"So who else have you been watching?"

Royce turned to Beckett as the elevator door slid closed, leaving them alone. "Who else?"

"You said Stephanie wasn't the only person you've been watching. Who else?"

"Different people," he shrugged. "I watch you a lot." Royce reached out to squeeze Beckett's hand...an odd, chilling sensation as Royce's 'squeeze' went straight through her. "I'm proud of you, kid. You got a really good life for yourself here." When the comment elicited the desired smile and blush from Beckett, Royce couldn't resist adding, "And I'm glad you *finally* took my advice."

Beckett's smile broadened, just for a second. "Yeah, well, better late than never, right?"

"He'll be back in town before you know it, don't worry."

Beckett's blush turned bright red. "That obvious, huh?"

"Yeah, but mostly 'cause I know you..."

Mike's reassurances were cut off as Beckett gasped when she stepped off the elevator. He watched as his old partner blew off her waiting teammates to make a hard left down the nearly empty corridor.

Ryan held off his partner with a knowing smile. Guys, he projected, give her a minute...His smile became contagious as Esposito got the hint and Mike Royce's ghost disappeared.

Beckett's lips met Castle's so quickly he had to stop himself to make sure he hadn't teleported into a space where she had already been standing. "Kate?" he gasped out between kisses, "Is everything okay?"

Kate, for her part, was just so happy to be relaxed and in his arms and just plain *whole* again that she'd almost lost track of where she was. Finally focusing her thoughts on something other than kissing, Beckett wrapped her arms around Castle and smiled. "I'm great. I just missed you, that's all."

Castle's relieved smile spoke volumes about the state of his own emotions. "I've missed you, too. That's why I tried to surprise you..." Beckett's smile grew more knowing as Castle frowned in confusion. "Come to think of it, how did you know I was coming?"

"I..." Beckett fumbled for a minute, trying to find the words. Finally, she just decided to trust the 'link' between them. "How'd things go in London?"

"Uh, okay..." replied Castle, surprised by the change of subject. "Although, come to think of it, Paula cancelled my last two appearances and insisted I take the day off since she couldn't change the flight. She said, and these were her words, not mine...she said if I was going to start PMSing I needed to look better in a dress."

Beckett had to deliberately focus to push away the image of her boyfriend in her favorite red evening gown. "Alexis had a...different take on the situation."

"You mean you...?"

Beckett nodded, completing and answering the unasked question. "Were just as bad...or so people have told me. Alexis' theory was that over time because of our...relationship, we've developed a psychic connection between us. Apparently it's the same for Lanie and Esposito as well."

Castle's eyes widened in surprise. "Really?"

Beckett nodded again. "That's how I knew where you were. The link kicked in the minute you showed up."

"Really?" Castle commented. "Huh..." He tightened his embrace on his girlfriend, marveling at the relief he felt just being in her arms again. And although it had never occurred to him that that feeling was anything more than just a feeling...Castle decided to test his daughter's theory, focusing his thoughts solely on Beckett and his feelings for her...

Castle gasped as he realized he was in Beckett's mind, experiencing their embrace from *her* perspective and enhanced senses. The feeling of holding her and being held by her at the same time was overwhelming, and he pulled back into his own mind almost immediately. "Whoa..." he exclaimed, "that was..."

"Intense..." said Beckett, having trouble putting her own feelings into words.

Castle nodded. "That gave a whole new level of meaning to the idea of meta..."

Beckett nodded in agreement. "Yeah."

Castle pulled away from their embrace, having trouble separating the sensations he felt through the link with his now more limited reality. It felt like going from an endlessly clear blue summer day into a windowless room with the lights off. He stared at his girlfriend in awestruck amazement. "You've got a lot more control over your senses than you used to have..."

Beckett shrugged off the compliment with a smile. "We've all grown a lot, Castle." She took both of his hands in her own and pulled him toward the door. "C'mon. The boys are waiting for you, too."

Curiosity overtook Castle's emotions. "We've got a case?"

"Yep," Beckett replied. "I think you're gonna enjoy this one..."

