Fic: Consequences (8/9)
Author: thefallingapple
Characters: Castle/Beckett, Alexis, Ryan, Lanie/Esposito, Martha
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Spoilers for 4.23 Always
Length: ~3300 words
Summary: They haven’t even begun to deal with the aftermath.
Author's Note: Thank you so much to zandras_court and callsign_buzz for correcting my police procedure and helping me be more clear. You guys rock.
~*~*~*~*~
Ryan is reviewing the notes sent by the DC police when his phone buzzes with a text message.
Esposito: Maddox just went into the apartment building across from Beckett’s.
Ryan has to reread the text twice and check the number before he believes that Esposito actually wrote to him. Granted, it’s just about the case, but maybe it’s a start. Before he has a chance to respond, Esposito sends the address.
Ryan: We’ll run it down and find out what unit he’s in. I’ll bring a team.
Esposito: My guys will follow him as long as they can.
Once he clicks the phone off, Ryan pulls together a SWAT team and tasks someone with running down Maddox’s specific address in the building. While they are assembling, Ryan taps on the Captain’s office door.
“What is it, Detective?” she asks distractedly, making another note on the report she’s got in front of her before looking up at him.
“We got a lead on Cole Maddox in the building across from Beckett’s place. I was planning to take a team down there and bring him in as soon as we have a specific address within the building.”
Gates puts down her pen, instantly alert. “I didn’t know there was anyone working this case besides you at this point.” She eyes him evenly. “Who exactly got a lead on him?”
Ryan swallows. “Castle hired some security for Beckett. They said they’d let me know if they saw him.”
“Just who is this security detail?”
“Esposito is heading it up. It’s mostly guys he knows from the service.”
Her gaze hardens. “Esposito cannot be involved in a police investigation while he is suspended.”
He’d known it would be next to impossible to hide Esposito’s involvement - and he isn’t necessarily trying to - but Gates was not the person to mess with when it came to the regs. Still, after Beckett had left with Esposito last night, Castle had told him that it was Esposito himself who’d said his guys couldn’t engage Maddox unless there was an imminent threat to Beckett’s life. It’s because of this that he’s able to speak more confidently than he feels. “His role is to keep Beckett safe. If he finds out anything that helps locate Maddox, he’s passing it along.”
She stares at him for a long moment before speaking. “Let’s make sure it stays that way.”
“Of course.”
Unfortunately, by the time Ryan’s team reaches the building, Maddox has left again. One of Esposito’s men has followed him to a dark blue Civic and Ryan runs down the plate.
He uses the opportunity while he’s away from the precinct to check in with Castle and Beckett at her apartment and Esposito joins them for a brief meeting.
“Now that we’ve got a location we can stake it out and keep an eye on Beckett’s place,” Ryan tells the group.
Castle narrow his eyes. “Are you sure a stake-out is a good idea? Won’t he spot a squad car?”
“We can post officers undercover and rotate them some to minimize that.” Ryan turns to his reluctant partner. “Esposito, can your guys cover the back entrance of this building? The front entrance is visible from Maddox’s building across the street, but I’ll need to put a team on the back entrance of Maddox’s building as well.”
“Yeah, sure,” he mumbles, giving a curt nod at Ryan. “What about the fire escape on this building?”
“I was thinking…” Ryan pauses, unsure about the suggestion, and wary of exacerbating the tension between he and Esposito. “I was thinking that you and I should cover it.” Off Esposito’s disapproving look, he adds, “You’re in contact with your people and I’ll be in contact with the units from the precinct. We can coordinate better if we’re together.”
Esposito gives a grudging shrug and a gruff, “Fine.”
“What about us?” Castle asks. Beckett turns in surprise and he says, “What? Are we just supposed to sit here?”
“That’s exactly what you do,” Esposito says, his tone commanding. “It’s easier to defend you if you’re in one place. And stay away from that bedroom window that faces the building Maddox has chosen to hole up in. We’ll be watching there and here. Hopefully he’ll be apprehended long before he gets to you. Just in case though…” He turns to Beckett. “You armed?”
She nods. “Yes, I’ve got my own gun.”
“What about him?” He nods his head toward Castle.
