Through the window of the observation room, Kate could see Esposito interrogating the criminal she'd pulled in. Everyone had unanimously decided that since the case had become so personal to her, Kate should sit this one out. However much this irked her, she had complied.

The guy's name wasn't really Rock, as they'd all suspected. He wasn't one of those kids with the freaky obsessed parents that named their kids 'Apple' or 'Moses', or, well…'Rock'. No, as far as they could tell, he'd grown up with a fairly stable family life. But he was justified in giving everyone a false name – as they'd quickly discovered, he had been born Eugene Rossberg, and in the drug and gang world, a name like that would get you tossed in the water faster than you could defend yourself.

She crossed her arms and leaned back on her heels. He was bald, with a snake tattoo on his neck and a barcode inked onto his hand. His eyes were like cold blue ice as he stared at her through the glass of the two-way mirror, obviously tipped off that there was someone behind it. Kate wanted to punch the life out of him, destroy him for hurting her partner, but it would be unethical. She knew that. So she tried to calm her breathing as she watched Ryan and Esposito stare him down.

"How do you know Jasmine Riverson?" Good, she thought, they're starting small.

He narrowed his eyes. "Who?"

Kate's breath caught. Either he was playing dumb or telling the truth, and she was seriously hoping the latter was out of the question for the moment.

The two other detectives stared him down across the metal table, maybe hoping that their cold, frigid glares would elicit some sort of truth from the captive. But the other man furrowed his brow when they didn't answer and leaned forward. "No seriously, who? I don't know any Jasmines."

Esposito glanced at his partner. They seemed to have a conversation with their eyes before the Hispanic man pulled out a photo of the raven-haired lady.

"Her. Recognize her?"

Rock – Eugene – cocked an eyebrow. "That's Tara. She comes for deals or kicks. Not from me, mostly. Only sometimes."

"Do you know if she's ever done anything like, per say, ordering a hit?"

His eyes widened. "Man, I don't know! Maybe? I don't even know her last name!"

Ryan made a face and nodded. "Alright. We're gonna put you down in holding…but I think we're done here."

The two detectives gathered their papers and headed for the door, leaving the bald, menacing man frustrated and confused in his chair.

Kate rushed out of the observation room, stopping her partners in their tracks. She was certain that they could see her white-hot anger blazing in her eyes.

"That's it? 'We're done here'? He shot Castle! He's the only person we've got that's even remotely close to the whole thing and you're already transferring him to holding? Do you even realize how – "

She would have continued had Esposito not placed his hands on her shoulders and shaken her. "He's not our guy, Becks. Didn't you see his eyes? He didn't do this. He's clueless."

"But I – "

"Would you have let him go if this whole thing had happened to anyone but Castle?"

Her protest died on her tongue. She stood there, eye level with the other cop, more than a little ticked off. She was certain she was pouting, and she knew she seemed like a downright child, but she didn't care. Angry, she turned on her heel and marched back into the bullpen.

"No bodies dropped today, and I promised Rick I'd tell him what's going on. And since I can't be included in this investigation – " she threw a particularly icy glare at the Captain, who had just exited a meeting room " – I'm just going to go. Call me if anything comes up." She grabbed her bag off her chair and, spinning around, headed for the door without so much as a wave goodbye.

"She's mad, bro."

"Yeah. I know. But it's not like we can just let her back on the case, right?"

"Yeah. Captain said she's gotta sit this one out."

Ryan and Esposito stood awkwardly at the exit of the bullpen, watching the elevator doors close.

After a pause:

"You think we should talk to the Captain about letting her back on? It might be good for her to get the anger out."

"Let her back on this case and I will drop you off the side of this building, then throw you into the river in a burlap sac, and if they ever find your bodies, I will personally see to it that it looks like an accident."

The boys turned, eyebrows raised, to see Lanie standing behind them with a cross look on her face. "I mean it, boys. She needs to rest."

They stared at her, dumbstruck and more than a little amused at her description. "Well bro," Javier announced, "We'd better not mess with this one."

"Nope."

"Alright then." Lanie spun on her heel and waltzed away, back down to her white metallic morgue, leaving the detectives in the dust.

