the dead house like the friggin' plague. Anyways, foreman said that the site was open about nine this morning, since its an inside job, har-har, they seal the building at night and when he and his boys came in to start preparing the dry-wall, they found Charlie Chan here.'

'Charlie Chan?' Castle asked incredulously as Perlmutter passed Beckett the victim's wallet.

' Jin-Yu Tam, Western name Evan, age thirty two resides four-forty-one East Twenty-Seventh Street, apartment 6F,' she read, ignoring her phone merrily singing Fought the Law at her; Castle on the other hand wasn't so able to tune it out.

'You going to answer that?'

'It's Esposito, I told him to call if they caught anything related or possibly related to one of other the choke-and-stabs.'

Castle jammed his gloved hands in his pockets, jumped up and down on the spot before following her back to the. 'So now what, fearless leader?'

'It's obvious it's a body dump, which means the evidence we need isn't going to be here, so we're going back to the station to do a standard run on Evan Tam, see if we can hit a ping there. Meanwhile, Perlmutter's going to-'

She was cut off when her phone was ringing again, this time with Ryan's Kiss My Irish Ass. 'Ugh, boys, Mom has to work too, you know. Thank you,' she said when the call went to voicemail. The ringing had no sooner stopped than Castle's phone started up with Friends in Low Places. 'You going to answer yours?'

'It's also Esposito. Man, you just don't give up do you?' he said in cheerful discontent; the friendly tone dropped instantly as he grabbed Beckett by the bicep to hold her in place. 'Oh shit. Is she okay? What about- okay, okay, yeah, no I'll tell her, we'll figure it out. We'll see you there.'

Beckett felt the same kind of panic she'd felt at her mother's crime scene when she saw the look on Castle's face. 'What is it?'

'Lanie was attacked at the boys' crime scene ten minutes ago. She took a hard fall, she's okay and so's the baby,' he added hastily when what little colour was in her cheeks drained away entirely, 'but they're taking her to Saint Vincent's just in case.' He paused. 'Dave and his partner Jayla were the responding paramedics.'

'Oh Christ.' Without a moment's debate, Beckett turned on her well-dressed heel and stalked over to where Perlmutter was supervising the loading of the body onto the stretcher. 'Doctor Perlmutter, I need a rush on this body, please.'

'Lanie will have to do it because I'm going home,' he complained, stuffing his field equipment back in his bag. 'Shoulda listened to the wife but there's nothing more that woman loves than proving me wrong.'

Castle took a moment for incredulity. 'You're married?'

'Lanie is on her way to the hospital, Sidney,' Beckett said, bringing the conversation back on track; she saw her rare use of his first name paid off when his eyes went round, then narrowed. 'She was attacked while processing a body for Ryan and Esposito, and took a hard fall.'

Perlmutter pursed his lips, giving the impression of a pensive goat. 'I'll make some calls, get everything sorted out, and for God sakes call me when you know something.'

Castle nodded, waited until the man was out of earshot, which given that they were in an echoing empty building was when he'd actually gone out to the van. 'Who knew, the lizard king has a heart.'

'Some people like that acidic personality. Others prefer goofy, charming and occasionally insightful.' She knew he was trying to keep her from worrying about Lanie so she could concentrate on the scene and finish her job there, but the woman was Beckett's best friend; of course her mind wouldn't be one hundred percent focused with this new development.

Castle saw her quieten too, and gave her hand a little squeeze. 'Esposito's a straight shooter, you know that.'

'I know. But she's so excited, finally, about the baby, to think it might get taken away...' Beckett's heart did a nasty hiccup at the thought. No, she ordered herself, put it away. 'We've got people to see and things to do before we can worry about Lanie The moment we clock out, we're stopping at Saint Vincent's.'

'So long as it's via Boomerang.'

Between their own case and the little side-show Ryan put on of interrogating Leroy Miguel, the mope who'd used Lanie as a tackling dummy while trying to flee the scene, Beckett and Castle didn't arrive at the hospital until nearly seven. They were directed to her room, and saw her propped up in bed, Meredeth beside her, the two of them giggling over something on Meredeth's DVD player.

'Knock, knock,' Beckett said from the doorway, making both women look up. Meredeth's round face brightened when she saw the Beckett-Castle combo.

'Oh, good, this means I can pee.'

She scrambled up, leaving Lanie protesting to her vapour trail she didn't have to hold it in so she wouldn't be alone, before turning her attention back to her friend. 'Hey girl.'

'Hello yourself. You okay, like for sure okay?'

'Yes. Harvey said since I fell on mostly on my ass, the baby's just fine. And look,' Lanie pointed proudly to the giraffe and the bear wearing scrubs on her bedside table, 'my favourite two-headed monster brought me toys.'

'Excuse me.'

Castle glanced over, saw Honey-Milk with an apologetic look. 'I have to do a quick pelvic exam just to make sure nothing is dilated or contracting. Standard procedure, Lanie.'

While they waited in the hallway, Beckett breathed deeply, shuddered it out. 'She's okay.'

R&R&Enjoy!