Hey guys, how about that finale? Whew! (May or may not be thinking about writing a post-finale fic...)
Anyway, while I'm deciding about that, enjoy the next chapter of this! I hope you enjoyed the last one :D
And remember; reviews are appreciated and replied to (mostly, when is working properly), but they're not necessary.

- Ashley xx

"Cas...kett..." Castle muttered to himself in the car on the way to talk to Eloise Reed's next of kin. "How did they come up with that? They don't have the mental capacity for that."

Beckett glanced at him awkwardly then focused her eyes back on the road. "Actually, uh... I came up with that. As a joke, but I guess they were serious about it."

"Why were they even thinking up couple names for us?"

"I uh... I broke up with Josh," she said shortly.

"When?"

"This morning," she shrugged. "He was just never around when I needed him, you know. When you're in a relationship with someone, you want them to be there for you, right? And while everything was happening yesterday, he was nowhere. It was the right thing to do."

With the new revelation, Castle and Beckett were determinedly silent for the rest of the trip, only glancing at each other every few minutes.

Beckett knocked on the door three times, holding her badge in her hand so that she was ready to show it.

A woman that looked remarkably similar to Eloise opened up, and looked quizzically at them. "Can I help you?" she asked.

"Ania Reed?" Beckett asked.

"Yes," she replied, her eyes narrowing even further. "Who died?"

"Uh – who – what makes you say that?"

"You're a cop," Ania said, her eyes darting down to the badge that Beckett hadn't shown yet. "You know my name. They don't send people down for things like parking fines. Who died?"

Beckett swallowed. "Your sister, Eloise."

Ania rolled her eyes and walked back into the house. "Would you like anything to drink?" she asked them.

"Ms Reed, you're being incredibly blasé considering that your sister was found murdered this morning," Beckett said, confused.

"Hey, it happens," she said, the faintest hint of tears showing in her eyes. "I just didn't think it'd be Eloise."

"Why does your name sound familiar to me?" Castle asked suddenly. "Like I've heard it before..."

"Who are you?" Ania asked.

"Sorry," Beckett said, holding out her hand. "I'm Detective Kate Beckett, this is Richard Castle. He's working with the NYPD."

"You're the writer," she said, nodding. "Great work on Naked Heat, by the way."

"Thank you," he said, while Beckett blushed.

"Sorry, Ms Reed, but we're going to need to ask you a few questions."

"I'll start," Castle said, shooting Beckett a playful smile while she countered with a murderous glare. "Who died?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Before. Who died before Eloise? Somebody had to, otherwise you wouldn't be so..." He waved his hands around trying to think of the right word. "Calm," he finally finished.

Ania smiled, wiping a few streaks of tears off of her face. "All my friends," she said, picking up a photo from the mantelpiece. "That's them."

"All of them?" Beckett asked. "How?"

"The Hamptons fire," Castle said. "Right? I mean, they were killed in that?"

"What fire?"

"My friends and I had just graduated high school, and we decided to go away to celebrate it. Lacey's mum had a place in the Hamptons, and we were staying there for a week. On the third day into our stay, I had an appointment that I couldn't miss, so I travelled into the city. By the time I got back to the Hamptons, the fire had been put out, and all my friends were dead. I was a mess, for ages. Imagine losing everybody in the world that was important to you at once, Detective, and that's what happened to me."

"Wow," Beckett sighed, darting her eyes towards Castle. She might have been imagining it, but she thought she saw him do the exact same thing. "I'm sorry, Ania. Do they know what caused it?"

"Arson," Castle said. "They never caught the guy."

"How do you even know about this?"

"My place in the Hamptons... Just down the street from the house that caught fire. We were evacuated."

The doorbell rang, and Ania excused herself. When she came back, a young girl, perhaps five years old, was following behind her, holding her leg tight. "Sorry, Detective Beckett, Mr Castle... This is my daughter, Kate."

"Who are you?" the young girl asked of Detective Beckett.

Kate smiled and squatted down, holding out her hand. "My name's Kate too," she said. "It's very nice to meet you."

The younger Kate furrowed her brow and hid behind her mother.

"She's not good with new people," Ania explained, pulling her daughter onto her lap. "Kate, these two people need to talk to us about something very important, okay? You remember what I told you happened to daddy?"

Kate nodded, frowning slightly. "He's gone to sleep forever!" she said.

"That's right!" Ania said, nodding. "Well, Aunty Eloise has gone to sleep forever as well."

"Oh," the girl said, slightly sad, but mostly impatient. "Can I go play with Barbies now?"

"Of course," Ania smiled. "Go play with Barbies."

Beckett smiled as the little girl ran off to her bedroom.

