Hello everyone. Yes, the next chapter is here! Its been a bit of a struggle to get this chapter done with real life requiring urgent attention, and the chapter itself requiring quite a bit of wrestling. I hope its worth the wait. And thank you for all those people that are still with me for the ride. I hope you will read and let me know your thoughts.

A question for readers too: I think this story might benefit from a beta, but I am not totally across the dynamics of finding one. Can anyone help? Is there a place to look?

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Kate Beckett sat at her desk across from the suited stranger occupying Castle's chair and tried not to let her gaze slip into a glare of frustration. It wasn't even 48 hours (has it really been that short a time since everything was turned on its head? Has it really been that long?) since Castle had been in that same chair; sitting there with her so late at night it was probably morning, throwing around theories about Baxter and the missing murder weapon with his eyes as blood shot as hers felt. It was less than two days since he brought them dinner right at her desk so that they could keep attacking the frustrating wall they were striking against. And god, it had been frustrating. Baxter was going to get away with murder and they had nothing sufficient to tie it to him without the murder weapon. They needed that gun. Then Castle had abruptly disappeared and reappeared a few minutes later with two cartons of something that smelled so divine that her stomach growled the moment she detected it (much to Castle's amusement). How long had it been since she had eaten? She realised she had no idea.

"Nu-ren nan-ren ju-chan." Castle had pronounced (or at least that was what it sounded like) as he whirled the containers onto her desk and slid back onto his chair. It still threw her that he spoke Chinese.And that he was so casually, unpretentiously accomplished at it.It must have taken him years to cultivate both the grammar and the accent, and that sort of serious dedication just jarred with the flighty overly privileged shallow celebrity that threw her cheesy pick up lines at every opportunity.But then that wasn't really new.Like his unexpectedly keen investigative mind, it was yet another clue that there was more to Rick Castle than would be suggested from his playboy front.She shouldn't be intrigued by that mystery, but she was.Though she wasn't about to let him know he had peaked her interest.There wasn't enough Kevlar in the building to protect her from what that knowledge would do to his ego.

"Castle, what are you doing?"She had snapped.They had so far to go with this case in such a small window of time that any interruption was just pushing her buttons.

"Having dinner."

"It's,"she checked her watch."1am!"

"A fact that I am painfully aware of Detective.Now this,"he tapped the cartons, ignoring her impatience, "is the real deal.It's from that new place a few blocks down.The menu is one hundred percent nouveau Shanghai.The chef just got off the proverbial boat last month.So it's the real thing.I've been wanting to try it out all since they opened.Everyone is raving about what they can do with chillies and hot peppers.Here!"He handed her a pair of wooden chop sticks, and then parted his own with a snap and rubbed them together, smoothing down imaginary splinters.She looked down at her own chopsticks and frowned.These were no cheap mass produced bamboo or plastic implements.She wasn't sure exactly what they were made of, but they were sleek and dark and smooth and unquestionably expensive.

"Wait, isn't that the new 5-star restaurantwith the entrées that cost more than that shirt you're wearing?"

"Yeah!"He said with no small measure of glee.A grin appeared that just about split his face open."Isn't it great!"

"They don't' do take out."

He just grinned wider, waggled his eyebrows, and dug out a generous portion of noodles and meat.Oh my god, he was incorrigible.How could he already have a guy at a place that had just opened?And this was expensive.Really expensive.She couldn't accept this.She shouldn't accept this.But then her stomach growled again.

"You're stalling." Castle suddenly spoke.

"What?"She looked up and saw that Castle had stopped grinning and was looking at her over the mountain of noodles pinched between his very expensive chopsticks. His eyes were narrowed, regarding her with some critical measure.

" It's the chillies isn't it?It's ok, some people can't handle the real thing.I should have asked for the wàiguórén menu."

"Oh this foreigner," she watched his eyes widen with appreciation at her understanding, "can handle chillies Castle.But I notice youaren't eating either."

"Its impolite to start before everyone else, Beckett."

"Really."She retorted, and opened her carton.Oh my god.The aroma was nothing short of heavenly.The vegetables tossed in with the pork and noodles were actually recognisable, not those translucent congealed mystery ingredients she was used to from her usual take out spots.And wow, he hadn't been lying about the chillies.But no, no, it was undeniably expensive, and she shouldn't even be considering taking this from him.He had to know she couldn't replay like for like.A fragrant waft of incredible spices drifted up from the open contained.Her mouth watered.Still, she didn't think he was the type who would use a meal to try to barter for something else.She didn't know him that well, but her instinct was that he didn't buy women dinners as a down payment.So -

"All right Castle, you're on."

