AN: Sorry for the delay getting the update up, what can I say, life has a tendency to be time-consuming. Good news though, I should be able to update fairly regularly this weekend, my housemate will be away & she tends to distract me with a social interaction a lot of the time (rude, I know). Thanks to everyone who's reading, alerting & reviewing – you guys are the best! Also, I came up with the idea for this chapter before this week's episode, crazy how in-sync the Castle writers & I are ;) Now remind me why they can't make Castle & Beckett get married already?

Side note, to White Pawn, they say the making of genius is in creating new words – Shakespeare did it all the time ;)

Chapter Twenty-Two

"This is fun already," he added with a wink.

Beckett rolled her eyes, clearly not amused. Castle tightened his grip on her hand under the table, obviously, he shared her disapproval.

"You're going to pay you know," Dunnings smirked, in the same carefree tone. Like they were casual acquaintances catching up on old times, friends even. There was a relaxed tone to his demeanour that Beckett found rather unhinging. After all, they had gotten this far. Clearly they were onto him. He should be afraid. Although, the man who was already in jail for life had little to fear she justified as an afterthought.

"No," she asserted, her tone hard. "You're the one who's going to pay. Tessa turned on you. We will get you for this." With that Dunnings roared with laughter. He slapped his hands on the table as he rocked up and down, his whole body shaking.

"You don't know how wrong you are Detective," he bellowed, after returning to some semblance of control. "Damn. This is funnier than I imagined it. Although, it is a letdown to see that your boyfriend's still around, I really thought this conversation would just be the two of us… More intimate you know," he finished with a leer.

"I'm not going anywhere," Castle interjected fiercely. Beckett drawing her nails into his knee to silence him. Sweet, foolish man. She didn't need him to stake his claim of her in this room. Hypocritical of her, considering her own desire to prove the depth of their connection during his interview with Tessa. But this was different; she had to be the dominant one in this interrogation.

"Listen Peter," she drew out through clenched teeth. He cut her off before she could continue –

"Oh no, call me Dunnings, it's more accurate," he grinned. Castle found the expression menacing. His jaw tightened. He wasn't sure he was going to survive this conversation. He was experiencing an overwhelming desire to throw the man through the wall, in a gesture of Neanderthal proportions. Somehow, well-intended as it was, he didn't see that gesture boding well for any of them. There was the small issue that Dunnings was probably physically stronger for a start, then there was the fact Beckett would properly kill him anyway if he tried anything too clever like that.

Dunnings words unstuck Beckett momentarily. What on earth had he meant by that? How was it less accurate to call him by his first name? Just plain weird. Maybe Peter was too soft a name and he went by something more hardcore in prison, like Butch or Killer. She wished she could voice her thoughts to Castle in that moment, he would undoubtedly come up with some better names. Her creativity was really not flowing – c'mon Butch, really? Pathetic. Dunnings was chuckling to himself again, obviously finding something hilarious. Beckett felt like a dopey kid who'd missed the joke, she found it quite frustrating.

"Got something you want to share?" she challenged, her eyes boring into Dunnings, humourless.

"It's just that you've got no idea, Detective, none!" he spluttered returning to full-fledged laughter. Beckett and Castle shared equal looks of confusion. Silent questions filled their gaze, and remained unanswered in the midst of the apparent hilarity – a joke in which they were clearly missing the punch line. After his laughter had subsided, Dunnings regarded Castle carefully. "I am really pissed to see you here though," he mused. "You really would have done the most damage. I don't think anyone else would have the same effect," his words were cryptic but the message was clear to Beckett – you wanted to hurt her, you went through Castle. Even a criminal in prison could see that. "I could have gone after your father, Detective. But leaving you as an orphan just didn't seem very kind. Now, I suppose, in light of recent events, I could always reconsider." This time Beckett was the one growling and hissing and Castle was the one restraining her.

"I will end you," she spat out, emphasising each word pointedly.

"Oh, I don't think so, Detective. You'd have to find me first," he winked, an evil glint in his eye. He returned to chuckling. Beckett was so pissed she almost missed it.

"Huh?" she managed to get out through her clenched teeth. He laughed harder still.

"This is totally worth jail!" Dunnings grinned. "I didn't think it would be this fun."

"What the hell?" Beckett ground out. Castle gasped, drawing his free hand over his mouth.

"Something's off, remember, Beckett?" he turned to her, the spark of solving the unsolvable in his eyes.

"What?" she repeated slowly, turning to face him.

"It's Odette all over again," he hinted, and she was there with him, understanding dawning on her face.

"Oh," popped from her lips. "Oh God." Castle nodded solemnly. She turned to Dunnings – or, whoever – her expression the fiercest Castle had seen it yet. He understood, if it wasn't Dunnings in here, then he was somewhere out there in the city, where her father was, his mother, Alexis – their loved ones. "Who are you?" she demanded.

