Even when Kate had been so preoccupied with Josh leaning against her desk, she could see Castle's look as he stood in the elevator's corner. Only then did it dawn on her why he had left so suddenly.
Josh.
She knows there is something between them, but she's not one to articulate her feelings as well as he can. Not that he's acted on those feelings, but she can tell he is extremely close to doing so. None of that would matter because right now, she has her arms full of doctor.
To her, for the last couple of months, he has been nothing but a placeholder for what her heart really wants.
They barely see each other, and when they do, it's just a quick roll in the hay, a 'have a good day' as he is leaving her apartment from over his shoulder, and he is off to save someone else's life, or he's flying to a third-world country to provide medical attention to save a child. Or her phone rings, and she's summoned to a crime scene where a murder has taken place. What they have is simply sex. They use it to relieve stress in the other's life.
For now, it works. But she knows something is missing. And the main ingredient is Castle.
The elevator doors slide closed, and she sees Rick drop his head almost as if ashamed before they do. She wondered what could be going through his mind as she noticed the numbers on the elevator indicator hit L for the lobby, knowing he was gone. Josh gives her one last squeeze in the form of a hug and separates from her.
"So now that this case is over, would you like to grab a bite to eat?" Josh asks.
Kate looks at him, not knowing if he is serious. For the amount of work they put into this case, she realizes that he will never know the outcome of what she and Castle had done and never will. The gag order in place by Homeland Security took care of that. So, she shows a little compassion and nods her head.
Dinner is just that time to get something to eat together. They don't discuss anything about each other's day, rightfully so, but now she can see that they could be more if they had a starting place. He is easy on the eyes, and it's the one thing that attracted her to him. That, and he is fantastic in bed.
They return to her place after their meal, and naturally, they end up in bed together. But this time, the sex seemed better for her. It's almost like making love, not just looking for a quick release, and then he's out saving the world. No, this time, it's different.
The call comes as she tries to get untangled from the limbs that hold her in place. When she reaches for the phone on the nightstand, a strong arm tries to pull her closer to him. And for once, she doesn't want to leave the warmth of his body. Knowing that the phone won't stop ringing, she reaches out and picks it up.
"Beckett." She answers tiredly.
There is a murder, and she needs to get to the crime scene. She checks the time on the clock, resting by the bed on the nightstand, and sees that she has time for a shower and to call Castle to meet her once she's finished with her shower.
She tries to leave the bed, but the arm that was covering her rib cage has strategically moved lower. The arm also must have a mind of its own because, on its own accord, it pulled her tighter against his body.
"Don't go, Kate, stay in bed where it's warm."
"Josh, There's been a murder. I'm on call, and I need to leave."
She hears a sigh of frustration behind her, even though it's only 4:30 in the morning. If she was honest with herself, she didn't want to leave the warmth of his body, but duty calls.
"I don't know when I will be back, but I know you have a medical conference today at Mount Sinai. So when you have the time, give me a call. Maybe we can get lunch together." Kate says as she pulls the offending arm off her body and slides out of the bed.
She stands up next to the bed, and her gaze drops to the form of his body that is partially covered by the sheets. She likes what she sees. He is very talented with his god-given gift, she'll give him that. And the fact that he wasn't afraid to use his mouth on certain parts of her own body made her mind wander to everything they did last night. But now she needs to start her day, so she turns and heads to the bathroom.
The case had taken so many twists and turns that they were to a point where there was no traction. They had a few leads early on, but they ended up being explained away. Right now, they were looking at Sarah's mother, or so they thought. They caught her in line at JFK for a flight to a country that would not give her up so easily if the NYPD came to get her. She was in the box, waiting to be questioned again.
Castle had pitched the idea that Gloria Chambers was only after a payoff because Sarah had recently added her to her will. They started putting it together when they discovered that Sarah's mother wasn't Sarah's. She was just your basic two-bit con artist, but she left a lot of dead bodies in her wake.
After looking into her past, they found that she was not a murderer. Of course, she had an alibi so that set them back to square one.
The case was stalled, and Kate was not used to sitting still. Deciding to refresh her mind with what they have so far, she gets up and looks over to Castle's empty chair by the side of her desk before heading to the murder board. She goes over what they have but still can't shake the thought that Castle is avoiding the 12th and her.
She did call him yesterday, and while he seemed excited they had a new case at first, he was, she couldn't put her finger on it, but if she used any word, she would use distracted. She shook her head and looked at the murder board once again. She knew that the suspects they interviewed all had an alibi. One or two were solid, but a couple were soft, and she concentrated on those suspects first.
Not long after she returned to the precinct the next day, Ryan announced that he had new information on a lead.
Castle looked at Ryan with a raised eyebrow and waited for his news.
The information was that a waitress in a Midtown restaurant had witnessed a fight between Sarah and an unknown person.
This could be the lead that they have been waiting for. Kate thanked Ryan for the info and had him search the traffic cams for Sarah's arrival at the restaurant while she and Castle went to the restaurant.
The lead they thought they had ended up being a meeting of sorts. The waitress they talked to told them that Sarah was meeting with a Caucasian male with brown hair, and she even pointed to the table they met at. By chance, the man had entered when Kate and Castle were inquiring about the meeting Sarah had at the restaurant.
Castle had promised to read the script that the waitress wanted to give Sarah for the information they needed. Little did they know now, but this script was the critical evidence in finding out who killed Sarah.
After speaking with the private detective, he gave them information they already knew about, which was another dead end.
On the way out of the restaurant, Castle collected the script the waitress wanted to give Sarah. He took it, but he wasn't promising to read it. He didn't tell the waitress that, but Kate appreciated his efforts.