Title: Yes, Absolutely

Summary: Castle and Beckett discuss plans in the case of an unlikely emergency. Possible spoilers for Undead Again.

Spoilers: Loosely related to subject matter for Undead Again. I've only read the press release and briefly saw the promos after writing most of this.

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle.

A/N: Just a silly little scene somewhat inspired by my having watched half of the second season of The Walking Dead this weekend.

Castle had been staring at his cell phone with rapt attention all morning. He would occasionally type something onto the 'keyboard,' but for the most part, he was just reading with the occasional swipe of his finger across the screen.

And about twenty minutes earlier, the muttering had begun. It was just a word here and there, at first, but now he was up to full sentences. And none of them made any sense.

"Evacuation route, good point," he said under his breath. Then, "Wonder where I can get antibiotics..."

Kate raised an eyebrow, but he wasn't looking at her.

"Gotta get Alexis a bow and arrow. Hmm... or maybe a crossbow."

Her curiosity finally piqued enough to ask, Kate said, "Castle... what are you doing?"

He glanced up at her in confusion, as though not realizing he was still sitting next to her desk in the middle of the precinct. He looked around, his eyes darting frantically as though looking for something. When he was satisfied that whatever he was looking for wasn't present in the police station, he turned back to her.

"Preparations," he said simply.

"Preparations for what?"

He shrugged before turning back to his cell phone. "You'll think it's silly."

Kate snorted in response. "That's never stopped you before."

He looked up briefly from his phone. His eyes narrowed as he regarded her, perhaps wondering if he should share whatever had gained his attention. "I suppose you should know," he said. "I'd definitely pick you for my team and you should be as prepared as possible."

"What team, Castle? What are you talking about?"

Instead of answering, he simply pulled up something on his phone and held it out to her.

"Twitter?" she asked. "You're showing me something on twitter?"

"Just read it."

As her eyes swept across the words, she began to understand what had his already over active imagination all aflutter with extra activity. The initial tweet was from a police department (not New York, thankfully) reporting an officer injured and taken to a local hospital. The tweet went on briefly to mention that the injury was from a human bite and that the suspect was in custody. Nothing terribly unusual there. Kate knew human bites were the worst due to the bacteria in the mouth, but as a uniformed officer she had dealt with all sorts of behavior from suspects.

But someone had responded to the tweet, asking, "If that was a zombie bite, would you tell us?"

Whoever was manning that department's twitter account had answered, "Yes, absolutely."

While she was surprised the police department had even bothered responding, Kate decided that it was the 'absolutely' that made the question sound more credible and the answer less than truthful. Didn't everyone know from movies that the government's favored manner of keeping the public calm was to control information? Not that Kate believed in aliens, ghosts, or zombies. But even she viewed the responsive tweet with skepticism.

"It was not a zombie attack, Castle," she said, rolling her eyes for good measure. She handed the cell phone back to him, and he began pulling something else up as he spoke.

"You don't know that! Besides, just because they cracked down on this one doesn't mean that more outbreaks aren't possible in the future. And so, as a diligent citizen, I have been doing my research..."

He handed the phone back to her. Reading the page, she couldn't help but smile.

"The Center for Disease Control has a zombie preparedness guide?" she asked, incredulous.

Castle shrugged in response. "Well, its mostly just information for any general emergency preparedness. Nothing really useful like tips on weapons or how to zombie-proof your house..."

Smirking at his seriousness, she said, "Really, Castle? Zombie proof houses?"

This question set off a whole new flurry of activity on the cell phone followed by him showing not only his personal favorite zombie-proof house ideas but also a yearly contest held for zombie safe house designs. "I especially like the oil silo one."

By the time she handed the phone back to him again, she was starting to wonder if perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a plan for herself, just in case. She didn't believe in zombies, of course, but considering how much thought and planning others had put into the eventuality of the animated undead, it wouldn't hurt. Besides, as the CDC's website had pointed out, being prepared for emergencies was always a good idea, whether they be zombie outbreaks, pandemics, or even natural disasters.

"I wonder if I can retrofit the house in the Hamptons with retractable blast doors..." she heard Castle mutter. Then he gasped in excitement before pushing the phone back at her. "Oh, we have to do this, Beckett. It's a zombie 5K obstacle course race. You race through the woods, jump over obstacles, all while trying to avoid people dressed up like zombies."

But Kate was already shaking her head at him. "Castle..." She stopped, unable to come up with an adequate response.

"Oh come on, Beckett. If you're going to be on my zombie apocolypse team, I want you to have as much practice as possible."

This comment earned him a raised eyebrow. She was spared the requirement to respond as Esposito and Ryan entered the bullpen and made their way to her desk.

