Caught on Camera

At the sound of ringing, Kate awoke from her sleep to grab her phone.

"Beckett."

"Yo, we got a body."

She sat up and grabbed the notepad by the side of the bed and a pen to jot down the address.

"Where is it?"

"Your apartment building, same floor but three doors down."

"Knock when you're here and I'll join you."

She put the phone down and sat up in bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She hated getting up early for the sake of murder, but at least she didn't have to travel half way across town to see the body this time, although it was slightly unsettling that it had occured just three doors away from her. Taking her time, she took a shower, savouring the heat the water held. When she later entered the main room of the apartment, she spotted the flowers that rested in a vase on the coffee table. Smiling at the thought of the man who had given them to her, she walked into the kitchen to sort some breakfast. Normally, she wouldn't have time and would rely on a bearclaw from Castle.

Ahhh, Castle. They'd been successfully hiding the romantic relationship for almost two months now. It was incredible that they worked with a bunch of trained detectives and police officers, yet not one of them had realised that things had changed between them. To be honest, things were pretty much the same apart from the occassional make out session in a deserted observation room every once in a while and the heightened flirting. At first, Ryan and Esposito had been suspiscious about their disappearing acts during the day, but dating a best selling novelist had it's advantages in the form of excuses, which were actually quite good.

Castle, or Rick, as she now called him, hadn't stayed there the night before, as she'd asked for some space. She was still getting used to sharing her time and space with someone all the time, and would occasionally retreat back to her own bed alone every two weeks or so. It wasn't a reflection on their relationship, but on her, as she was an independant woman, and needed time to think things through on her own. Of course, these days, she couldn't think about anything other than her boyfriend and what she would have been doing with him had he been there at the time.

After breakfast, which was slightly burnt toast, she got bored of waiting around and decided to go to the crime scene without the guys. They shouldn't be long now. Before heading out, she sent a quick text to Castle telling him to some to her apartment. Not bothering with her coat and gun, she went down the hall to find CSU swarming the place. She held up her badge and was granted access bu the marshall.

Kate Beckett had lived in her apartment building since her old one had blown up, which was about a year ago. In that time, she hadn't engaged in conversations or friendships with any of her neighbours, but they'd nod respectfully as she passed in the mornings. After all, having an armed cop in the building made them feel a little bit safer, but she was sure that opinion would decrease quickly as the residents caught onto the events of the murder. The victim was Andrew Brody, a forty-five year old divorcee with no children to speak of. Kate had seen him around the building, but didn't know more about him than the fact that he was a man who minded his own business, just like she did.

Looking at the body, she saw red. Not from anger, but from blood. So much blood. Brody was sprawled on the floor, stab wounds covering his torso. Lanie was already there observing the body.

"Hey Girl, where are the boys?" She was looking around, scanning the room behind her, obviously looking for Esposito.

"They're on their way. Thought I'd get here and start looking around seeing as it's only down the hall."

She heard some familiar voices behind her and turned to see Ryan and Esposito approaching her with their eyes inspecting the surroundings.

"Yo. Oohh... Lots o' blood there." The hispanic detective grimaced and then winked at Lanie who giggled.

"I'm sorry, Lanie, but was that a giggle?"

Lanie blushed at Kate's comment.

"No. It was a laugh. You should try it sometime."

Kate rolled her eyes and started to ask the ME about the body infront of them.

"By the looks of things, he died from exsanguination. The stab wounds aren't near any major organs, but are deep enough to make sure he lost lots of blood very slowly. And by the look of the needle mark on his arm, I'd say he was sedated, because there's no sign or a struggle. I don't know about you, but if someone was trying to stab me multiple times, I wouldn't just stand there and take it. I'll know more after I get back to the morgue. I'll call you went I get something."

"Thanks, Lanie."

Kate nodded at her friend and stood up to wonder the apartment looking for anything useful. There were few photos, none of his ex-wife. Figures. Either he didn't have many friends and family, or he had no camera.

When she went to rejoin her team in the hall, Castle was nowhere to be seen. Her and the boys started spinning theories about the victim as they made their way around the corner to the elevator. As she turned the corner, she noticed the familiar figure leaning against her door.

"Castle, what are you doing around here? The crime scene is around the corner. And where are your fancy clothes?" Castle was taken aback by the sudden interrogation coming from Ryan.

He'd received a text from Beckett half an hour ago telling him to come around to her apartment. She'd neglected to mention anything about murder, which meant he now had to explain his casual attire to the male detectives, who would be quick to catch on to any suspiscious answers.

