Quick AN: you may have noticed a lack of updates lately. Well, my life is a little hectic at the moment, with the approach of the exam session at university. I've been holed up in labs most afternoons in the past couple of months and keeping up with updates isn't easy. Add the fact that Alex, my more than awesome beta, has a life herself and can't just live for every whim of mine, updates are kind of scattered. So, don't worry, the story is not abandoned. No need to send messages or reviews to ask for updates or if I've stopped writing. I haven't. Don't worry. I just have a life, and the moment fanfictions will start filling wallets I'll devote all my time to them, but up until that moment, university comes first.

Also in the span of six weeks both The Witcher Wild Hunt and Batman Arkham Knight are coming out so... well... those are distractions too. Sorry.


Chapter 11

The wait outside Exam Room 1 in the emergency room of Mount Sinai Hospital felt endless. Sitting in the uncomfortable plastic chair, his foot tapping furiously on the linoleum floor, he waited for news on Beckett's conditions. They had arrived thirty minutes earlier with an ambulance rushing down the streets as the detective lay on the stretcher, unconscious, blood pouring out pretty much everywhere.

When they arrived, Castle was pushed out of the way of the doctors and forced to remain in the waiting room. Esposito and Ryan had gone back to the precinct and put him in charge of calling them as soon as he knew anything about her. Montgomery had called, about ten minutes after they had arrived at the hospital, informing him that her father had been called and that he would arrive as soon as he could.

And there he was, alone in a place that stunk of blood, disinfectant, stale sweat and death. The awful mix saturated the air, making his stomach queasy. He hated waiting. He still felt the rush of adrenaline brought on Theresa Candela's chase and arrest, the feral need to just let self control go and change right in front of that bigoted bastard that thought her own daughter deserved to die for something she had no control over. People like that deserved to be forced to live with immortals every day of their life. Death was too kind for a punishment, no, people like Theresa Candela deserved to live surrounded by the people they despised.

How could people still believe they were monsters, after all those years spent fighting to clean the names of both vampires and werewolves, he didn't know. In 2009 people still believed vampires drink blood to survive and werewolves hunted in packs during the full moon, chewing on still warm corpses of poor men and women that were too unlucky to meet the werewolves on their way.

He was so lost in his thoughts he barely noticed a middle age man that sat beside him. He sat with his arms crossed, silent. A black leather briefcase rested between his legs. A lawyer, probably.

"Here for someone?" he asked, quietly.

"A friend," replied Castle, not exactly keen on talking.

"Oh. I'm here for my daughter."

"Hope it's nothing serious."

The man shrugged. "I don't know. Her boss called me about an hour ago. Apparently she collapsed when she was at work and she was brought here."

Castle rubbed his face. "Same thing happened to my friend."

The man chuckled. "Because your friend is my daughter." Then he extended his hand to him. "Jim Beckett. I finally have the chance to talk to the famous Richard Castle."

Shocked, the writer shook Jim Beckett's hand and shook it. "Sir I..."

"Don't, Mr. Castle. I know who you are. I've seen your face on the jacket's of my wife and daughter's book for years."

"Really?"

"Oh yes. But I'm not exactly here to talk about your books. Captain Montgomery wasn't specific, but I understood you were there, when Katie collapsed."

He nodded. "Yes but I can't tell you much. We've been investigating on a child kidnapping and... well, the FBI wasn't exactly cooperating."

"Mr. Castle, you don't need to sugar-coat the situation. I know about Will Sorenson, Montgomery informed me about that too."

"Oh, alright. I guess the only issue here is the fact that she remained exposed to sunlight for too long, without her meds, no sleep and little to no food except for mug after mug of coffee," he explained.

"That sounds a lot like Katie." He sighed. "I just hoped she would be smart enough to stop before... before something like this happened again."

Castle wanted to ask him when it had happened before, but the door of the exam room opened. A tall, slim nurse in blue scrubs appeared. "You two are here for Detective Beckett?"

