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Chapter Two

"Hey lover, what did you do for excitement today?" Kate had a smile on her face when her call connected with the love of her life.

She had gotten to her destination a couple hours ago. And then had to survive a boring dinner listening to several supposedly important individuals drone on about the great strides that police procedures had made over the last three years. That had been the time interval since the last gathering of the states police captains. Along with the bland food served, Kate had barely been able to stay awake while trying to focus on what was being said from the podium at the impromptu lecture.

Now she was ensconced in her tiny single room waiting to hear the voice that she had missed so much since early this morning.

Castle's laugh sounded like home to her ears.

"Well, I was bored so I dropped in to check up on the 12th. Surprisingly, it wasn't a disaster of chaos and panic."

Kate rolled her eyes. "I have complete confidence in Esposito and Demming to hold down the fort while I'm stuck up here."

Rick chuckled. "Not what you expected?"

She sat on the edge of her bed and sighed. "No, it was exactly what I expected. That's why I'm worn out without having done anything yet." She laid back on her bed. "So how much junk food did you bring with you."

"Not that much, a few dozen doughnuts, and a selections of pastries and cherry Bismarcks."

Kate shook her head. "So… healthy snacks."

"Exactly!" He grinned.

"So what else did you do? That couldn't have taken you more than a couple of hours." She tucked her long locks behind her ear.

"Mostly I just wandered around for a while, then came home."

"Am I supposed to feel sorry for you? You wouldn't believe what I had to endure once I got here."

He laughed again. "Oh I think I can." He heard her snort in his ear. "I told you that you didn't have to take the Captain's job. You could have stayed home here with me."

"Yeah, that would be great. What would we do all day?"

"Seriously?" He gasped. "I could think of so many things we could do."

"You can think of one thing to do, and I told you before. As much as I enjoy being with you. I can't make love all day, every day."

"Have you ever tried?"

She could almost hear his smirk with his question. She grinned with her answer. "No… have you?"

"Well, no…," He answered. "But I'm willing to give it a try."

Kate almost dropped her phone as she giggled. "I'll think about it. But now I'm stuck here for a week, so don't do anything that will get you thrown in jail while I'm gone."

"No promises." He gave her an exaggerated sigh. "You can never tell to what lengths that I will need to go to be able to deal with my terrible loneliness."

He couldn't see her eye roll, but he imagined it was there. "You could always, I don't know, write... I heard you used to do that now and then."

"Ah my dearest muse. You haven't been keeping up with my progress."

"What do you mean?"

"You've been so wound up these past few months that you missed out on the completion of two more Heat books."

Kate was surprised. "Really? How did I miss that? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you never asked."

She harrumphed. "Like I ever had to ask in the past. Usually you'd be jumping around the room telling me you finished another book which would mean that you were now free to goof off for the next several months."

"I've changed my ways." Castle ignored her laugh. "We are going to have a serious conversation when you get back my love."

"Ooh, that sounds somewhat ominous." She giggled. "Will I be astounded, or confounded?"

"We'll discuss the ins and outs of our future income sources when you come home."

"This little conversation hasn't done much to alleviate any worry that I might have, but I'm pretty sure we will have enough to get by until I get back." There was a pause. "Don't do anything stupid until I get back."

"Hah!" Rick retorted. "When have I ever done anything stupid?"

Kate almost choked on her own laugh. "And now I have to worry about your oncoming Alzheimer's?" She bit her lip to pull back on another chuckle. "Just don't do anything that I wouldn't do. Behave yourself for once. I want to come home knowing that you haven't done anything crazy." She took a deep breath. "I love you Rick, and I want to grow old with you." There was a silent pause. "And since you have such a head start on me, I'll need some time to catch up."

"Very funny," he heard her laughter through the phone. "We'll see who's laughing when you get home."

It took a few moments to let the laughing die out but once it did Kate pressed the phone close to her lips. "I need you, so make sure you will be waiting for me when I finally manage to get home."

He smiled into his phone. "Where else would I be?"

"Goodnight, Babe."

"'Night Kate."

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Castle woke up from an excellent night of sleep. He was surprised that he didn't toss and turn without Kate to anchor him while he slept. He shrugged. He wasn't going to waste time trying to overthink the gift of a good night's sleep.

He stepped into the bathroom glancing at himself in the large mirror as he shed his T-shirt and the worn comfortable shorts he wore to bed. His hand reached up and rubbed the stubble on his face. He hadn't bothered to shave yesterday, and he thought maybe he'd just let his beard go while Kate was away. She was never a fan of facial hair, but he thought he looked more roguish with the two day stubble.

After showering and getting dressed, he wandered into the kitchen and decided to have French toast for breakfast. For some reason he was in the mood for a more filling morning meal than just jelly toast and coffee.

