Genre: Drama, Crime, Romance, Family, Humor

Rating: M for sexual situations and language

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters featured on the show Castle, they belong to the creator of the show, ABC, and the others who do own them.

A/N #1: Great to get what I did for the last chapter so I'll go right into my thank yous for the feedback. MsNYC (It was nice seeing you read the chapters, both of them, and of course that you enjoyed it all too! And great you're enjoying the case since I do want to make those interesting. And the same with you enjoying Julia with Mari the other chapter too, glad that you did of course. Happy to read you thought it was great writing as usual too!),
TORONTOSUN (I was pleased to see you thought it was a good moment with Ringo joining everybody in the flashback. And I'm definitely happy you thought it was good choice of the song since I love the ones I put in. Really glad too that you thought it was great writing!) and
vetgirlmx (Glad to see you thought it was a very night chapter. Not surprised that you had a lot of questions even though they cleared a lot of their possible suspects. And if I could I would answer them but of course I'll have to let the story as it goes do that. But it was nice that you have those questions of course! Oh, and with the wife being so defensive, I've watched the show Cops for a long time and you see spouses defensive about their significant others being questions even if they aren't a suspect; I suppose that's just a natural reaction. And I'm really glad you enjoyed how they searched for the hidden room and what they found out with that room. I agree with you, they do that best; among other things; and that's why I wrote that bit to include it. And actually, when I say the Hamptons I kind of mean the entire area which is a made up of different hamlets and towns. Since the show never really explained where the beach house is more specifically I put it next to Southampton but not sure I want to say it's a specific place. So with that there's a lot of options for the cheaters, murders and hidden pasts of course but still it's a small area for that so you make a good point. But I am glad that you agree with Brad that there's too much drama and that you love it too. No surprise you're wondering what Sawyer has to say and are hoping that the case will start moving finally as you put it. And so glad you're eager for the next chapter, now you don't need to wait for it anymore!).
Thanks so much for the reviews, I loved reading them all and appreciate the time taken to write them out and send them to me!

A/N #2: The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Deceptively Yours by Peter Malick, from The Peter Malick Group album New York City featuring Norah Jones.

Didn't Hear A Sound

"Can I help you?" a woman said as she stepped outside what appeared to be an old home at the Swells Bay Stables.

"I'm Chief Davis," Brad said, showing his badge. "Are you Ursula?"

"I am," the woman replied cautiously. "How can I help you?"

"We're looking for an employee of yours," Beckett said, standing a bit behind the chief.

"You said Conn," Ursula said to Brad.

"I did," the chief replied. "Where is he? We need to speak with him."

"I don't know," Ursula said after studying the three in front of her for a moment. "Somewhere around here and likely drunk."

"Does he usually make a habit of that?" Castle asked.

"Yeah but since he's one of two people working here with me I have no one else," Ursula replied before she turned around and went back into the house, slamming the door behind her.

"Are you going after her?" Beckett asked.

"Not worth it, we already know who that second person is," Brad replied as that had been directed to him. "Duncan Weimer," he told the two before he turned around.

"Are you putting yourself into his shoes?" Castle asked his friend when he realized he was scanning the buildings.

"Not really, just guessing where he might hide from her while drunk," Brad replied, gesturing with his thumb behind him to the door.

"Kate?" Castle asked when he saw that his wife was looking to the side. When she didn't say anything, he followed her gaze and then spotted that someone; he guessed Weimer; was leading a mare from one of the stables.

"Hey-" Brad started to say when she suddenly walked away from them.

"Leave her, she's not going to hear you," Castle said.

"And Sawyer?" Brad said.

"If he's drunk he's not likely going to go anywhere," Castle said before he started to walk after his wife.

When she neared Weimer, who was having obvious trouble controlling the mare that he was trying to lead, Beckett called, "She has an abscess you know."

Freezing the man turned to look at her and with a frown said, "Who the hell are you?"

"It doesn't ma-" Beckett started to say before she was cut off by the mare whinnying and rearing on its back legs. She shoved Weimer out of the way before reaching for the reins of the horse, having to duck out of the way as it reared again.

