Close Encounters 6

Castle hustled them into the office that housed his makeshift work station, and the moment he had the door shut, she turned into him and grabbed him in a tight embrace.

"Shit, I'm shaking," she laughed into his neck.

He palmed the back of her head and kissed her fiercely, pushing into her mouth, needing her. He backed her up until she hit the desk and she gasped, a laugh bubbling out, and then his thigh was wedged between her legs and she was moaning a little as she rocked against him.

"You still shaking?"

"For an entirely different reason," she gasped, laughing again and clutching him harder. The feel of her against him, the tight grip of her arms and the squeeze of her thighs made him want things, ache for things, and he'd take her right here if he wasn't one hundred percent certain his father was monitoring the cameras.

"We're streaming live," he murmured against her throat. "Just so you know."

"Let him watch," she groaned, but he felt the shiver that tore down her spine, the catch to her breath that meant she wasn't so thrilled with that. Or she was, but it was hitting her just how much his father had already seen of her.

It was hitting him too. The kitchen floor, her bloodied hands and legs, no clothes straight out of the bath, and the terrible, dark grief pouring out of her. He wrapped himself tighter around her to dispel the thought, but she seemed to sense it anyway.

"What is it with your father catching me naked?" she muttered. "Perv."

He choked on a laugh and lifted his head to look at her; she wasn't smiling but she was close.

"I'm sor-"

"Seriously, you apologize one more time and I'm going to cut out your tongue. What happened, happened, Castle. We can't change it. I don't think I want to change it. Now we know."

He nodded against her cheek and brought her closer, felt her teeth at his earlobe.

"Let go of me, baby. I need to call the boys and then Carrie as well. See what's going on."

But he didn't want to let go, he didn't ever want to let go. He was done with letting go.

He was going to find the command subroutines for the cameras in this office and turn them off. And then he'd take her against the door until the memory of his death faded and lost its hold on her.

"I love you, Kate."

When Castle was deep in his research and catching up on email for other projects, Beckett slipped out of his office and into the hallway with the excuse that she needed to call Ryan. With the new phone in hand but not dialing, she paced away from his door and didn't have long to wait.

Black found her at the end of the hall; even though she was on the lookout for him, he still came up on her unexpectedly.

"Detective Beckett."

She gritted her teeth and thought of her father. Jim Beckett had opened his home to Castle, had smiled and teased and shared meals with them; her father had kissed her forehead and reassured her that Castle would heal of the knife wound and their relationship would as well.

Her father was a good man, and he and her mother had instilled in her the sense of justice and the law, right and wrong, her father taking up where Johanna Beckett had left off when she'd died.

There were elements of those principles in Castle too. She'd seen his tenderness and compassion, experienced it firsthand as well as seen it poured out on others. He fought to make meaning of the world and to have purpose in his life; he wanted home and family and her.

She would do whatever it took to protect that man. The super spy didn't need her, but Rick did.

"Agent Black," she said finally, nodding coolly.

"I can't say I'm happy to see you here," he said. "Why exactly are you roaming my halls?"

She ignored the dig. "You're not going to like it, but things are going to have to change for him."

"Because you say so?" Black said, lifting one thick eyebrow as if he found her words entirely without merit.

"He's a man, not a machine," she insisted. "I know that's what you'd hoped to build in him - to be a pet robot, to be another unthinking foot soldier in your army. But he and I are building something else, together. We're building a life. And I won't let you take that from him."

"You know nothing."

"I know there's more to the story of a little boy abandoned by his mother. I've talked to Martha, so has Castle. I don't believe for a second she gave him up - not after knowing you. What'd you do to her? What'd you say?"

The flash of barely suppressed fury that came over Black's face actually shook her. He was a man on the edge, and she hadn't realized just how much she personally affected him. How much he hated her.

He hated her.

"Never mind," she said quickly. "It's not important. What is important is that you know you don't hold him anymore. He's not your pet, not your machine to wind up and set loose. And I won't let you keep doing that to him."

"You have no idea," Black said slowly. "You have no idea what you've done to him."

"It's only what he's done to me," Beckett answered, shaking her head. "I wouldn't expect you to understand."

"He's my son," Black countered, looking for all the world like the words signified next to nothing, were merely a statement pulled out to trump her and not meaningful whatsoever.

"He's my partner," she said back. "But more than that? He's Castle. He's a man - he's his own man. And I don't even know if you care - but he's warm and generous and compassionate and funny - he's hilarious actually, and he makes the worst situations better. He's worth fighting for. Even if that means I'm fighting you. Every step of the way. I will fight you."

Black regarded her like an insect, nothing more, nothing less. "I won't have you ruin everything I've accomplished in him."

