Title: Demons' Run

Summary: Sequel to Innocence Lost. Set immediately after the events of Innocence Lost, our dynamic duo must contend with conspiracies, murder, lust and intrigue, all whilst trying to figure out their own changing relationship. Written for Manuxinhace's challenge.

Rating: M - Adult situations, violence, language.

Disclaimer: The usual. Sadly. Spoilers for everything up to 3x24, and possibly some others thrown in.

Author's Note: Well folks, this little piece is what's been keeping me away from Layers lately. I've had so much going on in my head plot-wise for this, it's just crazy. For those who are of a mind to know, the title and central premise of this is from a poem cited by a character in the latest Dr Who series. I'm still not sure exactly where this one is going, but it seems as though the plot bunnies will not be denied. I'll be splitting my time between writing this and Layers, so please, please bear with me! As ever, my heartfelt thanks go out to my beta and muse, Manu, for all your input, tolerance for my late-night ramblings; and for cracking the whip when needed ;-D

Demons run, when a good man goes to war.

Night will fall and drown the sun,

When a good man goes to war.

Friendship dies and true love lies,

Night will fall and the dark will rise,

When a good man goes to war.

Demons run, but count the cost,

The battle's won, but the child is lost.

- River Song, Dr Who (s06e07)

Arms wrapped around each other, they stood in the guest bedroom, Kate's cheek pressed up against his chest, the sound of his heartbeat loud and steady in her ear. Her voice quiet, she spoke, hesitantly.

"Castle…" She paused, simply enjoying the feeling of security she got from being so close to him, hating that she had to spoil the moment. "You know we can't do… this right now, don't you?" She felt the sting of her words, her stomach turning within her as she realised what they'd just done. Still reeling slightly from the intensity of their kiss, Beckett knew she needed to address the matter before it went any further. Feeling his arms tense, she heard his heart rate speed up as he drew a big breath, letting it out slowly. His voice bittersweet, Castle replied, one hand drawing aimless circles on her back.

"I know, Beckett. You have a lot to deal with at the moment, and this…" He paused briefly. "This is just one more thing to take on board." He swallowed, hating himself for asking, needing to know the answer. "Do you regret it?" She replied immediately her fears easing as she realised that he didn't hate her for what she'd said.

"No, I don't." Pulling back slightly, she looked him in the face, her eyes scanning his features. "It feels… good… to get it out in the open, I guess." Squeezing him briefly, she continued. "But we can't… I'm still with Josh, Castle, and I need to deal with that before anything else happens. He deserves that much, at least." Rick nodded, his expression showing clearly that he understood where she was coming from. She wasn't backing out of it, far from it. She was doing the honourable thing, making sure that when they moved ahead, there wouldn't be anything waiting to trip them up. A bitter edge to his voice, his eyes hardened slightly as he responded.

"Been there, done that." He gave a brief, mirthless chuckle. Seeing the hurt flash across Beckett's face, he eased his features, explaining. "Not you, never you…" He paused. "Meredith… If she'd had half as much decency as you do, it would have made our divorce so much easier." A half-smile flitted across his lips. "Actually, if she'd been even half the woman you are, we probably wouldn't have gotten divorced in the first place." Castle ran his hands up her back, pressing her to his chest briefly. Feeling the fine trembling in her muscles, he eased himself backwards until the back of his legs touched the bed. Slowly, he sat down, keeping her close to him, taking her weight as she adjusted herself gingerly. Settling herself next to him, she kept her arm around his waist, her head resting comfortably on his shoulder. His arm around her shoulders still, Castle felt her sigh and work her way slightly closer to him, absorbing his body heat almost instinctively. Smiling softly, he continued speaking, filling the silence with his past.

"Given my reputation, I wouldn't be surprised if you thought both my divorces were at least partly my fault…" Making a small, wordless noise in her throat that could have meant anything, Kate looked at him properly for the first time since the kiss. Somehow, she could tell just by the way that he held himself that this wasn't the Castle she usually saw. His previous marriages had concerned her for a long time, not least because he had gone back to both of his ex-wives at some point since he waltzed into her life. His taste for Deep Fried Twinkies having been well and truly worn out after her last visit, Beckett waited patiently for him to continue. Lost in his recollection, he spoke, not knowing that his partner listened with all the attention she usually reserved for the interrogation room.

