A/N: I just want everyone to take a moment to fangirl over last night's episode. Michael Royce is the official rep. for all Caskett shippers, I think. Seriously. I love, love, loved it.

...

Okay. Fangirling over. So... this chapter turned out way different than when I originally outlined it in my head- and that's not a bad thing. I actually think this will be way better. It will satisfy.. well. Never mind. I'll let you see for yourselves. If you don't infer it this chapter, you'll get it for sure in the next one. Yay for cryptic spoilers? I promise I'll try my best to make the next update quicker. Prom is this weekend though, and I'm on court, and AP tests... so it'll be reallyyy busy. But we'll see.

So anyway, I'll keep this short and end by saying I hope you enjoy this. :)

Part One: Sunday Punch

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Chapter Three
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They agreed to keep in contact with each other, though to a limited extent. It made sense. Kate wouldn't be able to fully escape the city if she was texting or emailing him- or was secretly stalking his Twitter (something she vowed to never give him the satisfaction of knowing).

He had gone to the Hamptons for Memorial Day weekend with Martha and Alexis, being very cautious when he would head down to the beach, wondering if he would find another dead body this year. The last thing he wanted was to assist a murder investigation.

But he didn't spend the summer in a fortress of his downy comforter in his king-sized bed at the beach house. He stayed after Martha and Alexis returned to the city, to make progress on Heat Rises, but went back to Manhattan for a week when Alexis finished school.

He almost went insane in just that one week.

Every time he turned on a news channel, in some way, shape, or form, the scandal of the mayor was covered. Whether it was briefly mentioned or was a top story, it was there. And it never ceased to upset him.

The mayor. He ruminated over the moment they put the pieces together and figured it out, the moment he knew he was trapped and finally confessed. Castle had watched from outside the interrogation room, nearly doubling over from the sick feeling in his gut.

He no longer saw warmth or mirth in his friend's eyes. He was only a sinister sociopath, dark pupils gleaming with malevolence. Just the image made him sick all over again.

Why had he let him continue shadowing Beckett? The question had stuck with him ever since Kate had brought it up.

There were plenty of explanations that made logical sense, he found. The mayor never thought that Castle's shadowing would lead to the re-opening of the case. If fact, perhaps it would hinder any chance of it. Beckett would be having to keep her eyes on Castle whenever he was around, and that was less time for her to spend looking back at the murder. And after Coonan, after Raglan, it would have looked much too suspicious to suddenly pull Castle from the precinct. Even if he did so under the pretense that he was too much of a liability, it would still seem odd, especially to the vigilant detective. Plus, having Castle hanging around Beckett could work to his benefit. The writer could act as an unknowing spy- aiding the mayor without him even realizing it. His poker games, Knicks games, social events, everything. All he would have to do was ask about his work at the 12th, maybe dig a little, and hopefully find out anything he wanted to know.

That bastard.

He needed to get out of that damn town.

He wanted out of New York, so he flew to the other side of the country, to Los Angeles, to Maurice and the cozy confines of a suite eerily similar to the one he and Beckett had shared less than a month earlier. He kept tabs on the progress of the Nikki Heat movie, and, in the mean time, toured Stanford (her likely choice, considering it was Ashley's future school), Berkeley, and USC with Martha and Alexis. (He had suggested that Martha stay behind to work more on her acting school, but she insisted that her opinion of the right college for Alexis was absolutely imperative.)

He headed down to the set one humid morning to find Natalie Rhodes, fresh out of rehab, chatting with the director.

They spotted each other, greeted each other with the obligatory celebrity kiss on the cheek, and made small talk.

She asked how Kate was doing- she had heard all about the big scandal back in New York.

He told her that everyone was holding up well- she had taken some time off, and he was working on his next novel. But he left it at that.

There was nothing spectacular about the meeting, other than the fact that no matter where he went, Kate and Johanna Beckett always seemed to follow. The case. Kate. It was all ubiquitous.

Rick all but begged Martha and Alexis to stay in LA for another week or so, and his mother did not go without noticing his mopey behavior. She finally confronted him about it one afternoon as he idly tapped around on his keyboard.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

He gave that resigned smile he got when he knew there was no point in trying to avoid her.