"No, no, Detective. It's much more fun if you guess…" And guess she did. She threw her mind back to the case, the trial, plunged through her memories, searching. Then she knew. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt. The face forced its way to the front of her memory. The sharp intake of breath alerted Castle to her discovery.

"You know," he breathed, a mixture of surprise and admiration. She truly was an incredible detective, she had known something was off before even entering the room. She nodded sharply.

"Dunnings," she began and Castle startled. What the heck? How did that work? They'd just come to the conclusion that this wasn't Dunnings, the whole Odette people-switching thing. He suppressed the urge to whine, he really thought he'd cracked the case wide open there. Dammit. Beckett ignored the furrow she noticed on Castle's brow – she almost grinned, she'd stumped him. "When did you switch places with Peter?" she finished, leaving Castle gaping. He resisted the urge to hi-five her and cry, called it. When Dunnings spoke again the carefree teasing was gone from his tone.

"Bravo, Detective. You ruined my brother's life. This, jail, is a small price to pay for helping him get revenge," his voice was festering rage. It seethed with disdain.

"You really are a fool," Beckett frowned. "You realise that your brother is going to leave you in here to rot for the rest of your life while he goes back to murdering innocent people."

"He never, never, killed those people, Detective," Dunnings hissed, clenching his fists in clear frustration. "You framed him. You ruined his life. You will pay."

"No," Beckett replied calmly. "Don't worry, we'll reunite you with your brother soon. The two of you will get to spend the rest of your lives in here. Let's go, Castle." She rose from her seat, grasping Castle's forearm and drawing him up with her.

"Wait," Dunnings growled. "You have to know, I've been waiting, waiting for you to find someone you cared as much for as I loved my brother. You needed to know how it felt. Once I saw the way you looked at him," he gestured jerkily at Castle, "I knew it was time."

"Yeah, well, looks like that plan didn't work out too well for you," Beckett threw over her shoulder as she led Castle from the room.

"It's not over yet!" rang in her ears as the door slammed to a shut behind them.

"He's right you know," Castle murmured gently.

"What, about every man and his dog picking up on this thing between us, Castle?" she sighed. "We haven't even defined it for crying out loud!" She was becoming increasingly frustrated, he could tell, he could always tell.

"No, well, yes. But, I meant about it not being over. We've got to find the actual Dunnings." He paused for a moment, softening his tone even more. "But, Beckett, this thing between us, we don't have to define it, not yet. Not til you're ready," he conceded, eyes pleading with her not to run. He was trying to reassure that it would all be okay, that much she could tell, whether or not she could actually believe him she wasn't sure – yet.

He moved to place his hand on her lower back as they stepped away and she quickened her pace as subtly as possible, just out of his reach. She didn't want the looks from the prison guards. She was overwhelmed by a sudden wave of frustration, every man and his dog needed to butt out of her relationship with Castle. Especially if all it was doing was putting Castle closer to harm's way. She couldn't do that to him. She couldn't do that to Alexis. She couldn't do that to herself. There was no way in hell she would survive if anything happened to him. She knew that well enough by now. So, if distancing herself from Castle was the only thing she could do to help ensure his safety then she would do it – begrudgingly and sullenly, but done nonetheless. She had to give him that, even though she felt as if it would tear her to pieces to be apart from him. It was paramount – him, alive, well, heart beating – it was all that mattered.

He had noticed her pull away, but he wasn't going to comment on it – yet. He'd been pushing his luck lately as it was. He was already counting his blessings to have touched her more in the past day than he had in months. It was a blessing and curse, because now that he'd increased the little brushes and lingering caresses, he didn't think he could reign them back in. She was intoxicating and he had to feel her, present and there with him. He walked as close to her as he could without touching, it was a simple form of torture that left him reeling and wanting for more.

He was about to ask what was wrong. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know though, in case she pushed him further away in response. That was not a bearable option. However, as they stepped from the prison and back into the cruiser, her phone shrilled to life and she pulled it swiftly from her pocket and drew it her ear in a lithe, fluid motion.

"Beckett," she answered simply. Castle threw caution to the wind and leaned into her, their cheeks practically touching, under the guise of listening to the phone call. She didn't pull away from him, which he took as promising. Maybe he had misinterpreted the moment before. She might not have noticed that he'd reached for her; it could have just been bad timing that she moved away in that instant. He felt foolish for not considering it earlier. Things had been going so smoothly. There was no need to stress; Beckett wasn't drawing away from him yet again. They were okay. Somehow, behind all his internal reassurances there was still a lingering undercurrent of fear.

"Yo Boss, there's some suspicious financial activity at Dunnings prison. One of the guards had a nice sum of money appear out of nowhere a couple of months back," Esposito informed her.

"That must have been when they made the switch," she mused in response.

"When they what?" Esposito choked.

"Mmm," she hummed. "Dunnings brother is in prison for him. Peter Dunnings, hardened criminal, he's back on the street. Tessa wasn't lying."