"Be careful," Castle couldn't help saying as he watched his wife backing up to the fence to avoid the hooves.

When the mare came down again and stopped moving Beckett watched it carefully as its eyes were wild. It stepped towards her and she murmured under her breath in Irish before she brought her right hand in front of her slowly. She was careful, not taking her eyes off the mare, before she took a step forward. The mare then walked up to her and she allowed it to sniff at her hand before it pressed down into her. "Easy, easy girl," she said softly. She scratched carefully at its neck and then paused before she tried not to let her anger overwhelm her as she said, "She's pregnant."

"Yeah, so?" Weimer said.

"Stay there," Beckett said firmly but being careful not to scare the mare. "Is she for sale?"

"I don't know," Weimer said as he was being dragged away by Castle. "Man, let go of me!"

"That's right Castle, you should," Brad said tonelessly. When the man looked at him he said, "Get out of here and tell your boss they're buying this horse." As soon as Weimer was out of earshot he said, "Will it be okay?"

"If we get her to our stables," Beckett said with a sigh. "Rick-"

"No, it's alright," Castle said. "I have my checkbook on me… and my wallet, and my card of course."

"Would you have enough cash?" Brad said in surprise.

"No but… I'm just letting her know," Castle replied with a shrug. "But who will she go to?"

"Julia, unless she doesn't want her," Beckett answered. She was in the process of taking the reins off and she had to calm the mare down as she slipped the harness off. "But it will take a while before she's ready to be ridden of course."

"And the baby?" Castle asked.

Beckett didn't answer that right away, frowning for a moment before she said, "We'll have to see… Alexis," adding the last bit rapidly as she thought of it. "Or Eliza since we would need to wait." She shook her head and then said to the two, "We'll see. Rick? Call Charlie for me and see if he'd come to take her."

"What is she?" Brad asked as Castle was going onto his phone.

"An Andalusian-Arabian mix," Beckett replied. "It's the neck and the gait that I was able to see as I was walking over here." She then looked over at her husband, watching as he hung up, and then said, "How long until he gets here?"

"You should have talked to him," Castle said jokingly. "And in about ten minutes… what about Sawyer?"

"I'll look around," Brad said. "You two can stay."

"I can watch her," Castle said to his wife as he watched her looking after Brad.

Looking at him Beckett shook her head and said, "She'd just try to follow me."

"Does she need any sort of… calming?" Castle asked as she was gently scratching on the mare's neck.

"I won't know until the abscess is taken care of," Beckett replied. "I just hope the baby is okay," she said in concern.

"She'll have a lot of help," Castle told her reassuringly.

Since they were waiting Castle and Beckett looked on while Brad was going around the different buildings, each time coming out without anyone. Just as they were about to ask him if he didn't need some help they heard a truck approaching and looked to see it was Charlie's for the stables.

"Good god," the owner said when he was close enough to the mare. "She's malnourished… is she pregnant?"

"She is," Beckett said, glancing at the mare and wondering how she hadn't seen the way the horse's ribs were visible.

"I always said this place needed to be investigated," Charlie said. "Where's Ursula?"

"You know her?" Castle asked.

"Yeah, this place is hanging by a thread," Charlie said.

"How many horses does she have?" Beckett asked.

"Six more," Brad said, walking over to them. "And they look to be in the same shape."

"Animal cruelty?" Beckett then said.

"Yeah… I'll be right back," Brad replied before he got his walkie-talkie from his belt.

"He's calling for backup," Beckett said. "We need to buy her Rick."

As Castle was leaving them Charlie turned to her and said, "You're buying this one?"

"Yeah… what about the others?" Beckett asked. "Six of them."

Taking a deep breath Charlie said, "I can make some calls here and there. Hold-"

"No, we need to get her on the way," Beckett told him. "I haven't looked at the abscess but considering how she was reacting to Weimer over there," she said when she saw Brad leading him and Ursula out from the main building. "It's bad. She needs a vet."

"You're going to have to lead her," Charlie replied.