"Oh, just writing," he stated plainly.

She sat down on the other side of the couch he was resting on, and delicately asked, "Everything okay, Richard? You've seemed a little down the past few days."

He shut the laptop and faced her.

"It's Beckett's mom's case," he mumbled.

She grimaced and reached out to him, placing a motherly, comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Richard, dear, I'm sure that Kate is doing fine. She needs time. You know that."

"I know, I just- I keep worrying about her."

Her hand slid up his shoulder to his cheek, which she gave a loving pinch.

"Look at my boy- smitten!"

He rubbed at his cheek where her fingers had tweaked him, trying to erase the red tint that was coloring his flesh.

"Mother," he warned.

"Oh, Richard! I'm only teasing! And if you're so worried about her, why don't you call her? Have you even talked to her lately?"

He considered that for a moment. They had spoken a few times, just to check up on each other. They would only talk to each other once or twice a week, if that. He would tell her about his adventures in LA- and by the way, Natalie Rhodes says hi- and she would tell him about the time she was spending with her father- my dad hopes you're all doing well, and be sure to say hi to Alexis and Martha for me. But there was no talk to the case. None.

"We've talked," he confirmed.

"So then what is your problem, my dear boy?"

He leaned forward, and in a hushed tone, he said, "Look, I've been thinking more about the case. And I think we missed something."

"Richard! That's nonsense. You caught your perp or dirtbag or whatever you all call them up at the precinct," she admonished, flamboyantly waving her arms about as she spoke.

Great, she's in actress mode.

"Yeah, but it doesn't make sense."

"What doesn't make sense about it? Guy confesses, case closed. I thought that was the way it worked."

"Mom."

Martha's mouth snapped shut, and she stared blankly back at her son, whose face was stern and humorless.

"Look. Maybe it's not even that we missed something. But something just… it just doesn't feel right, okay? I don't know what it is. It's weird."

From a place across from Rick, his phone suddenly roared in frenzied vibration, screen illuminating.

Martha rolled her eyes and grabbed it.

"Damn thing's been going off all day. Would you just answer it?"

He feigned concentration, reopening the laptop and fixing his eyes upon it once again, furiously typing "kjafl;ksjafl;kdjfl;kdsjfal;skfjldskjflksdl;l;;ljl;nikkiiiiiiiiii" on the page to make it seem as though he was hard at work.

"Oh, for Heaven's sake! I'll answer it," she cried.

"Hello?"

The voice on the other end was unintelligible to him as he slowly, slyly leaned toward Martha to try and overhear the conversation.

"Oh, yes! Detective Esposito. Sorry, Richard's in a bit of a bind right now, but I would be glad to take a message. Certainly, it must be important considering he has eleven missed calls…"

She noticed her son's sudden proximity and swatted him away. He made an attempt to speak, but she held an index finger in front of his face.

She was silent for a few moments, and her face suddenly shifted from a state of amusement to one of utter sorrow.

"Oh, dear. Oh, my goodness gracious… I- yes, he should be able to come back. How- okay. Okay, well how about I have him call you back? Yes. Yes. He will get back to you as soon as possible…Absolutely. Okay. Okay. Will do."

And with that, she ended the call.

Her face was horror-stricken, a ghostly, pale white.

"What's wrong?" he demanded, unease quickly overtaking him.

"Richard…" she murmured, her voice eerily soft. "There's been a murder."

XxXxXxXxXxX

She always remembered important dates and numbers. She wasn't quite sure why- they were just something her subconscious etched into her memory, and she'd come to expect it. She was incredibly well-versed in memorizing. One time, when she was twelve, her mother had left her credit card laying out on the kitchen counter. Kate, a bright sixth-grader who relished in putting her mind to the test, regurgitated the sixteen digits back to her mom within a minute, when she had descended down the stairs again to grab it. Around tax time, when she was fifteen, she memorized her father's, mother's, and her own social security numbers in only a few minutes. It was just something she did.

The flip flops she was wearing had cost $1.99 at Old Navy. Her SAT score had been a 1510. May 19th, 1994, was the day she had gotten her drivers' license. January 11th, 1996, was the day she received her acceptance letter from NYU. January 9th, 1999, was the day her mother had been murdered.

