a.n. Sorry for the delay, this story is harder to write than it probably should be, and my life seems to be getting in the way of my Castle time. Damn life.

Some of the dialog in this chapter is closely taken from canon. I do not own it, nor do I own the characters.

xxxx

Chapter Nine

Previously…

"This is embarrassing. I dreamt about the day that Alexis was stabbed, only this time it wasn't her, it was you. I don't even know why my brain went there, but…I guess it's just we've been spending so much time together it just went there. I'm sorry for waking you up."

"No, that's okay. I've had those type of dreams before so I know how it can help to talk to someone about them. So don't apologize."

"Thanks, Kate." She could tell that he was much calmer than he had been when she first picked up the phone. While she was sad that he was having the dreams, the fact that he was dreaming of her made her feel a little giddy.

"Sure, Rick. You going to be okay?"

"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow, bright and early."

She smiled, looking forward to it. "Okay. Night, Castle."

"Good night Detective."

xxxx

The book was amazing, but it was different than it was the first time. She'd had it now for two days and had read it twice. She had been desperate to read his words again. Heat Wave had the same plot as before, but it had minor differences from the first edition. It was still just as good but it had felt weird to read something so similar but so different.

As she walked into the precinct after her weekend off, she found Castle sitting in his chair looking dejected. The look on his face was so sad, so defeated that she wanted to hold him in her arms and never let go.

"Morning, Castle. Something wrong?" she asked, greedily grabbing the coffee that sat on her desk.

He cleared his throat and looked up at her, giving her a small smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Morning, Detective." Well that wasn't an answer to my question, Kate thought.

Deciding to let it go for now, she sat down at her desk, powered on her computer and checked her email. After combing through the emails that had come in over the weekend, she turned her attention to the mounds of paperwork that littered her desk. Sighing internally, she grabbed the top folder, settled herself into a comfortable position, and started her day.

After a few minutes, Castle said, "Meredith is in town."

Looking up from her file she looked at him as if he had grown a second head. "Meredith?" she asked, stupidly. Her brain wasn't functioning properly. All she could think about was 'deep fried Twinkie". Though admittedly he didn't look like he had just come from a session of mind blowing sex. It was then that she remembered him mentioning Meredith's response, or lack thereof, to Alexis' death.

"Is this the first time you've seen her since Alexis died?" she asked softly.

"Yeah. When Alexis died, I tried to contact her. She never called me back. I tried everything to get her here so that she could be there when we laid our baby to rest, you know? But nothing. All I got was silence. You know, I forgave her when she cheated on me after Alexis was born and then left soon after that. At that point I was glad we didn't get married, but I still expected her to want to be a mother to her child. But she didn't want to. After she left we never heard from her again. I could forgive that because I had Alexis and had to focus on her and not my anger, you know? But not caring that your daughter died? That is something I don't think anyone could forgive."

"What happened now?"

"She showed up yesterday," he replied, shaking his head, the anger in his eyes replacing the dejected look he'd had when she walked in. "She showed up, wanting to stay with me. Thinking that I'd just take her in, pick up where we left off 10 years ago. There was no way that was going to happen. I called a car for her and sent her to the Four Seasons. I guess her being here has dredged up memories I thought I had buried deep, you know?"

"I'm sorry, Rick. I know that confrontation couldn't have been easy for you."

He gave her a genuine smile and patted her hand with his before withdrawing back to his own space. "I don't even know why she's here. I mean what does it matter? I care nothing for her anymore. I'll always be grateful that she gave me Alexis, for whatever short amount of time, but that's it. I guess it's just with the anniversary coming up in a couple weeks, which is always a tough time for me, and now this, it just got to me."

"It's understandable," she said. Kate started to say something else, but before the words could leave her mouth her phone rang. Shaking her head to get back into business mode, she picked up the device and answered, "Beckett." She listened for a minute, while giving Castle an apologetic look. She jotted down the address the dispatcher had given her and hung up the phone.

