A/N: Here we go. We're entering the home stretch. It looks like seven chapters not six. Hope you enjoy.

xxxxx

Chapter 5

xxxxx

Kate Beckett paced around her living room eating Chinese food right out of the carton. There was something strange about the case she was working; she was sure of it. She just couldn't figure out what that something was. Yet. She'd decided to call it a night sometime near nine, hoping the change of scenery would spark something in her brain.

So far no such luck.

Suddenly her phone rang, interrupting her mental frustration.

"Beckett," she said tersely.

"Hi?" Castle said tentatively. "Is everything okay?"

Kate sighed and dropped onto her couch with a whoosh. "Yeah, I'm fine," she lied through her teeth. "Just a bit preoccupied."

"I can call back if…" Castle started to offer.

"No, no," Kate insisted. "It's nothing," she insisted. "And I could probably use the distraction," she added almost grudgingly.

"Well, in that case my services are at your disposal Detective," Castle told her brightly. "I've been told many times that I can be quite distracting."

"You've certainly driven me to distraction more than once," Kate admitted.

"Oooh," Castle groaned, making an exaggerated face. "A mortal wound."

"I think you'll live," Kate replied dryly.

"Just barely," he shot back.

"Toughen up Castle," she replied unsympathetically. But she couldn't resist smiling to herself after she said it. "Did you need something?" she asked curiously. "Has Nikki gotten herself into some sort of trouble again that you don't know how to get her out of?"

"No," the writer replied pleasantly. "Nothing like that. Actually I wanted to talk to you about September," he admitted. But now he kind of regretted bringing it up. She was obviously not in the best of moods.

The smile slid of Kate's face immediately. "Oh," she said softly. "Of course. Captain Montgomery mentioned that you wanted to talk to me about that a couple of days ago. He said you'd call me," she added awkwardly. And her boss had seemed to be in a relatively good mood when he'd mentioned it, so she probably wasn't in for some sort of unpleasant surprise. Still Kate admitted she wasn't necessarily looking forward to the conversation.

"I am calling you," Castle confirmed. "I wanted to make sure you were okay with me coming back in the fall."

"What?" Kate asked, slightly thrown off guard by his question.

"To the station," Castle clarified, though he was pretty sure that wasn't what she'd meant. "To shadow you. I know that I've pretty much thrust myself on you, and so I thought that I should probably check this time, give you a chance to say no," he explained. Then he held his breath. After all, the one problem with giving her the option of saying no was that she might actually do it.

"Why would I say no?" Kate blurted out impulsively. "Besides you told me already that you were probably coming back in the fall."

"I know that," Castle replied in relief. "But apparently no one seems too sure about that for some reason so I thought I'd better check. And I don't know… I wanted to… make sure that you didn't mind."

"I told you… I mean… After I shot my mother's killer, I told you that I liked having you around," Kate floundered.

"Yeah," Castle said quickly. "I haven't forgotten, trust me Detective. But I know that I can be a bit of a pain in the ass so I thought that maybe… I don't know, I have been following you around for a while now…"

"Do you not want to come back?" Kate interrupted.

Now it was his turn to be shocked. "What?"

"Well…" she told floundered. What was she supposed to think? He was the one who kept talking about how long he'd already been tailing her. "I mean, you've probably got a lot of research for your book, and you already missed your deadline once," she explained. "Your publishers might prefer if…"

"Believe me Detective, I've been missing deadlines since long before I met you," he assured her. "I'm sure I'll miss a few more. And of course I want to come back," he added. "Come on, it's totally cool following you guys around. Running into buildings, stakeouts, I even get to wear my own bullet-proof vest and everything."

"Oh, I know," Kate assured him. "I've seen it."

"I just thought maybe you were getting tired of making sure I didn't get myself killed," Castle admitted.

"Well, admittedly sometimes you scare the crap out of me Castle, but you've also saved my life," she reminded him.

"And you've saved mine," he told her quietly.

"Yeah," she said with a half smile.

