Sorry, repost to correct all (some) of the 'I was falling asleep writing/editing this' errors I missed at the end.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Castle's phone rang with Alexis' familiar ringtone and he fished it out of his pocket. "Hey, Pumpkin. Everything ok?"

She cut him off by asking for Kate and with a confused expression on his face that Beckett soon matched, he passed the detective his phone.

"Beckett." She answered, obviously as confused as he was. He couldn't make out what was being said on the other side and found himself frustrated with himself for not upping the volume before he passed it over. "No, not yet." Perhaps Alexis was asking about the case, but then she should have been able to ask him. "I'm actually not sure if I'm doing better or worse. I guess, sleeping was nice, being awake hurts a little more."

"I suppose." She said before falling silent again. "No, that's not necessary." Another silence, during which he saw the hint of a smile turn to a full-fledged grin, "No, really, it's fine, I think it would be good, actually."

After a few more moments, Kate told her, "I'll send you mine, then you don't have to worry about your dad and I being together." Kate frowned, and then smirked, "Do you want to talk to your dad?" she asked and he reached out his hand for the phone, knowing the answer.

There was the obligatory exchange of good byes and then his phone was back in his hands, but Alexis had hung up. That was strange. Even stranger was when Kate took the phone back from him and started scrolling through his contact list. After entering Alexis' number on her own phone, she passed his back and started tapping out a text so Alexis would have a direct line to her if Castle ever wasn't around to pass her the phone.

He pouted, "What was that about?" he asked in mock dejection, though secretly it was an interesting turn of events to have Alexis and Kate talking behind his back and he wasn't sure he even wanted to know for that matter.

She simply smiled up at him from her chair, "It's nothing to worry about."

"Oh, come on." He said and then a thought struck him, "she didn't want dating advise or something did she? Sex questions? Alcohol? Is she smoking?"

Kate laughed at his abrupt downward spiral, "You really need to lay off whatever you're on, she's a good kid and she's definitely not running around town smoking and drinking."

Castle felt his eyes widen as he took in the serious expression on her face while she looked back to the murder board. "You didn't say anything about sex?"

She was obviously trying to mask a smile now, he was on to her, but how far would she make him go, how long would she make him suffer if he weren't so adept at interpreting her expressions. "Castle," she said seriously, and he was surprised she was ending it so quickly, not even dragging out the torture for one more taunt, "She hasn't said a word to me about sex."

He breathed a sigh of relief as he tried to focus back on the case.

"Although, when I was about her age," Kate started and Castle instantly threw his hands up to cover his ears as he shot a glare at her. She just shrugged at him.

When he thought it was safe to uncover his ears she said, "I thought you liked me and sex in the same sentence."

Castle smirked devilishly as he leaned dangerously far into her space, "If you're by yourself it's not called 'sex' anymore."

She actually winked at him and he was just shocked enough to stop moving forward. "I think I know that, Castle, I've been alone most of my life." When she spoke, her tone a seductive whisper, he took a step back to allow himself some distance to regain his composure.

He was going to blame her sudden teasing mood on the painkiller she took earlier, and as such, he was tempted to encourage her to remember those pills when it was time for another one.

He tried for casual and teasing, but his "Really?" came out with an odd little squeak he hadn't heard from himself since puberty.

Kate rolled her eyes at him, but the hint of a smile on her lips softened the gesture, "You'll never know."

He was going to say something really witty and intelligent, he was certain of it, as soon as his mind wasn't completely blank. Instead, her phone rang.

"Beckett," he watched he humor fall of her face, replaced with frustration. "Ok, stop and grab some lunch on the way back." She told, who he was assuming was, either Ryan or Esposito and after a short pause glanced up at him with a hint of that humor back in her expression. "Yes, Castle's buying."

He gave her a look of mock indignation, but he didn't mind her offering him to buy lunch, he had offered plenty of times and she just said 'no', so this was a nice change of pace.

"They didn't get him." She summarized for him as she hung up the phone.

Castle braced his hands on the desk and leaned towards her, "Back to the important conversation from before." He began.

"No." she told him with a classic glare, "That conversation is over."

Castle moved to his chair and dropped down into it with a frustrated sigh, "Come on, Beckett." He whined playfully, "Why won't you tell me what Alexis wanted?"

Kate drained her coffee and placed the cup back on the desk, sliding it towards him as a hint, "She wanted us to bring home dinner."

He felt a thrumming through him at the ease with which she made the statement. This time he was able to keep the casual tone he had attempted earlier, "Joining us for dinner again?"

Beckett glared at him and pushed her empty mug closer to him, "Not if I'm sleeping because I didn't get enough caffeine to battle off the cathartic effects of that codeine."

He had the mug in his hands before she finished her sentence.

x.x.x

Ryan and Esposito strode into the bullpen a short while later. Ryan was carrying a plastic sack with Chinese food take-out containers, while Esposito was carrying what looked to be his jacket, though it was splotchy with dirt and mud.

"Whoa." Castle spoke, unable to stop the chuckle as he noticed the splotchy brown that marred the detective's formerly white dress shirt as well, "What happened to you?"

