I know the holidays were tough for a lot of people this year - myself included - so I hope you were able to find some peace in it somewhere. Xo

Castle is practically giddy the next morning when he gets up for a day at the precinct. He even wakes up extra early to make sure that he retrieves Kate's coffee with enough time to get to the precinct around the same time she does.

Before he rolls out of bed, he texts Jenny to see how she and Ryan are doing with his recovery. He tells her he's going into the precinct and asks her to let him know if he can bring them anything on his way home later.

When he steps off the precinct elevator, he's arrested by the sight of Kate sitting on a desk in front of the murder board, closed-cap marker in her mouth. She's soft in a purple silk button-down, a pair of dark-wash jeans, and a curly ponytail and he's not sure she's ever looked more beautiful.

Okay, yeah, no, actually, he can recall several competing times in his memory, but he's feeling a little grateful this morning.

"Good morning, Detective," he greets her, holding out her coffee for her.

Kate turns to him, her eyes flicking down to the cup in his hands. She hesitates for a brief second, but takes it from him, a small smile stretching across her lips. "Thanks, Castle."

She takes a sip, her eyes slipping closed as she relishes the way the warmth slides down her throat. Tearing his gaze away from her, he settles down next to her — keeping a foot of respectable space between them — and stares up at the murder board.

"A little early for you, isn't it?" she asks him, a slight tease in her voice to match the lift of an eyebrow.

He narrows his eyes. "Maybe I became a morning person while I was gone." It's out before he can stop it, the reminder that he was gone, but her eyes don't dim like he expects them to.

She snorts in disbelief. "Right."

Castle nods toward the board. "What's going on with the boyfriend?"

"After we left your place, we brought Jimmy in for questioning. He said he and Melissa had been arguing lately, but nothing serious. The boys at his weekly game night alibied him out for our murder window."

"His friends are his alibi?" Castle asks skeptically.

"Yeah, I had the same thought," Beckett says thoughtfully. "Which is why we haven't completely ruled him out as a suspect until we have more concrete proof."

"What's our next move?"

"We notified Melissa's parents, but they were out of town on a trip so we didn't get to interview them. They got back last night, so I thought we'd go talk to them, see if they know something. Espo's talking to Melissa's friends, so we can all regroup later and compare notes. Someone's gotta know something."

They're out most of the morning and early afternoon, chasing down a few leads Melissa's parents offered up. It's nearly 2 o'clock by the time they get back to the precinct, bags of Remy's burgers in their hands that they'll share with Esposito.

With the exception of a few awkward moments between them, being back at Beckett's side felt like coming home, almost as if no time at all had passed.

Almost.

She's still playing it close to the vest, doesn't offer up anything more beyond the case and some surface-level talk about their friends and how Ryan's doing.

But at least it's something. He'll get a Christmas miracle out of her yet, he thinks.

"Yo," Esposito ducks his head into the break room. He fishes a double cheeseburger out of one of the bags and unwraps it before taking a large bite. "I got something you're definitely gonna want to see," he says through a mouthful.

Beckett presses her lips together, suppressing a smile.

"You couldn't have waited until you were done chewing?" Castle asks, taking a sip of his milkshake.

Esposito glares at him, but swallows before he opens his mouth again. "You remember that big Missing Persons-turned-homicide case a few years ago? Danielle Mason?"

"Um," Beckett looks skyward, sorting through her memory. "I think so, yeah. NYU student. Disappeared in the middle of the day between classes - "

"I heard about that case," Castle interjects. "It was all over the news. They searched for her for weeks and then her body turned up in the middle of the Hudson. Did they ever catch the killer?"

Beckett shakes her head. "By the time they'd found her, the water had washed away all forensic evidence and the detectives on the case had no solid leads."

"Until now," Esposito says grimly. "You'll never guess who she was dating at the time."

"Son of a bitch," she murmurs, wiping her mouth with a napkin. "Jimmy Carson?"

"Yup." Esposito snags a fry off Castle, who slaps his hand away. Esposito grins, shoving the fry between his lips.

"That can't be a coincidence," Castle says.

"No," Beckett agrees.

"How do you wanna handle this?" Esposito asks.

"We've already interviewed Jimmy twice. If he's the one behind all this, he's not going to give us any more. All we have right now is a theory."

"A hell of a theory," Castle counters.

"Yeah." Beckett bites her lip in thought. "All right, I want unis to have eyes on him until we can come back with solid evidence. Castle and I will interview Danielle's parents. Maybe if we offer him up as a person of interest, it'll jog their memory of anything suspicious that might have happened with Jimmy around that time. We've dug through his background and spoken to his friends, but expand the pool to our new timeframe. Talk to professors, classmates, anyone in his circle from around the time that Danielle was killed."

Esposito nods. "You got it, boss."

"You happen to have an address for Danielle's parents?"

