Author's Note: The last chapter dealing with 2x5 "When the Bough Breaks."

Then Came Love

Chapter 17

The next morning, Kate looked up and felt a flare of happiness at the sight of Castle, a flare that was immediately extinguished at the thought that this might be one of the last mornings when Castle would show up with tea and a morning snack and his smile. (What, he was a good-looking man; she was allowed to enjoy the sight of his smile for purely aesthetic reasons. And he was a friend. She could look forward to seeing a friend.)

"Good morning, Beckett."

It took effort to force a small smile as she accepted her cup of tea. "Morning. And thanks for the muffin."

"Anytime," he returned lightly.

She knew he hadn't really meant anything by it; it was just something people said but her smile faltered at the reminder that he wouldn't actually be at the precinct "anytime," not anymore. she hurriedly hid her expression in her cup.

"So I was thinking," he began.

"Yeah?" And wondered why her breathing suddenly felt shallow.

"What if Melissa Talbot caught onto the affair?" he finished.

Oh, the case. Right. Because they were colleagues, at least for now.

"Melissa Talbot, a killer?" She speculated and then frowned a little. "I'm not sure I buy it. Remember what she said, when she found out the vic was dead, that it was her fault. Would the actual killer say something like that, as if to call attention to her possible culpability?"

"To throw us off the scent," Castle offered but she could tell he didn't quite believe his own words. "It would be clever." He made a face "Okay, so maybe not my best idea."

"I think we're just missing some last crucial pieces of the puzzle," she placated. "Which reminds me—" She got up to ask the boys about the incident report involving the victim.

An interesting story but Kate wasn't sure that it led them anywhere. On the other hand… "Check with the mom who filed the incident report. There might be more to it than we realize."

And then Karpowski approached with a question from the vic's super about renting out her unit. Kate agreed since they were done with the crime scene but then was aware of something niggling at her.

Castle straightened up. "Wait. That doesn't make any sense. That place rents by the week—"

"—and the vic died on Thursday," Kate finished the sentence in messy unison. The memory of the super saying the vic paid on time in cash every week clicked into place and she exchanged looks with Castle before calling Karpowski back to have her let the super know they were on their way over.

After that, things happened fast. Kate could feel the momentum of getting close to a solution even as she and Castle had to sit and wait in her car for the alleged "friend" of the victim to show up for the mail. The downtime inherent in her job of having to wait for evidence had become more… fun with Castle around, she thought as he speculated on what might be in the mail that Mrs. Talbot would return for it. She rolled her eyes and sternly controlled her smile; trust Castle, the writer, to be so bothered by the incorrect use of the word 'irony.' "Yeah, well, it must be your great grammatical influence," she drawled.

He slanted a smirk at her. "See, having me around has been a good thing."

It had been a good thing, was a good thing. She bit her lip to keep from blurting that out and instead hurriedly changed the subject, "So have you accepted the offer?"

"Huh? Oh no, not yet. I'm still thinking about it."

She felt a renegade flicker of hope. He was still thinking? It wasn't certain? "What's there to think about? Like you said, it would be a very big opportunity for you."

He glanced at her. "I know but I'm not sure I'm ready to walk away from Nikki Heat. Do you think I should take the offer?"

She was not Nikki Heat, Kate reminded herself sternly. It wasn't about her. It was about the character he'd created. She tore her eyes away from his, sternly controlling her expression. She wasn't going to make it about her, her own… feelings about no longer working with him weren't the point. "It's up to you. This is your career we're talking about."

"Yeah," he agreed a little absently and she wondered if she was imagining a faint note of disappointment in his tone.

But before she could begin to consider it, she spotted a well-dressed blond woman walking towards the SRO. Melissa Talbot had shown up after all—except she hadn't.

Both Kate and Castle blinked at the unexpected sight of Talbot's nurse.

