A/N: Guys, look! It's a second chapter! Here's to actually doing this story justice and writing it fully this time around. Let me know what you think. We'll be into new territory in no time at this pace.
"Esposito!" Beckett called to her partner as she saw him exit an apartment building up the street.
He turned and made his way towards her but whatever he was going to say was interrupted by the sound of her cellphone ringing.
"Oh, hold on Espo." she sighed, holding up a finger to emphasize her point.
Her brow furrowed in confusion when she saw that it was Lanie on the other end calling her.
"Lanie?" she answered with a question as Esposito arrived at her side.
"Beckett!" the other woman nearly yelled, breathing heavily. "Beckett, they- they took the body! They… why'd they take the body?"
"Lanes what are you talking about?" the detective asked, worry creeping into her tone.
"Three men. They hit us and they took the body." she explained, seeming to gain more control over herself.
"Where?" Beckett asked, already turning and striding purposefully back towards her cruiser, keys in hand.
"Just down the road from the crime scene." the ME answered.
"Lanie, stay where you are. I'm on the way." Beckett demanded and then hung up without waiting for an answer.
"Espo, get Ryan." she ordered, knowing her partner would be keeping pace with her. "The medical examiner's van has been robbed. I'm going to go meet them and figure out what's happened." she explained, hearing a sharp intake of breath from her partner.
"Beckett-" the man began but was cut off by the senior detective, "Lanie sounded fine Espo. We just need to know what happened."
The man had, afterall, been dating the feisty medical examiner for the last couple months and was sure to be worried about the wellbeing of his girlfriend.
Her junior detective gave her a long look before agreeing with a nod and rushing off to collect his partner. Witha sigh of relief that he hadn't continued to fight her, Beckett continued towards her cruiser.
It wasn't until she was in her car and backing out from where she had parked that she realized that it wasn't just Lanie she was concerned for.
Of course she cared deeply for her best friend, but she wasn't the only one who had been in that van. Surely if something had happened to Castle, Lanie would have told her on the phone right?
Conflicting emotions rose like a tide threatening to drown her as she questioned why she even cared. He had betrayed her, them, after everything that they had done for him. After they had trusted him with their deepest secret, he had proven himself to be untrustworthy. She shouldn't be concerned for his safety because she didn't care about him anymore. Or did she?
She shook her head as if literally shaking the traitorous thoughts away and turned her focus towards the road in front of her. Flipping on the lights and siren she blared down the road towards where the medical examiner's van had disappeared. It felt like it had been an eternity since she'd watched the van pull away, but in reality they hadn't made it more than a dozen blocks from the crime scene before being attacked.
A quick intake of breath announced her arrival at the scene as she found the ME van up against a light pole with the front crumpled and the side dented where it had clearly hit the pole.
Coming to a stop alongside the van, taking no notice of anyone else around the scene, Beckett through her cruiser into park and sprinted around the car to the back of the stalled van that was hanging open.
"Beckett!" Lanie yelled as she saw her friend round the door looking more frantic than her usual calm composure.
"Are you ok?" the dark haired detective asked, critically eyeing her best friend, noting her rumpled appearance but no blood or other markers of serious injury.
Before the doctor could answer, an answer came from the writer standing off to the side, "We're fine, Kate."
Turning to face Castle as he took the couple strides necessary to reach her side, she looked him over skeptically, mentally taking note of the way he'd called her by her first name. She relaxed a little as she saw that he too didn't appear to be severely injured. Not that she actually cared for his sake. No. She just didn't want to have to do the extra paperwork involved with a civilian getting injured on her watch. Or at least, that was the story she told herself as she breathed a little easier.
"I still want to look you over when we get out of here." Lanie spoke up, startling Beckett into realizing that she'd stared at Castle just a beat too long. "You hit your head pretty hard." she continued gesturing towards the writer.
"What the hell happened?" Beckett directed her question once more to her best friend.
"I don't know." Lanie answered, shaking her head in consternation. "One minute we were driving along like normal and the next, we'd hit something. Castle and I both went flying and then three men opened the back of the van and took the body. It doesn't make any sense."
Beckett considered her words for a moment, possible reasons to steal a body flashing through her mind.
"Let's get back to the precinct." she decided. "We'll let CSU check the scene for any tire marks or evidence the thieves may have left. There's not much more that we can do here and I'm sure Esposito is going to want to see you." she added giving her friend a knowing look.
"Secure the scene until the tech team arrives to do their sweep." she commanded an officer who was hovering nearby keeping the growing crowd of onlookers at bay. The young man nodded his understanding and lowered his head to communicate her orders through his walkie.
Heat prickled along her left side as Castle came to stand entirely to close to her. His body radiating heat and adrenaline from the crash.
Giving him a look, Beckett took several steps back to distance herself from the author. "C'mon Castle, let's get back to the precinct so the boys can take your statement."
Thankfully he didn't say anything, trailing behind her to the crown vic where Lanie had already taken residence in the passenger seat.
"It's the back for you Castle." the other woman called out the window with a wide grin.
Beckett couldn't contain her smirk as the man grumbled under his breath but opened the door to the back of the cop car muttering something about being treated like a criminal.