Both men nodded, but only Jim stood. Castle knew that they weren't allowed to disclose personal medical information with him. The nurse held the door open for her father, then walked towards him and sat on the chair at his side. "You're the colleague she came in with?" he asked.

"Yes, but we're not related so I'm not going to ask about her conditions, I know your policies."

"Well, I can't tell you much, but I think I can bend the rules a little and tell you that she's going to be fine. By the way, I'm Greg McClintock."

"Richard Castle, pleased to meet you. Can you tell me what happened?" he asked. "I mean, in general. I'm not an expert on vampire related porphyria."

"Oh, at least you know about it." He nodded. "Let's see... vampire related porphyria is a complex genetic condition that causes various issues. The most famous and evident is the photosensitivity, closely followed by strong anemia that needs to be kept in check with daily iron supplements. But there are other issues, like gastrointestinal problems, usually triggered by prolonged sun exposure, coagulation issues and so on. Stress and forgetting to take prescription meds can make it worse."

"She mentioned her stomach hurt this morning."

The nurse nodded. "That is usually the beginning of an acute attack. If not treated quickly, it can quickly escalate to what happened to your friend. The healing factor typical of immortals goes on overdrive, it can't keep up with the injuries and it just shuts down. It has a limit, and it seems like even the lycanthropic healing factor has its own. When she collapsed, her healing abilities had just given up their fight. That's why she had blisters on her skin and looked sunburnt."

"And the bleeding from the eyes?"

"Coagulation went ballistics. It happens. She was having various hemorrhages when she arrived, but once we gave her a concentrated dose of the drugs used to keep the disease in check, things got better, she started healing on her own again, though the process is slowed down." Greg shook his head. "And here I am, telling you things you shouldn't technically know."

Castle shrugged. "I won't tell them, if you don't."

"That should be fine. Since I've already spilled it, she needs some fresh blood. Right now, she's been given a homologous blood transfusion, in the next few hours she will be given platelets and red blood cells, in order to replenish her system. Then, if her blood work will be good enough, she'll be released with the instructions for a three day program to follow at home, then things will be back to normality. If the blood work isn't good, she will be given more blood and tests will be repeated."

"Are you sure she's going to be fine?"

He nodded. "Positive. She's strong, don't worry about it. Now, I have to go. The doctors are filling her father in with what I already told you, only in a more detailed way. You can ask him if you want those details."

Castle shook his head. "No thank you, I'm fine knowing she will get better."

"Alright. Have a nice day Mr. Castle and don't worry, everything will be OK."

Then he walked down the hallway, leaving him alone. Not for long though, as Jim Beckett came out of the exam room, followed by a small squad of doctors. They said goodbye and walked in the same direction of the nurse.

"You can go inside if you want," said Jim, picking up his case.

"You're not staying?"

He chuckled. "She wouldn't want me here. She knows I've got a big case going on and if she knew I came here she'd be mad as hell. And believe me, you don't want to see Katie mad. I've authorized the staff here to refer to you, in case she needs anything."

"But... you barely know me, how can you..."

"Mr. Castle, please. I've seen how worried you are about my daughter, even though you know about her condition. You can take care better care of her, because she trusts you. Just don't let her fool you with the whole I don't need your help act, she'll need all the help she can get. This attack was bad."

"I don't understand though... why can't you..."

"Katie is a very proud woman. The first time she refused to be helped by me or her mother when she got sick, and despite her condition it has happened, was when she was six. She wouldn't want me to hover. I still tend to treat her like a little girl and she doesn't like it, she says it makes her feel like an unworthy being, even though that's not my intention. But she respects you, and I have a feeling she would prefer to be helped by someone closer to her age."

Castle nodded. "Alright, I'll take care of her."

"Good. Tell her to call me when she's up for it."

Leaving a dumbstruck Castle behind, Jim Beckett disappeared down the hallway, briefcase in hand, and a very distinct slouch of his shoulders. Leaving his daughter in a cold, foreign hospital hurt him more than he tried to show. That man deserved a medal for leaving his hurt, only daughter alone when in need, because he knew she simply didn't want him there.

