Chapter 2

As she turned the corner in the hallway, she came to a halt. There was a tall, shadowy figure standing outside her apartment with their back to her. Unfamiliar to her, she placed her hand on the gun in her holster and cautiously approached her apartment.

"I thought you'd never get here," the voice said as the figure turned around.

"I tailed you the whole way home, how did I get here before you?" Castle asked. Kate stared in disbelief at the sight of him momentarily before he said, "You can drop the gun."

"What are you doing here?" she asked holstering her weapon.

"Maybe you missed the part where your captain said I was going to be protecting you."

"You're serious?" Kate scoffed. "You're telling me that wasn't just a ruse to scare me into stepping down from the case?"

"Afraid not," he shrugged. "Now, are you going to let us in or not?"

"Us? You're coming in?"

"Do you really expect me to protect you from another apartment?" Castle said sarcastically.

Kate found her keys in her pocket and unlocked the apartment door. "I was kind of hoping so, yeah."

Opening the door, she was about to step into the apartment when Castle forced his way in front of her. Quickly scanning the living area, he entered keeping her at arm's length behind him. "You've got to be kidding me," she scoffed.

"Stay here while I check the other rooms," he ordered.

Rolling her eyes, she closed the door behind her. Castle disappeared down the hallway, scanning every room. Was he going to be like this every time she came home? Was he seriously going to do a thorough search of every room she walks into for the next few weeks?

"All the windows and doors are locked like normal," she shouted down the hallway. "There's no need to-." She stopped talking once she noticed he was not listening to a word she said. "Fine, suit yourself."

"Place is secure." He reappeared in her living room, taking special notice of the large windows. Pulling close the curtains he said, "When these are open, stay away from the windows."

This was Beckett's idea of a nightmare; her apartment, where she loves to be alone and unwind after a hard day's work, was being overrun by a stranger who gets to control her every move. The place of refuge where she gets to let her hair down and decompress is a refuge no longer.

"Okay," she said standing directly in front of him. Still wearing her boots, he wasn't that much taller than her. "Let me make one thing clear. This is my apartment, my home. The one place on this planet I get to escape the realities of the outside world. And I will not let some stranger walk in here and start telling me what I can and cannot do in my own home." Looking him dead in the eye, she continued, "I get to do what I want, whenever I want whether you're here or not. I get the final say in what I do and don't do, got it?"

A smile spread across Castle's face as he held back a chuckle. Crossing his arms loosely he responded. "Your captain was right, huh."

"What?"

"He said you were stubborn, but I didn't expect this."

"Do I make myself clear?" she said brushing off his comment. She couldn't help but acknowledge the discrete smirk hidden underneath the tough persona he was displaying.

"Yes ma'am."

"Don't call me that," she scowled.

Leaving his personal space, she grabbed a bottle of red wine from the top shelf in her kitchen. Castle wandered around her living area without a word while she uncorked the bottle. He looked closely at the photo frames she had displayed, as well as the dust-laden DVDs sitting in a rack below the TV. Kate poured herself a generous glass of wine, which seemed acceptable given the circumstances. Castle politely declined her offer of a glass and continued to peruse her possessions.

"So, you get paid to invade people's privacy?" Kate stated as she slumped onto her couch. She kicked off her boots and shoved them under the coffee table.

"When you put it like that it doesn't sound so heroic," Castle replied with a slight defensive tone in his voice. He grabbed his bag and took out his laptop, setting up at the dining table.

"And exactly how long have you been hired to 'invade my privacy' for?" she asked, hardly expecting an actual answer.

"As long as needed. Until these guys are caught."

"They're chasing ghosts!" she exclaimed raising her voice. "They don't even know who they're looking for. It's a complete joke."

His voice was almost drowned out by the sound of his fingers scattering across the keyboard of his laptop. "Your captain wouldn't have hired me if he didn't deem it necessary."

Curious as to what he was doing, Beckett got up from the couch and walked behind him to see his laptop screen flooded in different opened tabs. "Wow, you've got files on everyone."

"It's kind of my job to know my client and the people they associate with," Castle grinned at her mockingly.

"I could do without the sarcasm," Kate clapped back.

"So could I."

She exhaled loudly. This guy was going to drive her insane. "I'm assuming you have a file on me." She grabbed a nearby chair and pulled it beside his. "What does it say?"

"That's need-to-know." Castle closed the laptop before she could get what she wanted.

"Oh, come on," she whined. "It's a file on me! I already know everything in it. So, what does it say?"

"If you already know everything in it, then why do you want to know what it says?" He knew he was driving her crazy, that's the only reason he was playing this little game.

She grunted in response to being antagonised. "Fine. What did Montgomery say to you then? That I can be a pain in the ass sometimes or that I have a severe coffee addiction?"

Castle, amused by her attempts to get information out of him, continued to find ways around giving her the answers she wanted. "Okay, well I don't need a file to tell me you're persistent. Is this how you interrogate people?"

"I'm guessing it says that I was an only-child to two lawyers, born and raised in Manhattan. I studied pre-law on the east coast, graduated from the police academy top of my class. Then I became the youngest woman in the history of the NYPD to become detective."

"You missed out on the part where you modelled for a summer in the 90s," Castle added with a grin.

Kate's eyes widened, her facial expression going from confident to humiliated in a millisecond. "They put that in there?!"

"Oh, detective… the things I know about you could fill a book!"

Side-tracking from that remark, Kate continued, "The point is I can handle myself."

"There is no doubt in my mind that that's not true," he assured. "But an extra hand can't hurt, right?" He held out his hand. He didn't know why he did it, but he was interested to see what she would do.

Kate took one glance at his hand, took a mouthful of her wine, then put her empty wine glass in it. "I'm going to bed."

Kate opened a closet in her hallway where she gathered a blanket and some pillows. Placing them on the couch she said, "I don't have a guest room so I guess this will have to do."

"Trust me, your couch is a luxury in comparison to some of the places I've slept," Castle remarked. A funny look from Kate called for him to elaborate, "A story for another time."

"Goodnight, Castle."

The bedroom door closed behind her leaving him alone with his thoughts. Looking at the wine glass in his hand, he shook his head ever so slightly and smiled to himself. She was a force to be reckoned with and he was going to have to fight down to the wire with her over every decision he makes.

This was going to be fun.