Moving On

Chapter 1

Kate had a body. While she hated seeing dead bodies, it was her job to catch who did it. This time she had a naked woman covered in rose petals with sunflowers over her eyes.

Lanie walked in. "At least he gave her flowers, who says romance is dead?"

"I do, every Saturday night," Kate whispered to her.

"Lipstick wouldn't hurt. …Just saying." Lanie saw Kate giving her the evil eye.

"So what did he give her besides roses?" Kate asked.

"Two shots to the chest. Small caliber." Lanie uncovered the gun shot wounds.

Kate circled the body. "Does this look familiar to anyone?" She could swear she'd seen this before. She just couldn't place it for the moment. It would come to her. "I've seen this before." She knew it and it was starting to come to her.

"You've seen this before?" Espo couldn't remember anything like this in their history together.

Kate gave them a clue and saw two blank faces looking at her. "Naked body covered by rose petals, sunflowers over the eyes. Don't you guys read?" She had it and remembered everything about it now.

[)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(]

"Mr. Castle?" Kate walked up to him after finding out where he was tonight.

He turned and pulled out a pen. "Where would you like it?"

"Detective Kate Beckett, NYPD. We need to ask you a few questions about a murder that took place earlier tonight." She was not impressed by him. All she'd read about him in the paper was probably true just based on these few seconds.

Then she watched a young woman move in behind him and plucked the Sharpie out of his hand. "That's new."

[)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(]

Kate stepped into the interview room. "Mr. Castle. You've got quite the rap sheet for a best selling author. Disorderly conduct, resisting arrest."

"Boys will be boys," Castle quipped. It only helped Kate confirm she was right about him as were the tabloids and papers.

She kept reading. "Says here you stole a police horse."

"Borrowed," Castle corrected her.

"And you were nude at the time," Kate added.

"It was spring," Castle said.

"Charges were dropped." Kate slammed her folder down onto the table.

"What can I say, the mayor is a fan. But if it will make you feel better I will be happy to let you spank me," Castle offered and smiled wide.

Kate was done with him and didn't need to ask him questions. "We're done here. You're under arrest as a potential murder suspect. Perhaps you can find someone to spank you for that." Kate opened the door and left him behind.

She joined Espo and Ryan in the observation room. "It's likely he didn't do it, you know," Espo pointed out.

"I know, but he's a jackass and clearly far too full of himself. His lawyer will come in and find we have nothing. He'll demand his release and we'll release him. Maybe this will take him down a peg or two."

"So what's next?" Espo queried since Beckett knew all this already.

"After we release him you two get to question him about what he knows about our victim. He knows something and I want to know what it is." Kate left them and headed to her desk.

[)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(]

Kate walked in carrying a box. "What are those?" It looked like trouble to Ryan.

She dropped the box on his desk. "Castle's greatest hits. You're going to familiarize yourselves with all of his murder scenes so we don't miss anything."

"Got any on tape?" Espo laughed as he took the few books Ryan gave back to him.

"From the library of Katherine Beckett." Ryan grinned and put his finger over the stick-on bookplate that said just that just inside the book.

"You two have a problem with reading?" Kate bristled.

"You're totally a fan!" Espo was loving this.

"Of the genre, yeah. You have a problem with that?" She'd had about enough of this.

"RIGHT. Of the genre. That's why you're blushing," Ryan teased her and the book he was holding was snatched out of his hands.

"Somewhere in those books is where our low intelligence killer will strike next." So start reading was what she left off.

[)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(]

"Is all that Castle's?" Kate was holding a bin of mail in her arms and he saw three more right behind her.

"Yep, his fans love him almost as much as he loves himself." Her opinion of Castle was now at an all time low. What she really wanted was for him to be guilty of murder. This murder, but he loved himself too much to kill someone like he killed in his books.

"Maybe your boy there likes you," Espo pointed and Kate turned to find him in Captain Montgomery's office and the two were talking.

"Beckett." Kate walked to the office door.

"Yes, sir." She just knew she was going to hate this.

"Mr. Castle here has agreed to help us with this investigation," Roy told her.

"Really." It had just gone from really bad to a whole lot worse.

"Anything I can do for the city I love." Rick was all smiles and looked far too smug for her taste.

"Considering the nature of the crime scenes I think it's a good idea." Roy walked away and Rick was looking at her like he had just won something.

"LIKE HELL!" Kate wasn't going to have this egotistical jackass screwing up her investigation.

"Just do it, Beckett." Roy moved to his desk leaving Rick standing in front of her smiling like the slime he was.

