Hey! Happy new year everybody, I'm not too sure if I should make this more that a one shot, so please read and respond (even if they are just to tell me how awful it is) then tell me if you think there should be more! I think this ends on sort of a cliff-hanger, I'm not too sure so you decide!

You left!

Beckett looked at him in shock. What on earth is he doing here! She thought angrily. Then, finally registering that he was actually there, she sighed in disbelief,

"Castle? What the hell?"

"Beckett?" He looked back at her, the shock also registering on his face. Ryan and Esposito looked from Castle, to Beckett, and then back to Castle. Then Esposito noticed the gun in his hand,

"PUT THE GUN DOWN!" He yelled, Beckett joined in,

"Put down your weapon!" The two of them kept yelling at him and repeating themselves until Ryan, who wanted to join in, accidentally fired his gun at Castle whilst saying,

"Put the gun down slimebag!" And everybody body looked over at him with furrowed brows. Castle dropped the gun and Beckett walked over to him,

"Wait, Kate it's not what it looks like!"

"It never is; turn around,"

"Castle turn around," And as he did so, she said,

"Richard Castle, you're under arrest for murder." His eyes widened with shock and as Kate led him away, Esposito turned to Ryan,

"Slimebag, really Kev?" Then walked out the apartment to called forensics. Ryan stood there, puzzled, then raised his palms upwards, saying,

"What?"

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Castle sat in the interview room and looked around. Hmm, he thought. Things have definitely changed while I've been away. At that moment Beckett came into the room, and he said,

"Something's different, did you remodel?" Kate shut the door behind her forcefully and looked down at him, then leaving the safety of the door she slowly walked towards him, a small smile on her face, and sat down opposite him. For a moment she didn't look at him but, finally controlling her emotions and focusing her mind as if he were any other suspect, she looked up at him and began her questioning.

"You've been informed of your rights Mr Castle." He looked at her in disbelief,

"Really? You're not gonna ask me how my summer was?"

"You are aware that you're under arrest for murder." He smirked then retorted,

"And I thought you were just being rough with the cuffs for the fun of it." His smirk turned into a friendly smile and he added,

"You look good." The corner of her mouth twitched a little as she replied,

"You look good too," Obviously a little surprised, he said

"Yeah?"

"For murder!" He looked frustrated and asked,

"Why are you so mad at me?"

"Maybe because you were found, standing over a dead body, with a gun in your hand!"

"Yeah, but I told you, she was dead when I got there!"

"Why didn't you call?" He looked baffled by the sudden change of subject, but continued all the same.

"I was going, to call you," Kate raised her eyebrows at him and tilted her head, as if waiting for a better excuse. He hesitated, pausing for a second then carried on,

"But then you showed up before I could." She nodded her head, thinking about what he had just said,

"Really? Well then, why did we find you, in our victim's apartment?"

"Because she called me." Beckett looked really angry now, Rick began to wonder why, but she interrupted his thoughts when she continued.

"Oh, so you and Miss Santori were in a relationship!"

"Well I wouldn't really say it was a relationship. I bought a couple of sculptures from her…" But she cut him off,

"Were you sleeping with her?" He looked surprised,

"How is that relevant?"

"Motive." He nodded in understanding.

"Ah, then no, I wasn't sleeping with her." Beckett still looked annoyed,

"Are you sure? Beautiful woman…" He cut her off,

"I'm in a relationship."

"With who?" He tried desperately but casually to change the subject,

"Is that a new lipstick?"

"Castle." Her voice was warning toned now, he sighed.

"You know with who." She played dumb though, wanting him to be the one to say it.

"How should I know, I haven't seen you in months. You could have been in dozens of relationships with women since then." He felt a little confused at her tone so he said,

"You sound jealous."

"Jealous," He heard the laugh in her voice as she continued,

"Of you dating your second ex wife and publisher. Tell me, does she make you do everything on a deadline?" Having had enough of her snarky remarks, he began to fight fire with fire.

"So how about you? You still with that, cop boyfriend of yours? What was his name again? Demming!" She froze for a second and he thought she could see pain in her eyes as she looked down at the table. Then he realised,

"You broke up?" And almost immediately she changed the subject.

"So, the victim, that called you; what was it about?"

"She said she was in trouble and she couldn't go to the police." She still looked puzzled, so she asked,

"So why did she call you?"

"Because, Maya knew I had a relationship with you…" He immediately regretted his choice of words and, as she raised her eyebrows at him, he added quickly,

"And the, Erm, NYPD, so she thought I could help."

"Help how?" Jeez, he thought. She really wasn't letting up on this! Why is she so mad with me?

"Well she didn't say, she just told me to come over and when I got there, the door was open and the place was trashed. She was dead on the bed and there was a gun on the floor!" She scoffed internally and continued, sarcastically.

"So you, being the expert veteran of dozens of crime scenes, decided to pick up the murder weapon to what? Ensure we had your prints?" Castle was a bit annoyed at this, so he retorted,

"Maybe you missed the part where I said she was shot dead! When I heard the noises coming from the next room I thought whoever killed her, was coming back! So I picked up the gun to defend myself, it seemed like a very good idea at the time. That's when you, Esposito and Annie Oakley come bursting through the door!" He gestured to the mirror glass on the wall of the interrogation room. On the other side however Captain Montgomery turned to Ryan and Esposito, and said,

"Annie Oakley?" Esposito looked unblinkingly from him to Ryan, who said sheepishly,

"Yeah, I kind of, almost shot Castle." Captain Montgomery looked at him amusingly; Ryan looked back and said quickly,

"What? He had a gun!" Esposito looked annoyed, and said,

"Should have let you shoot him. It would have served him right for not calling!" A police officer then came in and handed Montgomery a file.

