A/N: I apologize for the long delay. There shouldn't be anymore for the rest of the chapters if things go as planned. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks to all those who are reading and a special thanks to those that have reviewed. You all are awesome.

Chapter 10

Our little visit to Mrs. Regal didn't go exactly as we hoped. She had nothing to tell us, and didn't have any idea about the coins. Tim apparently didn't collect anything but parking tickets.

I was sitting beside Kate's desk, watching her search through the database for information on Jason Reynor, and I was bored out of my mind. I was trying not to stare at her because I didn't want to be annoying, but there wasn't anything else to look at.

"Creepy."

"You can be," I said and Kate looked over, her hand holding her head up. She glared at me. "Sorry. Just nothing is going on."

"You know this is how it goes sometimes. Can't be all shoot outs and arrests." She turned back to her computer screen and scrolled through the never ending list of people.

"Yes, but I'm bored," I said, and quickly realized how whiny it sounded. Probably not a good thing. Kate looked up and laid back in her chair, her eyes darting around my face.

"You're bored?" I did not like the smile that had curved her lips. "I'm sure I could find something for you to do."

"No, I was just kidding I'm not bored. You find anything yet?" I said quickly, backpedaling the best I could. I didn't want to know what she had in mind for me to do… probably scrubbing toilets with my tongue.

"Does it look like I found anything?" She asked and I shrugged, running though everything we knew at the moment, hoping to come up with something. I was coming up short on any real theories and so decided to have a little fun.

"Oh, I know who our killer is!" I said, smirking, thinking she'd get a kick out of my idea.

"It's not an Ent, and no," she said, "the tree did not shoot our victims."

"Oh come on, how did you know I was going to say that?"

"Because I know you, Castle, and it was the funniest, oddest thing I could come up with which I figured would be what you got."

"Creepy," I said looking away from her. It wasn't really, it'd actually been happening a lot lately. She seemed to almost be reading my mind in someways, or maybe I'm just that predictable, but I never would have called myself that before. I must hang around her too much.

"You know, maybe we should run down this Steve Kerr guy." I said, picking up one of the folders from her desk, which she snatched out of my hand.

"Why's that?"

"He blacked out the slip, seemed to know at least one of our vics. Would make sense wouldn't it?"

"Yup," she said, not looking over again. "Which is why I sent Ryan and Esposito out to track him down about half an hour ago."

"Wow, one step ahead of me again."

"I have done this before, you know? And besides, you're slowing down in your old age."

"O—ow. That was harsh." I said, wincing. She laughed and reached out, ran a finger along my jawline. I tried my best to keep my heart from using my ribs a xylophone.

"Age catches up with us all."

"You are so mean."

"It's out of love, really." She said, her lips drawn into a thin line and smiling at me, her eyes squinted.

"Love?" We both jumped and looked over to the front of Kate's desk where Ryan was standing, his brows pushed so far up that his hair shifted back. "Did I just hear you say love? To Castle?"

"I—that is—no, I don't know what you're talking about, Ryan. Did you find Kerr?" It was actually pretty cute. Kate was almost never flustered, at least not around me so this was another side I got to see, and I kind of enjoyed the times she had been the past couple of days.

"Yeah, he's in interrogation room one." Ryan turned and pointed at the door.

"Thanks."

"Seriously, I heard you say love." Ryan said as Kate and I both stood up and I said a small prayer, hoping he'd not keep asking and just forget about it.

"Then you need to get your hearing checked." She moved around her desk and passed Ryan without a glance. I went to follow her but Ryan reached out a hand and stopped me, hitting me square in the chest. He watched her go for a moment before turning to me.

"I heard her say love. What's going on, Castle?" I looked down at his hand and then to him and finally at Kate walking away. "Spill."

"Nothing to spill, she said glove. She was complaining about me not always wearing gloves at a crime scene."

