A/N: Thank you to everyone for your follows/favorites/reviews.

And thanks to Ally for her beta and enthusiasm for this story.

The night just keeps getting weirder and weirder.

As if being ushered out of his launch party by a couple detectives wasn't odd enough, now he finds himself face to face with her again. And despite the anger that bubbles up in his chest, he can't help but smile.

"Rick."

"Where are Archie and Jughead? I thought they had some questions for me. I thought that was why I was here."

"They-that is, we-do have some questions for you."

"You? I thought you were a lawyer."

"That was the plan, but plans change. The murder that Detectives Ryan and Esposito brought you down here for? It's my case, too. I'm a homicide detective."

He's not sure what he should say, or if he should say anything at all. Here she is, Kate Beckett, almost seventeen years later. The last thing he should be is in awe of how amazing she looks. He should be angry. He is angry.

"What happened to you?"

The words are out of his mouth before he realizes it, and he's not surprised when she doesn't answer, choosing instead to take the seat across the table from him while she bites her lower lip.

At least he knows she's not the only one thrown off by this meeting.

"Are they watching?" he asks, pointing to the two-way glass behind him.

"No, they're running down some leads for me."

The room is silent for a whole minute while she pretends to gather her information. But he knows her better than that. She's prepared, at least professionally. She might not have been prepared to see him again, but she's prepared when it comes to her job.

"Listen, Rick," she almost whispers as she finally makes eye contact with him. "I'm sure you have questions, and I'll answer them. But I need to focus on this case first and foremost. So, case first and then we can reminisce, okay?"

He chuckles a little at that. Reminisce? They haven't seen each other in seventeen years, and she wants to reminisce.

"I'd settle for an explanation."

"Or that. Just...after the case."

"Some things never change," he mutters under his breath, so he suspects she heard him by the way she takes a deep breath and plunges into the reason he's there in the first place.

She places a photo of a woman in front of him. "This is Allison Tisdale. Have you ever seen her before?"

He shakes his head, so she immediately puts another photo in front of him.

"She was found murdered earlier this evening. Look familiar?"

"Flowers for Your Grave."

He's never seen one of his imaginary murder scenes in living color before. Hell, he's never even drawn them out to get a visual. They've been in his head, sure, but never this real. It's disturbing, even for him.

Before he can fully process everything she just showed him, she slides another couple photos across the table.

"What about this guy, Marvin Fisk? He's a small claims lawyer."

It it were anyone else, perhaps the two detectives who brought him here, he would have a snarky comment ready. But Kate knows him, and would see right past any kind of bad boy image he tried to project right now. So he just shakes his head again, having never seen the man, and she flips the top photo so that the other one is visible.

"Shit."

"This was two weeks ago. It's right out of Hell Hath No Fury."

Rick's head snaps up, surprised that she knows this. "You read that? But only hardcore Castle junkies read..." He trails off, not exactly sure what to say. She's read his books. Does that mean she's read them all?

Kate is focusing on the file again, refusing to make eye contact with him after this newest revelation. "Rick, that's not important right now. And anyway, how did you think I connected the two murders in the first place?"

"Sorry," he says quietly, now just as thankful as she probably is that no one is on the other side of the glass listening to their conversation. "I just…"

Whatever he was going to say is forgotten when her phone starts to vibrate on the table. She picks it up quickly, looking like she's contemplating whether or not to answer the call. But then she's standing up and apologizing. "I need to take this. Give me just a minute."

She doesn't leave the room, but walks over to the door as she speaks quietly into her phone. Whoever is on the other end of the line, she's familiar with them. Listening to her hushed voice, he wonders if Kate Beckett ever got married and had kids. However her life turned out, time has certainly been her friend. She's just...radiant. And yes, he's having a hard time seeing her again as he remembers how their time together ended, but he can't help thinking back to everything that happened before she disappeared from his life.

"...Two hours, sweetie. I'll call if something keeps me later...Love you, too."

She finishes the call and comes back to the table, once again adjusting the photos from the police file she brought in with her and adamantly avoiding eye contact with him. More than anything, he wants to ask her who "sweetie" is, but taking into consideration the way she's spoken to him so far this evening, he has a strong feeling she would shut him down immediately. If he remembers one thing about Kate, it's that she doesn't do anything she doesn't want to.

"Sorry about that," she finally says to him, though she doesn't offer any more information about her call. "Would you mind if we looked at your fan mail? There might be some kind of clue in there that would tell us who's staging murders like the ones in your books."

"I...yeah, I'll have it sent over tomorrow morning. Is that soon enough?"

"I don't see why not. The ME won't have the autopsy finished until then anyway." Kate stands up and walks toward the door, opening it for him as they walk out into the bullpen together.

"I'll call Gina tonight and ask her to put it together for me. I think I owe her an explanation for why I was carted out of my book launch party tonight."

"Yeah," Kate replies with a hint of a smile, "I hope the guys didn't make too big of a scene over it."

Rick shares the smile with her, knowing exactly what she means even though he only met the other two detectives for the first time this evening. "Don't worry about it. The party was boring by the time they got there anyway. To be honest, I was having more fun standing at the bar talking to my mother and Alexis."

They make it back to her desk, and he wishes he had something more to say. He has so many questions to ask her, so many things he wants to know about her since they last saw each other, but she very precisely told him to wait until after the case. He never thought he'd see her again, but now he's standing in front of her and desperately looking for a way to say goodnight that isn't terribly awkward.

She finally puts him out of his misery. "So you'll bring the fan mail by tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah, sure." He starts to walk away, only to turn back when an idea strikes him. "Hey, Kate? Do you think I could-I don't know-try to help out in some way? Consult on the case?"

"I...I don't think…" She wants so bad to flat out say "no." If it were anyone else, the words would come easily. He would drop off the fan mail tomorrow and leave her alone to solve the case. And once it was solved, she would call to let him know before finally giving him the explanation he asked for earlier. But unfortunately, that isn't how this is going to work.

"I'm asking nicely because it's you, Kate. Whoever this nutcase is, he's using my books as his own personal playground. Sure, it gets me a badge of honor among the other mystery writers, but it's still messed up." In a habit that should be long broken, he steps up close to her as he leans in with a smirk. "I'm friends with the mayor, you know? You can either voluntarily give me access to this case, or I can call Bob and have him tell your captain to let me in. Your choice."

"Our next step is to look through your mail. We can do that tomorrow."

"Well, until tomorrow then," he says as he turns around to leave, the night not at all turning out like he expected.

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