A/N: This is turning into a great Castle week! I've just seen the sneak peek of season 6 (and died whilst watching it. Seriously, guys, Andrew Marlowe is trying to kill us) and also watched the hilarious season 5 bloopers. If you haven't seen the bloopers, what are you waiting for? Youtube them, you won't regret it! Anyway, thanks to everyone who has added this story to their alerts and favourites! I'm blown away by how many of you there are! Special thanks to everybody who takes the time to review! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.


With the end of the weekend, came the end of their break from work. Abandoning the luxury of the Hamptons, Kate, Castle and Alexis travelled back into the city Sunday evening, enjoyed a questionable dinner cooked by Martha and headed to bed with the knowledge that Kate was the on call detective from midnight. It was almost three o'clock when she rolled out of bed, just hanging up on the call to alert her of their new case.

"Time's it?" Castle slurred, waking up the second Kate's weight shifted off their shared mattress.

"2:49," she murmured back, bending over his sleep-riddled form to smooth his hair. "Go back to bed, Castle. You don't have to come out on this one."

"I'm already up," he argued, forcing his body into complying. Whilst she grabbed a quick shower, he tried to clear the imprints of dreams from his mind, leaning against the headboard as he rubbed his eyes. In his still-dark bedroom, it was all too easy to fall back into a deep sleep so he pushed back the covers and stood, ignoring the way the room swayed as the blood rushed to his head. "Coffee," he muttered, "Need. Coffee." In just his pyjama pants, he walked out into the living room, knocking into the doorframe in the dark and cursing as he hopped about on one leg for a few moments. Just the smell of coffee-beans as he pushed the plunger down on his coffee press woke him up. After filling two cups with a liberal amount, he forewent the milk, cream and sugar, knowing that to make it through the morning he and Kate would both need their coffee black.

Kate was out of the shower, towelling her hair when he slid the mug onto the top of his dresser, his chin lingering on her bare neck and shoulder longer than necessary as he enjoyed the intense aroma of cherries surrounding her.

"Thanks." After taking a sip, having to press her lips close to keep from moaning at the taste of Castle's expensive ground coffee, she asked, "Did I hear a bang?" If the sun had begun to rise, perhaps she would have seen Castle's neck flush.

"Maybe I shut the cupboard door a bit heavily."

Kate turned back to the dresser and pulled out a carefully folded purple linen shirt. "It sounded more like a thud though. Like it was something heavy…" When Castle didn't answer, she let it drop, focusing on putting the shirt's buttons through the right holes.


"Morning Castle," Ryan said, holding the crime scene tape up for him to duck under.

Castle grunted in response, his brain not quite functioning after he managed to knock most of his coffee onto his shag carpet as he hopped about trying to pull his socks on.

Sighing, Kate pulled out her purse and called over one of the uniforms, instructing them to procure another coffee from somewhere for Castle. It wouldn't do to have him be grumpier than her, then who would entertain her?

"What have we got?" she asked, turning to Esposito for the rundown on their newest case.

"Looks like another B&E gone wrong," he shrugged, flipping open his notepad. "Vic's name is Jason Robinson. According to his fiancée, who found the body, he was home alone whilst she worked a late nursing shift at the hospital. Ms Carmichael came home at two thirty and placed the call to emergency services."

Kate nodded and headed inside the apartment building to make her own assessment of the crime scene, Castle following behind like a lost puppy. Pausing only a moment at the busted front door, Kate made a note of the blood smears around the door frame before continuing in to confer with the medical examiner and her best friend.

"Hey Lanie," Kate greeted, kneeling beside her friend to get a look at the body.

Lanie nodded and glanced back at Castle, expecting a greeting from him too. When none was forthcoming and she had been watching him stare at a painting on the wall, she asked, "What happened to Castle? Someone party too hard this weekend?"

Kate hid a smirk behind the back of her hand as the uniform she had tasked with getting him a coffee returned and placed the steaming drink under Castle's nose. Instantly, his gaze tore away from the painting to the polystyrene cup and his hands sprang forwards to take it. Shaking her head, Kate looked back at the body.

"What do we know so far?"

"Cause of death is the lovely head wound you can see up here." Castle and Kate followed where Lanie pointed her pen, wincing at the mashed state of Jason Robinson's scalp.

"What on earth did that?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, Castle," Lanie replied, making another note on her clipboard. "As for time of death, I'd say after two this morning, but I might be able to get you something more exact when I get the body back to the morgue and take his liver temperature."

"After two o'clock? I bet the fiancée just missed the killer."

"Hey, Ryan, you know if this building has cameras?"

"There's one covering the entrance from the street but nothing inside or on the fire escape," he answered.