XXXXXXXX

On the other side of the glass, Castle and Beckett were still going at it. She seemed bored and said tiredly,

"Yeah, tell me, why should I believe you? Seeing as you make up stories for a living!" Castle looked at her, with pleading in his eyes,

"Because you know me." He could tell she was about to say something else but obviously she decided against it, as she looked down at the table frustrated and passed him a file. Opening it, she pointed at the picture of a young woman.

"Do you know her? Chloe Whitman, she was shot to death." Castle looked at her with confusion in his eyes so she continued,

"You're friend's address was found in her hand after she was killed." Castle seemed fascinated,

"Another murder, what's the connection?" Kate looked back at him annoyed,

"I don't know, you were the one with the gun, you tell me!" Why doesn't she believe me! She knows I would never do this! What is going on? He looked at her with disbelief on his face and just as he was about to say something, the door opened and Montgomery appeared in the doorway.

"Beckett," He called,

"A word?" Rick smiled over at him and said brightly,

"Hey Captain, how's it going?" Montgomery frowned at him and walked away as Beckett followed him out of the door. Castle's mouth opened in disbelief,

"What you too? Really, oh come on guys!" Why did everyone at the precinct seem to be anti-me now? What on earth had happened! Outside in the hallway Montgomery passed Beckett a look and then began to tell her the update he had just received.

"CSU recovered the slugs from Maya Santori and Chloe Whitman's place, they were a 45" and Castle was holding a 38"." Kate sighed,

"So it must have belonged to the victim for self-defence which means that Castle was telling the truth." Then Montgomery said, seriously,

"But I'd be happy to hold him if you like?" Beckett looked back at him, and he knew, by that look, that she just wanted Castle away from her. He walked away and she went back to the interview, walking back through the door and looking briskly at Castle, she said,

"You're free to go." He looked surprised,

"What that's it?" She looked away from him, and said,

"Bullets don't match you're gun. You're off the hook." Then she walked back out of the room without a second glance. He quickly stood up and made to run after her, then forgetting his jacket and running back to get it, he finally caught up with her and said,

"So what's our next move?" She kept walking and said quickly,

"There isn't one, at least not for you. You're going home."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Two victims, one an acquaintance of mine and you're sending me home?" She made up a lame excuse and said,

"You're a witness Castle, I can't have you involved." But he protested as usual,

"I'm already involved!" She lost her patience and yelled,

"Castle, go home! Go back to you're Hampton's, you're ex wife, you're book parties. Ok I've got work to do." Then she turned around and walked away from him. He looked confused and hurt as he watched her leave, and he called out hopelessly,

"What did I do?" Turning around, he saw Ryan and Esposito walking away from him, shaking their heads with dislike. That was the moment when he snapped. He wasn't gonna stand here liked some naughty school boy who'd just been bated by a teacher, No. He was gonna find his partner and sort this mess out, before he lost her forever. Looking back the way she had gone, he quickly followed her pathway, and headed towards the police training gym.

XXXXXXXXX

She was pounding lumps out of the punch bag when he found her. Oh dear, he thought panicking. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea. Kate, on the other side of the room, had no idea Castle was in the gym. She was too busy wrapped up in her own little world, as she punched the training bag mercilessly. When Castle had said Demming's name all her memories of the two of them came rushing back. As she punched the bag again the memory of their first meet came to her.

"You need someone to hold your bag." Kate looked up at the gorgeous guy and smiled,

"Are you offering?" She said, flirting just a little bit. And he smiled back,

"Yeah." She nodded back and he held the bag. Beckett grinned inwardly and began to show the guy her strength. Hitting the bag with half her strength at first she saw the impressed look in his eyes. After a few moments of 'Training', her phone began to ring and she gave the bag a final kick sending him backwards, the impression spilling over his face.

"Sorry." She said, still flirting, and walked over, well more like sauntered, to get her phone. Stretching her body out, as she could feel his eyes on her, she slowly leant forward and picked up her phone.

"Beckett." She heard Ryan on the other end of the line informing her of a murder case and replied,

"Okay, I'll be right there." She turned back to the guy and said,

"Sorry, I gotta go. Thanks." Then, grabbing her jacket she left the gym. The gorgeous, sweat covered guy's eyes watching her all the way.

Then her next flashback forced its way through, as she reached forward and stopped the bag with her right hand.

Esposito looked cheerfully at the guy who had just stopped next to Beckett.

"Hey, Demming!" He said, as the shook hands. Kate looked at Demming and vaguely heard someone introduce them but she deflected it, not looking away from him, as she said,

"Yeah we've met." He smiled at her and said,

"Hello again."

"Hello."

The scene changed again, flashing from different moments:

Their date.

The Chinese food.

The cases they solved.

The cab home.

The first kiss.

His excitement over their first vacation together.

The look on his face when she cancelled it and dumped him, almost like he knew the real reason she did it. Kate felt all these things go through her and let out a sob.

XXXXXXXXX

Castle, who had his back to her and had been trying to tiptoe quietly out of the room, stopped suddenly. He could have sworn he'd heard her… No. He must be imagining things. He stepped forward once more then he heard it again, a little sob that sounded like it was coming from the other side of the room. He listened intently as he realised the pounding had stopped, and someone – probably Beckett – was crying. But just as he turned around; he saw her fall to her knees and wrap her arms around herself, sobbing uncontrollably. So, without thinking, Castle ran towards her and scooped her into his arms. Then she was sobbing against a chest, not even sure whose it was but she carried on anyway. For some reason she felt warm and safe, like she only ever did when she was with Castle… Then she knew whose chest it was and pushed away from it, saying.

"Castle!"

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