Not Guilty

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I am not guilty of owning Castle. Rating: K Time: An AU period a few days after the end of the last episode of season one.

As soon as she saw him sitting by her desk, she began running towards the desk. He heard the clickety-clacking of her high heels on the floor and inwardly steeled himself. He knew it would be best for him if he ran, but he knew he had to stay.

Just when did I develop a death wish? He thought.

She stopped and stood over him.

"Did you not understand what I told you in the hospital, Castle? We are over. Over. Do you understand that? You are not to sit by my desk. You are not to bother me in any way. Any way at all. Does anything at all get past that enormous ego of yours or do you…"

"Hey, Ricky. We're ready. Montgomery is done bitching to One PP about us."

Kate Beckett whirled around to see who was speaking.

"Who are you?" She demanded.

The man grinned at her.

"Special Agent Mick Grogan, DEA, and this is my partner, Lourdes Madero."

Grogan was tall and stocky. He wore ankle boots, faded jeans, a black tee shirt and a battered black leather jacket. His hair and beard were blonde and curly. Now that Kate looked, she could see his badge and sidearm.

Madrero was tall and slender. She wore high heels, tight skinny jeans and a turquoise blouse that showed too much cleavage for Kate's taste. She had cinnamon colored skin, dark eyes and coal black hair, gathered in a pigtail. Her smirk told Kate that she was comparing herself to Kate and decided she had no competition.

If you want Castle, then, he's all yours. She thought.

"Come on, people. Montgomery is ready for us and the file should be up momentarily. "He smiled at Kate. "Hi, I'm Tony Almeida, Treasury."

Kate was sure he was checking her out as well, and not in a way she appreciated. At first glance, Almeida looked like one of the Cocaine Cowboys that over ran Miami in the 70s and 80s. or something out of Miami Vice. He wore a white linen suit, a peach-colored tee shirt and a Panama hat. His socks and his hatband were both peach colored. Kate idly wondered if he had hats and socks to match all his shirts.

Castle stood up.

"Beckett, I need…"

"What you need is of no concern to me. Because the mayor wants you here, I have to put up with you. But no more than put up with you."

Grogan laughed.

"He's not here because the mayor wants him here. He's here because we want him here, Sweetie."

Kate bit back a reply to being called Sweetie, and said nothing. One, they were fellow cops, after all. Secondly, she had been called far worse in her years as a cop. Most importantly, the less she said, the sooner Castle would be out of her way.

The four went into Montgomery's office and Kate sat at her desk and tried to calm down.

I should not let that egotistical bastard get under my skin. I should just ignore him.

She did wonder what case they were working on. If it was coming upstairs, it must be in the file room, and that meant a cold case. She sighed. There were far too many cold cases involving drug dealers and dirty money.

She heard the elevator door open and saw a uniform with a file box heading for Montgomery's office. She looked to see if she could read the name on the file. She could. She sat there stunned for a moment and then got up and went to Montgomery's office, getting inside just before the uniform closed the door on her.

"Roy, what the hell is going on?" She demanded.

"Beckett, that's really not…" Montgomery began, but was cut off by Grogan.

"This has nothing to do with you. Now, get that cute little ass out of here and stay out."

"The hell it has nothing to do with me. That's my mother's file. What do you want with it?"

"That is none of your god damned business. Now get out."

She turned to Montgomery.

"Roy, what's this all about? You owe me an explanation."

"Nobody owes you anything. Now, Detective Beckett, you can get the hell out of this office, or I'll bust you for obstruction of justice. And if you think I won't, just try me, Sweetie." Grogan reached for his cuffs as he spoke.

Kate noticed that while Grogan was angry, both Madero and Almeida looked amused. Oddly, Castle looked upset.

"I'll leave." She said softly.

"And don't ask anyone what this is about. No one. You ask one question to anyone and I'll bust you and make damned sure you're not a cop anymore at the very least."

Kate stomped back to her desk. She wanted to scream or throw something, but knew she couldn't.

It took no more than two minutes for the four to leave Montgomery's office, taking the case file with them.

As Castle approached her desk, he spoke.

"Beckett, you shouldn't…."

Whatever he was about to say was cut off by Almeida.

"Not a word, Ricky. You know better than that."

And then they were all gone.

As soon as Kate decided they weren't coming back, she headed straight for Montgomery's office.

"Roy, what the hell is going on here? Why do they want to know about my mom's murder?"

"I have no idea, Kate."

She glared at him, but got no further reply.

"Don't give me that, Roy. I know better."

"No, you don't, Beckett. They showed up here with a Federal Court order for your mother's file. I called One PP to see if I could find out anything, but they told me to obey the court order. That's all I know."

"What did Castle say?" She demanded.

