More followers, welcome. This is going through one of my favorite episodes, so excuse me while I drag this out and change some minor portions.

Please leave a comment. Reading the comments always helps me with the story. Keeps me on track. I add the things you like and remove the things you don't

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle.

"Whose side are you on?" Rick asked as they got into the cruiser.

Kate shut her door and looked at him with the best serious expression she could muster. "Yours." She almost didn't laugh, but Castle scrunched his face up in questioning disapproval and she couldn't hold it anymore.

"It's not funny. She was throwing herself at me. That's the last time I let mother bring one of her classes to the loft. EVER!"

He had completely forgotten that his mother was having her acting class do readings at the loft because of some work at the studio. Had he remembered, he and Kate would have stayed at her apartment. As it was, he had been awakened by some noise he still hadn't been able to identify. He walked into his own living room wearing his robe only to be greeted by fifteen people he had never met before. That's when he remembered his mother's class. As if that hadn't been bad enough, one of the students was apparently a fan girl. The kind of fan girl that he once would have considered good but now considered bad, the bad kind of bad and not the good kind of bad. His mother had found it hilarious as the young lady had made goo-goo eyes at him and come entirely too far into his personal space. It was about the time he tripped over the coffee table backing away from her that Kate had appeared from the office. She, unlike him, was fully dressed and ready for her day.

"Come on. It wasn't that bad. You have women fawn over you all the time. You forget, I've been to your book signings."

"That's acting. That's selling the books, the image. This was my living room." He turned to look at her as she backed out the car. "Anyway, you are supposed to be on my side. As my girlfriend, that's your job."

"As your girlfriend I am on your side. I'm on the side that gives me the most humor and you the most discomfort." She shot a dazzling smile at him. "Anyway, the poor girl almost choked when she saw me walk out of the office."

Rick let a smile of his own slide across his face. "Well, you were standing there in your power heels with a badge and gun watching another woman kneeling over your man. She was probably afraid you were going to shoot her."

Kate would never let Rick know, his ego didn't need the inflating, but when she had walked out and saw the busty blonde leaning over him, she did the math on how much time she would serve for aggravated battery. Luckily, the young woman had the decency to be embarrassed and quickly returned to the rest of the class sitting in the corner of the living room.

"I would not have shot her. Besides, I trust you. That's what being in a relationship means." Kate pulled the car out of the garage and into traffic.

"You are right." Castle paused for a second. "Where are we going anyway? I forgot to ask in all the hubbub this morning."

"Art museum. Someone literally got killed on a piece of art."

"Outstanding!"

Kate just grimaced. "Really Castle?"

"Well, not that someone it dead, no. But, come on, killed on art work? The book writes itself."

Kate got sidetracked outside with some uniforms and members of the media that had apparently been on hand for the gala. By the time she got inside the building she found him staring at what appeared to be about a dozen gutted TVs with mirrors where the screens should be. She walked up beside him.

"What are you doing?"

He turned to look at her. "I'm trying to figure out what this is. Is it a nod to the digital age? Rampant narcissism? "

"Sometimes art is just art."

Caste was surprised. "I never pegged you as the type? Art appreciation in college?"

She turned to walk toward the body and the guys "Nope. The closest I ever got to an art class was posing for one."

Castle swallowed hard. "In what?"

Kate lowered her voice to really drive him crazy. "Not a stich."

Really? Was it photography or painting? Was it here or at Stanford? Do you have any copies of it?

Not now. We are at a crime scene. Can you please focus?

Oh, I'm focused. I'm willing to pay six figures for any existing copy of you from that class.

Six figures? They were students Castle, not masters.

I don't care about them, I want the subject.

FOCUS!

Kate walked up to Ryan and Espo. "What do we have guys?"

Kevin pointed to the large face with spikes on it. "The museum executive director, Bryan Hayes, was found impaled like this. One of the staff found him when they came looking for him when they noticed we was missing from the party."

"Why did he leave the party?" She asked the obvious question.

That's when Espo spoke up. "That would lead us to the other crime of the evening."

By now Castle had recovered and reentered the conversation. "What other crime?"

"The Fist of Capitalism is missing." Everyone turned to the voice behind them.

Kevin introduced the museums development director, Myrna Ramsey. She produced a picture of a large sculpted hand holding a diamond encrusted molded dollar bill.

"What's it worth?" Castle couldn't help himself.

"It's appraised at fifty million. The diamonds alone are worth thirty million." She responded.

"Sounds like motive." Castle looked at everyone.

"He had been paranoid that someone was going to still the piece. I thought he was just being paranoid."

"Why did he think someone was going to steal it?" Kate asked.

"I don't know, but he reviewed all the security footage for the past couple of weeks several days ago. I don't know what he was looking for."

"Thank you." Kate continued her walk past the murder scene and into the room where the fist had been kept. She turned to face Castle. "So the thief is caught in the act of stealing the fist, the confrontation gets physical, and our victim gets shoved onto the spikes. Then our thief exits through the gala."

"That's highly unlikely."

Both Kate and Castle turn to watch a woman entering the room as she pulls on rubber gloves. He is dressed in formal attire, as if she attended the gala.

"All guest were screened at two separate check points and then greeted by a member of the executive board that knew them personally. It's more likely that the thief entered through the air vents."

"Excuse me, who are you?" Kate wanted to know who was invading her crime scene.

"Serena Kaye, the museums insurance investigator." She answered as she continued poking around the scene.

Serena Kaye, like Selena Kyle aka Catwoman? No way!

Stop it Castle.

I wonder if she is an art thief as well as an investigator. That would be so cool. A secret identity just like Catwoman.

Will you focus?

I wonder if she has a leather cat outfit.

EXCUSE ME?

Oops. That just slipped out.

Kate let out a low growl only Rick could hear.

"Then how did they leave?" Kate wanted to know.

"The loading bay. Security checked all the incoming people but not the people leaving. Besides there were plenty of vans to remove the fist in."

"Oh, she's good." Castle chimed in before he could think better of it.

"At theory." Kate cut her eyes over at Castle. "Where is your evidence?"

"I don't need evidence to know I'm right." Selena turned from the case to face both of them. "We can work together. I get a 1% finder fee for the recovery of the artwork. You help me find my artwork and I help you find your killer."

"No thanks. We are good." Kate, for reasons she would admit, did not like her.

With that Selena walked out of the room.

"Why did you do that?" Castle asked. "She had very valuable assets."

Kate narrowed her eyes and was about to make a scathing comment but Castle cut her off.

"Not like that. She had experience we could use. "

"I doubt it. She would just get in the way."

"Would it hurt to at least check out her theory?"

Kate turned to Espo. "Check the ventilation systems. See if there is any evidence of someone being in it."

"What about the catering vans?" Castle asked.

Kate rolled her eyes as she pulled out her phone to contact Kevin who had walked out to the main part of the museum. "Ryan. Check the caterers on the loading dock. See if there was in unusual traffic." Kate hung up her phone.

"Was that so hard?" Castle asked as he followed her from the museum.