A/N - Overwhelmed with the amount of story alerts and favorites on this story. Amazing what a joke from my husband can turn into. So, onto the zoo.

Chapter 8 – A Day in the Park

Beckett looked around at the entrance dodging families and school groups as she tried to find Castle. Finally off in the corner of the entrance, she waved and maneuvered her way through the crowd to him. "Hey, this is nuts." She looked over a few feet and saw Alexis and some boy that she assumed was Ashley.

"Yeah, it's a weekend, so it brings everyone out of the woodwork. So, you ready?" He watched as she reached for her badge and held her hand. "No, I got this one with the kids and all."

Beckett just looked over at him and beamed as he handed her a cup of coffee and a bearclaw while digging the tickets out of his pocket for the woman at the front gate. He watched as Alexis and Ashley cut ahead of them with their tickets. "Hey, call me in about an hour."

"Will do dad," Alexis hollered back as the two disappeared into the crowd. He caught up with Beckett and watched as her eyes darted around the scenery as if she was looking for something specific.

"Are you really just going to make a beeline to the reptile department and then just leave?"

"Yes, I have a case."

He stopped in front of her and put his hand out just before she plowed into him with her coffee in hand. Glaring at him, she took another sip of coffee and waited. His features softened and he looked as if he was going to pout. "Come on, two hours, and that includes the reptile house. We'll just hit the highlights and I'll get you some cotton candy and hope that you try to have a good time."

Beckett groaned outwardly and rolled her eyes but inwardly felt a little lighter. She wouldn't tell Castle but she hadn't been to the zoo since before her mother was killed. They had season passes when she was a kid and used to hang out in front of the Lion exhibit. She always thought the slow motion that they had when calm was ironic knowing the power in which they could kill. Even then she seemed to have been looking at creatures that walked the sociopath's walk.

She had been daydreaming and following along next to Castle so long through the crowds that she completely missed when he had taken her hand in his. Gasping slightly, she glanced up to see if he noticed. He was just taking it all in. He looked like one of the five year olds that they passed, gawking at everything around him. Then he stopped and lifted her hand up to the rail. "They're something aren't they? Amazing how they are so human like?" He glanced over at her as she stopped and put both hands on the railing, but never let go of his hand.

"I was always a fan of the lions. My mom and I would come and watch them for hours, especially on days they fed. Their temperaments would change; they would become much more agitated when they knew meat was coming." She glanced over at Castle and saw the warm grin that was on his face and turned back to the gorillas.

Castle pointed at two moving together over in the corner and then saw a head. "Hey, they got a little one."

Beckett squinted at the glass and saw the small head pop over the leg of one of the parents and then grab the other parent's arm, pulling down on it until the gorilla started to swing it. The little one just dangled on the swinging arm several more rounds and let go just in time to be tossed down the grassy hill. The mother quickly moved to catch it at the bottom and walk it back up to the top of the hill. "Not much different than little kids huh Castle?"

"Alexis wasn't much of the gymnastics type," he commented as Beckett pulled him along the rail and toward the door.

Castle smirked realizing that Beckett couldn't just sit still and kept the case in the back of her mind the whole time. He pulled her toward the Africa plains exhibit after hearing her little hint into the Beckett onion. He was pleasantly surprised when she stopped on her own accord at the giraffes. "You wonder what they think of us way down here on the ground."

Castle leaned on the railing next to her, just slightly brushing his hand against her fingers and grinning sweetly in her direction. He refocused on the giraffe eating the tree in the middle of the plains while seeing more hoofstock from the African area move into the background. Castle then leaned in and looked at Beckett again before reaching for his phone.

"Turn around," he said as he backed away from the railing. Beckett saw his hand and then glared at him.

"Come on Castle, no."

"I'll take one for you two," Castle heard as he turned around and saw an older man that had stopped to help them out. Castle's face lit up and pointed out how to use the phone before moving in next to Beckett. He could see the scowl on her face shrink as he put his arm around her and slightly pinched the back of her arm. When the man said cheese, they both smiled, Castle catching Beckett's arm around him as well and her head leaning into his chest just slightly.

"Thank you," he thanked the man and showed Beckett the picture with the giraffes in the background.

"Actually that's not a bad picture Castle, send it to me." Castle silently acknowledged that she had liked the idea of a picture together. From what he could remember it was one of the few moments that hadn't been staged or for publicity, just the two of them together.

Beckett took her phone out at hearing the ping and smiled. Castle watched as she reset the picture and nudged her in the shoulder when she set it as his caller ID. "Happy?" she halfway kidded before turning her nose up. "What is that smell?"

"Wild dogs. They always smell like that." Beckett held her nose and shook her head.

"That's worse than death," she remarked as Castle gave her a surprised glance. She had very rarely made a joke about the job but after another whiff, he agreed about the thought.

Before making the whole African circle, Beckett quickly eyed the sign to the reptile house and made her way in the direction, only stopping when Castle whined and pulled her toward something he wanted to see.

Castle finally let Beckett's hand fall when he grabbed the door to the reptile house and held it open for her. She actually acknowledged his gesture and thanked him before hunting the hall for someone that was dressed for work. "Excuse me," she called at the one person dressed in all tan.