"And I won't let you keep crushing his soul. You don't get to have him anymore. You're on warning," she growled back.

It took a supreme effort of will to turn her back on Agent Black and walk away without faltering.

She expected, at any moment, for each step to be her last.

While Kate called her father and the boys, Castle filled out paperwork to register their Italian wedding with the state of New York.

He felt a reckless pride crashing around in his chest and he couldn't wait to show her the forms; he'd file them himself as soon as he could sneak them both out of here. His father would have their every movement scrutinized, but he didn't even care. He wanted her to know how important this was, how much he wanted a new life with her.

He figured they'd have to meet the boys somewhere in the city to exchange the latest information, especially since Ryan had figured it out. He ought to be man enough to look them in the eye and take whatever they dished out about what he'd done.

And then she'd mentioned her father a few times, and he honestly wanted Jim to know he was fine. He wanted to show up and shake the man's hand because he deserved more respect than Castle's sudden 'demise' had shown any of the Beckett family.

Including the boys at the 12th.

He spread his palms over the paperwork and flattened it, his heart pounding. Even though that confrontation with his father had been vicious - coldly, which was the only way Black ever was vicious - he felt like so much had been lifted from his shoulders. A dark cloud had been burned off with the heat of Beckett's strength at his side.

He grinned and heard the door click open, turned to share it with her.

"Hey, look what I did," he said, bouncing to his feet with the papers.

She gave him a faint smile, her hand reaching out to stroke down his forearm. "What'd you do?" she murmured.

"You okay?"

"Fine. Yeah. Talked to my Dad."

"We should stop by," he said quietly, seeing what this was about. Her father had - yeah. It was important to let him know, to explain himself. Her father had probably been upset, naturally, about what Castle had done to her. After everything.

"Stop by?" she said. "Castle. You're dead. You-"

"I don't see how it matters. So what if Bracken knows I'm alive? Let him come. I don't care. I've got his number."

Kate pressed her lips together and shook her head at him, wrapped both arms around his waist and leaned in. She put that tense line of her mouth to his neck and sighed out a kiss.

"Kate?"

"What did you do?" she said again.

He grinned and shifted out of her arms to show her the paperwork he'd filled out. "Just needs your signature, Mrs. - well, Rodgers. But I don't expect you to change your name when it's not really my name either."

She let out a laughing breath and took the papers from him, reading them over. He stroked his hand up and down her arm as she studied them, his pride welling up more and more. His joy. He wanted this. They needed this.

"Where do I sign?" she said finally.

"You think this is such a good idea?" she asked him again.

"What?" Castle turned back to her as he snagged the keys from the ring in the underground lot. "Filing? I think it's-"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Not that. We're doing that. I mean leaving. Your father-"

"I'm not concerned about that."

"But isn't the plan that you're dead?"

He shrugged, even though he felt the tendrils of doubt snaking around him. But no. No, she'd been right. "I don't see how it does either of us any good. I'm not going to parade downtown or anything, but if Bracken finds out, then so what? You and I will stay off the radar here until-"

"You're not killing him."

Castle clutched his fingers around the keys and glanced at her. "Until we have a plan, then."

She studied him for a moment longer and then she reached out and took the keys from him. "I'm tired of you always driving. My turn."

She sauntered off.

And he followed. He always would.

She handled the Range Rover like an expert, although he assumed she'd had both Academy training and field ops training which required driving courses. She was alert and deft with it, which was hard to do in a big four-wheel drive utility vehicle, and he liked the flex of her fingers over the steering wheel as she navigated city traffic.

Hot. She was so hot.

"Stop staring, Castle."

"Can't help it."

"You better. Or I'm pulling into a parking garage and having my way with you."

"Then I am definitely not stopping."

She glanced over at him with a look that made his whole body ignite and he seriously wanted her to pull over. First moment to themselves in six hours and the late afternoon light made her golden and tasty, like ripe fruit.

"Rick," she breathed, her eyes darting back to traffic.

"We're in the Bronx," he got out. "But there's a garage-"

"I know it. Parking Can Be Fun," she supplied, and she cut her head to look, then turned quickly towards the garage they both - apparently - knew about.

She looked impatient and glorious and hot for him, and he had to look away.

They parked. And it was fun.

"That was so unprofessional," Kate groaned, pressing her hand to her forehead as they got out of the car. A diner in the Bronx quite close to their parking spot had been the rendezvous for their meeting with Esposito and Ryan, and she knew she looked as disheveled and sexed as she felt.

Espo was going to be so disgusted.

"Unprofessional but necessary," Castle said at her side. She grunted and elbowed him away as his breath landed hotly on her neck.

"Necessary my ass."