Kate was lying in his arms, her back to him. He was breathing softly into her hair, making her shiver. She knew she should be asleep, but she couldn't close her eyes.

His words were replaying in her head. He'd been confused when she'd told him his so-called 'friend' had been living a lie, and she wasn't even sure he fully believed her now.

She walked into the pristine hospital room she'd become so accustomed to, trying to keep her heels from clicking too loudly on the linoleum floor.

Alexis saw her first. "Kate!" She put her book down and smiled.

The detective returned the grin, but it was smaller and much less energetic. "Lex, can I talk to your dad for a second?"

The girl's face fell as she looked over at her father, who was now turned around and alert. "Yeah, sure. I'll be outside."

Kate smiled. "Thanks."

She put her purse down and chucked her heels under a chair, settling herself on the foot of his bed.

"You're not gonna like this."

A crease appeared between his eyebrows. "Because?"

She took a deep breath. "That girl you know? Her name isn't Jasmine. I slammed her friend 'Rock' in an alleyway, and Ryan and Esposito interrogated him. He doesn't know any Jasmines, but when they showed him her photo, he knew her. Said her name was Tara. She's been lying to you, Rick. I don't know why, but I'm getting the feeling that this is a lot bigger than any of us realized and I don't like it."

She knew she was rambling, but she really didn't care. She settled back into the blankets and waited for his reaction.

His face was blank with surprise. He stayed quiet for a moment before:

"Lying."

Kate sighed. "Yeah, Rick. I'm so, so sorry."

He huffed. "How could she have been lying? I knew her for years. That name's on her driver's liscense!"

She pursed her lips and shook her head. "I don't know."

He frowned. "Well, I…I don't believe it. I can't. She's always been one of the most levelheaded people I know! How could she have gotten mixed up in something like – "

He stopped. "Oh my God."

They sat staring at each other before he elaborated.

"This Rock guy you brought in, is he the right guy?"

"No. He was clueless."

He closed his eyes and cringed. "Jas – she asked me to tap the guy's phone records, but at first she didn't want me to go check his apartment out. She said it would be dangerous. But she's been an actress all her life; it's what she does. She tricked me. It was a setup, Kate. This was all just one big joke to her."

She was frozen. Words just weren't finding their way into her thought process. "A…trick."

"Yeah. That's gotta be it. If you can find her, you've got your break."

Kate rubbed her eyes, sighing. "I'm so tired."

He pulled back the covers and let her lie down beside him. She snuggled into him, wrapping her arm around his torso and hitting the call button.

"Hey!"

She glared at him. "You've been making faces this whole time. Don't even try to tell me you're not in pain."

He was silent, letting her get comfortable. "You care too much."

She poked his side. "Mhm. I know."

He smiled, giving her a kiss that made her toes curl. "I love you."

Her heart skipped a beat. "I love you too."

Within minutes, he was asleep, a small smile lingering on his lips.

Sleep had evaded her again. She tried to turn over, tried to see his face, but his arms were wrapped so tightly around her that she couldn't budge. She smiled – he really did love her.

It was a funny thing for her to think about. Love. She'd worked with him for so long, and at first she never would have believed that she would fall in love with him so fast. But now, she knew that was exactly how she felt. She knew she was ready for this, for him.

She had finally found her happiness.

It had been buried away for so long. After her mother's murder, her life had basically been one black hole. But then Castle had come along, all but throwing the light and joy he brought with him at her. He was just so fun, so amazing. Everyone instantly loved him – even her, although she'd never admit it.

And even though she sometimes felt herself slipping again, whenever something associated with the murder at the centre of her life popped out of the darkness of the file room, she knew she would be okay now. She was with him – he'd always told her he'd protect her. When her apartment had blown up. When he'd stayed the night before her apartment had blown up. He cared about her, there was no doubting that.

There were no what ifs or if onlys in her mind anymore. She knew she was safe, and she had a feeling this was it. He was it for her.

She was in love with Richard Castle, and there was nothing she would ever do to change that.

Hello again :) I know it's been a while, but you wouldn't believe how much this chapter has irked me. I kinda sorta hate it. So tell me what you think? Maybe this delusion of wanting to shoot it will go away :)