I'm not pretending to be the writers of Castle. If they act a little OOC at times, it's completely my fault. Please don't yell at me for it.

"Now that that's over," Ryan said, "let's start trying to solve the murder cases. Castle, get updated on this morning's vic. Female, caucasian, twenty-three. Studying anthropology at NYU. She was found in exactly the same way as our other vic, from yesterday. No blood splatter at the scene, hands folded peacefully on her stomach. We suspect Chambers was involved."

"No," Castle said, looking from one to the other. "She wasn't."

"What makes you say that?" Esposito asked interestedly. Normally, with things like this, Beckett and her somewhat unorthodox partner were generally on the same page. However, what was different in this case is that neither of them had spoken to each other about it.

"She doesn't peg me as the murderer type," Castle shrugged. "Yes, I know, she threatened to murder the three of you, but that doesn't mean she was actually going to do it. And think about it – she reveals herself to two NYPD detectives that she's kidnapped, leave all sorts of incriminating evidence at the crime scenes of the kidnapping, but leave absolutely nothing at either of our murder scenes? It doesn't make sense."

Ryan cursed under his breath and reached into his pocket.

"I told you he'd say the same thing as Beckett," Esposito grinned, pocketing the fifty. "How many times have I won these bets against you, Ryan?"

"Too many," Ryan said, shaking his head.

"Speaking of Beckett, where is she?"

And now Ryan and Esposito glanced awkwardly at each other. "She stormed out about fifteen minutes before you called," Esposito answered. "She said she didn't want anything to do with it. I don't know where she's gone."

Castle raised his eyebrow at the two of them. "Okay, Ryan, I know about... How did you find out, Esposito?"

"Find out about what?" he asked, bemused.

"You know what," said the writer. "Don't think the little sister comment was lost on me."

"Ryan let it slip in the morgue last night," Esposito shrugged. "So... how was it?"

"It was a ruse," Castle told them, narrowing his eyes. "She was going to shoot the guy. If she did, the two of you would be dead right now. So really, I did you a favour. And maybe you should stop questioning my motives."

"We're detectives," Ryan said. "It's what we do."

"She was really going to shoot the guy?"

"Her hand was on her gun," Castle offered.

"Okay, so it was a ruse," Esposito conceded. "Did she kiss back?"

Castle made the face he normally made when he was trying to hide the truth and mock them at the same time as he replied with, "No."

"Was it the best kiss you've ever had?" Ryan asked, tipping his head forward.

Castle hesitated a moment; that had been a hard question. Two kisses would contend for that position. One, of course, being the one they were discussing now. The other was the one that Ryan and Esposito didn't know about, the one that he and Beckett had shared yesterday (had it really only been a day before?) in her apartment. And he honestly thought about them both.

"No, it wasn't," he said. And then, just to keep his two best friends from guessing, he added, "that honour belongs to my teddy bear."

Before they could protest, he headed for the elevator, his plan being to leave the precinct and relax for a while at home. Martha and Alexis had been allowed to leave the station as soon as Castle had arrived back and Alexis, still slightly angry at Castle, hadn't even hugged him to say that she was glad that he was safe. Martha had left with her granddaughter while Castle stayed behind to give his statement.

However, as he walked the roads of New York City, he realised that his feet were taking him in the complete opposite direction to his apartment. As he took in his surroundings and turned another bend, he realised that, for what felt like the hundredth time in two days, he was going to be paying a visit to Beckett's apartment.

"What are you doing here?" she snapped at him as she opened the door. Just like she'd answered the door when Josh called in, she was aiming a gun at him. "Sorry," she said, putting the gun down. "Come in."

"Thank you," he said, following awkwardly behind her. Then, following in the theme of awkwardness, the two of them faced each other, Castle leaning against the bench so that it cut annoyingly across his back, while Beckett supported herself against the couch.

"Isn't Giselle going to be looking for you?" she asked, mockingly, as she stared at him, eyes narrowed.

