A/N – Heya boys and girls. So I'm going to answer a few questions here that I have been asked recently. Both castle and Beckett are single during all of this. So yes, around late season 3 and 4. But as with any, I simple want to explore an alternative plot to how they may have gotten together.

Now I have full outline of where this is going. The muse for that is coming in the next chapter.

So as always, please read, enjoy and review.

Chapter Four – Old Solution, Not absolution

When Kate entered the Precinct, two sets of eyes fell on her instantaneously. Both Ryan and Esposito approached her, their shoulders tense.

"How is Castle doing?"

Kate dropped the file on her desk.

"As well as can be expected. Ryan, can you add to the murder board that Kaylee sent Castle her latest manuscript? He going over it now as we speak. She's moved away from her normal style as well, this could give us some motive."

Esposito shrugged.

"It worked for Castle."

"Killing off a main character, yes. Not jumping genres entirely."

She waited until the board was up to date before speaking again.

"Ryan, I need you and Esposito to push Brenton a little more. Get every little detail that you can from him. Who he saw Kaylee with, where she went, anything and everything. He has kept a lot of it documented in his home but I want verbal confirmations."

They both nodded before Ryan spoke up.

"And you?"

"I'm going to talk to Spencer Dean a little more about what happened."

"I can see why you made Castle stay home."

She gave them both a sad smile.

"He does not need to see this."

Beckett watched from a distance as Spencer helped all his girls get into the car. Hope, the eldest at 15, corralled the other two into the car. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She wondered if he had even told them yet. She continued to watch as the car drove out. Twenty-five minutes later, he pulled back into the drive. She waited another ten before getting out of the car and approaching the front door. Before she could knock the door swung open. Spencer looked about ten years older since the last time she had seen him. Grief etched lines through his face with vicious strokes. He didn't speak, merely opened the door wider and stepped back to let her enter. He indicated to a chair before nodding towards the kitchen.

"I was going to have a cup of tea. Would you like one?"

"Yes please."

Kate settled herself in a chair and waited, the soft clinking in the kitchen breaking the silence. When he returned, he handed her a large mug, the heat warming her hands. When he was seated, she finally got started.

"Spencer, I need to ask you some questions."

Spencer nodded.

"Alibi and such, right?"

"Yes."

"I was home with Mikayla all morning. She hadn't been well the night before and Kaylee decided to keep her from school."

Kate nodded, mentally marking that one off her list.

"Rick got a package this morning, from Kaylee."

Spencer frowned.

"What would she send him?"

"Her new manuscript."

Spencer shook his head again.

"No. She always lets me read them first."

"Well, this one is a little different from her normal works. It's a murder mystery apparently."

Spencer frowned.

"Why?"

"I was hoping that you may be able to tell me. Has anything changed with her lately?"

"No. Not that I noticed."

"Did she go to any meetings or anything that she may have mentioned?"

"Nothing aside from her normal publisher and editor meetings."

Castle made a note on her notebook.

"And where was she headed at the hour of the morning?"

Spencer shrugged.

"I don't know. She kissed me goodbye and asked me to put the chicken out for dinner. She said she would be home around 5pm."

"Aside from Brenson, where you aware of anyone else dangerous in her life?"

' "No."

Kate made another note, more and more things to her murder board. Including Spencer knowing nothing about his wife's life outside of the home. Then she wondered if that resentment was enough to make things change.

"Spencer, why do you stay at home with the kids?"

Kaylee's husband smiled slightly.

"Because that was the deal?"

"Sorry?"

"When I first met Kaylee, we used to joke that if anything was to come from her writing, I was to be a stay at home Dad. So that's why. And before you poke at that particular issue, it does nothing to my manhood. There is no resentment there. I got to spend every second with my little girls. I got to see every step and every word. Most fathers would kill to be in my position."

Kate's mind instinctively went to Castle and she knew that it was true. He knew how fortunate he was to have the ability to be with his only child.

"Is there anything else you can think of Spencer? Anything at all?"

Spencer sipped at his tea before sighing.

"That's it."

Kate nodded and put her notebook away. She sipped her tea and studied Spencer on the side of her mug. She had seen different people in different levels of grief. She had seen people break and fall never to be repaired. She had seen mother's silently accept the death of their children. And had seen father's vow revenge. Spencer seemed to be numb to it all. As if this was happening to someone else, some other version of himself.

"Have you told the girls yet?"

Spencer shook his head slightly.

"I didn't know….I doesn't think I have the words to tell them."

Kate braced herself slightly before speaking again.

"Did you know that she was pregnant?"

"Yes. We were hoping for a boy. The girls didn't know that either. Kaylee only told me a couple of weeks ago."

And with that, the dam broke. His careful study of the situation, of distancing himself was gone. He couldn't seem to keep it going. Kate took the mug from his hands as he started to lose his grip. She placed it on the small coffee table before moving herself closer to him. She kept a hand on his back as he sobbed.

A brief initial read through told Castle that the manuscript was good and the title "Still" definitively intriguing. She had talent for this style as well. But he must have no looked closely enough. Because when he settled himself down for a second reading, he saw it. The point of death, where a case of mistaken identity left a woman dead. By strangulation. His heart started to race as he read through the pages again.