"What are you practicing for?" Ryan asked, overhearing only the last part of Castle's comment.

"Zombie apocolypse," he responded quickly, vaulting up to stand next to the guys.

Esposito interjected, "Easy. Just get to a stockpile of weapons and you're good."

But Ryan was shaking his head. "No, you can't always shoot them. Don't you know that sometimes zombies are drawn to noise? You'd have a huge mob on your hands."

"Exactly!" Castle added. "That's why I was thinking of a crossbow."

"Baseball bats are easier to come by," Ryan suggested. "Or axes..."

"Plus once you lose an arrow, they're hard to replace."

"What about a sword?"

As the boys continued to debate the relative merits of the most effective weapons and strategies in the event of a zombie apocalypse, Beckett rolled her eyes once again and refocused herself on her paperwork.

Unfortunately, Gates did not prove to be as predisposed to allow the conversation to continue. Sticking her head out of her office, she demanded, "Mr. Castle, just what wild theory do you have my detectives so immersed in today?"

The entire room fell silent as all eyes turned to Castle. Even Ryan and Esposito looked away, guilty, and quickly scrambled back to their desks. For his part, Castle opened his mouth to answer the angry captain, but for a half second nothing came out.

Kate interrupted, "Castle was just talking about emergency preparedness. The CDC has published some useful guides and he was suggesting some ideas for implementing them, should the occasion ever arise."

Gates' eyes narrowed on Castle, who simply nodded and said, "Yeah, what she said."

"Well if you have input on emergency management, Mr. Castle, I suggest you contact the city OEM. But seeing as how this is a homicide unit, everyone else, get back to work. Certainly there is a murder you all can be solving."

The way she looked at Castle as she said 'murder' made him gulp a little.

The sound of phones ringing and papers shuffling immediately resumed and Castle beat a hasty retreat back to his chair beside Beckett's desk. "She is definitely going to be on my team," Castle said quietly, watching over his shoulder as Gates returned to her office.

"What's this team thing you keep talking about?" she asked.

"You know, your zombie apocalypse team. If you can pick ten people you'd prefer to go into the zombie apocolypse with, who would they be? And its the zombie apocalypse, so you can't be sentimental about it. You have to pick the people you think are most likely to help you survive and contribute to the overall good of the group."

Kate smirked at him. "And I'm on your team, huh?"

"Oh, definitely. You're smart, athletic, careful, and you know how to shoot a gun. You're also good under pressure. Although, I must say, your unwillingness to properly prepare yourself has me second-guessing having you on the team."

She grinned at his assessment of her. "Who else is on your team, Castle?"

"Well, definitely Esposito and Ryan. And probably Lanie."

"Lanie?"

"You always need a doctor or two on the team. That's essential. And Alexis, of course-"

"What happened to not being sentimental?"

He responded, "Well I didn't say I was adding my mother, did I? That would be sentimental. But Alexis is young and smart, and I know from a number of years of laser tag that she has good aim. Plus I think she'd keep her cool at the first sight of a zombie."

"I don't know, Castle - I get the feeling that your mom might surprise you."

As Kate returned to her paperwork, Castle was back to playing on his cell phone, looking more intent than ever. After several minutes of silence, she said, "Please tell me you're not buying a zombie proof house."

"Not a house. I'm just seeing what old oil silos are selling for these days."

While she rolled her eyes at him, Kate made a mental note to read the CDC's zombie prepardness guide in its entirety when she had a spare moment. Just in case. For the sake of the team.

"So, lunch?" Kate suggested, hoping to regain his attention.

"That sounds great. I'm feeling very hungry all of a sudden."

Kate snorted at him. Of course, after discussing the zombie apocalypse, Castle would be hungry. As they walked to the elevator together, Kate felt the need to point out, "Castle, we live in a city with twenty million people. If there's seriously an outbreak that turns people into bloodthirsty undead zombies, do you really think you would have a chance?"

"Ah, Beckett. With that kind of attitude, I may have to drop you from the team entirely. The first rule of any good zombie movie - never give up."

"I'd have thought the first rule would be to avoid being bit."

"That too." She noticed him involuntarily shudder at the idea.

"Don't worry, Castle," she assured him. "If you got bit, I promise I would shoot you before you turned into a zombie."

"In the head," he emphasized. "That's very kind of you, killing me before I can turn undead. And if we were both being chased by zombies, I promise I wouldn't trip you just so I could get away."

She smirked at him, a little uncertain of the vow he had just made, but pleased by the sentiment.

"And if you got bit by a zombie, you'd let me know, right?" he asked her. "So I could shoot you before you turn?"

She gave an enigmatic smile as she answered, "Yes, absolutely."