The nurse recanted her corroboration of Dr. Talbot's alibi, which was one step, but Kate wasn't sure she bought the explanation Dr. Talbot had given the nurse, in spite of the fact that the office park in Paramus had a financial company, just as the nurse had said. She wasn't even sure why and yet…

She glanced at Castle to see the slight frown on his face and knew he wasn't buying the story either. "What is it, Castle?"

He grimaced. "I don't buy it, the story."

"It makes sense," she objected, more to play devil's advocate. "And it would be a typical motive. Adultery and all its consequences."

"I know but think about that SRO. Don't you think it's a little odd that no one mentioned seeing Eliska with a man if she and Dr. Talbot had really been having an affair? And the SRO's not the sort of place a man like Dr. Talbot would use as a pied-à-terre and we found out about it because it caters to Czech illegals. Did it look like a romantic place for a rendezvous to you?"

She felt herself flushing in spite of herself as he turned to her on the question, her mind momentarily blanking. Any place could probably seem romantic with him, the errant thought flitted across her brain and she stomped it down. That had nothing to do with the case, was totally irrelevant—and wasn't even true, she told herself. (Liar.)

But fortunately before she even had a chance to respond, not that she knew what she would say, the boys returned with the mom's story from the incident report and the remarkable coincidence that the two boys had been born on the same day in the same hospital. Except… she heard Castle's voice in her mind saying, there are no coincidences in a murder investigation.

"Which hospital?" Castle asked.

"Bryant General."

"Where Talbot works," he mused.

"What are you onto, Castle?" She knew that look on his face; it was his plotting expression, when he was coming up with a story to fit the evidence. She felt a little jolt go through her, felt as if the air was suddenly charged. It was insane, really, to feel this tug of attraction to him now, when by his expression, he was miles away in thought, but somehow, she did. It was something about watching his mind work, something about the intensity of his focus as he tried to put the pieces together—and yes, it was also the excitement of thinking he might be about to crack the case because these expressions usually preceded one of his out-of-the-box insights, the helpful ones.

"I'm not sure but I wonder, if we look into it, we're going to find that the Talbot boy was born at Bryant General on the same day as well. Would you look into that for me?"

Ryan was the one who nodded and took off while Espo bent a somewhat skeptical look on Castle before leaving in Ryan's wake.

Castle turned and bent over her shoulder to peer at her computer and she stilled, hyper-aware of the warmth of his hand as he'd thoughtlessly placed it on her shoulder. A totally platonic touch, really, and in his current position, he would need to rest his hand somewhere, usually on the back of her chair, but today, he missed, or something, his hand landing on her shoulder. Warm and solid—and how was it that his touching her shoulder could somehow affect the functioning of her lungs?

"Did you say there was a lab at that office?" he asked.

Kate had to blink to focus her eyes on her computer screen. "Uh, yeah," she confirmed, forcing a little cough to try to disguise the trace of huskiness that had slipped into her voice.

But thankfully, Castle seemed too distracted to notice. "I think I know what's in that envelope," he declared, straightening up, and she tried to convince herself it was a relief that he dropped his hand from her shoulder. They were in the middle of a case, closing in on the solution; she couldn't afford to be distracted.

She waited and then finally prodded, "Castle? Care to share with the class?"

For once, he barely glanced at her. "Not yet, not until Ryan gets back about the Talbot boy."

She waited with something less than perfect patience but fortunately, it wasn't long before the boys returned, Ryan confirming that yes, the Talbot boy had been born at Bryant General on the same day as Eliska's son.

"I knew it," Castle announced, straightening up, but oddly, his expression remained sober, not triumphant the way it normally would be when he said such a thing. He wasn't gloating and that gave her a niggle of apprehension. Castle had his virtues but being a graceful winner was not among them, at least not usually.

"Well?" Espo demanded. "Who's the killer?"

He waved a small hand. "Dr. Talbot, but that's not the point."

"Actually, finding the killer is exactly the point," Espo contradicted.

Castle made a face at him. "We basically knew that much already just from what the nurse told us. What we didn't know was why but I've figured it out."

