Kiss Me, Detective – Chapter 1

Assistant Medical Examiner Lanie Parrish was in a quandary. She had never been so conflicted about what to do over a date. Usually, she went with her gut, no equivocation, no "I'll call you later," just a straight yes or no. But this time, Robert Hughes left her confused.

Hughes was built like a football linebacker – tall, broad-shouldered, barrel-chested, and with forearms that resembled, well footballs. He was an imposing figure to anyone, and certainly an intimidating one to the criminals whose windows and front doors he busted through for a living as an NYPD SWAT TEAM member. Nevertheless, in the numerous times he had crossed Lanie's line of vision, she noticed that his size belied a gentle giant's nature, replete with a warm smile and playful eyes. And she couldn't deny that the possibility of going on a date with him had crossed her mind more than once.

Unfortunately, like many of the subjects who ended up on Lanie's exam table, Hughes, at least supposedly, had a past. Rumor around the precinct was that he had been quietly let go from being a SWAT Team commander in a police department in the Midwest after allegations surfaced that he had been abusive towards his ex-wife and had mistreated female members of the department who came under his command. And while Lanie knew she shouldn't read into anything or assume that the talk was true, her female intuition told her nonetheless to be cautious if she was ever left alone with him.

So when Hughes had stepped through the swinging double doors of her lab and confidently invited her to the NYPD's annual charity ball, for the first time in her life when a guy had asked her out, Lanie was left not knowing what to say. At first, she wanted to smile, bat her eyes and say an enthusiastic yes, but that little voice in the back her head told her not to be so hasty. So she politely told him she wasn't sure if she had plans that night or not, but that she would get back to him in a day or two. She was sure he'd see right through her like a pane of glass, but to her surprise, he smiled a sincere smile, agreed, wished her a good day, and left.

What on earth am I gonna do, Lanie thought to herself. I guess this is what Beckett goes through whenever that writer flirts with her, her inner voice continued, referring to her best friend, NYPD Homicide Detective Kate Beckett, and world-famous playboy murder mystery writer Richard Castle who had been shadowing Beckett for several months for a new series of books he was basing on her. Suddenly, now Lanie felt like a hypocrite. From the beginning of Castle's shadowing expedition, she had sensed a chemistry and attraction between him and her friend and had encouraged Kate to act on it. Yet, Kate, being Kate, thought first and threw up her emotional barriers to keep any romantic feelings towards Castle buried deep within herself. Now here Lanie was, Ms. Go Out And Get Writer Boy, dithering over whether or not she should spend one night with a handsome police officer who was obviously quite interested in her, else he wouldn't have made the trek all the way down from the precinct to her lab for no other reason.

It's just one night, Lanie's thoughts persisted. And you'll be in a ballroom full of cops. What cop with a reputation would get aggressive with a woman in a room chocked full of people who are trained to take down guys who get aggressive with women? The real way to tell would be to do what everyone told her to avoid doing – get yourself alone with him, but in a public place. Maybe a simple, no pressure dinner date before the ball would work…

"Dr. Parrish?" Lanie jumped slightly and whirled her head around when a man's voice pulled her from her thoughts.

"What?"

"Are you alright, Lanie? I simply asked how you're coming on the report for Mr. Savage? The detectives on the case are beginning to ask questions," Lanie's boss, Chief Medical Examiner Ross Briscoe asked in his characteristically calm yet firm voice. Dr. Briscoe had been with the M.E.'s office for over 30 years and was an icon in the city. He was in his mid-50's, lanky, of average height, bespectacled, and bald but with gray hair in a strip that ran from one temple around the back of his head to the other temple. He was brilliant, respected, level-headed, soft-spoken, and demanded the highest standards and got them from his deputies who would gladly walk through walls for their hard-working and kind-hearted boss.

"I'm sorry, sir," Lanie recovered. "I'm almost done that report. Detectives will have it within the hour."

"Good. Thank you Lanie," Dr. Briscoe said and took a step back towards his office, then stopped when he saw the same far off look return to Lanie's face as was there a minute ago. "I don't mean to pry, but, are you sure you're ok?" he pressed.

Lanie chuckled quietly to herself at her typical failure to get anything past her boss. "Yes and no. Robert Hughes just asked me to the NYPD's annual ball and I don't know how I feel about going with him."

"Hughes…is that the new SWAT Team member from the Midwest with the alleged checkered reputation?" Briscoe asked evenly.

