1. To Be or Not to Be

Light lingered over dewy blades of grass as the sun rose among the swing sets of the elementary school playground. Cars could be heard in the distance and the sound of birds' morning songs filled the air. The stringent smell of blood, that iron and rust, lingered. Strewn beneath a large metal slide, the body of a young woman could barely be seen. Dried blood, the residuals from her internal injuries, crusted around the side of her mouth. Shoes on the wrong feet and coat strewn haphazardly beneath her body, it was clear that she had been through quite a bit before being dumped. It was a Sunday morning and her body would not be found for another day were it not for the large black Labrador that had wandered from its owner on the jogging path. The woman's body was nearly overlooked. Just as the jogger began to turn, however, the woman's belt buckle glistened in the sun.

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Detective Kate Beckett despised mornings; however she couldn't really claim to like evenings either. Sleep was one of her favorite pastimes. It is thus easy to understand her distaste at being awoken at 5:43 am to the sound of her shrill cell phone ring. There were times at which she questioned her choice of ringer, but knew that the practicality of it outweighed her dislike for the sound itself. If she weren't a New York City detective, maybe she would choose a nice, soothing song instead. Maybe it would be classical – that always put her at ease. Or perhaps she would choose something from an alternative artist. Butterfly Boucher's "Life is Short" was one of her favorites.

This little tangent of thought nearly caused her to miss the call entirely. As she reached across to her bedside table and pressed the call button on the phone, she found herself wishing the call could have come in another two hours. Before it even made contact with her ear she could clearly hear the "hurly burly" in the background.

"Beckett," she mumbled into the phone. On the other end of the line, officer Javier Esposito informed the detective of the most recent murder case to grace New York City. Kate quickly got the necessary information from Esposito before hanging up. She went to her closet to find appropriate clothes for the day. This act, dressing for the day, used to be a simple one. That was until Richard Castle came into her life. The annoyingly savvy writer had been following her around for the past five and a half months.

Esposito refused to take Castle off her hands in the beginning. He wanted her to suffer. Kate was a control freak. She knew it, but didn't want other people to define her by it. Her inability to control Castle was what seemed to entertain her coworkers most about their working relationship. What annoyed Kate most was that she wasn't annoyed with him at all. Not really. Yes, at times he really got under her skin, but in the end, he was an asset. Rick Castle had a great mind when it came to psychological methodology and when teamed with Kate, they seemed to be unstoppable.

He was beginning to grow on her – in a number of ways. She hated to admit it, but she was beginning to feel the bud of an attraction growing within her. At first she wrote it off as a lack of romantic relationships, as her last boyfriend had been in college – an whole ten years ago. She had been on dates since, but never felt that spark. She told herself it was because she wanted to focus on her work, but in the end she knew that she just didn't want to let herself feel that way again. All of that changed when Castle walked into her life. Well, literally she walked into his, but when all was said and done, it had left its mark on her. Every touch, every look, just seemed to feed the desire that was burgeoning within her. She always tried to look away before it got too intense, but swore she had seen something more in his eyes during their recent interactions – something that was not there in the beginning. At first, his overly flirtatious mannerisms annoyed her to no end, but now she had to pretend to be upset by his comments. She needed to keep up the façade – he couldn't know how much he got to her.

These feelings, the ones she was currently suppressing, were what made it difficult to get dressed lately. She didn't want to look like she was trying too hard or to look too feminine. Kate wanted to be seen as an equal instead of a "dandy little bundle for a fella to cuddle". At the same time however, she didn't want to appear shapeless, which was the way most of her professional dress made her feel. One night last week she had stopped by H&M on her way back from work. Today she chose one of the new button downs she bought last week with a classy, grey, formfitting vest over the top. On the bottom she chose her favorite pair of skinny black slacks. The crease on them made it look as if her legs were much longer than they actually were, which she didn't actually need at her height of five nine. She had noticed the way Rick seemed to look at her legs when he assumed she wasn't looking. She could always feel the heat rush to her cheeks at just these times. It made her feel wanted, desired even; an emotion that she hadn't felt in quite a long time. She slipped on a pair of professional looking pumps that made her feel just a bit more feminine while bringing her just a little bit closer to reaching Castle's height. He was the perfect high for a man – just over six feet – not too tall, not too short. She always had the problem of finding a date that didn't dwarf under her, especially when she chose to wear heels. With Rick this was something she would never had to worry about.

Once she was dressed and had her makeup on for the day, she stopped back by her bureau to grab her father's watch, mother's wedding ring, and her gun. Quickly, she put them on as she walked through the door to the great room and ultimately, the kitchen. She selected a Luna bar from a drawer and a bottle of water from the fridge before heading out the door to start what she knew would be a long day.

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She pulled her red wool peacoat tightly around her as she walked across the blacktop leading to the playground. The piercing cold of the April morning bit against her skin, leaving behind a constant sting. Castle, Esposito, and Ryan could be seen standing around the slide under which Kate Beckett could clearly see a leg - bent in a manner in which a leg should never be bent. Attached to that leg is what she knew to be the body of their latest victim. Violent crimes had been her forte since joining NYPD. This one would be no different than the rest, she could already tell.