"Really?" Ryan said dropping his hand, his face still a picture of confusion. He cocked his jaw to the side, watching Kate. She was stopped outside the door, her hand on her hip and staring us both down from across the bullpen. The look made me move away from Ryan and toward her. I heard Ryan mumble something but I couldn't make it out.

Kate followed me with her eyes all the way through the bullpen. She was holding a folder to her chest and had an expectant look on her face.

"So?"

I gave her a bemused look in return. "So?"

She sighed, closed her eyes for a moment and canted her head. "What were you and Ryan talking about?"

"Oh," I said looking behind me to see Ryan and Esposito sitting at their desks talking. I had a feeling Ryan was telling Esposito what he thought he heard. "He wanted to know if you really did say love."

"And you told him…?"

"That you said glove, that you were complaining about me not always wearing them at a crime scene."

"Oh," her fingers tapped along her folder for a moment. "About that, I'd love it if you'd remember to wear gloves. Otherwise I'll have to take away your crime scene privileges." She looked at me with hooded eyes and her lips pursed. She said it loud enough that Ryan could hear and I turn to see him watching us carefully.

"Then I'll do my best to remember. Promise."

She nodded and opened the door. Her face changed the moment she crossed the threshold; gone was Kate and in walked Detective Beckett. This was her place, her playground. She was the queen here and the guy sitting at the table had no idea what he was about to go through. It made me slightly giddy.

"Mr. Kerr, do you know why you're here?" She asked, dropping the folder down on the desk. She didn't sit, instead she walked around the table, waiting for an answer. Kerr's eyes followed her as much as they could. They were wide and worried.

He was a scrawny guy with wide brimmed glasses and slicked back hair. Almost a stereotypical nerd, and yet there was something off about him. Something about the way he was sitting, the way he spoke, that didn't sit right with me. He was wearing a cheap leather jacket and kept his arms folded in front of him, his thumbs out against his arms.

"Uh, no, the detective just said they had some questions for me and asked if I could come down here. I said sure and so here I am. What's this about?"

"Do you know a Tim Regal?"

He paused to think, his eyes looking up to the ceiling. "No, sorry, don't believe so. What's this about?"

"What about a Jason Reyner?" I asked from where I was sitting. Kerr kept his gaze to the table as Kate circled around him once more. I saw recognition flash in his eyes for a split second. He knew Jason.

"No, sorry. Can you two tell me what this is about?" He said, his voice squeaking slightly. I looked up to Kate and she paused behind Kerr.

"Are you sure you don't know Jason? One of your employees knew him pretty well, and she told us you two would talk a lot." Kate said.

"No, I do not."

"Where were you Friday?"

"At work. Fridays are our busiest night of the week." He said, anger starting to show. "Maybe if you told me what the hell this was about I could save us all a lot of time."

"You ever see this guy?" Kate asked, walking to the folder and pulling out a picture of Regal, slamming it in front of him.

"No, never," he said, looking at the picture for a moment before looking to Kate.

"Okay, how about this one," she pulled the picture out with the same flourish. Again I saw a flash recognition cross his face, but it was gone in an instant.

"You do. Tell us, Mr. Kerr."

"All right, all right, fine I knew him."

"How did you know him?" I asked and he turned to look at me.

"He came by the theater a lot, I caught him using a stolen credit card and he…" Kerr swallowed hard and bent his head down towards the table, a stray, greasy strand of hair falling to his cheek.

Kate pulled out the chair beside me and sat down, folding her hands in front of her and leaning forward. "He what?"

Kerr wiped a hand through his slick hair, replacing the strand. "He said if I didn't report him we could make a lot of money together. So… I didn't. He'd stop by with a few credit cards and I'd run them through, small amounts at first just to see if the person noticed. Then higher until the card was canceled. We'd get cash from most of them. Then he started bringing in other stolen items and he'd hock them out in the front of the theatre during the day."

"So, why did you kill him then, since you were making so much money?"

"I—I didn't kill him. I didn't even know he was dead until I saw it on the news."