"Castle, if you don't tell us," she began, a warning edge entering her tone. Had she mentioned the man could be exasperating?

At least, her tone worked as he complied, laying out his theory of babies switched at birth and the victim's dogged quest to find out the truth about her son.

She felt a rush of warmth in her chest as she listened, watched him, his storytelling tone, his absorbed expression. And abruptly remembered Alexis telling her he hadn't written anything in months after finishing Storm Fall. She really couldn't imagine it. This, telling a story, was when Castle was in his element, the spark in his eyes, the energy almost vibrating in his form. This was what he was meant to do.

And she was the one who had inspired him to start writing again. Oh god, it was… overwhelming and flattering and strangely humbling too. To think that she, who was just a cop, had played such a role in, what, helping Castle to rediscover that inner spark, to once more be able to do what he was meant to do. She didn't think she had ever played such a role in anyone's life.

"It's a good story," Ryan agreed slowly.

"But we don't have proof, at least not until the warrant comes through and we can open the envelope," Espo pointed out.

Castle ignored them to meet her eyes. "Bring the Talbots in, Beckett. We can get him to confess without it."

She hesitated. She believed he was right but they almost never confronted a suspect without the evidence to back them up, not at this late stage.

"Dr. Talbot's not stupid. What if he holds out?" Ryan interjected.

Kate met Castle's eyes—and decided. It was taking a chance, albeit not a fatal one, but if Castle was sure, well, she believed him. "I'll call them."

"Thank you," Castle inclined his head a little.

She gave him a small nod, a faint twitch of her lips in acknowledgment. She wasn't sure when she had started to believe in Castle so much, in his instincts when it came to people, but somehow, at least when he was as sober as he was now, she did. She trusted his intuition. So she called the Talbots and asked them to come in. While they waited, they did get confirmation from the victim's son's hospital records of what he'd died from, which seemed to confirm Castle's story, even without the warrant coming through.

And when the Talbots arrived, she and Castle walked them through the story of the victim's quest as Castle had imagined it. Melissa Talbot, it became clear, knew nothing but Dr. Talbot couldn't quite hide his reaction and Kate immediately knew Castle was right. Not only in his theory of the case but that Dr. Talbot would confess.

And he did, he broke when Castle finished talking about how the victim's son had died of Niemann-Pick syndrome and his speculation (presented as certainty) about the real reason the victim had given Zane Talbot the lollipop, Dr. Talbot's teary confession spilling out of him. Case closed.

She met Castle's eyes. He had been right but at that moment, she knew they were both thinking of Eliska Sokol, what she'd lost and how close she'd come to finally learning the truth about what had happened to her son. She found her hand moving to her stomach in the now-familiar gesture and Castle's eyes dropped to her hand before she remembered herself and their surroundings, although fortunately, neither of the Talbots was in any condition to notice or care.

She lifted her head, meeting Espo's eyes through one of the windows, and gave him a nod and he entered the break room to process Dr. Talbot's arrest, reading him his rights. Melissa Talbot broke down into tears and Kate glanced helplessly at Castle. Sometimes, she thought this part of her job was almost harder than telling people that their loved one was dead, witnessing the way the lives of the killer's family were wrecked.

But Castle, as she knew, was a people person and he stepped up, getting a glass of water and offering it to Mrs. Talbot along with a tissue, both of which she accepted with a choked sob.

"I didn't know," she murmured brokenly. "How could I not know… My husband… my son…"

"He was trying to protect you," Kate said gently.

"Protect me… by lying to me?"

She winced a little. "Sometimes, people do the wrong things for the right reasons." She felt Castle's glance as she repeated his own words to her but kept her own gaze focused on Mrs. Talbot. She couldn't quite believe she was trying to justify Dr. Talbot's actions but faced with his wife's devastation, it would have been cruel to do anything else.

"Mrs. Talbot," Castle inserted gently, "one parent to another, think about your son. Zane is still yours, no matter what any test says. You're the one who's cared for him and loved him his entire life and he'll need you now more than ever."

