Before we begin, I am so sorry. School has been crazy. I'm working on more chapters now and I'll try and update more often. I'm not totally confident about this chapter but I hope you guys like it.

**I reposted this to fix a continuity error

Beckett smiled.

Oo..oO

Mr. Cobb sat coolly in the interrogation room, staring at me. I stared back, eyes wide. He growled a little and sat forwards quickly. He was going to come at me! I shrieked and fell backwards. I got up quickly. Cobb smiled slightly and leaned back. Beckett raised an eyebrow at me before returning her attention to Cobb.

"Mr. Cobb," She started, "You've got quite a record."

There was no change of expression from Cobb.

"Assault, armed robbery, trafficking of illegal items-"

"Oh, drugs?" I interjected, "That's bad."

"No drugs," Beckett said, ignoring me, "But that's not what we're here for."

Cobb gazed steadily at Beckett.

"We're here," She shut her folder, "For murder." She slapped both her hands on the desk. I knew that she knew what I knew about Cobb. The buddy approach was not going to work on him. He responded to authority.

Cobb twitched slightly, as if surprised by her tactic. He kept his cool though.

Jeez, the man was like stone. I'd have squealed already. After hitting on Beckett profusely, of course.

"Colten Albeni," Beckett slid a picture over to Cobb. He glanced at it. "You know him?"

Cobb shrugged nonchalantly.

"We know you talked to him," I said surveying Cobb with what I assumed to be a commanding air.

He turned his gaze on me. I part of me wanting to go hide behind Beckett but I stayed firm and looked steadily back.

"I suggest you tell us what happened," Beckett said, calmly. The woman was ice. She was a beast in the interrogation room. "Or things could get...unpleasant for you."

Cobb leaned forwards. "You threatening me?"

Beckett smiled slightly. "No, I'm stating facts," She leaned forwards. "You've been doing quite a few illegal things. I'm sure if we search your apartment, stuff'll show up."

I saw where she was going with this and hopped right on.

"We could put you away for a good, long time, Mr. Cobb," I said, my face neutral. "But maybe we can cut a deal."

I felt Beckett tense beside me and she turned to look at me warningly. I had a plan though and I tried to communicate that. With a slight pursing of her mouth (Mmm, her mouth) we both turned back to Cobb.

"Yes," she said, "A deal."

"I'm listening," Cobb told us, leaning in. He looked quite intrigued.

"Tell us what happened and we'll forget the home search."

Cobb looked contemplative.

"Fine."

Oo..oO

Cobb told us that he had been approached by a man the night of Colten's murder. He didn't know his name but the man had offered Cobb a bunch of money to give Albeni a message.

Cobb was the sort of man who didn't ask questions so long as he was getting his money. He delivered the message to Albeni then went home to buy some guns on eBay.

While Ryan and Esposito ran Cobb's alibi, Beckett and I went to the morgue to get some more info about the body.

As usual, the morgue was clean and sterile. A 'place for everything and everything in its place' kind of deal.

Lanie was examining the body closely, her back to us.

"Hey Lanie," Beckett called out. Lanie jumped around and reached for the nearest scalpel.

"Geez, girl, you tryin' to kill me?" Beckett smiled easily.

"We were just wondering if you had any more info on Albeni,"

Lanie walked around the table and picked up an evidence tray. We both walked over and looking at what was contained in the plastic circle.

"22 caliber?" asked Beckett, peering at it.

Lanie nodded, "Or something. Never seen anything like it before. None of the guns from Cobb's place are a match."

Beckett turned her head to look at Lanie and moved slightly back, realizing how close she was to the body. I had been studying the bullet over her shoulder and she bumped into me. The second she did, I put a hand on her shoulder to steady her. Feeling my touch, she turned her head to me and opened her mouth, probably to ask me what I was doing.

She was so close to me. She froze and we stayed frozen, searching each others faces. I couldn't think. I wanted to lean in and kiss the confused look off her face. My hand stayed on her and she didn't move away.

I knew in that moment that if I chose to kiss her, she would let me. I started to lean in, breathing deeply. Cherries. Her eyes widened slightly but she didn't move. We drew closer. It seemed like hours had gone by since we first locked eyes. Days, years or maybe only seconds. But I didn't care. I was going to-

Lanie cleared her throat.

Beckett copied her and moved away quickly, hiding her face from me. She stepped quickly away just as I took a large step back and turned to face the body.

In my peripheral vision, I could see Lanie raising an eyebrow.

Beckett cleared her throat again. "Did CSU check all the weapons?" Was it just me or did her voice sound shaky?

If Lanie heard the light tremor, she chose to ignore it. "Yeah. Checked each one twice."

Beckett let out a frustrated breath. "So Cobb's not our man."

"But he would know what our man looked like," I said, turning around quickly. Beckett and Lanie turned their heads to me so fast, I was sure they'd get whiplash. Beckett looked like she wanted to smack her palm against her forehead.

"Right!" She turned back to Lanie. "Lanie, call us if you find anything else."

Lanie nodded and turned back to the body as Beckett walked purposefully out of the morgue.

"Comin', Castle?" She called back, not turning.

And I followed her as I always do.

Oo..oO

Cobb talked to the sketch artist for an hour. While that was going on, Beckett just stared at the murder board, chewing lightly on a finger nail. Once in a while she would get up and scribble something on the timeline or underneath a picture.

I knew that when she was like this, it was best to stay silent, let her think.

"Got any ideas?" I turned to look at Beckett in surprise. She was still staring intently at the murder board.

I walked closer to her and sat beside her on her desk. "Other than pirates, no, nothing."

She had been standing in front of the board. At my words, she let out a breath and backed up so she was next to me. She sat gracefully down next to me and reached behind her for something. Her hand re-emerged with a bowl of M&M's which she placed between us. In sync, we reached for some and popped them in our mouths, still contemplating Albeni's death.

I could hear Ryan and Esposito talking quietly from somewhere behind us.

"Do you think they know they do that?" Asked Ryan, in a hushed voice.

"Don't know, bro," Esposito replied

"I just seems so... practiced," Ryan said in amazement.

I smiled lightly. Beckett and I did often do things the exact same way at the exact same time. I took it as a sign from the universe.

Beckett suddenly stood up and turned towards the break room. A man with a sketch pad was emerging. How had she...?

The man brought the picture over to Ryan and exchanged a few quick words. Ryan walked over to us and handed the drawing to Beckett, face down.

"Guess who?" he asked with a stern face.

Oo..oO

Gary.

I knew I didn't like that man. Beckett had her angry someone-lied-to-me-excuse-me-while-I-go-on-a-killing-spree face on. I did not envy Gary Carlson right now. Actually, I'd never envy Gary Carlson. Ever.

"Uniforms bringing in Carlson?" I asked.

"Nope," she said shortly, "We're goin' to get him ourselves."

I half expected her to pull out her gun and hold it up menacingly. But she just smiled and grabbed her coat before whirling away to the elevator. I followed behind with a big smile.

I was going to enjoy this.

A/N: Thank you all so much for reviewing and actually reading this story. Your comments make my day. I hope you guys will let me know if the story is declining at all and smack me upside the head.