"Alright," Beckett said before she turned to the mare. Speaking to it in Irish she began to walk backwards out of the corral, not surprised that the horse immediately began to follow her. Soon enough she turned around and walked with the mare to her side until they were at the trailer attached to Charlie's truck.

Walking away from his friend Castle went to where his wife was standing on the side of the trailer, looking in on the mare. "Is she okay?" he asked.

"I hope so," Charlie said.

"Should I go with her?" Beckett asked.

"Do-" Castle started to say.

"I've done that before myself," Charlie replied. "She'll be fine."

"Is there room for two?" Castle asked before anyone could say anything else.

"You need to take our car to the…" Beckett started to say before she trailed off, remembering why exactly they were there at the stables before she spotted someone past Charlie's shoulder.

"That's him, hold on," Brad said before running away from them, not realizing that both Castle and Beckett were with him. "Mr. Sawyer?" he asked the man who was squinting in the non-existent sun.

"What?" the man said angrily.

"I'm Chief Davis, you need to come with me," Brad said, taking him by the arm.

"How-" Castle started to say.

"Back up is on its way," Brad interrupted.

When they were alone Castle said, "He can handle talking to him."

"He'll have to wait though, as drunk as he is," Beckett replied. "And I'll be fine Rick, take the car and meet me there so we can go back to the station together."

Though he still wasn't so sure about her riding with the mare in the trailer Castle eventually nodded his head and watched her go over to it. He sighed when Charlie closed the door before he shook himself and then turned to go to his car. "Will you-" he started to say.

"I'll be careful," the owner replied reassuringly. "We'll see you there."

Watching her husband going out to the parking lot through the space in the trailer Beckett turned to the mare and sat down, reaching up to carefully pat at its neck before she began to scratch at it as the truck started. The drive to the stable was uneventful and she knew she'd made the right choice to stay with the mare as it remained calm.

"Lupita," Charlie called while he was opening the back of the trailer. "Take it easy Rick," he called as the man was running up to him. "You'll scare the horse."

As he knew that his wife would be furious with him if he did that Castle nodded and waited for her to step out.

"I'm fine," Beckett told her husband as she wasn't surprised to find him there looking for her in obvious concern.

Watching her help the mare Castle followed them to the stable at the very end and watched Lupita take the horse. "What now?" he asked.

"She'll check on him with Wes," Charlie said. "I'm going to make some phone calls and see where the other four horses will go; then pick up the two horses I bought."

"She'll be okay now," Castle told his wife.

"I know, come on," Beckett said.

"Kate? Rick?" Jessica said as she walked over to the two. "Whose mare was that?"

"Ours now but she used to belong to the Swells Bay Stables," Beckett said.

"That explains why she looks like she does," Jessica said grimly. She then looked into the stable they were in front of and frowning said, "She's pregnant?"

"She is," Beckett answered.

When they were alone and watching the vets together with the mare Castle asked, "Are we going to name her?"

"We can't really, she's not going to be our horse," Beckett replied.

"Would you want to sell the ba-" Castle asked.

"No," Beckett said, cutting him off immediately.

"Of course, I was just checking," Castle said quickly at the stern tone of her voice. He then said, "Just because we'll have a surplus of horses." When she looked at him he said, "What you've always wanted."

"And I never set out to have," Beckett replied though she couldn't help smiling.

"I love your dreams though," Castle told her with a smile in reply.

Beckett shook her head; still smiling at him as she couldn't help it at his tone; and she leaned over; kissing him tenderly on the lips before they parted. "Thank you," she told him softly.

"It was our account," Castle said. "So our horse but you're welcome… should we buy the others?"

"Guys?" Charlie asked them as he walked up to them.

"What about the other horses?" Beckett asked him.

"We can place them with other stables and you guys will be getting your money back," Charlie replied. "I talked to the police and Brad is going to press charges on Ursula and the two stable hands. Their horses are essentially forfeit and we're all taking them in so…"

"Thank you," Beckett said.

"I'll be back," Charlie replied. "Jessica is going with me so would you be able to take care of things here?"

"We can," Castle said. When they were alone again he turned to his wife and said, "I-" before she was kissing him firmly on the lips.