"We got married young. At first, it was fantastic… We were both happily living the party life, the whole fame and fortune thing… When we found out she was pregnant, I figured that getting married was the next logical step. I wasn't worried about being able to support a family, and I was so sure we were in love, that it would last for ever…" He sighed deeply, his fingers tracing aimless patterns on her shoulder. "The wedding was massive, completely over the top, but it was what she wanted, and I'd never done it before, so I went along with it. Seven months later, Alexis was born, and everything changed. I cut back the partying, but Meredith couldn't… or wouldn't. Didn't want to have her style cramped, I guess. We started arguing not long after that. She was always out, coming home late and drunk, or sometimes not until the next day." His face tightened as the memories swelled within him, spilling from his mouth, his voice raw.

"I didn't notice the signs back then, but looking back on it, it was clear what was going on. She had a case of post-partum depression, and was dealing with it the only way she knew how: by throwing herself into having fun as hard as she could. I spent more and more time looking after Alexis, and less time writing. It didn't bother me too much, because she was such a perfect baby, and the royalties from the books were still coming in enough to not have to worry about the financial side of things, but Meredith… She stayed out later and later, and finally it got to the point where I wouldn't see her for days at a time." He swallowed, sighing again before resuming, his arm tensing around her briefly as he recalled what came next.

"Alexis would have been not much more than a year old… I took her down to the park to play for a couple of hours at lunch time most days. The weather went down hill, we'd only been there maybe half an hour, and it started to rain, so we headed back home. When we got there, I found Meredith and her casting director on the couch. They were so busy with each other that they didn't even notice we'd walked in the door…" He paused for a moment, jaw clenched. "I put Alexis down for a nap, and by the time I had her settled, Meredith must have heard me, because she was waiting for me in the kitchen when I came back out, and the director was nowhere to be found. I confronted her about it, and she promised me, she swore to me that it was the first time, that she was sorry, that it'd never happen again…"

Beckett sat mute at his side, lost for words. She had met his ex-wife once or twice over the years, and even from those brief encounters, she could see what he was referring to with her flighty moods, and over the top personality. She could hear the strain in Rick's voice when he spoke about it. She knew that seeing his wife betraying him in their own house, while he was caring for their daughter would have shattered him. Beckett knew about having your entire world, everything you thought you knew ripped from you in a single, cruel instant…

She knew about walls, about putting on a façade for the rest of the world to see. Over the years, she had come to realise that her partner was a lot more like her in some respects that she had first thought. The playboy millionaire had become a mask worn so often that sometimes he'd forgotten to take it off when he wasn't in public, and now she had some idea what had brought it about. Kate had been getting cause and effect confused, almost as long as she'd known him. She'd always just… assumed that he'd been responsible for the breakdown of his marriages, that his playboy ways had caused the divorces… The guilt of her assumptions stung at her as she heard his words, felt the pain that still ate at him. He'd done the right thing, he had stepped up, grown up to take care of his child, and the woman he loved had broken his heart in the worst way possible.

Not knowing what to say, Beckett simply gripped his hand, squeezing it, offering her wordless support. Returning the gesture, Castle sighed as he returned to the present. He looked down at her, a bitter half-smile on his lips as he spoke.

"I didn't want to think that she'd been sleeping around behind my back all this time, but I knew it had to be a possibility. She went to Malibu for a couple of weeks for a minor role in some indie movie, and the next thing I know, I'm being served with divorce papers... There are only two things I'm grateful for out of the whole mess: Alexis, and the fact that she was too young to remember what happened." He trailed off, and just sat, drained by the effort of recalling one of the most painful episodes of his past. Strangely, he felt... lighter. Having unburdened himself, shared the burden of his pain, Castle turned and looked at his partner, still tucked warmly under his arm.

Noting the look of sympathy on her face, the ghost of a smile worked its way onto his face. She drew breath to say something, anything, if only to ease the marks of remembered pain from his face, but was beaten to it by a loud groan coming from her stomach. Both of them chuckling at the interruption, they broke eye contact. Easing his arm from around her shoulders, Castle spoke again, his tone light. "Looks like we might be needing something to quiet the hungry beast there, Beckett..." He stood up slowly, making sure his movements didn't jostle the bed and aggravate her wounds. Turning, he offered her his hands to help her up. Kate slipped her hands into his without a second thought, grasping firmly as she eased herself back upright.

