A/N – My sincerest apologies for the long layoff. The spring of 2015 will go down in history for having the most weddings, baptisms, as well as high school and college graduations, ever. (How many grad parties are too many?) Thank you for all the reviews, comments, queries, and messages. I'll respond to them asap. I will be traveling next week, but should then be able to resume my (ab)normal schedule next month.

Tuesday, September 21st - 8:35 am

(the morning after the incident)

Castle exited the precinct's elevator, a coffee in each hand. Ryan looked up and spotted him immediately, giving his partner a heads up by exclaiming "Well, well, look what the cat drug in."

Esposito swiveled in his chair, and gave out a low whistle while taking in Castle's attire. "Hey, Castle, you don't need to get all dressed up for an interrogation. We're planning on grilling you, not toasting you."

Castle paused at their desks long enough to look down his nose at his friends. "Gentlemen, please try to curb your jealousy. If either of you could look half this good in Armani, you'd wear it to bed."

"Castle, if I spent half as much as you did for that suit, I'd never take it off. Hell, I'd probably bathe in it." Esposito motioned towards his side. "How's the hero's war wound?"

Castle grimaced. "Well, I know it's there. It doesn't hurt as much as ache."

Ryan grinned. "I always thought it would be Beckett that shot you. You know, Castle, if you lost a few pounds, that bullet would have missed you entirely."

Castle sneered at Ryan, but quickly resumed his sunny demeanor. "Ryan, I have no need to lose weight. Just having a 'through and through' bullet wound adds so much to my 'SQ', it makes me practically a god."

Esposito asked "SQ?"

Ryan answered. "Sexy quotient." At his partner's look, he shook his head and said "It's … Australian. Don't ask." Ryan looked around then dropped his voice. "Castle, what's going on with Beckett? Since she got back from visiting you in the hospital, she's been really off, y'know?"

"Yeah, Bro, did you two get into it or something?"

"No. Actually, her visit went a lot better than I had any reason to expect. Answered some questions." At their looks of disbelief he added, "Look, guys, it's not my story to tell, but by the end of the day I'm sure you'll have figured at least some of it out. Come to think of it, I may need your help with something this morning." Both detectives automatically started shaking their heads, denying any aid to whatever Castle was planning, so he added "It's not for me, it's for her."

He nodded at the stairs as Beckett emerged from the stairwell, a stack of files clenched under one arm. She made a beeline for Castle. Well, actually for the coffee in Castle's hand. She beamed a smile and said "Hey, Castle, looking good. How you feeling?"

"Better. How are you?"

"Okay. Is that for me?" she asked, and reached a hand out.

"No." Her hand froze in mid-grab, her smile evaporating. Castle gave it a couple of seconds, then said "Just kidding! Here." while handing the coffee over to her.

Ryan just stared at Castle, as Esposito asked, "How is it you're still alive?"

Castle raised an eyebrow. "Divine provenance? Implacable fate? A gift to you all from benevolent gods?"

Beckett rolled her eyes. She addressed her teammates. "Have you guys gotten anything at all from the financials or phone records?"

They both shook their heads. Ryan explained. "Not yet. Warrant was just approved for Maya's records, so we should get them in a few."

"While we wait we were just going to drag 'God's Gift' here into the back room and interrogate the shit out of him." Esposito really could deliver an evil smile. "I bet we can make him cry without wrinkling his pretty suit."

Castle grinned. "Sorry, Javier, but your window of opportunity just slammed shut on your stubby little fingers." He looked at Beckett, then jerked his head towards her desk. "Got a sec?"

"Sure, Rick." She looked at the two detectives. "Don't worry, boys, you'll have lots of time later to make him cry. C'mon, God's Gift."

As the two walked away, the detectives gave each other a look. "Rick?" they both mouthed, stunned by the use of his first name, and Castle's easy demeanor. After the past summer, they were both wondering 'What the hell is going on?!' Major changes were afoot. They tried not to be too obvious in their eavesdropping.