"We have a body," she said, standing and collecting her coat. She turned to the boys, who had been entrenched in their own stacks of paperwork and repeated the call and the address.

xxxx

In the car, Kate exclaimed, "I forgot! Castle I read your book!"

"Already? How'd you like it?"

"Actually it was so good…I kinda read it twice this weekend," she said shyly, unable to contain the blush that rose to her cheeks.

Instead of looking smug he just gave her a genuine smile and said, "Yeah? I'm glad you liked it."

"Did you have to end it on a cliff hanger?"

"Well… I didn't have to, and in fact, I wasn't going to, but I figured I had a better chance of getting a multi-book deal if it looked like I had more story to tell. It's manipulative, but if it lets me keep writing Nikki for a few years I don't really care."

She smiled over at him then returned her focus to the road, trying to get herself in detective mode. She wondered how this crime would differ this time around. She remembered this case vividly because of the first Richard Castle's exploits with the Deep Fried Twinkie. She also remembers how he had come very close to kissing her after saving her life for the first time. God she wanted him to kiss her.

Arriving at the crime scene they got out and made their way inside the abandoned warehouse where Lanie was hunched over a body. As before, there was a bowl of blood above the victim's head, and other ritualistic markers surrounding the body.

"Hey that's Vodun!" Castle said excitedly.

"What?" Esposito asked, looking up at the author for the first time.

"Look in his mouth. There should be a small medallion of some sort in there," Castle said, looking more excited. Despite how morbid it seemed, Kate loved that this Richard Castle could still get excited over a mystery even with what he had been through.

Esposito opened the victim's mouth and found a rag and a medallion that had been apparently shoved in there by the killer.

"How did you know?" Ryan asked.

"Research for the sixth Derrick Storm novel," Castle replied, looking over at Kate, who smiled knowingly.

xxxx

"I cannot believe you made me eat that," Kate complained later. Castle had called in a Vodun expert who had also brought lunch. Kate had completely forgotten about the food, and had made the same mistake she had made the first time. She had been so focused on finding the differences with their current case that she didn't recognize the taste of the food until it was too late.

"What? You liked it," Castle said smugly.

"Until I found out what it was." They were making their way back to the precinct. So far the case had went exactly as it had the first time around, though the timing was a little off. She remembers getting a call about a second body during their lunch. That hadn't happened yet.

Once they got into the precinct, Beckett started to set up the murder board with the items they had so far. They were still waiting on the ID of their victim, so she could only add the pictures from the crime scene and the information they knew about the Vodun ritual.

She was in the middle of putting the finishing touches on the board when her cell phone rang.

"Beckett," she answered, walking back to her desk.

"We've got another one," Ryan's voice said.

So there's my other body, she thought. "Okay. Text me the address, Castle and I will head out now."

xxxx

Darcy Cho was their next victim. After interviewing one of her co-workers, Jill Button, they had found a phone number that led them to an address of their first victim, whom they had identified as Jamal Buonsi.

"That was a lot of stairs," Castle complained.

"A little out of shape there, Castle?" She looked over, but instead of seeing him huffing and puffing like he had been her first time at this apartment building, she saw that he wasn't even out of breath.

"No, but even if I'm perfectly capable of climbing six flights of stairs, doesn't mean I like it."

"Ah," she said, leading the way to the room on the roof, where they suspected their victim lived.

After entering the room and finding it occupied, Castle found the candles and cloth that had been used in both murders. "Beckett, look at this," he said, calling her over.

"Whose bed is that?" She asked, looking around at the men in the room.

xxxx

Kate had found no differences in this case, everything had been exactly the same. She wondered if that was normal or if something was going to come out of left field to surprise her. As the case dragged on, she became more and more convinced that something was going to change. They were currently standing in the bullpen talking about their suspect, Charles Oni, who they had learned about from one of the guys who had lived at the same apartment as their first victim.

"City records show no vendor's licenses for Charles Oni on Canal Street," she said to Castle, who was leaning back on her desk studying the murder board for clues.

"Well, the guy's exploiting illegals. I doubt he's gonna use his real name," Castle said, running his hands through his hair.