He watched for the red coat and blonde hair. Those were the instructions he had been given. He didn't know he name. It didn't matter. The money was in his account and he had been told what to do. Make it appear random, a mugging gone wrong. To kill her and then slip away into the crowd of people he could hear a few streets over. He fingered the rope, tightening his grip when he saw her. He waited until she was few steps ahead, stepping out from the shelter of bins that kept him from view. Then he was behind her. He pulled the rope tight, and then dropped it around her neck. She struggled, like they always did. He pulled tighter, listening to her gasp for air, knowing that she knew her life was ending. Her body became limper and limper against him. Then she stopped struggling altogether. He gave one last tug, stopping only when her arms fell limp to her sides. He released her and let her sink to the ground. He avoided looking at her face, pausing only to check her throat for a pulse. None. He quickly patted down her pockets, taking her phone and wallet. He glanced around before going back the way he came, the rope returning to his pocket. Soon he was absorbed into the people. No one would know.

He barely even looked up from the page as he punched in Beckett's number.

When her phone chirped, Kate had just gotten back to her car. She frowned, glancing at the screen before answering.

"Castle, what's wrong?"

She immediately regretted the tension and concern in her voice. He didn't need that right now. She cleared her throat and tried again.

"I hope that you've done what I asked?"

She kept her tone light. He didn't seem to notice, his voice distracted.

"You need to come over."

"Are you okay?"

She could almost hear him shaking his head.

"No but that is beside the point.. Just get here."

The call dropped and she stared at the phone. She was torn between calling him back and simply getting back on the road. She opted for the later and threw herself back into the traffic.

When she arrived, she felt the tension as soon as she walked in. The next was Castle grabbing her wrist and tugging her to the breakfast bar.

"Read it."

She did as she was ordered. It was only on the second read of the paragraph that she saw what had captured Castle's attention.

"Kate, you know what this means, right?"

Her name tripped her for a second as did his hot breath on her cheek. She could feel the soft brush of his chest on her back as he breathed. She also felt the second he realized that he was close he was to her. His breathing hitched but he didn't move back. Kate switched back to what was in front of them.

"Castle, it could be a coincidence."

His huff of frustration stirred her hair.

"Kate."

She turned slightly and his eyes took her in. He was desperate. He wanted this to be the break that they needed. But Kate Beckett dealt with evidence and this wasn't enough. The protectiveness rose in her again, mixing his eyes with the image of Kaylee.

"Rick, I want this to be something too. But think about it. How many people have read this manuscript?"

"At least four. Six if you count us."

"Alright. And out of those six, who could have matched this to our scene? Also, she still had all of her things."

He opened his mouth to protect but she waved her hand slightly, silencing him.

"But we'll look. We have plenty more people to cover with this. We haven't even talked to her editor or publisher yet."

His face brightened slightly. Then he cocked his eyebrows at her.

"But wait, there's more."

Kate frowned but waited as he pressed even closer to her, his fingers quickly flicking deeper into the manuscript.

"Look."

He urged her again and she read the next chunk of writing. In it held a fairly basic description of the killer, right down to the scar on his collarbone.

"We'll look, right?"

"Of course. But no promises."

"I know. But you knowing is the most comforting part in all of this."

Kate felt her mouth twitch in the beginnings of a smile but it felt a little wrong. Instead, she spoke about where she had been.

"I saw Spencer today. There was nothing new there. He was the reason I wanted you to stay here."

Castle smiled softly.

"I know. I'm not as silly as I look."

His eyes lingered on her face. Always moments like this. These were the ones that flicked her to that place in her head that she would have happily avoided. And not for the first time she wondered what would happen if she caved to those thoughts. She thought about the other people in her life, the friendships and the romances in the past and the present. Very few people could read her like Richard Castle. And very few people could touch her at the level that he could. She was again struck by how easy it would be. A slight lean and she could claim his lips. For once, she could let herself be swept away. He already had the ability to distract her like no other. She wondered if the art of distraction could also be extended to other activities. Her blush at her silent monologue was broken up when Alexis came through the door. Castle moved away from her, as if they were guilty of doing something. Alexi dumped her bag by the door and stride over to Castle, who pulled her into an easy hug. He kissed the top of her head.

"Hey Princess. How was your day?"

Alexis pulled back.

"Awful. Hope called me. Uncle Spencer told them what happened. I didn't know what to say."

Castle pushed some hair back from her face.

"There's nothing you can say. You just need to let grief do its thing."

Alexis sighed, leaning against her dad, offering a small smile to Kate.

"Hi Detective Beckett."

Kate smiled.

"How many times do I need to tell you? Call me Kate."

Alexis nodded slightly, her eyes finding her father's again.

"Hope said something else."

"What?"

"She said her mother had a job in an office downtown. She caught her mother taking a call about extra shifts but her father didn't know. Did Uncle Spencer do this?"

Castle swallowed, looking over Alexis's head at Kate. Castle opted for honesty, something he always liked to do with Alexis.

"I don't know, Sweetheart. All I know is that we will find out who did this to Kaylee. And they will go away for a very long time."

Alexis nodded against his shoulder.

"Dad?"

"Yes?"

"Can you see if you can beat the guy up a little?"