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It was early when Richard Castle made his way downtown to the precinct. On his way, he had stopped to buy them the usual morning coffee and a bear claw for Beckett. He knew she loved those. Smiling, even though they didn’t have another case, he parked in the garage and took the elevator upstairs to the 8th floor where homicide was. The familiar ping of the elevator let him know that he had arrived and his stomach jumped as well. He would see her again! Beckett had been on a small vacation due to some private matters – as she had told him – and it had t aken her two weeks. Yesterday evening she had texted him tough. A small and normal text like friends would do it.
Back in NY. Kx
He still remembered his excitement at the little sentence and the kiss at the end of her initial. Things were going well between them and neither he, nor her were seeing someone and he knew that it was time to pop the question and ask her out for a real date. Yet he hesitated. She was his friend and he was her partner. Was this even right? Shoving the thought away, he exited the elevator and headed past the other desks and the boards to her desk where she was. She looked relaxed and beautiful. Her hair was falling over her body in dark blone waves and curls and she carelessly brushed a strand of it behind her ear to continue writing on some form. She wore tight jeans, high brown boots, a red blouse and a brown leather jacket. She looked stunning and he stopped in his tracks to look at her for a moment.
“If you stare to long it’s going to look like you’re a stalker”, Ryan said beside him and it made him jump.
Espositio was beside his partner, holding a cup of coffee and scrutinized him.
“You should just ask her out mate”, he said.
“Yeah, he’s right”, Ryan agreed. “It’s about damn time and then we can collect our piece of the bet”, he grinned and Esposito laughed.
“ There’s another bet?“, Rick asked but the two Detective’s left laughing.
Beckett looked up and her eyes looked straight into his. She smiled. He smiled a s well a nd then stepped to her.
“Good morning Detective”, he greeted and put the pastry and the coffee in front of her. “How was your vacation?”
“ Quite.. ”, she looked for words. “… successful.”
“That’s great”, he said and she smiled again. “Any new cases?”, he asked and looked at the files on her desk.
“No. I’m just doing some paperwork. Catch up with stuff.”
Rick nodded and took a sip of his Latte.
“How’s the new book going?”, she asked.
“Slowly.”
“Oh?”
Kate was surprised. Usually he did quite well when they had cases and a lot of work . Why was he struggling? She scrutinized him. Something was odd. Something was different from the usual Castle. His arrogance and self-love had vanished, he looked insecure.
“Can I help you with the story?”, she asked.
“No”, he simply said and she let it be and continued working on the papers in front of her.
He watched her in his thoughts, thinking about last night when he had worked on his new story. He had written about Nikki Heat and Derrick Storm. Another night between them and he somehow had stopped. He knew it wasn’t right anymore to think about Kate in this way. It hadn’t bothered him during the first novel since she was just his inspiration. His muse. Yet things were different and he also started struggling with his characters. Struggling with his feelings towards her. His thoughts got interrupted by her phone.
“Beckett? Yes... Yes, alright, stay calm, we’re on our way”, she said and hung up. “Esposito! Ryan! We got a case!”, she said and looked at Castle. “We got to hurry.”
The three of them followed her downstairs to their cars and dove off to a dingy looking apartment building in the South Bronx.
“What’s the situation?”, Ryan asked when they gathered around the front door.
“A woman called. She’s threatened by her boyfriend. She currently has locked herself in the bathroom but he wants to kill her. We go up, kick the door in and take him in custody. But be careful. He’s dangerous”, Beckett warned while they slipped into their safety vests.
“Sounds good, let’s go”, Esposito said and they headed upstairs.
Some neighbors stood in the hallway and there was a lot of screaming and shouting.
“Go inside”, the Detectives ordered and then they headed to apartment number 417.
“NYPD OPEN UP!”, Beckett shouted through the door but there was just more shouting inside and some shot s .
Esposito and Ryan crashed through the door and secured the room when Beckett hurried inside. The flat was deserted and they only found the girlfriend in the bathroom. The door was nearly broken down and there were bullet holes in it.
“Are you alright?”, Kate asked the frightened young woman who sat on the bathroom floor and Esposito looked after her.
“Yeah I’m fine”, she said while Beckett stepped to Ryan who observed the fire escape.
“He must have fled down here”, he explained.
Castle stood by the door and watched the whole scene who was quite chaotic.
“We put an APB on him. Can you give us a picture of him?”, she asked the young woman who was shaking in Espositos arms and cried silently before she nodded slightly. “Alright. Let’s get her to the precinct and then let’s find him.”