"Clearly not. The apartment is owned by a "Robert Burnett." No listing in the Tri-State area and the address is a P.O. box in Jersey."

Ryan and Esposito walked up to where they were standing. "Yo, yo. Law firm's a dead end. They've never heard of anyone named Jamal Buonsi, and there was nothing suspicious in Darcy's client list," Esposito said dejectedly.

"That's great, because our suspect's never heard of Darcy Cho. We still have no idea what our two victims have in common," Castle said. Kate could tell he was losing faith that they would ever solve this case.

"Hey partner, we'll—" she interrupted by a uniform who was trying to restrain a visitor. Kate turned to the commotion and sighed.

"Excuse me, ma'am," the uniform said, trying to remain polite.

"No, I am not going to wait downstairs. Do you have any idea who pays your salary? Me and my taxes." Beckett dreaded this confrontation. She knew it wouldn't be the same as last time. She had been looking for differences, and now she was going to experience them first hand. Looking over at Castle, she decided she had to play it like she knew nothing of the woman who had just come barging into their bullpen.

"Is that...?"

"Yes," Castle said, putting his head in his hands. Kate could feel the grief and tension radiating off of his shoulders. All she wanted to do was wrap her arms around him and take away this pain. Then she wanted to turn her sights on the red headed tramp making her way towards them and make her understand exactly what happened to people who hurt her Castle. But she couldn't do that. Not without ruining everything she was working towards. She noticed that the boys had made themselves scarce as soon as they noticed the personal nature of the upcoming conversation.

They both turned towards the uninvited guest, just as Meredith said, "Kitten! Why didn't you tell me you were researching in a police station?"

"Meredith. What are you doing here," Castle asked, ignoring her question. He stood up and reared back his shoulders, as if seeking the strength he would need for the upcoming confrontation.

"Well I wanted to take you to lunch of course," she said, as if it were completely normal.

Castle barked out a laugh, while Kate just stood there shell shocked. She couldn't understand how this woman could come in here and pretend as if nothing had happened, as if everything was fine. "That's never going to happen, Meredith, and you know that. I told you that I never want to see you again. We were over before Alexis died, and that was cemented even more once our little girl left us; when you decided for the last time that she wasn't worth your time or attention. Now please, just go. Just go." Castle turned his back on her and walked away, heading towards the break room.

Kate still stood there. Her anger at the woman standing before her growing by the second. She knew it wasn't her place, but she couldn't help how she felt. Even though she wasn't in a relationship with Castle yet, she still felt protective of him. She loved him, and anyone who hurt him was going to have to go through her. So when Meredith made to follow Rick towards the breakroom, Kate stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

"Leave him be," she said coldly.

"Oh, so you must be the cop tramp he's replacing me with," Meredith said snottily, looking Beckett over for the first time.

"First off all, I am not a tramp, I'm his partner," Kate replied, her anger rising, but her voice still calm and cold. Meredith snorted, clearly not caring what Kate said. "Second, and because of that, you need to leave, just like Rick asked you to. Don't you think you've hurt him enough?"

"You don't know him. You don't know me. You know nothing," Meredith spat, shaking Kate's hand off of her shoulder, still trying to make her way towards Castle and the breakroom.

Kate stepped in front of her and rested her hand on her gun, clearly making a statement that even Meredith could understand. "You're right, Meredith. I don't know you, and I don't care to. But I do know things about Rick. I know how much he misses Alexis; how her loss eats at his insides each and every day. I know how much it hurt him not to be able to give her a mother that could love her and be there for her, even though that wasn't his fault, it was yours. I know that even to this day he deals with the guilt of her loss, and that it is something that he struggles with constantly. I've learned how much it hurt him that you couldn't even spare a day to come to your daughter's funeral. And I also know how much he doesn't want you here now. So you need to leave. Get back on the plane and never come back. He doesn't want to see you ever again, and if you bother him, you'll deal with me," Kate finished fiercely, her eyes blazing and her breath coming in short, angry gasps.