Mrs. Talbot choked on another sob but wiped at her face with the tissue and finally, looked up. "Yes, Zane is still mine, isn't he?" she managed.

Whatever else, Zane's biological mother was dead. Neither Castle nor Kate mentioned that, no need to remind Mrs. Talbot, again, that her husband had killed Zane's biological mother.

"Yes," Castle confirmed instead. "You're the only mother he's ever known."

Mrs. Talbot sniffed and wiped at her damp cheeks with her hand. "Yes, I am," she agreed and managed a faint, watery attempt at a smile. "Thank you for reminding me. And now I need to go home, to my son."

"Of course," Kate agreed. "We'll have an officer take you home."

Kate lifted a hand to get the notice of one of the unis in the bullpen and arranged for Mrs. Talbot's escort and then sat back, glancing at Castle who was staring rather bleakly at the floor. She didn't think she'd ever seen him look less pleased to have been right. "Thank you."

He blinked and looked up at her, his expression lightening a little. "For what?"

"Figuring it out. I'm not sure I could have solved this one without you," she admitted. Or at least, certainly not this quickly. It had been Castle who'd first caught the discrepancy in the victim's apartment being paid up through the week and without that leading to them catching the nurse in the act of removing the mail, she very well might not have solved the case. And more than that, she found she wanted to cheer him up.

"You would have, eventually," he contradicted but he did appear brighter. "But you're welcome."

"How did you figure it out, the whole thing about the mouth swab and everything?"

His expression darkened, the set of his lips tightening in a way she'd never seen before. "I know about DNA tests," he answered briefly and uninformatively.

Kate opened her mouth but then closed it again. It could have been a general statement and certainly, she knew Castle was well-informed about all manner of things, from his knowledge of pemmican to less esoteric facts, but something in his tone, his expression, told her there was a more personal aspect to his knowledge. And from the look on his face, it was something that bothered him.

Wait, no, it was impossible. She mentally balked at her own mind's suspicion, what she'd guessed. It couldn't be. Castle adored Alexis, that was obvious, and Kate herself had noticed subtle ways in which Alexis resembled Castle just last night. And Alexis had Castle's eyes. She was Castle's daughter, Kate was sure of it.

But that didn't mean Castle had never doubted that Alexis was his daughter; he could have doubted it. If—oh god, she really didn't like where her mind had wandered—if he'd been given some reason to doubt Alexis's paternity. Kate might have idly speculated before if Castle had been betrayed, cheated on, but she hadn't really believed… But now, she was almost sure it had to be true, that Meredith had cheated on him. What woman in her right mind could possibly cheat on Castle? He was—well, okay, he wasn't perfect but no man was, and in all the important ways, Castle was… good. A good man, a caring man, devoted to his family, to say nothing of being smart and funny and—it had to be said—sexy. And as she remembered all too well, he was good (very good, amazingly good, a voice in her mind unhelpfully interjected) in bed. Not that they had even made it to a bed That Night. (Shut up, that wasn't the point and she was not thinking about this!)

She'd barely even met Meredith but after what she'd learned about Meredith, both from Alexis last night and now from Castle, she decided she hated Meredith.

Fortunately, before Kate could dwell any further on what might have transpired between Castle and Meredith, Ryan rapped on the open door, getting their attention. He held a sheet of paper in one hand and the plastic bag with the envelope in the other.

"The warrant came through?" she guessed, although it wasn't really a question.

He nodded. "Yeah. And the Captain wants to see you."

"Right, thanks." She accepted both the warrant and the envelope, glancing at Castle. "You coming, Castle?"

He almost jerked to his feet. "Yeah."

She opened the envelope while they walked the few steps across the bullpen, glancing at the sheet inside, anticlimactic as it was at this point, and then passed it to Castle, who also glanced at it, his lips tightening, before handing it back to her. They reached the Captain's office before either of them could comment on the results—and after all, what was there really to say now? Castle had been right but they'd already known that, thanks to Dr. Talbot's confession.