"Yes?"

She pulled out her badge and flashed it at the keeper. "Detective Beckett and this is Richard Castle. We were wondering if there was anyone one here today that we could talk to about the snake that was involved in a murder a few nights ago."

The man looked to either side of him in the hall and saw it was pretty clear. "Yeah, come on back. I had a presentation but it doesn't seem like anyone is interested." Castle shot up his hand. Grabbing his hand and lowering it for him, Beckett rolled her eyes and followed the caretaker in the back.

"There's not a lot of room but we can meet around the table there." The man closed the door behind him and suddenly Beckett's cop mode fell and she stopped. She could hear them moving and hissing and rattling as she moved past the cages. Castle stopped and saw the skull and crossbones on the cages and whipped out his phone to take pictures. The flash went off and the guy turned.

"Dude! You're going to piss them off. Put it away. There are species back here that don't need help getting agitated." Castle looked at Beckett and quickly slipped his phone back in his pocket. For once she was glad he listened. He moved closer to her.

"You ok?"

"I don't like snakes," she whispered as Castle felt her hands stiffly pressed against the table in a fist. She was like a board; she couldn't move. He suddenly was concerned and put his arm around her. After the minor irritation and eye glare, her stiffness decreased as she felt his warmth next to her.

Castle took out his phone once more and pulled the picture up he had taken the night before. "So this is our guy. We caught it in a apartment last night after the second victim was bit."

"Yeah, I heard about that tagging last night on the news. Girl should be ok; we had a guy get hit last year and after losing a couple of fingers, he came back to work." Castle could feel Beckett cringe and shake in his arm.

"We were hoping to find out if you had any shipments that may have gone astray lately. We found the shipping container it was in and it had SHHS stamped on it."

"Ahh, there's a lot of trading that goes on between members on that site. You could have anyone that works here or any nut that thinks he can take care of them at home. By the way, you got a Taipan, deadliest snake in the world, but they're not prone to bite unless you really make 'em mad."

The keeper walked away and came back a few minutes later with an aquarium. Before Beckett could jump, the keeper parked the aquarium in front of her. Castle held her as she tried to move back but didn't want her knocking over the aquariums on the rickety shelves behind them.

"This here is your snake. You can take pictures, and poke it and handle them and they usually don't bite. So your snake was definitely not enjoying his time with whomever he bit."

Beckett looked ill. "Thanks, you can put it away now." The keeper nodded and removed the tank as Beckett let out a deep breath that Castle swore she held the entire time the box was on the table. "I want to get out of here," she whispered to Castle just as the keeper came back into the room.

"Hey Joe, come here. I got a couple of cops looking for info about that snake from the news." Beckett and Castle let the cops phrase pass but looked enthusiastically at Joe. Joe just stopped.

"Joe, we just want to ask a few questions," Beckett replied as Castle bumped her in the arm. She saw it too. She moved toward him and Joe turned toward the door.

"Thank you for your time," Castle hollered as suddenly Joe took off out of the door and Beckett took chase. He watched Beckett take off in the direction of the man and quickly made a decision. He heard a familiar voice as he passed his daughter and then turned another corner. Joe looked behind him just as Castle stepped in front of him and pushed him to the ground.

Alexis came around the corner as Beckett rounded the other corner and saw Castle now holding the man face down to the floor with Joe's nametag in his hand. Beckett ran up to him and took the nametag and then spied Alexis. "So this is what my dad does all day?"

Beckett conceded by nodding. "Occasionally, he was lucky the building is a square." Turning her attention to the man underneath Castle's knee. "Joe Singlio, you're under arrest." She knelt down next to him. "Castle?"

"Oh yeah," he got up and smiled proudly at her daughter and her boyfriend. "See? I am helpful and I do do something besides sit around and pester Beckett all day." He looked down at Beckett as she was pulling the man off the floor and trying to calm the patrons walking through the reptile house. She looked back behind her at the other keeper that had helped and handed Castle a card.

"Give it to him and meet me outside. I got a call someone to come get him." Castle nodded and walked back down to have a few words with the other keeper. "Alexis, are you and Ashley going to be ok getting home?"

"Sure," she smiled as Ashley took her hand and reassured Beckett. Beckett nodded and started out the door with the man in handcuffs.

"Sorry Castle," she said as she finished calling for backup. "We're going to have to finish our date another time." She started off toward the exit with Joe in front. She pursed her lips together, feeling somewhat excited about trying to flirt with him. She noticed Castle hadn't yet caught up to her and then looked back, still tugging on the man in handcuffs.

She broke into a grin seeing him and then continued on to the exit.

When the squad car arrived to take her man to the twelfth, she sat down on the bench next to Castle and bumped him in the shoulder. "You know we really are going to have to take a raincheck? Gotta get this character to talk."

Castle agreed. "But you called it a date."

"Yeah, maybe I did," Beckett pretended not to remember exactly and then stuck her hand in the cotton candy bag. "At least you got the pink. The blue just tastes funny." Castle grinned and popped another wad into his mouth.