He squeezed her ass and she smacked his arm for it, but his hands on her felt good, like every touch of skin against skin somehow knit her back together again. She hated that, she loved it, and she wasn't sure yet what to do with it - how much she needed him.

She felt stronger for it, for having him, commanding and in control again. Bracken was once again put into his place - a twisted and corrupt man who had schemed and murdered his way to a position of power. And she was going to do something about it; she was going to bring him to justice.

And Castle was going to help. Together. Partners.

"Uh-oh," he muttered.

She turned her head to follow his line of sight and caught the faces of her team as they waited just outside the diner.

"Uh-oh is right," she sighed. Esposito was livid and it didn't look like Ryan planned on holding him back.

They approached her boys and Esposito stepped up, all male posturing and swagger; Beckett put her hand out to his chest to calm him down but instead, he dodged her and stood toe to toe with Castle.

"You disgust me."

"Esposito," she said harshly. But Castle didn't say anything. He only stood silent.

"One too many times, man," Esposito said then, and it was like both men knew exactly what happened next but Beckett had no idea. She didn't see it coming at all.

Esposito fisted his hand and let loose with a brutal right hook.

And Castle took it.

They huddled around the formica table top as one, Castle pressing the bag of ice to his cheek and waving off Kate's probing fingers. He had a plateful of eggs and toast and even bacon - he was letting himself have bacon; he'd just gotten socked in the face - and she was picking at fruit and waffles. When she wasn't picking at him.

He glanced across the seat and caught Esposito's exaggerated shrug, the detective's glance falling on Beckett before coming back to Castle. He nodded and stopped pushing Kate off, let her look at the puffy skin and the mottled bruising.

"You need some tylenol," she murmured, and her fingers stroked down his cheek to land on his forearm. "We'll pick some up on the way back."

"To your father's," he murmured.

"Right." She shook her head at him again and he went back to his breakfast for dinner with her hovering around him like she was bordering on pissed but resigned to it.

He pushed a bite of waffles in his mouth and met Esposito's eyes again, gave the man a subtle head nod. He could tell he was already cool with Ryan once more, and the punch in the face had restored things with Esposito. Now to get Beckett to stop fretting over him.

"Javier," she started.

Castle put his hand under the table and caught her knee, squeezed. She gave him a sideways look and opened her mouth again.

"You can't just punch-"

He squeezed harder and she shot him a glare.

"We're good," Castle said quietly. "I deserved it. It had to happen."

Her mouth dropped open and the beautiful and deadly spark lit up her eyes. She didn't seem to be happy with the way they'd preserved the rightness of things, and she turned once more to Esposito.

"Don't you ever punch him again, Javier. You understand me?"

The steel in her voice was unmistakable, and he let his eyes fall to Ryan's, the two of them suffering through in silence.

"I'll punch him when he deserves it," Espo said finally. "He stops deserving it then we ain't got a problem."

"I'll handle him; you handle yourself," she bit back. "I don't need either of you protecting me. That's how this got started in the first place - acting like I can't take the truth, like I can't stand up for myself. So back off."

Castle shot a quick glance to Espo and the man leveled him with a look. She was undoing everything he'd accomplished by taking that hit.

Castle stroked his fingers lightly up her thigh until she turned to him.

"My face hurts. Stop yelling," he muttered and then he leaned in and met her mouth for a quick, artless kiss.

Then tension dissolved out of her in a moment, and when he pulled back, he had to suffer through another round of her poking at his face with that tight and frustrated concern in her eyes.

But Ryan gave him a nod and he was back in.

The boys from the 12th were her family; he wasn't about to screw that up.

Ryan handed her the confetti remnants of Smith's file and Beckett sighed as she peered inside the envelope. Yeah, about what she'd thought.

"What'd Mick get for us?" she asked, lifting her head.

Esposito pushed over the file folder, tapped it once. "All in there. We've got copies, Ryan and I, and we're working on it off the books."

"Don't let Gates catch you," she said quickly.

"We've found what we think are bank accounts - offshore. We'll know more tomorrow."

"Keep on this," Kate answered them, her throat tight with it. "I don't know that it will actually help us at all, but if we can bring him down with anything at all-"

"Like Al Capone being put away on tax evasion," Ryan inserted helpfully.

She rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm looking for something more than tax evasion, but. . .I'll take it."

She felt Castle so still and quiet at her side and glanced over at him. She wouldn't tell the boys his plan, but she felt she owed them something.

"The CIA has a plan in the place," she said finally. "Something they're working on. So we're not doing this alone. But I want to do it through the NYPD, guys. I don't want to have to rely on their. . .methods."

Esposito's eyes darted to Castle's and away, and Beckett had the uncomfortable feeling that the man knew exactly what methods she was talking about.

