AN: this author would like to clear up some confusion from the last chapter. There were a few people who reviewed to tell me something along the lines of "Castle would remember if that happened" (You know who you are, and I have nothing against you), and I totally agree! BUT, that's not what I was saying at all. What I was saying was that while he also had memories he had convinced himself that it was a series of alcohol induced dreams. Because Kate never said anything to him, he wasn't willing to bring it up just in case it was just a dream, he'd look pretty stupid. And so the vicious circle began. Until, that is, the events of the first chapter!

Anyway, I hope that clears up the confusion.

-Enjoy :D

Disclaimer the characters that you recognise are not mine, I just like to have fun with them.

Chapter 4

When Kate walked into the posh, up scale apartment, with Castle close behind her, there was a scent that she couldn't quite place, but all the same it made her stomach churn and she stopped for a moment to overcome the feeling. She nodded at one of the uniformed officers who directed her to the dinning room, where Lanie was standing over the body.

"Hey Girl." Lanie said and looked up. "You don't look so good…"

"Well," Kate started. "These things tend to happen." She finished and glanced downward, then over at Castle who was watching them intently.

Lanie then raised one eyebrow, and Kate gave her a slight nod. Castle was amazed how they seemed to have a whole conversation without speaking, and the fact that anyone else would have no idea what they were communicating to each other amazed him even more.

"Vic is some big time real estate tycoon, Tom Jennings." Esposito told them when he walked up. "The wife got home early this morning from a visit to their holiday house and found him like this."

"Good." Kate said. "Any other family?" She questioned.

"Yeah," Esposito said, looking at his note pad. "Sister. A Doctor Megan Johnson."

"Ok. Lanie, cause of death?"

"Blunt force trauma to the head." She said, indicating to the almost circular dent in the skull. "And the five stab wounds to the chest are post mortem. Time of death is two days; I'll get something more concrete when I get him back to the lab.

Kate nodded at the M.E. and turned to Esposito, "You and Ryan interview the wife, then question other tenants. I'll go hunt down the sister and see her."

-!-!-!-

Kate and Castle arrived at the hospital where Megan Johnson worked and Kate was full of trepidation; it was the same hospital that Josh worked at.

When Kate flashed her badge at the reception and was directed to the seventh floor to find Dr Johnson she groaned. It was the same floor that Josh worked on and she had been there many times.

The elevator was ridden in silence. Castle attempted to lay a comforting hand on Kate's arm but found that she was anything but relaxed and he couldn't for the life of him figure out why. That was until the doors opened and who would he see but Doctor Motorcycle Boy leaning against the nurses station.

Kate quickly snapped out of the trance-like stated she had been in and stalked towards the nurse's station.

"Detective Beckett." She stated, pulling out her badge. "NYPD. I need to see Doctor Johnson."

Josh turned at the first sound of Kate's voice. "I can take you, Kate." He said.

"Thank you, Doctor Davidson." Was all she said to him and motioned for him to lead the way.

Josh attempted to make small talk, asking how Kate had been, what was going on, but Kate refused to talk to him and Castle wasn't stupid enough to try. They stopped in front of a door and Kate dismissed Josh with a "Thank you, Doctor Davidson." Then knocked on the door.

-!-!-!-

Megan Johnson, paediatric surgeon, was a petite woman. Slender figure, jet black hair that framed her face and small, delicate hands. She greeted them with a warm smile as she ushered them into her office.

"Please sit Detective, what can I do for you?" She asked.

"I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you." Kate started. "Your brother was found murdered this morning when his wife came home."

Castle observed as Kate talked tenderly to the distraught doctor, he'd heard the discussion enough times to know what was being said, so he just watched. It amazed him still that she could be that soft and gentle after everything that she had been through. That she could talk so quaintly and still get the information that she needed, seemingly without the other person knowing that she'd done it. Before he knew what was happening Kate was standing and shaking the doctors hand, handing her card over and walking towards the door, thanking her again for her time.

Castle quickly got to his feet and followed her out and down a long series of corridors. When they saw Josh again, chatting up one of the nurses, he longed to reach out and take Kate's hand, or just touch her somewhere, but he knew it wouldn't be well received so he just kept walking beside her.

-!-!-!-

Kate managed to keep her emotions in check until she got into her car, but then she couldn't contain it anymore. She closed the door of her car and broke down in tears, and then registered Castle's hand on her back, rubbing gentle circles like he had been that morning. Not able to control her own actions Kate leaned into Castle's chest, and cried for about fifteen minutes.

"Sorry Castle." She said when she had composed herself enough to talk.

"No problem." Castle replied, and noticed that Kate was still leaning on him. "Maybe we should go…"

"Uh… Yeah." Kate said and sat back up. She looked in the mirror and fixed her makeup as much as she could. Then started her car and started the drive back to the precinct.

When they arrived back at the precinct Kate headed down to see Lanie and Castle started to follow her. "No Castle." She said, "I'm going to talk to Lanie." And somehow that stopped him from following her down to the basement.

-!-!-!-

When Kate stepped into the morgue she was hit full on with the smell of dead body and ran to the bin, as she couldn't keep the nausea away this time.

"You ok there, Girl?" Lanie asked, concern in her voice.

"Do I look ok?" Kate snapped back.

"Well, the throwing up is normal for your condition." Lanie started. "But something has happened, coz last I knew you were going to the hospital to see the sister and now you got red puffy eyes and your makeup is ruined." Lanie elaborated.

"At the hospital I ran into Josh, and I was fine while I spoke to the sister and then when we got back to the car I just started crying. Then when Castle started rubbing circles on my back I started sobbing even harder, into his chest. I think everything just caught up with me." Kate told her and walked towards the door. "And Lanie."

"Yeah."

"I haven't told the boys about my 'condition' as you so lovingly put it. So keep it to yourself. Yeah?" Kate said and headed for the elevator.

Just as she got to the elevator she heard Lanie call out. "And Kate, I got time of death." Kate stopped and looked back with a questioning eyebrow. "Sunday night, between five and eight."

-!-!-!-

When Castle walked onto the homicide floor at the 12th, coffees in hand, Esposito and Ryan were at their desks, seemingly doing work. That is until they realised that Beckett wasn't with him, at that point they sidled over to him and started asking him questions.

"Do you know what's wrong with Beckett?"

"Do you know what she told the Captain this morning?"

"Is she ok? She looked kind of pale earlier."

"Where is she now?"

After that barrage of questions he was glad that he had decided to wear a black shirt that day. If the boys had seen the tear stains on his shirt neither of them would have heard the end of it.

Castle decided that answering the questions was of upmost importance, even if he didn't answer them truthfully.

"No. No. She's fine. And currently she's-"

"She is right behind you." Kate said in a stern voice at which point the boys jumped and turned to face her. "And don't you two have work you could be doing? I need one of you two to call Doctor Johnson and see what she was doing between five and eight on Sunday night." She finished and turned away.

Kate stalked towards the murder board that the boys had started putting together and added time of death. She also added Doctor Johnson's picture to the 'People of Interest' side of the board.

Castle waited until he had seen both Ryan and Esposito leave the bullpen and walked up to Kate and whispered in her ear. "Are we still on for dinner tonight?"

"Of course."

"Good." He replied. "Wear something nice, I'll pick you up at 7."

AN2: Interesting piece of trivia, before posting this chapter I had more hits than the story has words. Sooo overwhelmed!

Thanks for reading.

:D