“I’m right here,” Castle protests. All eyes turn toward him, at which point he says sheepishly, “I’ve got a gun, but no carry permit, so it’s at home.” They looks surprised and he shrugs. “It’s hard to get a carry permit in New York City, but I’m sure Beckett has a bat around here somewhere.”
She shakes her head. “A bat?”
“A baseball bat,” he explains.
“Why would I have a baseball bat?”
He waves his hand around the room. “To beat off intruders.”
“Castle, I have a gun.”
“Hmm…” he pauses, thoughtful. “A rolling pin?”
She manages a simultaneous eye roll and shake of her head.
“Well, I guess it’s a frying pan, then,” he says matter-of-factly.
Ryan can’t help but glance at Esposito and swears he sees a tiny smirk, but it disappears as quickly as it had appeared.
“No,” she says pointedly. “What is going to happen is that you’re going to stay out of the way.” He starts to protest, but her fierce glare silences him.
~*~*~*~*~
He and Ryan agree to meet up after checking in with their teams but even so Esposito is surprised that Ryan gets up to leave when he does. He’d thought Ryan would hang around to share bits with his pal, Castle. Or to tell them things he didn’t want to share with Esposito. Maybe, though, he got some alone-time vibes from the two of them. Whatever the reason he can hear Ryan’s measured gait from the other end of the hallway. He punches the elevator button and starts when the door opens immediately. He steps inside, pressing the button for the lobby before backing up to the wall and crossing his arms tightly across his chest. The doors start to close and he doesn’t reach to stop them, but before they seal a hand reaches in to stop them and they jerk back open.
“What the hell, Javi?”
He can’t bring himself to do more than shrug.
“What is your problem?”
He doesn’t look up, just growling out in response, “You know what the problem is. You created the problem.”
“I’m sick of this crap.” The vehemence in Ryan’s voice forces his eyes up. The younger detective is usually the calmer, more collected of the two of them, but when he gets worked up, he’s fierce. “You followed Beckett off on her suicide mission and the two of you almost get killed, but I’m the bad guy because I saved your asses?”
Esposito glares back, just as heated. “Oh, is that the way you’ve written the story in your head?”
The elevator dings abruptly, swallowing Ryan’s retort, and Esposito takes the opportunity to exit and head for the front door of the building.
He’s halfway across the lobby when Ryan grabs him by the shoulder. He turns sharply, intentionally shoving Ryan’s arm and taking a little pleasure in the fact that he knocks him slightly off balance. “Get your hand off me.”
“Dammit, Esposito, always walking away...” Esposito shakes his head and turns away. “If you’d backed me up we could have talked her out of it, come up with a different plan. You’re supposed to be my partner.”
“That’s rich, coming from you.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“If you’re supposed to be my partner, then why do you spend so much time playing fanboy to Castle. You’re a cop, not a storyteller.”
Ryan looks incredulous. “This is about Castle? You’re jealous of Castle?”
“No, it’s about the team. Of cops. That’s who we owe our loyalty to, not some tagalong civilian, especially when he’s acting like an asshole.”
Ryan doesn’t look entirely convinced, but he hasn’t responded either.
Leaning in, his voice low, Esposito says, “Beckett needed us, and you were off spinning tales.”
Ryan’s reply is soft, but just as fierce. “What Beckett needed was for us to be a team and rein her in. When did that stop being important to you?” He waits for an answer that Esposito doesn’t have and finally huffs in frustration, “Fine. I’m going to go check-in with my team.” He walks away, the door of the building opening with a vicious shove.
Esposito sighs and pulls out his phone to check on his team as well. He can’t help hearing Ryan’s words in Lanie’s voice and he knows if she were here she would smack him upside the head.
~*~*~*~*~
Castle watches Beckett pace, fiddle with her gun, check the deadbolt on the door, pull out her phone, and pace again.
“This is killing you isn’t?”
She turns quickly, almost as if she’s surprised to see him there. “What?”
“For it to be out of your hands. Not to be down there running things.”
He can see her gathering an argument, then the sigh as she answers, “I just feel so useless here.”
“You’re not useless. You’re the bait.”
She narrows her eyes. “And exactly how does that make it better?”
