A/N: Remember what I said in my last Author's note? Course you do, it was just a few hours ago. It seems I *have* no self-restraint. "I have a strong will but a weak won't."-Smart quote I always thought. Also, Thank you again for the reviews and follows. Special thanks to klindsay and squarenine. : ) Oh, and there's more fluff in this but lots of plot too.

Disclaimer: I do not own Castle.

Chapter 10

Beckett made a quick call while Castle returned their used mugs to the break room sinks. She was putting on her coat as he approached. "I think it's time to pay a visit to our friendly neighborhood psychiatrist. You coming Castle?"

"Course" he replied.

By a bout of good fortune ('maybe there *is* a leprechaun lurking somewhere' Castle thought) the psychiatrist was free for a few hours this evening and agreed to see them on short notice at his office. They took their seats on the two chairs opposite his desk although Beckett saw Castle eyeing the couch at the back.

"Dr. Ford, thank you for meeting with us on such short notice. We have a few questions we needed to ask about Daniel Smith."

Ford nodded "Of course, anything I can do to help."

"Can you tell us about how he came to be your patient?" Beckett asked.

"He was referred to me by one of my friends in the military. I was told that they had discharged him and so the in-house psychiatrist couldn't see him anymore so I took the case on."

"How was he when her first came to you?"

"I can't divulge too much information you understand? Physician-patient confidentiality and all that" he said.

"Yes, just tell us how much you can."

"When he first came to me, he was eager to- get better. He came for a few sessions but then he stopped. I noticed that towards the later sessions that he didn't seem interested anymore."

"Okay. You're a professional in the field of psychiatry. Tell me everything I might need to know about Multiple Personality Disorder." Beckett phrased carefully after noticing his hesitation while answering.

"Umm" Ford looked confused but went on "Okay. Multiple personality disorder – or now called Dissociative disorder is pretty rare. We can only label it that when there are at least two personalities – usually diametrically opposite but not necessarily so – to a person. In the time that one personality dominates the other, there are usually periods of memory loss. The memory loss can be noted in small every-day tasks if you look out for it."

"What causes it?"

"There are many theories to that really, and none confirmed. That's how this field works unfortunately."

"Tell us a few."

"It could be triggered by excess stress but it's common to have some sort of traumatic – physical or emotional – event in the past. Mostly around childhood or early adolescence" he finished.

Castle asked "So hypothetically, ah- if Mr. Hyde were to show up on a killing spree, Dr. Jekyll can't be held accountable?"

"I don't know that much about the law regarding it all unfortunately. You should probably ask a lawyer who deals with medico-legal cases."

"Okay. Thank you Dr. Ford. I'll call you if we have more questions. Thanks for your time."

"You're welcome" he said and added hesitantly "I hope you catch the murderer." He shook hands with both of them.

They sat in the Crown Vic and Beckett started towards the precinct. Castle said "That was illuminating."

"It was indeed" replied Beckett. "There are still many questions unanswered though. Assuming Daniel is our guy –"

Castle snorted.

"We have to assume since we don't have solid evidence Castle. Anyway, so assuming Daniel is our guy, there's just that. Where are the murder weapons and how did he get them? Where's he hiding now? What ties him to Wilkins?" She glanced at Castle and didn't say more. He had his thinking face on and she didn't want to interrupt him. She was eager to hear his story - as she secretly always was, not that she'd tell him

They got to the precinct and noticed Ryan and Esposito at their respective desks, both on their phones. Beckett hung her coat on the chair and sat while Castle prepared two fresh cups of coffee for them. She was smiling at him when she saw Ryan approach.

"Hey Beckett. We contacted Turbofuels again and spoke to Wilkins' secretary. She confirmed that a man claiming to be Dr. Nathan Smith from Auctagnitio had met with him about a week before the protesters when they had some bad press. Wilkins had tried to explain to him that their product was still under trials and it was wrongly released to the press that it had already started being distributed. She said they'd had a heated argument but that it had suddenly gotten quite. When she asked Wilkins about it he had shrugged it off saying that the young lad had apologized, that he was having a bad day and had left on a cordial. He even started acknowledging Wilkins' point of view and said he'd love to meet again to discuss it more."

"She didn't think of telling us this before?" Beckett palmed her face.

"Didn't think it was important" Ryan replied.

"They never do" she said with a sigh. Castle sat down besides her handing her a cup which she took appreciatively.

Esposito joined them too. "We still have Nathan Smith under protective custody. But Daniel is being smart and staying away. I just got off the phone with him. He said that he wrote a lot about his work to Daniel when he found out that his brother got into the genetic research division just like he was in."

"Okay. I think we should pay him another visit tomorrow and ask him a few more questions about his brother. Speaking of which, are we anywhere closer to finding him?"

Ryan shook his head. Esposito answered "No. We've distributed Nathan Smith's photograph amongst the patrols and told them to report any sightings. So far nothing though."