"That would be the one, yes." Lanie answered.

"Ah. So, and again I don't mean to pry," Briscoe continued taking a step closer to the woman who was one of his many protégés, "but am I to assume from the look on your face that you're torn between going to the ball with an eligible police officer and being the escort of a man who may or may not have got on very well with ladies in the past?"

"Right on the money, sir." As long as Lanie had known Dr. Briscoe, he never ceased to amaze her with how he picked up on the smallest details pertaining to the living as much as the dead. She had tremendous respect for him, both professionally and personally.

Briscoe smiled modestly. "Well, I wouldn't take too much time to make your decision. Both of us know how fickle fate and a beating heart can be." Briscoe tapped a few times on Lanie's table before flashing another warm smile and turning to head back to his office. Lanie nodded, returned his grin, and resumed her work.

An hour later, Dr. Briscoe's conversation with Lanie still stuck in his head. Having never had children of his own, he looked upon all of the men and women he had trained as his surrogate sons and daughters and felt a fatherly need to help them through difficult times and to protect them, within the limits of professional propriety, from whatever nefarious influences the world threw at them. Lanie was no different, so the fact that Hughes had shown a romantic interest in her caused his protective instincts to twinge. He had heard the rumors about Hughes himself, and while he knew that the man hadn't been convicted of a crime and that all human beings deserve the benefit of the doubt, he couldn't help but feel that something might be rotten in the proverbial State of Denmark.

But how could he protect Lanie without being too overt in his intentions, he wondered. After much deliberation, the answer came to him when he saw her friend, Detective Beckett enter the lab and begin conferring with Lanie over a body. Dr. Briscoe then picked up his phone and dialed his friend Captain Roy Montgomery.

Later that afternoon, Kate Beckett was back at her desk in the homicide division of the NYPD's 12th precinct working her way through paperwork. If Robert Hughes had a somewhat cloudy reputation from his former job, Beckett had a solid one not only as one of the best detectives in the city, but as one of the most hard-nosed and professional. She came in early every day, did her job relentlessly, then went home late. No fuss, no bull, and certainly no playing or joking. Crime scenes and dead bodies were sacred to her. Both told the story of how the body came to rest at that particular spot as opposed to anywhere else on the planet and provided the biggest clue that allowed her and her team to give loved ones the closure and the answers they craved. The same kind of answers she had been denied many years ago.

As the other members of her squad, Detectives Javier Esposito and Kevin Ryan, headed to the precinct elevator to go check on a lead on a case, Richard Castle, the multi-millionaire author and manchild-about-town began rhythmically drumming his fingers on the arm of the chair next to Kate's desk that he typically occupied. And as hard as she tried to block the noise out, the more incessant the tapping became.

"It's Bonanza," Castle finally said in response to an exasperated glare Kate shot at him.

"What?" she asked curtly.

"I'm drumming the theme from Bonanza. You know, the cowboy show with Michael Landon - "

"I know what Bonanza is, Castle."

"Geezy-peezy, sorry. Just trying to entertain you some. After all, that paperwork looks so exciting."

"Sorry to disappoint you Slick, but this is not television or the movies. Real cops do paperwork. It doesn't just magically disappear or do itself."

"Oh, but wouldn't it be so cool if it did? If you could just wave a magic wand and Abra-cadabra! It's done!" Castle picked up a pencil and waved it around over Beckett's desk in front of her computer screen then smiled like a kid who just got a puppy for his birthday as he finished talking. In response, Kate yanked the pencil out of his hand, effortlessly broke it in half using the edge of her desk, and handed it back to him without hardly batting one of her long eyelashes.

"You know it would have been really impressive if you had broken it one-handed," Castle observed.

"Don't tempt me, Castle. I could break your pinkie right now without getting out of this chair if I wanted to." Kate couldn't help but notice that as she brought her threat home, Castle cleared his throat quietly and folded his hands neatly in his lap, putting his fingers out of her reach.

While their brief verbal sparring session was taking place, Captain Roy Montgomery was entertaining a guest in his office who now joined him in his doorway. Castle and Kate noticed that he was a slender man, balding, who was wearing glasses and a Medical Examiner's ID badge. While he looked vaguely familiar, neither could place where they had seen him before.

"Castle? Beckett? Can I have a word with both of you?" Captain Montgomery called in their direction.