He wondered if Alexis would ever do something like that, asking him to leave her alone in a moment of need, just out of pure pride.

Not that he wanted to think about it, actually.

Despite knowing it was against the rules, he stood and silently walked inside the exam room. The curtains were shut to keep sunlight out, and the bright white lights blinded him for a moment. The smell of blood mixed with anticoagulant was even more intense in there and that made him feel a little nauseated, but nothing that a couple of deep, steadying breaths couldn't cure.

Beckett was still unconscious, her blood-stained clothes had been removed and changed with a plain, stark white gown. The heart monitor beeped steadily beside her, and the bag of blood Greg had mentioned was hooked to the IV stuck in her left hand, kept in place by a thick band of gauze and medical tape. The bed was too big for her, it nearly swallowed her lithe form, and he couldn't help but growl angrily as he noticed her skin was still matted with dried blood where it had poured when her body had just shut down due to stress and sun exposure. Her face was streaked with red, down her cheeks and the corners of her mouth. Even from her nostrils, though the nasal cannula that helped her breathing hid the stains. The sheets beneath her were stained too.

"How the fuck could they leave you like this..." he murmured, pulling a stool from the corner of the room. He noticed a clean steel bowl near a sink then, and to hell with rules he just couldn't leave her in that pitiful state. She would probably be embarrassed as hell when she'd woken up after she had collapsed, being left with blood smears everywhere would only add insult to injury.

Still careful not to be too loud, he filled the small bowl with warm water, grabbed a pack of clean gauze and with firm but gentle hand, proceeded to slowly clean the reddish-brown blots from her skin.

"And how could you let this happen, I don't know. I get it, you're an all-or-nothing type of cop, but we're talking about your health here!" he whispered, as he cleaned her cheek. "You managed to overwork your healing factor, to the point it just shut down!"

No response, of course. Not that he was expecting any, he had the feeling Beckett could be a stubborn one, when faced with these kind of issues. That and the fact that she had to face her ex boyfriend, all while working the case of a kidnapped kid, probably triggered a destructive chain reaction that prevented her to stop recklessly going forward, although her body begged her to just give up and pass the baton to someone else. Someone that could walk in broad daylight without risking burning to a crisp.

And he had foolishly offered to help her look for Theresa, long after the vampire safe time zone had ended, despite knowing she was already in pain.

She was probably still healing after all those damn trips upstate for the case they had finished just three days earlier. That had forced her to stay out in the sun for longer than usually considered safe for a vampire.

"Your dad says hi, by the way," Castle whispered, wiping the now pinkish gauze on her neck to clean it.

"Is he here?"

Her voice was barely a murmur, he wouldn't probably pick it up, if it wasn't for his own finer-than-average hearing. She didn't open her eyes though, the bright artificial light probably hurt them.

"No, he went away about thirty minutes ago. Said he was sure you didn't want him here to hover on you."

She let out a strained sigh. "And he was right. He left you here to deal with the too proud vampire that refuses help from anyone?" she asked.

"He said I shouldn't let you fool me with the I don't need your help gig. Was he right?"

She nodded, though it was just a minute movement of her head. "Yeah, he got it right. So, are you going to let me fool you?"

Castle shook his head. "No way. You're too weak anyway, I'm stronger, I can literally force you to lie on your bed and rest there."

"You know it sounds a lot like sexual harassment?"

"If I offended you in any way, please, forgive me, it wasn't my intention. But I mean it, I know you have to follow a strict program to go back to health and that you need rest. And I also know you won't rest, unless someone forces you."

"Wow, you met me less than two months ago and you already know that?"

He chuckled. "Not that hard to understand that. Also, werewolves have a greatly developed sense of empathy too. It's pretty easy to know someone, even just by observing them, for us."

She finally opened her eyes. They were bloodshot and crimson rimmed, dulled by the pain and the meds. Her body was paying a high price for her recklessness, that was sure. "So, what are you going to do?"