She sighed again. "Alright. I think this is all we can hope for today. Castle and I will go over to Nathan's first thing tomorrow. Ryan I want you to follow up on where Daniel could have been staying. If he's that smart he's probably using another name, we already know he's impersonating Nathan. But he might slip up, might already have slipped up earlier, you never know. The guy has to live somewhere, spend money on living, food. Something has to click somewhere if we look closely enough. Espo, you said that the license plate on the bike had been blacked out but check for the recent sale of or rent on the make and model you think it is. He'd been discharged not longer than 8 months ago so you might find it in that time period."

"Okay. All that first thing tomorrow." Esposito said.

"See ya boss" he said to her and added a nod to her partner "Castle."

They practically ran out of there. Ryan was happy to get home to Jenny at an hour where he might actually get a hot home-cooked meal. They all knew where Esposito was probably headed but Castle just had to put in his two cents. *Cough*Lanie*Cough* he coughed at Beckett. They took her Crown Vic to his loft. They'd drive it back to the precinct in the morning anyway.

Once they were home Castle ordered for pizza. They were both tired from this case and so they decided to indulge in some good ole' pizza. She changed into her PJs and he into a t-shirt and long comfortable track pants. The bell rang just as both of them re-entered his living room. He went to answer it as she sat down on the couch and rested her head against the back with her eyes closed. She opened her eyes as he placed the pizza box on the table. She saw him go to the kitchen and bring back two dishes and cans of soda for them.

"I'm starving" she said as she took two pieces onto her plate. He smiled.

"Hmm. Me too" he said, taking his own. He was happy that she didn't argue about coming back to the loft tonight. He really thought she would. He'd been waiting for it but it didn't come. He couldn't be happier. He turned on the TV and they watched the news but he knew as well as she did that neither cared about the weatherman's prediction for tomorrow.

He'd been hoping that they could somehow get back to last night's snuggling position again. Her ankle was all healed though, so he didn't expect it realistically. After they were both done she turned to face him full on. He turned off the TV and moved to reflect her position – one leg bent on the couch and the other down. Their knees were touching now and he couldn't help but notice that like yesterday, she was on the right and he was on the left. He thought that this was a very couple-y thing to do, they'd already assigned positions for themselves. He couldn't hide his smile.

"What do you think of all this? I know you have a theory. Spill it" she told him.

He was perplexed for a second. She couldn't have wanted to hear about his 'we're already a couple-ish' theory. Instead he said "You think you know me so well do you?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Yes, I do."

"Yes you do what? Do you think you know me or do you know me?" he asked with a smirk.

"Both" she said as she started chewing on her lower lip.

She looked so cute when she did that he thought. And her eyelids were getting a bit droopy. All he wanted to do was cradle her in his arms and take her to his bed – in his guest bedroom of course – and let her sleep away the stress. He pushed those thoughts aside and gave a deep sigh before continuing.

"We know about his connection to Turbofuels now. It would have been easy enough for Daniel to stalk him for a couple of days, figure what time he took his daily walks. Then he did the same thing that he did with White. Wilkins must have recognized him and not thought twice about it because they ended off on good note. Could have been easy to lure him to the warehouse or maybe he gave him some of that anesthetic stuff he used on later on White. White was an easy target. She didn't have a life outside the lab and he had unique access to it."

Kate nodded "I wouldn't be surprised if he'd planned on killing White initially but landed up murdering Wilkins first."

"Right. So now we have to figure out where he got his weapons and what he did with them. He probably still has them – which is a scary though. There's not much we can do about it right now anyway" he finished.

Kate sighed and put her head on her forearm which was resting along the back of the couch. "I hope this gets over soon. It's starting to give me a headache."

He couldn't help himself. He reached out with his left hand to put a stray hair behind her ear. She turned to him. He didn't retract his hand instead he lightly trailed his fingers across her jaw with the whisper of a touch. She just stared at him as he did at her. Her eyes flicked down to his lips and then back to his eyes. He was looking at her with such devotion and unguarded love. But she didn't think they were there yet, as much as she wanted to be. Before they could go any further, before she had the chance of pushing him away again and nullifying their progress she finally said "We should go to bed Rick. We're both tired and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

She saw the hurt flicker in his eyes even though just momentarily as he took his hand back. She put her hand on his and gave a light squeeze to convey an unspoken need for him to understand. He must have realized that she wasn't shutting him out, that she wasn't running away because he gave a small smile to let her know he'd keep waiting. That this was enough for now.

"We should go to bed, eh detective?" He said while wiggling his eyebrows. She knew he was trying to lighten the situation.

"Separately Rick!" she rolled her eyes and swatted his chest lightly. She didn't take her hand away, instead smoothening the creases on his t-shirt. "Thank you" she said in an almost whisper.

"Always" he replied just as softly.