"I don't want to take about it." He grumbled, throwing is jacket on the ground by his workspace and grabbing his chair to wheel over to Beckett's desk where his partner had started laying out the food.

"He got pushed down by an old man." Ryan told them with a smirk.

"He came at me from my blind spot." Esposito defended. "Those homeless guys really stick together."

"Yeah," Ryan interjected, "If it weren't for all the other patrons of the soup kitchen, we would have caught that guy. He weaseled his way out through some chaos inside."

"Ryan got swarmed in the main room, but I was able to get out in time to see Palmer round a corner. Before I could take off after him I was tackled."

"By a seventy-year-old man." Ryan interrupted.

"He wasn't seventy." Esposito argued back as they all settled with their food.

"Ok," Ryan conceded, before turning to Castle and stage whispering, "He was seventy-five, then."

Esposito scoffed, "Whatever age the guy was, he hit me from behind, he weigh two-fifty, easy, and he smelled like a cross between a wet dog and a high school locker room after a football game."

"So, his smell played a factor in him taking you out?" Castle asked with mock innocence in his voice.

"Shut up, Castle." Esposito glared at him and then between Ryan and Beckett when they laughed, "I know what happened, I don't need you guys to back me up or anything, like my partner should have been doing."

Detective Ryan scoffed at that, "Oh, really? You think you had it bad out in the puddle with 'Old Stinky'?" he shuddered, "I was getting felt up by the bag lady from Central Park, the one that plays with the pigeons. You may be filthy, but I definitely need a shower."

They were all still laughing and joking when Annie Marks stepped up behind Castle, "I hope I'm not interrupting, I just, you said if there was anything else I thought of and this morning you said to come in after noon and it's after one now, so," the woman's words seemed rushed and strained as she trailed off.

"It's fine, Miss Marks." Beckett responded. Castle watched her make a move to stand and then think better of it. To cover for the moment, he rose out of his own chair and offered it to the woman.

"Thanks." She responded with a small smile in his direction. The young woman hung her head for a moment, fidgeting with her purse in her lap.

"Do you want to go somewhere a little more private?" Beckett asked, and Annie's gaze shifted slowly around the room as if just registering that she was in the middle of a crowded police station.

The woman shook her head, "No, this is fine." She responded and then heaved a sigh full of so much more than the air from her lungs, "I have been provided the opportunity to re-examine a few things. I know I was living in a little fairy tale bubble of hero worship as it concerned Mr. Cooper, but deep down I know it was irrational to think that he was infallible. Especially considering the evidence against the man's character."

Castle offered her one of the take-out boxes and she gave him another smile, he was making progress and actually getting good at lifting the dark haze that seemed to surround people in these situations. He knew a bit of normalcy could go a long way. He almost scoffed at himself, there was nothing normal about sitting around a police station, eating Chinese food, at least not for the likes of Annie Marks.

Beckett gave the girl a smile, she hadn't touched her food since she first noticed Annie standing behind Castle. He knew she was wishing the 'friend' of their victim didn't have to witness them sitting around cracking jokes about having lost the prime suspect.

"I," Annie began, before she drew in a long deep breath and seemed more able to talk, "I remembered a few things from the past week that I had brushed off." Kate nodded, but didn't speak as Annie continued, "I told you about his fight with his wife, but I was at work today and I remembered that last week he almost came to blows with Chad Ferguson." She started to explain Chad's status as being in line behind Cooper on the fast track to partnership.

Annie mentioned that the senior partner, Harold Mason, had told Cooper three days prior to his death that if he lost another one, he'd be out the door quicker than he could spit. They talked about a few other points, attempting to jog her memory further, but unsuccessfully.

When she didn't seem to have anything further to add, Castle offered to walk her to her car. It wasn't a bad neighborhood, by any stretch of the imagination, they were right near a police station with constant 'to serve and protect' workers in and out all day, but it was still New York, and she still reminded him of Alexis. Walking alone in New York at any time of day could prove hazordous to a person's health.

With his security in tow, they headed down the lift with her and walked her to her vehicle just down the block. Before climbing into the car, she stood on tiptoes and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you, Rick, for not making me feel like a moron about all this, there's no facts and here I am making up stories in my head."

"Do you write?" he asked politely making conversation as she pissed off car after car that was hoping she'd move so that he could park in her spot.

She simply smiled at him with a watery expression building from the almost tears, and then shook her head.

"Sometimes it helps." he provided with a shrug.

She shrugged along with him, "I appreciate the escort." With that, she closed the door and drove away.

He briefly wondered why he hadn't had the same sense of urgency and desire that he had for Beckett the previous night. He had the sudden thought that maybe he never would, wether they would ever act on that pull again or not. It was odd that other women didn't hold his attention any longer. Odd and refreshing.

x.x.x

A/N: Wow, I've never had so many people on alert waiting for me to update before. I only have a couple more chapters on my first story but I'm making time for this one, because you all want to know what happens next. Warning: I may be of the grid for a while without word. My laptop has been crashing like crazy and the charging port only works sometimes, when it feels like it. If I lose my laptop, I'm back to updates 1 or 2 times a week for a few weeks until I can afford to replace it. If that happens, sorry in advance.

Thanks for reading.