43. Homicide

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Beckett was back at work on Tuesday and found herself in Montgomery's office for over an hour as she tried to convince her Captain to let her work for Vice again, but Montgomery didn't budge. He had enough of his people being used as canon fodder and though he understood Beckett's motivation he wouldn't put her on the line again.

"There are other options coming your way," he told her without elaborating what exactly that meant before she was dismissed.

As a result of her talk with the Captain she was in a grumpy mood all day, working overtime to catch up with the piling paperwork on her desk and glad that Jamie was staying with Castle tonight, so she didn't need to worry about getting home. She called Castle when she was still at the precinct, hearing Alexis and Jamie giggle in the background and suddenly she found it hard to breathe.

"Hey Kate," Castle laughed into the phone, obviously part of the fun that was going on around him.

"Hey," Kate replied tiredly, pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger, "what are you guys doing?"

"Just a little pillow fight," he told her, followed by a, "Gotcha!" That wasn't directed at her.

"Isn't it time for bed?" She asked, glancing at the clock on the wall across from her.

"Yeah," Castle agreed, "we were just waiting for you to call to say goodnight. Wait, I'll put you on speaker."

She wished the girls and Castle a goodnight and confirmed she would come and pick Jamie up the next day after work, before she went back to the pile of paperwork in front of her.

On Wednesday the results of the paternity test arrived, hand-delivered to the precinct by the new intern at the M.E.'s office, a young Afro-American woman about Kate's age.

Lanie Parish had been assigned to assist Perlmutter, one of the most disliked M.E's due to his consistently horrible mood and rude behavior and Kate couldn't help but feel bad for the new intern.

"I guess we'll see each other around," Lanie smiled, taking back the signed delivery papers, "Perlmutter said he's working a lot of your cases."

"Yeah, the guys up in Homicide can't get enough of him," Kate joked and rolled her eyes.

"Who knew," Lanie laughed. "He seems to be like such a nice guy," she smirked. "Anyway I better get back to his dungeon. Nice meeting you, Kate."

"You too," Kate smiled back, watching Lanie saunter away, followed by almost every pair of male eyes in the bullpen.

When the clock stroke four Kate was out the doors and on her way to the loft, eager to tell Castle they could finally put Castle down as Jamie's father on the birth certificate and apply for shared custody.

He had barely opened the door when she stormed past him, glancing around the living room in search of Jamie and Alexis.

"Where are the girls?" She asked, slightly out of breath as her eyes met his across the room.

"Upstairs, why?" He frowned and then found himself pulled into his office. "What's going on?"

Kate held out a piece of paper to him, which he took from her without looking at it, keeping his eyes on her instead, waiting for an explanation.

"It's the paternity test," she finally got out, a tentative smile on her face as she tried to tone down her excitement. Castle's mouth lifted up into a beaming smile, before he threw the papers on his desk and pulled her against him. His lips landed firmly on hers and they shared their first real kiss since Sunday and she quickly opened her mouth to him, inviting his tongue, knowing they might get interrupted any second.

When they finally pulled away, panting heavily, Kate's eyes fell onto the papers on his desk, "Don't you want to look at them?"

"No," He shook his head, "there's nothing in it I don't know already."

She kissed him again for that.

On Thursday Kate learnt what exactly Montgomery had meant when he had told her there "were other options" coming her way.

Homicide was under-staffed and had requested extra uniforms to help with on-going investigations and Kate was the number one on their list. So with weak knees she stepped out of Montgomery's office and straight into the homicide bullpen and not taking the elevator back down to the first floor.

"Beckett?" Detective Clasterfield, a big guy, with white hair and a white mustache, looking straight out of an 80's cop show, called out for her from across the bullpen, "I got a job for you."

She quickly crossed the bullpen and stopped in front of Clasterfield, "What do you want me to do?" she asked, already glancing on the stack of photos he was holding in his right hand.

"I need you to go through this crime scene photos and look for anything unusual," he told her handing the pictures over.

"Unusual?" Beckett looked up at Clasterfield, not sure what to make out of that assignment.

"That's right, unusual," he smirked, pointing at a small desk that had obviously seen better days, "you can use that one for the time being."

He turned to leave and Kate started for her new desk when he turned once more, "And Beckett?"

"Yes?" she looked back at him.

"Welcome to Homicide," Clasterfield gave her a real smile, which told Kate he meant it.

"Thank you," she smiled back.

"Call me when you find something, Cramer and I are heading out to knock on some doors," he told her and then headed for the elevator, leaving Beckett to her task.

Two hours later it was Clasterfield who called Beckett, asking her to come to a crime scene, most likely related to their first victim. At 6pm she was still in the alley in which they had found the two bodies, marking victim number two and three. It was raining and windy, but at least unlike her Vice assignments, Kate was dressed properly for the weather and simply pulled her collar up a bit higher when she approached Cramer, Clasterfield's partner.

"Found something Beckett?" He asked when he saw her approaching him.

"Nothing yet," she shook her head.