As usual, Castle let her take the lead in briefing Captain Montgomery on the way they'd closed the case, laying out the whole story as they, well, as Castle had pieced it together.

"Nice work, you two," Montgomery praised, as understated as usual.

Kate straightened up and found herself correcting the Captain. "Actually, sir, it's Eliska Sokol who deserves the credit for the detective work." Castle had made a comment implying as much earlier. "She made it her mission to find out the truth."

Montgomery sighed and shook his head a little. "Even if it cost her her life? Seems so pointless somehow."

It did—but as he said it, something occurred to her. "Maybe not entirely," she interjected.

"Beckett, what are you thinking?" Montgomery asked.

"I'm thinking, we're not quite done with this case." She glanced at Castle, met his eyes. "Castle, wanna come back tomorrow to see this through to the end?"

He met her eyes and she saw he understood what she was thinking, a spark entering his eyes. "Why, yes, Detective, I would," he answered with mock formality.

They exchanged quick, small smiles. She would miss this, these moments of camaraderie, of closeness, when she knew she and Castle were thinking the same thing. Her spirits dipped, again, at the reminder that Castle was leaving and she was glad to turn back to the Captain as he spoke.

"A little explanation?" Montgomery prodded.

"If you don't mind, sir, I think we'll save it for tomorrow, if everything works out according to plan."

After all, she had no way of knowing if Melissa Talbot would agree; she might find the suggestion too threatening, especially so soon after learning the truth.

Montgomery studied her but then sat back, waving a hand. "Fine, have it your way, it's not like I'm the Captain or anything," he said ironically.

She smiled quickly, grateful as always for Montgomery's trust in her. "Thank you, sir."

Montgomery gave them a nod of dismissal. "Go on now. I need to be heading home anyway. My wife's expecting me for dinner."

She and Castle left Montgomery's office and she turned to him, managing a nonchalant smile. "Well, I'd better get to the paperwork to close the case. So, tomorrow?" Tomorrow, that really would be the last day Castle was at the precinct every day.

"Tomorrow," he agreed and after what seemed like a moment of indecision, he left.

And she fought back the leaden feeling in her chest. It was ridiculous, she told herself, to feel like this just over Castle leaving the precinct. She hadn't even wanted him to shadow her in the first place not all that long ago! And it wasn't as if he was leaving the country or anything. She would still see him, if only because of the baby. There was no reason—at all—to feel as if she'd lost something. She hadn't; if anything, she would gain something, could go back to just being a regular cop working with other cops, no need to worry about some over-enthusiastic civilian consultant. She'd just… gotten used to having Castle around, that was all, but she could get used to working only with the boys again. She had done just fine before Castle came along and she would do just fine after he left.

She was sure of it.

Really.

So she told herself and by the time Castle showed up the next morning, she had almost convinced herself of it too.

So he brought tea and a muffin for her. She could buy tea and a muffin for her own self, thank you, so she'd be just fine! (She ignored the tiny voice inside her telling her that it wasn't the tea or the muffin that mattered; it was the smile that accompanied them, the warmth that came with the knowledge that he had thought of her.)

She spent the morning making phone calls to Teodor Hayek, having to steel herself to tell him the story of why Eliska had died and what had happened to his son, and to Melissa Talbot. She was, at least, pleasantly surprised that Melissa Talbot agreed, after only a brief hesitation, to allow Hayek to come over and see Zane Talbot.

So that afternoon saw her and Castle meeting Teodor Hayek in the lobby of the Talbots' building and accompanying Hayek up to the Talbots' home. She saw Hayek glancing rather nervously around at the richness of the furnishings in the lobby and the hallway, the pristine elegance of the decor, nervousness followed by a sort of resigned calm. It occurred to her with a stab of empathy she might not have felt even a couple months ago that Hayek was seeing not only the wealth apparent in the building but the sort of privilege Zane Talbot had grown up with, would continue to grow up with. The sort of privilege he himself as an illegal immigrant could never hope to give his son, no matter how he tried. And in that moment, she thought she understood the sacrifice Hayek was making. Not only in not uprooting Zane from the only home he had ever known but in willingly giving Zane up to allow him this kind of life, the pampered, cosseted life as the only child of a wealthy family.

