Note: After my week absence I feel like I have a lot to write! Hopefully inspiration will stay with me…This chapter has taken me a couple of days – I keep getting interrupted, and distracted with People's Choice voting! Hopefully things will begin to progress again after this. Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed! You guys are awesome! Hope you enjoy! P.S. Anyone else bummed about Castle-less Mondays?

I don't own Castle.

Chapter 36.

By the time Rick and Kate arrived at the crime scene, the boys had already left to canvas the area. Rick had insisted on running into a bagel shop that they passed so his wife would have something to eat. Kate had tried to argue, but all he had to do was point out it would be best for the babies, and she caved.

"Hey Lanie, what do we know?" Kate asked as she walked to stand next to her friend. She looked down on a young woman, who was saran wrapped to the large wooden table, naked, with a knife in her heart.

"Camilla Grey, 31. As you can see, she was killed the same way as our friend Kyle. Her purse was found across the room. Cell phone, car keys, wallet, everything was still there." Lanie turned her attention to Rick. "Castle, you were right. Kyle was injected with a tranquilizer in his neck. It was difficult to spot, but it was there. I'm sure I'll find the same mark on Camilla."

"I'm telling you guys, Dexter," Rick said knowingly.

Kate nodded in acknowledgement. "Lanie do you have TOD?"

"I would say between twelve and one am. Just after the first murder."

"This guy's not wasting any time," Kate said. "How long ago did the guys leave for the canvas?"

Lanie glanced at her watch. "Just a few minutes ago. They said to tell you they'd handle that if you can cover next of kin. Then they'll meet you back at the precinct."

"Thanks, Lanie. Was she married? Do we know anything?"

"There's no ring again, and this time there's no tan line. I would have to guess she wasn't, but you never know what you'll find out."

"Okay, thanks. We'll see you later," Kate told her friend as she and Rick made their way back to the car.

It didn't take long for them to run down the next of kin. Camilla was not married, and her parents lived close by. They pulled up to the brownstone and Kate grimaced.

Rick noticed, and took a deep breath. "Do you want me to do this one? I've watched you do this enough, I'm pretty sure I can handle it. I can give you a break for once."

She smiled at him and brought her hand up to rest on his cheek. "Thanks, I appreciate it, but I need to do this. It means the world to me that you offered though."

He placed his hand on top of hers, and then brought her palm to his lips for a quick kiss. "You know I would do anything for you, right?"

Kate nodded. "I know. I would do the same for you."

"I know you would. Are you ready to go in there?"

"As I'll ever be," she told him as she unbuckled and got out of the car.

This time around was no easier. In fact, it was worse. Camilla's parents both crumpled to the floor at the news. She was their only child. Rick and Kate were patient and contacted the mother's sister to come help them. Kate knew from experience that they would need assistance getting through the next few days. Even something as simple as putting one foot in front of the other was going to be difficult.

They didn't know Kyle and had never heard Camilla mention him. As far as Rick and Kate could tell there was no connection between the two people. There had to be a reason why they both wound up dead.

"It just doesn't make sense," Kate said as they got back in the car to head to the precinct.

Rick just raised his eyebrows in question and waited for her to continue. He knew that this was how Kate operated – she needed to run some of it through on her own before he jumped in.

"Camilla worked as a hair stylist in the Upper West Side, and Kyle worked the night shift down at the docks. Their family and friends say they didn't know each other, and they seem to have lead very different lives. What's the connection?" She scrunched her brow and bit her bottom lip as she pulled out into traffic.

Rick grinned. He loved it when she did that. "Are you ready for some crazy theories my love?"

She smirked. My love. He knew he had to get away with that while they were in the privacy of her car, before they got to the precinct. Before, she would have given him a hard time, but now, now she loved hearing the pet names, even though she wouldn't admit it to him.

"Ready," Kate said as she glanced over and saw his face light up.