“I didn’t say it was better. The last thing I want is for you to be a target.”
She gives a defeated shrug and keeps pacing.
“You need a distraction,” he says with a smirk.
“Seriously, Castle? Now?”
He grins. “I love that your mind goes there, but no, not that.” He rummages in the drawer of her coffee table and finds a deck of cards and a box of poker chips. She looks dubious and he says softly, “We have no idea how long we’ll be waiting or even if he’ll come tonight. It’s just something to pass the time.”
She checks her phone once more before placing it on the table and sitting down across from him. “Okay, so what are the stakes?”
Castle grins and holds up a white chip. “Coffee.” A red chip. “Dinner.” Then he picks up a blue one and twists it in his fingers as he waggles his eyebrows. “Favors.”
“Oh really?” she says, lips stretching into an amused smile. “You are shameless.”
He just gives a guilty shrug, willing to concede almost anything if it will keep the worry at bay.
~*~*~*~*~
When it starts, it’s only a matter of minutes before it’s over. Ryan looks up at the sound of Esposito’s feet pounding down the pavement from the other end of the short block at the end of Beckett’s building. “Went in the back door,” he says in a rush. “My guys are pursuing.”
Beckett’s phone buzzes and she reads it quickly. “Castle, get in the bedroom,” she hisses loudly.
“What? Why?” he asks, heading toward her.
“He went in the back door. He’s on his way up.” She keeps gesturing toward her bedroom as she backs up and crouches behind her sofa. The look she gives him is desperate. “Please, Castle.”
Ryan glances toward the fire escape and Esposito seems to read his mind. In one fluid motion Ryan is hoisted up to pull down the ladder and then he hurries up it, Esposito’s muffled steps right behind him. Beckett’s apartment is on the fourth floor. They’ve just reached the landing of the second floor, when a window slides open above them. Esposito pulls Ryan flat against the wall, partially concealed under a window air conditioning unit.
“Maddox?” Ryan mouths as someone climbs out onto the fire escape ahead of them.
Esposito nods as Ryan rounds the corner to follow Maddox farther up the fire escape.
Castle isn’t expecting the shattering of glass behind him, so Maddox is almost through the window before he gets off a whack with the frying pan and he’s so tense that the motion throws him off balance and allows the intruder to haul him into a headlock and press a gun to his side. He can hear Beckett’s footsteps pounding as she crosses the living room toward the bedroom.
Castle feels Maddox tense, feels the point of the gun shift toward the door. “Beckett, no! He’s going to-”
Ryan is close enough to hear the scuffle inside as Maddox enters the house. Shit. What were they doing in the bedroom? He gets to the window as Castle yells, aims his gun as Maddox lifts his own at Beckett, pulls his trigger in the instant before Maddox can.
Castle screams when he hears the shot, breaking out in a run toward Beckett, catching her in his arms. “No, no,” he whispers in anguish. “Not again.”
She shushes him with soft hands across his cheeks, kisses peppered across his brow. “I’m okay, Castle. I’m okay.”
It’s only then that he turns to see Ryan standing over the body of Maddox sprawled on the floor and Esposito crawling through the broken window, and hears Ryan say in an undertone to Esposito, “Thanks for the back-up, man.”
~*~*~*~*~
Beckett isn’t surprised that Gates leads the team that responds to Ryan’s call into dispatch. With two suspended officers involved, she’ll have to make sure that everything is by the book. She is surprised at how much she feels she’s got something to prove when Gates does arrive.
They’ve done everything right. The body is in the bedroom while they wait patiently in the living room. Ryan’s team is canvassing for witnesses and Esposito’s guys talk quietly in the corner of the room. At some point Lanie arrives and gives them all a look of relief before getting started on the body.
Castle hasn’t let go of Beckett’s hand since they sat down on the couch, and he hasn’t said anything either, as if words will somehow break the spell that has kept them all unharmed. Once the captain arrives, however, he slips his hand from hers and it unleashes a stream of nervous chatter.
“Well,” Gates says, “everyone had better be very clear about what happened here, because you two…” She glances at Esposito and Beckett. “Are on very thin ice.”
