Part XXII

"Is this really necessary?" Castle whined from the back seat. Again.

"You stole evidence and stabbed Kev. You're wearing the cuffs, dude."

"I didn't! How many times do I have to tell you that!"

"Until we find proof that it's not true. You're on video and I heard your voice," Javier said, staring at the road ahead stonily.

"Come on, you guys know me, I'd never hurt Ryan or steal- okay, the stealing evidence thing, I can see. And it wasn't real evidence, by the way. Not that I stole it. But- Beckett?"

"Sorry, Castle. I agree with Espo on this one. Until we can find out just what the hell is going on, the cuffs stay."

"Maybe it was the other guy? The one that looked like me?"

"And was chopped in half?" Javier said with an eyebrow raise and glance in the rearview mirror at Castle.

"They thought I was him so maybe it's possible! If things like vampires and demons and-"

"That's why we're here, Castle," Beckett interrupted with and irritated sigh as they pulled up to the hotel's back entrance. "We're going to see if they have any answers."

Javier gave a grim smirk. It was obvious Beckett was not digging this whole supernatural element. Not that he could really blame her. As if they didn't see enough messed up shit on the daily now they had to add monsters to the mix? He'd rather just have kept things nice and simple with the human variety of crap.

They got Castle out of the car and ushered him stealthily up the stairs. Having anyone see them bringing a cuffed suspect into the hotel would raise a lot of awkward questions…

"They're probably not even here," Castle said as Beckett knocked. "They were supposed to be- uh-oh…"

The door had whipped open to reveal a blonde with a furious look on her face and a scary looking red axe-thing.

"You," she snarled snatching the front of Castle's jacket and tossing him into the room like he was nothing more than a bag of rice. He sailed over to the bed, bouncing on it twice with a wheezed "Not again!".

"Hey!" Kate yelled, pulling her gun. "What the hell do you think you're doing?! Hands in the air, now!"

Javier, still a little in shock, pulled his gun as well. But before he knew what had happened, his gun was gone and his face was pressed into the ugly flower-patterned wall just inside the door. From the corner of his eye, he could just make out Kate, also gun-less, with the tip of the axe just under her chin.

"That was so hot…"

Castle's awed words seemed to break the tense stand-off. The blonde blinked away her scowl and a confused look took its place as she turned her head to look at Castle.

"You're not- Oh crap!"

Javier felt the tiny hand of iron release the back of his neck. He turned slowly to find she'd backed away from Kate as well.

"I am so sorry! Willow told me you looked like him but I guess I didn't really think you looked like him looked like him, just kind of-"

"Looked like him?" Castle asked from his prone position on the bed.

The embarrassed grin she gave triggered Javier's memory of the picture of her he'd seen on his computer and in Slaughter's desk.

"You're Buffy," he said.

"Uh, yeah. And you must be Kevin's friends. That I just assaulted. And that are also cops," she said with a cringe, covering her eyes. "Did I mention I was sorry?"

"How did you move like that?" Beckett said, still looking a little shell-shocked.

"Move like? Oh, well, they told you about the whole Slayer thing, right?" She said, looking at Beckett in confusion.

"Yeah," Javier said, then coughing to clear his throat.

Castle was right, that was really hot and he was having a hard time concentrating on anything except what a lucky bastard Kevin was. Damn, he wished he'd taken that empty unit in Kev's building last year…

"But the other girl didn't move like that," he finished.

"Oh," she said, managing to look simultaneously proud and sheepish. "Well, I've been doing this a lot longer than her."

"I'm Kate Beckett," Beckett answered, still looking a little stiff and uncomfortable with the whole situation. "That's Javier Esposito and Richard Castle. It's nice to finally meet you, though the circumstances could be better…"

Javier gave her his most charming smile but she missed it as her eyes were drawn back to Castle, who had rolled over on his stomach and was trying to get up by impersonating an inch worm.

"Why are you handcuffed?" Buffy asked, pulling him off the bed and to his feet like he was a child, then making Javier and Beckett's eyes bug out as she broke the cuffs like it was nothing.

"Long story," Castle said giving her a grateful smile and kind of hiding behind her as they turned back to the other two.

"Where's Kevin?" Buffy asked, kind of leaning to look toward the hall and running a hand over her hair in a nervous but adorable gesture. "Isn't he with you? I heard he thought I died and well, I was hoping- What?"