Dropping one hand, Castle shifted his grip so that he was braced to take Beckett's weight if she needed it. They moved out to the kitchen slowly, Kate's breath hitching as she sat on one of the stools at the kitchen bench. Releasing her, Castle walked into the kitchen and began unpacking the groceries that he had left on the bench earlier. Head down in the refrigerator, he asked,

"So, detective, what does that stomach of yours want, besides your lunch-time medication?" He turned and faced her once more, an impish look on his face as he reached into the pantry to grab the chef's apron. The cheerful grin on his face erasing the serious tone that had developed in the loft with their prior conversation, Beckett could not hold back the smile that broke out.

"I don't know, Castle... surprise me."

Beckett woke up to the sound of her cell phone ringing incessantly next to her. Blinking her eyes, she remembered just in time not to try stretching. Lying on the couch, she had been idly watching Temptation Lane reruns on the television while Castle finished his workout before they had lunch. Figuring he had slipped up to the bathroom for a shower after his exertions, she pondered exactly how long he'd spent on the treadmill, and how long he intended on staying in the shower for.

Wondering if he actually planned on coming out any time soon, she summoned enough energy to reach over and pick her still-ringing phone up, immediately noting the caller ID: Josh. Swallowing, she felt her stomach clench, knowing that this probably wasn't going to end pleasantly. She'd argued with Josh repeatedly about Castle, and she could only imagine what conclusions he'd jump to when she finally managed to speak to him about it. Pushing her nerves aside, she answered the call. Instinct taking over, she slipped into work mode.

"Beckett." There was a slight pause from the other end of the line before Josh responded.

"Hey, Kate..." Sounding tired and a little disturbed at her no-nonsense tone, he continued. "I've just knocked off shift, and was going to swing by and say hi, if you were up for a visitor." Swallowing again, she took the bit between the teeth.

"Yeah, I'm awake, just had a nap, so I should be good for a few hours. Are you coming straight over?"

"Oh good." He replied, the relief plain in his voice. "It's been mad here the last few days, and I was really hoping you'd be awake. What's the address again?" Kate gave him directions to the loft, calculating how long it would take him to arrive. She knew that he'd be on his bike, so probably twenty minutes, she guessed, allowing for traffic.

Not wanting to disturb Castle when he was in the shower, she decided picked up the remote and channel surfed randomly, not really watching, but not wanting Temptation Lane still playing when Josh arrived. He'd asked her about the signed cast photo she had hanging on the wall of her apartment, and when she'd explained that Castle had given it to her, he hadn't mentioned it again. The detective in her had noted the way his face tightened whenever he laid eyes on it, even going as far as to avoid looking at it whenever he was there. The mere mention of the show seemed to stir his jealous side, and she really didn't want to provoke Josh any further by having it playing on Castle's television, in Castle's loft while she was staying there.

Unable to settle on anything in particular, she left it on a music video channel, and eased herself back into the couch, her mind whirling as she tried to put her thoughts in order. Kate knew her track record with relationships wasn't exactly brilliant. She'd been in love with Royce, all those years ago, but it hadn't gone anywhere, he'd kept a lid on things for her career's sake, she knew now. Will had been her most serious relationship in her life up to that point, and she'd... let him go. Smiling a little at the irony of it all, she realised that she had more in common with Castle than she realised.

Mind you, She mused. I get the feeling he cared for Kyra a lot more than I did for Will... She allowed herself to dwell on her partner's first love for a moment, recalling the flash of jealously she'd felt when she had seen him with her. It stung, but was nothing compared to what she had felt when she found out that he had kissed her. Kyra's parting words rang in her ears, the woman obviously had seen the green-eyed monster clawing at Beckett's insides when she leaned in and said "He's all yours."

Turning her thoughts to the first time she'd actually broken up with a guy since college, she still felt bad about the way things had ended with Demming. He was a good guy, she knew, and someday he'd make some woman happy. Looking back at it, she knew that even if it weren't for Richard Castle, her relationship with Tom would probably have ended up like the one she was about to finish with Josh: perfect on paper, the reality a lot less so. Charming, handsome, and with a job like hers, there was an attraction there, for sure. But she had that now with Josh, too... There would have been... She paused, mulling the emotions in her mind. She'd have been content, maybe, but not happy, not the butterflies in the stomach that the merest look from Rick caused. Kissing Tom or Josh was pleasant enough, enjoyable even, but all it had taken was one kiss from Castle, and she was ruined for anybody else. The way he stole her breath with his lips was practically criminal, as was the way all rational thought fled from her mind when his hand slid into her hair and gripped her tight, pulling her to him in the alley, desperation and adrenaline fueling the fires within them.