Castle immediately jumps to their defense. “He was going to- He grabbed me. He was waiting for Ka-” He trips over the words. “He was waiting for Detective Beckett to come in the room after me. He was going to shoot her. His gun was-”
He’s cut off by Gates, who directs officers to debrief each of them separately, but not before she raises an eyebrow at the use of Beckett’s title. Kate is sure that his mistake is more about not revealing anything about their relationship rather than because he’s making a point, but she’s pleased to see that Gates does not correct him.
Gates chooses to question Beckett personally, directing them back to the couch and gesturing for Beckett to sit. Tilting her head toward the table, she asks, “Poker?”
Beckett can’t help but think about some of the ‘favors’ they’d been playing for, and she ducks her head until the flush clears from her cheeks. “Castle got sick of me pacing.”
“So, you’ve been in your apartment since…?” Gates prompts.
“All day, actually. Once Maddox was spotted, they thought I’d be safer staying in one place.”
Gates gives a quick nod. “Tell me what happened.”
“Esposito’s guys saw Maddox come in the back door. He texted me to let me know and I told Castle to go in the bedroom.” She stops, shaking her head. “I thought that meant he was coming up the stairs to that door.” Pointing to the front door angrily, she goes on, “I should have known. I shouldn’t have sent Castle in there. I should have thought about the fire escape.” She sighs, frustrated, and rubs a hand across tired eyes.
“It was good instinct to get him out of the way,” Gates says generously. “What happened next?”
“I heard the window break in the bedroom, and a crash. I ran towards it. Castle was warning me away. I had just turned the corner when Maddox went down. It wasn’t until after that I knew Ryan had fired the shot.”
“Did Maddox have a gun?”
Beckett nods dumbly, remembering the barrel of the gun so close to Castle’s chest, but shifting, moving at the same time. “He was holding Castle sideways. He didn’t have to move the gun much to point it at me. When the gun went off, Castle thought he’d shot me.”
“How do you know it was Ryan who shot him?”
“Esposito was behind him. He was still coming through the window when it was all over.”
Gates writes something in her notebook. She looks up, but before she can say anything else, Lanie calls from the next room, “There’s a wound on his head. Anyone have any idea what caused it?”
Beckett glances at the bedroom, then back at the captain, who nods. Getting up, she walks over to the bedroom door and Lanie looks up from where she’s bent over Maddox’s body. She can hear several footsteps behind her.
“Yeah,” Beckett answers. “That was Castle. He hit him with that.” She points and all eyes turn to the frying pan lying a few feet from the body.
Gates narrows her eyes. “Castle hit him with a frying pan?”
“Well, she didn’t have a rolling pin,” Castle explains, hands going up in a gesture of innocence. “Did I really wound him?”
Lanie picks up the pan gingerly and flips it over. “There’s a bit of an edge here. That’s what cut him.”
“It didn’t slow him down much.” Castle looks up at Beckett. “I think you need to invest in some cast iron.”
“Yeah, I’ll get right on that,” she scoffs, but when she looks back at him, she sees him really breathe for the first time since the gunshot. They share a pair of soft smiles, which are interrupted only by Ryan coming over with a concerned look on his face, and pulls them aside.
The four of them huddled with the captain feels like old times, and Beckett feels a tug of want. When they’re all gathered, Ryan starts, “I just finished debriefing with the rest of my team and Esposito’s security and there was something I noticed.”
“Go on,” the captain prompts.
He pauses, takes a breath and then dives in, “The thing is, there was something odd about how Maddox’s movements. He never went back to the apartment across the street after we tracked it down. He skirted around all of the officers that were on watch and picked the only entrance to Beckett’s building not being watched by cops.” He lowers his voice and leans in. “It’s like he knew where we were.”
“What exactly are you saying, Detective?”
He gives a resigned shrug. “We’ve known for a while that this case had connections within the department, and probably still does. But this is starting to feel even more widespread than I had expected.”
“That’s a serious accusation to make.”
“I know.”
Gates looks back at him, eyes narrowed and fierce. “It’s about time I took a serious look at all the files surrounding this case. I don’t like the smell of this.”
Beckett looks around the group, sharing cautious glances with the rest, wondering if they’ve managed to find an ally or uncovered an obstacle.
