The initial excitement of discovery that began the morning faltered as the time passed into early afternoon. As many times as he looked through the year books they'd obtained from Bridget Hart's college there was indication in either of them that she had ever met anyone named Jeremy there. Esposito and Ryan looked through them both – as did Castle – each double-checking the others just to make sure no one had missed anything. Beckett left them to it, knowing that there wasn't any point in her looking as well since the three of them were just as good at it as she was. Castle had eventually sighed, and rested his head in his palm, which was braced by way of his elbow on her desk.

She looked over from her own research – she'd been studying what they had found on Rogers – and frowned.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"What? Oh, yes…" he shrugged. "I'm just a little disappointed, I suppose."

"Why?"

"Well, we know so much – sort of – but it doesn't do us any good. We still don't have anything solid."

"Sometimes it takes longer than other times," she said. "You know that."

"I know. I was just hoping that this wasn't going to be one of those times."

She smiled, and could understand exactly how he was feeling. She'd hoped the same thing. And she wasn't the one who'd been beat up and locked away in a closet.

"Tired of my company?" she asked him, hoping to lighten his mood a bit.

It worked. His head came off his palm and his eyes lit up with amusement as he smiled.

"It's the only thing keeping me sane," he told her, sincerely. "Although I am running out of clothes. Any chance we can go by my place and get clean stuff?"

"Not a chance."

"I guess I could run around your apartment naked…"

Beckett rolled her eyes.

"I'll see if Esposito and Ryan will go over and-"

"See if Esposito and Ryan will go over where?" Ryan asked, walking by just in time to hear that part of the conversation.

"Castle's running out of clean clothes to wear," Beckett answered.

"Sure, we can go grab him something."

"Nothing plaid," Castle told them.

Esposito had joined them by then and he raised an eyebrow at that.

"Do you actually own plaid clothes?"

"No. But I just wanted to establish the ground rules."

"No plaid," Ryan said. "Got it."

"We can go now," Esposito said to his partner. "Get it, and then meet over at Beckett's with some lunch." He looked over at Castle and Beckett to see if they liked that plan or had something else in mind. Of course, they all knew that protection detail meant no drive thru food unless someone else brought it – and as Castle had already found out, no delivery, either.

"That sounds good," Beckett agreed. "We're not getting much more done here, so I'll take Castle back to my place and we'll meet you there."

"What's for lunch?" Ryan asked.

Since Castle's breakfast had only been a sandwich, he was all for lunch, and something filling. Beckett must have felt the same way.

"Pasta?"

The guys all nodded their agreement with that. Castle reached for his keys, but Ryan waved him off.

"We'll have your door guy let us in. That way if anyone is casing your place they'll know there's a police presence and will know there's no point."

Which was the whole reason for keeping Castle from his place just then, after all. He nodded his agreement, and the guys left. Beckett had a couple of things she needed to follow up on while they were at the precinct – other cases that had nothing to do with diamonds or anything else worth 700 million – so she worked on them while Castle took yet another look through the year books, simply for lack of anything else he could help with just then. He also looked up Rogers, hoping to find any kind of connection, but that didn't pan out, either. After a half hour or so, though, Beckett finished the report she'd been writing and turned to him.

"Ready?"

He nodded and set the year books aside and got up, stretching a little – everything but his arms, which still ached abominably.

Before he could do much more than that, though, Montgomery had joined them at Beckett's desk.

"How are things going?"

Beckett told the captain what they'd found out – and what they'd deduced by the information that Castle had been able to give them – and he listened intently while she spoke. He agreed with her that they wouldn't be able to actually make a move on Rogers without having at least some kind of connection with him and Jeremy or Bridget, and asked Castle about Alexis and his mother, worried that they might decide to come home early and maybe be in danger if his place was being watched. Castle assured him that it shouldn't be a problem, and told him about the conversation he'd had with Alexis just that morning.

"If they decide to come home before we get this figured out, we'll put them in a safehouse somewhere – just to make sure," Montgomery told him.

Castle nodded. He was pretty sure neither would like it, but better safe than sorry. Especially in this case.

"We're heading back to my place," Beckett told Montgomery.

"Good. Get some rest, you both look terrible."

Since Castle felt better than he had in days – it was amazing what a full night's sleep could do – he was going to deny that, but Beckett stepped on his toe before he could and simply nodded her head.

"I'll make sure of it, sir."

There wasn't any sense in arguing, after all. That's what she had planned, after all. Castle could use more sleep, whether he thought he needed it or not, and she figured if she filled him up with a heavy lunch he'd probably be able to at least doze on the sofa for a while.

Montgomery nodded and shooed them away, and they headed for the elevator.

OOOOOOOOOOO

"The guys should be done at your place by now," Beckett said as they drove back toward her place. "They might even be getting lunch."

"I hope they get some angel hair pasta…" Castle told her. "I love the way it…" He trailed off, noticing that Beckett was looking in the rear view mirror. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah."

She was still distracted, though.

"What do you see?"

"I thought I might have seen –"

"Kate!" She'd been looking in the rearview mirror, but the true danger was coming straight at them and Castle saw it before she did.

The truck had been in the proper lane, driving a little faster than the posted speed limit but that wasn't unheard of in New York. Suddenly, though, when the traffic cleared in front of Beckett's car, the large vehicle veered into their lane, coming directly at them.

Beckett slammed on the brakes and turned the wheel, but the truck veered again, impossibly seeming to aim right at them. The impact slammed them to an instant stop and Beckett had only enough time to hear a yelp of pain from Castle before the airbag rushed at her with a pop and everything went black.