The Mettle of a Man

Summary – How far would Castle go to protect his friends at the 12th and at what personal cost to himself and his relationship to the team? This takes place between "The Belly of the Beast" and "Veritas". Does not include any spoilers for "Veritas".

Author's notes – This is AU because I'm adding some back story and some original characters from Castle's past.

Disclaimer – Don't own Castle; Marlowe, ABC, and Disney do. Just writing for fun and because I have these weird plot bunnies that pop into my head.

Rated strong T for language and innuendo.

Chapter 1 – A Roast by Any Other Name

Beckett stared at the murder board and hoped for some great insight that would instantaneously solve this case before the weekend because, damn it, she had plans and they didn't include dealing with a dead body. And the more she thought about it, the more she felt like calling off tonight's poker game so she and Castle could be alone.

Castle had left on a 5-day, 9-city marathon book tour on Monday – his last before the wedding – and was due back on the 5 pm flight. In fact, she thought, looking at her watch, he had probably already landed and taken a car service home since she was stuck at work.

Because of his hectic schedule and this case, they hadn't talked much, but played phone tag all week, leaving loving messages and promises to spend quality time with one another when he got back. Now, it looked like that wasn't going to happen.

Beckett stared at the picture of the murdered man. The case was a strange one, and so far, they had no leads even though the murder had happened early Tuesday morning.

The woman who called 911 said all she saw was a man being shot in a dimly lit alley from her 3rd floor bathroom window while she snuck a smoke. The street officers were there in a matter of minutes and caught just a glimpse of a hooded figure running off.

They hadn't even been able to identify the victim. His fingerprints had been burnt off and his picture wasn't in any database so he was still listed as "John Doe."

The only thing he had with him was a briefcase chained to his wrist, which, in a morbid twist, the suspect attempted to take by sawing the man's hand off. The street officers had arrived before he could finish the task though.

And the only thing in the briefcase was a will for Eugene Alsos Teller, dated October 20, 1989, drafted by a non-existent law firm.

Thoroughly missing Castle's crazy inputs about time-travelers, CIA conspiracies, and ninja assassins, Beckett looked at her watch to check the time again and then looked back at the murder board, frowning.

Espo and Ryan's sniggering at their desks finally caught her attention and she looked over at them.

"Hey, guys, wanna share with the class?" she asked.

The boys looked up guiltily and then at each other, as if trying to decide the best path to take.

"Uh," replied Ryan, "we're just working on the roast we're giving Castle at his bachelor party. You know, some of Castle's finest moments here at the precinct."

"Yeah, his most macho moments," continued Espo, grinning evilly. "There are so many of them we're having trouble narrowing the list down. Let's see – we got the one about him being bitten by the fake vampire and screaming like a girl. Then the one where the dead guy fell out of the refrigerator and he screamed like a girl – those frozen people and he screamed like a girl…"

Ryan looked at his list. "The curse of the mummy – that was good for the chair collapsing under him, the dog ripping his pants, the coffee machine blowing up, and the elevator – at least he didn't scream like a girl that time. He did have to go to the bathroom rather quickly though."

"Then he cried when Montgomery let him have that 1879 bottle of Scotch," continued Espo. "And he drank all of that caffeine to get the witness sober when you were babysitting Erik Vaughn." Espo shook his head. "I've never seen anyone bounce off the walls like that."

"Then when he thought the ape was going to attack him in the Bigfoot case and hiding behind you at the Hamptons, hiding behind you at the docks, hiding behind you at the warehouse," contributed Ryan as he looked at his list again.

Beckett snorted at them in mock disgust. "I can't believe you guys are serious. Look at all the times he's been there for us. Remember when he jumped Nadir?"

"Just trying to impress you," Ryan pointed out. "And I recall that Nadir flattened him with one punch."

"He rescued me when my apartment blew up and shot Scott Dunn—"

"Spur of the moment reactions," shrugged Espo.

"Then there was the time with the counterfeiting ring when he shot Kitty Canary—"

"—before she was going to shoot you," inserted Ryan.

"Ah ha," said Beckett, pointing a finger at them to make a point. "When Hal Lockwood had you two, he jumped him and knocked him out—"

"—before he was going to shoot you," Ryan said.

"When the bank was robbed, he found a way to get messages out about the safety deposit box and the C4."

"Eh," shrugged Ryan and Espo, conceding that point.

"And then there was the time my car was in the river and Castle rescued me," said Beckett.

"Which you never really did explain," remarked Espo, pouting slightly.

Beckett looked at Espo. "And you know how far he went to get Alexis back when she was kidnapped, and he stayed with me when I was standing on a bomb."

Ryan and Espo looked at each other before looking at Beckett again.

"You know, the common denominator in most of that is you," said Espo.

"And it's not like we're not saying Castle isn't…manly," said Ryan doing air quotes. "But you've got to admit that he had has his…more enjoyable moments."

"Yeah," said Espo, "it's not like he's a cop. We're professionals; we've been trained what to do in those types of situations. Just saying, Castle wouldn't be so quick to act if he had time to think about it."

Thinning her lips, Beckett stared at them. "Castle will be pleased to know that you have such a high opinion of him."

She stood up and looked pointedly at them. "All I'm asking is that you not embarrass my fiancé too much. I would still like the wedding to happen. And you should probably leave out the parts about him shooting people – not everyone there will be a police officer. See you in about an hour and a half?"

"Sure," replied Ryan. "And let us know if you think of anything to add to the list."

"Yeah, right," commented Beckett. "You guys are on your own on that one."

As the boys went back to their lists, she looked over towards the elevator to check to see if the maintenance sign was still visible and then headed to the stairwell. Strange, she thought as she tried the door and found that it wouldn't open.

Beckett walked back to the bullpen, looking back stairwell as she did. "Hey, the stairwell is locked. Can one of you called down to maintenance and let them know..."

She froze when she saw a man holding a gun against Espo's head and another man ushering Gates out of her office. Ryan was sitting in his chair with his hands in the air.

"Detective, slowly draw out your weapon and carefully lay it on the table. I assure you that though these guns are made of plastic, they are still quite effective. You have something we want."

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