"I know you're mad at me," he said, holding his arms in front of him, showing that he wasn't going to argue. "I understand that completely. I did something stupid, I acted like an idiot, and I didn't stay where I should have. But I want you to know that I had your back, okay? And it was easier than I thought."

"What are you talking about?"

"Chambers has been arrested; charged with kidnapping two police detectives, and obstruction of justice. I was trying to think about how to go about getting her in your handcuffs long enough so that I could call Esposito to come and make the arrest."

"Do I want to know how you did that?"

"I don't even want to know how I did that," Castle grimaced, remembering what he'd pretended to want to be doing. "And, speaking of which," he delved a hand into his deep jacket pocket and pulled out two shining rings of metal. "Your handcuffs."

She looked down at his hands, took the cuffs and then looked back up at him.

"You can go now," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Kate -"

"Castle," she said warningly. "I would like you to leave."

"Okay, but first, I just want to know where we stand."

She dropped her guard. "What do you mean?"

"The two of us – what are we doing? We just seem to be running in circles. We finally get a little bit closer to each other, and then something happens, and we start back at our non-trusting phase. That's how we started working together. Then again after I looked into your mother's murder – which, I'll admit, was deserved – and then again after I got back from the Hamptons. And I have this feeling that if we don't talk about it, we're just going to keep doing that. And we both know that neither of us want that."

"How can I trust you when you keep doing things I tell you not to?" she asked.

"What? That happened once," he repiled.

"I told you not to do anything stupid."

"I always do stupid things, you know that."

"I meant stupid in terms of us," she clarified.

Now he knew exactly what she meant, and he was determined to set the record straight. "If I had said no; if I had stayed with you last night," he added, feeling the need to stress that it had barely been a day before, "then we would never have got her. She might not be the brightest star in the sky, an honour which deservingly belongs to you, but she can be damn elusive when she doesn't want to be found."

"That's not what I meant," she said, her voice rising slightly. "I meant going off with another woman, again. "

"Why are you so stubborn?" he asked, aggravated and throwing up his arms. "And so confusing? Just when I think I figure out what you want, you change your mind. And it's driving me insane! What is it?"

Kate looked at him, shaking her head slightly. "I'm scared," she whispered her voice barely audible to him as he replayed what he'd just yelled in his head.

"What?" he asked, snapping his head down to look at her.

"I'm scared," she repeated, louder now. She bit her bottom lip as she contemplated what she was going to say next, and whether or not she should say it at all. "I'm actually terrified at the thought of being with you. You've had two failed marriages, countless failed relationships, and you're a household name. People would talk about us, about me, and I'm scared that maybe, one day, you'll realise that I'm not what you want and you'll leave. I don't want that to happen, Rick. That's why I might come across as confusing or stubborn. I think I know what you want, and every time you do something stupid and we start bickering, I start doubting myself, I start doubting what I think I know. It's absolutely terrifying that you have enough of me to break my heart if we don't work out."

He stared at her, his mouth gaping open. "I feel -"

He was cut off by her phone ringing. She kept her eyes on him for a moment, and then answered it, nodding and making non-commital noises every few seconds. "Okay, I'll be right there," she finished, then hung up. "Come on, Castle, we have a lead."

She sounded disappointed, he realised. Perhaps in him, perhaps in herself, but that didn't stop her from walking towards the door.

"I meant what I said on the phone," he said, her hand on the handle. "And I feel the same about us... except, you know, you haven't been in two failed marria-"

She silenced him by putting a finger to his lips, a simple gesture that two years ago would have done nothing to him but silence him. Now, it sent tingles through his body, her warmth affecting him more than he would have liked. It caused his eyes to flick down at her outstretched arm, and his eyes followed it until they met hers. Quickly, she pulled the finger away, and walked out.

"You coming?" she called out, and he smiled, bounding after her.

"Mr Demper?" Beckett asked as she entered the interview room, Castle following only a few steps behind her. "Do you know why you're here?"