Previous
Next
Characters: Castle/Beckett, Alexis, Ryan, Lanie/Esposito, Martha
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Spoilers for 4.23 Always
Length: ~3300 words
Summary: They haven’t even begun to deal with the aftermath.
Author's Note: Thank you so much to zandras_court and callsign_buzz for correcting my police procedure and helping me be more clear. You guys rock.
~*~*~*~*~
Ryan is reviewing the notes sent by the DC police when his phone buzzes with a text message.
Esposito: Maddox just went into the apartment building across from Beckett’s.
Ryan has to reread the text twice and check the number before he believes that Esposito actually wrote to him. Granted, it’s just about the case, but maybe it’s a start. Before he has a chance to respond, Esposito sends the address.
Ryan: We’ll run it down and find out what unit he’s in. I’ll bring a team.
Esposito: My guys will follow him as long as they can.
Once he clicks the phone off, Ryan pulls together a SWAT team and tasks someone with running down Maddox’s specific address in the building. While they are assembling, Ryan taps on the Captain’s office door.
“What is it, Detective?” she asks distractedly, making another note on the report she’s got in front of her before looking up at him.
“We got a lead on Cole Maddox in the building across from Beckett’s place. I was planning to take a team down there and bring him in as soon as we have a specific address within the building.”
Gates puts down her pen, instantly alert. “I didn’t know there was anyone working this case besides you at this point.” She eyes him evenly. “Who exactly got a lead on him?”
Ryan swallows. “Castle hired some security for Beckett. They said they’d let me know if they saw him.”
“Just who is this security detail?”
“Esposito is heading it up. It’s mostly guys he knows from the service.”
Her gaze hardens. “Esposito cannot be involved in a police investigation while he is suspended.”
He’d known it would be next to impossible to hide Esposito’s involvement - and he isn’t necessarily trying to - but Gates was not the person to mess with when it came to the regs. Still, after Beckett had left with Esposito last night, Castle had told him that it was Esposito himself who’d said his guys couldn’t engage Maddox unless there was an imminent threat to Beckett’s life. It’s because of this that he’s able to speak more confidently than he feels. “His role is to keep Beckett safe. If he finds out anything that helps locate Maddox, he’s passing it along.”
She stares at him for a long moment before speaking. “Let’s make sure it stays that way.”
“Of course.”
Unfortunately, by the time Ryan’s team reaches the building, Maddox has left again. One of Esposito’s men has followed him to a dark blue Civic and Ryan runs down the plate.
He uses the opportunity while he’s away from the precinct to check in with Castle and Beckett at her apartment and Esposito joins them for a brief meeting.
“Now that we’ve got a location we can stake it out and keep an eye on Beckett’s place,” Ryan tells the group.
Castle narrow his eyes. “Are you sure a stake-out is a good idea? Won’t he spot a squad car?”
“We can post officers undercover and rotate them some to minimize that.” Ryan turns to his reluctant partner. “Esposito, can your guys cover the back entrance of this building? The front entrance is visible from Maddox’s building across the street, but I’ll need to put a team on the back entrance of Maddox’s building as well.”
“Yeah, sure,” he mumbles, giving a curt nod at Ryan. “What about the fire escape on this building?”
“I was thinking…” Ryan pauses, unsure about the suggestion, and wary of exacerbating the tension between he and Esposito. “I was thinking that you and I should cover it.” Off Esposito’s disapproving look, he adds, “You’re in contact with your people and I’ll be in contact with the units from the precinct. We can coordinate better if we’re together.”
Esposito gives a grudging shrug and a gruff, “Fine.”
“What about us?” Castle asks. Beckett turns in surprise and he says, “What? Are we just supposed to sit here?”
“That’s exactly what you do,” Esposito says, his tone commanding. “It’s easier to defend you if you’re in one place. And stay away from that bedroom window that faces the building Maddox has chosen to hole up in. We’ll be watching there and here. Hopefully he’ll be apprehended long before he gets to you. Just in case though…” He turns to Beckett. “You armed?”
She nods. “Yes, I’ve got my own gun.”
“What about him?” He nods his head toward Castle.
