Castle's absence outside of the precinct had been noticed. It wasn't that they hung out together every day... but they tried to get some gaming time in once a week - or more, if they could! - and it had been weeks since Castle had joined them.

They didn't mind it being just the two of them... but Castle would usually share all of his not-safe-for-work anecdotes and not 'Beckett appropriate' stories during these Xbox sessions and they were in desperate need for something along those lines to entertain them.

They knew where he would be... the Old Haunt.

He spent a lot of his free time there these days. Being a business owner wasn't the 'pop in and out as you please', side-gig that he was hoping for. Paperwork, business meetings and brainstorming marketing strategies took up a lot more time than he had imagined. But, despite underestimating how big of a commitment the Old Haunt was, it was his baby and he wasn't ready to give up on it.

Jo had been managing the bar since Castle took over as owner. She ran a tight ship - being two parts 'life of the party' and one part 'no nonsense' - and was probably the sole reason this place hadn't gone under yet, like many of the bars around the city had lately. Her son, Perry, worked the slower nights during the week.

"Hey, Perry." Ryan greeted as he and Espo entered the hangout.

The young man smiled and tilted his chin up, "hey hey!" He called to them, continuing to make whatever drink the gorgeous blonde sitting in front of him had ordered.

"Castle in?"

"Sure is." He passed the blonde her drink, with a charming smile.

This was usually when Perry would pass them a fresh bottle of scotch and glasses before letting them through to the secret basement. But tonight, he simply turned to them and looked as if he was waiting for their order.

"Can we...?" Esposito motioned his hands toward the basement.

"Uh... not tonight." Perry didn't seem to want to explain any further. But they two detectives held his gaze until he eventually continued. "Mister Castle isn't alone."

Esposito and Ryan gave each other a knowing look. Of course Castle would use the secret basement to impress some overly-excitable, undoubtedly hot, young thing he had picked up at some point during his evening away from the precinct.

"In that case... we'll take two beers."

The pair sat at their usual seats at the booth in the far corner of the bar.

"Beckett's going to be pissed." Ryan said, genuinely concerned. They weren't sure exactly what was going on between the two of them... but things had been tense, to say the least.

"I'm not gonna tell her. Are you?" Espo's question came out more like a warning than anything... but Ryan had stopped listening. He was too busy staring across the bar. Espo looked over to see what had caught his eye. "Oh... looks like no one has to tell her..."

He only caught a short glimpse - but it was undeniably her. Kate Beckett, rushing off after exiting the secret basement of the Old Haunt.

They didn't draw her attention, and just watch as she left in a hurry. Partly because they respect her privacy - but mostly because neither one of them knew what to say.

"That can't be what it looks like. Right?" Ryan asked his friend, still staring off in the distance.

"Of course not." He shook his head.

As if on cue, Castle approached from his hidden 'lair' - as he had dubbed it - with messed hair and a stupidly smug grin on his face. This man was looking too pleased with himself for them to convince themselves there was an innocent explanation behind this.

Castle's eyes drifted across the patrons of the bar until they landed on his friends. His smile dropped, instantly, as he realised what they had just witnessed.

"This isn't what it looks like." He protested as he walked over to their usual booth.

And with those six words, they knew that this was exactly what it looked like...