"Okay then," Castle grinned.

"Plus," Kate added more cheerfully. "Like I said, you're kind of okay to have around, when you're not driving me crazy of course."

"Of course," he agreed.

"So you're coming back then?" Kate double checked.

"Absolutely," he confirmed. "How does mid September sound to you? I'll probably want to spend a bit of time with Alexis when she gets back from Princeton."

"Of course," Kate told him. "That's fine. I'll let Montgomery know. And we can pick a more specific date when we get closer to the right time."

"Great." Castle agreed. He paused. "Hey Beckett?"

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Did I do something?" he asked. "I mean, Ryan and Esposito have been a bit weird when they called, and everyone was so surprised when I told them I was always planning on coming back to the station. I know you said you're not mad at me for anything, and everyone keeps telling me I didn't do anything wrong, but I dunno… maybe I'm just being paranoid, but it really feels like something's going on that no one's telling me about."

"Well, you did leave kind of suddenly…" Kate murmured.

Castle winced. Ah yes, his oft-cited sudden departure. It was the excuse they all used. It almost sounded like a cover story. Except that as cops they'd know that having identical cover stories would be more suspicious than completely different ones so there was no way they'd done it deliberately. It was probably a coincidence, but it was still strange. In fact, it almost felt like 'suddenly' was a euphemism for something else.

"Well, maybe I left kind of suddenly," he pointed out. "But I did tell you about it. Actually, I told everybody about it. If you'll remember there was even a party."

"Oh, I remember," Kate assured him.

I know it wasn't long a long party," Castle told her. "What with the way the scheduling worked out. And the only time that Gina could leave the city…"

"I said I remember," Kate repeated a little loudly.

"Okay," Castle replied, surprised. "So are you sure that you're…"

"I'm sorry Castle," Kate told him. "It's just this case, it's so frustrating. I'm not in the best of moods."

Ah, that made sense, he thought to himself. "What's the case?" Castle asked.

"Hm?"

"Come on, maybe I can help," he told her. "After all, even you admitted that I was occasionally helpful when I was running around after you. Maybe you just need a second opinion."

"That's the whole problem," Kate explained. "There's nothing to have a second opinion about yet. Our vic's a professional photographer, found in his studio. So far no suspects, nothing seems to be missing no forensics and apart from a bit of sibling rivalry with a younger sister, and a couple of disgruntled ex-girlfriends not even a hint of a motive for murder. Hell, we're even having trouble figuring out if any of the photographs we've found in his apartment and in his catalogue are worth anything. His records aren't what you'd call organized."

"Maybe he was killed by a rogue serial killer who murders people at their workplace with no witnesses!" Castle suggested excitedly. "Or maybe it was the late night cleaning crew, mad over poor wages. Or a rival photographer jealous of his talent. Oh! Maybe it was one of those people who think that thinks photography steals your soul and they were trying to get their revenge!" Castle said, shooting out ideas quickly.

"Yeah, with help like that I have no idea why I was reluctant to tell you any of this at all," Kate muttered. "I'm glad at least one of us is enjoying himself."

"Oh come on Detective," Castle replied slightly hurt. "I thought you knew me better than that by now. Your blood sugar's not low is it?"

"Castle…" she warned.

"Okay, okay," he said soothingly. This case really was getting to her. His tone suddenly serious he began again, "Actually, I have a good friend who's a private photographer in New York. I could give him a call if you want. He might be able to give you some help. At the very least he'd be able to guestimate the value of the collection."

Kate stopped pacing around her sofa abruptly. "Really?" she asked.

"Of course," he told her with half a laugh. It's like I always tell you Detective, I know a lot of people. I'll call Mike first thing in the morning and see if he can lend you a hand."

"Thank you Castle," she told him sincerely. "That'd be really great."

"Of course," he told her. "Always glad to help. And on that note, I should probably let you go."

"Yeah," Kate agreed. "I guess I should maybe try and relax a bit before bed."

