The familiar booths at Remy's always brought a kind of peace to Beckett, and she slid into one, turning sideways to fit a little better. Castle sat down opposite her, and she took a deep breath, appreciating the comfortable ambiance the diner offered. Across the room, a baby cried, and she turned to watch as the mother scooped the tiny creature out of its stroller and into her arms, holding the little girl close.

The cries stilled almost immediately, and she smiled across the table at her partner. "She makes it look easy," she commented.

He grinned back. "Sometimes it is. Sometimes all they need is to be held."

"I hope it comes that naturally to me," she mused, and he grinned.

"Absolutely it will. I've seen you with Sarah Grace and Nicholas, you're a natural. I mean, Nicholas only likes a handful of people and you're one of them."

He laughed. "He doesn't even like Esposito, and he's Ryan's best friend."

"I guess so..." Beckett trailed off.

"Plus, you have a huge advantage-"

"Please don't tell me about your RHD again," she groaned, and he laughed.

"What can I say, Beckett, you're the one who brought it up when I thought I was too old for this. You can't deny it, I'm a baby whisperer."

"Remember how hard it was to look after Benny for just one night, though?"

"Sure. But we got through it. And this will be different. This is our baby. Lily."

She nodded, bringing her hands protectively around her belly again, before looking up at the waitress who had arrived at their booth.

"Do you two need menus, or are you having your usual?" Rosa asked.

"The usual," they spoke as one.

Their waitress chuckled, moving off to place their order.

They sat in silence for a moment, before both speaking at once.

"If Emma doesn't know where Carl is-"

"If Carl is just another innocent victim in this-"

"Wait," Beckett said. "Why are you figuring him for innocent all of a sudden?"

Castle furrowed his brow, considering his words before he spoke. "His apartment was cleared out, right? We thought he'd taken all his stuff, but he'd left his wallet at the library-"

"Which Emma stole-"

"-and so that makes it hard to say whether he really packed a bag and ran, or if he's also missing, and someone went through his stuff to make it look like he'd run."

"Hmm." Beckett nodded, thinking it all over. With any luck their food would be there soon; no doubt she would think more clearly on a full stomach.

As if on cue, their waitress returned, placing a burger in front of each of them, and a plate of fries in the middle of the table, before handing Kate her strawberry shake and Castle his chocolate.

Beckett took a bite, relishing the simplicity of a well-done burger; she'd been fairly unconvinced that cravings were a real thing throughout this pregnancy, but the urge for things like mac and cheese and burgers in recent days were putting an end to that. Maybe she could convince Castle to make mac and cheese again tonight. Or if he thought two nights of the same thing was a bit much, maybe she could make peace with spaghetti bolognese. Or tacos.

Castle broke through her thoughts as he spoke. "We're back to square one, either way." He dipped a fry into the ketchup and popped it in his mouth, and she shook her head, taking a sip of the shake before answering.

"No, you know what? The more I think about it, the less it adds up. And square one is exactly where we need to be. Think about it. What did we learn at the scene?"

"That my books were implicated?"

She rolled her eyes. "Not that, no."

"Fine," he huffed. "So we were at the scene. Our witnesses were Tom and Jemima... One of whom has been keeping secrets the whole time. A secret relationship with our vic, a secret relationship with our missing man…"

"We've got a common denominator," Beckett deduced.

He nodded, getting it, and they spoke together. "Jemima."

Castle walked into the interrogation room a step behind Beckett. She was right: things were changing, but not this, never this. Whether she was running down suspects, or whether one of them was home with the baby, made no difference to their relationship; he was by her side in all the ways it mattered, and that was where he belonged.

Beckett sat first, Castle beside her, both of them sizing up the young woman in front of them. Jemima Bennett, 26. She'd gained her master's a year before Johnson James. Born and bred in Brooklyn, she'd made her way through the NYPL system: first employed as a shelver while she studied, then as a librarian at the Grand Central branch, then transferring to Mid-Manhattan shortly before their victim had started there.