"It'll sink in later," Ania commented sadly. "You needed to ask me some questions about Eloise?"

"Yes," Beckett said, nodding, and taking her seat again. "Ms Reed, how was your relationship with Eloise?"

"Do either of you have a sister?"

"No," they said in unison.

"Oh, right... well, I loved Eloise to bits, I really did. But, like all sisters do, we fought. About the smallest things, mostly. Comments on Facebook that were misinterpreted, how something went down ten years ago. But we were on good terms, and she babysat Kate whenever I had class."

"Class?" Beckett asked.

"I take a business class at community college. Being a single mother at age nineteen meant that I didn't really have a chance of going to college to do something like law or medicine. So I contented myself with the fact that I was going to have to do something like manage a business or something. My class didn't conflict with Elle's lectures, so she babysat her. It gave them a chance to hang out and be friends, and it gave me time to get away from motherhood."

"Can you think of anybody that could possibly want to harm Eloise?" Castle asked gently.

"Nobody I can think of," Ania shrugged.

"What about maybe somebody from her past? The way she was killed indicated pent up aggression, definitely pre-meditated murder."

"I'm really sorry, Detective, but I can't think of anybody."

"Does this woman look familiar to you?" Beckett asked, showing Ania a picture of Giselle Chambers.

Ania shook her head, tears starting to brim over the surface.

"That's fine," Beckett said, reaching into her pocket. "One last thing, and then we'll leave you alone. Do you recognise this man?"

Ania took a look at the picture and her jaw dropped.

"That's a yes," Castle whispered, to which Beckett replied with a scathing look.

"This is Max Harding," Ania said, looking between them. "Is this some kind of a joke?"

"There's no joke, Ms Reed. Why?"

"Max is Lacey's little brother, and he was staying with us when the house caught fire... I thought he was dead, but he looks older in this photo."

"He was found dead yesterday morning, the same way your sister was. We believe the two murders are linked. Can you think of any connection between the two of them?"

Ania nodded slowly. "They were dating when the fire hit. He must have run away somewhere... Who would do something like this?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Beckett said. "If you have any more information, please, don't hesitate to call us."

"Okay," Ania sniffed. "Thank you."

"I can't imagine going through what she went through," Castle said on the way back to the precinct. "I don't know what I'd do with myself if I lost everybody important to me."

"It's easy, Castle," Beckett said, and he could tell that she meant that it was a simple answer, but not that it was an easy thing to do. "You just sort of keep going. Make new important people."

Castle looked sideways at her when she said this, then realising that when her mother had died, her father had started a downward spiral – she'd lost the people she could depend on... she'd only been – what? 20? 21?.

"So," he said, pulling his jacket lapels down and changing the subject. "I noticed you didn't answer my question."

"What question?" she asked, focusing straight ahead.

"In your apartment," he said. "I asked you where we stand. You never answered me."

"Well, I guess I was mulling it over," she shrugged, trying to sound indifferent. Castle raised his eyebrows at her, an action that she didn't even need to see to know he'd done. She sighed, shaking her head. "We've been partners for two years now, Castle. If we start dating things will be... awkward. They'll know."

He didn't need to know who 'they' meant. "Everybody new we meet thinks we're already sleeping together," Castle pointed out. "Special Agent Shaw. Your friend Maddy. Natalie Rhodes..."

"It's not that obvious that I'm into you, is it?"

"Well, according to everybody else it is. It wasn't to me, not at first. But then..."

"Then what?"

"Then I came back."

He knew he didn't have to explain anymore. Beckett looked away, back at the road, thinking over everything.

"I guess we could try," she shrugged eventually. "You know – being together."

"Tell you what," Castle said, turning in his seat so that he could see her. "Soon as the case is done, I'll take you out for dinner. Just the two of us, somewhere quiet. I'll even wear a moustache to disguise myself so we don't get snapped by the paps."

"That'd be nice," she blushed. "Just not the moustache. You know I'd give you shit for that for weeks."

"Ryan, Esposito," Beckett said as she arrived back at the Twelfth. "What did you find for me on Max Harding, our vic from yesterday?"

"Second of three children, had one older sister, Lacey Harding, who died as you said in the Hamptons fire some years ago, and a younger sister, Lauren, who came in and identified him this morning. Other than that, nothing. We'll find something for you."

"They have to have some other sort of connection," Beckett sighed. "Okay, you two, start looking through phones and financials, see if anything shady pops up in one or both of theirs. I want information as soon as you get it. Castle, let's take another look through the case file from the fire. See if we can't find anything they might have missed."

"Yo, Beckett!" Esposito called from his desk. "Can I have a word? Without the puppy?"

Castle stared at him, then feigned hurt by clutching his hand to his chest and walking backwards out of the bullpen.