"I'm sticking with my thank you to you," Beckett told him when they'd parted.

Nodding Castle said, "I forgot about the case."

"Me too," Beckett replied. She then saw that Wes was walking over to them and asked, "How is she?"

"The abscess is fairly recent so we should be able to take care of it," the vet replied. "But we want to take a look at the baby; unfortunately we don't have the equipment here so we need to grab it from the office."

"We'll stay here with her," Beckett said immediately.

"Luckily Brad will know why we're here," Castle commented before he walked after her into the stable. He watched her scratching the mare's face gently and then ears and smiled before he said, "Kate are you-"

"We have to ask Ursula who was the sire," Beckett interrupted.

"That's true… we'll have to ask Charlie what kinds of horses they had there," Castle said, knowing she didn't really want to talk. "Would it matter?"

"Of course," Beckett said, glancing at him.

"Right, sorry," Castle said, surprised when the mare began to nibble at his sleeve. "Why-"

"I think she could smell you on me," Beckett said. "Not sexually," she quickly said in Irish as her husband looked eagerly at her though she knew he was joking.

"I thought maybe…" Castle said before he trailed off. "Do you want to see Alex and Julius before we go back?"

"Quickly unless Brad needs us back there immediately," Beckett said. She then stepped away from the door and sighed saying, "I need some water."

"Yeah, I'll go get some," Castle replied before he jogged out of the building.

Sitting down on one of the chairs against the wall underneath the tack Beckett placed her forehead on her hand and sighed as she tried to think over everything that had happened since they'd arrived at the other stables. When her husband returned shortly after she said, "Were you running around?"

"I knew… where it was," Castle said, breathless.

Smiling when he sat next to her Beckett thanked him after taking a drink and then leaned against him as she watched the mare chewing on some hay.

"Should she be eating?" Castle asked.

"They didn't leave much, they have to stagger her meals or she might overeat and…" Beckett began before trailing off. She handed her husband the bottle he'd brought her and went to the mare, scratching at its ears again as she'd been able to discern she liked.

"Hey," Charlie said, appearing in the entrance then.

"Where are they?" Beckett asked, turning and going over to him.

"They're bringing them now," Charlie said as his wife was leading two stable hands with horses. "We've got a Thoroughbred and Hanoverian."

"Good additions," Castle said.

"I called Wes and Lupita and they're bringing more vets; these two are underfed too," Charlie said. "They all need checkups so you don't need to wait if you don't want to."

"Will you call us when they finish with ours?" Beckett asked him.

"Of course," Charlie replied.

After they'd thanked the owner again Castle and Beckett went together to their horses, the two whinnying loudly seeing them a second time. They only pet them before they left and made their way back to the station to return their attention back to their case.

"We cleared Mrs. Cora," Brad said as soon as the two appeared in his office. "And we checked out all the security cameras at the field and we saw this."

Going around the chief's desk so they could see his computer screen Castle was going to comment on the view of the camera when his friend was playing the clip. When it had finished, showing someone sneaking into the building, he said, "Aren't we a little far to see anything?"

"I think you need to realize what we can see, not what we can't," Brad said before he stood up. He went over to the murder board where there was a picture of the figure about to go into the room and he said, "You two didn't ask how you could get inside the room."

"We can see right there," Beckett commented. "A pebble in the rocks was the mechanism for opening the door."

"Hard to see, I'm surprised CSU found that," Brad said as the pebble was circled with red in the picture. "And by the way that's all they found. The killer covered their tracks… insanely well and cleaned up. They had the time for that of course which doesn't help us in the slightest."

"So what is it that we can see?" Beckett asked to get him back to the subject.

"Tech took a look at this and measuring the building they determined the killer is about five eight to five ten," Brad answered, pointing to the figure in the picture.

"Could be you love," Castle said.

Glancing at him Beckett said, though she knew he was joking, "Luckily Rebecca is my alibi."

"I could see you there on the fence too," Brad commented. "Also, tech cleared up the footage and zoomed in." He put a picture up on the board and said, "You can just see it."

"What the hell," Castle said when he saw what the killer was holding in their left hand. "The syringe?"

