A/N- For those that may be concerned- the case is not the main part of the story. This is an AU approach to it and only lasts a fraction of the story. It is used as the event for them to meet. The rest spirals on its own into a familiar yet flipped around tale.

Thanks to Jo for being an awesome beta. Thanks for all the support and feedback I've received so far.

And because of that and since we all survived hiatus- here is an extra chapter earlier than I planned on posting it. Enjoy.

Disclaimer- I do not own Castle or some of the dialogue that is taken from one of the episodes.

The More Things Change…

…the more they stay the same. Kate Beckett is bored with life, but when a serial killer starts dedicating murders to her- someone enters the scene to aid with the investigation and her life may never be the same. Season 2- AU Caskett meeting.

Chapter 2

Kate Beckett looked around for a moment. The crime scene definitely seemed real. Ryan and Esposito avoided the situation by backing away slowly toward their car; that seemed both normal and real. But things felt like they were spinning; she felt like she was in the Twilight Zone. Yesterday morning she'd been at her desk, an ordinary day ahead of her, and now there was a serial killer out there who was dedicating murders to her, and she was standing here with Federal Agents and the ruggedly handsome playboy mystery writer, Richard Castle. She gave her bicep a quick pinch to confirm that this was neither a dream nor a nightmare. The pain she felt confirmed that this was all very strange indeed, but it was really happening.

"Richard Castle?" she asked, still in disbelief. How was the author of her favorite books standing before her flashing a gorgeous smile? No, now wasn't the time to fan-girl. She was Detective Kate Beckett and she was in the middle of a murder investigation. Get a grip, Beckett!

"In the flesh," he smirked at her.

"Can I ask why a mystery writer is at my crime scene?"

"I'm following—" Rick started to answer her, but Agent Shaw quickly interrupted him.

"Mr. Castle has been shadowing me for research on his next book. His consulting has been surprisingly useful with profiling some of my recent cases," she explained, but Kate couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"That's fine and all, but don't let him get in the way. This guy is contacting me and I don't want your little helper to be a distraction," she snapped.

"He won't," Shaw promised, but the Beckett just kept her eyes fixed on Castle's.

"He'd better not," Kate repeated, before she broke their stare.

"You know I'm standing right here," Castle retorted. Kate shook the fog from her head. She needed to get her mind focused on the case and ignore the fluttering butterflies that were forming her in stomach. Truth be told, she was always smitten with the author, but that was always fantasy—not reality. Focusing on the tasks at hand and the fact that the Feds were taking over her case, Kate put her game face on.

"Fine, Mr. Castle. I'm glad Agent Shaw feels that you've been helpful to her, but unfortunately your reputation precedes you so I don't want your celebrity status interfering with this investigation."

"I'll be on my best behavior," Castle vowed with a grin.

"Okay, then." The group walked back to the scene, toward Lanie who was moving in their direction.

"Kate?"

"Yeah, Lanie?"

"CSU finished with the scene and they were able to pull the slugs from the back of the carousel," the ME explained.

"All four slugs? Any—" Beckett started, before Lanie finished her thought.

"All four slugs, yes and they had similar markings, like the other ones. These four spelled out the word will." Kate tensed with the discovery but if Lanie could tell, she didn't draw any attention to it. "We're transporting the body back now. I'll let you know if we find anything else."

"Thanks," she nodded and turned back to Shaw and Castle.

"What did the first set say?" Castle asked, to Beckett's annoyance.

"The first set spelled Kate—" She responded, her voice quiet. The killer was trying to tell her something through bullets. Slightly disturbing. And what was it?

"So he's sending you a message. Kate will—Kate will, what?" Castle questioned, out loud, but almost like he was talking to himself.

"That's what we're trying to figure out, Mr. Castle." She turned to Shaw with a slight glare. "You're right, his insight is so helpful," she joked with a smirk.

"Once again—right here." This time, Kate managed a strained laughed. She hadn't decided yet if he would actually be as helpful as Agent Shaw had led on, but he was fun to mess with and he was definitely not bad to look at.

