Author's Note: I always wanted to do a rewrite of Cops and Robbers where Caskett was dating. So I've borrowed dialog from the show to do this rewrite. The first three chapters don't have a ton of difference in the plotting, but chapters 4 and 5 will. Originally I just started at chapter 4 and was going to have this be a two shot, however I felt like it made more sense knowing where Kate was at having the first three chapters added. So before I get reviews saying that a lot of the dialog isn't my own thoughts, I thought I would clear it up:) Enjoy!-Lizzy

"What do you want Castle?"

"Tell me you need me."

"Excuse me?" Kate thought about cracking off some sort of wisecrack to her partner, but in the moment she had been caught off guard. Tell me you need me, what the hell does he mean by that? He knows she's at work with Espo and Ryan, he can't seriously be asking her to sneak away right now could he?

"I'm stuck at a bank helping my mother get a loan from my banker. Please tell me that there's a murder somewhere we can be solving."

"Uh, sorry, there's no dead bodies, just a lot of paperwork, but you're welcome to come and do your share for once." Teasing her- boyfriend doesn't seem like the right word to use since they haven't talked about what this sleeping together thing actually means- partner is always easy when he's trying to get out of things like this meeting.

"The only thing worse than being here is being there doing paperwork."

"You know, how come we're partners when I'm chasing down bad guys and as soon as there's paperwork, I'm on a solo mission?" She waits for a witty reply that never comes.

"Huh."

"What?" Had she lost his attention with just the mere mention of paperwork?

"I think this bank is about to be robbed." Wow, it seems like Castle will come up with anything to get out of a meeting that doesn't hold his attention.

"Really? Are you that bored?" Kate can't help but smile at his overactive imagination.

"There's a man and a woman here dressed in scrubs, and both of them have suspicious bulges in their jackets."

"Castle, I think your writer's imagination is getting away with you." She rolls her eyes thinking of all the things his imagination has gotten him into before.

"Everybody get down on the floor!" A voice shouts loudly enough that Kate can hear it too and suddenly her heart plummets to the ground. Oh God, Castle's right.

"It's not my imagination. It's definitely not my imagination." Castle whispers.

"Move, move, move, move, move, move, move!" One of the bank robbers is yelling in the opposite direction of Castle, but still loudly enough that Kate can clearly hear it all through the other end of the phone as well as Martha crying out softly next to Castle from where her voice comes from.

"Castle, what's happening?" Kate calls out to Castle but he doesn't reply. She can only hope that he and Martha are moving to a safe place. "Where are you?"

"I'm at the New Amsterdam Bank and Trust on Lex." Castle's voice is softer than she's ever heard it before, but that hopefully means that he can stay hidden from the robbers long enough for her to get some help there for him.

"Esposito! There's a 10-30 New Amsterdam Bank and Trust on Lex. Call dispatch." Even as quickly as she is relaying all this information to her other half of the team, it doesn't feel quick enough.

"10-30? Since when are we handling bank robbery calls?" Ryan replies back while Esposito looks at Beckett like she's lost her mind.

"Castle's there." And that gets both of them moving faster.

"I'm hiding behind a desk with my mother, but I can see everything. They're wearing doctors' scrubs. One of them is emptying the cash drawers. Another one is going for the bank manager. He's getting the manager's key. He's going to the back of the bank." She takes in everything that Castle's saying as panicless as she can. She's used to having to stay calm under pressure, but this is different when it's her partner and he's got no back up. Espo calls out something about squad cars being on route, but she knows there is only time before Castle could be found out for having his phone still so now is the time to get any information.

"Castle, I need you to listen very carefully. How many are there?"

"There are...three." A gun cocks from near enough that Kate can hear it too. "Make that four." Kate can hear the start of something being said about Castle being made into an example when the voice suddenly is speaking to her.

"Sorry, your friend can't talk right now." He talks as though he is trying to just hang up the phone so Kate realizes it's now or never for getting anything out of this guy and possibly making him leave before anything worse can happen.

"I wouldn't worry about him, I'd worry about yourself. I've got squad cars on their way."

"You a cop?" He asks and before she can give an answer he turns away from the phone to ask Castle a similar question. "You called a cop?"

"No. I- We were already on the line when you guys came in." She knows him too well and because of that she can hear the slight waver in his voice that tells her he's not just stumbling over his words, but that he's scared. So if only one of them can be brave in this moment, let it be her.

"Listen to me. So far, nobody has been hurt and nothing has been stolen. So, if you just leave the same way that you came in, you can just disappear." She waits a moment, hoping this robber is bright enough to take her advice.

"You gonna promise not to come look for me?"

"I don't look. I hunt." She wants to hiss at him, but for Castle's sake she keeps herself sounding calmer than she feels. "And trust me, you don't want that. So leave now and this'll just be a quirky little article in the Metro section."

"Sorry, sweetheart. I'd rather make the front page." That's the last thing she hears from the robber before the phone goes dead. God, if it wasn't Castle's life that was in danger she wouldn't feel her heart in her feet, right?

"Let's go." She calls to Espo and Ryan as she looks down at her phone which is normally her line to Castle, but on the one day she needs to know he's ok, it's not going to work so she'll go there in person to find him, hopefully, safe and sound. For once she feels like Castle, trying to imagine different ways that she can save Castle while she drives overs to Lexington. Every red light makes her heart pound and her fingers rap against her steering wheel in frustration. With minutes passing like hours, Kate finally pulls up and walks toward the mobile command center.

"I need S.W.A.T. analysis, SitRep, building blueprints, five minutes. Who are you?" The bald man infront of her asking all the questions has to be in charge.