Javier's face must've given away his sudden shitty feelings about thinking Kev's girl was "adorable" because she stopped talking and was looking back and forth between him and Beckett, who was also looking really uncomfortable.

"Kevin's in the hospital," Beckett said in a rush of breath. "He was stabbed a little while ago. He was stable but still in surgery the last we heard."

Buffy's hand had come up to cover her mouth as she stared at Beckett with wide eyes.

"Oh my god! I should-" She was suddenly shoving the red axe under the bed and heading for the door. "Which hospital? Why aren't you there?"

"Trust me, there's nowhere I'd rather be," Beckett said, stepping forward and stopping Buffy's scramble. "Nowhere any of us would rather be."

"Kev would want us to find out what's going on. To stop anyone else from getting hurt. And we came here instead of staying there because we need answers, so can we do that?" Javier added.

God knows he wanted to be there at his partner's bedside. But the doctors seemed confident they'd gotten to him in time and promised to call with any updates. Still… He'd like to get this handled and get back to the hospital ASAP.

Buffy looked as torn as Javier felt, but after a moment her shoulders dropped and she nodded. "Okay, what answers do you need?"

Beckett looked at Esposito and then to a somber Castle.

"Well, can you tell if he's, like, possessed or something?" She said, gesturing toward Castle and looking awkward at having to say that phrase out loud. "Is that- Is that a thing? People get possessed and do things they don't remember?"

Buffy looked a little taken aback but looked closely at Castle, who shrugged.

"I don't feel possessed. But they swear I was in places I wasn't, doing things I didn't."

"We have video footage of Castle stealing evidence, which he says he didn't do, and I… I heard him in the background of a phone call at a place he swears he wasn't at."

Javier made sure to leave out that Castle was being accused of stabbing Kevin and was sure Castle had maneuvered around that for the same reason. They saw how Buffy could move – and even though they were wondering about Castle, Javier really didn't want to believe their friend was capable of hurting Kev – at least not in his right mind. None of them were eager to see that petite blonde break out the axe and remove Castle's head from his shoulders.

"But… I thought you knew you looked just like Caleb?" Buffy said, looking confused.

"Uh, yeah, but that excuse doesn't quite work when the dude was split in half," Javier said.

"He's back in once piece unfortunately," Buffy said grimly. "He was there the night I got thrown out of my window."

"That Willow chick said it was a… I don't know what she called it, some kind of old ass vampire?" Javier asked, feeling confused.

"They were both apparently being kept in some kind of 'collection' by Wolfram and Hart and escaped. Caleb has always hated women and really has a yen to see me sliced and diced. I'm not sure how or if he was using the Ubervamp to kill women that looked like me or how that all went down yet. I do know we need to find them and put them out of commission. Permanently this time."

"Are you sure it's not Castle and he's not being possessed by Caleb sometimes?"

It sounded like it caused Beckett physical pain to say that theory out loud, but Javier was nodding. It was a good one – even Castle looked impressed.

"I knew you could get into this whole supernatural case groove," Castle said, looking like a proud teacher.

Beckett rolled her eyes, but Javier was focusing on Buffy now as she focused on Castle. After a minute of staring she shrugged.

"Don't know. He doesn't feel all filled with evil, but I guess it could be dormant or something. You said there was video? Can I see it?"

"Sure," Javier said, pulling out the phone while Buffy stepped up close to him.

She smelled really nice. He swallowed hard and mentally punched himself in his face. His best friend was getting sewn up in the hospital and here he was drooling over his girl. What kind of douche was he?

The thoughts were derailed as Castle pressed up closely to his other side – not smelling or looking nearly as nice. At Javier's dirty look, Castle just shrugged.

"I haven't gotten to see what I supposedly did yet either," he said.

"Just keep your hands where I can see them, Emily Rose."

A few taps later and the familiar scene popped up on the screen. The doors leading to the morgue and the hallway outside were currently empty, but after a few seconds ticked by the doors swung open and Castle walked out.

"Holy crap! When they said he looked like me, I didn't realize he-"

"Looked like you?" Buffy asked, a touch of humor to her voice as she parroted back his words from earlier.

"Hey, that's my jacket!" Castle burst out. "Slaughter took that from me!"

"And the rest of the clothes, that's how you usually dress?" Buffy asked.