“I’m right here,” Castle protests. All eyes turn toward him, at which point he says sheepishly, “I’ve got a gun, but no carry permit, so it’s at home.” They looks surprised and he shrugs. “It’s hard to get a carry permit in New York City, but I’m sure Beckett has a bat around here somewhere.”
She shakes her head. “A bat?”
“A baseball bat,” he explains.
“Why would I have a baseball bat?”
He waves his hand around the room. “To beat off intruders.”
“Castle, I have a gun.”
“Hmm…” he pauses, thoughtful. “A rolling pin?”
She manages a simultaneous eye roll and shake of her head.
“Well, I guess it’s a frying pan, then,” he says matter-of-factly.
Ryan can’t help but glance at Esposito and swears he sees a tiny smirk, but it disappears as quickly as it had appeared.
“No,” she says pointedly. “What is going to happen is that you’re going to stay out of the way.” He starts to protest, but her fierce glare silences him.
~*~*~*~*~
He and Ryan agree to meet up after checking in with their teams but even so Esposito is surprised that Ryan gets up to leave when he does. He’d thought Ryan would hang around to share bits with his pal, Castle. Or to tell them things he didn’t want to share with Esposito. Maybe, though, he got some alone-time vibes from the two of them. Whatever the reason he can hear Ryan’s measured gait from the other end of the hallway. He punches the elevator button and starts when the door opens immediately. He steps inside, pressing the button for the lobby before backing up to the wall and crossing his arms tightly across his chest. The doors start to close and he doesn’t reach to stop them, but before they seal a hand reaches in to stop them and they jerk back open.
“What the hell, Javi?”
He can’t bring himself to do more than shrug.
“What is your problem?”
He doesn’t look up, just growling out in response, “You know what the problem is. You created the problem.”
“I’m sick of this crap.” The vehemence in Ryan’s voice forces his eyes up. The younger detective is usually the calmer, more collected of the two of them, but when he gets worked up, he’s fierce. “You followed Beckett off on her suicide mission and the two of you almost get killed, but I’m the bad guy because I saved your asses?”
Esposito glares back, just as heated. “Oh, is that the way you’ve written the story in your head?”
The elevator dings abruptly, swallowing Ryan’s retort, and Esposito takes the opportunity to exit and head for the front door of the building.
He’s halfway across the lobby when Ryan grabs him by the shoulder. He turns sharply, intentionally shoving Ryan’s arm and taking a little pleasure in the fact that he knocks him slightly off balance. “Get your hand off me.”
“Dammit, Esposito, always walking away...” Esposito shakes his head and turns away. “If you’d backed me up we could have talked her out of it, come up with a different plan. You’re supposed to be my partner.”
“That’s rich, coming from you.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“If you’re supposed to be my partner, then why do you spend so much time playing fanboy to Castle. You’re a cop, not a storyteller.”
Ryan looks incredulous. “This is about Castle? You’re jealous of Castle?”
“No, it’s about the team. Of cops. That’s who we owe our loyalty to, not some tagalong civilian, especially when he’s acting like an asshole.”
Ryan doesn’t look entirely convinced, but he hasn’t responded either.
Leaning in, his voice low, Esposito says, “Beckett needed us, and you were off spinning tales.”
Ryan’s reply is soft, but just as fierce. “What Beckett needed was for us to be a team and rein her in. When did that stop being important to you?” He waits for an answer that Esposito doesn’t have and finally huffs in frustration, “Fine. I’m going to go check-in with my team.” He walks away, the door of the building opening with a vicious shove.
Esposito sighs and pulls out his phone to check on his team as well. He can’t help hearing Ryan’s words in Lanie’s voice and he knows if she were here she would smack him upside the head.
~*~*~*~*~
Castle watches Beckett pace, fiddle with her gun, check the deadbolt on the door, pull out her phone, and pace again.
“This is killing you isn’t?”
She turns quickly, almost as if she’s surprised to see him there. “What?”
“For it to be out of your hands. Not to be down there running things.”
He can see her gathering an argument, then the sigh as she answers, “I just feel so useless here.”
“You’re not useless. You’re the bait.”
She narrows her eyes. “And exactly how does that make it better?”