Meredith gave her a look of utter hatred, but stalked off towards the elevators without another word. Kate let out a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. When she felt like she could speak without tearing something apart, she turned to find her partner. She was surprised when she found him standing right behind her, only a foot away.

Kate blushed, her cheeks burning fiercely. She knew, she just knew, that he had heard every word she had just said to Meredith. The floor became very interesting just then. She couldn't look him in the eyes, not knowing what she would find there. This was too much too soon, she knew that. She hadn't meant to go all protective girlfriend on Meredith, but she just couldn't help it. The problem was she wasn't Castle's girlfriend. She had been. She had been so much more. Now she worried that because of her outburst she would never be those things again.

"Kate," he said softly.

Steeling herself for the coming rejection, she finally looked up and met his eyes. He didn't look angry or embarrassed, or even sad. He was smiling. It was the soft smile that transformed his entire face, made his eyes twinkle. She loved that smile. It was the smile that he saved just for her.

"Listen, Rick," she started. He held up his hand to keep her from saying anything more

"It's okay, Kate. Thank you. I…uh…I appreciate the things you said. She seemed to listen to you more than she ever listened to me." He was looking at her funny, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Before she could say anything more, the boys interrupted them.

"Yo, we've got a lead. Apparently the purses are knock offs. We looked into it and have an address where we think the purses might have come from," Esposito said, handing Beckett a piece of paper with an address on it. "We've got a warrant on the way."

"Okay. Saddle up, we'll get going soon as the warrant gets here," Kate said, throwing Castle an apologetic look. Just like her previous time, they always seemed to be interrupted when they were about to have a moment that could move their relationship forward. She would have to have a talk with the boys to have them stop doing that. It was so damn annoying.

xxxx

After finally finding Charles Oni, the discovered their main suspect was a former warlord by the name of Mukhtar Baylor. The found the warehouse where Baylor had been hiding out. As before, they found the video camera which Baylor had bought from the electronics store across from Oni's counterfeit outfit.

There were differences, of course. For one, Castle came into the warehouse with them right off the bat. Kate wanted him with her. He had, as before, had a Writer bullet-proof vest made up. Another difference this time was that Meredith didn't call him in the middle of their assault on the warehouse, for which Kate was extremely grateful. She hoped the maddening woman would take Kate's words to heart and leave New York for good.

Besides those differences, however, the case was going exactly as it had before. They discovered, after watching the video from the camera, that Baylor was looking for other women who had bought the same purse as their second victim. He was searching for the passport he had made up for his brother, who would be killed unless he could get to the States. They also discovered, after making some intuitive leaps, that the only other person who had bought one of the purses was named Diana Edwards.

That led them to her apartment, just as it had before. Kate remembered vividly their encounter with Baylor the last time around, so this time she made sure that both she and Castle had their vests on before they made their way to the fourth floor where Edward's apartment was located.

"Diana Edwards! NYPD! Open up!" Kate shouted, knocking on the door.

"You want me to kick it down?" Castle asked hopefully.

"Maybe next time," she said, knocking on the door again. She remembered that last time she called him Kitten, but she wouldn't do that now, given the situation with Meredith. "NYPD!"

"Okay. Okay. Take it easy," they heard from the other side of the door, before it opened a crack. A young blonde woman squinted out at them, an annoyed look on her face.

Kate flashed her badge. "Detective Beckett. NYPD. Are you Diana Edwards?"

"Yeah."

Beckett pushed in through the door, with Castle right on her heels.

"Hey!" Diana shouted, rushing behind them, clearly wondering what the hell was going on.

"Is everything okay?" Kate asked, looking around, making sure Baylor hadn't beaten them to the apartment. It appeared empty.

"Fine," Diana said, her face scrunched up in a confused expression.

"We have a video surveillance of you purchasing a Chanel bag on Canal Street two days ago," Kate asked, looking the woman in the eyes. Castle was behind her looking around.

"Wow, I know you guys are cracking down on the knockoffs, but I-"

"Where's the bag?" Castle asked, coming up behind Kate and looking at Diana.

