Thank you all so much for your response to this story! It really inspires me to finish this. Even if it might take me some time.
I know I'm being late to the party, but YAY! THEY'RE FINALLY MARRIED!
I don't know if I have the time to update before Christmas, so Merry Christmas! (Great now I'm early)
This chapter might contain some gruesome details... Sorry about that. Also... this is mostly case-related, next chapter will have more Caskett moments, promise!
Enjoy!
Castle was fidgety in the car. He kept looking at her like he wanted to say something, then seemed to change his mind. He turned back towards the window to look outside, only to look at her again with the same expression.
"Castle," she sighed when traffic slowed and they got stuck in a traffic jam.
"What?" he asked innocently.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Nothing," he said.
"Come on! I know you! I know when you have something to say. So just say it," she said.
He stared at his hands for a moment. "I was just wondering if you'd like to have dinner with me, Alexis, and my mother tonight," he said eventually.
She smiled. "I'd love to, Rick. Why were you so nervous to ask me?" she asked.
"Well, because we're back in the city and… well, this is all really new and…" he struggled to explain.
"Castle, look at me," she said, because he was still looking at his hands. She waited for him to look up before she continued. "Nothing is going to change between us. Yes, we're back in the city and yes, we'll have to be careful with what we do or say at work, but Alexis and Martha know about us. And you don't have to be nervous to invite me over for dinner anymore, because I'll always want to have dinner with you and your family." She reached out and squeezed his hand.
He smiled gratefully at her, then his smile transformed into something bubbly, making his eyes sparkle and she couldn't do anything but smile back as her heart jumped in her chest. "Any food requests?" he asked her.
"Surprise me," she grinned, and took her hand back with a last stroke of her thumb against his skin as traffic started moving again.
He was giddy the rest of the drive, talking her head off about recipes he wanted her to try. She listened to him with a little smile playing at her lips. She loved the fact that she could make him so happy now. On the other hand, she hated the fact that she made him worry about her reaction to a simple dinner invitation. She had tried to explain to him that he shouldn't worry, but she feared that the only way to gain that trust was to show him that she was all in. Even here in the city. Even when she wasn't ready to tell their friends. Especially now.
Before she knew it, they were pulling up to the crime scene. Lanie was already on site and looked up as they walked towards her.
"Hi, girl! Welcome back!" she called out. "Had a good time at your dad's cabin?" Kate had informed her of the story they we're going to stick to for now and Lanie played her part well. She hadn't even acknowledged Castle yet.
"Yeah, it was good to get out of the city for a while," Kate replied.
"I'm glad," Lanie smiled at her, her eyes flicked to Castle and then to somewhere behind him. "What's he doing here?" she asked Beckett as soon as she was sure that Ryan and Esposito were in earshot. "You haven't forgiven him that easily, have you?"
"Lanie…" Beckett started with a sigh.
"Hey, you do know I can hear you, right?" Castle butted in, earning a glare from Lanie. He raised his hands and glanced at Beckett looking for help, who in turn rolled her eyes.
"What've you got, Lanie?" Kate asked her friend, pointing to the body.
"Our vic is early thirties, no ID, so we have no idea who he is. Seems like he got tortured before they killed him," the doctor said. She pointed to their victim's eyes, which looked like they were burned shut.
"Looks like he's abacinated," Castle said.
"He's what?"
"Abacinated," Castle said. "It was a torture technique in the Middle Ages were they put a searing hot object in front of someone's eyes and burned them shut. To threaten one's eyes is torture in itself, I can't believe people still actually use this technique."
"Do I even want to know how you know that?" Kate asked him.
"Research," he explained.
"Of course," she said with a soft smile, until she caught herself and schooled her features with a quick glance to Ryan and Esposito. Luckily, they hadn't been listening. She noticed that Lanie had followed their little conversation closely. She was definitely trying to find differences to before.
Beckett turned her back to her friend and said to Ryan and Esposito, "Can you guys ask around and see if anyone recognizes him?" The guys nodded and walked away.
Kate sighed in relief, she didn't like it when she had to mind her words. Or her expressions. "Damn," she muttered so softly that no one heard her.
"You two look good," Lanie said. "Just try to tamp down on the eye sex if you don't want those two to know." She pointed over her shoulder to Kate's partners.
"Please," Castle scoffed. "They wouldn't even realize what's really going even if we shoved it in their faces."
(…)
The case was slow and Castle was bored. He started playing with his phone, researching abacination some more. All he got was information he already knew from his previous research. Sometimes he wished that he was less thorough. If he hadn't been so thorough the first time he researched the subject, he'd have something to do now. Instead of playing angry birds.
Beckett was waiting for some information on who their victim was. Ryan and Esposito had come up empty during the rounds she'd ordered them to make. All they could do now was wait. They'd asked for a warrant so they could look at the footage on the security camera in the alley, but the camera belonged to a Chinese restaurant that didn't want to cooperate.
Lanie was still working on the body. They hoped to get an identification from dental records. If it didn't, they'd have to show the picture of the victim on the local news channels. He knew Beckett didn't like that method, because it was likely that the killer saw it and had time to get away. Or cover up his crime.