Kate groaned and turning to walk away. She needed a new plan.

[)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(]

Kate had another dead body. It was floating in the indoor pool of a high-rise apartment building.

"Death of a Prom Queen." Rick was smiling broadly. He was really loving this.

Kate turned to find Castle standing there when she had left him back at the office.

"Officer!" Kate called one of the uniforms over. "Arrest this man, read him his rights, book him, and put him in holding. He has illegally crossed a crime scene tape and is contaminating my crime scene and interfering with a police officer." Kate tells the guy in uniform.

"WHAT!?" Rick yelped, totally surprised. "Hey!" Rick took his arms back from the officer. He had Captain Montgomerys clearance to be here for this.

"Add resisting arrest to those charges. He should be used to that. He's done it before," Kate added. Smiling she watched as Castle was taken away in cuffs complaining all the way.

[)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(]

"Mr. Castle." The judge had him next on his docket.

Castle and his lawyer stood. "Here, Your Honor."

"Crossing a police line, disturbing the police during a homicide investigation, and resisting arrest. Bail is set at ten thousand dollars." He hit his plate with his gavel. "Next."

[)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(]

Castle found himself outside with his lawyer. "I don't know what you've gotten yourself into this time, but if you keep this up even knowing the mayor isn't going to get you out of it." He watched as Castle was taken away in cuffs again.

[)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(]

"Dad?" Alexis questioned as they traveled from jail to the loft in a town car instead of a taxi.

"Don't ask." It wasn't supposed to go like this. No one did this to him.

[)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(]

Kate was putting on her vest on the fly and pulling out her weapon with Espo and Ryan right behind her. They meet uniforms in the stairwell.

Kate kicked in the door. "Kyle Cabbott!" They had a potential murderer and they were here to arrest him.

Once inside they didn't find him. Though they did see murder scenes drawn using crayons. On a shelf there was a number of Richard Castle books. Kate took one down and opened it to find more drawings using crayon on the inside.

"Looks like our guy joined your book club." Ryan huffed out a laugh and quickly retreated when Kate gave him a look.

"Beckett, you gotta see this!" someone yelled.

Kate followed the voice and saw Ryan standing to one side looking at what they had found.

Inside was an homage to all things Castle. Book covers, drawings of murders, and even drawing showing a person holding a knife.

"Ooo, that's creepy," a new voice said as Kate and Ryan turned to see who it was.

"Officer!" Kate called out.

"Arrest Mr. Castle. Read him his rights and book him and put him in holding. He has crossed a police only line again. He is contaminating my crime scene again and interfering with a police officer in her line of duty." Kate was getting rid of this jackass one way or another.

"Hey!" Once again she wasn't doing what she was supposed to be doing. She was supposed to be letting him help her work the last murder and this one in his eyes.

"Add resisting arrest and get him out of here." Kate walked away to keep looking around her crime scene.

"Isn't he supposed to be here?" Ryan asked. He thought sure Captain Montgomery had told her Castle was here to help.

"Not my crime scene. When you become lead homicide detective you can let him follow you around and interfere in what you're doing," Kate fired back.

[)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(]

"Moments after Castle was gone they found a man matching the description of Kyle Cabbott behind a door in a closet sitting on the floor, biting his nails, and hitting the back of his head against the wall.

[)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(]

The judge called out the next name. "Mr. Castle."

Castle and his lawyer stood up. "Here, Your Honor."

"Crossing a police only line at a crime scene. Contaminating a crime scene and resisting arrest. Bail is set at ten thousand dollars." He hit his plate with his gavel. "Next."

[)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(]

Castle was being cuffed yet again while with his lawyer.

"You really need to stop doing this, Rick. One of these times you're not going to have enough money for bail," he warned him and yet also knew he wasn't listening.

[)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(]

"Dad?" Alexis found her self bailing out her dad once more.

"It's not supposed to work like this." Maybe it was time to call the mayor again.

[)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(]

Kate had her coffee and was headed back to her desk when suddenly she saw something she didn't want to see. Castle was sitting at her desk going through her files.

Kate collected the files from his hands. "What do you think you're doing?" Now she was really pissed off.

"It's a novelist habit. Looking through other people's mail, checking what they know," Rick told her, smug and totally pleased with himself.

"What are you doing here?" What she really wanted to know was why he wasn't in jail somewhere since that was where she had sent him.

"I came here to give you this." He showed her a wrapped present.

"Go on, open it," he said.

Kate huffed but opened the box that looked like wrapping paper. There was a book inside. One of his.

