Sinning by Silence

Summary – Post 7x09 AU. SPOILER ALERT – Spoilers for season 7. What if Beckett's last visit to her old apartment didn't go quite as she planned and some old "friends" showed up to play. Still not light and fluffy like some of the fics out there. This is my interpretation of how some things play out. Now complete.

Author's Notes: Once again, thanks for all the reviews, favs, and follows – they really mean a lot. This is fairly short – just a quick wrap up; and I'm waiting anxiously to see what TPTB do with Nieman and Tyson for the sweeps.

As usual, I don't own anything Castle.

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Chapter 14 Omnia Extrema

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"It's finally over – they're dead – it's finally over – they're dead," was the mantra that played in Castle's head as he stood in the morgue, staring at the 2 bodies, thinking how easily that could have been Kate and him if things had gone differently.

He frowned as he thought back to the events of yesterday – the events that finally ended the nightmare they had been caught in since he had discovered who 3XK really was.

They had been too late when they reached Jordan. Tarrent had already fulfilled his mission and 1PP was on lockdown – hell, Castle thought, he would have done the same thing if they had killed Kate or someone else he loved. There wouldn't have been any trial for those monsters – he would have made sure of it no matter what happened to him.

Beckett had put the call on speaker so that they could hear what Jordan was saying.

Tarrent has used his lawyer's credentials to get into the building, stating that he was there to see a client. He had then gone into a utility closet to change into a police uniform that he had in his briefcase and used a stolen security badge to gain access to secured areas.

The hallway used to bring Nieman and Tyson into the building had been cleared of anyone but uniformed officers, and the DA was personally escorting the couple to an interrogation room.

Tarrent had waited until they walked in front of him and then fired, close-range, the darts hitting them in the lower abdomen, dispersing the poison into their bodies upon impact.

At first, Nieman and Tyson were startled by the attack and then laughed it off as they pulled out the darts. Within minutes, they were both on the floor, writhing in agony as the venom tore its way through their bodies.

(Castle shivered in remembrance of what that felt like – how he could feel his body shutting down, turning to lead as the poison in his system overwhelmed him.)

Tarrent had simply surrendered, dropping the gun and even telling them what had been in the darts – the venom from an inland taipan – not that it would help.

One of the herpetologists at the zoo had been scratched by an inland taipan last week and the available anti-venom had been administered. The new shipment hadn't arrived from Australia yet.

The pair died from respiratory paralysis and cerebral hemorrhaging within 45 minutes, even as the EMTs worked frantically to stabilize them.

Jordan told them to go home, decompress, because they would be needed at 1PP in the morning to give their statements.

When they finally made it to the loft, they were alone. Alexis was spending the night with a friend as they prepped for a test and Martha was at a retreat.

They finally had to the loft to themselves, but all they did was hold each other, swaying gently to their song that Castle queued up on his phone until the need for sleep drove them towards the bedroom.

They made up for it in the shower the next morning.

A slight "Ahem" broke through his trace and Castle turned to look at Perlmutter as the ME walked in the room.

"Mr. Castle," Perlmutter acknowledged, picking up a chart. For once, he tolerated the writer's presence in his office.

"Perlmutter," Castle said and then turned back to look at Nieman and Tyson. "Are you sure it's them?" he asked quietly. "I mean, there's not a chance they're duplicates – evil twins of evil twins? Clones made to look like them?"

"Do you mean, am I capable of performing my job?" Perlmutter scoffed. "Yes, I can verify that that is Kelly Nieman and Bret Stony – aka Jerry Tyson."

He walked over to the bodies. "The Nieman's positively identified Kelly Nieman, but they couldn't identify Tyson because he has had several major facial reconstruction procedures."

Perlmutter quickly held up his hand to stop Castle from talking. "I had the DNA tested. There was a 99.99% match in the case of Nieman and her parents, and an 85% match between Tyson and Mr. Nieman. I've also matched the dental records. So, yes, these are definitely Nieman and Tyson and they are definitely dead."

Castle stared at the bodies a moment longer. "We don't need to drive a stake through their hearts to make sure they're dead?" he said finally.

"Wouldn't do much good – their hearts are in those jars over there," Perlmutter shrugged, pointing to the shelf where several containers sat.

"Oh, okay," said Castle as he looked in that direction. Yeah, that would be hard to come back from.

"Now, if you don't mind, Mr. Castle, I have an official report to write before I can release the bodies to the Nieman's," Perlmutter said.

Castle nodded, took one last look at the corpses, and walked out of the room. He turned back when he reached the door. "Thank you," he said simply.

Perlmutter merely grunted as he turned on the video camera.

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Beckett was at her desk, finishing her report on what had happened at Hollander's Woods, when Castle walked off the elevator with 2 cups of coffee.

She smiled as he placed one on her desk and then sat down in his chair. "Took you a while to get the coffee," she merely commented.

Castle shrugged, smiling slightly. "You know me and paperwork. I run from the sight of it."

"Yeah," said Beckett before taking a sip of coffee. "And speaking of paperwork, now that you're officially back, maybe we should get you a desk of your own." She cocked her head at him.

There hadn't been any announcement, just a simple phone call from Gates to say, "Welcome back, Mr. Castle," and let them know that all had been forgiven, especially in light of the DA not being able to keep Nieman and Tyson alive while in their custody.

Castle pouted slightly. "But then I wouldn't get to stare at you while you work. What's the fun in that?"

"Oh, but I'd get so much more work done," Beckett replied, pursing her lips into a slight smile.

Castle was going to respond, but was cut off as Beckett's phone rang.

Beckett picked it up and thumbed the call on. "Uh, huh – uh, huh."

She quickly hung up and looked at Castle. "That was Espo – we've got a body at the Met. Seems like one of the dressers was killed by a falling mannequin."

"Hmmm, so they were mangled by a mannequin that was up to shenanigans," said Castle as they stood and walked off. "Or crushed by a clumsy dummy."

Beckett bumped her hip into his as she grimaced at his quips. She had truly missed this.

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—The End—