"Still say you don't know Tim?" I asked and he turned to me, his lips going thin.

"I don't, not really. He was just a name on a credit card."

"You know, this is what I think happened." Kate began, her expression was hard, her eyes narrowed. She reached out and tapped the table a few inches away from Kerr who recoiled slightly. "I think Tim found out his credit card number was stolen and so he went to where it was last charged to do some of his own detective work. He found out you and Jason were the ones that stole it and threaten to go to the police. How am I doing so far?"

"Pretty far off considering I never met the guy." He said, squeezing his arms around him a bit tighter. "Now, if you want me to say anything more then you're going to have to talk to my lawyer."

I could see Kate's expression change from anger to annoyance as she stood up. She stole a glance my way, bringing her top lip in to run across her teeth. "Fine. It'll be a bit before we get one in here."

She tapped me on the shoulder and I followed her out, leaving behind Kerr who dropped his head to his hands and his leg began shaking so much that I could hear it tapping against the tile floor. I closed the door behind me. Kate was waiting for me outside, leaning against the wall until the door snapped shut. She didn't say a word but I could tell she wasn't happy.

"You think he really did it?" I asked, moving beside her as we walked back to her desk. She had the folders clutched to her chest again and her eyes seemed distant. "Kate?"

"Hm?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she said slowly, bringing her eyes up to meet mine. She sighed. "There is just something missing here."

"Like why there were fake coins in their pockets?"

"Exactly," she said pointing at me as she sat down at her desk. "And if Kerr didn't do it, why kill Regal?"

"Case of mistaken identity?"

"Mm, maybe," she tapped her lip in thought, closing her eyes for a moment. "I'm going to keep him in holding for a bit though. We at least have him on credit card fraud."

I sat back in my chair, watching her as she looked down at the folders on top of her desk. It never seemed to end. Every time she closed a case another one popped up, and another and another. And even those that she couldn't solve, well, they were technically still in her caseload.

I was starting to get a real sense that she didn't have much outside of her work. Sure, she might have a few friends here and there, maybe dating a few guys (I had no doubt she was approached a lot), but never really had a full life outside of this job. How could she though? She was one of those people that buried themselves in work. I found myself wondering if she had always been like this or if it was her mother's death that caused her to become the workaholic that she showed everyone.

I was her fun. That was why she enjoyed me being around so much, maybe not at first but she slowly came to enjoy me being around, wanting me to be around. She didn't get to have fun like other people, and I don't think she really knew how to anymore. Maybe after everything that happened to her 'fun' seemed foreign and a waste of time.

"Hey," I said, reaching out and tapped her arm. She looked over, keeping her body straight. "You busy tonight?"

"No…" She said, her suspicious tone and look made me smile. "No plans at least, why?"

I folded my hands in front of me and turned my chair on an angle so that I was almost straight in front of her. "Well, I was thinking maybe we could go out tonight."

"Kind of short notice," she said, looking at me from the corners of her eyes, her hand was holding a pen that was starting to tap on the stack of folders. "What do you have in mind?"

"Laser tag." I said, and grinned. She looked at me like I was crazy and I couldn't help but chuckle at the expression.

"What?"

"Laser. Tag." I repeated, emphasizing each word. "Come on, you've always wanted to shoot me, here's your chance."

"Are you ever going to grow up?"

"It'll be fun. You can even count it as my debt paid so you don't have to worry about that."

She smirked. "Oh, no, laser tag won't mean your debt is paid, you owe me a real date still. But sure, if I can get off tonight."

"Care if we invite them?" I asked, thrusting a thumb in the direction of the detectives who were still at their desks talking like two teenage girls. Kate looked over as well, her body tense for a moment before she relaxed and turned back to me.

"You and I versus them?"

"Duh."

"Great, so we're gonna lose." She said, and I feigned hurt.

"You've seen me shoot, do you have so little faith in me?"

"So very little…"

As always a Titanic sized thanks to ChrisS for beta reading!