Some hours of nothingness had passed when Beckett's voice startled him. "Okay, Castle. Let me hear your theory."
"My theory?" he asked.
"Yeah, we've got nothing to go on here so let's hear it," she said.
"Okay," he frowned, thinking. He hadn't really come up with any theories yet, but Beckett wanted a theory, so he'd give her one.
"And please don't tell me he was a spy," she said and he glanced at her. There was a small smile playing on her lips. She did know him well, because that was what he had been thinking about. But she didn't need to know that.
"Oh, come on! That's too obvious. No. What if this man was a black smith in the Middle Ages," he started making up on the spot. "And he had knowledge about a secret group in his village who wanted to overthrow the corrupt landlord. The landlord's men suspected he knew something and tortured him with his own merchandise."
He saw Beckett's thoughtful frown. The set of her mouth told him that she wasn't taking him seriously, but that she was just as bored as him, so she'd play along.
"Okay. One question…" she said, before asking the obvious question. "How did he end up in that New York alley?"
"Well, that's easy," Castle indulged her. "He never spoke ill of the people who wanted to help him and in that day and age, there's no way he could've survived without his eyesight. He wouldn't be able to make a living for himself, so he travelled through time to a place and time where being blind didn't mean the end of his life. Unfortunately, he was too late and he was already dead by the time he arrived here."
Beckett didn't have time to respond, because the phone finally rang. After a short conversation, Beckett hung up and said to him, "Come on, Castle. Lanie's got something."
"Does she have an ID?" he asked eagerly.
"She didn't say, but I really hope so."
(…)
"What've you got, Lane?" Beckett asked as soon as they walked through the double doors. Castle was close behind her. Just as eager for a piece of information they could use.
"Did you guys know you do a lot in sync now?" Lanie said as she watched the couple come to a halt next to the table the body was lying.
"What?" Beckett asked in confusion.
"The way you two walked in just now. Completely in sync. I noticed it this morning too. It's like you're magnets or something. One person moves, the other almost immediately follows."
Beckett looked up at Castle and noticed him looking at her at exactly the same time. She shook her head in confusion. "Okay, what does this have to do with the case?"
"Nothing, just thought you'd like to know," Lanie grinned. "Anyway, I got a name for you. Dental records say his name is Scott Fiend. His eyes were burned shut before he was killed, so I assume it was a way to torture him."
"Do you have a cause of death?" Beckett asked.
"These marks indicate strangulation," Lanie said, pointing to the bruises that covered his throat. "I'd say someone strangled him with his hands. I tried taking prints off of his throat, but your killer used gloves."
"So someone abacinated him for information, and when he didn't give it up, they strangled him," Castle remarked.
"Possibly," Beckett said. "At least now we have something to go on. Thanks Lanie!" She touched Castle's elbow as she walked past him on her way back out the door.
"Family?" Castle asked.
"Yes, I'll call Espo and ask if he can get us an address."
It didn't take Esposito long to find the address of Scott Fiend's parents. Beckett hated this part of the job, but it was necessary. She took a deep breath before knocking. After a minute or so, the door opened to show a woman well in her sixties.
"Mrs. Fiend?" she asked, taking on a professionally sorrowful voice. The woman nodded. "I am Detective Kate Beckett with the NYPD, this is Mr. Castle. Can we please come in?" She spoke the sentence she'd already uttered a million times and every time it was the same. The fear that painted the face of the person on the other side of the door. The reluctance with which they let them enter their home. The uncertainty in their eyes. Unsure if they wanted to know the bad news she was likely to bring.
There was a man sitting in the living room they were led into. She assumed it was Fiend's father and she introduced herself the same way she had to the mother.
"I'm afraid we have some bad news," she said, seeing the fear appear again on their faces. She really hated this part of the job. "We've found your son, Scott. He was murdered." She bowed her head. Not wanting to see their eyes as they digested the news.
"What?" Mrs. Fiend stammered. "Our Scott? Why?"
"That's something we're trying to find out," Beckett said. "I know it's really hard right now, but would it be okay if we ask you some questions?"
"Yes, yes, of course," Mr. Fiend said. It was the first time he'd spoken and he sounded completely overwhelmed.
"Is there anyone who would want to hurt your son?" Beckett asked. There wasn't, of course. Beckett asked all the usual questions. Had he had any fights with anyone recently? He hadn't, as far as they knew. Did he have a girlfriend? He did.
"Do you know where we can reach her?"
"Well, last time I heard, she was in the hospital. She has lung cancer, you see. She's taking chemo," Mrs. Fiend told them.
"Not that it will help anything," Mr. Fiend remarked. "Scott told me that it has metastasized to her pancreas. There isn't much hope."
Beckett asked some more questions, but it didn't get them very far. In the end, she thanked them for their help and left them to mourn in peace.
When they walked out of the building she let out a heavy sigh. "Well, that was heavier than I expected. Girlfriend with cancer… God, Castle. How are we ever going to tell her that her boyfriend has been murdered?"
Castle shook his head. He didn't know either. "You could always let Ryan and Esposito do it," he tried to joke, but he already knew her response.
"No, I wouldn't do that to them. Let's…" She took a deep breath. "Let's just get it over with."
Thoughts?