Sure enough, Castle was practically bouncing with excitement when he saw the murder board. "Seriously?" he exclaimed. "A spear to the throat? Wow..."

"Yeah," said Beckett, "but that's not the craziest part."

"Really?" Castle drew out the word in anticipation. "That's not the craziest part?"

"Nope," Royce popped in behind the wizard, "that would be the fact that your prime suspect just might be a ghost."

Castle turned around at the sound of the unexpected voice, looking to his partner for confirmation as he mouthed, "Mike Royce?"

As Royce walked through the nearby desk to get closer to the murder board, Beckett nodded to Castle even as she quietly countered Royce's theory. "We can't say for certain that the ghosts killed him, just that there were ghosts at the second crime scene and that Stephanie has seen them."

"Stephanie's seen the ghosts?" asked Ryan.

Beckett nodded. "Her description matched everything Royce told us. Seems like the bird's become her own personal Phantom of the Opera."

Ryan and Esposito traded knowing looks. "There's something else about Stephanie Frederickson you guys should know about. I cross-checked the cast lists of all of her shows," Ryan told the group. "There's a group of five singers that have been with her in every show she's been in since college."

"Maybe the bird's not her only Phantom," Castle mused.

"If that's the case," added Esposito, "then her friends aren't the only possible candidates. We got the threatening letters the opera house has been getting since Vanderkellen started running the place."

Esposito handed Castle the thick file folder, who whistled, impressed, as he started flipping through its contents. "For a guy who's not supposed to be high-profile, he seems to have garnered a lot of negative attention."

"Yeah," agreed Esposito. "But that's not the worst of it." He slid an evidence bag down the contents of the folder to command Castle's full attention.

Castle set the folder down on his desk, careful not to dislodge its contents as he focused on the solitary bagged letter. "Why is this letter bagged as evidence?"

"It's the only one that specifically mentions the current production," Ryan informed them.

"You had it checked for prints, then?" asked Beckett.

Esposito nodded. "Forensics found multiple sets, though, so it's going to take a few hours to figure out whose prints are whose."

"Then we probably won't know until morning," Beckett reminded the group, "so let's call it a day." Four heads around the murder board nodded in agreement.

Castle collapsed back onto the bed, still lost in the spectacular kaleidoscope of feelings and sensations he had just experienced. "Wow..." he exclaimed, unable to form words of more than one syllable. "That was..."

Beckett curled up next to him, resting her head on his chest. "Yeah..."

"I mean," Castle tried to backtrack, "not like it wasn't already spectacular before, but..."

"I get it, Rick," she chuckled. Beckett slid a hand across Castle's chest in a gentle, caressing embrace.

"If this is what it means to be 'linked' like this, I don't think I want to leave your side ever again..."

Beckett pulled herself up so they could talk face-to-face. "As...incredible...as that was, I'm sure you know that being joined at the hip isn't realistic for either of us. Besides, Lanie and Esposito seem to be able to manage just fine clear across town from each other."

Castle turned to he and Beckett were facing each other. "So as long as we..."

Beckett silenced her boyfriend with a kiss. "*Relax*. Now that we know about it, we'll figure out what to do *when we have to*. And unless you need to go back to London to be on that flight back to New York..."

Castle couldn't help but smile as Beckett started laying a trail of kisses from his ear down his neck. He reached into their mind link and found the spot on the back of her neck where if he brushed it just so...the gasp his touch elicited was everything he ever wanted to hear. "Kate, I can promise you right now I have no intention of going *anywhere*..."

Hi all! Short chapter, for two reasons: 1) Life has gotten a little nuts lately, which has left me with less time to write than I had over the summer, and 2) After the Storm. I could have sat on this and posted it after another couple of pages, but now that season five has officially started I wanted to let you guys know that you will see various spoilers for the current US season from this point on in the series. And yes, that includes Ascension. Marlowe has played right into my evil, twisted little plan, which means that the series finale will be a full resolution of the series' Dragon subplot...Guardian style. ;D
From this point on, I will probably post roughly once a week on Monday nights before the East Coast airing of new season 5 episodes. So until Monday, don't forget to leave comments below!