a.n. Thanks one and all for the reviews and favs from the last chapter. Sorry for the little delay. The chapters from here on out will be harder for me to write, and will be a little longer than usual. Hopefully you like the effort.

If you like Demming, you won't enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: One week from today, Castle is back. Yet I still don't own Castle.

Previously…

"What do you think about us living together permanently?"

She looked at him, a little surprised that he was broaching the subject so early in their relationship. "I think I'd like it a lot."

"I know that you're attached to your apartment, but it isn't really big enough for two people. Would you maybe want to look for a place together?"

Did she? He was right about her liking her apartment, but she also loved him much more than anything material. She looked around her home, and realize that she'd already given up this apartment once before and survived, and she hadn't even been with him at that time. She remembered how shocked and depressed she was after this apartment had been blown up by Scott Dunn.

She looked back at Rick and smiled, "I think I'd like that too." They talked for several more hours about what they'd like in a home for both of them before they went to bed that night. For Kate, things had changed immeasurably over the last month. She loved him more and more each and every day, and while she knew her knowledge from the future was all but useless, she still had him, and she would fight every single day to make sure they had each other always.

xxxx

Two Months Later…

Finding a new apartment for the two of them was surprisingly easy after they compromised about their finances. Kate earned so much less than Castle that limiting themselves based on her income severely curtailed their options when it came to apartments. So, despite several arguments, they had decided to combine their accounts. It was something that Kate of the previous timeline would have never done, as it made her feel trapped. This time however, she wanted to be trapped. She knew this was forever.

The loft that they found was just a few blocks from where Castle had lived previously in SoHo. It was slightly larger, but seemed just as homey as his previous home. Kate loved the layout, the hardwood floors, the gigantic kitchen and the office, which was big enough for both of them to share, but her favorite part was the en-suite bathroom that connected to their bedroom. The tub was big enough to swim in, and the shower with dual shower heads allowed for all kinds of frolicking, which made them both very happy for days after they had finally moved in.

Martha had decided to find her own place, and despite her protests, Castle had helped her find a nice loft near her soon to be open acting school. Castle had helped her finance the school, which was a change from the previous timeline where a check from Martha's deceased fiancée had helped her fund the school.

Their case load at the precinct over the previous two months confirmed to them both that Kate's foreknowledge of the future was completely useless. There were only three cases that had any resemblance to cases she had already worked.

Everything was going great for the couple until Tom Demming showed up. As before she had been working out when he showed up out of the blue.

"You need someone to steady your bag," he said, proving that his imagination was just as poor as the previous timeline.

She was not going to give him the opening this time. She wasn't interested. She already had her man, she didn't need Demming to hide behind this time, so she wasn't even going to give him the chance to ruin what she and Castle had.

"I'm fine, actually, thanks."

"Aww, come on, I can help you out." Before she could decline again, he grabbed the bag to steady it. God this guy can't take a hint, Kate thought. Luckily her phone rang after only two more punches to the bag, and she took the out gracefully.

xxxx

It didn't take Kate long to discover that their new case was very similar to the previous timeline, at least at first glance. The victim was the same, Paul Finch, and like the last time, he was found in a parking garage.

Kate wondered why this one was so similar when their cases had been diverging from what she knew happened in her previous timeline.

"What do we know about him?" Kate asked, after Esposito had given the ID. Castle came up just then and handed her a coffee. He had spent the morning writing while she hit the gym.

"Morning Detectives," he said, looking over the crime scene.

"Anyways, now that loverboy's here, we found the vic's next of kin. The vic also has an impressive rap sheet. He's a thief. Couple of low profile bank jobs, some corporate B and E's, but he hasn't been arrested in years, so either he got luck or…."

"Or he's out of the game. Or perhaps he rose up in the world, and is now the boss of his own robbery ring," Castle provided.

"Cause of death," Kate asked Lanie, who was hovering over the body.

"He was electrocuted."

The rest of their time at the crime scene went like it had last time, which made Kate suspicious. The only difference was she didn't find the piece of keychain she found at the crime scene before. When she and Castle got into her car to head back to the precinct, she said, "This is too weird, Rick."

"What?"

"It's the same as it was in my past timeline. Shouldn't it be different like all the rest?"

"Who knows how this works, Kate? My advice is to just work this case like we work all others. Just because it's the same now, doesn't mean there isn't a big difference coming up."

"You're right, of course. How did your writing go?"

"Okay. Still getting used to the new office. I wrote a lot of books in the old place. It'll take some time to get used to the ambiance of the new place. It won't matter too much, as the second book is in edits now anyways."

"I still can't believe you won't let me read it," she complained as they pulled into the 12th precinct's parking garage.

Castle smirked. "I let you read the first one early, this one you have to wait. Patience is a virtue."

"My ass. Patience sucks."