Castle stopped in front of the murder board behind Beckett's desk and frowned. "Poor Maya. I wish I could have helped her." They leaned against her desk, inches apart, in what was once their 'usual' positions.

"Maybe you still can. Help us out. Give her some closure."

He glanced at her, but sidestepped the suggestion. "What are those?" he asked, indicating the files she'd set on her desk.

"Unsolveds. Women in the metropolitan area killed with a handgun in their homes."

Castle got that glazed, far-away look he always got when thinking hard, and Beckett felt a familiar thrill. She'd always been amazed by Castle's mind. She thought she was just as smart as her ex-partner, but her mind was more of a difference engine, measuring truths, falsehoods, and all the shades of grey in between. Castle's mind was a possibilities engine, weaving cause and effect together to create possibilities, and sometimes even plausible theories.

He was shaking his head. "I don't see this as a serial, Beckett. Maya was forewarned about something, so it was neither spontaneous nor unexpected."

"I agree. But as I'm sure you remember, Castle, we dot all the 'I's and cross all the 'T's."

He nodded. "I know you do. This is probably going to sound a little sick, but I actually miss seeing your murder boards."

"No, not 'sick'. 'Depraved', maybe. Definitely 'disturbing'. But I don't think it's 'sick'." Beckett took a drink of coffee, then lowered her voice to keep from being overheard. "Thanks for sending me your video. We were lucky you caught us in frame when you were reaching for the table. It's askew, but you can definitely tell Demming drew down on you." She couldn't tamp down her smile as she commented "You know, only you would get a video of yourself getting shot."

Castle smirked. "That's undoubtedly due to my watching way too many episodes of 'Cops' late at night."

"I'm not sure how much the video will help. Everybody will be able to see the whole thing, and I did grab him right when the shot went off."

"You? A highly decorated Detective-One and homicide team leader with no motive (unless of course the boys told somebody on the board about your oft repeated threat to shoot me)? Versus a detective second and homicide rookie who, according to Esposito's and Ryan's statements, had displayed serious animosity towards me in the past? I think you may have saved my life, Beckett."

"You think it'll be enough to hang Demming"?

"In and of itself, no. He's got too much juice. We did some digging, and found the board actually has one of his IAD relatives on it. However, I have laid plans for both before and after the inquiry, so that your partner is going to be hit with a lot of problems simultaneously. I'm confident that it'll be more than he can handle."

Beckett stared into Castle's eyes, her voice tight. "He's not my partner, Castle. He's never been my partner. That position is, unfortunately, still open."

He stared back into her fiery gaze. He took a breath, but before he could say anything his phone went off. He answered quickly. "Castle." After a second, he said, "Great! We're at Beckett's desk on the fourth floor. Do you remember where it is?" After another brief pause he continued "Okay, see you in a minute" and hung up the phone. At Beckett's inquiring look, he explained "I've called for reinforcements. They're on their way up."

"What? Reinforcements? Castle!"

Castle knew she was nervous, about the pictures Demming still had, about anyone else seeing them, about yesterdays shooting, about just about everything. She had always hated not being in control of the situation. He sighed and asked, "Beckett, I've got this. Do you trust me, or has something changed since yesterday?"

Her answer was longer in coming then before, but was the same as it was in his hospital room yesterday. "Yeah, Castle, I trust you. Even with my career." She sighed, and dipped her eyes. "Rick, I know you're still really upset with me, and for good reason. I have to ask, why are you doing this for me?"

Castle gave her flabbergasted. "Do you really have to ask, Detective? Do you remember what I said to you my last day?"

"Every word."

"Well, I meant every word."

That coaxed a small smile from her, and her gaze intensified. "Remind me to tell you the changes in me you provoked in our two years of working together." She took a deep breath. "What now?"

"Did you reserve the conference room?"