Kate shook her head trying to clear the thoughts of the kiss from her head.

Focus, Beckett! She thought, irritated with herself that she couldn't keep her mind on track, distracted by the memory of a kiss that was six months old. Her attention fully on the impending confrontation with Josh, she could still feel the memory of the kiss from the night before, prowling around the edges of her concentration. She dragged her mind back to where it was supposed to be: Josh, and finding the best way of letting him down gently, or at least as gently as possible. Making a concerted effort, Kate eased her shoulders, trying to loosen some of the tension there as she sifted through the problems in her relationship with her boyfriend. Placing all her feelings about Castle into a box, she shifted them to one side, her attention on the doctor.

The sounds of music drifted quietly on the air as Kate ran her hand across her forehead, smoothing out the frown that had formed as she sat, deep in thought. The sudden flickering of the television drew her attention, the music video interrupted by a CCTV image of the hallway outside the loft. Seeing Josh walking rapidly towards the door, she stood up gingerly, her muscles protesting from the amount of time she'd spent sitting in the one position. She made her way over to the door as quickly as she could, her hand just touching the door handle when the doorbell rang.

Looking at the small monitor next to the door, she made sure it was Josh before she opened it slowly due to the weight of the reinforced door. His face creasing in a big smile, Josh stepped through the doorway, one hand resting on her hip as he dipped his head, placing a quick kiss to her lips before she had a chance to react. She stepped back, breaking his embrace as she allowed him to walk into the loft properly.

"How are you doing, Kate?" He asked, his eyes darting around the loft, noting the expensive decor. Beckett closed the door behind him, a little out of breath. Turning, she made her way over to the kitchen bench.

"Okay, I guess. I've been sleeping a lot. Still hurts a lot, but it's getting easier to move around the place." She leaned against the bench for a moment before continuing. "Rick makes sure I eat properly, and have my meds on time though, as much as I complain, so I've been following doctors orders pretty well." A little disturbed at they way she referred to her partner as Rick instead of the usual 'Castle', Josh sat on one of the stools, running his professional eye over his girlfriend, gauging her recovery. Even in the few days since she had been discharged, he could see that she was recovering as well as could be expected. There were still traces of pain on her face, and she winced every time she forgot herself and moved too suddenly, but her colour was back, and she looked much closer to her old self. Remembering her manners, she asked

"You want a drink? I'm about to make coffee. I'm still not really with it yet, I had a nap on the couch earlier." He nodded.

"Coffee would be great." Kate turned and started making the drinks, but the silence from Josh caught her attention. Placing three cups on the bench between them, she looked at him, raising an eyebrow at his puzzled look.

"Why three cups?" He asked.

"Castle is in the shower, he should be down anytime now, and I'm sure he'll want a cup when does." Kate saw Josh's face change, a frown forming at the casual way she seemed to know how and when her partner liked his coffee. The mention of the loft's owner spurring him to ask, Josh spoke.

"How come you know your way around his kitchen so well if you've been asleep most of the time, Kate?" He paused, trying very hard to keep his tone even. Exactly how the writer fit into her life had been a niggling bone of contention between the two of them for a long time, and to keep the peace, Josh now tried to avoid the topic altogether if possible. Kate's expression hardened at his tone, although she was almost relieved in a way, knowing that this fight would probably be the best way to broach the subject of their relationship.

"Firstly, I know he'll want coffee, because I spend most of every day working next to him." She paused for a split second, unsure if she should share Rick's changed lifestyle with a man she was about to break up with. No, she decided, if Rick wanted Josh to know, he'd have told him already. She continued. "Secondly, he took care of a few errands earlier. I can hear the water still running, so I assume he went for a shower when he was done. As for the kitchen, Josh… He's my friend, and I've been here before. Hell, I lived in his guest room for a month last year…" Josh gaped at her for a second, then replied.