Today was June 29th, 2011. There was nothing memorable about it.

She had been swinging idly back and forth on a nylon hammock in the backyard of her father's sea cottage, waves gurgling and crashing against the wet sand, leaving tangled fishing nets long forgotten and lost and various garbage on the shore, as if the water itself was undergoing a sort of catharsis.

It was almost symbolic, she mused. In the past month, she had been able to escape the confines of the 12th Precinct, of Manhattan, of the noisy, bustling, pulsating city. She had time to sleep in as late as she wanted. She had time to go for morning runs along the beach or admire the violet, cerise, and tangerine hues of the sunset. She had time to think about her mother, about her future as a cop. She had time to spend with her father- reconnecting, talking about anything and everything.

She also had time to think about everything that had happened with Castle.

She mulled over it every day, sometimes for hours. Surprisingly, she had figured a lot of things out. She knew they were looking for the same things- they both wanted a stable relationship full of trust and understanding. And she finally realized that she wasn't going to find that anywhere else. At least, it wouldn't feel right with anyone else.

But she still needed a few questions answered. What had caused his two marriages to collapse? What other layers of the Castle onion had she not yet peeled?

They had been talking- mostly texts, a couple calls. Just friendly conversations here and there- how are you? I'm fine. Enjoying the ocean. Good to hear from you. Oh, you toured Stanford? Ashley's going there, and Alexis is thinking of graduating early to go there too? Wow. Tell her I say hi.

There was no talk of her mother. He didn't ask, and she didn't say, and she appreciated that he respected her wanting to decompress and not address what they'd been through recently. Not yet. She was processing. Healing, perhaps.

So she continued to let her mind wander as the hammock continued to sway with the gentle breeze. She was content with life at that moment. She was sorting her life out, compartmentalizing, and it was oddly refreshing, albeit quite emotional. Her emotions ranged from euphoria to despondency, from sweet and agreeable to downright harsh. Her moods swung just as the hammock did- sometimes gradually or soothingly and other times abrupt and violent, depending on the force of the wind. But she knew that feeling these feelings were essential. So she tried to embrace it as much as she could.

And then the wind shifted course again with the trill of her cell phone. She picked it up off the small lawn table next to her and peered at the caller ID.

Call from…

Detective Ryan

11:18 AM June 29, 2011

She faltered when she saw the name. She had spoken with her partners at the 12th since she left, but not much. As with Castle, it was just a text or email to check in,

With confusion in her tone, she answered.

"Ryan?"

"Hey, Beckett. Long time no talk. How've ya been?"

There was something off about his tone, but she couldn't quite pinpoint it.

"I'm okay…" she petered off, her concern growing.

An uncomfortable silence followed.

Then suddenly, "You need to come back to New York."

Her heart knocked against her chest, and her eyes widened. She tried to form a response but only spit out vowel and consonant sounds.

She finally puckered her lips and murmured, "What happened?"

His voice was shaky when he continued.

"There's been...a murder. We-"

He faltered.

"Look. We could really use your help."

Kate Beckett always remembered important numbers and dates.

One of them would be June 29th.

A/N part deux: So random backstory about some of the chapter- the part about Beckett. I always picture Beckett as being an incredibly intelligent woman, hence her high fictional SAT score. ;) Also, the whole memorization thing- it's something I do myself, and I just thought it might be interesting to incorporate into this chapter once I got an idea of how it would go. Another thing- any guesses as to who the victim is?

One more thing, I promise, and it mainly concerns you. Yes, you. And everyone reading this. I just want to say thank you SO much for your reviews. Honestly, I appreciate it so much, and your response to this story has been fantastic. Forty reviews for the first two chapters? That's quite outstanding. No, no, no...extraordinary. YOU guys are extraordinary. So thank you so much- and I am in the process of replying to all of your reviews. I've gotten through most of them but still have more left. I will reply to every one of them; I will. Sometimes, it just takes me awhile. So just in case you haven't heard from me- you will. And you can hear it now- THANK YOU.

So lemme know what ya think with your reviews! :)