"For now I'm cleaning up this mess. The doctors and nurses left you covered in blood and seriously, it was a grisly sight that I really wish I won't see in the future. After that, I'm going to call Montgomery, and by proxy the boys, and inform them that you're awake and on your way to health, then I'll wait with you until you are released. I'll run errands like fetching you something to drink or eat in case you're hungry or thirsty and stuff like that. When you're released, I'll make sure you go home, get your meds and rest."

"Sounds like you planned it to the tiniest detail."

Another nod. "Hell yeah I did. I just need to inform Alexis and Mother, but I highly doubt they'll mind if I stay out tonight."

"And where are you planning to stay?" she asked, not without a tad of glee in her voice.

"Your couch, I think. Your father asked me to take care of you, and that's what I want to do."

Beckett sighed. "I'm too tired to argue with that. Fine, you can stay at my place. It's only right, after all I crashed at your place not too long ago."

"Let's not make it about who crashed where and when," he said. "Let's make it more something in the mood of I desperately need to finish a book and you need someone to help you, let's combine the two things."

She nodded and rubbed her eyes with the back of the unoccupied hand. "Just this time though. And only because you need to finish that book."

"Admit it, you want spoilers."

"No thank you, I prefer to be completely spoiler-free when I read it. I'd be happy to have a sneak peek for the first official draft though."

"It will be done. First copy out of the printing machine it's yours, I'll make sure of that."

Beckett fell back to sleep after a while, and Castle decided to use that time to do some phone calls. First, he contacted Jim to reassure him about his daughter's improving condition, then it was time for Montgomery. The captain was worried out of his mind and was more than happy to hear from Castle, even more when he actually brought good news to the bustling precinct. He also gave him a quick update on Theresa Candela's situation, so Beckett could be kept informed too, and told him that Lanie was on her way to the ER to give Beckett a set of clean clothes.

He kept the most important call last. His daughter picked up her cell phone pretty much instantly. "Hey Dad, are you alright?"

"Hi Pumpkin, yeah I'm just fine, you?"

"Same old, I'm studying for my calculus test. Did you find the kid?"

"Oh, yes, actually we found her a couple of hours ago and got the kidnapper too. Case closed. Listen... in the process of arresting the perp," he willingly omitted the fact that it was Angela's own mother. "Beckett got hurt. She's at Mount Sinai ER right now, I'm here with her."

"Is she going to be alright?" Alexis sounded sincerely worried.

"Yes, she's going to be just fine, just nasty side effect of her condition, you know, sun and everything."

"I can imagine. It's not like you can be picky when chasing down a child kidnapper."

"Exactly. Do you mind if I stay out and help her tonight? Doctors said she can't be alone and her father can't stay. And apparently, she doesn't want him to stay too."

He heard her chuckle. "Dad, you haven't asked my permission to stay out in ages. What's going on?"

"Nothing! Seriously, it's just that... I thought it would be somewhat polite to ask, I mean, I don't want this thing to disrupt your life more than it already does."

"Dad, you coming home from a party with lipstick marks on your shirt disrupts my life. You having one-night-stands with groupies who only want to get in your pants and never even read one line of your books disrupts my life. Not you staying with Detective Beckett because she needs help. Now tell me what I need to pack in your bag and I'll come at Mount Sinai to hand it over."

"You're perfect, you know that?"

"Must have got that from your father."

"Ouch, that hurt!" he joked.

"I know. Give me an hour, I'll be there as soon as I can."

Lanie came and went, leaving a duffle bag and a very stern warning to Castle to take care of his girl in her trail. The ME chatted a little bit with Kate, getting all the reassurance she needed after what had happened. After the first bag of blood her condition had slightly improved, but the doctors were waiting for the rest of the treatment before declaring her free to go home. That meant two bags of platelets and one of concentrated red blood cells, and a bag of saline solution with blood clotting drugs to replenish the clotting factors lost when her healing system shut itself down. It took three more hours, during which Alexis arrived to hand Castle his overnight bag and his laptop so he could work and chatted a little bit with Kate.

