Hey chicklets! I apologize for the delay my dears but here we are with a new chapter written by SheWhoTangles. Please send her some love and hugs. Next is my turn so look for a new chapter soon! And please review guys. We would really appreciate it.

And as always, you can follow me on twitter at vatrask

Enjoy 3

Beckett and Castle spoke with anyone who might have seen their clue-leaving culprit entering the shooting range, but no unique names showed up on the log except for the custodial team for cleanup. The quick on-site investigation did little to make the Captain happy.

The officer manning the shooting range desk had been in mid-discussion with the angry custodial pair who were arguing about being pulled off their cleaning route and lunch by their supervisor over someone's complaints 'about something slippery on the floor creating a safety hazard on the range.' The officer heard the reference regarding a careful target aim turning into a horrible PR disaster and became annoyed that no one mentioned the problem to him before complaining to a higher up.

The officer had finally closed the range for his own overdue lunch when the pair showed up. The irritable officer tried his best as the team haphazardly waved their badges in their frantic, loud argument while the desk phone rang incessantly. The badges were finally in one of his hands and the phone receiver in the other as the words from the 12th Precinct's front desk demanded his immediate presence in the station lot, where his car and several others were reportedly demolished by a car and driver crashing through the fence. Immediately, the officer made a rushed phonecall to another to cover the Shooting Range desk letting the now waiting team in to do their work. The officer's eyes barely grazed the badges or faces of the team with the diligence he should have before passing the desk off to his rushed replacement. The distracted officer waved the custodians in through the range door, absently logging in the badge numbers and handing the badges to the arriving officer without verifying procedures. The bewildered replacement never actually saw the team before they went into the room.

Zero was the magic number for Castle and Beckett for this newest clue in the case at hand. Zero drunk cars crashing into zero station lots. Zero on the future of the Shooting Range officer's future career. Zero on finding anyone requesting any cleanup in the range area. It was a quick staff check that revealed the custodian badge numbers belonged to the night crew that hadn't started their shifts yet. The covering officer also had zero information to offer to explain the unreadable, shaky signatures on the sign-out sheet because he had been busy on the phone checking to see if his car was in the parking lot that zero people seemed know about. The discarded uniforms and badges were found in a garbage bag on the elevator. No fingerprints were left behind. Disgusted, the Captain waved them off to follow their next clue before closing the door to shout.

Beckett and Castle drove speechless to the Waldorf, each at a loss for how two culprits-not one-could have pulled off attaching the nameplate and hotel brochure to the target and most of all, at the coincidence of where the clues were appearing. Entering the Waldorf hotel brought a wave of thoughts and memories to both investigators, ending the silent mind juggling they were experiencing on the drive over. Stepping through the front doors felt like stepping back in time, forcing them to pause in the lobby area feeling oddly dazed.

"Do you remember our first case here?" asked Beckett.

"I remember the barely-there red dress you wore…" his voice and focus trailing off at the thought of their undercover work at the charity ball. Beckett slapped his arm jokingly.

"May I remind you that you picked that dress, not me."

"You wore it," he declared. "You never did tell me where you kept your badge." He mumbled at her softly with puppy dog eyes.

"And I'm still not going to tell you."

"Do you still have the dress," he asked with one eyebrow raised.

"Castle!" Beckett chastised, "We're working on a case." Castle gave her his patented writer pout and turned to look across the lobby at the front desk. Kate was happy to have his mind back on track, but her mind traveled to the sight of her red dress tucked carefully and safely in the back of her closet. It had miraculously survived her apartment explosion and was currently hanging with its still 'slightly smoked scent' safely secured in a garment bag snuggled up intimately against the jacket Castle gave her to put on after he broke down the door to 'save' her. The thought of the garments pressing their chests together brought an unexpected flush to her face.

"I still can't believe they called me the 'White Whale,'" Castle's expression shifted to his schoolboy pout.

"Feast your eyes ahead on the front desk, and let's see what we can catch in our nets. Hopefully, we'll be more successful than your entourage of groupies were." Beckett said, already stepping toward the front desk where the desk clerk was looking at them with curiosity.

"Why, Detective Beckett, do I detect an air of jealously?" Castle's words had a boyish dare in them. Beckett turned on her heel quickly not realizing how fast he had come up next to her or how close he was to her until she stopped her turn.

"In your dreams, Castle."

"Hoping to catch a whale yourself, Detective?"

"To me you'll always be Jameson Rook, Castle." The words slipped out before she realized it.

"And to me," he said capturing her hand and drawing the back of it up to his lips in a princely fashion, "you will always be my Ms. Heat." Kate's eyes held his, her fingers on fire in his hand as his breath brushed across her skin as he was about to kiss the back of her hand.

"Excuse me," came a new voice next to them. Beckett quickly pulled her hand from Castle's with a surprised start. She was thrilled for the perfect interruption to whatever was happening. "Are you Richard Castle and Detective Beckett?"

"Why, yes. Have you heard of me?" asked Castle.

"No, I haven't," answered the rather bored desk clerk. Castle looked instantly deflated, and Beckett has to stifle a laugh. "But Melissa Talbot left this for the both of you at the front desk."

Beckett took the note from his hand with a 'thank you' and opened it with Castle looking over her shoulder. Soundlessly, they both read the 'Please come to my apartment when you get this. Melissa Talbot.' Their eyes clicked and no words were needed as they immediately started out to Mrs. Talbot's apartment, but not without both of them experiencing a sense of déjà vu on the way.

Nearly at the apartment, Castle finally braved the words about the case Beckett was resisting. "Doesn't it seem odd that all these places we've been to are places we—specifically you and me—have in common?"

"It's just coincidence, Castle. You're reading things into the places that aren't there."

"I don't know about that. It seems that every place we've been has been someplace that…" he paused, sounding suddenly unsure of himself.

"That what?" Kate prompted firmly, looking Rick straight in the eye.

"That we've had a moment in." His words hung in the air suggesting far more. Castle's usual playfulness was replaced by something more serious, more suggestive, and not in a good way. What he was suggesting seemed too surreal, too stalker-like, too much to grasp about moments she hadn't even shared with Lanie. How could anyone know about the significance of these places beside the two of them, especially if Kate herself could barely admit the moments to herself? Her power for denial surfaced with a vengeance.

"Moment?" She countered aggressively, facing him eye to eye, arms folded, waiting, daring him to make this case about them.

His voice was soft, bordering on a whisper. "Don't any of the places spark an 'us' nerve with you? The first hotel, the park, the shooting range, and now the Waldorf?"

Beckett broke eye contact with an eye roll and perfectly timed spin to continue down the hall. "Now who's chasing elusive whales? It sounds like your imagination is working overtime, Mr. Castle. Let's talk to Melissa and see what light she can shed on our case." Kate hoped her voice held more confidence than her suspicions did. The Waldorf was bringing a number of emotions up for her at the moment. Believing in Castle's theory was just one more Castle-centered thought than Kate was ready to think about at the moment.