He didn't rush himself, but he was anxious to get back to the precinct to see if he could convince Esposito to let him shadow one of the other homicide teams while Kate was gone.

After he finished cleaning up after himself from breakfast Castle got himself ready to head back to the 12th and see if he could sweet talk Javier.

He grabbed his keys and wallet and picked up his phone as he walked toward the front door. He glanced at his phone. There was a text message on his phone from Kate. He smiled and then blushed as he read what she had texted to him.

"Naughty, naughty, Kate." He laughed all the way out the door.

Castle, with both arms full of boxes of sugary delights, stepped out of the elevator onto the precinct's fourth floor. A place that held many fond memories for him. He had to grin when he saw Esposito's face light up again seeing him carrying such a stash of treats.

Espo jumped up from his chair and took a couple of the boxes from Rick's overburdened hands.

Javi grinned. "Two days in a row. To what do we owe this bounty of delicious snacks?"

Castle gave him a weak frown. "Do I have to have some ulterior motive to treat my friends at the 12th? Maybe I just want to show my appreciation for all the good things you all do for this city."

Espo raised a brow. "Now I'm really suspicious. Two days in a row bringing goodies to your former stomping grounds. If the captain were here I'd just think it would be an excuse to come and bother her. But she's not here, and you already brought us overly sugared, high caloric treats yesterday. If I was a suspicious person I'd think you had some ulterior motive for this largesse."

Castle rolled his eyes and chuckled inconvincibly. "You are a suspicious man Javier Esposito."

Espo reached into one of the boxes and grabbed a frosted doughnut as he followed Castle into the breakroom. "I am a suspicious man. What's up? Why are you here again when your wife is far away from here?"

Castle set the boxes on one of the tables and turned toward the waiting sergeant. "Well, since you mentioned it. I, ah, well that is… I'm really bored at home, and with knowing that there won't be any Kate coming home to raise my spirits I'm kind of at loose ends." Castle frowned. "Did I say I was bored?"

Esposito raised his brow and nodded. "I think you did manage to mention that, yes." He took another bite out of his doughnut. "What do you want me to do about it?"

"Well…" Castle hunched his shoulders and stared at the floor. "I was hoping you might let me go out with one of your homicide teams on their next call." Rick felt like a child begging his mother for another piece of candy. "You know, just a ride along where I can get the old juices going again, and maybe give some of my unique insights like I did with you guys for all those years."

Esposito glared at Castle. "Are you serious? It took us two years of your absurd babbling before we were able to pull the few rational, usable thoughts that came out of that illogical, incoherent mind of yours." He shook his head. "I can't put one of my teams through that."

"Ah, come on Espo." Rick whined. "How about someone like Kowalski, or Hastings? They already know me, they'd know what to expect."

Espo just shook his head. "Kowalski transferred to the 86th and Hastings is only a detective two and she's on Gallagher's team."

Castle sighed. "And he doesn't like me."

Espo laughed. "That's putting it lightly. He was a regular junior Gates when it came to dilettante writers pretending to be cops.

Castle pouted. "Come on, Espo. I'm going to go crazy sitting around the loft with nothing to do. I need some of that excitement I got from helping you guys on a case."

Esposito shook his head. "I'm sorry Castle but I can't help you."

Suddenly the door to the break room was pushed open and a frowning Lt. Tom Demming strode into the room. "What's going on in here?"

Espo looked up. "Oh hi Tom. Just Castle here suffering from Beckett withdrawal."

He looked and furrowed his brow. "It's only been what… a day and a half so far?" Tom walked over and helped himself to a cherry Bismarck. "I thought you had another job? A more lucrative one?"

Rick just waved his hand. "Ever since Kate became captain, I've had a lot of time to write. In fact I'm two books ahead now." Castle reached down and grabbed a bear claw for himself. "I'm bored and I'm going crazy. I just thought that Espo could let me go out with one of the homicide teams for a couple days." Rick shook his head. "It's not like I haven't done it before."

Tom chuckled. "I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have been able to survive any other team than Beckett's."

Rick frowned. "What do you mean? She was tough on me right from the start."

Demming just shook his head. "And she was put into a spot where she would be able to work with her favorite author."

Castle raised his voice. "Yeah, but, she fought it for a while. She tried to get out of it."

Tom smirked. "She didn't fight it very long though did she?"

"Well, there wasn't much she could do. Both Montgomery, and the mayor supported the idea."

Demming chuckled again. "And like that would have stopped her trying to squash the situation if she wasn't really willing to play along."

Rick was just about to contradict Demming, then shut his mouth. Was Tom right? Deep down, did Kate really want to be "forced" to take him on? A big smile spread across his face.

Castle's happy feeling was quickly quashed when he looked back at Demming and saw the expression on his face. For some reason Rick felt like a specimen under a microscope.

