Beckett stole a glance at Castle. He was actually here today, standing there looking at the murder board. It had been almost 2 weeks since he had started pulling away from her. He was coming in later and taking longer lunches and some days not coming in at all. She still texted him when they got a body, but he only occasionally came to the crime scenes. He no longer brought her coffee. She definitely missed the coffee, but more than that she missed the Castle that she knew. This Castle would keep his distance from her, eye her warily. His eyes used to dance with humor, warmth, and mischief. Now they seemed dull.

They would still spin theory together and occasionally finish each other sentences, but that seemed to annoy him now. He was just so different and it had happened so suddenly. She had surely done something wrong. She tried to review every conversation they had had leading up to his change in behavior. The only thing she could even remotely think of was when he started talking seriously to her about missed opportunities the bombing victims had and how he didn't want that to happen. Then Ryan had interrupted. Maybe she should have told Ryan to wait a minute so Castle could finish saying what he wanted to say. It seemed that it was shortly after that that Castle changed, but she really couldn't recall when she first noticed a difference. He surely couldn't be that mad that she didn't allow him to finish his thought.

Beckett walked over to the board and stood next to Castle. "You see anything?"

"Huh? Oh, no nothing is fitting together," Castle said almost absent mindedly. He took a small step away from her as though she had invaded his space. Beckett noticed him shift away. It was hurtful, like he couldn't stand to be near her. He rarely even sat in his chair by her desk anymore.

"Usually you would at least have a wild theory to spin by now," Beckett said.

Castle looked at her with cool eyes. "Sorry," was all he said.

"Castle, you're just not yourself anymore, are you all right?" Beckett asked her brow furrowed with concern.

Castle gave a little shrug, "I'm great," he said without conviction. He grabbed his coffee cup. "I need more coffee." He started to walk towards the breakroom. He was miserable. He had told his mother he could work with Beckett. It had worked for the rest of the bombing case, but every case was getting harder and harder to do. He felt like his insides were in shreds. It was more difficult to keep up any kind of a pretense. He was drinking a lot at night and it was taking its toll. He still came into the precinct because he so wanted to see her. Then he would see her and his heart felt like there was a vise on it knowing that the woman he loved didn't feel the same. He knew something was going to have to change. He just couldn't wrap his mind around a solution.

As Castle returned from the break room, Gates stepped to her doorway. "Mr. Castle, may I see you please?"

Castle was a little surprised but walked toward her. She motioned him into her office and shut the door. Beckett, Esposito, and Ryan all exchanged glances. Whatever was going on surely couldn't be good.

Gates sat down behind her desk. "What is wrong with you?" She asked almost accusingly.

Castle was really surprised. "I don't know what you mean," he answered.

"OK, I don't know what is going on with you and frankly I don't care, but whatever it is, it's affecting my team. I haven't heard you contribute much to a case for at least a week. Whenever I walk out there the whole atmosphere is tense. Everyone is trying to pretend that everything is OK, but obviously it's not. I was never pleased to have you on this team, but I have seen the value that you added. All that has changed. You are now a detriment to my team. I want you to go home. If you can fix whatever your issues are, I will entertain taking you back, but in the meantime we have work to do."

Castle had sat with his eyes trained at the floor. He dragged his hand through his hair then looked up at her, defeat written all over his face. "I understand," he said quietly as he stood to leave. Gates was now surprised. She was braced for his arguments and threats of going to the mayor. This was a man who had a comeback for everything and could hardly go for 10 minutes without cracking a joke. Her eyes narrowed as she wondered just what had changed in his life.

Castle emerged from Gates office aware of the eyes that were on him. He walked over to where Beckett still stood by the murder board. His eyes couldn't meet hers. "Gates is finally kicking me out," he said. "She thinks I'm harming the team. I – I guess she's right."

"Castle, no. That's far from the truth. I'll talk to her or maybe the mayor…" Castle cut her off.

"No we all knew this would happen one day. She never wanted me on the team. I can't fight it anymore." He faced rejection in every direction at the precinct. Even the boys were acting funny around him although he knew it was because of how he was treating Beckett. He wasn't trying to make her miserable but he knew he was. He finally looked Beckett in the eyes. "Goodbye, Kate," he said, a small smile touching his lips but nothing but sadness and regret in his eyes. He turned and walked toward the elevator.

Kate was stunned. She wanted to run after him. She wanted to go give Gates a piece of her mind. She stood there instead staring at the murder board, but not really seeing it. Castle's goodbye had sounded so final. Surely he didn't plan to never see her again. They were friends. They were more than friends!

She tried to take a breath but it was shaky. She closed her eyes for a minute to push down the emotions that threatened to overtake her. She focused on the murder board. She had a job to do. She would have to think about everything else later.