Beckett nodded, expecting as much. "See if you can get hold of the tapes for last night and this morning, verify what time Ms Carmichael came home. Esposito, I'm going to need you to get Ms Carmichael back in here once CSU have finished collecting evidence and see if she can tell us what was stolen."

Ryan nodded, leaving the apartment to find the super and requisition the CCTV tapes. With her primary examination done, Lanie had the body bagged and stretchered out to the morgue-mobile, leaving Kate to take a look at the rest of the crime scene. If it weren't for smashed lock on the door and marks around the doorframe, it wouldn't have been classed as a breaking and entering crime scene. None of the rooms looked like they'd been tossed; every room was as neat and tidy as a showhome except the living room, where it was obvious the attack had taken place.


Castle had just returned from the break room with two coffees when Ryan announced that the CCTV footage confirmed the Lucy Carmichael's story. She had indeed returned to the apartment at two thirty.

"Anyone rush out before or after her?"

"No, sorry-" Ryan began before being cut off by the phone on Kate's desk ringing. "Beckett," she answered, picking up immediately. "Hey, Espo. Really? That's all that was stolen? Okay, thanks. I'll see you back at the precinct." Castle and Ryan looked at her, waiting for her to repeat whatever Esposito had said. "Apparently, the only thing stolen from the apartment was Lucy's wedding ring."

"That's it? Just a wedding ring?" Ryan asked.

At Beckett's nod, Castle added, "How many carats was it?"

"0.5."

"Why does someone break into an apartment and murder someone all for a two carat diamond wedding ring?" Castle mused aloud before gasping, "Maybe it's not just any ring. What if it's precious?"

Kate rolled her eyes.

"You said it yourself, Ryan. Nobody entered or left the apartment building, so how did our murderer get in and out? They had to be invisible."

"You're forgetting about the fire escape, Castle," Kate said. "We'd better make sure CSU sweep it." Picking up the phone again, she placed a quick call to ensure the fire escape was photographed and dusted for prints. Whilst she talked, Castle and Ryan reminisced about the first time they saw Lord of the Rings. "Okay, guys, I hate to interrupt this budding bromance but we have a case to solve, remember?" Standing, she began their murder board, starting with the photo CSU had faxed to her computer and writing their vic's name underneath. From her office, Captain Gates watched Kate write in block capitals, 'break in, why just the wedding ring taken?'

"I've got it," Castle declared. "Jealous ex-girlfriend!"

"Why'd you say that?" Ryan asked, giving Castle a dubious look.

"Well, who else would steal a wedding ring when the guy had cash in his wallet and a genuine Banksy print on his wall? If they'd broken in looking for the biggest score, they'd have taken the painting and fenced it, made hundreds of thousands easily. Whatever this is about, it definitely isn't money."

"I didn't know you were an art fan."

"Research," Castle shrugged. "Mother always did enjoy extravagant birthday presents."

Kate spat her coffee back into her cup. "You bought your mother a Banksy print for her birthday?"

"No, I bought her a Klimt."

"How deep are your pockets?"

Castle shrugged. "I don't really keep track. One of the first things I did was set up a trust fund for Alexis, but everything else just goes into my bank account. Every year, Gina sits me down and gets me to pick charities to donate to. When Alexis was younger, I splurged a bit more, spoiled her, but now it mainly just sits there."

Ryan shook his head, wondering how Castle could be so blasé about his wealth. Kate glanced down at the ring on her hand, admiring it once again but also trying to determine exactly how much money Castle might have spent on it. It didn't look like it would have cost him much, the diamond reasonably small, but she also knew that Castle wasn't averted by five or six zero price tags; in fact sometimes he seemed to be drawn to them. As the theme tune from Castle's favourite TV show rang out in the precinct, Kate looked up to see him grimace at the caller ID of whoever was calling.

"Paula," Castle said coldly as he swiped his thumb to accept the call.

Ignoring the hostility in his greeting, Paula acted as if he had never spoken. "I've arranged a meeting for you with your wedding planner. Rachel Winters is her name. She'll see you at Starbucks on Delancey at twelve fifteen." Without another word, she hung up.

"Bye Paula," Castle muttered, looking down at his phone.

"What now?" Kate sighed, feeling her heart sink.

"She's set up a meeting with the wedding planner-"

"-You guys hired a wedding planner?"

"Paula hired us a wedding planner," Kate corrected stiffly before turning back to Castle. "When?"

"Today. Luckily, it's during your lunch break."


"I've got a grande skim latte with two pumps vanilla; no sugar and a grande caramel macchiato for…Aragorn?" the barista called out.

