Moment in Time

The Final Frontier

Sweat rolled down Kate's face under her mask. Despite the fun she had torturing Castle, it might not have been the best idea to watch a Nebula Nine Marathon with this thing on her face. Not only was it uncomfortable, but Castle got to hog all the popcorn and M&Ms. She hit the pause button. "Oh Castle," she purred.

"I'm not kissing that thing, Beckett," Castle declared.

"How about this thing?" She asked, pulling off the monstrous face.

"That's more like it," Castle said, pulling her to him. "But you know," he added, stopping just short of her lips, "It would be better with the Lieutenant Chloe makeup and maybe if you braided your hair like in that picture of you. That was hot!"

"Are you kidding me, Castle?"

Castle smoothed away some wetness from her face with his fingertips. "Ah, you still have things to learn from the master." He drew her to him again for a deep if salty kiss.

Kate returned the kiss, kicking off the exotic plastic heels and drawing her feet up on the couch. The DVR symbol began to swim on the screen as the player maintained pause mode. Rick and Kate didn't even notice, as they drew closer together. Rick was happy to bury his fingers in Kate's unbraided hair as she cupped the back of his head with her hand. "Definitely not losing your hair," she whispered.

"You either," Castle murmured, barely moving his lips from hers. A key clicked in the lock, shocking them apart.

"Mother," Castle exclaimed, "I thought you were at the theater tonight."

"There was a little incident," Martha explained. "The second act, where we have the sorcerer make a girl appear out of the flaming cauldron, the set caught fire."

"Is everyone okay?" Castle asked.

"Yes, fine," Martha explained. "A couple of the stagehands grabbed extinguishers and put it out, but the theater had to be evacuated because of the smoke. Also the Fire Marshall wants to do an investigation, so we'll probably be closed down for a couple of days. Tomorrow was supposed to be dark anyway, so if we're lucky, we should be able to resume later in the week. But for now, no theater."

"Mother, I'm sorry," Castle told her. "You don't know how sorry," he muttered under his breath.

"Well, carry on with - whatever you were doing," Martha told them. "I'll be upstairs."

"Kind of a mood killer," Castle commented, after Martha had made her exit.

"Oh, I don't know Castle," Kate told him. "you may have been on to something. Wait here." She picked up her shoes and headed for the bedroom. Castle pushed the play button and stuffed a large handfull of candy into his mouth.

"Castle," Kate called from the bedroom. "I'm ready."

"This better not me another mask," Castle muttered to himself as he hit stop. Kate was waiting in the doorway of the bedroom. She had re-created Chloe, with smoky eyes, a side braid and a costume that barely escaped being a long blouse. Castle pulled her inside, kicking the door shut and locking it with a reassuring thunk.

"Ready for duty, Captain," Kate announced.

"And may fortune guide your journey," Castle answered, "and mine." Castle began his voyage of discovery with the soft flesh of Kate's neck, his lips slowly working their way downward. He pulled the costume aside to reveal the lace beneath it.

Beckett's cell phone buzzed. "No! Castle exclaimed.

Beckett grabbed her phone from the dresser. "Got it!" she said. "Castle, we have another murder," she explained. "It's Gabriel Winters."

"Captain Max?" Castle asked.

"Yeah," Beckett confirmed. "They found him at his hotel."

"I guess fortune didn't guide his journey either," Castle commented grumpily.

Beckett was already reaching for her street clothes. "We should get down there."

Gabriel Winters lay on the bed in his hotel room. "I'm guessing that's the cause of death," Castle told Lanie, pointing to a large piece of metal piercing Winters' chest.

"Right," Lanie agreed. "Now here's the weird thing, I found this right next to it. She held up a leaf in an evidence bag."

"Yo," Esposito said, taking the bag from Lanie's hand. "I might know where this came from. One of people I interviewed about Annabelle's murder had leaves as part of her costume."

"Do you know how to get in touch with her?" Beckett asked.

Esposito remembered the leaf he had been given with the girl's phone number. He snorted. "I'm a detective, so yeah."

Castle, Beckett, and Ryan were gathered around the murder board. "Yo! Esposito called from across the bullpen. Leaf girl didn't do it. She has a solid alibi. Apparently she found some alien who likes to eat leaves and they were – you know – when the murder took place."

"Then why would someone leave a leaf at murder scene?" Beckett asked.

Castle stared at the pictures of the murder. "I think I know," he answered, "but this is far out even for me."

"I didn't think that was possible," Beckett commented.

"I need to see the security footage from Winters' hotel," Castle told her.

Castle pointed to the screen in the tech room which displayed a blond curly haired man. "That's him, that's our murderer," Castle said.

"Isn't that Aiden Cooper who played the pilot on that show you liked so much?" Beckett asked.

"It is," Castle confirmed. "He was in the movie too. He died in the movie with a thing through his chest, just after saying..."

"I'm a leaf on the air," Beckett finished.

"Exactly," Castle agreed. "Not only that, he had been up for the part of Captain Max in Nebula Nine when they gave it to Gabriel Winters. If there was a reboot, with Winters dead..."

"He'd get the part," Beckett finished again.

Standing behind them, Ryan and Esposito smiled at the interplay. "Go pick him up," Beckett ordered.

Aiden Cooper, in the midst of babbling wildly, had confessed to the murder multiple times on the way to the precinct. His fingerprints were also on the murder weapon and the leaf.

"Wow, two sci fi murders in one week," Castle said, as he and Beckett returned to the loft. "What's going to happen to Aiden Cooper?"

"Apparently he's a method actor to extremes. Doc Holloway said that he got so into the part of a psychopath with multiple personalities that he was playing on another show, 'Doll Mansion' or something, that he just snapped," Beckett explained. "He thought he was Captain Max and that he needed to kill the imposter. Somehow the pilot from 'Rebel Ship' got mixed in there somewhere too. He'll probably be deemed unfit to stand trial and just stay in a mental hospital."

"I'm glad mother doesn't get that far into her roles, or does she?" Castle mused. "There was that crazy grannie. Of course she died at the end of the first act."

"I don't think we have to worry about Martha committing murder, Castle," Beckett told him, "unless it's of our sex life."

"Speaking of that," Castle murmured, nibbling on her neck, "you have a role to finish."

"You think fortune will guide our journey this time, Castle?" Beckett asked.

"It didn't do too well for Captain Max," Castle replied. "How about if we go with a working franchise? Engage!"

"Captain," Beckett responded, "I'll make it so."

A/N I got the idea for this from the video of the Firefly Panel at Wizardcon in St. Louis. Alan Tudyk said that he was supposed to play the role of the captain on Castle, but they ran into scheduling problems. Too bad. It would have been hysterical.