"Yeah, but they moved upstate. Ithaca."

"Oh." Damn. Castle does some fast math. Three and a half hours each way - in good traffic - in the middle of the day?

"Hey Beckett, if you'd rather, I can - " Esposito starts.

Kate shakes her head. "No, it's fine."

"We can ask Ithaca police to talk to them."

She sighs. "I can't imagine the Masons are thrilled with the cops, so one shot at talking to them might be all we get. I'd rather just do it myself." Kate turns to Castle. "7 hours round-trip, Castle."

Her gaze flicks down to her watch. "If you'd rather stay here - "

"No," he says quickly. "I want to go with you."

He can't tell if she's relieved or irritated by that, but she doesn't fight him. "Okay. Grab your coat. We'll stop for coffee on the way. Something tells me we're gonna need it."

The heater whines as Castle shifts uncomfortably. If possible, the spring in the passenger seat has only gotten worse in the last six months — as if it too was punishing him for his absence.

"Castle, can you quit fidgeting?" Beckett grits, her hands white-knuckled around the steering wheel. He doesn't blame her — the light flurrying that began nearly an hour into their trip is really starting to come down outside now.

"Sorry," he grumbles, wincing. "It's the spring."

She doesn't reply, just clenches her jaw and flicks the volume to the radio up when a familiar chime signals a local weather report.

"Nearly all of New York will continue to accumulate several inches of snow tonight as the East Coast battles the first major snow event of the season. The storm will continue to worsen as it moves north into the Finger Lakes region. Residents are encouraged to stay off the roads when possible and - "

"Shit," she mutters under her breath.

"Why don't we turn around and head back to the city?" Castle suggests gently.

Beckett shakes her head. "We're moving with the storm now and we're only about 45 minutes out from Ithaca. If we turn around now, I'm not sure we'll make it home."

"Okay," he says slowly. "But it doesn't sound like it's going anywhere if we try to wait it out. We'll be dealing with lake effect snow, too."

"I know," she says tightly, licking her lips as the tension in her body continues to coil around the wheel.

Oh, wait.

Beckett's not nervous about driving in the snow. She —

"We're going to be staying the night in Ithaca, aren't we?" he asks.

She sighs, tearing a hand through her long locks. "Barring a significant break in the weather that we can count on, yeah, I think so."

Well, shit.

If there was ever a time where Beckett could kick herself for not paying closer attention to the forecast before leaving, it's now.

If she thought she wouldn't kill them by turning around and driving back to Manhattan, she'd do it in a second. The very last thing she wants to do right now is spend the night near Castle hours away from the city.

At least she won't have to share a room with him. Thank god for small favors.

"I'm sorry, what?" Beckett snaps.

The hotel receptionist looks flustered. "I'm sorry, ma'am - "

"It's Detective." Frustrated, Kate tears her gloves off with her teeth, pocketing them in her coat.

"Detective." The receptionist swallows hard. "I wish we had more than one queen-sized room available for you, but Ithaca is a large college town that houses both Cornell University and Ithaca College. Many of our students were set to fly home today for the winter holidays, but all flights have been grounded until the storm passes."

"They don't have dorms they can stay in?" Beckett mutters under her breath, pinching the bridge of her nose.

The other woman pastes a tight smile across her lips. "Most of the dorms close over Winter Break."

"Kate," Castle says softly, laying a warm hand on her shoulder. Beckett sighs, letting go some of the tension she's held on to in the last few hours.

"I'm sorry," Beckett apologizes. "It's not your fault."

The other woman's shoulders drop a little in relief as she turns her attention back to her computer. "You'll be in room 308." She slides the keycards across the counter toward them. "Your food delivery options are probably limited right now because of the storm, but we do have a full kitchen operating. In your room, you'll find a room service menu."

"Thank you, Brittany," Castle's eyes dip down to the young woman's nametag as he flashes her his bright, charming smile.

Brittany's eyes brighten a little at that and guilt washes over Kate. "Please call down if you need anything. Check out is tomorrow at 11."

Castle grins, pocketing the keycards and takes Kate's arm, hooking his through hers. "Come on, Beckett."

She doesn't pull away, too exhausted to fight him. Not that she really wants to anyway. "You're really enjoying this, aren't you, Castle?"

The smile drops off his face, but the light in his eyes remains. "I don't enjoy seeing you upset, Kate."

She swallows hard at the gentle sincerity in his voice as she follows him onto the elevator.

"I'm sure the roads will be better in the morning," he reassures her. "We can check out before 11, talk to Danielle's parents and be back home by dark."

She presses the button for their floor, squeezes his arm with her other hand. "Thanks, Castle."

This smile, the one that crinkles at his eyes, takes her breath away. "Anytime."

Oh, so weird that one of my favorite tropes has just suddenly materialized in the town of my alma mater...

x,

Liv