A/N: This one's nice and fluffy, for those of you suffering from finale hangover. A bit shorter than the last few, but that just means I'll get the next chapter done all the sooner.

I tried to get the facts about New York geography, schools and ballistics as close as possible, but I'm no expert on any of them, so if there are any errors, blame my ignorance.

This is obviously now completely AU, starting as it does at the end of 2x23. I may crib a few bits and pieces from the finale, but as far as this story is concerned, none of that happened.

Oh, and watch out for the tiny little West Wing reference. I paraphrased one of Charlie's lines.

Chapter 11

Rick tried to do what he was told, he really did, and within fifteen minutes of Beckett going down to talk to Lanie, he'd come up with a few theories as to why Jason Williams had been murdered. But truthfully, he was uncomfortable with what he was doing. This kid had only been a year older than Alexis, still in high school. It hit him far too close to home.

So instead, he decided to bother Ryan and Esposito. They, on the other hand, were doing as they'd been told. Ryan was already on hold with the vic's bank, and Esposito was checking New York high schools, trying to find one that had the same varsity jacket as the vic. Unfortunately, navy and white were not uncommon colours.

"Hey, guys, what's going on?" Rick could see they were busy, but that was no reason not to wind them up.

They both swivelled in their seats to look at him, tolerantly. "Nothing new is going on since the last time you spoke to us, Castle." Esposito said, patiently. "We are doing our jobs. What are you doing?"

"Whatever it is, it's certainly not what your girlfriend told you to do." Ryan butted in, an obnoxiously smug smile plastered onto his face.

Rick stared. "Girlfriend? What are you guys talking about? I don't have a girlfriend."

"Really?" Ryan drew the word out gleefully. "Then how come you were holding hands with Beckett yesterday?" Esposito was smirking now as well.

Castle spluttered, desperately trying to think of an answer that wouldn't sound absurd. "What do you mean, holding hands?" Denial would work, he decided.

Esposito looked close to outright laughter now, and he leaned forward. "Castle, you seem to forget that the interrogation room has a big old window in it." He pointed, "Right there, see?"

"Yep. Espo was doing his totally awesome 'bad cop' walk, freaking the dude out, and what does he see through the window?" Ryan was just as amused. "Why, there's Richard Castle and Kate Beckett, sitting at her desk, gazing longingly into each others' eyes. And holding hands."

"Ok, look, you guys have totally got the wrong idea. I was just joking around. You know, like I do." He glanced between the two, willing them to buy his excuse. "Flirting with her. I was… I was pretending to read her fortune. It's something my mother showed me how to do. Just an old carnival trick." That's weak, Ricky. Really weak. Aren't you supposed to be a successful writer?

Both men looked at him in frank disbelief. He continued. "Look, whatever you guys think is going on, it isn't. And if Beckett hears you talking like this, she'll kill the pair of you." He pointed a warning finger at them, and started to back away, before they ferreted the truth out of him.

"Oh, don't worry, Castle. Neither of us is stupid." Esposito paused, and glanced at Ryan, "Well, I'm not anyway." He ignored Ryan's outraged glare. "And there's no way she's going to hear a word of this."

"Unless you blab. You know, when you're struggling to get out from under her thumb." Ryan took a big gulp of coffee, grinning from behind the safety of his mug.

Rick glared at them, but was unable to come up with anything else that might convince them nothing was going on. He sufficed for just repeating, "I was just joking around." He retreated to the murder board, ignoring the two sets of eyes boring into the back of his head. Oh, Kate's going to be pissed. How do I stop her from blaming me? Now that was a worthy use for his mastery of criminal psychology.

Kate strode down the corridor to the morgue with a huge smile on her face. She couldn't recall the last time she'd been in such a good mood, for so little a reason. It all stemmed from Castle, and the easiness with which they'd fallen into this new pattern already. Even after their talk yesterday, she'd expected things to be awkward and strange, and she'd told Castle as much. But, so far, it really wasn't as bad as she'd feared. He seemed to have intuitively understood what she meant about convincing her, and though she only had an hour or two of experience of it, he was doing a good job, so far.

She was in no hurry, whatsoever, to jump into anything physical with him, that could wait. And the anticipation of it would be a delight in itself. Until then, she could enjoy teasing him, as she had today. He was such an easy mark. Laughing quietly to herself, she entered Dr Parish's domain, and looked around for her friend.