Demming glanced over at Esposito and allowed himself a slight grin. "Say Espo, you worked with Castle for several years." Espo nodded guardedly. "And would you say that Castle was good at being able to keep his head under changing circumstances?"

Javier gave the Lieutenant a questioning look. "He could when needed." Espo frowned. "What are you thinking of?"

Demming smiled. A look that immediately made Castle uncomfortable. "You know that this Friday Miles Robinson is having his parole hearing. He will be either let out, or he'll have to go back in for the rest of his sentence."

Espo nodded. "Yeah, the big stickler is that the stolen jewelry was never recovered. Robinson always claimed that he was only there as a look out. He never knew where the jewelry wound up and claimed no knowledge as to what happened to it. But he never fingered any of the others that were part of the robbery. He said he didn't really know them, he was just added at the last minute."

Demming nodded. "Almost everyone feels that Robinson was actually the leader of the gang, but the only evidence they had on him was a few shots of him on the cameras while he was by the front door. It was said that one of the gang did finger Miles as the leader and the brains behind the heist, but no one else would cooperate. Right now it seems to be a coin toss as to whether he'll get paroled, or go back to prison."

Espo shook his head. "I'm surprised that someone didn't sing and tell the authorities where the stash was hidden in a trade for lenience and early release."

Tom nodded. "That's true, and that's why I've always thought that the reason they were never able to break any of the rest of the gang is because Miles played it close to the vest, and no one knows how he got the jewels out unseen, and where they might be hidden."

Espo nodded. "He did have a couple days until he was found in a downtown flop house getting ready to skedaddle."

Castle smirked. "If that is true, and he makes his parole, he could become a very rich man soon."

Tom smiled at Rick. "That's why I've been working on an idea I've had."

Javier took another doughnut. "What idea?"

"I've been playing with the idea of putting someone in Robinson's cell with him in the hopes that he'll be able to find out where Miles stashed the jewels." Tom pursed his lips. "The problem I have is, I can't trust any convict I try to work a deal with. And, Miles being a former cop, would probably be able to smell out a police plant."

Espo stared hard at Demming. "You are not thinking what I'm thinking that you're thinking."

Tom smiled again. "I think you are thinking what I'm thinking. I know the warden and I'm pretty sure I can talk him into sticking Robinson with a new cellmate. A cellmate who is smart enough, and clever enough to be able to get Miles to brag about how he fooled the stupid cops and maybe where the jewels are stashed."

Espo and Demming both turned their head in unison, their eyes landed on a confused Castle.

Rick looked back and forth between the two detectives. An uncomfortable feeling came over him.

"Me?"

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Kate dragged herself back to her room after a long day of meetings and seminars on management and people skills. She knew that she was getting useful information but she was amazed that no matter what they were talking about they managed to make it exceptionally boring and dry. She swore if one of the speakers would have cracked a joke to break the monotony they would have screwed that up too. She'd bet they wouldn't have been able to tell a knock knock joke correctly.

Why were dry boring lectures so exhausting? Her butt was sore from the plain wooden chairs, and even though she hadn't don't anything more strenuous than eating a mostly tasteless lunch she was beat.

She felt like she needed a nap to recover from doing nothing all day.

"Beckett? Kate Beckett is that you?"

Kate was interrupted trying to get her key card to work by someone calling to her. She turned to see a woman standing in front of the room door diagonally across the hall from her door. The woman seemed familiar in the typical way that you might spot someone at a grocery store who looked just like your old high school class mate. Kate stared at the woman for a few moments until her synapses managed to spark a bit after being dulled all day long.

"Jeannie? Jeannie Harper?" Kate was flabbergasted. "I was just about to ask you what you were doing here, but obviously since I know you from our days at the Police Academy, I assume you are here for the same reason I am."

The slightly built woman shot a big smile at Kate. "Why don't I dump my stuff then I'll come over and we can chat for a bit." She grinned at Kate. "I'd love to hear the true stories of some of the stuff I've seen your name attached to in the media."

Kate rolled her eyes. "You can't believe all that you read or see on those sleazy rags that just spread rumors without verification." Jeannie laughed. "But it seems that you've seen a few."

Kate shot a fake glare at her former friend from the Police Academy. "I'll leave my door cracked. Just come over after you've dropped off your armful of the stuff you'll never look at again."

The attractive raven-haired woman nodded. "I'll do that. Shouldn't be more than a few minutes. I want to change into something more comfortable."

Kate laughed. "I know what you mean." She quickly slipped into her room, leaving the door cracked open a sliver.

Kate was just finished scrubbing her minimal make up off her face and scrubbing herself with the small face towel that hung above the bathroom sink when she heard the creak of the door being pushed open.

"Hey Kate, it's just me." She heard coming from the small hotel room.

