Chapter 2.

"So I found her at last night's reading," he told the vet, "and took her home." He drooped. "But I guess she must belong to someone, because she's clearly expensive and pedigreed."

"You got that right," the vet said. "You don't often see a cat like this wandering around. Let's have a look."

The vet explored carefully, during which time Onyx regarded both the vet and Castle with a dangerous glare indicating her lack of enthusiasm for the process. Castle felt that same odd sense of resemblance to Beckett's lack of enthusiasm for paperwork, and grinned rather bleakly at himself. He was clearly going insane through lack of Beckett, and therefore anthropomorphising wildly. However, Onyx, unlike Beckett, hadn't threatened or maimed him, which he considered a major advantage. She also liked him petting her, and was prepared to spend considerable time snuggled into him. Beckett would kill him just for the thought of petting her, which was deeply unfair.

"Well, Rick, she's not chipped."

Castle's jaw dropped. "She's not?"

"No. No sign that she's ever been chipped, and weirdly there's no sign that she's ever had a collar either. I can't believe she didn't have an owner – you were right, she's a pure-breed, and she'd be very expensive – but they've been really lax about her safety. Where did you say you found her?"

"The alley behind the Rizzoli Bookstore."

"Hm. Not where I'd expect a cat like that to be."

"I couldn't find any reports of one being lost."

"Weird," the vet said again. "You'd think they'd practically have an APB out. Pure black Siamese cats are rare. In fact, this is the first I've seen."

"Can I keep her?"

The vet shrugged. "You'll have to give her up if her owner proves she's theirs."

"How are they going to do that? No chip, no collar, nothing." Castle didn't know why he was so desperate to keep this cat, but he was. He had a suspicion it was because he couldn't have Beckett, and the cat's cool, sardonic look was the next best thing. "Look, Casey, if I keep her for now, how do I keep her safe? She got out last night – no idea how, I'd swear the loft was locked up, but she did, and I don't wanna lose her."

"Well, you could put a collar on her, but that's not exactly safe, 'cause all you need to do is take it off."

Onyx stretched and extended her claws in full. Castle glanced at her worriedly. "You know, it really sounded as if she understood that. I don't think she'd like a collar."

"We don't normally recommend them. It's too easy for them to catch on something." Casey turned to his kit, and held up a small chip. "Give me a moment." He fiddled about on the work surface, and turned back. "Keep her still?" Castle stroked her till she relaxed and purred at him, and then Casey swiftly pinched the skin between her shoulder-blades and injected the chip. Onyx growled fearsomely, and swatted at him, claws fully extended.

"C'mon, Onyx. That's not kind. It's just to keep you safe." Onyx growled again, spat viciously, and acquired an air of sulking. When Castle tried to pet her, she hissed and extended claws.

"We should give her the standard shots, too. You don't want her getting sick." The cat hissed very angrily. "They all do that."

Castle squatted down to be on eye level with Onyx's flat-eyed, vicious glare. "You don't wanna be sick, do you?" She hissed again. "You'd be miserable, and we'd have to come back here for treatment." She yowled. "You're as bad as Beckett, you know that? I have got to get you two together. She complains just as loudly about medics. How she manages to be friends with Lanie I don't know. Anyway, you need these shots, so lie still and when we're done we can go home."

He remembered saying the same sort of thing to Beckett, after a bruising encounter with a lowlife. She'd complained loud and long about how ridiculous it was that she should be checked over. He'd bought her coffee, after, to cheer her up.

"At least you don't need coffee to cheer you up." Onyx hissed again, but it sounded resigned. "You can have a treat when we get home." He patted her gently, but she didn't arch into his hand, to his disappointment. "It'll only take a minute or two." He turned to Casey, who was watching with some amusement. "Let's do this."

"You were talking to that cat as if she understood every word."

"Yeah, well," Castle muttered, embarrassed. "C'mon. I wanna take her home."

Casey administered the shots efficiently, and as soon as they were completed Castle picked Onyx up to fuss over and pet her until her stiff back and rigid tail relaxed. He supposed that that meant he was forgiven. "There, there," he soothed, "all done. No more needles." She hissed half-heartedly into his ear. He became very conscious of her sharp white teeth and the proximity of her claws to his earlobe.