"Oh, that's me!" Castle answered, smiling whilst Kate rolled her eyes. Picking the two steaming beverages off the counter, he returned to Beckett at their table and handed her the latte. "There you go, Ar-"

"-Don't you dare call me Arwen, Richard Castle."

He gulped at the use of his full name. Kate never called him Richard. All it took was a quick twist of his ear for him to correct himself.

"Apples! Apples!"

Kate quirked an eyebrow, waiting.

"Sorry, Kate, honey."

"So, tell me about this wedding planner then," Kate said, sliding her fingers through the handle of her mug and raising it to her lips to blow across the surface of her latte before taking a sip.

"There's not much to tell. Paula said her name was-"

"-Rachel Winters. You must be Detective Beckett."

Kate and Rick looked up at the woman as she joined their table, taking the only vacant seat. In her late twenties, dressed in a tailored suit with a Bluetooth device as her only jewellery, Rachel Winters was the perfect business woman. The armchair was plush, but Rachel Winters perched on the edge of the seat, leaning away from the back of the chair and towards the table as she placed her folders down and spread them out before sliding her handbag off her shoulder and positioning it beside her feet.

"Hi, Rick Castle."

He threw out his hand but the wedding planner just glanced at it before replying, "Pleasure," and passing Kate a brochure. "Paula has briefed me, and I've already booked the selected venue for the reception for the fifteenth of October-"

"-Selected venue?" Kate queried.

"This October?" Castle enquired, peering over Kate's shoulder to look at the front cover of the booklet in her hands that she appeared to have forgotten about.

"Yes, the Plaza Hotel is booked under your name, Mr Castle-"

"-Sorry-" Castle tried interrupting.

"-for the fifteenth of October this year." She smiled pleasantly, not seeming to realise that neither Kate nor Castle's questions had been of good-natured interest; but rather annoyance and disbelief. "There are a range of rooms, but of course the terrace room is the best-"

"-Could we just-" Kate said, attempting to divert their wedding planner long enough to put a stop to her control over their wedding.

"-The terrace room seats over two hundred people and –" Rachel held up her hand as she said, "One moment, please." Flipping her blonde shoulder-length hair back, she touched a finger to her handsfree Bluetooth earpiece and spoke. "Henry, yes, I'm with them right now. Vera has a spot for her? Oh excellent. Yes, Friday afternoon will be wonderful. And if you could discuss a menu with Gordon, you would be the world's best assistant. Thanks, Henry. Oh, that was my assistant Henry," she told Kate and Rick. "He's got an initial dress fitting with Vera Wang booked for Friday afternoon. Now, where were we?"

"Rachel, let me just put you straight a moment, okay?" Kate asked, though her tone made it clear she didn't want an answer. "You seem to be under the impression that you can make whatever decisions you want about our wedding and Rick and I will just meekly accept them. I think you'll find the usual business arrangement between wedding planner and client is that the client tells the planner what they want and the planner gets it done for them." Rick gazed at his fiancée in wonder. She was using the voice she reserved for cracking the tough nuts in the interview room, the one that said she was boss, the one that made him want to drop everything and push her up against a wall while his mouth assailed hers. Rachel Winters never stood a chance. "So let me tell you what's going to happen. You're going to cancel the booking with the Plaza and get us a smaller venue, since we won't be needing two hundred seats. Rick and I want a smaller, intimate reception with friends and family."

"Right," Rachel agreed. "It's just-"

At the trilling of her cell phone, Kate pulled it from her pocket and answered without even shooting Rachel a cursory glance. "Beckett," Kate answered.

"We've got a lead on the Jason Robinson case. Apparently he was due to appear in court regarding a restraining order. I've got the lawyer on his way down to the precinct right now."

"Set him up in interview room three. I'm on my way right now. Thanks, Espo." She was on her feet as she hung up, pulled her jacket from the back of her chair and pushed her arms through.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm a New York homicide detective. I've got a murder to solve." Turning to Castle, she asked, "You coming, Pippin?"

Castle leapt up, downed his lukewarm macchiato and followed Kate towards the door.

As she reached for the door handle, something else occurred to her. "Oh, and one last thing, Rachel? There is no way in hell that this wedding is turning into a media circus. There won't be any reporters at our wedding, nor will we be auctioning photos. If you get all that right, then we'll get along famously, Rachel."

"God, I love you," Castle murmured, as Kate wrenched the door open and strode out into the sunshine.


A/N: There should be another update on Sunday/Monday. Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!

(Oh, I should probably explain all the Lord of the Rings stuff... I got a little obsessed recently because I'm reading the Hobbit and re-watching the LOTR films. In fact I wrote this chapter whilst watching the Two Towers and Return of the King. I hope you guys don't mind!)