"You won't do it."

"Oh, I'lldo it.It's you I'm worried about."

"Oh, don't worry about me Detective, I'll front up."

"Prove it."

"Together."

"On three."

"THREE!"

They ate.He shoved the first mouthful in and choked it down, face turning beet red.She followed suit.Oh god, that's hot.She felt sweat prickle her skin.But then, impossibly, he went for another mouthful.So she had to.And somewhere through the incredibly delicious yet agonizing noodle feast Castle produced two massive chocolate shakes to cool the burn.It wasn't until she was draining the last of dregs of delicious chocolate cream, and feeling a new buzz of energy spreading through her body, that she realised she had been duped into turning her back on her murder board for the last fifteen minutes. Damn.

"That was sneaky, Castle."

"I think the word you are looking for is 'smooth' Detective.And yes it was."He smirked."And you're welcome."

They worked for another hour and came up with nothing, but when they finally clocked out of the building she rode the streets home with a smile.

And now someone else was in Castle's chair, and it felt like a violation. Which was ridiculous: it was just a chair. Still, she couldn't help noticing that the man sitting there now did not fill out the space properly. He was too dour, too still, too neatly framed within the chair's fixed dimensions. He didn't lean back until the metal work squealed, or sprawl beyond the arm rests. He didn't fiddle with the things on her desk. He didn't stray from the company line. Instead, he just sat there, slim and neat, his file folder open in his lap, pen tapping the page as he worked through the bold typeface of demands printed on the page clipped inside. She gripped down on her pen and felt the plastic creak.

"-need to show me where the relevant policy is located on the station intranet-"

Captain Montgomery had warned her that they were going to be audited, and it wasn't like it was a new experience. Auditing of all their practices and procedures was a regular occurrence and she appreciated the reasons for it, even if they were about as comfortable as a trip to the dentist. But this one? Maybe it was the fact that they had just stumbled across something huge and tangled with Carmichael and Baxter that she was desperate to get back to? Maybe it was that since returning Castle to his apartment yesterday she had had no time to decompress, to stop and breathe, for fear of losing momentum and giving their suspects too much time to regroup and reform their lines? Maybe it was because her best efforts with Castle's coffee machine in the break room had merely produced a cup of acid? Maybe it was the pestering paparazzi phone calls that kept on making it through the switch, looking for information on Castle and the incident that had revealed his hearing loss? Or maybe, it was the intrusive political stench to this particular audit? The fact that she had an ongoing investigation needing her swift attention and yet here she was being audited for something that could wait until Castle was closer to returning to the 12th was just-

Or maybe it was just how this stranger was sitting in Castle's chair.

"-And then, the procedure for -"

Oh my god.

"You know what?" She interrupted the man's droning shopping list of demands, rising to her feet. "Why don't we take a break for a moment? I need coffee. And I am sure you could do with-"

"You have a coffee." The man pointed at her cup and looked at her blandly. "And no, I don't. We should continue. There is a great deal to get through to day and I have a meeting at 5pm with the Mayor for my preliminary audit report."

"Five minutes." She told the man and pointedly ignored his terse sigh as she headed for the break room with her cup of battery acid.

The break room was mercifully empty and Kate walked to the sink to dispose of the tepid coffee. As she watched the dark liquid snake down the drain, she took a moment to try to regroup. There was no getting out of this audit, but she was going to have to do something to keep the Carmichael investigation moving forwards or risk having the man slip away from them. And he was capable of doing just that, despite an official direction that he keep himself available and within the city limits. He was a connected man. That much was clear. And the ludicrously expensive lawyer he had brought into Interview was worth every penny he was paying her and then some. She had managed to get him out in record time, and had left no leverage to compel him to stay closer than the city limits.

So they needed to make their own connections. They needed to do it fast. Ryan and Espo were working Baxter over, but it wasn't enough. She bit down on her lip. She barely heard from Castle since his sleepy, garbled texts the day before, and he likely still had his hands full handling the fallout from yesterday's shocking revelations but she did tell him she would take him through the case, and he did have to file his own report on the raid, so- She looked out at the auditor, sitting there in Castle's chair, flipping through his manila folder. Her eyes narrowed. She pulled out her cell.