"Okay, keep looking," he instructed and was about to turn, when she stopped him.

"How much longer do you think we'll be here?" She asked hesitantly.

"Looks like an all-nighter to me," Cramer shrugged. "Is that a problem?"

"No, no problem." She shook her head, already grabbing for the phone in her pocket, she had to call Castle.

"It's really no problem Kate," Castle told her a few minutes later while she had stepped out of the alley for some privacy, "I'll go over to your place and take over from Cynthia and you'll go and catch the bad guys."

"Thank you Castle," she sighed. "I wouldn't ask if it wasn't such a great opportunity.

"Kate, I get it and you know I love to have Jamie here, so really don't worry. We'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay," she said and heard someone call her name, "I gotta go."

"Be careful," Castle got in before the line went dead.

Kate had finally fallen asleep on the couch in the break room at four in the morning, thoroughly exhausted after spending hours in the rain, canvassing every dumpster crossing her way but in the end she had found the purse of one of the victims which led them to the killer.

Right now the man was waiting in holding while Cramer and Clasterfield prepared their interrogation. They had promised to wake Beckett so she could watch from the tech room and they kept their promise, rousing her at quarter past seven.

Castle called around noon, asking if they were still on for the appointment with his lawyer which he had set up on Wednesday after the paternity test arrived and while Kate was beyond tired, she didn't want to put it off.

"Yes, can you pick me up at my place?" She asked, wanting to get a proper shower and a change of clothes before meeting with his guy.

"You got it," he told her. "I'll pick you up at four."

Kate leant heavily against Castle's shoulder as their driver dodged the evening traffic in Midtown, quickly changing lanes and keeping her from falling asleep right here in the backseat of the town car.

"Hey," Castle gently nudged her when she had been quiet for way too long for his liking, "You okay?"

"Yeah," she nodded, but he didn't believe her.

"Kate," he turned in his seat to have a better look at her, "If you don't want …," he was stopped by her finger on his lips.

"No, that's not it," she sighed. "I just didn't expect we would have go to court to testify."

He moved closer to her, he hadn't expected that part either. After discussing their current situation with Cooper Anderson, the lawyer had told them that their best option was indeed to apply for shared custody. There were other options but none of them could guarantee that Castle wouldn't have to face legal hurdles when it came to Jamie's custody should something happen to Kate and so with one last look at each other they had asked Cooper to make the necessary arrangements.

"Hey, you heard Coop. He said it's just a formality, nothing to worry about," he tried to reassure her, even though he didn't like the idea of having to discuss their private life in a courtroom any better than Kate.

"I know," she sighed, leaning her head against his shoulder, "It doesn't seem right to have to defend it."

He knew what she meant but kept silent, putting his arm around her shoulders instead.

"We should tell them," Kate suddenly said, catching him by surprise.

"What?"

"We should tell Jamie and Alexis what's going on," she elaborated.

"About applying for shared custody?" He frowned.

"That too, but also about us," she clarified. "We can't do this without them knowing where we stand."

"Okay," he nodded slowly.

"Jamie won't understand the legal part and it's not important, she knows you're her dad that's all that matters but she will understand about us."

"Do you want to tell them tonight?" He asked, but Kate shook her head.

"No not tonight, I'm too tired to have that conversation right now," she yawned. "I just want to grab Jamie and head home and then go straight to bed."

"Tell you what," Castle said, placing a soft kiss on top of her head. "You'll go straight to bed at the loft. I'll keep the girls entertained for a while longer and then tomorrow we'll tell them. You have the weekend off, right?"

"Mmh," she mumbled, snuggling closer to him, right now she would agree to everything.

They stumbled out of the elevator, Kate attached at Castle's shoulder as they made their way to his front door and he was about to put his key into the lock, when she suddenly grabbed him by the lapels of his shirt, pulling him against her.

"Ka- ," he didn't get any further as her lips slammed down on his, all tiredness suddenly gone.

"I missed you," she breathed against his neck, tasting his skin and making him groan.

"Kate," he got out, grinding his hips against hers, his hands opening her coat, seeking skin, wandering under her shirt as the elevator doors dinged and they quickly stepped away from each other.

They nodded at Mr. Simmons from next door, waiting for his front door to close before Castle leant his forehead against hers.

"We need to be alone," he groaned.

"I agree," she sighed, her fingers caressing his face.

"Okay," he said, his voice firm as he took a step back to look at her, "enough. Tomorrow night. You and I will go on a date. No kids, no interruptions. My mother can stay with the girls."

Kate chuckled, "Did you ask her?"

"Well she offered, right?"

"She did, yes," Kate agreed quietly.

"So?" He asked.

"Let's wait to see how things go with the girls tomorrow, okay?" she looked at him.

"Okay, but if that goes well?"

He looked so hopeful that Kate couldn't possibly say no, "Then you can take me out Castle."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, but nothing fancy."

"Alright," he grinned from ear to ear before claiming her lips once more in a passionate kiss.

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