"Not a word. He looked unhappy about the whole thing, but he never said anything. Grogan did all of the talking, actually."

"I've never had any trouble getting Castle to talk, in fact he can hardly be shut up. I'll have no trouble now."

"Beckett! You will not take this any further! That's an order. I know how the Feds work. Grogan will charge you with obstruction of justice and at the very least you'll be kicked off the force. You could even end up facing jail time. Leave it alone. Now, take the rest of the day off and don't even think about looking into this."

Kate stomped out of his office, grabbed her things and left, not even bothering to say anything to Ryan and Esposito who were just coming off the elevator.

Kate stormed around her apartment, angry and unable to do anything about it. She finally decided to go running. After five miles, she arrived back at her apartment with a plan in mind.

She pulled up in front of the loft and parked. She looked up and could see that the lights were on. She hoped that meant he was home and that he wasn't out with some blonde bimbo making Page Six. She really didn't want either Martha or Alexis to know about this.

She smiled at the doorman as she went by.

"Don't call Mr. Castle, please. I want to surprise him."

"Sure, Detective Beckett."

She knocked on his door and was happy to see the look of shock on his face. Then, suddenly she was pulled into an embrace and was being kissed by Castle. Then he turned her to the side a bit and she could see Grogan, standing up and reaching for his handcuffs.

"Good to see you again, Honey, but as you can see, I have company."

"Not for long." Grogan growled. "You don't listen very well, do you Beckett?"

"What do you mean?" Castle said. "She listens just fine, and I ought to know."

"I told her if she asked one question about her mother's case, I'd bust her. That's what I'm going to do."

"What question? I didn't hear her ask any questions. Did anyone else?"

Kate could see that both Madero and Almeida were there also. They both shook their heads.

"So what's she doing here?"

"She just dropped by to see me. People do that, you know."

"I thought you said she wasn't your girlfriend." Grogan said, suspiciously.

"We're not exclusive, if that's what you mean. We're friends."

"Friends with benefits?" Almeida asked with a smile. "I figured you were banging her."

Grogan put his cuffs away.

"Okay, Friend Beckett, let me be clear. You are not to contact anyone in any way that has anything to do with your mother's murder. You can't communicate in any way about anything at all. You are not to let anyone, anyone at all, say, do or in any way communicate anything about any murder. In fact, you're not to think about any murders or any crimes. And most certainly you are not to communicate in any way with Castle. Don't even think about him. If you do, I'll see that you get put in the deepest hole the Federal prison system can find. Understand?"

Kate nodded.

"Now get the hell out of here."

Castle took her arm and led her to the door.

"I'll make up for this, Lover. How about we go to the Bahamas for a week when this is all over?"

Castle leaned in to give her a brief kiss, but Kate put her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately, even rubbing her boobs against his chest. Then she was out the door and headed for the elevator.

She was back in her car, wondering why she had kissed Castle so passionately. One, she wanted to sell the idea to Grogan and the rest that she was one of Castle's bimbos. Two, Castle had gone out on a limb for her. He wasn't happy with whatever was going on and giving him a scorching kiss was one way of saying that she understood that. Three, she was less angry with Castle for what he'd done. Oh, she was still angry, but there was more to this than she had thought. Lastly, in spite of being immature, egotistical and hot for her, she had found out he was more than that, as his relationship with his mother and daughter showed. And, she had to admit, he was a good investigator, if unorthodox. Perhaps if she could get to know him a little better, a trip to the Bahamas could be fun.

She hadn't given up on finding out what Castle knew about her mother's murder, though. Far from it.

Like many people, Richard Castle was a creature of habit. On Tuesdays, when he could, he liked to go to Arnie's Delicatessen for lunch, (The potato salad was to die for.) and then he'd walk across the street to McAllen's Mystery Book Nook and browse the new arrivals.

He walked in and smiled at Eve McAllen, who was running the store since her husband Jimmy had passed on.

"Hi, Eve. How's business?"

"Oh, hi, Rick. Pretty good, but it could be better. James Patterson has a new book out. It's over by the far wall."

"Another book." Rick muttered. "He probably skipped lunch to write it."

He headed for the far wall slowly, taking his time to examine the racks of books. He stopped and looked at one by an author he didn't know, but soon put it back.

"If you're going to write an English country house murder, you should try to learn something about England." He said to himself.

As he approached the stacks of Patterson's new book, he saw that an attractive redhead was standing there, reading. She had very nice legs and a great ass. Spectacular, in fact. Then he realized he'd seen those long, lithe legs and that spectacular ass before.

"Beckett! What are you doing here?" He gasped.

"Could you be a little louder?" She said softly, but sarcastically. "The Feds might not be able to hear you."

TBC