"- Hello?" It was Alexis who answered after a handful of rings, sounding hesitant and very very young. Kate frowned.

"Alexis. It's Kate."

"Oh!" There was relief in the young girl's voice. "Detective Beckett - I mean, Kate. Hello."

"Is everything ok?"

"Um, yeah." She said after a beat. And when she spoke again she sounded distracted. "It's um, it's ok. Well, as ok as it can be. You know. "

"I do. It will get better. The press will lose interest in time." Kate tried to reassure the teen, but she could plainly here that something was going on over at the loft. Whatever it was though, Alexis didn't seem to want to address it directly. Which was enough of a sign for Kate to persist, but gently: "How are you holding up?"

"Fine. I'm fine. I'm taking a few days off school. Studying at home. Dad thought it would be a good idea -" She stopped speaking again, and this time Beckett thought she could hear something in the background. Raised voices maybe?

"Alexis? Are you sure everything is ok?"

"Um-" Ok, something was definitely going on. Yes, that was unquestionably voices in the background. And raised voices. She didn't need to be a cop to recognize the faint sounds of a domestic.

"Can I talk to your Dad please?"

"Um.."

"Alexis, what's going on? Is your grandmother there?"

"No, she's out right now. She had a doctor's appointment and Dad insisted she keep it. Eduardo let her out the back way." There was a pause on the line, a rustling that sounded like the phone was being pressed against cloth as someone walked. When Alexis spoke again it was in a half whisper. "It's been pretty rough. Have you seen the press?"

"No, I haven't." Kate said and realised, for the first time, just how intensely she had been focussing on the Carmichael Baxter case and the internal demands of paperwork and the audit that was the legacy of yesterday's raid. Somehow she had managed to entirely miss the entire media fall out without even consciously trying to.

"Dad's so tired. He's been doing damage control all day and he won't let me help. And now Gina's here. She wants him to do a family piece for Entertainment!, with Grams and I. She has the network lined up, the whole deal. And Dad- He's really- They're arguing." And the way the teen whispered the word was like it was a foreign language, something so alien and unfathomable that she didn't know what to do with it. It wasn't hard to imagine that angry raised voices were not a common occurrence within the Castle home. If he was even half the negotiator, the people pleaser, the considered conciliator, at home that he was at the Precinct then she could well understand how the young girl was finding her father fighting with someone so destabilising and shocking. Kate was finding it hard to get her own mind around the image of Castle pushed so far from himself that he was actually in a verbal fight. But at least Alexis had told her and she had that to work with.

"Where are they now?"

"They're in the Dad's office. He shut the door, but I can still hear them." Her voice was sounding steadier, as if confiding in another adult was suddenly going to make things better. If only life was that simple, Kate thought.

"When is your grandmother due back?"

"In about an hour I think."

"Can you call her?"

"I tried but she isn't picking up."

"OK." There were so many cell phone dead spots around the city, it wasn't too unusual to have trouble connecting, and in a doctor's office she may very well have had to turn her cell off. "How about your take your books upstairs until then. And take the phone too. Do you have a pen? I'll give you my direct line."

"Thank you Kate." Alexis breathed down the line and took down the number.

"Don't worry too much ok." Kate went on, searching for words that didn't sound like platitudes. It was hard to do when she was talking to a teenager as switched on as Alexis was. "Your Dad and Gina are just working through how to deal with this situation, and at times they are going to clash about the best way to handle it. Adults do that sometimes. Now, your grandmother will be back in no time, but until then if you are worried you call me ok?"

"I guess. It's just, this isn't Dad. He doesn't- Even when he and Gina were breaking up they didn't fight. Not like this. And- he's - he's really mad. Can- can you come over?" Kate heard her take a deep breath and took a moment to swallow down her own reaction. She couldn't imagine Castle that angry. There was no way she could let this lie.

" I have something I have to tie up here, but - give me thirty minutes?"

"Thank you."

"Now, take your books and go upstairs for me 'k."

"OK."

Alexis hung up and Kate took a breath, before marching back out into the bullpen to deliver the bad news to the interloper still sitting in Castle's chair: his report to the mayor was going to be late.

End of chapter

Yes, this story is totally going somewhere. I think two or three more chapters will take it home. Thank you again for reading. I hope you enjoyed it, its been a hellava thing to write this time. Please R&R. Yes, that's begging. Flagrant and unapologetic begging. :)