This one is a little short, but hopefully posting a little early makes up for it? Thanks to all those who reviewed the last chapter, suz24 for beta-ing, and Bahamut Slayer for the words of encouragement. I really appreciate all of you. Now, on with the story.
He catches her when she falls unconscious, cradling her body on its descent to the floor. So much spunk and fire in this one, he has to chuckle. There's no reasoning with someone who's taken as many lives as he has, but it was a valiant effort on her part.
Castle caps the syringe and slips it back into his pocket. Then, there's the matter of the gun. He debates with himself for a moment before securing it back into her holster. It's not as if she can use it against him now. And, ah, what's this? Her badge falls off of her belt, and he picks it up.
"Detective K. Beckett," he murmurs. The name has a good ring to it. He clips it back to her side.
She has a nice face, a really nice face. He's always had a soft spot for pretty women. It almost makes him feel bad leaving her here like this, but her squad will find her soon enough.
Her mother was murdered. They have that in common. She took the high road, and he...not so much. But he doesn't regret it, he can't. If he did, it would make this - his life mission - all for nothing.
Poor, poor Detective. She never got the justice he did. She never got to taste revenge, and nary is there a sweeter poison. It's a shame, really. No one deserves to go through that, he knows firsthand. But maybe it's something he can fix.
The idea sparks, and once that happens, there's no going back. He's always had an obsessive personality. His mind is flying at a hundred miles a minute. But it's so soon, he has to consider. Usually he waits at least a few months to start planning another-
Well, maybe this will be a tough case to crack if the woman lying before him hasn't solved it yet. And he's always up for a challenge.
"Beckett, Beckett, Beckett," her name echoes around in her skull. "Beckett!"
She opens her eyes, closing them immediately afterward to shield her pupils from the brilliant beam of Ryan's flashlight. Flashlight? Oh.
"Shit," Kate groans, trying to sit up. She cracks one eyelid open. "What the hell happened?"
"You tell us. But from the looks of it," Esposito gestures toward her, "you got jacked."
She hisses, pressing the heels of her hands into her eye sockets. Her head is pounding.
"He drugged me. Richard Castle…he was here. I came back downstairs to grab the wrapper, thought we could lift the prints, and he was here, hiding in a wall safe. The son of a bitch drugged me."
"You're sure it was him?" Ryan asks gently, good-naturedly, but she just glares back at him in response. "Okay, okay. It was him. What did he say?"
"He said a lot of things." Some things she'd rather forget. "He admitted to killing Greene, if that's what you're asking."
Esposito offers her a hand. In a moment of weakness, she accepts, legs still wobbly. Probably a side effect of whatever she was dosed with.
"How long did it take you guys to find me?"
The boys glance at each other sheepishly before Esposito gives a little cough and says, "About an hour."
"Damn." He's in the wind now. With his experience as a convict on the run…
"He can't have made it very far," the Irish detective tries to reassure her.
"You really believe that? No, we lost him. Now that he knows we've tracked him this far-"
"He'll disappear," Esposito interjects. "Giving up already, Beckett? That's not like you."
She scowls. "Hell no. Not giving up. Not by half. So let's stop standing around. Let's get a move on. We can't let him get too far off the grid, but even if he does, it'll be on the national news by tomorrow morning, the day after at the most. As bad as that seems, civilians will be keeping their eyes open. Other precincts will be involved."
"The feds will be all over it," Ryan moans.
Ugh, the feds. "I'm not gonna like it any more than you, but when that happens, we'll have to deal with it. If the FBI wants to cooperate with us-"
"Cooperate?" Geez, Esposito, interrupt much? "The FBI doesn't cooperate. They take over."
"We'll deal with it," Kate growls, moving to take a step. She stumbles forward like a newborn foal, teetering on her heels, immediately feeling the hands of her partners on her shoulders to steady her. She flushes, tries to brush them off, and sees them exchange a look.
"I'll go ahead with the team. Ryan can give you a ride to the-"
"I don't need to go to the hospital." She grits her teeth. "I'm fine."
Clearly, they don't believe her. Ryan still keeps his hand on her, grip moving to her elbow, as Esposito takes a step back to look her over. But really, the mother hen thing is so unnecessary.
"You look pale." Javier rubs his chin in thought. "At least let Lanie take a blood sample."
Beckett doesn't want to go, doesn't need to. She'll be okay. Whatever the psycho injected her with, a mild animal tranquilizer most likely, wore off fast enough. Surely the dosage wasn't enough to do any serious damage. But one look at the boys tells her they won't let it go, no matter how much she argues otherwise, so she concedes. They'll just make a little stop at the morgue, no lounging around in a hospital waiting room. Then, back to business.
"Who was that, Kate?" her boyfriend asks, looking up from his container of cashew chicken. She had to cancel their dinner plans, but he surprised her by showing up to her apartment at midnight with a bag of Chinese food in hand. It's just like him to know that she would still be awake, raking over case files.
He yanks her over to the couch by her hand and pulls her into his lap.
"Feet off the coffee table." She swats at his legs, and he lowers them, arm wrapping around her waist to drag her closer. "That was Lanie, just calling me back about some test results."
"Test results? Any closer to catching the serial killer?"
"No, no," she sighs. Honesty is the best policy, right? "They were my test results, Tom. My blood sample. I, uh, got into an altercation with Richard Castle today."
"What?"
"Just a little scuffle. I'm fine, but he got the jump on me while we were raiding the office complex he'd been staying in. I was drugged. Just modified telazol, Lanie said, not laced with anything too harmful."
"Kate."
"I'm fine, really. "
He's not convinced. "Are you sure?"
It's not like he's never been in any tough situations. He's a detective. Everyone gets injured on the job eventually, and this is hardly the worst thing that's ever happened to her. Man, back when she was a beat cop, training under Royce…that was tough. She's better at her job now, more experienced and less reckless.
"I'm sure. But, Tom? There's something I want to talk to you about."
He sets down his take-out box and frowns. Of course. She's so stupid. "We need to talk" is definitely not the way to begin any conversation with your significant other.
"Is it about this weekend?"
Hit the nail on the head. "I know what I said, but-"
"You gotta be kidding me."
"Tom, I wanted to go. I still want to go. But with this case, now is just not a good time." She grabs his hand, but he pushes her away, wriggling his body out from under hers. "You have to understand."
"Understand what?" He runs a hand through his hair. "Understand that my girlfriend always uses her job as an excuse to not spend time with me? I thought we really had something here, Kate. Something good."
"We do," she murmurs. "This isn't about us. This is about a serial killer on the loose. People need me here. Besides, we both know what it's like to have such demanding hours. That's why we work."
"Is that what this is, a working relationship? Because I feel like I'm the only one doing any work at all." How can he say that? This isn't how things were supposed to go. Dating another cop was supposed to make the scheduling problems a little more manageable. He was supposed to be understanding. "I already made the damn reservations!"
"I told you not to."
"Because you were planning to back out all along, weren't you?"
"No!" She wasn't. She really wasn't. "Listen, we can go another weekend after this whole thing clears up. I promise."
He walks to her closet and yanks out his jacket. "There won't be another weekend. I'm tired of this, Kate. It's always the same thing with you. I'm ready to take the next step, and you're just not. Maybe you never will be."
"Tom."
"No, this is it, Beckett. We need a break."
The door slams behind him. She doesn't try to follow.
Thanks for sticking around. Let me hear your thoughts down below. :)