"Oh," Castle said excitedly. "Please tell me there's going to be a bubble bath involved."

She just laughed. "Good night Castle."

"Good night Detective," he replied with a grin.

"Oh, and Castle?" she said quickly.

"Yes?"

"I'm glad I'll definitely see you in September," she said softly. "You are occasionally helpful."

"I'm glad I'll see you too," he replied.

"Until September," she said before hanging up the phone.

"Until September Detective." Castle smiled softly to himself, glad he could help her out, even miles away from the crime scene in the Hamptons.

Then he frowned. Productive as the talk about the case had been, it had distracted him from his original purpose, to figure out what the heck was going on. Beckett had seemed mildly annoyed about all his questions, but he couldn't be quite sure why. After all, it was completely ludicrous to assume she was only mad because he'd left for the summer. For one, it would imply that she needed him to do her job, and even he wasn't conceited enough to believe that. It was possible she was just irritated about her life being shaken up a little, but then why were Esposito and Ryan annoyed? No, something else had happened. They were all being far too evasive for it not to have.

Ah well, no point in calling her back tonight. He'd just put her in a bad mood, and he was loathe to do that, after hearing her say goodbye so pleasantly. Maybe when her case was done with. Which reminded him, he'd have to call Mike for her.

Come to think of it, he should probably call her in a few days anyway, just to see if Mike'd been any help.

Because whatever else was going on, he was forced to admit that he'd begun grasping at any excuse whatsoever to call Kate Beckett.

xxxxx

"Hello?"

"Hi Lanie."

"Kate?" Lanie asked surprised. "How are you? I wasn't expecting to hear from you in the middle of a case. Oh, god, don't you dare tell me this is work related girl, because I just got home and I've been on my feet all day. So if you're calling me to ask me to go back into that morgue you've got..."

"It's not about the case don't worry," Kate told her with a laugh. "Too many dead ends at the moment, so I've decided to take the evening off."

"I'm sorry, I must have something in my ear I thought I heard you say that you weren't going to be spending your evening tied to your desk," Lanie said.

"Funny," Kate shot back good-naturedly. "Even I go home at the end of the day."

"Sometimes," Lanie muttered.

"Shut up. I needed a break from the frustration," Kate told her.

"Still no leads?" Lanie asked.

"Not a one," Kate admitted. "Although apparently Castle knows a guy, a photographer. He's going to call him in the morning, see if he can help."

Lanie paused. "Castle knows a guy?" she repeated. "Now there's something I haven't heard in a while."

Kate winced at her friend's innocent tone. "Yeah, well, he called earlier to discuss the specifics of what's happening in the fall, and I happened to mention how frustrating this case was and he asked me about it, and well, you can fill in the blanks."

"Sounds like both of you are slipping back into old habits," Lanie started to say when something else struck her. "Hey, what do you mean details about what's happening in the fall?" she asked.

"Oh," Kate said airily. "He called me to confirm that he's coming back in the fall and make sure I was okay with it."

"Did he?" Lanie asked with a grin.

"Yes," Kate said matter-of-factly, hoping to stem the tide of teasing.

"That was nice of him," Lanie pointed out.

"I think he's feeling a bit unsure out there in the Hamptons," Kate muttered.

"Unsure?" Lanie repeated incredulously. "Castle? You sure we're talking about the same person? Tall, rich, a bit immature but probably all kinds of fun when it counts?"

"I know, it's hard to believe," Kate admitted with a laugh. "But, I dunno. When we were talking about the case things were normal, but he keeps asking if people are mad at him, and it's getting weird."

"And you don't want to explain why people might be," Lanie added.

Kate sighed. "That'll definitely get awkward. And I don't want to make things worse."

"Plus it's embarrassing as hell," Lanie pointed out dryly.

"That too," Kate admitted with a smile. "And what am I going to say? Castle I was briefly considering accompanying you to the Hamptons, but now after what happened, I'm almost positive that's a terrible idea. Maybe it's better if our relationship remains strictly professional."