"I got you an advanced copy. I even signed it for you. …Not that you're a fan." He still had a smug look on his face that Kate hated seeing.

"Thanks, that's actually kinda…sweet." She hated to admit it but it was nice of him.

"It was nice to have met you, Detective Beckett." Rick picked up his satchel, slung it over his shoulder, then leaned in and kissed her cheek.

Kate was grossed out in the extreme and at first wanted to go the restroom and scrub her face clean. Instead she put her book down and sat down.

"He didn't!" Kate flipped through everything on her desk. "HE DID!" Now she hated him even more.

[)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(]

"Richard Castle!" She had found him and had three uniforms with her to arrest him.

Rick began to grin. "You are under arrest for felony theft and obstruction of justice." Oh, she really had him this time.

Rick let the officer lift him up and cuff him. "Make sure they're tight," Kate ordered.

"You forgot making you look bad," Rick said. "By the way, those rose petals are the wrong type which means you've got the wrong man." Rick was still happy with himself.

[)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(]

"Thank you, Officer." Roy was standing there this time.

"Hello, Father." Alexis didn't know what she was going to do with him this time. Rick saw his mother right behind her.

"Hello, Daughter." Rick hugged her since she was the most important person in his life.

"Captain Montgomery has agreed to drop the charges," Martha informed him.

"No more interfering in this case, Mr. Castle. Do we understand each other?" Even he couldn't overlook felony charges this time.

"Yeah… But you've still got the wrong man," Rick said over his shoulder as he walked away.

[)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(]

"All I know, Dad, is that if you don't stop you're going to have to increase my allowance." She didn't have money for felony arrests to put up bail.

"Mine, too," Martha added as they drove home.

[)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(]

"No, no. Don't tell me. He got to you." Espo found her looking at the murder board that they had taken down just earlier.

"P-lease, he didn't get to me. …She did. He murders a target of opportunity. Then he murders someone he knows really well. After that he murders another target of opportunity. Something doesn't add up."

"So if he didn't kill them then who did?" Espo asked.

"Someone who killed with purpose then kills for convenience to cover up who he wanted to kill. Then makes them look like what's in Castle's books. All he needed was someone he could blame it on. Someone strung out on drugs and can't defend himself or account for his location at the time of the murders. Stage the room so it looks like he's obsessed with Castle.

"So who does he know? Start digging deeper into his past. Only one of these is who our killer really wanted dead. So which one is it?" Kate went back to studying her murder board.

[)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(]

"What are you doing here, Mr. Castle?" Kate didn't not like seeing him here. She'd seen enough of him already and didn't really want to see him again. Problem was he might be here for a reason not associated with her case.

"I have an appointment to see Tisdale," Rick said to her and the lady at the desk.

"I don't need an appointment." Kate showed her her badge and went upstairs thinking she had left Castle behind her only to find him in the elevator with her.

Kate couldn't believe that he was even in the same room and worse, he was walking around touching things and asking Tisdale questions.

"Thank you for your time, Mr. Tisdale." Kate had heard enough and was leaving. Rick sped up to catch up to her.

"That's it? You didn't ask him anything." He was filled with questions.

Back outside Kate was walking away and Rick hurried to keep up with her long strides.

"He's dying." Rick saw a little hot dog stand just sitting there. "You want a hot dog? I want a hot dog."

Suddenly she had his nose in a vicious grip. "OW, ow, ow!" Rick really wanted her fingers off what was left of his nose but didn't dare touch her hand or she might actually take it off completely.

Finally she let go of his nose and now he was holding it to make sure it was still there and functional. "What are you talking about?" What was this idiot going on about now?

"He's sick and I don't mean sick like he has the flu kind of sick." Since his nose was still there. "He's terminal and he's wearing a rug. It's a really nice piece. You would never know he was wearing one except he kept scratching it. It's new, really new to him and it itches. And he's wearing makeup."

Kate couldn't actually believe it, he'd seen something she hadn't. She was still angry that he had even been there; she was still hung up on that.

"His daughter whose picture was everywhere is dead, but his son isn't. So what do you know about the son?" Rick quizzed her.

"We didn't have a reason to investigate him," Kate said.

"Well now you do." Rick walked away, happy with himself. Kate stood there wishing she could take out her gun, shoot him, get him out of her life and off her case.

[)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(]

They had found out that Tisdale Senior had a will. He was leaving everything to his daughter and literally nothing to his son. Add to that his son's business was hurting, not just hurting but spiraling into bankruptcy. Maybe tomorrow it would end up closed.