"Do you know why you're here?" Beckett opened gently; thus far, nothing had shown them that going at Jemima head-on was likely to bring them a confession.

"I, uh- did you find something? About Johnson?"

"Yes," Beckett said. "About Johnson, yes. But not just about Johnson. Do you want to tell us a little more about Carl Aston?"

Jemima shook her head, silent for a moment before speaking. "Do you think he killed Johnson?"

"We did," Beckett admitted. "At first glance it looked like he had motive. After all, Johnson was having an affair with his girlfriend, and it looked like he'd taken off after Johnson was found dead."

"But things didn't quite add up," Castle interjected, laying it all out. "Especially once we got ahold of CCTV footage from outside his apartment. Then we searched your apartment. Mr Aston was very grateful to be rescued."

Jemima blanched, and Beckett took the opportunity to speak again. "He told us he thinks you drugged him to get him to come with him."

At that accusation, Jemima's eyes widened, before tears started rolling down her cheeks. "I had to! After Tom and I found Johnson's body I had to tell Carl what I'd done. That I'd done it for him. That was the only way to prove to him that things were really over between Johnson and me. But he-" she hiccupped as she continued to cry. "He wanted to tell the police, said I was crazy. Said that he was going to call 911, so I had to do it! I gave him a shot of the zombie drug, took him to my apartment. I thought once it all blew over he'd understand!"

"Understand that you killed your boyfriend? Or understand that you'd drugged and kidnapped him?" Castle asked.

Jemima gave a strangled cry, throwing her hands up in the air in despair.

"I have one more question," Castle said. "Why did you have to kill him in front of my books? Why not in the romance section, or in front of Stephen King's best sellers?"

Jemima stared at him, dumbfounded, and Beckett shot him a sidelong glance - amusement or annoyance, he wasn't sure - before nodding at their killer. "Jemima Bennett, you're under arrest for the murder of Johnson James."

"I never got an answer," Castle complained, handing Beckett a hot chocolate before settling onto the couch next to her.

"An answer?" Beckett asked, wrapping her hands around the warm mug and nestling into the fort of cushions Castle had insisted upon building for her.

"About why she decided to kill Johnson in front of my books," Castle clarified, clearly affronted.

Beckett rolled her eyes, unwilling to give the topic more airtime. "We got justice," she reminded him. "That's what really matters. I know you said it was the worst case ever, but at least we closed it."

"We did," Castle agreed, a hand on Kate's knee as he scooted a little closer to her. "I just hope my last cases are better."

"Last cases?"

He shrugged. "Not last forever. But as you've said, things are changing. We're having our baby soon, and once your maternity leave is finished, I'll be a stay-at-home dad again."

Beckett peeked up at him from under her lashes, pleased to see his eyes were shining with joy at the prospect. The idea of being a working mom was daunting, but with Castle on her side, anything was possible. "You'll bring her into the precinct each day, right?"

"Coffee and baby, check," he agreed with a beam, and she smiled back at him.

"For as long as I'm at the precinct, anyway," she continued, and he jerked his head up sharply.

"What do you mean?"

She shrugged, taking a sip of the hot chocolate and letting the liquid slide down her throat before answering. "It's no secret I've felt a little lost over the last couple of days. I'm not making any decisions, not now, not while we have this to concentrate on." She indicated her stomach, and as if on cue, Lily kicked, strong enough that Castle could see her shirt move. "But at some point it might be time to move on. Everything that's happened - getting shot, getting pregnant, and of course everything that happened before we were shot, not to mention the case last week... somehow politics makes more sense than ever."

"Could you really leave the precinct?" he asked, and she shook her head.

"I don't know... but that's the great thing." She leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. "I don't have to know. Not now. Not yet."

Episode beta work by acertainzest, amtepe, and ivyandtwine.

Castle Season 9 is produced by Team Planet and the writing team of Castle Season 9. Executive Producer is acertainzest.

For a full list of Season 9 authors, please look at our ffnet profile.

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