"You're hopeless, you know that right?" Lanie asked. "And you don't mean that."

"I might," Kate shot back. "Okay, I probably at least want to be friends, but as long as I'm not sure I think it's probably best to let sleeping dogs lie."

"Except that now Castle's feeling vaguely paranoid for no good reason," Lanie told her.

"He'll get over it," Kate said unsympathetically, indicating the conversation was closed.

Of course Lanie often ignored things like that. "Still, it was nice of him to call you and double-check that you were okay with him coming back," she pointed out.

"Yeah," Kate admitted with a smile. "It was."

Taking that as a positive sign Lanie continued. "And you're glad that he's coming back."

"Glad that I know one way or another," Kate replied.

"Kate..." Lanie said warningly.

"Okay," she admitted. "Yeah, I'm kind of happy about that. He's definitely helpful with some of the cases. And I don't want to completely toss our entire relationship. He did help me with my mother's killer after all," she added softly.

"There. That's a start," Lanie replied. "Admit that you like Castle as a person and go from there."

"I like his family too," Kate added. "They're pretty great. Actually, speaking of the Castle family, I heard Esposito asked you to go to Martha's play with him," she said, pleased to turn the tables on her friend.

Lanie scowled. "Yeah, he did," she admitted. "He, Ryan and Jenny were going and he didn't want to feel like a third wheel."

"Sure," Kate said significantly.

Lanie laughed before she could help herself. "Oh stop it," she told her friend. "It was nothing. And I couldn't go. I had plans with Mike."

"Oh, how was that?" Kate asked her. "What did you guys end up doing?"

Lanie shrugged. "Nothing too exciting. Dinner, a movie, drinks. It was fine."

"Don't go overboard with your praise now," Kate told her. "What was wrong with him?"

"Nothing," Lanie admitted. "He's a nice guy, but he's kind of, I don't know, blah."

"Pining for the company of a certain homicide Detective instead?" she asked playfully.

"Kate, I don't know how to tell you this, but I don't think about you that way," Lanie told her with a laugh.

Kate snorted. "I'm devastated."

"Thought you might be," Lanie replied cheerfully.

"Then you won't be at all interested to hear that Martha introduced the guys to a bunch of the other actors backstage, and that I have it on good authority that Esposito got the number of, and I'm quoting here, a really hot actress," Kate added.

"Of course not," Lanie replied. "Good for him."

"Liar," Kate replied succinctly. "And don't try and tell me that you prefer Mark to Javier."

"Well given how my evening turned out that's not saying much," Lanie pointed out.

"Oh come on," Kate shot back. "I've seen the two of you. Why don't you do something about it?"

"Oh no you don't girl!" Lanie shot back. "You do not get to give me romantic advice! You can't even tell the guy you've got a not-so-little crush on that you broke up with your boyfriend!"

"Given that the guy in question is always hitting on other women can you blame me?" Kate asked.

"I'm sorry, what was it that you were saying about Javier and a hot actress?" Lanie asked.

"Fine," Kate said. "Truce."

"Truce," Lanie agreed.

"And I don't have a crush on Castle," Kate added.

"Of course not," Lanie said with a nod.

"I don't," Kate insisted. "We're friends. And well, I don't know what else exactly."

"Okay."

"It's the truth," Kate insisted.

"Honey, I'm agreeing with you," Lanie pointed out. "I believe this is the point in the conversation where people usually quote Shakespeare, something about protesting too much..."

"Oh be quiet," Kate said with a laugh. "I'm sorry your date was boring."

Lanie shrugged. "It's okay. I've had worse. At least he wasn't a jerk."

"Yeah," Kate agreed.

"I hope Castle's friend helps you with your case," Lanie added.

"Me too," Kate admitted.

"Well, I hate to cut and run," Lanie added, but there's a pillow with my name on it."

"I hear ya," Kate said. "Night Lanie."

"Night Kate."