They laughed.

xxxx

After their inconsequential interview with the victim's wife, during which they only discovered that he'd been asked to do a favor for a friend, the team gathered around the murder board discussing what they knew so far.

"So the guy comes out of retirement for one job and then gets murdered? That can't be a coincidence," Castle said after taking a sip of his coffee.

"Yeah, it had to be some important friend to get him to get back into the game too," Esposito agreed.

Beckett, who had called into Robbery to find out about any recent large scale robberies, put the phone down. "Robbery logged a break in at Manhattan Mutual the day before yesterday. It fits our guy's rap sheet."

"Did they give any details?" Castle asked.

She knew what happened next and she hated it, but said, "Nope. They're sending some new guy up now to brief us."

"And that'd be me," Tom Demming said. Even with a simple statement he seemed arrogant. What did I ever see in this guy, Kate asked herself.

After greetings and introductions were given (Esposito knew him, as he had before), they talked more about Paul Finch.

"The bank jobs that he was involved in, in the past, were all two man jobs. So he definitely has a partner," Demming said.

"We've run phone and financials, so we might get lucky on that front," Ryan said hopefully.

"It could be that the partner turned on Finch after the robbery, decided he didn't need him anymore," Kate said, doing her best not to sneer at Tom Demming. She hadn't exactly went into detail with Castle regarding her relationships in the previous timeline. She didn't really want to have a conversation with Rick about how she had been with Demming in her previous time.

"It looks like the robbery and homicide are connected," Esposito said.

"It seems like a lot of effort for one safety deposit box," Castle observed.

"Yeah, and they left the cash untouched. The guys downstairs thought I was nuts when I jumped at this case. But I like the weird ones," Demming said.

"Hmmm. How about that, Beckett likes the weird ones too," Esposito teased. Kate wanted to hit him. Or shoot him. Maybe both.

"Yeah," Ryan agreed.

"What could be in the box that would be worth so much effort," Castle asked, ignoring the byplay of her partners. She knew she'd be hearing about this later, even if he just teased her about it.

"Don't know that yet. People only use safety deposit boxes to keep things private and safe. A lot of people aren't going to agree to tell us what they had in a box," Demming responded. "But we've got the owner of the box coming in this afternoon. Join me in interrogation?" He asked Kate.

"Castle and I will definitely be there," Kate responded, hoping to nip any ideas the detective might have in the bud.

"Castle? You let him in the room? Why?"

"He's my partner," Kate said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. It was to her.

"But he's not even a cop!" Demming said arrogantly.

Kate could see that Castle wanted to say something, but was holding himself back. She jumped in, "So? He's an official NYPD consultant, and has helped me on dozens of cases. He may not be a cop, but he's part of my team, and frankly I don't care for your attitude."

Demming put his hands up defensively, "Okay, okay, I didn't mean to offend you. I'll be back this afternoon when the owner shows up." With that he walked away. Kate slumped her shoulders. Well that went well, she thought snidely.

xxxx

Before the owner was brought in, she found Castle in the breakroom fixing them another set of coffees. "You okay, Rick?"

He looked up and grinned at her, "Of course, why?"

She shook her head, "No reason."

"So what happened between you and Detective Demming that you don't like him?"

She groaned. "We dated in the previous timeline, okay? Now that I look back on it I don't even know what I saw in the man except as a way to hide from my feelings for you. He treated you like this before too, and I just ignored it, applauded it even. I won't be doing that this time."

He put the coffees on the counter and then hugged her quickly. "Thank you for standing up for me, Kate. But don't let it ruin your professionalism. You still have to work with the douche. Oh, did I say douche, I meant Detective. Sorry."

Kate laughed and pulled back from him. "I'll try to tone down my dislike, but I won't let him push you out of the process. You're my partner and I'll be damned if he's going to belittle you while I'm around."

"I love you too. Now let's get back out there. The box owner should be here soon."

xxxx

She couldn't believe Demming had shoved Castle out of the interview room even after she had told him Castle should be there. Rick being the man he was just stepped back and went to her desk to wait for her without saying anything, though she could see the hurt on his face. Because the box owner was right there, Kate couldn't say anything, but underneath her professional mask, she was steaming.

"Thank you for coming in, Mr. Cana." Cana was a middle aged white man, who fidgeted more than Kate thought should be possible.

"Call me Fred," he responded.

"And obviously we're going to do everything we can to help you get back what was taken. What was in the box?"

"Stamps," Cana replied.

"Stamps?" Demming asked stupidly.

"Yeah, I collect them."

"Can I ask why it took so long to contact us? The bank was hit three days ago," Demming asked, obviously satisfied that he knew what the man did with his stamps.

"I was busy, you know? I've been working a lot."

"What is it you do, Fred?" Beckett asked.

"I'm in, uh, private security."

