a.n. Thanks to everyone who has sent in their reviews. A lot of you don't like that I killed off Alexis. To those people, I beg you, please bear with me. The ending is awesome, and is something that everyone will like, I promise. If you can't wait, PM me and I'll spoil it for you.

Disclaimer: It's highly entertaining to me that anyone could expect me to own Castle, because that's obviously not the case.

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Chapter Six

Previously…

She, Ryan and Esposito went into the apartment and discovered that it was empty, just as the apartment of the brother had been empty her first time during this case. The window as open and the curtains were billowing, suggesting that their suspect, Jennifer Tisdale, had ran for it. Shit, Castle.

Remembering how this scene had played out before, but worrying about possible changes this time around, she rushed down the stairs and back out the front door, noticing that Castle was no longer in her cruiser where she told him to wait. Typical.

As she turned the corner into the alley, she heard sounds of struggle coming from behind the small transport van that was parked in the alleyway. Fuck, what has he gotten himself into this time, she thinks sourly.

Quickly walking around the van, she pulled her gun from its place on her hip. What she saw when she finally made her way to the front of the van shocked her. It definitely wasn't what had happened before…

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"You just going to stand there and stare, Detective, or are you going to come cuff her?" Castle asked. Kate just stared at the scene before her, not quite comprehending how it had happened. Castle had the suspect on the ground face down, her arms behind her back while he knelt beside her holding her arms in position. There was a large gash across his cheek which was bleeding, and the woman had a black eye.

Shaking off her shock, she quickly strode over to the suspect and placed her cuffs on Tisdale's wrists. Castle let go of her arms and stood on shaky legs, bringing his hand up to his cheek where the blood was starting to flow down the side of his face. The cut looked deep, and Kate was sure that it hurt like a bitch.

Ryan and Esposito came up to them then, and Kate passed Tisdale off, instructing them to take her into custody and read her her rights. Turning back to Castle, she said, "What the hell, Castle. You know how dangerous it is to go after a suspect? She could have had a gun!"

"She had a knife instead, but I couldn't just let her get away," he retorted. "But I think I'm going to need some stitches, so maybe you're right."

Kate sighed and pulled out her phone to call in an ambulance. Normally she'd just drive him, but NYPD policy said that anyone wounded during a takedown had to go to the hospital via an ambulance. This isn't going to be good if it's our first case and he's already been injured, she thought.

She watched as Castle slumped down against a wall. He was still holding his hand to the cut on his cheek, which continued to spew blood. She knelt down next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Does it hurt?"

"It stings. I'm sure it'll be fine. Before I could get the knife away from her, she was already slashing with it."

"How did you disarm her?"

"Oh, you should have seen me, I was like a ninja!" he said, the familiar twinkle in his eyes making her breath catch. The smile fell off his face when he said, "Alexis used to love ninja stories."

"You feel guilty when you're happy, don't you?" she asked out of the blue, still shocked sometimes at how well she could read this man, even this new version of him.

He looked at her with a shocked expression. "How?"

"I felt the same way after my mother died," she hadn't planned on telling him so much, but she couldn't stop now. Maybe telling him sooner will aid in getting him interested in me.

"Do you still feel that way? It's been six years and I still feel so guilty for enjoying my life when my little girl…when she can't enjoy hers."

"I'd say it gets better, but not really. I figured out that all you can do is remember that the person you lost would want you to live every day for them, and that they would want you to be happy." What she didn't say, of course, was that it was Richard Castle who had taught her that. He had taught her that it was okay to love and live. It had taken her years to accept it, and when she was finally ready to embrace a future full of love and happiness, she had lost him forever.

He looked over at her but as he was about to respond, the ambulance pulled in and the paramedics rushed into the alley.

As she sat next to the ambulance while Castle was stitched up, she thought back on the conversation they'd just had. She knew that one of the reasons why Castle had stuck around was because he was fascinated by her story. That first day when he had profiled her oh so accurately had been the start of his real interest in her. That hadn't happened this time, really, even though he had figured out that she had experienced a loss when she was driving them to the precinct for the first time. She wondered if the changes she had made this time around would be enough to get him to shadow her. She was brought out of her thoughts when he stepped out of the ambulance, butterfly bandages over the side of his right cheek.