“I didn’t say it was better. The last thing I want is for you to be a target.”
She gives a defeated shrug and keeps pacing.
“You need a distraction,” he says with a smirk.
“Seriously, Castle? Now?”
He grins. “I love that your mind goes there, but no, not that.” He rummages in the drawer of her coffee table and finds a deck of cards and a box of poker chips. She looks dubious and he says softly, “We have no idea how long we’ll be waiting or even if he’ll come tonight. It’s just something to pass the time.”
She checks her phone once more before placing it on the table and sitting down across from him. “Okay, so what are the stakes?”
Castle grins and holds up a white chip. “Coffee.” A red chip. “Dinner.” Then he picks up a blue one and twists it in his fingers as he waggles his eyebrows. “Favors.”
“Oh really?” she says, lips stretching into an amused smile. “You are shameless.”
He just gives a guilty shrug, willing to concede almost anything if it will keep the worry at bay.
~*~*~*~*~
When it starts, it’s only a matter of minutes before it’s over. Ryan looks up at the sound of Esposito’s feet pounding down the pavement from the other end of the short block at the end of Beckett’s building. “Went in the back door,” he says in a rush. “My guys are pursuing.”
Beckett’s phone buzzes and she reads it quickly. “Castle, get in the bedroom,” she hisses loudly.
“What? Why?” he asks, heading toward her.
“He went in the back door. He’s on his way up.” She keeps gesturing toward her bedroom as she backs up and crouches behind her sofa. The look she gives him is desperate. “Please, Castle.”
Ryan glances toward the fire escape and Esposito seems to read his mind. In one fluid motion Ryan is hoisted up to pull down the ladder and then he hurries up it, Esposito’s muffled steps right behind him. Beckett’s apartment is on the fourth floor. They’ve just reached the landing of the second floor, when a window slides open above them. Esposito pulls Ryan flat against the wall, partially concealed under a window air conditioning unit.
“Maddox?” Ryan mouths as someone climbs out onto the fire escape ahead of them.
Esposito nods as Ryan rounds the corner to follow Maddox farther up the fire escape.
Castle isn’t expecting the shattering of glass behind him, so Maddox is almost through the window before he gets off a whack with the frying pan and he’s so tense that the motion throws him off balance and allows the intruder to haul him into a headlock and press a gun to his side. He can hear Beckett’s footsteps pounding as she crosses the living room toward the bedroom.
Castle feels Maddox tense, feels the point of the gun shift toward the door. “Beckett, no! He’s going to-”
Ryan is close enough to hear the scuffle inside as Maddox enters the house. Shit. What were they doing in the bedroom? He gets to the window as Castle yells, aims his gun as Maddox lifts his own at Beckett, pulls his trigger in the instant before Maddox can.
Castle screams when he hears the shot, breaking out in a run toward Beckett, catching her in his arms. “No, no,” he whispers in anguish. “Not again.”
She shushes him with soft hands across his cheeks, kisses peppered across his brow. “I’m okay, Castle. I’m okay.”
It’s only then that he turns to see Ryan standing over the body of Maddox sprawled on the floor and Esposito crawling through the broken window, and hears Ryan say in an undertone to Esposito, “Thanks for the back-up, man.”
~*~*~*~*~
Beckett isn’t surprised that Gates leads the team that responds to Ryan’s call into dispatch. With two suspended officers involved, she’ll have to make sure that everything is by the book. She is surprised at how much she feels she’s got something to prove when Gates does arrive.
They’ve done everything right. The body is in the bedroom while they wait patiently in the living room. Ryan’s team is canvassing for witnesses and Esposito’s guys talk quietly in the corner of the room. At some point Lanie arrives and gives them all a look of relief before getting started on the body.
Castle hasn’t let go of Beckett’s hand since they sat down on the couch, and he hasn’t said anything either, as if words will somehow break the spell that has kept them all unharmed. Once the captain arrives, however, he slips his hand from hers and it unleashes a stream of nervous chatter.
“Well,” Gates says, “everyone had better be very clear about what happened here, because you two…” She glances at Esposito and Beckett. “Are on very thin ice.”