Lanie was busily doing whatever it was she did to the corpse of Jason Williams. Kate didn't need to know the details, but it involved a pair of tweezers and a scalpel. She looked up when Kate walked in, and waved a greeting. "Hey. You flying solo, Kate?"

Kate frowned, a little confused by the question. "What do you mean? Castle? He's upstairs, hopefully using his one talent. Coming up with plausible theories for murder."

Lanie cocked an eyebrow at that. "His only talent? It looks to me like he might have a few more hidden away. How many have you found, so far?"

Kate was scandalized by the insinuation in Lanie's voice, "Lanie! What the Hell are you talking about? How would I know anything about Castle's 'talents'? We're just friends."

"Mm Hmm, that's exactly what I thought when I saw him staring dreamily at you in the alley this morning. I thought, 'that's just how friends look at each other.'" She sniggered. "And when you two stood together, whispering little nothings whilst gazing into each others' eyes. Again, friends." She quirked an eyebrow, and Kate realized it was useless to deny it, so all she could do was set Lanie straight.

"Lanie, I swear, there's nothing going on. Yet." Her face flushed crimson at her friend's delighted look. "He asked me if I'd go on a date. At least, I think that's what it was." She frowned. "It was all a bit vague."

"So you said yes?" Lanie prompted, all interest in the corpse forgotten.

"No. I told him I wasn't ready." Kate started, and quickly continued before Lanie could voice the protests she could see forming on her lips. "I said he had to convince me he was worth it, that he was ready."

Kate glared defiantly at her friend, daring her to find fault with her actions. "Ok." Lanie said, slowly, clearly absorbing what she'd just heard. "So, not only have you said you want him, now you've finally admitted you want to be with writer boy?" The smugness was back, and Kate threw her hands up, exasperated.

"Fine! I want him. I want to be with him. Happy now? You were right, as usual." She leaned against a filing cabinet, trying to keep the glare on her face, but it was difficult. Saying those words openly for the first time had sent a shiver of pleasure down her spine. It was thrilling to be so honest, even if it was only with her best friend.

"So, nothing's happened, so far?"

"No, nothing. I've not even kissed him." Lanie's inquisitive look didn't waver. "Oh God, Lanie, nothing's happened! We… we held hands. Yesterday. That's it." Christ, this is like being in junior high all over again.

"You held hands? That is adorable!" Lanie's broad smile got to her, and Kate felt her own lips tugging up into a happy grin. She wasn't going to deny it, he had looked adorable, sitting there grinning like an idiot.

"Ok, now that's out of the way, can you please tell me if you found anything yet?" She gestured at the body, and Lanie shook herself, as though only just recalling that she had a job to do.

"Right, yeah. Well, cause of death is no mystery. Gunshots to the chest. Three, no exit wounds. Too small to be .38s, too big to be .22s. We'll know more about the weapon when we fish the bullets out, but my guess is that it was a 7.62mm."

Kate pondered that. "He was shot with a rifle?" That was surprising, she'd actually only ever had a couple of cases where murderers had used anything larger than a shotgun.

"I'm no gun expert, but I don't think so. There were traces of powder residue on his clothes, which means close range. If it had been a rifle, it would have gone straight through." Kate nodded.

"Ok, so we're looking for a handgun that fires 7.62mm bullets. Shouldn't be too hard to narrow down. Hopefully ballistics will give us more to go on." She peered down at the cleaned up wounds. "Anything else?"

"Not yet." Lanie answered, sardonically. "You didn't exactly give me a whole lot of time. But I guess you just couldn't wait to come down here and gush like a schoolgirl over your new boyfriend."

"Shut up." Kate told her, without heat. Then she paused, and eyed her friend with a slight smile. "So, 'staring dreamily'?" Lanie laughed and nodded, and Kate answered the laugh with a heartfelt grin, the happiness back in full force. This is going to be fun. If she could produce the reaction Lanie claimed by not doing anything, just imagine what she could reduce him to if she really tried. She felt the urge to giggle as the thought came again, He's such an easy mark.

Rick looked up as Ryan leapt from his seat and hurried down the office to the murder board. "We got a name. Vic's father, David Williams. Got an address, too." He quickly scribbled the new information onto the sparsely populated board.

Rick studied the address. "Long Island? He is loaded, then." Ryan nodded absently, waving Esposito over from the break room.

