Author's note: So I know it's rated T, but I figured I better give you a heads up that there is some bad language in this chapter. Just in case you have any younger kids reading it that might be sensitive to the language.

OOOOOOOOOO

Beckett had her gun out, but it wasn't pointed at anyone, since she wasn't exactly sure what was going on. She was pretty sure she'd never seen the guy with Castle, but she knew she didn't know everyone that he hung out with. Every instinct she possessed was screaming at her, however, as she looked at the man who had one hand hidden behind Castle's back and a look in his eyes that made her almost bring the gun up – except that Castle was in the way.

"Who's your friend, Castle?"

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "We haven't really done full introductions." As he was speaking, he brought his right hand up and circled his finger around his ear a few times in the international sign that the guy was a loony. Just in case she missed that, he mouthed the word psycho while he was doing it.

She'd seen them walking up the path, but there was something wrong about the way Castle was walking so stiffly – even injured as he was. Not to mention the expression on his face that had nothing to do with his ribs hurting him.

"Lose the gun, Detective," the man told her, suddenly, taking a step sideways from Castle and brandishing an automatic pistol. It gleamed with the same dull gray as the color of the sky. "Now."

She hesitated, her hand tightening automatically on the grip of her sidearm, and he moved his arm and pointed the gun at Castle.

"Do it now or I'll kill him."

"He's probably going to anyway," Castle told her. "Don't do it."

The man glared, but didn't look away from Beckett, well aware that she was the dangerous one just then.

"Shut up, Castle."

Beckett didn't really have a choice. She carefully tossed her gun to the side, far enough away that he wouldn't think it was a trick.

"Who are you?" she asked him, stalling.

"Lift your shirt and turn around."

Proving that while Castle thought he was crazy – and she definitely agreed – he was thorough. Crazy didn't always mean stupid, she knew. She raised her shirt enough to prove to him that she didn't have a backup gun tucked into her waistband and then turned in a slow pirouette to show there wasn't one in the back, either. Satisfied, the man pushed Castle over to her, and pointed the gun at both of them, now.

"I thought you promised me you were going to be careful?" she told Castle as he panted beside her, his ribs obviously hurting him from the rough treatment. She also saw a bloody smear on the side of his head, coming from a wound above his ear and wondered what had caused it.

"I promised to watch for falling pianos," he reminded her. "Do you see any falling pianos?"

"Shut up!"

"What do you want?" Beckett asked him, using her best hostage negotiation voice and expression to try to keep things from escalating.

"I want what he took from me," came the reply. The gun wavered between Beckett and Castle, and the look of insane hatred in his expression told her that this wasn't going to end well – for someone.

"What-"

"You killed him!" the gun was now pointed only at him. "You killed him!"

Castle was surprised by the sudden fury, and totally confused.

"What?" that was the last thing he really expected to hear. "Who?"

"My brother."

"I don't know what you're ta-"

"Derrick Storm, you sonofabitch! You killed him and then you replaced him with this bitch!"

Castle bristled immediately.

"Hey! That's-"

"Shut up!"

"Castle…"

Beckett didn't care what the guy called her. He was obviously working himself up and she wanted to do anything she could to stop it from happening. She'd seen people on drugs acting like this, and some who weren't, but this guy was obviously obsessed and there was no one who was harder to reason with than someone like that.

"Shut up!" Now the gun was pointed at Beckett, and she held both hands away from her body to let him know she wasn't going to do anything.

"At least tell us your name," Beckett requested. "We-"

"He knows my name," the man snapped at her, gesturing with the gun at Castle. "We used spend hours together talking about what the next adventure would be." He glared at Castle with hatred. "Not anymore though, right? Now it's all about her, isn't it? Nikki Heat. What were you thinking? She's nothing compared to Derrick! Nothing. Look at her. An over-sexed whore with a gun…"

He trailed off, giving Beckett a hate-filled look, but then his peripheral vision caught a motion at the same time Beckett and Castle saw it as well. Coming over a small rise at a full run were Esposito and Ryan, both with their guns out.

"Damn it!"

The gun swung at Beckett and she took an involuntary step backward, knowing that his hand had just been forced and he was done talking. Castle had obviously realized the same thing.

"No!"

She felt Castle crash into her and at the same moment she heard the first shot – so close that there was no doubt what gun it came from. Five more were fired in rapid succession as she fell, Castle's weight on her and pulling her down.

"Beckett!" That was Esposito's voice, but she couldn't get turned around under Castle's weight to warn him about the gun. Not that he needed it. She heard other shots, from further away, and managed to wriggle out from under Castle at the same time a body fell lifelessly to the grass only a few feet away.

The same moment she realized that Castle was groaning and not getting up when she did.

"Castle!" Leaving the dead gunman to Esposito and Ryan, she dropped down beside him. He was on his side; eyes closed tight, one arm clutching his chest and face pale with pain. His breathing was shallow, and blood was oozing into the grass under him.