Kate grinned as she hung up the phone. Even if boys were stupid and complicated sometimes, at least you could always fall back on your girlfriends.

xxxxx

"Hello?"

"Hello Mother, how are you?"

"Richard darling!" Martha said. "Isn't this a surprise?"

"I know, I know," he muttered semi-good-naturedly. "I'm a horrible son. I should check in more often."

"Nonsense," Martha told him. "You're busy writing your book. Of course, most of that time is probably spent sitting in front of a computer staring off into space, but still. It's all part of the creative process."

"Thank you mother," Castle said dryly.

"Who cares if you don't even have time to come and see your own mother in a play?" Martha continued as if he hadn't spoken. "I completely understand."

He sighed. "I've missed you in plays before Mother," he reminded her. "Sometimes you don't even want me to come."

"Well, yes of course, but those plays were travesties towards the art of the theatre. Something I unfortunately didn't realize until after I'd signed a contract to play my part," his mother explained. "And it's always nice to see a familiar face in the audience."

Castle's ears pricked up. There was the opening he'd been hoping for. "Actually, I heard that there've been quite a few familiar faces in the audience," he mentioned.

Martha perked up immediately. "Oh yes!" she exclaimed. "The Detectives. It was lovely of them all to come. And that girlfriend of Detective Ryan's is just lovely. Wanted me to sign her program for her. I took them backstage and introduced them to the rest of the cast briefly. Detective Esposito was completely charming."

Castle smiled. He'd been right. His mother had more than enjoyed the visit. "Yeah, they're great," he agreed. "But while we're talking about the Detectives, did you happen to notice anything strange?" he asked.

Martha paused. Despite the casual tone of her son's voice she knew it was far from a casual inquiry. "Strange? What do you mean Darling? Strange how?"

Castle sighed. "I don't know," he admitted. "It's just that every time I talk to one of them there's something slightly off somehow. I can't quite put my finger on it. They never actually say that they're mad at me, just that I left suddenly. But I feel like I'm missing something."

Martha sat down and smiled to herself. She had a feeling she might have an extra piece of the puzzle that he didn't. "Has it occurred to you that they're telling the truth and you simply surprised everyone?" she asked.

"But why would that be such a big deal?" Castle replied. "It's not like I'm never coming back, although they all seemed pretty surprised about that too, who knows why. But even if I did leave for a couple of months, I don't actually work there. Much as it pains me to say it, they're perfectly capable of doing their jobs without me, even if I do bring a little something extra to the table if I do say so myself. And yeah, I can see them missing my magnetic presence, but angry? It doesn't make any sense."

"Maybe they feel abandoned," Martha suggested.

"But I didn't abandon anyone!" Castle said in exasperation. "I waited until the end of a case. And they've all got each other. Plus Beckett even has Demming now!" he added in irritation.

Ah, so he didn't know, Martha thought to herself. And despite Detective Beckett's evasions on the subject, Martha suspected that was very deliberate, on all of their parts. Well, more fun for her. She loved dropping a bombshell. "But she doesn't have Detective Demming anymore," she told her son innocently.

"What?" Castle asked.

"You didn't know that she broke up with that Detective friend of hers?" Martha asked him.

"Demming?" Castle repeated surprised. "No, I didn't know. How do you know?"

"She told me of course," Martha replied blithely.

"When?" he asked.

"When I spoke to her a few weeks ago," Martha explained.

Castle ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. "Not when did she tell you, when did she break up with him?" he clarified.

"Oh I don't know," Martha replied. "She certainly didn't give me the specifics Darling, just a general time frame. From her way of talking about it I gathered it was quite a while ago. None of the pain of remembrance in her voice as it were. In fact, she was remarkably calm about the whole thing."

"Why didn't she tell me?" Castle wondered, half to himself.

"Well, why would she?" Martha asked him. "It's none of your business really. After all, you two haven't been working closely for months now. It may have just slipped her mind," though Martha didn't believe that for a minute.

"Maybe," Castle said. "But she told you."