"You what? Since when?" He demanded.

"When my apartment was blown up…" She answered flatly. She waited for the inevitable questions that would follow, and she wasn't disappointed.

"What the hell, Kate? Why didn't you tell me about this?" She could see his face start to get flushed as he tried very hard to keep a lid on his temper.

"It didn't come up in conversation, Josh, and it's not like you ever bothered to ask, was it?"

"Oh, like any man is going to ask his girlfriend 'hey, just out of idle curiosity, did your apartment get blown up last year'? Or how about 'you know the famous author that follows you around like a lost puppy? Have you ever lived with him'?"

"For your information, that 'lost puppy' is my partner, Josh. He saved my life that night, twice. He rang me and told me to get out of there. if he hadn't, I'd have died less than a second later. He ran into the building, which was on fire, kicked my door down and carried me out. So yeah, it was kind of a big deal, but hey, it was before we got together, so why would you think to ask about it? It's not like you bothered to do anything like that anyway…" Kate snapped at him, her voice getting progressively more heated as she spoke.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Josh demanded, crossing his arms defensively as he raised his eyebrows.

"You know exactly what it means! It means that we've been dating for nearly a year, but you've only been here for half of it!" Beckett let loose, finally able to vent something that had been getting more and more irritating the longer their relationship went on. "I know you didn't go to Haiti, but you might as well have done. You pulled two weeks solid of double shifts, Josh... Just coming home to bed and falling asleep for 5 hours and dragging yourself back to surgery is not that much different from being on the other side of the damn planet as far as spending time with you girlfriend is concerned."

"You knew about my Doctors Without Borders trips before we started getting serious, Kate. I thought you understood..."

"No, I understood it was your passion, I get that, but just once... once! You stayed behind and I thought we had a chance. I almost died twice in twenty four hours, Josh. Where were you when I woke up at 4am, shivering and terrified? I was alone in my bed, and I needed somebody there."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know..." Josh sat back, shocked as Kate unloaded on him. His stomach dropped as he began to have some idea of what she had gone through. He'd made the mistake of assuming that since they both had stressful jobs and dealt with death on a daily basis, that they'd have some common ground, but in the face of her admission, he knew differently. He'd had rough nights before, but he'd never woken up from nightmares from them.

"Yeah, you didn't." Kate spat bitterly. She decided to push the issue, to show him exactly how badly he'd screwed up. "I had that exact nightmare every night for a week, and the only damn thing that could calm me down was talking to somebody who knew what I'd been through. I called my partner, because my boyfriend would rather be at work."

"Yeah, well, maybe I thought you wouldn't need me, did that occur to you?" He returned fire, his voice rising as he went on. "You never have before, because he's always there for you, isn't he? Your name was the first thing he said when he came round, Kate. You can't tell me that's 'just friends'. Tell me, has he been keeping you company when you're not at work as well? You two would have had lots of time, since according to you, I'm away so fucking often!"

The sounds of their voices carried through the apartment, drowning the cessation of the water from Castle's en suite. Hearing the noises from the kitchen, Castle caught the tail end of a pissed off Kate Beckett and the sounds of an irate somebody else. Not knowing what was going on, he reacted, adrenaline flooding his body. Ignoring the towel in his hand, he pulled on the pair of old jeans that were lying on his bed, doing the belt up as his free hand opened the safe concealed in the headboard of his bed. Tucking his pistol into the small of his back, he headed down the stairs as fast as he could, taking them in threes. He turned the corner, his right hand brushing the handle of the pistol, ready to draw, just in case. Before he rounded the bend, he called out to her.

"Kate, is everything okay?" He straightened up as he saw who she was arguing with, his abrupt entrance cutting the couple off.

Josh's face went red immediately as he took in the author's attire: barefoot, clad in nothing more than a pair of jeans, hair still dripping wet, droplets of water streaking down his chiseled chest. The same things caught the detective's attention, but for an entirely different reason. She'd felt the changes in him when they hugged the night before, and seen the definition in his arms that morning on his way to his workout, but now…? She'd always had a thing for men in denim, but when coupled with being fresh from the shower, her partner looked less like an author and more like something straight out of a calendar shoot. The protective look in his eyes as they raked her body sent a small quiver through her as she noted where his right hand was positioned. She knew him, and without a doubt she knew that he'd been within an inch of drawing the pistol he'd tucked into the back of his jeans. Still a little stunned at how rapidly Castle had made it into the kitchen, Beckett was even more impressed that he'd had the instincts to grab his weapon on the way down, just in case.