"It would explain the dosage," Brad said, nodding.

"And why they couldn't hide it on them," Beckett said. "And why there was bruising. Anything else?"

"CSU almost thought they got footprints around the building but they're on the wrong side from what the footage showed us," Brad replied. "They took some casts but I'm not sure we'd really be using them for the case."

"How's Sawyer?" Beckett asked.

"Sobering up," Brad said. "Ursula Morando is under arrest and so is Weimer but of course not for the case. And even if Sawyer isn't the killer then he'll be arrested too." He grew serious and asked them, "How's the horse?"

"She's being taken care of," Beckett replied with a slight sigh. "But she's lucky we got to her in time."

"You'll have two horses now," Brad said.

Before either she or her husband could answer that Beckett's phone rang and she pulled it out of her pocket to find it was Charlie. "Do you mind?" she asked the chief. When he shook his head, she answered and put it on speaker saying, "Is she alright?"

"Yeah, they just finished with her and I need your permission to allow them to take her to the clinic to keep for the procedure; they want her there overnight to keep an eye on her," the stable owner replied.

"Of course," Beckett said. "But besides that, will she be okay? The baby?"

"Its fine, they did a quick check on it and since you got to her when you did both it and the mare will be okay," Charlie replied.

Reaching over to place his hand on her back Castle watched Beckett remove her hand from her face and he then said to Charlie, "When will she be back at the stables?"

"It depends; tomorrow at the earliest I told them to call you and let you know since it's your horse," he replied.

"Thank you for calling us," Beckett said then as she noticed that Wade was standing at the doorway to the office. After she and Castle had said goodbye to Charlie they looked together over at the officer.

"Is he in any better shape?" Brad asked his officer.

"A little, he said he'll talk to you now chief," Wade said.

"Where was he when we were there?" Castle asked then after the officer had left.

"The loft of the barn," Brad replied. "Bernier was looking around with the others once we left and found a number of bottles there and some beer spilled around; fresh. Are you going to join me?"

"If you want us there," Beckett said first.

When the chief nodded they started to leave the office and Castle held his wife's arm to keep her back before he said, "When are you going to tell Julia?"

"When we get home, I'm not calling her now," Beckett said when she realized why he'd asked that exactly. She smiled and then said, "As soon as we get home," not surprised when he agreed with her by nodding before they continued after Brad to the box.


"That was fast," Martha said as she watched Julia walk up the steps to the patio.

"Yeah, they're gonna go out to dinner so I had to come back," the girl said with a smile. Julia shook out her umbrella as her grandmother instructed her to; though it wasn't raining anymore and the sun was just barely peeking out from the thinning clouds. She then bit her lower lip once she was inside the house and after she'd hugged her sister she said, "Something happened with Mommy and Daddy while I was with Mari and her family."

"You had a feeling that it did?" Martha asked.

"Yeah," Julia said, relieved that she didn't sound as if she doubted her.

"But you never know what happens do you?" Martha then said.

Sighing Julia sat on the couch and said, "It wasn't really bad but Mommy is worried… I think it's about Daddy."

"Call Mommy," Eliza suggested.

"But what if she's working on the case now? I think she is because I don't think she's worried so much anymore," Julia said.

"Try kiddo," Martha said. She watched as her middle granddaughter called on her own cell phone and wasn't surprised when she frowned. "You know what that means darling."

Sighing Julia said, "Yeah." Something seemed to come to her then and she asked brightly, "What if I go to the station?"

"I don't think you can do that," Martha said.

"No I could, I just into the lobby and ask if I can see my parents," Julia told her earnestly as she got back up. "I'll ride my bike and then go!"

"Wait, Julia," Martha said firmly.

"Please Gram," Julia begged her, holding her hands together even. "I need to find out I can't wait for them to come back home."

Though she was going to protest Martha finally sighed and said, "Alright but if it starts raining you'll turn around and come right back home."

"Oh I will, thank you Gram," Julia said quickly, hugging her tightly. She then went to the foyer and grabbed her rain slicker and put that on before she saw her sister was with her.

