Disclaimer: I don't own Castle.

Prompt #49: Ghostwriter - For sh*ts and giggles, she opened the Word document on his laptop and started typing.

Words: 769

Kate Castle had forgotten how bored she got being home on maternity leave. Stuck at home with nothing to do, her idle hands had caused her to thumb her way through every book in the loft. Nothing had caught her attention for very long, so when she found her husband's laptop on, it seemed like a gift from God.

She'd always heard him saying that writing wasn't as easy as he made it out to be. But Kate had always assumed he just said that out of some territorial need to keep her out of his world. Much like how she used to get annoyed when he tried to play cop in the early stages of their partnership.

Well, he'd adapted to become a damn fine investigator. How hard could this be?

Apparently, it wasn't all that difficult. As soon as she opened the Word document, Kate hadn't stopped typing. The idea had gripped her and come to life with a will of its own, and surprisingly enough, it was like she wasn't really writing. More like she was letting her mind follow a series of clues that was creating a picture of the story.

Her fingers tapped away at the keyboard in high spirits as Kate happily continued writing.

Second York was almost pitch-black at three in the morning. No surprise, since the new energy restrictions practically shut down the power grid during the night to keep power levels regulated.

Data sat atop the Chrysler Memorial and examined the landscape through her new scanner-goggles. Rarely anyone was travelling the streets or the skyways, so heat signatures were practically nil. Infared showed a number of buildings channeling power to keep their security grids active. Flipping on her X-ray filter let Data look at the facility across the street from her perch and see the ground-floor security guard settling in for another uneventful night. That's what he thinks.

Rolling up her sleeve, Data punched a series of commands into the keyboard strapped around her forearm. A holo-screen popped up in a burst of light, displaying the security codes and clearance levels of the building. Finding her objective took seconds, locked behind three vault doors and the most sophisticated locking mechanism known to modern man.

"Jack," she mumbled into her comm link as she stood up. "I have a fix on the Delta virus. Twelfth floor, research laboratory A13."

"Good going, Data," was her handler's reply. "SYE are mobilizing. ETA one cycle."

Sixty minutes. Frackin' Second York Enforcers. "We don't have that much time, Jack."

"You can't in there without backup."

Data exhaled through her nose, irritated at being spoken to like a child. She was fourteen, for pity's sake. Which is why you're working for SYE and not serving life, said her sensible side. "Jack, they're planning to move the virus in the next half-cycle. If Calvox manages to sell it off, who knows what damage it could do to Second York's infastructure."

"I know, but protocol states - "

"You brought me into this case because I'm sanctioned to work outside your precious protocol. I can't remote-hack at this distance, so that means I'm going in."

"Hey honey."

Kate looked up with the guilty look of a child with her hand caught in the cookie jar. Rick stood in the doorway of his study, shoulder against the frame and his arms crossed, favoring his wife with a smile that was part proud, part smug. "Whatcha doing?" he drawled.

"Um..." She looked at the laptop in front of her, then back up at him, and hesitantly said, "Playing pinball?"

"Liar," he said with a teasing note. "You're writing, aren't you?"

Well, no need to lie now. "Yeah." Her fingers drew back from the keyboard. "Just...I'm so bored, Rick."

"I know Kate, I know." He sauntered around the desk and leaned over her shoulder. "Whatcha got so far?"

"Just a little scrap of nothing..." Kate's voice teetered off as he watched her husband's eyes zip through her writing as fast as lightning. When he finished reading, those blue eyes looked over to catch hers with a look of sheer amazement. "What? Does it suck?"

"No, it's...it's perfect. Absolutely perfect." Rick quickly snatched up the laptop and made a beeline for the living room, calling out, "Hey Jo! Remember when I said my next character would be like you? Come in here and listen to what Mommy came up with!"

Little prequel tag to #46: Character.

Review please! Just one more to go!

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