She and Castle watched in silence as Hayek first saw his son, his real son, the one who had been stolen from him, and felt her throat close up on a surge of emotion. Her hand automatically went to her stomach to cover the subtle curve, still hidden beneath her clothes, but she was aware of it. Her baby. Her mind pictured, again, the ultrasound image, one print of which was safely tucked into her purse in her car and at which she kept stealing surreptitious glances at random points during the day.

She watched as Zane Talbot, the innocent cause of so much grief, smiled rather shyly at Hayek for fixing the wheel on his toy train. He really was an adorable little boy—and she suddenly pictured a baby—her baby—imagined a little boy with dark hair and—oh—Castle's somewhat crooked smile. The image made her catch her breath and she reached out blindly, unthinkingly, her free hand brushing against Castle's fingers.

She glanced at him to catch his eyes and he gave her a small, soft smile and she wondered if he could somehow guess what she had just pictured, if, maybe, he had pictured their baby too. And then her gaze fell to their joined hands with vague surprise. They were holding hands—she hadn't quite realized they were holding hands. Again.

She felt herself flushing and in an attempt to keep him from noticing, jerked her head to indicate the door, dropping his hand as she turned quietly away. And tried not to feel so conscious of Castle falling into step beside her as they left the Talbots' condo and headed down to the lobby.

"That was nice," Castle spoke up quietly.

She lifted her shoulders into a small shrug. "Eliska Sokol died trying to find out the truth of what happened to her son; it's only fair that Teodor Hayek learn the truth she died for."

"Still. It was a good thought, a kind one. You're good at that, finding a way to honor the victim in other ways, not just getting justice by simply finding their killer."

She heard in her mind his voice calling her extraordinary and her heart flipped in her chest. "Yeah, well—" she began, not entirely sure what she was going to say other than trying to change the subject.

But he rushed on, his voice overriding hers. "That actually reminds me of something I need to tell you."

She blinked. "Oh, what do you need to tell me?"

"I'm not taking the Bond offer," he announced in a tone that strove to sound casual but missed by a mile.

She sternly tamped down the ridiculous, unbidden spurt of something like joy. "You—uh—what? Why?" How could he do that, turn down an offer as prestigious, career-making, as writing Bond?

He shrugged, assuming an expression of nonchalance, as if he were announcing a decision as inconsequential as the color of his shirt. "The more I thought about it, the more I realized it's not what I want right now, it's not the right time, the right character. It's not what I want to be writing."

"What—uh—what do you want to be writing?" she managed, wondering why her mouth seemed to have gone dry. Ridiculous, to be reacting like this to a conversation about writing. It wasn't personal.

He lifted one shoulder into a half-shrug but then met her eyes, his facade of insouciance abruptly falling away. "Writing Bond is, well, it's a boy's dream. He's a boy's dream character, the cool gadgets and all—"

"Not to mention the hot women," she inserted rather dryly.

He made a small face. "Okay, yes, that too, but it just proves my point. Bond is, well, he's the reason I became a writer and a decade ago, I would have leaped at this chance but that was then. And I've already written about spies and the fate of nations and that sort of thing, in Derrick Storm, so writing about Bond now would be like regressing."

Not regressing so much as returning to his roots, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The debt Derrick Storm owed to Bond had been pretty obvious, especially in the first couple Storm books. She thought Storm had developed further, deepened, as a character in the later books but certainly initially, Storm had been clearly inspired by Bond.

But he had turned down the Bond offer… And a tiny insidious voice inside her couldn't help but wonder if it was for her.

"Writing about Nikki Heat was different; Nikki Heat is different, a better, more complex character. She's… classy, complicated. She's a thinking man's cop."