"Alright, Detective, if you're done harassing Castle, I'd like to see the scene. My people will want to look around. I'll be over to set up shop at your precinct when I'm done. Also, one of my agents will assist your ME with the body as well," Jordan outlined the plan to Beckett's irritation. The agent was stepping on her toes already.

"There's really no need. Lanie is perfectly capable—"

"I'm not saying she isn't, but we're now working together on this now. We're going to use all the tools we have available."

"Fine. While you look around here and finish up your review of the scene, I'm going to go back with my people to start working on what we have so far," Beckett motioned to her car; Ryan and Esposito were already driving away.

"Okay Detective, we can swap information in a bit."

"Wait up—" She heard him call as she reached her car.

"Castle, what are you doing?"

"Agent Shaw said I may be more helpful with you back at the precinct," Castle answered, which earned an eye roll from Beckett.

"Of course she did—"

"Detective Beckett, I just want to help. I know what you've probably heard about me, but I'll have you know that the media grossly exaggerates my life. I'll be on my best behavior with this case. I promise."

She rubbed her eyes while she thought about it, and sighed. He seemed sincere. "Okay, Castle—let's see why Agent Shaw keeps you around." He beamed at her, before he hopped into the passenger seat.

The ride to the Precinct was awkward and silent to say the least. Kate was pouting - internally, at least - about the fact that Agent Shaw had dumped her tag-along off on her to babysit. Worse yet, was the fact that this sidekick was staring at her with unbelievable blue eyes. Sure she was annoyed, but she was still human, and his piercing gaze...

"So, Detective Beckett—" Castle hesitated, breaking the quiet.

"Castle, you can call me Kate or everyone at the precinct calls me Beckett," she replied as politely as she could stomach. This whole case had her on edge, but it wasn't his fault.

"Okay, Beckett. You know you can call me Rick," he said while flashing her a million dollar smile. He was definitely trying to pile on the charm with her, but she had no plans on falling for his game.

"Castle will be just fine," she smirked and then quickly schooled her features, turning back to the road ahead.

"To each their own. So, Beckett, how does someone like you become a cop?"

"Someone like me?" Kate snapped her response at him.

"Yeah. Beautiful, intelligent. Normally your type would become lawyers not cops." Oh so he was going to play this game with her. It wasn't the first time a man had questioned her life choices and she was sure it wouldn't be the last. But the last thing she needed today was to have a therapy session about her career goals with her favorite crime novelist.

"Yeah well, things happen. And here I am. What about Jordan? She wouldn't be a typical FBI agent," Beckett deflected the question back at him.

"Well Jordan is Jordan. A no nonsense Federal Agent—you just seem different." His eyes sparkled, his curiosity almost childlike and if it was directed toward anyone else or anything else, she may have found it endearing. However, endearing could only take him so far. He didn't get to learn about her father's death and why she chose law enforcement. No, those were the details that she kept close to the vest.

"Like you said Castle, I'm just a cop. Not different. Let's just focus on the case and not worry about psychoanalyzing me." Her voice had a harder edge to it than she would have liked. When she saw Castle wince from the corner of her eye; she knew that her message was delivered, loud and clear.

"As you wish, Detective," he replied, his tone defeated. He turned to stare out of the window, and the rest of the ride was made in silence.

The Feds had the conference room completely taken over by the time Beckett and Castle arrived at the Precinct. Officers and agents alike were working on gathering all the evidence they could find on this case while trying to avoid bumping into each other. When Agent Shaw eventually made her way to the Precinct, she made it known to Beckett's team that since the FBI had claimed jurisdiction over the case, all leads and evidence needed to go through her; Beckett exchanged a glance with Captain Montgomery, accepting defeat.

Beckett walked into the conference room to check the status of any new leads, forcing herself to stay in there in spite of Castle's drooling over all the fancy technology that Jordan had brought into the investigation.