Casey paid, they returned home.

"Dad, what have you got there?"

"This is Onyx."

"Why have you got a cat, Richard?"

"I found her."

"In a handbag?" his mother quipped.

Castle scowled. "No. In an alley. She doesn't seem to have an owner so I'm keeping her."

His mother made a disgruntled noise. "Are you sure you're not projecting your lack of female company? Really, darling, would it not be easier simply to ask Katherine on a date?"

Castle adjusted the cat to be more comfortably distributed over his chest. "Onyx is a lot more friendly than Beckett." A claw touched the skin of his back. "Anyway, I got her chipped and her shots. So can you be careful to keep the outer door shut? I'd hate to lose her."

"She's gorgeous," Alexis noted. "Can I stroke her?"

"If she doesn't object."

Onyx dropped to the ground and stalked to the middle of the living room. Alexis waited patiently, until Onyx's detailed assessment came to an end. The cat jumped on to the couch, padded along and lay down next to Alexis, who tentatively patted her. Her tail flicked restlessly, and after a few moments she vacated the couch and smoothly entered the study.

"Guess she's a one-writer cat."

The evening progressed very much like the previous night. Castle wrote, Onyx snuggled in his lap or on his chest. Late on, he put a drop or two of his coffee in a saucer for her, which she sniffed curiously and tasted. Her green eyes gave him no clue at all whether she liked it, but there didn't seem to be any left. At bedtime, she curled up just as before, though he spent some time petting her.

"Tomorrow, I'll invite Beckett round, so you can meet her. I wish she'd come round anyway, but she never drops by. I don't think she's still angry with me from the summer – she let me back." Onyx observed him with a quizzical expression. "I did something really dumb, and it upset her. I didn't mean to, but it did. So I said sorry, but I don't know if that's enough."

Onyx purred, and butted her head into his hand. "You think it is? I wish I knew. I only wanted to help her. I never wanted her to be so upset. I thought she'd never speak to me again." Another butt, and Castle cuddled his cat against his chest. "I thought I'd never see her again. Still, she let me back. Gave me another chance. If only she'd see…" He gazed down at Onyx, who gazed back. "Wish it was as easy as finding you." She mewed at him. "Yeah, I guess. You found me." He wriggled down. "Night. Till tomorrow, gorgeous." She tucked herself into his neck. That night, his hand settled on her soft fur and stroked until sleep overtook him.

In the morning, the cat was gone again. Castle performed a search of the obvious areas, but didn't spot her anywhere. He left water and cat food, hastily purchased at the store down the road, in his study, and made his way to the precinct to see if there was anything interesting going on.

"Morning, Beckett."

"Hey." She looked tired, and there were circles under her eyes.

"You okay?"

"I don't feel so good." She shifted uncomfortably, and rubbed at a spot on her back.

"What's wrong?"

"No idea. Feels like something bit me."

"Your boyfriends should take more care," Castle said mischievously.

Beckett growled angrily. "That's inappropriate," she hissed at him.

"Yeah, biting the back is definitely inappropriate – and misplaced. Nibbling earlobes, now, or" –

"Shut up, Castle."

"I could show you the appropriate way to nibble."

"No thanks. The only thing I should be nibbling is a doughnut."

"Doughnut? I don't see any doughnuts."

"That's because you haven't bought them yet."

"Why didn't you just say you wanted a doughnut?"

Beckett flexed her back again and winced. "I just did."

"You should get that bite seen to, if it hurts that much."

"Yeah. Must have been a spider."

Castle squirmed uncomfortably at the thought. "Or I could kiss it better. I could come round tonight and" –

"No."

"Humph. You're no fun. Just as well Onyx came back."

"The cat? Is that what you've called it?"

"Yes, the cat. I told you her name yesterday. You remember everything, Beckett. I know you remember my cat."

"Your cat?" There was definite emphasis on the your.