"How much was the stamp collection worth exactly?" Kate asked, ignoring the man's hesitance about his profession.

"Well, it's hard to put a price tag on something like that, you know because of sentimental value," he said.

"Did anyone else know you were keeping it at the bank," Kate asked.

"A few people. Mostly other stamp enthusiasts with whom I've formed relationships over the years."

"How long have you been a philatelist, Fred?"

"Hey, watch your mouth, pal. Fred Cana don't go that route!"

"Philately is the study of stamps, Mr. Cana, which you would know if you were, in fact, a collector. Now come on, tell us the truth. What was in the box? What did they really steal from you?"

"I don't have to take this shit. I'm the victim here!" The man stood, as if readying to leave the room.

Beckett was about to tell him to sit back down, when Esposito busted into the room.

"Officer Esposito!" Cana said with false joviality.

"Actually, it's Detective Esposito now, Fred. You should sit down."

"Congratulations," Cana said, sitting down hesitantly.

"Fred here is the bagman for Victor Racine," Espo said.

"Who's Victor Racine," Castle asked. He'd come in behind Esposito.

"He's a syndicate man. Made the leap from organized crime to legitimate businessman while no one was looking. And didn't I ask you to wait outside, writer?" Demming asked, snidely.

Kate scowled. "He can stay."

"Racine is connected and untouchable," Esposito said, obviously trying to keep Kate's temper in check by keeping them on track.

"You ought to know," Cana said, laughing. "Esposito here, and his old partner tried to touch him a few years back."

"How about I touch you instead," Esposito shouted, launching at Cana. Castle held him back easily.

"Come on, tough guy!" Cana said, proving his intelligence wasn't on the high end of the scale.

"Let's go," Epsosito said, still being held back by Castle.

"Come on, Espo," Castle said, "he's not worth losing your badge over. If he's involved, we'll get him. Kate never fails, you know?"

God, I love him, Kate thought, smiling. She got up and led Cana out of the room, knowing that they weren't going to get anything out of him.

xxxx

When she got back to where Castle, Esposito and Demming were standing, she asked, "What the hell was that all about?"

"He works for Victor Racine," Espo said simply.

"So?" Kate knew what was coming next, but she also knew that if this case was still going the same way, she had to lead the conversation this direction.

"He's an ass who thinks he can't be touched. Ike, my old partner, works for him now, or so they say. It's why I transferred to the 12th when I became a detective. Drives me crazy to this day that my partner ended up being dirty. Though IA could never prove anything. One day he just doesn't come to work. IA brought him in to question him, and he just said he wanted to quit. Couldn't prove any wrongdoing, so they let it go, but it even tainted me for quite a while."

She hadn't been expecting that. In the previous timeline, Espo had thought his partner was dead. Kate could see that Demming was about to say something idiotic, so she turned to Castle and said, "So if Finch had been brought in by Racine to do a job, but somehow messed it up, that could have been what led to his death."

"Or Racine has something he wanted out of that bank, he hires Finch and a partner to go in and get it. When the job's done, Finch is offed. Cutting loose ends?"

She nodded. "Probably. Likely that partner was inner circle, which makes him the guy we need to find the most."

"What if it's this guy Esposito knows," Demming asked.

"My old partner?"

"Sure. It wouldn't be that big a coincidence. And with him being from robbery, it even makes sense."

Kate pursed her lips. "Fine. Espo, take Ryan and bring your old partner in. See if he knows anything. Castle and I will start going over the phone and banking records."

"What do you want me to do," Demming asked.

"Stay the hell out of my way." Kate said. She spun around and walked towards her desk. She was really starting to hate that guy.

xxxx

"He's done a runner," Esposito said when he got back to his desk.

"What?" Beckett asked. She and Castle had been pouring over the financials of the victim in hopes of finding the partner he worked with, or any association with Racine. Luckily Demming had slunk back to Robbery when he realized he wasn't wanted. Kate was hopeful that he'd just stay away unless they needed him.

"His wife and kid were there, but they hadn't seen Ike in two days. He isn't answering his cell and they don't know where he went when he left."

Kate sighed. This case had started off so similar to how it had been before, now nothing seemed to be going their way. "Okay. Listen it's 8 now, let's knock off for tonight. Tomorrow, we'll see if Lanie has anything for us." At this time before, they'd heard from Lanie, and found the fingerprint on the victim's eyelid. She was confused why they hadn't heard from the ME yet.

She had a bad feeling about where this case was headed. She just didn't know what to do about it.

xxxx

a.n.2. Okay, so I know that this is pretty close to canon, despite my promises that we're going to start seeing some original stuff. But I wanted to fit Demming in there somewhere, mainly to bash him. The case will veer off of canon substantially in the next chapter. The fact that Esposito knows that Ike is dirty and alive is going to be a huge thing. Also the endpoint of the case is totally different.

Please leave a review!