"Yes, we have it all morning. What else can I do?"

She looked up as the elevator dinged, and disgorged a pretty young blonde woman in a severely tailored business ensemble wheeling a small suitcase; a white haired gentleman in an expensive suit that Beckett recognized with surprise, who was carrying a slim leather briefcase; and the smiling face of FBI Special Agent Jason Avery. Beckett hadn't seen Agent Avery since the Scott Dunne case, but instantly recognized Jordan Shaw's partner. She thought the woman looked familiar, too, but couldn't place her. She gave a little grunt of surprise. "Interesting reinforcements, Castle." Avery waved to Ryan and Esposito as he passed them, and strode over to Beckett's desk.

Castle, responding to her earlier question, answered "I may need one of the boys for errands this morning. Nothing too taxing, just a sympathetic badge. Other than that, all you need to do is meet the team, and then keep your distance." They walked around Beckett's desk, and Castle shook Avery's outstretched hand. "Hi, Jason." He stepped away and gestured towards the big man. "Detective, I believe you remember Special Agent Avery."

"Of course!" She shook his hand with a smile, but with puzzled eyes. "Great to see you again."

"Nice to be seen, Detective."

Castle turned to the pretty blonde. "It's Agent Crawford, right?" As they shook hands he added "I'm glad to see your hands have warmed up."

That was more than enough hint for Beckett to remember the blonde from the Candela case. She, too, shook the woman's hand. "Hello again, Agent Crawford."

"Good morning, Detective, and you can call me Liz."

"Okay. I'm Kate."

Beckett turned slightly towards the older man as Castle put his big hand on the smaller man's shoulder. "Detective Beckett, may I present to you the attorney that inspired the movie classic 'Shark-nado', Mr James McDougal."

Beckett blazed a smile at the distinguished gentleman. "Counselor, it's nice to see you again!"

"You too, Detective. When Rick told me who this little exercise was to aid, I jumped at the chance to help."

"You two know each other?" The puzzled expression on Castle's face was new, in her experience.

McDougal grinned at his client. "Detective Beckett was nice enough to use an entire day off to be deposed in a wrongful death suit, in which I was successfully representing the family."

Kate gave a little shake of the head. "Before your time, Castle. A high-powered Wall Street broker was expanding his business into extortion and murder." She smirked at the attorney. "I understand he now has to borrow money just to be able to use the prison commissary."

The lawyer grinned back at her. "The moral of the story, of course, is that it's very expensive to piss you off, Detective. A point I'm confident we'll reinforce today." He turned to look at Castle. "Rick, I'm meeting Councilman Aronoff across the street for coffee in a few minutes. I need you to review and sign the affadavid first."

"Okay, Jim, the conference room is this way." He glanced back at his ex-partner. "Be right back."

Beckett turned to Avery and asked conversationally, "How's Jordan?"

"She's great. We were stuck in Houston for half the summer, but we finally caught the guy! She's teaching a class down at Quantico this week. So, I happened to be in town and available, and Rick is cashing in a favor."

"Favor?" Beckett was wondering if that favor was saving the man's life, and that of his partner's, this past winter. She sincerely hoped not, because that went against every code of conduct she believed in. She frowned in Castle's general direction.

Avery saw the look, and explained, "My twin daughters applied to a private school that happens to be the same school that Alexis Castle attends, and where Richard Castle is a PTO Board member. He was nice enough to write a letter of recommendation, which helped immensely."

"Oh." Castle was on a parent-teacher board? The man continued to surprise her.

"Of course, like Castle's lawyer, when I heard about this situation, and who we were helping, I volunteered immediately. According to Rick, we're the federal version of your team, so we need to stick together and help each other out. Plus, I still owe you for saving my life, my partner's life, and the whole freaking FBI hostage rescue team."

Agent Crawford's eyebrows shot up. "What? When was this?"