"Um, yeah pretty much. I mean the color of that shirt isn't that flattering- " he paused and coughed at the dirty look Javier was giving him and moved on. "But I haven't had that jacket since I talked to Slaughter in the precinct – he said he liked the way it looked and –"

"And you gave it to him," Javier snorted. "Weenie."

"Hey, it was a very threatening 'I like the way it looks'," Castle defended.

"Well, clothes don't usually materialize with possession, so it's a safe bet to say that Caleb is not possessing Castle. He figured out he had a doppleganger and decided to take advantage," Buffy said with a frown. "Either he stole the jacket from Slaughter or-"

"Or they're working together," Beckett finished. "Slaughter may have clued him in to the fact he looked like Castle and actually used it to their advantage if he was trying to keep any evidence of what was going on from getting out."

Buffy nodded. "I'd thought that he was trying to catch the two of them, but if he's giving Caleb gifts…"

"Maybe he caught up to Caleb but the vampire took off? If Caleb was somehow directing it or controlling maybe Slaughter thought he could help catch it?" Castle asked.

"Good of a theory as it gets, I guess," Buffy shrugged. "He could've agreed to let Caleb stay out of his box a little longer in exchange for helping him find the Turok Han…"

"And he gave him my coat," Castle glowered. "I really liked that- Oh god… Alexis!"

Castle paled so suddenly that Javier actually took an alarmed step forward, thinking the writer was going to faint or something. Not that he'd catch him, but still… Instinct.

"Castle, what-" Beckett started only to stop when Castle looked at her with slightly wild eyes.

"The school, when they called earlier. The receptionist was adamant that I'd come in and tried to take Alexis for a dental appointment. I told them they should have her drug tested…"

"Oh god," Beckett said, paling as well.

"Caleb pretended to be you and tried to pull her out of school," Javier said, the horror of that possibility making him feel ill. "But she's safe at that school trip right? You talk to her lately?"

Castle nodded with glazed eyes – probably remembering all those victims like Javier was. "Yeah… yeah, she's okay. She's okay."

He sat heavily on the bed but still looked like he might puke at any moment.

"Daughter?" Buffy asked Javier lowly. At his nod her jaw clenched. "We need to get this guy. Now. Since he's figured out he looks so much like you everyone that knows you is in danger. Any of you know where Dawn, Xander and Kennedy are?"

Castle's head jerked up, his already sickly tone paling more.

"They were supposed to be meeting Ryan and me at Ryan's – we were going to check out the demon crowd and see if anyone had any information. I was running late… When I got there, Ryan was in the bedroom bleeding and the door was shut…"

"Oh no," Beckett groaned closing her eyes.

"He was there," Buffy said grimly. "Caleb's with them and they think he's you."

She pulled a phone from her pocket, dialing it and holding it out on speaker. With each ring Javier could see her hand tightening a little more.

"Hello?" Dawn's voice came over the line.

Javier could see Buffy's grip lessen and the sigh of relief as tinny complaints about how unsafe it was to have a blaring Cat Party ring tone during a hunt came from the background.

"Dawn!" Buffy barked, interrupting the squabbling. "Don't react, stay calm, don't say anything and don't make any faces."

"Uh, say what now? Who is this?"

"Your sister," Buffy said, losing her urgency and looking put out. "The one that's been in a coma?"

"Oh… oh!"

"No faces!"

"Okaaaay, so what can I help you with, ma'am?"

Buffy's lip curled up and her eyes narrowed.

"Ma'am? Seriously? You know how I hate-"

"I'm sorry, you're breaking up, ma'am. Guys, I'm going to walk down here a bit."

"Is Castle with you?" Javier asked, trying to get things back on track.

"Yeaaaah?"

"That's not Castle, it's Caleb," Buffy said. "I have Castle with me. Where are you?"

There was a pause before she answered. "Yes, ma'am, I understand. I can promise you I'll take care of that the 12th. I don't want to live in a box down by the Riverside."

"I've never been more proud or freaked out at your quick lying abilities'," Buffy answered as Javier mentally mapped their way to 12th and Riverside.

"Awww, that's so- Hey! What are you-"

The sound of gunshots was loud over the line, making Castle visibly jump.

"Dawn!" Buffy yelled.

The only answer was the sound of the phone hitting the pavement. Then nothing.