"I hope you don't mind if I borrow your dad for a night."

"Detective, you can borrow him every time you need, most of all during finals. And if it means he's going to finish Heat Wave, he can stay out every night for all I care."

"Oh daughter of mine, you wound me with your words!" he whined, melodramatically.

That made Beckett laugh. "Oh Castle, I'm pretty sure she's saying it only for your own good."

The teen nodded. "And mine too. I mean, now that Gina's out of the picture, she can't be a vulture on his back, pushing him to send in chapter after chapter like a robot, so she calls at every hour to push him."

"No wonder they divorced..." she murmured.

"Hell yes, home has been extremely quiet since Gina left," replied Alexis. "But I digress and I have to go back and finish homework. Take care Detective, and if Dad misbehaves, just shoot him. He can take it."

Beckett laughed. "Come on, call me Kate. Or Beckett. But not Detective. At least when we're not at the precinct. Now go back, I think I can take care of a big cuddly wolf."

"Oh, you're right about him being cuddly. Just make sure he won't sneak into your bed."

That sounded a lot like a threat, to Castle. "Alright Pumpkin. Time to go home. Say hi to Grams from me, OK?"

His daughter nodded and hugged him. "And you behave, please. Be a gentleman."

He shrugged. "I was actually thinking about ordering Chinese take away and watch a movie. You think it's gentlemanly enough?"

Another blood bag transfused and a full set of tests later, finally by six PM Kate was officially discharged, with a strict follow up program to follow, meaning three days in a screened environment, no sun exposure allowed. Eating right and taking her drugs were mandatory and she wasn't allowed to be alone for at least 24 hours.

"Turns out I do really need your help," said Kate as she got dressed. Castle was behind the curtain that separated her bed from the rest of the room.

"You can always call your father."

"Nope. He's working on a big case, some class action against a corporation that uses child laborers and such. He doesn't have time. Where do you think I got the dedication to the job?"

"I don't know, your mother maybe?"

She had to agree with him. "Yeah, from her too. OK, I'm ready."

Castle pulled the curtain and walked beside her, hooking his arm around hers to help her. She hated it, but she really needed his help, even for walking out of this place. She had adamantly refused to be escorted to the exit on a wheelchair and her fierceness for once had granted her wish.

"Let's go home then, the car is already waiting for us," he stated. "I made sure the driver parked in a shadowed area."

As they started walking out, with Castle holding both her and their bags, she cringed. Her stomach still hurt, she swooned and wobbled a little bit as they walked down the busy corridors of the ER to the exit. Castle though never let her fall. He held tightly on her, but discretely. His massive presence made her feel safer, not as weak and powerless she usually felt during or after an acute attack.

On their way home, she nearly fell asleep while Castle arranged for dinner from what she heard, he ordered enough food for a regiment, while she dozed off against the cool, screened window. But when it was time to get out of the car and to the elevator, there were no blood transfusion that could help her, she was still too weak. As they waited in the lobby for the elevator, she had to lean more onto him to stay up.

"Hey, hey don't pass out on me again," he murmured, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and the other beneath her knees and picking her up. "You could have told me you didn't feel well."

"I hoped I could get at least to the apartment," she sighed, leaning against his shoulder. "Didn't want to embarrass myself."

"My dear Detective, it takes way more than passing out be embarrassing, at least in my opinion." The elevator finally arrived in the lobby. "Come on, let's get you on a flat surface, I'm pretty sure you'll feel better."

She guided him to her door, and he deftly opened the lock while still holding her. His superhuman strength surely helped a lot with that acrobatic feat. Immediately, he walked in the living room and gently laid her on the couch. She toed her shoes off and sighed in relief.

"Is there anything you need?" he asked.

"Just the blanket over there, I think I'll rest for a little before dinner comes in."