"My suits are all dirty. I forgot to wash them all." He ran his hand through his hair nervously, avoiding eye contact with them. He had a gift for great excuses, but that meant he also cursed with really bad ones, too.

"You have enough money to get someone to do it for you. Anyway, why are you around here? Body's 'round there."

It seemed Esposito was catching on to his lies. He was a detective after all.

"I didn't know there was a murder. I was summoned by the master to her apartment." He acknowledged Kate who walked forward to collect her coffee from his hand. He knew full well that she couldn't operate without her morning sustenance.

"Oooh, Beckett. Why did you want Castle at your place? So you can spend a little time making out, do a little-"

Ryan was interupted by Esposito clamping his hand over his mouth. He should have known better than make fun, and tease Beckett.

"Not cool, Bro."

Ryan quieted down, but turned back to them still expectant of an answer. Castle had spent the time during Ryan's little outburst preparing what he was going to say.

"We've been working out the details of the scholarship a lot lately seeing as it's getting close, so I presumed that she wanted to get started bright and early. We need to get the details down soon."

The two detectives looked at each other and grinned.

"Then where's all the paperwork, Castle?"

The writer looked down and realised he was empty-handed. If they'd been talking about the scholarship, he would have brought all the paperwork and brochures.

"I... uh...," he started.

"They're at his place. He was kind enough to offer to buy me breakfast and then go back to his." Kate continued at the smirks of her colleagues. "There's too much for him to bring over and his sofa is more expensive, and therefore more comfortable. Plus, he has a coffee machine that's better than mine. It's the logical choice."

Kate stepped into the elevator which had been called and had arrived whilst they'd been talking. She dragged Castle with her by the lapels of his shirt and Ryan and Esposito followed, defeated.

Back at the Precinct, Kate was sat at her desk looking through bank records, searching for anything that could identify the killer. Castle was sat on his chair next to her, being surprisingly helpful by coming up with possible theories that didn't involve the CIA or aliens.

Esposito was down in the morgue, 'talking' to Lanie about the 'body', and Ryan was going through footage of the hallway to see if they found that anyone entered the apartment around time of death, which was about 36 hours ago. After a few moments, he got something and called for them to gather around. By this time, Esposito had returned and joined the rest of them at the computer.

"Two nights ago, this man got off the elevator and entered the apartment. He simply knocked and entered, which meant Brody knew him and was willing to let him into his home."

Kate squinted at the screen.

"Enlarge the image of the suspect so his face is clearer."

Ryan did as he was told and Kate immediately recognized the man on the screen.

"I don't know his name, but he lives in the same building as me and Brody. I pass him sometimes and I've seen him in the elevator. Go back to the other screen. There. You can see the numbers light up above the elevator so you can see which floor he goes to."

Ryan let the tape play on and they observed the lights on the wall. It went down and was two floors beneath Kate's.

"We got him. We just need to find out which apartment he's in. I want you two to go over there and-"

"Woah, woah, woah. What do we have here?"

They all looked back to the screen in time to see Castle and Kate appear in the hallway, both sporting a wide grin. Much to Kate's annoyance, they were both holding hands, which Ryan immediately picked up on.

"You know, I think we should turn this off and go for lunch," Castle suggested, but the boys ignored him while Kate buried her face in her hands as the footage got more revealing.

Kate was stood unlocking her door, fumbling with the keys while Castle had his hands on her waist kissing her neck from behind. She was laughing as Castle turned her around and pressed her up against the door and kissed her thoroughly while her hands thread themselves through his hair and grasped at his clothing. Castle pulled away, grabbed the keys and unlocked the door quickly and they fell into the apartment still holding each other as the door closed behind them.

The two male detectives turned to the other two who were leant against Kate's desk looking embarassed.

"Scholarship my ass. You were there for something else this morning, am I right Castle?"

"Okay, so I may have been expecting a different kind of body."

Kate slapped his arm vicously, repressing a smile.

"Just wait 'til Lanie hears about this."

Kate went wide eyed. She was sure that Lanie would skin her and Castle alive for keeping this from her, and she wasn't too keen on that idea.

"Y'know. You guys stay here. Me and Castle are gonna go ahead and check out the apartments for our missing suspect. You guys try and get an ID. We'll be back in about an hour or two." She dragged Castle to the elevator for the second time that day and waved to the boys mockingly.

After the door closed, Ryan turned to Esposito. "Twenty bucks says they stop off at her apartment on the way, if you know what I mean."

"Dude, gross." He paused. "You're on."