Beckett waved her hand, dismissing his comment. "Agent Avery's team tried to take over a case from us this past winter. We ended up working together, and, after a little excitement, got the guy. No big deal." She changed the subject. "How did Castle get you here, Liz?"

"He didn't. Jason explained what he wanted to do, and since he has absolutely no clue about cellular technology, I offered to help. Plus, it was an opportunity to work with Richard Castle again." She gave Beckett a sultry grin. "A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do."

Great. Another fan girl. Speaking of the devil, she could see Castle emerge from the conference room with McDougal. The lawyer started briskly towards the elevators, while Castle more or less sauntered back over towards her desk. As he walked past Ryan and Esposito, they jumped up and joined him, eventually crowding around her desk with the two feds. Esposito asked, "Hey, Boss, what's up?"

"I'm sure you two remember Special Agent Jason Avery from the Dunne case. This is Special Agent Liz Crawford. Liz, this is my team, Detectives Javier Esposito and Kevin Ryan." As they all nodded to each other, Beckett became a little tongue-tied. "We're, um, ..." She looked up at Castle for assistance.

"We're doing a joint FBI - NYPD exercise to examine and modify certain team dynamics ..." At their confused looks, he added " ... by ripping Demming a new one."

This produced a smile from both of them. Ryan enthusiastically said "Good Luck" to them, then turned to his boss. "Ah, Beckett, I think we've got something. We just got the phone records back on our vics. Turns out, they did have a connection. They both received phone calls from the same number within hours of their deaths."

"Were you able to run it down?"

Esposito responded "Yeah, it traced back to a Todd McHutchin. He's got priors including a robbery and domestic assault."

She stared at them, then asked "Well, you got an address?"

"Of course we've got an address."

"Okay, I'll take one of you with me to pick him up, while the other one stays here and runs the financials. He may also be asked to provide these agents some assistance as well." She looked at Avery, then Crawford, then finally Castle. "Do you folks have a preference which of these jokers you want to work with?"

Avery shrugged. "It's your team, detective."

Castle suggested "Oh, I know, Beckett! Give us the ugly one."

This produced smiles from the feds, and glares from the NYPD members. 'Classic Castle', she thought to herself, 'trying to put me on the spot with the boys.' She squinted at the author, the hint of a smile forming on her lips. "Ahh! There's the 12 year old we all know and love. Welcome back, Castle." She turned to her detectives, who were busy exchanging a look. She mentally reviewed her comment, and silently cursed her phrasing. "Okay, Ryan, you come with me. Detective Esposito! I believe one of your tasks today was to thoroughly interrogate yesterday's star witness, who appears to now be available for questioning. I would greatly appreciate if you could ... wring ... every piece of information out of the witness possible. We never know what might prove to be important. Please be as ... thorough ... as possible."

All three cops were now staring at Castle hungrily, like he was a steak dinner. Castle's grin faltered. "Oh, c'mon guys, it was a joke!"

Beckett shook her head. "Good luck, Espo." She looked aside at the agents as she grabbed her things from her desk drawer. "And good luck to both of you as well. Please call me if you need anything, or there's any news." She started for the elevator. "Come on, Ryan, I'll drive."

Esposito braced Castle. "You ready to go 'Mano a mano', hombre?"

"Hand to hand? I don't know you well enough Esposito." He raised his palm before Esposito could respond. He asked Avery and Crawford "Do you guys need any set-up time?"

Crawford answered for them both. "No, we're good to go, Rick. Just point us to the room."

"Okay, it's this way." Castle looked at his Latino friend. "Detective Esposito, would you be so kind as to invite Detective Demming to join these two in the conference room. I believe I saw him at his old desk downstairs when I arrived. Please don't tell him what it's about, or who he'll see. We want it to be a total surprise."

Esposito nodded. "Okay, Castle, but we ARE going to talk soon."

Castle smiled, as the detective headed towards the stairs. "No problemo, amigo." He turned with the agents towards the conference room.