He nodded, and quickly spread the blanket over her. She snuggled beneath it, pulling it up to her chin. "It should be here in an hour or so. You want to take a nap or something?"

"Might not be a bad idea. Kitchen right there and the bathroom is just down the hallway. Don't even try to wander around in my bedroom or I swear I'll shoot you."

"I suppose you have a backup gun, because your service piece was taken by Esposito when you collapsed."

She groaned. "Yeah, well, who cares? I'll find a way to hurt you. Now let me sleep for a while."

She was out until the doorbell rang. She opened one eye and saw Castle setting his laptop on the floor and walk to the door. She had to admit he had a great butt, and that particular pair of jeans made it look even better. Giggling softly, she pictured him in the dressing room of one of those incredibly expensive stores looking for the perfect pair that would make his butt stand out. But as he came back with two bags full of styrofoam containers, the bulge of his biceps beneath the plain black t-shirt made her mind wander back to that day when he had practically undressed, just before changing.

Damn that writer was hot.

"Hey sleepyhead, how do you feel?" he asked, setting the bags on the coffee table.

She rubbed her hands on her eyes. In the dim light, they didn't feel like they were on fire anymore. "Better. I think. Wow... you ordered for the whole precinct?"

He started pulling the boxes out. "I like variety. And while you were dead to the world, no pun intended, I took the liberty to go to the grocery store down the street and fill your fridge and pantry."

"Castle, I can take care of myself," she whined. "Hand over the noodles, thanks."

He set the box in her hands, with a pair of chopsticks. "Do you need to take your meds before or after a meal?" he asked.

"There's no rule. It's not like they can cause an ulcer or something, but I usually take them after I eat something, just out of habit." She took a mouthful of noodles and moaned at the heavenly taste. "Oh God where did you order?"

"Fa Zhu," he said, before taking a bite of his own portion of chilli noodles.

"No way, Fa Zhu doesn't deliver!"

"On special occasions, he does. Most of all when a rather decent mystery writers puts his struggle with the Triads on paper as a tribute to his restaurant."

"Oh come on you can't tell me that Storm's Last Stand's restaurant owner story is tailored on Zhu's!"

He shrugged. "Not tailored. I just borrowed something. He liked it though, so I can order in, from time to time. I usually go and eat there, Alexis loves his Kung Pao chicken."

"So do I. Damn, you really have some influence here and there!"

"I ordered double, just in case. I was thinking... you want to go and take a shower after dinner, while I clean up? We can watch a movie later, if you want."

"The idea sounds good. Have an idea?"

"No, but I have Netflix. It's not like you have much to watch, except for Disney movies. I didn't think you were one for videogames though."

She chuckled. "I was closed in my room most of the time, sometimes even a bookworm like me wants to do something different."

"I see. Favourite game?"

"It's a tie between Tomb Raider III and Fallout 3. And Morrowind"

"Wow, you like action role play games! I like it. Waiting for anything in particular now?" he asked.

"I pre-ordered Batman Arkham Asylum. And I'm kind of curious about Dragon Age: Origins, but that comes out around Christmas, there's time. Pass the chicken, please."

They ate as they talked about books and movies, of what they wanted to watch later, and when they were stuffed, Castle started cleaning up, giving Beckett enough time to take a shower. Given her current state of weakness, she cut it short, staying under the relaxing warm spray of water just enough to wash away the grime and some of the stress away. It wasn't enough though, as she felt that weight over her shoulders become only slightly lighter when she came out of the bathroom, her still wet air dripping on her purple oversized t-shirt. Sighing, she walked to the living room again and found Castle with his laptop prompted on his thighs typing away on the keyboard.

"So, you chose a movie?" she asked sitting on the couch.

"I was waiting for you actually. Any suggestions?"

She shrugged. "I don't know... I'm not up for anything too heavy tonight."

"The Dark Knight?" he proposed.

Beckett shook her head. "No please. That's exactly the kind of movie I don't want to watch tonight. Though I wouldn't mind Batman Returns. I've got the DVD somewhere."