"Yep," Castle stated firmly. "My cat. Chipped and everything. I even got her all her shots. She didn't like it much, though. She growled and hissed at me. She sounded a lot like you on a bad day." Beckett produced a glare that would level armies. "Anyway, she's mine now. I'm not taking the chance someone else steals her."

"Next thing I know you'll be showing me photos. Have you met her parents yet? You sound like you're about to propose."

Castle ignored the snark, and fixated on the photos.

"Great idea! I'll take some tonight. Or you could drop by and meet her?"

"Busy tonight. Show me a photo. I gotta see this cat that's wormed its way into your life in two days flat."

"You'll love her. She's gorgeous. Pure black with green eyes." He cast Beckett a mischievous look. "If you were a cat, you'd have those same eyes."

"Okay, now you've lost it. I am a human. You have acquired a cat. Do not confuse us. Anthropomorphism or personification is not attractive."

"You're so hot when you use polysyllables" –

"Stop right there."

Castle rapidly concluded that a doughnut trip was indicated, and took it, returning with a large box which, as ever in the bullpen, lasted a total of thirty seconds. Her doughnut didn't sweeten Beckett's temper much, but he reckoned that her irritability had much more to do with the bite and her general malaise, which she treated with a consistently maximised dosage of Advil and a refusal to pay it any more attention than that, than with him. She was still in some discomfort and very irritable when she went home.

Castle couldn't find Onyx at all when he got home. Around eight, Edward, tonight's doorman, called up.

"Mr Castle, your cat's down here." Castle considered saying Send her up, and then realised that that would be utterly ridiculous. "She's sitting at the elevator." Maybe not so ridiculous.

"Um, Edward, could you try pressing the buttons for her?"

Edward snickered. "She that clever?"

"We'll find out. Go on. If she doesn't go in I'll owe you ten."

"Okay."

Castle opened his door and waited, eyes on the hallway. A moment later the elevator doors opened and Onyx regally exited, aiming straight for his door.

"Guess you really are that clever." Castle reached down to fondle her ears. "C'mon, then. Dinner time." She mewed. "You eat far too late. You're as bad as Beckett. You'll get tummy aches if you have your dinner this late." Onyx produced a look of total disdain and stalked past him, flirted the tip of her tail towards his mother in casual greeting, and continued on to the study.

Castle discovered very quickly that the spot where Onyx had been chipped was sore – right about the point he petted her back and she spat at him.

"Okay, okay! Don't do that. It's not nice. It'll be better in a day or two. You know, Beckett was sore today too. She said she got bitten. She was cross all day with it, and didn't even appreciate the doughnuts like she usually does. Just as well I didn't touch her. She wouldn't just have spat and hissed – which isn't polite, you know – she'd have twisted my ear. It really hurts when she digs her nails in."

Onyx made a face that looked as if she was laughing at him, if cats laughed.

"Don't get any ideas," Castle warned. Onyx simply mewed at him, and then jumped into his lap, turned herself around a couple of times, and settled down. He got the distinct feeling that she was waiting for him to start writing. "I can't write without coffee." He grinned. "Do you want some too?"

Onyx was at the study door before Castle had realised she'd moved. "Wow. A cat who likes coffee. Beckett'll never believe this. Oh, I need to take a picture of you. Show her. Let's get our coffee, and then I'll brush you" – she miaowed, meaningfully – "yes, I'll avoid the sore spot – and then I'll take your picture."

Brushed and supplied with a few drops of coffee, Onyx arranged herself in a model-cat pose. Castle snapped a couple of photos, but as he was putting his phone down, she prowled over to nose at the screen. "You wanna see?" he asked, feeling utterly stupid for talking so much to an animal who couldn't even reply. He showed her the pictures, and was, ridiculously, relieved when she purred. Looking for approval from a cat was a whole new level of insanity. Still, it was nice to be approved of.