He smiled down at her, "good as new."

She smiled back as she stood up. Together they walked back towards her car, which was still parked in front of Tisdale's apartment complex.

When they got to the side of her car he turned to her and said, "Listen, I was wondering, could we get a drink or some coffee? I have something I'd like to ask you."

Kate had to mentally shove away her giddiness. "Of course. Let's walk. It's a nice day."

They walked a couple blocks in amicable silence until they found a small café with outdoor seating. They took their seats and gave their order to the waitress who happened by.

"You wanted to ask me something?" Kate prodded, hoping against all hope that he would want to shadow her again. She needed him by her side if she wanted to have any chance at getting him back.

"Yeah. Uh…this is going to sound weird, and maybe a little bit…I don't know…unorthodox, I guess." The waitress appeared then and sat down their coffees, asking if there was anything else she could get them. They both said no, and Castle continued, "You know I killed off Derrick Storm. Or at least you guessed it."

"Wait, I was right?"

He smiled and nodded. "Yeah. But don't tell anyone. The book doesn't come out for another month yet, and I don't need my publisher blaming me for an online leak."

"You have my word, I won't tell a soul."

He was silent for a minute while he took a long gulp of his steaming coffee. "I need a new character," he said after a while.

"Do you have one in mind?"

"Actually, yes. I want to base my new series on Esposito," he said with a straight face.

Kate, who had just taken a sip of her latte nearly did a spit take. What?! He can't be serious!

He laughed at her then. "God you should have seen the look on your face. Esposito is great and all, but I bet you're much more interesting. I'm going to base my next character on you. If that's okay with you."

"I almost spit my coffee all over you," she said, laughing. It was nice to know that he still had a sense of humor despite everything this version of Richard Castle had been through.

"I know," he said smugly. "Anyways, what I wanted to ask you was if you would be able to let me follow you around for a few cases, for research. Not just office work, though. I need the real thing so I can create the best story possible. I'll help you solve the cases you get so I can get a taste of what it's like."

She forced herself to think about it for a few minutes, even though she knew what her answer had to be. She didn't want to come across as too eager. After pretending to ponder his request she said, "I don't know Castle. I think I'm okay with that, but you'd have to get it cleared by my boss and the police commissioner."

"That won't be an issue, I don't think. The mayor is a good friend, and he owes me a few favors."

"You're sure you really want to do this? You saw how dangerous this job can be, or at least a small part of it, today. You could be in danger." This was the conversation she never got to have with Castle the first time since he had just forced himself onto her team, and while she would be forever grateful that he did, she had hated him for doing it the first time.

"I'm okay with that," he said. She was a bit worried about his reasons for agreeing so quickly. She saw the enduring sadness in his eyes that was always there even when he was joking around. She worried that he didn't care anymore about his own safety.

"If you do this, you have to listen to me, Castle. When I tell you to wait in the car, you wait in the car. There will be some situations where I won't let you come with me."

He shakes his head. "I'll listen, but I want to be in those situations if I can, Detective. I know you'll worry about me, but if I'm going to do this right, I need to understand the dynamic you have during those situations. It's the way I do things. The only way I'll know how my character reacts to dangerous situations is to see how you react to them."

It was then that she realized why Castle had always tried to worm his way into those situations when they had first met. He wasn't doing it to annoy her, though she's sure he had a good time doing that too, he was doing it for research. She wondered what would have changed between them if they had been this open with each other from the get go the first time around. If only…

"You'll need to sign some forms, I'm sure, and we'll need to get you a vest if you're really going to do this. And I'll need to learn to trust that you won't do anything stupid. I will not have a silly civilian getting himself killed because he tried to act the hero. So no more of what you did today, got it?"

"I couldn't just let her get away, what should I have done?" He wasn't mocking, or pouting, it seemed to her that he was honestly asking. That's another difference between my two Castles, she thought.

