I should be in bed asleep since it's half two in the morning. it means its dark so please excuse any spelling or grammar mistakes.

The five of them stood and waited for Lanie to do a prelim. When she stood she turned to them and said, "Cause of death looks like a shot to the heart." Beckett unconsciously rubbed her chest as Lanie spoke which didn't go unnoticed by the NCIS agents but none of them said anything as Lanie continued, "I'm going to say time of death was around two and three this morning."

Beckett nodded and then looked at her father's watch, "So around five hours ago."

DiNozzo nodded and said, "Must have used a silencer since no one called it in after the gun shot."

Beckett shook her head, "In this neighbourhood gunshots rarely get called in. the shots either go unregistered since their so common around here or if anyone does actually see anything they don't speak for fear of retaliation."

Ziva looked around before saying, "So canvasing isn't going to be much use then."

Castle shook his head, "Probably a waste of time but sometimes people talk."

Beckett nodded and pulled out her phone but before she could do anything with it Esposito and Ryan came back arguing, "You could have said you found his dog tags, you know how much I love the dumpsters in this area."

"Dude, you left before I could tell you then Beckett got here and I got distracted."

"Boys," Beckett said, as the arguing pair came to a stop by the body, "Ryan, these are NCIS Special Agents Gibbs, McGee, DiNozzo and David. Agents this is Esposito's partner Kevin Ryan."

"Nice to meet you," McGee said.

"Hey," Ryan said, greeting them all before looking at Beckett and asking, "Do you mind if I leave and meet you back at the 12th in a bit? Jenny called while I was in the dumpster and she needs a hand with something, wouldn't say what."

Beckett nodded, "Sure Ryan. We'll see you in a bit."

Ryan smiled, "See you in a bit." He started off walking to the pavement before turning back and saying in a voice loud enough to carry to the team over the noise of traffic and air cons, "Hey Espo, I'm taking the car, you can ride with Beckett and writer boy." He gave them one last smile and then disappeared into the crowd on the other side of the crime tape.

"Don't worry honey, you can ride with me and the body," Lanie smiled up at him and he smiled back, nodding his thanks.

"Hey," Castle said, sounding hurt, "What's wrong with riding with us?"

Esposito raised his eyebrow, then seeing that Beckett and Castle actually had no idea why he would rather ride with a dead body than with them he said, "You two may be able to have conversations without speaking but I can't and it's just plain awkward sitting in the back of your car while the two of you do what you do." He smirked.

"Do what we do?" Beckett asked, her hands on her hips, "And what exactly is it that we do?"

"I… um… you… um…" he looked at Lanie for help.

She smirked and said, "The conversations you two have with your eyes are something else and the way you two finish each other's sentences, while sweet, is a little disturbing for the rest of us."

Castle and Beckett looked at each other then back at Lanie, "Thank you Lanie," Beckett said, "See was that so hard Esposito?"

He looked between Castle and Beckett, both of whom were now smirking then started muttering in Spanish.

"Conversations with their eyes?" Ziva asked DiNozzo quietly, not understanding. He shrugged.

Lanie over heard what they were saying and told them in a quiet voice, "Stick around long enough and you'll find out."

Ziva and DiNozzo nodded and moved out the way as Lanie loaded the body onto the gunnery with the help of Esposito and pushed it to the van. "We'll see you in a bit," Lanie threw over her shoulder as she loaded the body and got in after, Esposito nodded, smirked and got in after her.

"Looks like it's just us left," Beckett said, speaking to the NCIS team, "Shall we go to the 12th and sort out everything there. We need to talk to the Captain if we're working together."

Gibbs nodded, "I need to phone Ducky, Abbs and Director Vance."

"Abbs?" Castle asked.

"Our forensic scientist, she came with us to help McGee with some computer stuff," Gibbs said.

"It's not computer stuff boss, it's…" he stopped talking when he saw the look on Gibbs face, "Yeah, computer stuff."

Beckett nodded, "How about you pick her up and then come to the precinct."

"Sure," Gibbs said then he turned to his team, "DiNozzo, David go with the detective and sort out things with her captain." The two of them nodded, "McGee and I will pick up Abbs and meet you there in an hour or so."

He turned and left, McGee following close behind.

Beckett and Castle turned to Ziva and DiNozzo, "Looks like your riding with us then."

They all walked to the road and then to the Crown Vic. Beckett and Castle got into the customary seats while Ziva and DiNozzo slid into the back seats. Once they were all in Beckett started the engine and pulled out into traffic.

Castle twisted slightly in his seat and looked back at Ziva and DiNozzo who were doing their seat belts. DiNozzo saw that he was watching them and asked, "Is your ME always that grumpy?"

Beckett shook her head, "Nope. Normally she's the happiest person you're ever likely to meet, don't know what got into her today."

Ziva and DiNozzo looked at each other and smiled. "I think Abby would give her a run for her money. It sounded like she pissed about you two never talking about what happens," Ziva said, earning her a shocked look from DiNozzo, which she ignored.

Castle and Beckett both shrugged, knowing she was right but also knowing that they weren't good at talking, unless they were about to die.

Noticing that Castle and Beckett looked slightly awkward DiNozzo said, "So how many times have you tricked death?"

