Hey! thanks a lot for the reviews! keep them coming! So, I'm a bit stuck with the case :p so I had fun writing this one so we could have a cute moment to laugh with. This was one suggestion given by one of you, so I hope I did it right! xo

Kate had an overnight bag in her car, so after breakfast she took a shower and got ready for work in the loft.

It all felt so amazingly weird, how he was shaving while she was showering, or how Alexis hugged her goodbye after kissing everyone before leaving. It looked like family. And it didn't freak her out.

They were about to leave when Martha noticed the nasty red mark on her neck.

"Oh, dear. Look at that!" she said, pointing at it. Kate ran to the bathroom and found it. Damn!

"Castle!" she screamed, going out of the bathroom like a storm.

"Yes, dear?" he said, calmly, enjoying the moment.

"Did you see this?" she said, raising her jaw to show him the hickey. He burst out laughing.

"Oh my god! I've outdone myself!"

She slapped his arm hard enough to make him stop laughing.

"Ouch!" he screamed.

"You're lucky I'm not with my gun!"

"You would shoot me because of a hickey? Kate, my love, you should go to one of those anger management programs."

She slapped him again.

" Ouch! Okay, okay, I'm sorry! It wasn't on purpose, it was the heat of the moment. And you liked it when I was kissing you."

"Yeah! But you didn't have to leave marks, did you?"

He had a joke about how he was marking his territory, making her his, but that would probably make her use her martial arts training on him.

"Hey, love. Just. Calm down. I live with an actress who has just run upstairs to catch something, probably make up that would cover anything, okay?"

"Oh, dear, no makeup would cover that one" said Martha, climbing down the stairs. Beckett turned her eyes nervously to Castle, her gaze as fireballs towards him.

"Really, mother? That's how you help me?"

"I'm sorry, kiddo, but you made a very good job there!" she patted his shoulder, both to congratulate him and to push him away.

"here, dear, I've got a solution" she threw a red silk scarf over Beckett's neck. It was really fancy. She turned it around her neck twice, just enough to cover the mark. And it also went pretty well with her clothes, making her look fancier.

"It's not the best solution, but it will cover for now. I'm sure I can find some good make up to cover it with some makeup artists I know. Don't worry"

"Martha, I..." Kate said, looking at the scarf and adjusting it to her neck" that's very pretty, thank you!"

"No problem, dear."

"It looks great" castle said, and she fired him with her eyes again. He raised his hands before him in defense.

"Hey! Problem solved! Don't you think you can cut me some slack now?" she only grabbed her purse, said goodbye to Martha with a hug, thanking her again, and moved towards the door.

"You know, babe, you can give me one if it's such a problem. We go out with matching hickeys!"

She only opened the door, went through it and then slammed it, closing it on him. "Okay, easy on the assault. Will you? It's just a hickey!"

She then turned around to face him, putting her long index finger between his eyes.

"You try being a respectable female cop among millions of men with 'just' a hickey, Castle!"

"Um...I love you?" he was out of arguments, so he relied on how much he loved her, that moment, and how angry she was. Her face relaxed a bit after he said it, and she had to try hard not to smile.

"Let's go"

"I'll punch anyone who tries to mock you for it, Kate. Ill be your knight in a shining armor!"

"You'll just gloat over the fact that you did it!" she said, and he smirked.

"Well, that will come after the punch, I swear.

It was a slow day. They spent most of the time looking at the murder board, trying to figure out where to go next. Adam seemed to be the nicest guy on the planet, and no one would have reasons to kill him, specially beat him to death. Nothing made sense.

Kate threw herself on her chair, helpless, taking a deep breath and letting it out on a puff. Castle instantly appeared with a fresh coffee mug out of the break room, as if he had read her mind. She took it gladly and took a sip, not caring that the beverage was hot.

"So, that's it, then?"

"I don't know! It just… we interviewed the two people who had reasons to do him any harm, and now we have nothing!" She said, loosing the scarf a bit around her neck. She wasn't used to wear scarves when it wasn't winter, and the day was still bright and warm.

"Fear not, my friends!" Ryan came from his desk, with a pose. Both Castle and Beckett looked at him surprised, and he continued on his performance. "I bring to thee the solution".

"Great, Shakespeare!" Mocked Beckett. "What have you got?" He lost the act and just said it, plain old Kevin Ryan.

"I was digging through Adam's emails, you know, to make sure, and I found this locked folder. It took a while to open it, I mean, the guy was good, he knew about computers, so if he wanted something password protected…"

"got it, Ryan. Move on!"

"Oh, okay." And he threw a piece of paper on her desk, both she and Castle leaning over to read it. "Well, after we opened it, we found what should obviously be there – emails about the Marvel deal. But we also found this" and he pointed to the paper.

"A threat!" Beckett said, picking the paper before Castle could read it, so he got up from his chair and moved to go behind her. The paper had a clear threat on it, sent by email to Adam a few months before his murder.

Hey, loser. I know what you're doing to my sister, you dick, and you better back off or I'll make sure you never walk again! She's out of your league, you geek! Get the hell out of her life!

"And this wasn't the only one." Said Ryan. When brother here heard they had gotten married, he really made the threat more serious. Check it out.

You're dead, Baker. Do you hear me? No sister of mine will call herself Baker, a loser!

"Oh, but that's too serious!" Said Kate, trying not to look too happy she had finally found something. Maybe it had nothing to do with Adam's job after all. But why Julie didn't mention her brother's hate for her husband, that was really bugging her. She bit her bottom lip, thoughtful, and scratched her neck. She only noticed when Ryan said:

"Is that a hickey?" he narrowed his eyes and boldly stretched a finger to try taking the scarf out of the way. She nearly bit it.

"I know! Good one, hun?" Said Castle, and she punched him in the arm. "I mean, don't even try to be funny, Ryan. Beckett's a serious cop! Who's just fire in bed!" He whispered, and she punched him again.

"Well, I know she's a serious cop. Why would I doubt that?" Ryan said, and Kate looked fondly to her almost brother.

"You see? I don't know why you worry so much." She was still mad at Castle, so she just took her coffee mug and moved to the murder board, adjusting the scarf on her neck.

"Good one, bro." Ryan said, and both men high-fived.

So, what do you think of the angry brother thing? I think it's a nice twist, and have some ideas on how to go on with this. tell me what you think!