"Detective Kate Beckett, Homicide."

"I'll be sure to call if someone dies. Meanwhile, I need you to step outside-"

"No, sir. My partner is in that bank."

"Wait, we got a cop in there?" Times like this made Kate wish she was able to just say yes instead of having to explain, but she wouldn't trade Castle for the world.

"He's a civilian investigator. He and I were on the phone when they took over the bank. He said that there's four suspects in there, they're dressed up in doctors' scrubs."

"Anything else you can tell me?"

"Yeah, I spoke with one of the suspects." That catches this Captain's eye and ear.

"What was his demeanor?"

"Calm, actually. Very calm." Almost too calm for someone robbing a bank, Kate can't help but think to herself

"Thanks for the intel. We'll do everything we can to get your partner out safe." Captain Peterson, as his shirt says with the calmness that she has heard a thousand different cops tell family and friends that they will do the best they can on a case. Kate won't have words of sympathy alone; she needs to do something to help.

"Okay, so what's our next move?"

"Well, your next move is to leave my command post." Kate is shocked to hear these words. She was expecting the universe to work in some mysterious way that would let her stay and help. "You want to help your partner? Let me do my job." Captain Peterson turns to talk to one of his officers. "Get a line to that bank. I want to talk to this guy." An officer nods and shoots off on his task as Captain Peterson looks back to Kate. "You missed your cue, Detective." Kate can only nod slightly as she rolls her eyes before exiting the Command Post. She spots Ryan and Espo coming over in her direction, but her brain can't help but wonder what is happening inside the bank. Is Castle still ok?

"What did you find out?" Ryan asks, pulling her from her thoughts.

"That our services aren't needed." She wants to roll her eyes ever so slightly at the reminder, but doesn't. She glances around to survey the crime scene before moving on to her next idea, but making sure only her team will hear. "Espo, do you still have buddies in ESU?"

"Of course."

"Good. I want to know what they know. And let's get a hold of Major Crimes. Find out if there are any other robberies with similar M.O.s. The more we know about these guys, the more leverage we got."

"Detective Beckett! Captain Peterson would like a word." The officer from earlier calls out to her and she can only wonder what this is about as she walks back into the command center. They didn't hear her giving orders to Espo and Ryan, so what could he possibly want?

"Tell me, what were you thinking?" He couldn't possibly be mad at her for just being at the scene still, so could he have guessed that they were starting their own investigation? With her luck today, probably.

"I was just trying to help out, sir." She finds herself defending her actions, even though she's not positive that this is what he's talking about.

"What? By charming the bank robber?" Those words catch her off guard. What is he talking about?

"What?" Her eyebrows pull together as the word leaves her lips.

"We get him on the horn, but before I get two words out, he says, and I quote, 'I will only talk to the lady cop, the one with the bedroom voice.'" Kate stares at him for a moment in disbelief. "Yeah. You wanted in? Well, you're in."

"No, sir. I don't have any training in hostage negotiations." God, what if it all goes wrong? What if she screws this up?

Well, I don't have time to give you a seminar, so think of it like this. You do the opposite of whatever your homicide training tells you, okay? So don't yell, don't bully, don't threaten them in any way. It's all about keeping 'em calm. Detective, you up for this?"

"Yeah. Yeah, absolutely." Her blazer comes off as she's trying to stay calm.

"Now, it's important to keep 'em talking. You gotta build rapport. As long as he's busy talking, he's not busy hurting hostages."

"Okay." If this is how she can bring Castle home safe, she'll do it.

"Okay?"

"Mm-hmm." She pulls the headset on and they patch her back into the bank.

"Who's this?" The voice that had hung up on her earlier is back in her ear.

"This is Detective Kate Beckett. I understand that you wanted to speak with me."

"Yeah, I don't like that other guy."

"Yeah, me neither." Kate says truthfully, but she notices Captain Peterson raise his eyebrows at this. Covering the mouthpiece she says softly to him, "You said to build a rapport." Captain Peterson shrugs and lets it got as she turns back to the conversation at hand. "So, what's your name?"

"You can call me Trapper John."

"A M*A*S*H fan. It's nice. So how you doing? Anything I can do to help?"

"Oh, Kate, Kate, Kate. You're running that idiot's playbook, aren't you? What did Captain Confidence tell you? Keep me calm. Build report. Extract information. Here's how it's gonna work. You lie to me, I kill hostages. You jerk me around, I kill hostages. If you storm the bank, I kill hostages. And Kate... I'll start with your boyfriend." Trapper John hangs up but Kate can now only imagine a gun being held to Castle's head again and her heart is pounding.

"Well, we learned one thing." Captain Peterson says as he walks back towards Kate after checking on a couple of things.

"What's that?" Kate turns in her chair to look at him.

"He's not a punk who just woke up and decided to rob a bank. He knows what he's doing. He knows our playbook. This guy's a pro." He turns back towards his cops. "S.W.A.T. tap into the, uh, cameras at the bank yet?"

"Still working on it, sir. Also, there's a Susan Craig for the bank's green branch on line four."

Kate can't sit still while they work so she asks as she stands up, "Sir, what do you want me to do?"

"Nothing."

"I'm sorry?"

"It's not a homicide, Detective. It's not all about moving forward or digging for the next clue. Here, sometimes no move is the best move. Let Trapper John think about things and then we'll call him back." Does he really expect her to just sit still while Castle is in that bank being threatened? Kate can't help but think back to this morning when her and Castle had just been lounging in bed before she had to go to work. What she wouldn't give to go back and not let him leave the house.