"Beckett doesn't always approve of me," he told the cat. "She mostly bubbles over with disapproval. Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble," he deliberately misquoted, to a complete lack of appreciation from Onyx. "She doesn't disapprove as much now as when I first showed up, but enough. You'd think she didn't appreciate my theories. I know I'm not a cop, but I help. We think in sync. Wow, that rhymes." Another stare of complete disinterest. "She insists on being logical and having facts, but I'm the one who comes up with theories that we can toss around." He stroked Onyx's tail, which was waving over his hand. "It's so good, ripping into cases together. I love her mind. It's as hot as the rest of her." He opened his phone again, and gazed at an illicit photo he'd snapped. Onyx stretched up on her front paws, and nudged at it, then batted a paw at it. "Anyway. Let's send her this photo of you."

Castle had expected a reply fairly quickly, but when he went to bed he still hadn't had one. "I guess she wasn't feeling well with that bite. I hope she isn't sick – but if she was, I could take her chicken soup and mop her fevered brow." Onyx, curled up on the opposite pillow, hissed. "Jealous? I wouldn't be. You're here. She isn't. No chance she will be, either." He sighed. "I don't even know how to get her to come out on a date. I've given up asking." The cat tucked herself into her favourite spot. "Every so often I think she's interested and then someone interrupts or there's a murder or the moment's lost some other way." He sighed again, deeply. "I just wish I knew what she liked: movies or theatre or even grand opera. I'd even listen to Country and Western music, and I hate that. Just something to break the ice."

Onyx purred, which Castle chose to interpret as sympathy. "But I've got you," he said, and patted her. Her soft tail trailed over his cheek. "You're just as gorgeous." He paused. "I wish I knew where you were hiding, though. I'm sure you can't get out, but you're hiding so cleverly you might as well be." He thought for a second. "I should get a cat flap put in, tuned to your chip. That way you could come and go as you please." The cat emitted a definitive, approving miaow. "Okay, we'll do that." He scrunched his cheek into his pillow. "Goodnight, Onyx."

He half-expected that she'd be gone in the morning, and she was. The slight feeling of disappointment was alleviated when he remembered that she had turned up each evening. He arrived in the bullpen bearing coffee and bear claws, and greeted Beckett with enthusiasm.

"Did you like the photo?"

"Uh?"

"Last night. I sent you a photo of Onyx. My cat," he pointed out, in case she'd forgotten. "You didn't reply."

"Oh, right. I didn't realise my phone was out of power till I got in. Must have been the bug I had yesterday. I went to bed early."

"I'd have made you chicken soup."

"And mopped my fevered brow? I think not."

Castle blinked. Beckett had repeated his phrase. He shook his head. That was a common expression.

"I'm fine now. Just one of those twenty-four hour things." She smiled at him, without any of the usual sardonic edges. "It was a nice thought. Now, show me this photo? My phone's still charging so let's see yours."

Castle opened the photos and displayed them with pride. "Isn't she lovely?"

"Mm. Very elegant. Not what I thought you'd like."

"Oh?"

"I'd have expected you to have a Maine Coon. Or a dog."

"No. I like Onyx. She's perfect."

Beckett twitched her lips and quirked an eyebrow quizzically. "Perfect?"

"Gorgeous, affectionate, pettable…" He frowned. "I just wish she didn't disappear all day. I worry about her, even if she does come back at night."

"Cats are pretty independent."

"Yeah. Oh, I'd better get on to the handyman. I need them to install a cat flap. One of those hi-tech ones that only opens to let her in when it senses the microchip."

"Won't that mean she can get out?"

"No. I researched it. There are one way types."

"Sounds like a plan," Beckett noted idly. Her attention had already shifted to her case file.

A short call later, Castle made his apologies and left to meet the handyman. He returned in the afternoon, exuding satisfaction.

"All done. She can come in as she pleases. So, why don't you come round for dinner and maybe she'll show up?"

Castle felt very nervous about asking Beckett over, but she hadn't said no yet and she wasn't torturing him.

"Okay," she agreed, to his surprise. "Can we make it early, though? I'm still a bit sore from that bite, and I don't want to be out late."

"Sure. Six?"

"Okay." She favoured him with another un-sardonic smile. "Thanks."


Thank you to all readers, reviewers, and those who follow and favourite. Much appreciated, especially guests.

Hawkie (guest) - thank you. Still accented, after all this time.