A/N: Enjoy! Sorry of late Late :(

XV
The Ball
You know the Drill

Kate began to thread her way toward the exit to the grand ballroom, with Castle following close behind. Even though they were going to find some privacy, they were not touching. Rick had let go of her when they had parted, giving her a knowing look. He was determined to give her was much time out of the media's eye as he could.

"Ricky," came a voice off to their left. Kate and Rick looked over at a young buxom blonde almost running toward them. "Ricky it's me, Roxy. Don't you remember? The Mayor's New Years Eve gala?"

"Of course, Roxy Blue the weather girl for Channel 7, how could I forget?"

Kate looked at Roxy. The blonde woman was every adolescent male's fantasy, curvaceous, perky, with hungry bedroom eyes, with a shapely body that fairly screamed 'Touch Me'. With growing trepidation Kate looked at Rick, knowing that she surely would no longer be on the receiving end for Castles lustful looks. To her surprise, the smile that was pasted on Castle's face did not reach his eyes. How was it that Richard, who was the epitome of the twelve year old male, could be immune to the sexually charged looks being given him by Roxy?

"Detective Beckett, This is Roxy Blue from Channel 7 weather."

"Nice to meet you." Kate lied. Even if Rick did not seem interested, Kate felt the stirrings of jealousy. Kate was not a possessive person, as a general rule, but the lustful way that this bimbo was looking at Rick made her want to grab her by her platinum blonde hair and throw the from the room.

Rick having had years of experience evading rabid fans had neatly side stepped the peroxide blonde and shifted her attention away from him and onto Kate. He was pleasantly surprised to see Kate flash the weather girl a look of jealousy. He would admit, in his fantasies he might think of two women fighting over him, like the women in the light beer commercial. In reality he was under no illusions that such a thing would happen to him.

"So Ricky, want to go somewhere private and get acquainted?" Roxy blatantly suggested.

"Ahem," Rick cleared his throat. "As much as that sounds fun, I am hosting this event, so I really can't leave for that long." Rick replied.

"Well, maybe later, you and I really have to hook up, this time." Roxy said and then sauntered off, the promise of carnal delights in her swaying hips.

To his credit Rick did not watch the bimbo walk away. As soon as Roxy's back was turned Rick turned and waited for Beckett to lead the way to their private rendezvous He was disappointed the see her looking at him speculatively. Castle sighed, his bad Karma showing its evil head again, his private hook up with Kate looking even more distant all the time.

"So what's the deal Rick?" Kate asked. "She surely would have been an easy lay, why haven't you availed yourself?"

"Well Kate, besides the fact that I only have eyes for you now, I get a real Glen Close, Fatal Attraction kind of vibe from her. Contrary to popular myth, I don't 'hit that ' with every woman in New York, If I had sex with every woman that I have been rumored to, I would either be in the hospital on life support, or dead, killed by a jealous lover or husband."

Richards's earnestness convinced Kate he was telling the truth. She found it comforting that she could read Richards facial cues. She was very certain that if Rick tried to lie to her, she would be able to tell. She was just as certain that Castle would be able to do the same to her.

The desire she had felt when she had heard what Richard's donation was meant to do, was waning but her resolve for a little alone time with Richard was still strong. She really did wish that they could spend some time in his apartment on the couch in front of the fire, which was becoming her favorite spot, a place of peace and contentment. She noticed that Richard was waiting to follow her lead. She saw resignation in his face, a knowing that the magic moment had passed, but she also saw hope, a hope that they could steal some time for themselves. She felt a glow of contentment, knowing that he wanted to be with her and no one else.

Before the amorous pair could make their escape, the Mayor grabbed Castles arm and with the briefest of apologies to her whisked Rick off to meet some of his political friends. Kate watched worriedly. Richard was beginning to show the signs of stress he had shown that day at the precinct. His smile was plastered on his face, a thin sheen of sweat broke out on his brow and his eyes were glazed over. She moved purposefully over to the Mayor and touched his arm.

"Mr., Mayor, Rick is still taking some medication from the shooting and it is time for him to take them." Kate explained.