"I'm gonna go too," Eliza said firmly before a hand appeared on her shoulder.

"I can't let you do that Eliza," Martha told her.

"Gram," Eliza protested as she turned around to look at her, stretching the normally one syllable word into two.

"I'm sorry Eliza but your parents would be incredibly mad if I let you go," Martha said. "We'll wait for your sister to come back."

Waiting for her little sister to protest that Julia only moved when she saw that she wasn't going to say anything and grabbed her rain hat to take with her just in case. She hurried into the garage and put on her helmet before she looked at her grandmother and sister who had stepped inside. "I'll ride on the sidewalk and then I'll come back as fast as I can."

"Do you have your phone?" Martha asked as she watched her getting onto her bike, opening the garage door for her.

"Yep, thanks Gram," Julia said. "I'll tell Mommy and Daddy I didn't let you say no."

"Thank you," Martha laughed slightly. She watched as Julia rode away then and sighed saying, "I really hope your parents won't mind."

"No they won't," Eliza said. "Can we play another game Gram?" she asked.

"Sure," Martha replied as she quickly closed the garage door and led both the dogs and Eliza back inside, hoping she'd be alright on her trip even though the station wasn't too far away.


"Mr. Sawyer," Brad said as he was the first in the room. He sat with Beckett across the table while Castle leaned against the wall behind them and asked, "Any soberer than you were before?"

With a grunt Sawyer looked up at them and asked, "What is it?"

"Do you know who this woman is?" Brad asked, sliding across the picture of the vic.

"Oh yeah… Nancy," Sawyer replied with a smile. He then grew serious and said, "Why?"

"Did she tell you that was her name?" Beckett asked.

"Sure," Sawyer said. "I guess I shouldn't get so nostalgic," he replied with a sigh. "She let me feel her up but that was all I got before she stopped me."

"Felt… maybe you should go back to the beginning," Castle said as he could almost see that his wife and Brad felt the same confusion that he did.

"Okay, Saturday afternoon a lady came in," Sawyer began, drinking the coffee in front of him. "Her," he added, nodding to the picture.

"Came in where?" Beckett asked.

"Oh, the stable where I was," Sawyer replied. "At work. And she just started asking me questions about… a kid and thorns-"

"The Thornes?" Castle interrupted.

"Nah, thorns like in roses," Sawyer said. "She was obviously high so I just told her what I could and then she started getting all… sexy. At first I wasn't sure 'cause when I first saw her I thought she was a dude. But then I went along with it and we started making out before I felt up her tits and then she stopped. She tried to ask some questions again but I couldn't answer so she left."

"What were you doing before she came up to you?" Brad asked.

"Blacking some horses' hooves," Sawyer said with a shrug. "Why?"

"Where were you earlier today; between eleven and twelve thirty?" Brad then said.

"At work," Sawyer replied.

Without a word Brad stood up and followed Castle and Beckett out before they stepped more into the bull pen before he said, "What do you think?"

"If he felt her up that would explain the fingerprints," Beckett said.

"And the blackening on her body," Castle said. "But she never took a shower or anything?"

"She might not have," Brad said. "But what about the questioning?"

"I don't know," Beckett said first. "But I don't think she was high, she was searching for something. Something involving a kid."

"Yeah that bothers me too," Brad said. "I'm going to go ahead and check on his alibi. Can you two get in touch with Yearling, talk to her about anything the vic might have been searching for?"

"Of course," Beckett said before she and her husband watched him walk to holding where Ursula was.

"What are you thinking?" Castle asked, watching his wife.

"I think we need to look into her computer," Beckett replied.

"You're thinking that whatever she was searching for might be there?" Castle asked.

"Who were her contacts there," Beckett said. "Maybe there's something about a child; who knows."

"It's worth considering," Castle said, nodding his head in agreement.

They were just about to turn around to go to the office when they were stopped by Rice who hurried over to them. "There's someone here to see you," she told them.

"Who?" Castle asked, looking startled.

As her husband was asking that Beckett had turned to look out the window to the lobby and she saw soon after who it was. "Julia? Peter?" she asked in shock at the sight of their daughter.