They did and ended up in one of the small conference rooms together, sitting over some files and information they gathered about their suspect. It was pretty late when Rick vanished downstairs to grab the food from the delivery boy, handed him a generous tip and headed upstairs again. It was one of their rituals and he knew everyone was hungry and exhausted. Ryan and Esposito immediately dug in, but Beckett didn’t take any of the food.
“You should eat something. You haven’t had anything the whole day except the pastry.”
She knew he was right, and took some Chinese noodles while sitting back and thinking about the case.
“Why try to kill his girlfriend? Why vanish? Something’s quite wrong with this picture.”
“Well he has some money problems. Maybe he got involved with the wrong guys?”, Ryan suggested.
“Or he just wanted to get rid of her”, Esposito said and had another slice of pizza.
“What if he didn’t? What if someone threatened him to do it?” , Castel suggested.
“But why? To save someone else?”
“Maybe”, Castle said again and had a bite from his food.
Beckett’s phone interrupted their discussion and dinner a few minutes later and she picked up when she saw that it were some colleagues. Apparently, they had found him near an old disco a few blocks away from the old fabric complex near the apartment of the girlfriend.
For the next days they watched the building and looked for their suspect but he stayed hidden. It was past midnight on a Saturday night when Beckett and Castle sat in her car, watching the entrance of the disco and the surrounding buildings. All was calm, the night was cold and Rick could see how tired Beckett really was. They all had worked late and looked for their suspect everywhere. Castle himself was hungry as well.
“What about dinner?”, he asked while handing her a blanked they had on the backseat of their car.
“Thanks”, she mumbled and put the blanket over her legs. “We can’t simply leave for dinner Castle.”
“I could go and grab something”, he offered. “Do you want something as well?”
“No, thanks.”
He got out and headed a few blocks back where he had seen a small café that had still open. He ordered two warm coffee - like usual - and headed back with a small bag of different pastries and food. It was cold and the air smelled of snow. It would probably snow soon. Rick liked snow, it reminded him of his childhood and Alexis’ when they had decorated the Christmas tree in their flat. He made his way back to the car and knocked at the window so Beckett would open the lock. She did and he slipped back inside. Immediately the car smelled of coffee and food. He handed her the coffee and she thanked him.
“Thank you Castle”, Kate said and smiled softly before she looked at the entrance of the club again.
“I got panini’s, I got some pastry, a bear-claw. Want some?”
“No thanks.”
“Come on, you haven’t eaten all day, you need to get something into your system. You can have half of it. I got way too much anyway.”
“You sure?”
“Of course. Here...”
He handed her a panini and hungry she ate from it.
“Oh gosh this is so good.”
“Is it the veggy one?”, he asked quite sad and she smiled.
“You can have half”, she said and handed him the rest while she got another one.
They ate in silence and it was late and Kate was getting sleepy when their suspect exited the club.
“Castle”, she said and took his hand to wake him up, but he was already awake and looked at her for a moment before she let go of his hand again and got out her gun.
“Stay here”, she ordered. “I’ll get him.”
“Kate!”, he said but she was already out of the car. “Damn it!”
Rick got out of the car as well and followed her seeing another guy that followed them. He had to get him first.
“NYPD stop moving!”, Kate shouted at their suspect.
The other guy that had followed Beckett drew a gun but Castle was quicker and shoved him against the wall of the house nearby. Kate saw what happened and shouted his name when a shot pierced the silence of the night and Rick stumbled back.
“Rick!”
Suddenly Ryan and Esposito were by her side and they cuffed both men when Kate hurried to Castle. He leaned against the wall and breathed heavily, a hand on his side.
“You okay?”, she asked and put his hand away.
“Yeah... He just nicked my side. Nothing serious. I’m good.”
“Come on we get you into hospital”, Kate said. “You got this?”, she asked Esposito who nodded and they both headed to the hospital.
The Doctor confirmed that it was nothing too serious. They stitched him up and send him home. Kate got him home and it was already morning. Tired and sore he opened the door to his flat and Kate followed him inside.
“Coffee?”, he offered and she nodded while sitting by the kitchen counter.
Quickly he fixed them a cup and sat down beside her.
“Thanks Castle,” Kate then mumbled while he sipped from his coffee.
“For what?”
“For saving my life”, she said and looked into his eyes.
“You’re welcome”, he said after a while of silence between them and it was so much more.
“I should get back to the precinct”, Kate mumbled and her eyes wandered to his lips. “Get some rest.”
“I should join you. We have to find out what this was all about. Especially who’s the second guy.”
“Get some rest Richard”, she ordered. “I will keep you updated.”
“Alright.”
Without seeing it coming, Kate stood on tiptoes and quickly pressed a soft kiss on his lips before she quickly left. Richard was tired and yet the happiness took over when he headed to his office to get some rest. All seemed to be good, all seemed to be going in the right direction...