"Make yourself comfortable. I'll be out in a minute." Kate gave herself a quick look in the mirror above the sink, slipped an N.Y.P.D. sweatshirt on and just shrugged her shoulders so it would settle comfortably.

She left the bathroom and entered the main room. Jeannie was sitting in one of the two upholstered chairs on either side of the small round table set in front of the curtained window at the end of the room. As it happened, Jeannie was wearing a R.P.D. sweatshirt.

Kate smiled as she walked over and sat down in the other chair opposite her guest.

"Wow," Kate grinned. "You've sure changed since our days at the Police Academy. I almost didn't recognize you. You look great."

Jeannie laughed. "Well, I have to admit that I've shed a few pounds since my days as a cadet." She nodded her head toward Kate. "There's obviously no mistaking who you are with all the media coverage you've had over the years."

Kate rolled her eyes. "I'd gladly have forgone the reasons I was in the media. " Kate sighed. "But I didn't control the publicity." Kate smiled at her guest. "But what about you, R P. D.?"

"Rochester Police Department, I'm Captain Jean Thompson of the 8th precinct. Most of my friends call me J T." She grinned. "How about you? When did you become a captain?"

Kate scrunched up her face like she was trying to think. "It's been just short of a year now. I got to take over the Manhattan precinct I spent most of my days as a cop in."

Jean just shook her head. "That doesn't happen very often. But then, you were already a high profile individual considering all you went through."

Kate grimaced. "Not by choice."

The Rochester Captain laughed. "It must've been exciting to be the inspiration of a hit series of novels about a badass female detective."

Kate shook her head. "Not so exciting as you'd think."

Jean giggled. "Oh come on, you can't tell me it was a burden to have that hunky Richard Castle hanging around much of the time?"

Kate rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. "Would you believe me if I said it was?"

Jean smirked. "No."

"At first he was insufferable. He was like a big kid who was enjoying playing cops and robbers. There were many times early on when I wanted to shoot him myself. But I managed to restrain myself."

Jean frowned. "So why did you put up with it?"

Kate stared at the floor for a moment. "Two reasons. One, he was friends with the mayor, and the mayor specifically requested that they let him shadow me and my team."

"And the second?" Jean asked.

"He was good." Kate drew in a large breath. "He was like a child some times, and he was seldom serious about anything. But just when you wanted to smack him on the head, he'd say something that made sense. Something that 'just fit' into the case and was instrumental in putting us on the right path." Kate smiled as she seemed to be seeing something that wasn't her hotel room. "He had a gift. He didn't think like a cop. He wasn't hung up with motives and evidence like we were taught. He looked for the story. If there wasn't a story to fit the information we had, then we didn't have the right answer." Kate smiled. "He was a big part of my team's high solve rates."

Jean was smirking again. "So I have to assume that the two of you were able to resolve your difficulties over time?"

Kate grinned. "You might say that since I took him home with me." Kate paused for a couple breaths. "Actually, more accurately," she held up her left hand. "I went home with him."

Jean frowned at Kate. "With all the stuff you went through together, why didn't I hear about you getting married to Richard Castle?" Jean frowned. "I think I remembered something about a wedding that didn't happen because Castle was kidnapped, or something? Then he was found, but there was never any real follow up as to what happened to the two of you."

Kate played with her ring for a bit. "We kept our personal lives as private as we could. Our wedding was a very private affair, family only. It made a few of our friends a bit miffed, but we just wanted to move on with our lives."

Jean shook her head and grinned. "So you actually are Captain Katherine Castle?"

Kate shrugged. "Too much alliteration. Since Kate Beckett had always been my name while working at the 12th, I chose to use Captain Kate Beckett while at work. Outside of work I can be Kate Castle, or more formally, Katherine Beckett-Castle."

Jean nodded. "Kids?"

Kate shook her head causing her long hair to brush along her cheeks. "Rick has a daughter at Colombia, but we haven't had any of our own. We haven't decided yet. When we decide it's time I will stop taking protection and see what happens." Kate smiled. "You?"

Jean smiled. "Two, a six year old boy, and a four year old little girl."

Kate raised a brow. "Pictures?"

Jean frowned. "I don't have any on me, and I don't have any pictures on this phone since it's my official police phone."

Kate glared at Jean. "What kind of mother are you that doesn't want to show off her kids to anyone she's ever known." Kate then chuckled. "We'll trade phone numbers before we leave and then you can send me some candid shots."

Jean laughed. "Do you want to see them as a nudge, or additional birth control?"

"That depends on the stories you're going to tell me."

They both laughed then spent another hour chatting about their days back at the Academy until both became tired and they bid each other good night with promises of keeping in touch in the future.

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A/N: I'm afraid that Rick and Kate will be separated for a while yet. But fear not, they haven't forgotten each other.

All Readers are Appreciated, Review if you wish