"We're fine." Josh spat, his teeth clenched. Completely ignoring the doctor, Castle kept his eyes locked on the detective in the kitchen, waiting for her answer before he eased even a fraction.

"Actually," She said, her tone biting. "Josh was about to explain why it is that he went from watching me make coffee to assuming I had been sleeping around behind his back..." Rick turned his attention to Josh and crossed his arms, declining to comment, but his face spoke volumes. Shocked that Kate would not only bring the topic out into the open as brazenly as she had, but also that she hadn't told Castle to mind his own business, Josh gaped at her for an instant, before his temper took over.

"Hey! I didn't mean it like that, I just..." He growled in frustration, unable to make the words come out the way he intended. Completely ignoring Castle, he drew a deep breath. Letting it out, he addressed Kate only, returning to the topic they'd been discussing before things got heated, hoping to calm things down. "I just thought that if something was that important to you, you'd have told me about it." His explanation was cut short by a short, sarcastic laugh from the author. Seeing that Castle wasn't about to explain his amusement, Josh glanced back to Kate, and felt his anger build when he saw what he could only describe as the faintest trace of a small, amused smile on her lips as she looked at her partner. Glaring back at Castle, he demanded, "Did I ask for your opinion?"

"Not really," Castle said, his tone that of a parent, carefully explaining something to a child. "But since you asked, when you care about somebody, you are supposed to ask things about them, find out about them, you know?" He glanced over to Beckett, who had eased back on her anger for the moment, and was looking between the two of them like a tennis spectator. He continued, his tone softening a little. "If you knew anything about Beckett, you'd know she doesn't share very well, so asking and paying attention is the only way you are going to find out anything."

"Yeah, well I asked her plenty of times about you, and you know what? Not once did she tell me you were anything but 'just a friend'." Josh retorted scathingly.

"So? I'm her friend. What's it to you?"

"I don't like it, and I don't like you." He snapped, his voice echoing around the loft.

"Again... so? I'm not exactly fond of you either, so I couldn't care less what you think about me. The way you treat Kate leaves a lot to be desired, so you're not gonna make my Christmas card list any time soon." Beckett's mouth fell open as Castle let fly, the tension in the room thickening.

"I never laid a hand on her!" Josh replied instantly, face reddening at the implication.

"Didn't say you did. What I meant was that for somebody who's apparently so devoted to her, you spend an awful lot of time away from her. How many times, Josh, has she wanted you there and you've been off somewhere else?" Rick unknowingly echoed Kate's earlier sentiments almost verbatim.

"It's my job, Kate knows that, she understands that. Her job is the same, although I wouldn't expect you to know much about having a real job..."

"She 'understands'...? Hah! She tolerates it, Josh, nothing more. Her job is hard, that I understand, probably better than you. You work crazy hours, that she understands, but you spend almost as much time overseas as you do here. You know how I know when you're away? Those are the days she comes to work looking more tired than usual. She's edgier, more easily irritated, because at the end of the day, she goes home to an empty apartment, because you're not there." Immediately, Josh countered.

"And you were?" His poker face firmly in place, Castle replied.

"I'm her friend, so yeah, if she needed me. She knows how I feel. Anything more than that is up to her."

"Yeah, well, I think you should just keep your nose out of our business. Why don't you just leave it alone, go chase some bimbo wannabe starlet for a change instead of trying to steal somebody else's woman?" Castle replied, disbelief in his voice.

"You actually just said that, didn't you?" He shook his head, a smirk teasing his lips. "Kate Beckett is nobody's 'woman', and certainly not something to be stolen."

"And that's why I don't get you, Castle..." Josh responded. "You know that half the time when I ask Kate how her day was, it starts out with 'Castle did this' or 'Castle said that, or 'the funniest thing happened when Castle... If you'd been man enough to fight for her, we wouldn't be having this argument!" Rick's face heated at Josh's provocation. Gritting his teeth, her replied, trying to keep his temper.

"Not my fault. I work with her all day, makes sense she'd mention me from time to time..." Josh stood up and stepped closer to Castle.