Well, so much the better.

"Yeah," Espo said slowly. "We got you. We'll stay on top of this. What are you going to be doing?"

She sighed and glanced to Castle. "Working on a new strategy."

Ryan cleared his throat and the silence that fell over their table made her anxious to get going. Castle was supposed to be dead, and even if he didn't care about it, she did. She didn't want Bracken going after him again.

Kate pressed her fingers to the discolored skin beneath his eye, wondering how in the world she was supposed to explain this when they got back to his father.

Shit.

Oh yeah, right, she was good for him. Good for getting him punched in the face. Four hours they'd been out of Black's sight and already Castle was black and blue.

He tangled his fingers in hers and drew her away from his poor broken face. His nose looked swollen too and she wouldn't doubt that Esposito had nailed him with that haymaker of a punch. He'd put some serious torsion into it.

"Tylenol," she said firmly.

"I'll be fine, Beckett."

She gave up messing with him, even though her heart still fluttered too hard to see him damaged. Blackened bones and that wedding band in a plastic evidence bag were never far from her mind.

She tried to go back to her fruit, but it was soured and seemed to make her stomach churn. She avoided the orange slices just to keep away from the acid, and tried picking out the pears and strawberries.

Her appetite was just gone, but now she could feel him studying her in return, and she tried to reclaim that feeling she'd had driving out here, of being strong and capable and on an even keel once more.

She wasn't. Not exactly. She was still in that breathless free fall of having him back - where she knew that the ground was rapidly approaching and she still didn't have a plan.

She had no plan. She needed a plan. A way to save them both.

"You done?" he asked softly.

She nodded and he grabbed her empty coffee mug, took his as well, and left the table to hunt down their waitress.

She let out a breath and glanced to the boys. "He's going to. . ."

Espo nodded tersely. "I could see that."

Ryan hunched into the booth. "See what? What's going on?"

"I won't let him do it," she said fiercely. "That's not how this gets done. You guys - I really need your help on this."

"You have it, Beckett."

Ryan was nodding as well, even though he still looked a little lost.

"Thanks."

"Castle says the word though," Esposito drawled out. "And I'm there. I want this guy gone."

Ryan's mouth dropped open and he shot her a fast look. "Gone. As in gone-gone. No."

Beckett's chest eased slightly. At least Ryan wasn't stupid.

"Espo. We do this right."

He looked supremely unconvinced.

"Boys are stupid," she growled.

Uh-oh. He'd gone from man to boy in the space of an hour. A man in the car with her straddling his lap as they parked, and a boy as they walked out of the diner. He was in for it.

Castle followed after her down the street and reached out to take her hand; she allowed it at least, an easy swing that kept them together as they threaded through pedestrian traffic. He got funny looks for the bruised and puffy cheek, but he had Kate's hand.

"Esposito wants to help you," she said suddenly, her face swinging around to glare at him.

"More the merrier. I could find a job for him on the team."

"No. Hell, no, Rick Castle."

He pressed his lips together but couldn't fight the smile; it poured out of him and licked right up to the border of her shores. She narrowed her eyes at him but he could see the answering smile flickering to life in those green-gold depths.

Her eyes were just amazing. Knocking him out, really. Totally knocking him out. He wanted to stop dead still in the middle of the sidewalk and grab her and just - yeah.

Be stupid.

Not cool, Castle.

Instead he laced his fingers through hers - his only concession to the sudden swamping need to have her again - and she seemed to think that was his way of giving in.

But if Esposito wanted in on it, he wasn't taking that away from him.

Sometimes a man had to step up and take care of business.

"Are you sure?" she asked, even as she guided the Range Rover onto the gravel lane.

"We're already here," Castle said back.

"But now you're. . .punched."

He gave her a laugh for that, and she glanced over at him in the passenger seat, still pressing the ice pack against his cheek. It had begun to melt, running down to the sleeve of his army-style jacket and making a dark stain.

"I'm okay, Beckett. And your dad - he's a good man. I don't think he'll punch me." He paused and she could practically taste the hesitation in the air. "He won't, will he? He won't really punch me. He might actually punch-"

"He won't punch you," she sighed. "He's a lawyer. He solves his problems with words, like a civilized human being."

"Hey, now. I'm civilized."

"Hardly."

She felt his hand come to her knee, cold even through her Wal-Mart jeans, and she shivered and released the wheel long enough to clutch his fingers.

"But you like it," he murmured, and his thumb did interesting things to her inside thigh.

"Mm, I love it," she said, hated herself a little for how breathless he was making her.

"Time to face the music," he said, leaning in to softly kiss her cheek. "Again. I really hope I don't get punched."