She made to stand up but Castle stopped her and followed her instructions on where she kept her movies. "You really like superheroes, I saw your comic stash, you keep it right beside my books."

"That's only half of it. The rest is near the sex toys."

Groaning, he stopped in his tracks and looked at her. "You keep your comics near your sex toys? Isn't it a little anti hygienic?"

"No Castle," she laughed. "God, you're so easy. I was kidding. The rest is back at my dad's place. This is only for recent stuff, I've got the older comics back in my old bedroom."

"Better. Oh, I found it. Do you have a player or we have to use the PlayStation?"

"PlayStation. And before we start, let me take my meds. I don't want to forget them again."

Michelle Pfeiffer had just transformed in Catwoman the first time and claimed her first victim when Castle stood and went to the kitchen. "You want a beer?"

She shook her head. When he returned, he sat in his corner, careful not to touch her. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Since when do you ask me if you can?"

"It's about your mother," he stated.

He noticed her eyes darkened at the mention. "Don't tell me you went looking into her case."

"No. I just googled what happened, since I couldn't remember it. And that's weird because I'm good at remembering things like this. There was little to nothing on the news at the time, and that's even more weird because she was a well known personality!"

Sighing, Kate nodded. "I know. Except for the obituary and a couple other short articles, her murder wasn't ever mentioned in the news. Not even the local ones."

"Now that's weird. Not even the immortal community mentioned it?"

"If they did, I never heard of them. It's like she had never existed. She was murdered in the most gruesome way and no one talked about it. The police dismissed it as random gang violence and all I've got left is her memory and the smell of her killer firebranded in my memory."

"The smell of her killer?"

Beckett closed her eyes and snuggled beneath the blanket again. "Yes. When my dad and I went to the morgue to officially identify her, they hadn't done the autopsy yet, all the smells were still intact. I could smell her perfume, her shower gel, her shampoo and her conditioner but most of all could smell at distinct masculine scent, a mix of cologne, deodorant, stale sweat and stout beer. Like someone that worked in an Irish pub or lived with someone working in one," she explained. "The cologne though wasn't cheap, not that nasty smell that some cheap colognes have and makes me want to puke even my first peanut butter sandwich."

"That's quite specific."

She nodded. "Hell yeah it's specific. And it's why I didn't buy the random gang violence act. My mother was killed by someone rich, or someone that wanted to look like he was rich. And the autopsy report was altered, there are signs on the paper."

"Have you had Lanie look at it?"

"Nah, no need. It's a cold trail. I can't ask her to get into this, I don't want to jeopardize her career. Someone asked a lot of favors to have the murder downplayed, if that someone catches wind I'm investigating I don't know what will happen to those that help me."

He took a sip of beer and looked back at the screen. "What if I ask a friend to take a look at it?"

"Who?"

"The retired medical examiner that has helped me with all the details about dead bodies since I wrote Unholy Storm."

"Is he trustworthy?"

He nodded. "Never released a spoiler in ten years. I guess he is."

"I don't know Castle... why are you even doing this?"

"Because if my mother had been murdered like yours you'd do the same," he said. "And I doubt you'd stop just because people downplayed it as a random act of gang violence. Not after I've seen you totally disregard your own health to save a baby girl from her mother. He might not find anything, but you never know."

She sighed. "I'll get you a copy of the file. Just promise me that if he doesn't find anything worth it you'll drop it."

"Deal."

They went back at watching the movie, until the credits rolled in and Castle saw Beckett had fallen asleep on the couch. Not brave enough to wake her up, he placed the now empty beer bottle beside his laptop and picked her up, carrying her to her bedroom. He slowly set her down to roll the covers down so he could tuck her in. She didn't even move, as exhausted as she was. He closed the curtains and left her room so she could rest.

Once back in the living room, he made himself comfortable on the couch and opened the laptop again. He fell asleep while writing a scene that had Nikki and Rook completely in the dark, their shapes merging with the shadows around them.