When Beckett and Esposito were turned away from Castle's room with thirty minutes to kill, they regretted finishing their coffees so promptly. But they didn't really feel the need for another right away, so Espo wheeled her around for a bit to start getting a feel for the place. After a while they found a spot to rest where they could look out at the people shuffling through the tree-lined courtyard beneath, bundled up against the chilly wind, going about their days. The low winter sun through the glass was warming on Beckett's face, filtered through the bare branches of the trees.

The trees … she had to remind herself that she'd been out in the woods the last couple of days. All she'd ever seen was the one windowless room. Castle had said the house was beautiful — eerily beautiful. He would have all these memories … the search, the woods, the house, the fire. Now she was the one with blank spots.

"It's good to be back in the city," said Esposito, as if he'd read her mind.

"You were only out of it a few hours!"

He didn't catch her eye. "Felt like longer," he said at last.

Yeah, it probably had. There wasn't anything she needed to say, not about that. There never had been between them. But they didn't return to the lighthearted chat they'd been having in the cafeteria, either.

She was dreading what sort of agony they might find Castle in after his dressing change, but when they got there he was in what you might call good spirits. Well, that's whathemight have called it, anyway: the guy was wasted.

"He-e-e-y-y-y, Beckett!" he said with a big dopey grin when they came in. "And Ess-psosito, you came back for me, man. You guys are the best."

"He's still a bit loopy," said his nurse, unnecessarily. Her name tag read Sharon. "He'll come right in a bit."

"Thanks," said Beckett. "Hey, Castle," she said, once Espo had wheeled her back to her spot at his right hand, which she immediately clasped. "How you feeling?"

"I'm go-o-o-o-od!" he said happily. "The nurse lady burrito-ed me. Hey, nurse lady! This is Beckett."

"Castle!"

Sharon barely looked up from the notes she was taking. "I've been called a lot worse."

"Aww, I've embarrassed her," said Castle, patting Beckett's hand lazily. "I'm always doing that. You still love me, though, don't you, Beckett? She loves me," he confirmed to the nurse, then added in a loud whisper: "She thinks nobody knows, but everybody knows!"

A barely-suppressed snort burst out from behind Beckett, and she threw Esposito a dirty look over her shoulder.

"You guys are married now, Castle," said Espo. "I think we figured it out."

"We are?" Castle looked puzzled for a second, then his face lit up with wonder. "Oh, yeah!"

Esposito was struggling to keep a straight face. "Shut up!" Beckett told him sharply. "He wasn't like this when he woke up last night," she added to the nurse.

"Different drugs," said Sharon. "This stuff really does send you to another planet."

"Will you have to dope him like this every day?"

Sharon tucked the last of her things away and came over. "Not forever," she said gently. "We back it off gradually. It's a balancing act, because, no, we can't keep this up for weeks on end. But there's going to be a lot of pain to manage, too."

"Hey, guys," interrupted Castle, oblivious. "Maybe I should send Nikki Heat to another planet! She could totally be an astronaut! Like, you know, moonlight as one." He gasped with excitement. "Oh, that's good. Moonlight Heat. There could be murder in space, right?" He lowered his voice dramatically. "'In space, no one can hear you scream…'"

"Pretty sure that's taken, bro," said Esposito. "Did I just have to school him on a movie reference?" he added to Beckett.

"Castle, think about my life," she said, struggling to hold back a laugh herself now. "Just when exactly do you think I'd have time to train as an astronaut?"

But he was off, muttering away to himself with that glazed-over look he got when he was away in fiction-land.

"Listen, Beckett," said Espo, looking over his shoulder as the nurse walked out. He pulled up a chair to be at her level. "I should go soon, but I wanted to tell you something — well, both of you, actually, but I didn't know your husband there was gonna be all cuckoo for cocoa puffs when we got back."

"I am totally compis mentos, thank you," said Castle, and then went into a fit of giggles at his error, through which Beckett was sure she detected the word 'freshmaker' at least once.

"I thought his jokes were bad at the best of times," muttered Espo. "The thing is … Gates has given me and Ryan the Amy Barrett interview."

Beckett was taken aback for a second. She hadn't spared a thought for Barrett since yesterday. But, of course, the girl could know all sorts of things about Jerry Tyson that they hadn't had time to ferret out while they were just focussed on finding him. Who knew how many secret hides he'd had, all over the city — the country, even — that could fill in the gaps about him.

"It should be you guys," said Esposito. "Gates wants to keep pushing ASAP, she's got press clamouring all over the place for all the details we can give 'em."

"I bet," said Beckett.

"But, since he's dead, I don't see why we need to rush. If you wanted us to wait a week or two, till you're outta here…"

"Espo, no," she said firmly. "Even if I do get out that soon, what am I gonna do, roll up to the box in all this?" She gestured at her leg, bandaged to the hilt and strapped into the bulky foam splint. "Doesn't exactly project authority. And I might not be off my face like some people, but I've got enough painkillers in my system that I wouldn't want to, anyway. Gates is right. And there's no one I trust more."

He smiled gruffly. "Okay. I just didn't feel right about doing it without at least running it past you."

"Softie," she said. "When is it?"

"This afternoon."

"Well, what are you doing sitting around here, then? Go prep for it!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm outta here." He rose to go.

"Hey, Espo?" Castle interrupted. "This might sound weird but …am I a zombie?"

Esposito gave Beckett a pained look. "This crap again?"

"You're not a zombie, Castle," said Beckett, rolling her eyes.

"But … what's with…" He was looking down, perplexed, at his dressings.

"Oh," she said. "Uh, are you maybe thinking of a mummy?"

"You know, when he knocks you up with a bunch of nerdy little boys, you're gonna be well practised at all this garbage," muttered Esposito.

"Shut up," said Beckett again. "They're just bandages, babe," she went on patiently. "Don't poke them, you idiot. Burns, remember? You were burned in a fire?"

Castle started laughing again. "Yeah, I was wasn't I? That was pretty stupid." He was giggling so that he could hardly get the words out. "I — I really fried myself! And now it — it hurts so bad!" he wheezed, as if it was the biggest joke in town. "It hurts so bad!"

Beckett's chest tightened. "You big goof," she said shakily, pinning his hand down by his side. He was still chuckling dopily away. A merciful reprieve, but a temporary one. "I'm sorry, babe," she whispered. "I'm so sorry. "

She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, but didn't turn around. "You gonna be okay?" asked Esposito softly. Beckett nodded. "I'll leave you guys to it," he said, and headed for the door.

"Espo," she called. He looked back and she lifted her weary eyes to his. "Don't you be thinking about us in there. Your interrogation: you run it your way, like any other case. Let's nail the bastard."

He smirked. "Posthumously?"

"If that's all we got, then yeah."