"From time to time I could handle, not all the damn time!" He placed his hands against the author's chest and shoved him backwards. "I've had it up to here with you, Castle, just back the hell off!" Rick's face went blank, his eyes narrowing as he stepped back to his former position, his nose practically touching Josh's.

"Or what, Josh?" His voice low and flat, Rick had a fair idea where this was about to go, and mentally braced himself for it. Even allowing for the moment's preparation he'd had, it still hurt like hell when Josh swung his fist around and connected solidly with his jaw. Having been braced for it, he didn't budge, his head snapping back into position. Declining to answer, Castle simply raised an eyebrow at the enraged doctor in front of him.

The almost casual air with which he brushed off the punch ripped a snarl from Josh, who pulled his fist back again for another swing. Castle moved smoothly, his muscles bunching under his still-damp skin as he side-stepped, a vicious left uppercut collecting his opponent in the solar plexus an instant before his right fist landed on the doctor's jaw and sent him sprawling to the ground, legs unable to support him.

A glint in his eye, his adrenaline was flowing strongly, pulse hammering in his ears, Richard stood over Josh, who lay on the polished floor shaking his head, trying to clear it.

"Not fighting for Kate is different to not fighting at all." He growled. "Whatever happens, Josh, remember: it's Beckett's decision." Still stunned, Josh shook his head again, still foggy. Not able to fully trust his legs yet, he hauled himself slowly upright using the back of the couch. Gingerly, he raised his hand to his jaw and felt it, checking to see if it was broken.

"You've made your point." Josh replied, deciding that his jaw probably wasn't broken, but it was a close thing. Remembering the way the author had moved, and going by the impressive physique that had been hiding under those expensive shirts, Josh realised that despite everything between them, Castle had pulled the punch. Testing his legs, he found that they would hold his weight once more. Running the back of his hand across his mouth, he wiped off a trickle of blood, cleaning his hand on his pants. Turning slightly, he faced the detective in the kitchen. "Kate?" He asked, hesitantly. His heart sank as he saw her expression. Closed off would be a good way to describe it, as would stony, icy, or for the man who knew her, as pissed as hell.

"Don't, Josh." Her voice flat, he could feel her fury heating the air between them.

"I didn't..."

"What part of don't did you not understand?" She glared at him, wondering why it was that she'd put up with him as long as she had. He obviously didn't respect her enough to treat her truly as an equal, he didn't trust her, didn't really know her, and to top it all off, he'd just punched her partner. Something in her snapped at the last point. On some level, she could almost understand him not treating her properly, hell, she'd gone through the whole relationship poised to run, so that almost made then even in some sick sense, but when it came to Castle, that's where she drew the line. She might be broken, but her partner was as close to an innocent soul as she'd met, and even the thought of somebody hurting him had her claws out. "We're done, Josh."

Josh took a step towards her, his hand outstretched, but his forward momentum was cut short as Rick shifted his weight slightly, nothing as overt as stepping between them, but just enough to be ready if he was needed. The movement dragged the doctor's attention back to Castle, and his hand fell to his side. Looking back at Kate once more, he rallied, trying one more time.

"Can't we talk about this, Kate? Somewhere private?" Wincing slightly, Beckett folded her arms and directed her best dealing-with-a-suspect look at him.

"No, we can't." She paused, debating if she should follow that statement up. Hell, She thought, maybe it'll finally get through to him. Sometimes, the truth hurts... "It's over, and I think you should leave. Now." Josh's eyes widened as it sunk in what she'd said, what she meant. There was no going back, he knew. The look of resolve on her face spoke volumes, and he forced himself to swallow the words still fighting their way up his throat. He turned around and walked slowly to the door, not making eye contact with either of them. Placing his hand on the doorknob, he spoke quietly, directing his words to the door, unsure himself for whom they were uttered.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry." He opened the door and walked through, closing it behind him, the soft click disturbing the silence that descended.

Kate looked at Rick, who returned her stare calmly, his face unreadable. Drawing in a shaky breath, she let it out slowly before speaking.

"Well, that didn't go quite the way I thought it would..."

A/N: Well, that's the bit that needed to be written before things can start to get really juicy, folks. The ball is rolling, and our favorite couple are all set to... well, if you want any more than that, you'll have to read the next chapter. Reviews help speed the process along. *hint, hint*