"Over there," she said pointing towards the kitchen counter.

Beckett and Castle made their way to where the purse sat on the counter. Kate picked up the bag and ripped the side of it open.

"Hey! What are you doing that for?" Diana shouted, outraged. However, after seeing the passport that Kate pulled out of the lining of the purse, she was more confused than angry. "What's going on?"

"You're very lucky," Castle said, giving her a look. Kate looked back at the young woman, knowing what happened next.

Kate knew that they would need backup, and she was still worried that something different was going to happen this time around, so she wasn't going to take any chances. She pulled out her phone, but before she could make the call, Baylor busted through the apartment's door and started firing shots at them.

Castle, seeing Baylor before her, knocked her to the ground, saving her life, just as he had done before. Even knowing that Baylor would show up, she had still been surprised. He was a few seconds earlier than he had been the previous time around, which accounted for her surprise. Breathing hard, Kate shouts at Diana to call 911 as the woman flees into the bedroom off to the side of the apartment.

She and Castle took refuge behind the kitchen counter. She threw her gun up and returned fire as Baylor continued to shoot at them.

"Give me the passport!" Baylor shouted between sounds of his continued gun shots.

"Put down your weapon now!" Kate shouted back, pulling a spare clip out of her jacket. And reloading her weapon.

"Give me the passport!" He shouted again. At this point, Kate was wondering if Castle would take the initiative to save them again.

"Baylor, any minute now, this place is gonna be crawling with cops! Don't make things worse than they are!" Kate said loudly after firing off a couple more shots.

"Give me what I want and I walk away," Baylor said, still firing over their heads, shattering glass knickknacks Diana had decorated her apartment with.

"There's no way he lets us live," Castle said.

"Just stay down," she said through gritted teeth.

"You stay down," he said just as forcefully.

"I can't shoot him from down here."

"I know, I just don't want you to get shot," he said, softly. She melted a little at his tone. Get it together, Kate, you can be a girl later, she thought, looking over the counter prompting Baylor to let lose another volley of gunfire.

"I can't see him," she said, ducking back down. She could hear Baylor changing magazines, getting ready to open fire again.

"He's moving," Castle said, listening hard.

"I've only got two rounds left. I need a clean shot. I've got to get eyes on him somehow." Nodding, Castle took out his phone, put it over his head and took a picture.

"I'm not playing games!" Baylor shouted, as Castle showed Beckett the picture of Baylor taking cover behind a column in the living room.

"I don't have an angle on him from down here," she whispered after looking at the picture.

"I will kill you both if you don't give me what I want!" Baylor shouted.

"Alright. When you shoot, he shoots. He'll be exposed. I'll set a distraction, then you take him out."

"Don't do anything stupid, Castle, you promised."

Castle pulled out a bottle of champagne from the nearby wine fridge, and began to start the process of uncorking it.

"You're gonna get yourself shot, and I can't deal with that. We'll find another way," she said. Though this is how it went down last time, she had a bad feeling about it now. She just felt like something was going to go wrong. Something that didn't happen last time when his distraction worked perfectly.

"I'll be fine if you make your shot count. I don't see another way out of this do you? Two bullets isn't enough to get past him, and we haven't called for backup yet, who knows if Diana called 911. So there might not be any help coming. If we're going to live, we have to do this," he said determinedly. "Ready?" he asked, shaking the bottle. No, she thought, but nodded anyways.

"This is your last warning," Baylor said.

"Now!" Castle shouted, standing up and popping the cork. Beckett, taking advantage of the distraction manages to shoot Baylor twice in the chest, but not before he got off a couple shots of his own.

She holstered her gun and then looked over to where she expected to see Castle standing. He wasn't there. "Castle?" She said rushing around the corner of the counter. "Castle!"

xxxx

a.n.2. #SorryNotSorry for the cliff hanger. This chapter was getting way out of hand (4200 words) and the next part deserves to be on its own. It's big, trust me.

Please leave a review and let me know what you think of the story so far!