Things finally started to progress when they were able to trace the print from the scene to Donald Salt who ended up being a random ex-con who sold his pinky finger to the killer for a couple thousand dollars. They would've been back at square one if it wasn't for the fact that Beckett had noticed his finger was wrapped oddly. Within the medical gauze, Kate found a random string of numbers and a random scrap of what appeared to be newspaper. The new evidence left everyone completely stumped. She didn't have anything against Agent Shaw personally, but while all the agents focused on their smart board to collate the answer for them; Beckett moved back to the bullpen to work at the white board.

"Did she kick you out of there?" Esposito motioned to the conference room.

"No—the white boards just always work better for me. They help me think." Kate sighed as she rubbed the heels of her palm into her eye sockets.

"You didn't get much sleep last night," he assumed.

"Not really. But I'm fine—just need some more coffee."

"Well then it looks like my mind reading abilities are intact," Castle stated while rounding the corner. Esposito laughed in her direction, he was getting too much enjoyment out of watching Castle irritate her all day today.

"Cas—Castle?"

"Good luck, Beckett," her partner smirked, before leaving the pair.

"I was watching you from the other room."

"You were watching me?" Beckett asked, confused.

"Well—yeah, but not in a creepy way. But anyway, they weren't getting anywhere and you seemed low on energy. And well you didn't seem like the type that would back off or take a break so I decided to sneak out and get some coffee," Castle rambled, obviously nervous that she would snap at him again.

"You got coffee? You know we have a coffee machine?"

"Yes, I ran to get coffee. Real coffee. I tried a sip of that stuff that you claim to be coffee from your break room. I wouldn't let my worst enemy even drink that stuff." He smiled at her, handing over a cardboard travel mug. Beckett gave him a small smile and took a sip.

"Mmmm. Thank you, Castle. That was kind of sweet. And this coffee is amazing. How did you guess vanilla?"

"Took a shot. You seemed like someone that enjoyed just a hint of sweetness against the bite of a latte." Castle gave her a quick wink that caused her cheeks to faintly turn pink. She would deny it to her death if anyone ever pointed it out, however; Richard Castle would not charm her.

"Vanilla lattes are my favorite, so I'd say that's a pretty good guess." She took another quick sip, trying her best to suppress the moan that wanted to escape. This coffee far surpassed anything that they had on the homicide floor.

They sat in comfortable silence for a bit; both working through things in their own heads while staring up at the murder board. She had to admit; she may have judged Castle a little too harshly today when they first met. He didn't seem to be the cocky playboy all the time. Moments like this; bringing her coffee, keeping her company; it was actually kind of nice.

"I just wish I could figure out what those damn numbers mean," her thoughts finally spilled from her mouth.

"They could just be a random string of numbers. He might just be trying to get into your head."

"No. It's a game to him. He's taunting me, but the code means something. He obviously thinks I can figure it out," Kate explained in a daze, her sight still set on the numbers on the board.

"You really don't back down," he observed.

"Most would call it stubborn," she admitted.

"No—you're determined. Well maybe a little stubborn, but that's what makes you great. I've heard about you—I've read up. The way you get inside the case—you speak for the victims. Bring justice for their families…"

"It's my job," Beckett cut him off before he got too close. He was a novelist so research and observation was part of the job, but they had just met. She wasn't going to allow him to unravel why she was this way. Way too personal.

"It's more than that—" Castle tried to continue, but she shut him down.

"I appreciate the compliments, but we need to figure out what this is about." She stood up and started pacing in front of the board. Something needed to click. "Why those numbers—and why was there newspaper?"

"Newspaper?"

"Yeah- a scrap of newspaper fell from the dressing on his finger. He said that the man figured I would notice—maybe he is toying with me. Maybe you're right. Maybe none of this means a damn thing!"

"Maybe not. If this guy is as obsessed with you as we think—I have a thought…"

Castle ended up figuring out the code the killer left them stood for words from the Ledger article written about Kate earlier in the week. Each number represented a paragraph and word within the piece that spelled out "I will kill someone else before midnight tonight unless you stop me." They had scrambled to work out where he was or who the next victim would be, but in the end they hadn't figured out a damn thing when they heard the phone ring.

"Hello?"