"Somethin' about a shootin'?" he asked, looking around. "Look, I told the guys, I heard a shot this morning as I was walkin' home from a friend's house. Why am I here?"

"How far away do you think the shot was?" Beckett asked, ignoring his question.

"I dunno, maybe a block? I ran away from there as fast as I could. You don't wanna be walkin' around New York with a crazy gunman loose."

"I'm aware of that," Beckett told him, narrowing her eyes. "I'm a cop."

"Yeah, I see that," he commented, glancing at her. "It's hot."

"Hey!" Castle snapped, warningly.

"Castle," Beckett hissed, glancing at him.

"Sorry," he mouthed, and he gestured for her to continue her interview.

Now Beckett pulled out Chambers' mugshot. "Does this woman look familiar to you?" she asked Demper. "Have you ever seen her before?"

Demper pulled the picture towards him and squinted at it. "Nup," he said, shrugging. "Why?"

"She's a suspect in our investigation," Beckett answered unenuthusiastically, taking the photo back. "You're free to go, Mr Demper."

As he left, the two turned to each other.

"That was a bust," he said.

"Obviously," she said, rolling her eyes and biting down on her bottom lip at the same time. His heart started beating a little bit faster whenever she did that. "Do we know how they're connected yet?" she asked as Esposito and Ryan joined them.

The two other detectives glanced at each other. "Well, we were thinking you might be able to help with that. We can't find anything. But we thought that maybe some fresh eyes to the investigation might help."

Beckett raised her eyebrows. "We've both looked at the case files."

"Caskett hasn't," Ryan smirked.

She narrowed her eyes at him and Esposito as she made her way out to the murder board. After she passed, Ryan sighed a sigh of relief, thinking he was out of danger. Swiftly, Beckett turned around and flicked the back of his ear, making him cry out in surprise and pain. Smirking herself, she turned back around and sat down at her desk, where she surveyed the boards.

"Victim One was a caucasian male, twenty-three, a construction worker, and lived in the city. How did you find him?"

"Like that," Castle answered, pointing to the photo of the crime scene.

"Did you talk to Lanie about what happened?"

"You told me not to do anything until you got there," he pointed out.

She looked surprised. "You listened? That has to be a first."

"I know, right?"

"Okay, so, what connection could 'Max Harding' possibly have with 'Eloise Reed'?" Beckett asked.

"They were both twenty-three," Castle said.

Beckett sighed. "That doesn't mean anything in New York. You might as well say they were both human."

"Hear me out, okay?" he said. "Both of them were twenty-three. Maybe they were connected in some way when they were children. Maybe they used to be neighbours. Maybe, just maybe, when they were in high school, one of them cheated on their partner, and so that partner has now killed them out of long-pent up rage."

"Your theories are becoming more and more ridiculous," she said. "Rage killings don't show up like this, Castle, you know that."

"She might have been planning it for years," Castle shrugged. "Maybe they ordered a professional hit."

She frowned slightly. "Okay. Roach, can you track down Harding's next of kin? We'll take Reed's."

"Roach?" Castle asked, confused. "That's -"

"I know, your nickname for them in your books. It's easier to say. Plus, it's really fitting right now."

"But why?"

She waited until Ryan and Esposito were out of earshot. And then she told him, albeit grudgingly. "They gave us a couple nickname."

Hi Everybody :3 (I've changed my pen name. Bit confusing.)

Wow, so it's been over a month since I last updated... I assure you I have a very good explanation, but I'm guessing you don't want to hear excuses, so I'll just say that I'm sorry, and I hope it never happens again. In other news - it's only about 48 hours until the Season Finale and I'm shaking in my boots! (Metaphorical boots - I don't own actual boots yet, but I'm working on it.)
I like this chapter a LOT better than the last one. For me, it's so much easier to write Caskett rather than solely Beckett or solely Castle.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it too, and feel free to put any comments, questions or queries into the review box. I love getting emails, so... :D