Irritation had rolled off her all day. With no real clues as to what was going on in Castle's mind, she'd dug a hole deeper into this case and forced herself to keep going, keep digging, because if she allowed herself a single moment to think about that maddening man, she might go crazy herself.

Eventually, Gates told her to go home and she was glad to accept the offer, the frustration and irritation rolling off her and instead, sleepiness taking over. She was home in record time and while sitting in the elevator, she couldn't shake the feeling of impending doom. It seemed silly, considering she didn't necessarily believe in any of that, but as she stood outside the loft, her key in the lock, she had to take a moment to reassure herself that Castle hadn't totally lost his mind.

Instead, she found Anderson Cross on her couch, holding a red piece of gauze against his abdomen. She dropped her keys in the bowl and slammed the door shut, taking a few steps into the home and looking around. "Richard Edgar Castle," she called, angrier than she'd been all day. When her fiancé appeared from the bedroom, carrying wet towels, he stopped short under her heated gaze.

"Hey… babe," he slowed and she saw Martha come out behind him, looking confused for a moment before she stopped too, a sheepish look crossing her features.

"Castle," she said, folding her arms over her chest. "What's the main suspect of my murder investigation doing on my couch?" She asked, squeezing her hands into tiny fists. She hovered on the edge of screaming on him, but knew it would do nothing but make her throat sore.

"Well, about that…" he looked between Martha and Anderson. "Kate," he sighed. "Meet your future father-in-law."

She thought she was angry the day she found out her father told her high school crush to leave her alone because she was going places and he, well, he wasn't. But that anger seemed like a joke compared to the anger that ripped through her now. It was the very same anger that sent her across the room in only a handful of steps and grabbed Castle by the ear, tugging him back toward their bedroom.

"You have two minutes to explain to me what the hell is going on, Castle because I swear to god, if you don't start talking soon, I'm going to shoot."

Castle shrivelled and stared down at the towels in his hand and she thought for a moment maybe she should have let Martha take those before she took him away but then she reminded herself that it was just something she could strangle him with if it came to it. And yet, as menacing as she liked to believe she was right then, he said nothing. She crossed her arms over her chest and counted to ten in her head, trying in vain to keep herself calm because every worst case scenario was rolling through her head – the star being that Castle and his family were in on this and they were planning to help Anderson Cross escape to a non-extradition country before she could file charges. While it didn't make sense why they would, she worried for it to be the reality the most.

"Rick," she sighed softly. "You have two choices: either tell me what's going on right now, or I'm leaving and when I come back, I'm going to have uniforms with me. Two for him and another two for you for aiding and abetting a suspect!"

"Kate… I…" he trailed off, dipping his head lower. "I can't… I.."

Beckett stared at him, slowly and carefully. "Well," she sighed, licking her lower lip slowly. "Then don't try to stop me."

She pulled her piece out of its holster and moved into the room where Martha was attending to a bullet wound. Lifting her gun in the air, she stared at Anderson Cross, watching the amusement and shock mix fill his features.

"Anderson Cross," she said slowly, coolly. "You're under arrest for the murder of Ted Rollins."

This whole thing was silly; she didn't have back-up, she didn't even have her partner on her side but she was bound and determined to complete this, to not worry about Castle and whatever the hell he was doing with this. He may be part of the reason Castle was on earth, but that didn't make him any less of a murderer.

"Before you do, Detective," Anderson's eyebrows lift in amusement, but she sees the anger that rushes through his eyes. He was brewing something evil. She couldn't imagined what it was. "There's something you should know about me." He said, waiting a moment. But when he realized she wasn't taking the bait, he cast a glance at Richard as he hovered behind her. "Why don't you ask him about it?"

She tossed a look behind her where Castle was standing, feeling her whole world crumble around her suddenly. "Castle?" She asked, her voice wavering. "What the hell is he talking about?"

"Beckett… I… maybe we should talk about this somewhere else." His voice wavered too, but for an entirely different reason and she shook her head quickly. No, she was going to sit there until Anderson played whatever card he had in his mind. And then she was going to arrest him and be a national hero for getting this scum off the earth. They'd have maximum security for him now, even higher than the level he'd been in before. He deserved it.

"No," she cut out, pressing her lips in a fine line. "Now, Castle, spit it out."

Castle hesitated, but she didn't bring her gun down to look at him. As much as she knew Anderson was injured, she too knew he was an ex-CIA agent and knew that if he wanted to get her gun, he would. She couldn't risk that.

"Castle?" She asked again, fingers clutching the trigger of the gun.

"Beckett…" he trailed off, casting a glance in the direction of his father, desperate. But Anderson offered him nothing back.

"Go on, son," Anderson said, leaning back. Martha had stilled her movements now, although Castle couldn't be sure if it was because she was on alert from the gun being shoved her way or if it were out of curiosity of the next step. "Tell her."

The sick smile that crossed his face made Beckett want to shoot him anyway, but she held back, the bile resting in the back of her throat.

"Kate," his voice was husky as he spoke. "Uh… you remember Dick Coonan?" He swallowed hard. "He didn't kill your mother, Kate." Beckett's gun dropped slightly, involuntarily as she stared ahead, meeting Anderson Cross' gaze.

"I did," he said slowly, evenly.

Beckett lowers on the couch, staring straight forward into his office. The grip on her gun was tightened so much that her knuckles went white. Castle couldn't help but notice how lifeless she looked and it panged within him to know that it was his cause.

Oh god, they'd never been here before.

They'd had arguments in their partnership, things that left them both storming off in anger. But this wasn't anger; this wasn't even near the borderline of anything similar. No, the look that surrounded his fiancée right then was nothing short of defeat.

"Castle…" she was paler than he could've ever remembered seeing her before, her eyes blank as she stared ahead, refusing to meet his gaze. Even when he settled on his knees in front of her, she stared past him. "You… you knew?"

He felt himself crumble around her words, tears bridging his eyes and he can't control it at all. Knowing this has broken him, knowing that there was nothing he could do – nothing he could stop about his lineage that would

"I can't be here," she said suddenly, bouncing up on her feet. Her knee nearly caught his eye but he tilted fast enough and stared back up at her. It took him a bit longer, the ache from a broken kneecap that he'd done trying to impress her determining his speed, but he was on his feet in front of her a moment later, watching as she crossed back and forth in front of him. "I can't be here with him…" she swallowed, looking up at him for the first time since she'd come back into the room. "I can't be here with you."

Her confession stunned him, so much so that he barely caught onto the fact that she was leaving and moving away from him. He grabbed her arm last minute and watched as a fire ignited in her eyes, the anger coming full force. "Castle," she grunted, gripping onto his hand with her own, fingernails intentionally digging into the flesh there. "Let. Me. Go."

This isn't how they do anything anymore. They're getting married; they promised to talk to each other when things like this happened but she pulled his hand off her arm and opened the front door before he could think of a coherent thing to say to her.

All she left in her wake was confusion, anger, and sadness.

A/N: Sorry for the late post. I originally had the dates for posting Monday and Friday. I've changed that to Wednesday and Saturday. Sorry about the confusion!