"What if Kyle and Camilla were having a tawdry affair?" When he noticed her raised eyebrows he held up a hand to stop whatever it was she about to say. "No, hear me out." He paused and collected his thoughts, then took a deep breath to barrel through quickly before she could stop him. "Our dynamic duo meets unexpectedly. They fall in love. She doesn't know he's married at first. She finds out and tries to break it off, but they're madly, hopelessly in love and there's no turning back. His wife finds out, and she kills them both." He said the last part quickly and turned his attention to his wife expectantly.

"You're forgetting one thing. The wife has an alibi," she told him slowly, as she processed his theory.

"Is that seriously the only part you have a problem with?" Rick asked excitedly.

"As far as theories go, it's not too crazy," Kate said as she cast a look in his direction. "We haven't come up with a logical link, so it's a possibility. We need to talk to Ryan and Esposito when we get back to the precinct. Maybe they found something out that we didn't know."

When Kate and Rick made their way off of the elevator a short ten minute later, Esposito and Ryan were sitting at their desks, hunched over paperwork.

"Hey guys," Kate said as they approached. "Canvas turn up anything?"

Two heads swiveled their direction and Esposito shook his head.

"Not a thing. No fingerprints, nothing left behind. This guy's good," Ryan told them.

"Whoever it is really learned from Dexter how to cover their tracks," Rick added. When he noticed there were no eye rolls, he grinned. "This is great."

"Great, Castle?" Esposito asked as he narrowed his eyes at his friend. "You think it's great that we have a case with no leads whatsoever?"

Rick thought for a moment. "Not exactly. I think it's great that our team is together again and you guys haven't nixed my ideas yet!"

"That's because your ideas could actually be possible this time," Kate said.

"What other ideas are we talking about here?" Ryan asked.

Kate gestured to her husband, implying he should fill the rest of their team in. She set to work on the murder board while he went over what he had told her in the car.

"I just couldn't help but wonder if Kyle and Camilla were having an affair." Ryan and Esposito both opened their mouths to interrupt but Rick held up a hand to stop them. "Just hear me out a minute. They meet and it's love at first sight. She doesn't know he's married at first, and when she finds out she tries to break it off. She's unsuccessful. His wife founds out and BAM, they end up dead." He finished his theory off with the explosive use of his hands to emphasize his point.

Ryan and Esposito looked at each other than back at Rick. "Bro. There's no evidence that they even knew each other, let alone had an affair," Esposito reasoned.

"There isn't always blatant evidence of an affair," Kate reminded him as she thought back to the case where Rick was framed for murder. "We need to talk to her best friend. If anyone knows anything, it'll be her."

"Do we know who that is?" Ryan questioned.

Kate nodded. "We got the name from her parents," Rick answered for her. He looked down at his watch. "I think we need to break for lunch." Kate started to protest but he interrupted. "You need to feed those babies, Kate. Why don't we all go grab a quick lunch, then we can split off from there?"

She frowned. "Gates won't like her detectives taking off in the middle of the day."

"Gates will understand," Ryan said and Rick smiled. "I'm sure she'd rather you make it through the day."

Kate sighed in defeat. "Remy's? I could go for a burger and shake."

"Sounds good," the rest of her team agreed, and they headed for the elevator.

They had missed the Remy's lunch rush and were able to find their favorite booth in the back empty. As soon as they were seated Kate looked up and saw Lanie making her way towards them.

"Called her on my way over," Esposito explained.

"Hey guys," Lanie said as she sat down. She leaned over and pecked her fiancé on the lips and he blushed.

Rick smirked, but chose not to say anything.

The waitress came by and asked if they all wanted their usual orders and when they agreed, she smiled and walked away.

"I don't think I'll ever get tired of these burgers and shakes," Kate said in an attempt to keep her mind off of the case.

Ryan laughed. "Hey Beckett, just because we're eating lunch doesn't mean we have to avoid case talk."

Lanie nodded. "Girl I was gonna have you come down to the morgue but Javi called so I figured I could just talk to you here."

"Thanks guys," Kate smiled. It was nice to be back at work, and with the rest of their family. She hadn't quite realized how much she missed being around them all the time. She turned her attention back to her friend. "So, what've you got?"