"Detective Beckett, I have already told you to call me Bob. I am sure that Ricky can wait a little while longer, before he takes his medication. I just have a few more people to introduce him to."

Kate ground her teeth in frustration. Nobody seemed to want to take Castle best interests into consideration. She at last was beginning to understand the 'curse' that celebrity was. To the Mayor, who was a friend of Ricks, placed the scoring of political points above Castle's health. Admittedly the Mayor had no idea just how 'brittle' Richard really was, but he had not tried to find out Rick's condition either. Kate worried that Richard may have a episode similar to, or worse than the one he had at the precinct. Kate tried to strike a balance between hovering too close and being too far away to help if anything went wrong.

As the string quartet gave way to the rock band, there was an influx of dancers, which obscured Beckett's view for a moment, when her line of sight was clear again the Mayor was talking to his associates without Castle by his side. She quickly moved to the Mayor's side.

"Excuse me Mr….. Bob did you see where Castle went?"

"No, he just mumbled about needing to get his meds and went off.", the Mayor Explained. "Wait a minute Detective… I need to introduce you to a couple of people." Before she could get away the Mayor took her arm and started to pull her over and make introductions.

It took her precious minutes to get free of the Mayor and his cronies. She quickly moved over to Alexis to see if she had seen her father leave. Alexis was over at one of the tables spaced around the outskirts of the room. She was sitting with a couple of teens that Beckett guessed were classmates.

"Alexis, did you see you dad leave?" Kate queried.

"No, the last time I saw him he was with the Mayor. Is something wrong?"

"I don't know. He was looking a little…. Tense and went off on his own."

"I'll help you look for him."

"No sweetie, I'll get Ryan and Esposito to help. You stay put so if I need to get a hold of you I'll know where you are."

"Okay, but keep me in the loop" Alexis asked worriedly.

It took a few minutes for her to find Esposito and Ryan. Javier was with Lanie over near the punch, but Ryan was nowhere to be found. He showed up a couple of minutes later with his girlfriend in tow. They both looked disheveled, so Kate guessed that Ryan had the same idea she had about a little private time with his significant other. She just raised an eye brow."

"Cloak Room" he muttered embarrassed.

The three cops first split up and walked the room to make sure that Castle was not in the ballroom. After coming up blank they began to widen their search to the surrounding rooms. Kate went up to the Suite that Castle was staying in, but there was no one there. Kate was beginning to panic. What if he had wandered out of the building? What if he decided to go to the roof and jump off? All manner of grisly scenarios sped there her panicked mind. She tried to calm her mind on the elevator ride down, to little effect.

As the doors to the elevator opened onto the ground floor, Kate was accosted by Eric Browning. He was pale and seemed to be having trouble standing. He swayed right and left. He looked very confused and more than a little surprised.

"Castle……… Why,,,,,,,,,,?" He stuttered.

His eyes rolled up into their sockets as he fell. Kate could see the reason, a large knife protruded out of his back. He gave a last gasp of air and then Beckett heard the all too familiar Death Rattle. She checked his pulse and pulled her phone out of her small clutch, before she could call the ambulance, her phone rang.

"Beckett." It was Esposito on the phone.

"Yeah" she replied numbly

"We found your boy…. But you're not going to like it."

"What" her heart sank.

"We found him down in the showers by the gym and pool. He's underneath the shower in just his pants and socks, but the real kicker….. There is blood on his coat and shirt, but there are no cuts on him."

"I think I may know how that blood got there….." She hung up and dialed 911, "Oh Castle, what have you done. Baby, what have you done………"

A/N(1): Since I ended just about every chapter with a cliffy, ijust had to add one here. BTW anybody think they know 'who done it?'

A/N(2): First let me apologize for being late. I could offer all of the reasons this didn't get updated last night, chiefly because this particular chapter 15 was not yet written. This is my fourth chapter 15. The first three were just offal (very appropriate pun). Usually sit down with a good idea about what is going to happen in the chapter. When I sat down to write I knew almost exactly what I wanted to write, but when I read it… well to be blunt, it sucked. So after two more passes I finally got a chapter that I am happy with. Here's to hoping it does not happen again. I will now step off my soap box. Until next time.