She tried but couldn't keep her silly heart from fluttering. Even though she was not, absolutely was not, Nikki Heat and what Castle said about his view of Nikki had nothing to do with her, not really.

"And the stories I can tell about her cases are about people, not some impersonal world-domination type of plot, but real, personal stories, like character studies into human behavior, looking into what makes people tick." He paused and then went on, "This case reminded me of that, what I really want to be writing about, exploring what would make an otherwise ordinary person—like Dr. Talbot—commit a heinous act…"

"Like stealing someone else's baby."

He flashed her a quick, faint smile of approval before he sobered. "Exactly. He's not some sort of criminal mastermind; he's not evil or anything. He just… set things in motion years ago when he gave into impulse and switched babies, just wanting to save his wife from heartbreak, and then having done that, he was committed and had to stick it out, even when Eliska Sokol discovered the truth."

A phrase she'd read somewhere years ago returned to her mind. "A man deformed by circumstance," she murmured. If it had not been for the tragic circumstance of the Talbots' actual baby being born with Niemann-Pick, she could easily imagine that Dr. Talbot would have lived a law-abiding life as a successful doctor and loving husband and father. She had seen glimpses of how much Dr. Talbot had doted on Zane. No, nature had not intended for him to be a killer.

"There but for the grace of God," Castle agreed. "I knew you'd understand."

Their eyes met and held and she felt that flash of closeness when she and Castle were on the same wavelength, a sense of connection that she couldn't remember ever feeling with anyone else. A feeling as if he, of everyone she'd ever met, really understood her, knew her in spite of all her walls, all her defenses.

It was irrational, she knew that, reminded herself of that forcefully. Absurd to place so much significance on what were relatively brief moments of understanding. And it was mostly just about casework, just reaching a conclusion based on evidence, nothing particularly special or magical about it at all.

He blinked and something in his expression shifted. "Anyway," he went on with a change of tone, "that's why I turned down the Bond offer."

And that meant, he wouldn't need to stop working with her. She gave up trying to pretend she wasn't happy at the thought. Castle was staying with her—staying at the precinct, she corrected herself. "Well, I guess I can keep on putting up with you," she tried to sound like her usual, tart self and thought she mostly succeeded but she knew her lips were twitching with a smile she couldn't quite contain, a smile that betrayed her.

"I'm sure the Mayor appreciates it," was what he said with mock solemnity but the look in his eyes indicated what he meant was that he appreciated it, appreciated her.

She tried to tamp down the fluttering of her stupid, susceptible heart, tried to tell herself she was happy for the sake of the victims who would continue to benefit from Castle's help, but it rang hollow even to her own self. When had she started to like having him around so much? But she did, she had to admit it, if only to herself. He could be, was, surprisingly helpful on their cases but more than that, he made her work more… fun. With his silliness and his jokes and his quick wit—and his smile. He made her days more pleasant, gave her something to look forward to at work, even on the boring paperwork days or frustrating days when they seemed to be stuck in neutral on a case.

And he was staying.

Their eyes met and held as they exchanged smiles—but then the moment, whatever it was, was broken as her phone rang.

"Beckett."

It was Dispatch. She nodded as she mentally memorized the address of the crime scene and then ended the call.

He gave her a bright-eyed look. "Do we have a new case?"

We. She liked the sound of that, she decided, the collective pronoun. They were a team, her and Castle. Funny, she'd always thought she preferred 'I,' to be independent, not having to rely on anyone else or worry about anyone else—alone. Certainly, she'd never really wanted a partner at work before; even being partnered with Espo as she had been for about six months after Espo had joined the 12th had not been a good fit, no matter how well she and Espo worked together as a team. But somehow, being partners with Castle, it worked. There was, after all, something to be said for having someone who had her back, someone who could keep up with her, challenge her.

"We do," she answered, smiling in spite of herself. "So, you coming, Castle?"

"Right beside you." And so he was—and so he would continue to be. And yes, she was glad.

~To be continued…~

A/N 2: Thank you as always to all readers and reviewers.