"You already know that they were both killed the same way," she waited as the rest of the table nodded in agreement. "Well, they were both injected at the same point in their neck with tranquilizer. I'm assuming that's how he got them to the location for the kill," she looked at Rick in question.

"That's what Dexter would do," he confirmed. "And he always wore gloves to ensure there were no finger prints left behind."

"Sounds about right," Lanie said. "There weren't any prints on either body."

Kate pressed her head into her hands. "Did you find anything else?"

"Nothing."

"We'll get this guy Beckett," Esposito assured her.

"Yeah, the A team is back together," Ryan piped in.

Rick rubbed her back. "Something will click, it always does," he told her.

"You guys are right," she agreed. "Maybe I'm just struggling because we've been gone for so long. We'll take Camilla's best friend after lunch and you guys can recanvas. Maybe you'll find someone who wasn't around this morning."

"Sounds good," Ryan told her.

Their food came and a comfortable silence filled their space. Kate wasn't the only one who was hungry, by the looks of their quickly emptied plates Ryan and Esposito had probably skipped breakfast altogether.

"So how are you feeling?" Lanie asked Kate as she took a sip of her strawberry shake.

"Pretty good, actually. I've been relatively lucky with the whole morning sickness thing. I'm just a little more tired than normal, but that's about it."

"That's lucky. My friend from college is pregnant right now and she's struggling through her morning sickness. She's having trouble keeping anything down."

When the guys realized they weren't needed in the conversation, they moved on to one of their own. Kate and Lanie continued their talk about pregnancy until Kate caught a part of the guy's conversation.

"You're not still on that are you?" she asked as three heads whipped around to face her.

"On what?" Ryan asked innocently.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You know very well what."

Rick smirked at his friends before he jumped in. "I keep telling them that we are not going to name our son Kevin or Javier, if we even have a son."

Both guys glared at him. "Dude," Esposito told him.

"Not cool," Ryan added.

Kate and Lanie shook their heads. "You don't hear me over here trying to tell them to name their daughter Lanie, do you?" she questioned. When the boys didn't answer she spoke up again. "I don't wanna hear anymore of this. You let these two decide what they want to name their children. Otherwise I'm going to personally make your lives a living hell. Got it?"

Ryan let out a nervous chuckle, but Esposito gulped. "Got it babe. No more baby name talk."

Lanie smiled at Kate. "You need anymore help with that man of mine, you let me know. I know just what to do with him," she winked and Kate laughed.

"Thanks, Lanie."

They finished off their plates and when everything was cleared away, Rick said, "Alright, let's go," and stood up.

"Bro, I don't know if you remember this little part, but we have to pay before we leave," Esposito said sarcastically.

Rick smiled sweetly. "Already taken care of."

"When did you?" Ryan asked, clearly confused. "Thanks man."

"I knew we missed having you around for a reason," Esposito teased. "Thanks bro."

"Thanks Castle," Lanie added. "I'm going to head back to the morgue, but call if you need me. I'll let you know if I find out anything else."

"Sounds good," Kate said as they separated to their various cars.

When Rick and Kate were settled with Camilla's friends address in the GPS, she turned to him. "That was nice of you."

He shrugged. She knew he hated talking about money, but it never ceased to amaze her how generous he was. "No big deal."

"Not to you," she said. "But it means a lot to me that you want to take care of our friends too. It just shows how great you are." Kate leaned over and kissed him before she pulled out into traffic.

He blushed. "I'm only trying to be the man you deserve."

"You already are, babe."

Rick smiled and held her free hand. "You're truly extraordinary, you know that?"

She shook her head shyly.

"See I'm not the only one who has a hard time taking compliments."

Kate grinned. "We're quite the pair, aren't we?"

"That we are," he said as he brought her hand to his lips. "That we are."

Sorry this chapter is shorter than normal. There's a lot happening in the next one, don't worry! Thanks for reading, please share your thoughts! xoKristen