"Kate? You were supposed to stop me. I wanted you to stop me." The killer's voice boomed through the line.

"Tell me where you are," she pleaded, but she knew it wouldn't be that simple.

"Will you come alone?" The question was a trick, she knew it, but maybe it was a shot at him.

"Yes, just you and me. We can figure this out. I can help you. You just need to trust me."

"Tell me something. How does it feel to know that you have failed?" The line went dead, but not before they heard a woman's screams in the background.

Kate's eyes went wide as she placed the phone back down into the cradle. She had failed. He was killing again because of her. Even though it was all a game, she couldn't help but feel a little responsible as she developed a sinking feeling in her gut.

"You know it's not your fault," Castle whispered to her while the other agents and officers tried to get a location off the call. She gave him a tight smile and tried her best to not roll her eyes.

"I know you mean well, Castle, but not now," she sighed, and shook her head as she walked back to her desk. She hadn't even made it all the way there, before she heard Shaw call out to her.

"We've got a location!" Shaw, Castle and the rest of the Feds were storming out of the conference room toward the elevators.

"Great. Text me the address. We'll meet you there." Kate shouted back as she motioned to Ryan and Esposito to get moving to their cars.

By the time they arrived at the scene, all that was left was a large pool of blood. So large that there was no way that anyone could have survived after losing that significant of an amount. The mystery lay with the fact that their suspect had taken the body with him this time. Next to the blood, they found a shoe and some hair along with four shell casings. It was obvious that the woman put up a fight, but she'd left no actual clue to her identity, and there were no other clues to why the suspect decided to take the victim with him.

"It doesn't make sense," Castle stated looking around the area.

"He's changing up his M.O. Makes him more dangerous—" Kate explained, looked down at the stained cement.

"Structure is entirely clear. No body left at the scene," one of the other FBI agents reported to Jordan.

"Where the hell did he put her?" Jordan wondered, looking around.

"He put her in his trunk—blood trail ends right here next to these tire treads," Beckett concluded, raking over the evidence in front of them.

"So he waited for her, shot the victim, threw her in the trunk and drove away," Castle assumed, writing the story in his head.

"All right. I'll get my people to start running plates of all vehicles that may have entered and left this structure today," Kate decided, while reaching for her cell phone.

"Don't bother, Detective. My people are already on it and let's face it—I have far more people than you do," Agent Shaw told her with a smile. Kate could tell that she wasn't completely trying to be difficult, but it was a bit of a power trip. She was showing everyone involved, that she was in charge of this investigation. "Why don't you go home and get some rest? We have a protective detail on your apartment so you should be fine."

"That's really not necessary," she denied, but the conviction in her words was lost on Shaw.

"It wasn't a suggestion, it was an order. You're no good to me or this team if you're burnt out. Now head home, Detective."

Kate huffed with annoyance of the situation and stormed away from the scene without another word to anyone. She was a detective for the NYPD and she didn't appreciate an FBI agent swooping in to tell her what to do.

By the time she'd made it to her apartment building she hadn't cooled off and she told the protective detail on her place that they were no longer needed. Agent Shaw may not let her continue working tonight, but she'd be damned if she'd allow her to have someone babysitting outside her place.

Her mind was still reeling as she changed into leggings and a t-shirt. The idea of taking a bath tonight wouldn't calm her down, so she didn't even bother. The day had been insanely long. The FBI had stolen her case. She'd met Castle, been irritated by Castle, and then actually had to admit that her favorite novelist was partially helpful with the events of the case. All this in one day. She wouldn't have believed it if someone had told her this yesterday.

A knock at her door pulled her from her thoughts. She glanced at her cell phone, but she didn't see any missed calls or texts. At this time of night, there wouldn't be anyone that would just stop by. Shit, maybe she shouldn't have removed that protective detail.

Taking a deep breath, she grabbed her gun and headed for the door. Slowly raising her weapon, she swung the door open, unprepared for what she saw.

"Castle. Cas—Castle!? What the hell?"

TBC

Thanks for reading! Happy Castle Monday!