"Well yes dear," Martha agreed. "But I'm a woman. It's part of how we talk to each other. It came up in conversation. It's the sort of thing that doesn't come up casually with a male friend. Not in the same way at least."

"But none of the guys mentioned it either," Castle pointed out.

Martha shrugged. "They probably thought it was none of their business," Martha explained. "Besides, I bet those two Detectives look on her as a bit of an honorary sister."

"Of course they do," Castle confirmed without thinking. "A big sister, but still."

"Well, you're an only child Richard, something I've always regretted a little," Martha told him. "You never got to experience the sibling bond. And I can tell you that it doesn't matter who's in charge, or how self-sufficient and capable a big sister is, her brothers will always rise to her defence against an outsider."

"But I haven't done anything to her!" Castle repeated, ignoring the sense of pain at being referred to as an outsider, true as it was. "Even she said that I haven't done anything wrong!"

Martha shook her head, wondering when her son would get any sort of a clue about women. "Just because you didn't do anything wrong doesn't mean she's not angry with you Richard," Martha pointed out dryly. "With two ex-wives I thought you'd be aware of that fact already."

Castle froze. It was true. He'd always thought it was unlikely with Beckett. But then she had been irrationally angry with him (in his opinion) before. Like when he was helping Agent Shaw. There had definitely been a bit of professional jealousy. Actually, the jealousy had been kind of flattering. But maybe she really was a bit hostile towards him. He still wasn't sure why. And she wasn't dating Demming anymore. He wondered when that had happened exactly. His mother seemed to think it wasn't recent. The timing might be... interesting.

"Richard?" Martha asked. Her son was being oddly quiet. She hoped that meant that he'd finally decided to use his brain.

"Sorry," Castle said immediately. "Just got distracted for a minute." He turned his attention back to their conversation. "So you're saying that Esposito and Ryan might be mad at me on Beckett's behalf," he suggested, trying the idea on for size.

"I don't know dear. I think it's possible," she replied.

"It would make more sense than all of them being mad independently..." Castle added softly.

"It would also explain why they're avoiding your questions," Martha added. "If they thought they were protecting her."

"And they would protect her," Castle agreed.

"Of course they would," Martha said enthusiastically. "They're good people. All three of them."

"Which means asking them about it will get me nowhere," Castle surmised.

"Absolutely nowhere," Martha agreed. "If they think they're breaking her trust, the two of them will calm up like, well, like clams."

"Huh," Castle said. "I guess I'll have to talk to Beckett again, make sure I'm not missing something."

"That's the first sensible thing you've said all evening," Martha told him.

"Thank you mother," Castle said dryly.

"It's what I'm here for Dear," she replied.

"Are you really upset that I didn't come to the play?" he asked her, feeling suddenly guilty. "Because I could come down in a couple of days..."

Martha smiled affectionately. "No, no dear. I was mostly teasing. I know you're really busy, and that you wanted some time away from the city. I understand. I think you need to spend some time and figure out what you want. I'd always love to see you obviously, but I wasn't trying to guilt you into making the trip. Well, not really," she amended.

"Okay," Castle said, apparently convinced. "And thanks you know, for..." he trailed off.

"I'm your mother darling," Martha said. "Giving you necessary advice when you need it is part of my job description. Whether you want me to or not."

"I especially enjoy it when your advice is actually helpful," Castle told her. "It's always an added bonus."

"Watch it," she warned him. "I'm still your mother."

"Of course," he said with a grin. "I'll talk to you later. Say hello to Chet for me."

"Goodbye Darling," Martha replied. "And remember what I said, maybe you should take this time to think about things."

Castle hung up his phone slowly. His mother was right. He did need to think about some things. Like why hadn't anyone mentioned that Kate wasn't seeing Demming anymore? And why did he care about that so very much? And most importantly, when had it happened?

Now he definitely had to talk to Kate again. Though for some reason he doubted that getting the information from her directly would be easy.

xxxxx

TBC