"Hey, Espo, check it. We've got an address for the kid's family." Esposito strode over, and quickly perused the information.

"Rich kid. That should narrow down the school possibilities. Beckett still downstairs?" He looked straight at Rick as he asked it, and all he could do was nod, uncomfortable about being held responsible for knowing her whereabouts. "Ok, well I guess we wait for her to get back. She'll want to tell the family herself."

They all sat back in contemplation for a moment. None of them relishing the task that they knew Kate Beckett would carry out with staggering empathy. It was one of the things that had really blown Rick away when he first started getting to know her. Here was this reserved, controlled, driven woman who was capable of showing so much compassion and understanding to newly grieving families. It had been a shock the first time he saw, but each time after that, he just stood mesmerized, watching her. Still, he didn't envy her.

"So, you think a rich kid like this probably goes to a private school, right?" Esposito broke the silence, and the other two nodded in agreement. Rick thought about it for a moment.

The colours… navy and white. Then it hit him. "Lancaster Prep! That's where he went." Esposito gave him a thumbs up and hurried over to his desk, to get the phone number for the school. Rick glanced at Ryan, who was still perusing the murder board. "We'll get this guy in no time."

Ryan nodded, confidently. "Hell yes, we will."

Beckett's voice sounded from behind them. "What have we got, so far?" Rick turned around, and drank her in. Just looking at her was enough to bring a smile to his face, but then he recalled Ryan and Esposito's teasing, and the smile curdled. Beckett eyed him questioningly, and, out of the corner of his eye, he caught Ryan smirking. "Guys? Some time today would be nice."

"Right, yeah." Rick gave a start. "Well, we've got his parents' address, and we reckon we've got the school."

"Good." She answered. "Because I've got time of death. Somewhere between 6 and 8 this morning. He was probably on his way to school. Shot at close range, shallow angle, so it's likely that he was standing facing his killer."

Killed on the way to school. Castle felt a shiver run through him. "This kid was from a rich family, he went to a very expensive private school. Why would someone kill him?"

Beckett gave him a dry look. "Isn't that what you're here for, Castle? To come up with a story?" Ryan's expression clearly indicated that he was sure that wasn't all Rick was there for, but as long as he didn't say anything, Rick knew Beckett wouldn't shoot either of them.

"Erm, sure, I guess. Well what do most kids end up shot in the street for? Drugs. So let' say this guy was buying drugs, maybe he was even selling them to friends for kicks. We've seen that before. He pisses off his dealer. Doesn't pay him, or shorts him on the profit. The dealer loses his temper, as drug dealers are wont to do. He knows where the kid lives, knows where he goes to school and what time he'll be going. So he waits somewhere on the route. Maybe he only meant to scare him into paying, but maybe the kid mouths off, or maybe he doesn't have the money, and the dealer is through waiting. He has a gun, they're arguing in the alley way. No one's around. The restaurants and bars around there don't open until later, and there's not much else in the vicinity. The murderer fires three rounds, close range, and walks away as if nothing's happened." He finished, and looked up to see Beckett watching him appreciatively, a small smile on her face. Ryan was nodding vigorously.

"Wow, Castle, I'm impressed." Beckett said. "No assassins, mobsters or secret agents. Just good old fashioned cop talk. You must be learning."

"Well, when you work with the best…" He told her, and felt a little thrill at the surprised, pleased look she shot back at him. He grinned at her. "So, you want to talk to the family first, right? She nodded. "Well, they must have an address in the city, because there's no way that kid commuted from Long Island to Manhattan every day for school."

Esposito returned, just as he finished saying that, and grinned at them. "Have no fear, I just spoke to the school. They have an apartment in Manhattan." He held the address out to Beckett, who took it with a smile.

"Come on, Castle." She didn't even glance at him to see if he was going to follow. Of course, he did follow her, ignoring the insolent looks on the faces of Ryan and Esposito. And he definitely ignored Ryan's mime of cracking a whip.

Kate sat, watching the two people in front of her as they struggled to understand what she was telling them. Their son was dead. This was the one part of her job that she hated more than any other, but the one part she knew was so vitally important to get right. They seemed lost for words, which was certainly understandable. Unfortunately, Kate knew she had to ask some questions now, before the shock wore off and the real grief hit them.