Castle smiled, "After that bank case I went through saves, what was the tally in the end?"

Beckett glared, "You remember full well, now answer his question and stop being a pain."

Castle pouted but smiled and said, "I've saved her nine times she's saved me eight."

DiNozzo and Ziva both looked at each other Ziva asked, "How long have you worked together?"

"Nearly four years," Castle answered with a smile.

"You're either really lucky or really unlucky," Ziva said as Beckett braked yet again when a cab cut her off.

"It's a mixture of the two," Beckett said, watching in her mirrors to make sure there were no more surprises.

"So what was the list?" DiNozzo asked, curious about this partnership.

"Well the first time Beckett saved me was on the first case we worked, the vic's brother was the killer and when we went to get him he escaped down the fire escape and ran down the alley, I followed him and then he held a gun to my head. She stopped him."

Beckett cut across him, "The safety was on the whole time Castle."

He shrugged, "It's the thought that counts. The one after that was when she told me to stay in the car but then the perp landed on the hood trying to escape and pulled me out and was going to shoot me until she stood on his wrist which stopped him. Another time she pulled me out of a card game with the Russian mob right before he tried to kill me since I can't control my big mouth." Beckett smiled at him after he said that and he continued to say, "First case back after the summer I shot the guy behind her while she shot the women behind me, we saved each other that time. Then the 3XK case, she saved me a Ryan. The same case with the dirty bomb she covered me while we were getting shot at so we could hid in the freezer, not a good idea in hindsight." The two of them shivered slightly at the memory before Castle continued, "And then she threatened a guy holding me hostage in a bank who was about to shot me."

Beckett shrugged, "All I did was tell the truth, if he had shot you I would have walked through those doors and done the same to him." She caught his gaze and held it for a moment before looking back at the road.

Ziva and Tony smiled at each other, both know understanding what Esposito and Lanie had meant about the silent conversations. "What about the eighth time?" Ziva asked, "You only said seven."

"I shot the hit man who killed my mum," Beckett said in a quiet voice, "He had a gun on Castle and would have shot him if I didn't."

Ziva could tell that Beckett didn't want to say anymore and when she saw Tony opening his mouth to ask her more about it she elbowed him and swiftly shook her head. He looked affronted for a moment before he too realised that she really didn't want to talk about it. "So what about you Mr. Castle?" Ziva asked quickly to change the subject.

Castle looked at her and gave her a nod of thanks, obviously having seen what she had done to DiNozzo, "Please call me Castle, the only people who call me Mr. Castle I don't like." Ziva smiled at him and he started to speak again, "The first time was when I distracted a shooter with a bottle of champagne," he saw their puzzled looks and continued to say, "We were in a women's flat, finding evidence for the case when the suspect came in and shot at us. We his behind the kitchen counter but since Beckett didn't know where he was she couldn't shot him so I pulled a bottle off the rack and went one way, pulling the cork to distract him while Beckett went the other way and shot him. After that was the FBI case your boss was on about. We thought we'd killed the stalker but it turned out he was alive and I warned Beckett just before a bomb blew her place up with her inside. My warning gave her time to dive into the tub and be sheltered from the blast. I saved her again when the same guy was about to shot her and I shot him in the wrist so he dropped his gun, although I was aiming for his head," he said as an quiet after thought, Beckett shook her head and he smiled at her before continuing, "The case where we shot the people behind each other a few minutes before that I tackled her out of the path of a bullet. The buried treasure case we had a disrupted a Mexican standoff. Not long after that I punched the guy who was trying to shot her while we were rescuing Ryan and Esposito. And you've heard about the bomb." He stopped, unwilling to say the last one on his list.

Beckett solved that problem for him when she said, "His ninth save was when he stopped me from bleeding out at our captains funeral after I got shot by a sniper." She looked in the rear view mirror and saw the looks on their faces. "It's complicated but basically the people who killed my mum killed my captain and then tried to kill me."

They were all silent for a moment before Castle said, "Does the tiger count as a save."

Since they were stopped at traffic lights Beckett took the opportunity to glare at him, "Ryan and Espo saved us, your idea would have killed us."

He shrugged, "It was just a thought." He saw the puzzled looks on Ziva and Tony's faces and said, "One of the cases this year we got drugged and hand cuffed together and then put in a room next to a hungry tiger and thinking it was a girl we broke down the wall and let her into the same room as us. The only reason we didn't get eaten was because we hung like monkeys on the roof."

Ziva and Tony looked at each other and then back at Castle, wondering if he was serious. Beckett saw their look and as the light changed said, "All true. And Castle, don't even start with the CIA case, although you did pull me out of the sinking car so I guess that's a save."

He smiled, "Oh yeah I forgot that one," he shivered, "Not good memories." Beckett reached across the console and gave his hand a quick squeeze in reassurance before quickly putting both hands on the wheel and acting like that hadn't just happened. Castle's face suddenly brightened, "I just realised, FBI then CIA now NCIS, we're working our way through the alphabet."

Beckett groaned quietly, this was going to be a long case.

I know where the story is going for a change so you could get a new chapter fairly soon, or you might have to wait awhile, it all depends on whether or not I have to go camping with my family for the weekend. :)