Castle immediately jumps to their defense. “He was going to- He grabbed me. He was waiting for Ka-” He trips over the words. “He was waiting for Detective Beckett to come in the room after me. He was going to shoot her. His gun was-”
He’s cut off by Gates, who directs officers to debrief each of them separately, but not before she raises an eyebrow at the use of Beckett’s title. Kate is sure that his mistake is more about not revealing anything about their relationship rather than because he’s making a point, but she’s pleased to see that Gates does not correct him.
Gates chooses to question Beckett personally, directing them back to the couch and gesturing for Beckett to sit. Tilting her head toward the table, she asks, “Poker?”
Beckett can’t help but think about some of the ‘favors’ they’d been playing for, and she ducks her head until the flush clears from her cheeks. “Castle got sick of me pacing.”
“So, you’ve been in your apartment since…?” Gates prompts.
“All day, actually. Once Maddox was spotted, they thought I’d be safer staying in one place.”
Gates gives a quick nod. “Tell me what happened.”
“Esposito’s guys saw Maddox come in the back door. He texted me to let me know and I told Castle to go in the bedroom.” She stops, shaking her head. “I thought that meant he was coming up the stairs to that door.” Pointing to the front door angrily, she goes on, “I should have known. I shouldn’t have sent Castle in there. I should have thought about the fire escape.” She sighs, frustrated, and rubs a hand across tired eyes.
“It was good instinct to get him out of the way,” Gates says generously. “What happened next?”
“I heard the window break in the bedroom, and a crash. I ran towards it. Castle was warning me away. I had just turned the corner when Maddox went down. It wasn’t until after that I knew Ryan had fired the shot.”
“Did Maddox have a gun?”
Beckett nods dumbly, remembering the barrel of the gun so close to Castle’s chest, but shifting, moving at the same time. “He was holding Castle sideways. He didn’t have to move the gun much to point it at me. When the gun went off, Castle thought he’d shot me.”
“How do you know it was Ryan who shot him?”
“Esposito was behind him. He was still coming through the window when it was all over.”
Gates writes something in her notebook. She looks up, but before she can say anything else, Lanie calls from the next room, “There’s a wound on his head. Anyone have any idea what caused it?”
Beckett glances at the bedroom, then back at the captain, who nods. Getting up, she walks over to the bedroom door and Lanie looks up from where she’s bent over Maddox’s body. She can hear several footsteps behind her.
“Yeah,” Beckett answers. “That was Castle. He hit him with that.” She points and all eyes turn to the frying pan lying a few feet from the body.
Gates narrows her eyes. “Castle hit him with a frying pan?”
“Well, she didn’t have a rolling pin,” Castle explains, hands going up in a gesture of innocence. “Did I really wound him?”
Lanie picks up the pan gingerly and flips it over. “There’s a bit of an edge here. That’s what cut him.”
“It didn’t slow him down much.” Castle looks up at Beckett. “I think you need to invest in some cast iron.”
“Yeah, I’ll get right on that,” she scoffs, but when she looks back at him, she sees him really breathe for the first time since the gunshot. They share a pair of soft smiles, which are interrupted only by Ryan coming over with a concerned look on his face, and pulls them aside.
The four of them huddled with the captain feels like old times, and Beckett feels a tug of want. When they’re all gathered, Ryan starts, “I just finished debriefing with the rest of my team and Esposito’s security and there was something I noticed.”
“Go on,” the captain prompts.
He pauses, takes a breath and then dives in, “The thing is, there was something odd about how Maddox’s movements. He never went back to the apartment across the street after we tracked it down. He skirted around all of the officers that were on watch and picked the only entrance to Beckett’s building not being watched by cops.” He lowers his voice and leans in. “It’s like he knew where we were.”
“What exactly are you saying, Detective?”
He gives a resigned shrug. “We’ve known for a while that this case had connections within the department, and probably still does. But this is starting to feel even more widespread than I had expected.”
“That’s a serious accusation to make.”
“I know.”
Gates looks back at him, eyes narrowed and fierce. “It’s about time I took a serious look at all the files surrounding this case. I don’t like the smell of this.”
Beckett looks around the group, sharing cautious glances with the rest, wondering if they’ve managed to find an ally or uncovered an obstacle.
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