"Was your son involved in anything that worried you? Anything that might get him into trouble?" They shook their heads, mutely, and she continued. "What about his friends, were there any you didn't like?" Again, the head shakes.

Mr. Williams spoke, his voice quavering. "Detective, our son was the starting Point Guard for the school basketball team. Most of his time was spent either studying or training." He paused for a moment, gathering himself. "He was going to go to Duke, they'd already offered a full scholarship."

Kate felt Castle tense beside her, as though he was going to speak, and she put her hand out to warn him not to. She rested it on his knee, and continued speaking to Mr. Williams. It was clear his wife was not going to contribute anything. She looked almost catatonic. "So, no trouble at school?"

Suddenly, Mr. Williams looked uncomfortable, and glanced at his wife. Kate caught the look, and her interest spiked. "Mr. Williams?" She prompted, and he sighed.

"There was something, a few months ago. A girl at Jason's school, a cheerleader. She accused Jason of… of assaulting her." Kate leaned back slightly. Now this is something to go on. Castle went very still next to her, and she could feel his tension through the hand still resting innocuously on his knee. She wanted to look at him, to show him she understood his unease, but she didn't take her eyes off Mr. Williams, settling instead for squeezing Castle's knee, just a little.

Mr. Williams stumbled over the words in his haste to get them out. "It was ridiculous. There was no proof, no evidence that he'd done anything, and he wouldn't do anything. The charges were dropped, and the police apologized." He laughed, short and bitter, no trace of amusement. "We were scared it might jeopardize his scholarship. Oh, we could afford college, of course we could, but he wanted to play basketball. More than anything." Kate saw his composure crumbling, and decided she would be pushing her look to go any further, and besides, they'd given her plenty to go on.

"Ok. Thank you Mr. Williams, Mrs. Williams. That will be all for now, you've been very helpful." She nodded her thanks, and stood, still not looking at Castle.

"Are you ok?" Kate asked, as soon as they were safely back in the car. She studied him closely.

"Yeah. Fine, why wouldn't I be?" He sounded distant, and Kate decided they needed to talk before they set off.

"Rick, you're not that good an actor." She advised him, reaching over and taking his hand. "And I'm a cop, I can read people. You were thinking about Alexis, in there, weren't you?"

He looked at her now, a direct, blunt gaze that she usually found enjoyable, but now she could see the fear in his eyes. She tightened her grip. "Yes. I've been thinking about her all day. When I saw that kid… He's just a year older than her. And now… a girl raped in high school? Alexis goes to a school just like that one, she walks past people like Jason Williams every day in the corridors. If it could happen to them…" He shuddered.

"No, stop. We don't even know what did happen yet. This wasn't an act of random violence, I'm sure of it. This boy was killed for a reason, and you know that your daughter would never be in that sort of situation."

He was still looking at her. "Yeah, but what about… the other thing." He couldn't bring himself to say it, and she didn't really know how to assuage his fears. It was true, that could happen so suddenly, without warning and without reason.

"Rick, you've done everything you can to ensure she's safe. She's smart, strong, and she knows exactly what to do in an emergency. That's all you can hope for." A thought struck her, and she was delighted by the practicality of the idea. "Has she ever taken any self defence classes?"

Rick looked miserable. "Fencing."

"Yeah, well, unless someone pulls an Épée on her, that's not much good. We run a programme at the precinct, specifically for women. Why don't you check it out?"

His gloomy look brightened. "That's a great idea, Kate. I'll have her take a look. As long as you don't teach her how to kick my ass."

She smiled at him. "Rick, I've seen you fight. She probably already could kick your ass." He laughed, and she felt inordinately pleased. She'd said the right thing, lifted his spirits. It felt good.

Putting the car into gear, she pulled away from the apartment building. Castle felt the need to ask, "By the way, Kate, do you teach any of these classes?"

She glanced at him. "Yeah, once a week. Why?"

He was grinning away now, like a schoolboy. "Oh, just that I might have to come up and watch. The chance to see you all sweaty, grappling with other women." He wriggled in pleasure.

Kate pulled a face at him. "Sure, Castle, why not?" She let it hang there for a moment, watching his surprise and glee, before adding, "We could always use another volunteer to demonstrate the moves on."

As always, please read and review.

ETA: I've changed the name of the school, as I'm going to say nasty things about them in the next chapter, and don't want anyone mistaking it for a real establishment.