Now they were outside his door with a warrant, knocking, and announcing themselves.

"Kick it in," Kate ordered and the door slammed against the inside wall. They all rushed inside and called out that they were NYPD.

He was standing at the shredder shredding countless things. He stopped and ran for the window and the fire escape. He could use that to make a break for it then get out of the city.

Espo was faster than him and took him down as they both hit the window, breaking it.

Kate was watching him being taken away in cuffs after being looked at by an EMT. Then she moved over to what he was shredding and found the remnants of a passport still in it. It had been too thick for the machine so it was jammed.

[)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(]

Kate was happy. She had actually closed a case and had arrested the right guy. It destroyed the elder Tisdale's world but then his son had done that when he'd killed his own sister to get his dad's money. Now he wasn't going to get any of it.

Suddenly she was interrupted when Castle sat in the empty chair.

"So we got him." Rick was all smiles since he was sure he was the reason for it.

"Yeah, the son killed his own sister to get his dad's inheritance after the sister dies." It was sick and yet another reason for Kate to question the future of the human race.

Rick leaned in close. "You know we could debrief each other in private." Rick smiled broadly. He didn't mean talk. He meant have sex.

"OFFICER!" Kate yelled at the closest uniform she can see.

"Arrest Mr. Castle here, read him his rights, book him, and lock him up. Sexual harassment," Kate informed both of them.

"What!?" He hadn't expected that. "Hey!" Rick took his arms back and glared at Kate. He was innocent, damn it.

"Add resisting arrest to the charge," Kate ordered.

Kate smiled as she watched Castle being taken away in cuffs yet again. He may have gotten off the felony charge but this one was personal. She was forcing the situation and Montgomery couldn't get him out of this one.

[)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(]

The very same judge as the last time called out. "Mr. Castle."

"Here your honor." Rick and his lawyer stood up. "Here, Your Honor."

"Sexual harassment this time I see, Mr. Castle. You're creating quite the little rap sheet." He was really learning to not like Mr. Castle. "Bail is set at 100 hundred thousand dollars." He picked up his gavel and hit his desk. "Next!"

[)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(] o [)(]

Kate came back from still another dead body to set up her murder board.

"Beckett, my office," Roy called from his office door.

Kate walked to his door and saw Castle sitting in his office. As much as she hated seeing him again, she ignored him. "Sir?"

"You had Mr. Castle arrested for sexual harassment?" Roy was getting really tired of this. He had thought this might be a good idea and maybe good for Kate. But this just wasn't working out.

Kate decided to lay it all out so he understood. "Mr. Castle here, is a self absorbed egotistical jackass. A child in an adult body. He takes absolutely nothing seriously. He sat down next to me and suggested that we could debrief each other in private.

"I looked it up. In order for him to be involved in this case, that made him a non-paid consultant. As such that makes him a member of this department in a non-paid capacity. That also requires that he follows our rules. His debrief suggestion was a clear violation of the no sexual harassment policy so I had him arrested.

"He deserves to be in prison and that's where I'm sending him. …Sir!" Kate stormed out of his office.

Roy looked at Rick who actually wilted under his stare. He hadn't meant for it to be sexual harassment. He was just having a little fun with her. Thought maybe, just maybe, she would accept his offer and maybe even better they would end up in one of their beds.

"Rick…" Roy wasn't sure just what to do with him. "Beckett is within her rights. I got you out under my authority. If I can't get her to drop the charges you're going back in cuffs to await bail and then trial."

Rick really couldn't believe this. He had never, ever had this much trouble getting any woman into his bed. He even had a new book idea and Kate was going to be his muse for it. It was just what he needed after killing off Storm.

"You need to promise that you will never, ever under any circumstance attempt to contact Beckett in or out of the office. I don't know what you're thinking but it needs to end. If you're convicted you will end up in jail. As part of the general population." Roy tried to instill a little fear into him.

Rick instantly imagined this big 300 pound naked guy telling him to bend over. "Ouch!"

"This ends now, Rick. All of it. You've taken one step too far this time. I need to hear you promise." Roy had a stern look on his face.

Rick looked at Roy then out at Kate. No one had ever gotten away from him before and losing wasn't something he was used to.

"Your association with the mayor isn't going to help you this time. The mayor is a politician. He doesn't need the spectacle of defending a person arrested for sexual harassment in the police department. He would never get re-elected again. It's politics." The mayor and even himself may still like Rick but this was different.

Rick looked at the floor. "I promise." He hadn't even crossed his fingers behind his back this time. It was the adult Richard Castle that was speaking for a change.