She thought about it for a minute. Even though there were differences between the two Castles she knew before and now, the biggest one seemed that this Castle wasn't just in this for the story. This Castle wanted justice. Just like I did for so long. The need for justice was there in the previous Castle too, but it was buried under flirtatious remarks, innuendo, and immaturity.

"I don't know. But it worries me, Castle, that if you come shadow me that you'll end up dead because you went off on your own. So if we do this, and you insist on coming with me into these situations, then we're partners, understand? That means we go everywhere together when we're on the job, and that we'll have each other's backs." She hadn't meant to thrust the idea of them being partners on him so early, but she liked the idea of him considering them partners now instead of waiting for that interaction to develop. She went with it now because of the changes she has seen in this new Castle. He was more serious, more responsible, and he seemed much more trustworthy than Richard Castle was when she first met him.

"Partners," he said smiling. "That sounds great." Then he frowned, thinking hard. "What if I let you down?"

She sighed. She knew that this was something that the Richard Castle of last time would never worry about. He was more confident. Much more cocky than the man who sat before her. "I can't promise that you won't. Hell, Rick, I can't even promise that I won't let you down. What you can do, is do your best. So how are you going to get my boss to agree to this charade of yours?"

"I'll talk to Roy first, and if he agrees, then I'll talk to Bob. If I can get him on board, he'll lean on the commissioner. Should be fairly simple, though I'm sure there'll be some legal hoops to jump through."

"I'm sure." They sat there in comfortable silence for a few minutes, sipping their coffee. She noticed several emotions flit over his face after a few minutes. "What's on your mind, Castle?"

"What? Oh, sorry, just thinking. I zone out every once in a while. I'm thinking of names right now."

"Names?"

"I need a good cop name for the detective in my book that I'll be basing on you. Got any ideas?"

Yeah, Nikki Heat, she thought, but didn't say. "What constitutes a cop name?" she asked instead.

"It has to be strong and memorable, like you. Something that maybe can be used as the basis for a title." His brow furrowed as he thought about possible names. God, that's adorable, she thought.

"What about Nikki Heat?" she asked, wondering what this version of Castle would think of his own creation, hoping that he would like it. It'd be too weird to read about her character with a different name.

"Where'd you come up with that?"

Think fast, Kate. "I've always liked the name Nikki ever since I went to Kiev for a semester. Lots of Nikki's over there. As for Heat? It has potential for titles. Heat Wave, Naked Heat, Frozen Heat and so on. It's a little dirty, but it sounds good."

"Sounds like a stripper name," he said with a smirk, she laughed. That's exactly what I thought when I first heard that name, she thought. "But I like it. You're right it has a bunch of really cool title implications. Thank you."

"Really? You're going to use it?"

"Of course. I like it, you like it which is important since the character is based on you, and it just sounds awesome. It was a good idea."

She smiled at him. "Well, I've got to get back to the precinct to finish paperwork and see if I can get a confession out of Tisdale."

"Can I get a ride? I want to talk to Roy so I can get the ball rolling on our new arrangement."

"Sure. Let's go." He paid for their coffees despite her protests and they made their way back to her car chatting amicably. For the first time since she woke up in this new world, she had hope that she could take advantage of her second chance, and for now, hope was all she needed.

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a.n. A lot of you hate cliff hangers, so I gave you a reprieve. You're welcome.

I'll probably get some reviews saying that RC is out of character here, and others who will say that he's too happy for a parent who lost a child. I think that this new Castle is going to be a mixture of the man we know and love, and a more broken version. In many ways his humor and child-like nature are coping mechanisms to shield him from the real world. He still has the humor in our story, and I will have him use it in the same way. But you'll also notice spots where he's completely different than our canon Castle because of the loss he suffered. His new personality is probably going to be one of the hardest parts of the story from here on out as it will affect is interest in a relationship with Beckett.

Also, I know that Kate spends an inordinate amount of time in the chapter comparing the two Castles. She'll do that less and less as she gets to know this new version.

Finally, I have no clue if there are Nikki's in Kiev. Totally made that up, so don't be offended.

Please leave a review! Reviewers are awesome!