She called Ryan on the way back to the precinct to fill him in. The young man had just met up with his partner and relayed her instructions to the other man, along with further reassurances that Lanie was fine.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur as they arrived back at the precinct. Beckett filled Montgomery in on what they knew so far as Lanie looked over Castle to make sure he hadn't received any additional brain damage beyond his already boneheaded mistakes. The boys took everyone's statements and sent the journalist and her team home. They hadn't seen what had happened to the van but the detectives of the twelfth didn't need them in their way while they investigated an attack on one of their own.
Castle was acting like it was old times with his wild accusations about med students needing a cadaver and mad scientists wanting to make a monster. And despite her insistence that he wasn't needed, Montgomery allowed him to stay with them, with her, for the duration of the case.
"Let's go see the widow." Beckett groused at her ex partner once he'd received a clean bill of health. As much as she wanted to get away from the man and enjoy a nice bubble bath she still had work to do and there was no way she'd let him affect how well she did her job.
The car ride from the precinct to the family's house was silent. That is to say Beckett had made it abundantly clear that she was uninterested in conversation when she immediately turned the radio on and cranked up the dial before even putting the car into gear.
For once the writer took the hint without commenting or trying to speak anyways just to irritate her further. He must have noticed the aura of tension surrounding her and realized that he couldn't push much more without risking bodily harm. She actually kind of wished he had though, just so she had an excuse to wipe that smug smile off his face in a very different way than she had many times before in a very different setting.
They arrived at the victim's home without further incident and were greeted at the door by his wife.
This was always Beckett's least favorite part of the job, having to break the news of someone's death to their loved ones, but she was also the best at it because she'd been there. She knew what it was like to be on the receiving end of news that rocked your world to its very foundations. And it was because of this knowledge, that no matter how much she dislike this aspect of her job, she couldn't stomach the thought of putting it off on someone else; someone who couldn't empathize with the families of the victims the way she could.
To say the interview was a disaster would be an understatement. The woman hadn't known much. Her husband had just returned from a business trip to Albuquerque and was supposed to be at work when he was killed. Castle just had to jump in and imply that the man was cheating, losing any good will that they may have built up with the wife. Good will which could have come in handy when she requested to see her husband's body to 'say goodbye'.
"That was awkward." was all the best selling author had to say once the widow had slammed the door shut behind them once they'd informed her that they didn't actually have her husbands body anymore.
They had at least gotten a lead from the otherwise unhelpful interview. The victim had been receiving angry phone calls from a man named Max Haverstock who was angry that he'd been fired several months before.
Once again, Castle stood entirely to close as she called in the lead to Esposito on the ride down in the elevator. She gave him an exasperated look and stepped away to make her call in as much piece as can be achieved in the car of an elevator.
"Go home Castle." she told the man once she'd hung up with Espo. They weren't going to be able to do the interview with Haverstock until the next day and her head was spinning from everything that had happened that evening. From the photo shoot and interview to being forced to work with Castle again and the heist that was pulled on the medical examiner's van. She needed a bath and a nice glass of wine to unwind.
While most people wouldn't have noticed the lines of weariness around her eyes and the corners of her mouth, Castle had spent the last year observing the beautiful detective. This is why he nodded his acquiescence as they exited the lobby of the apartment building.
"Until tomorrow detective." he bid her goodbye, reminded of a time when things in the twelfth had been simpler, happier.
"Goodbye Castle." she answered, walking towards where her cruiser was parked up the block as Castle made his way to the curb to hail a cab.
Deciding that her paperwork could wait until the morning, Beckett drove through the city back to her own apartment in somewhat of a haze. She hadn't missed the way the boys had lit up as they bickered with Castle just like it was old times, and her concern over the man when he may have been hurt or in danger was at odds with the disdain she felt at the memory of what he had done. She didn't want him back, of that she was sure. But she couldn't deny that the time he had spent with their little team before he had looked into Johanna Beckett's case had been some of the best they'd had at the twelfth. Both in and out of the precinct.
It was with a heavy sigh that she finally arrived at her apartment. Kicking off her heels, she stripped out of her soiled clothing on the way to her bathroom. Turning the tap on for the hot water, she put the plug into the bathtub and made her way into the kitchen. She retrieved a box of Chinese from the night before from the fridge and popped it into the microwave for a couple minutes to reheat.
While she waited for the bath to fill and her dinner to heat, she perused her bookshelf. Studiously ignoring the portion of the shelf that was dedicated to Castle's books, she chose one of her favorite mysteries by Patterson just as the microwave signalled that her dinner was ready.
Beckett ate quickly, discarding the cardboard container into the trash, and then returned to the bathroom where the tub was nearly filled. She lit a couple candles and turned on the ipod where it rested on its docking station.
She turned the water off and went to retrieve her book and a glass of wine, then slipped gratefully into the heated water.
She stayed in the bath until the water had cooled and her skin had wrinkled. With her wine gone and the time growing later, Beckett finally emerged from the tub and wrapped her body in a soft towel hanging on the rack next to the tub. She pulled the stopper and allowed the water to swirl down the drain as the tub emptied and then retired to her room to get a few hours of sleep before she'd need to return to work first thing in the morning.