Disclaimer: Castle and all of its characters belong to Andrew W. Marlowe and ABC Productions.

The days rolled into weeks and the weeks rolled into months. He came in everyday, and he brought coffee. They solved murders together, and they were a damned good team.

But they weren't them. They were awkward and withdrawn and distant. They were partners. But that was all they were. They were no longer Rick and Kate. No longer Castle and Beckett. And they weren't the only ones that had noticed. Lanie had pulled her to the side and questioned her about it, the boys were walking on eggshells around him.

That morning was no exception. He walked towards the desk, coffee cups grasped in a much too tight grip and set it down in front of her without a word. He slouched down in his chair and gave a soft sigh of discontent. He hated the way that they'd become. But he couldn't tell her that. He had to keep up the endless lines of beautiful women, and he had to show her exactly what she was missing by lying to him.

"Morning, Castle." She muttered, not tearing her eyes away from her computer screen.

"Beckett." He replied coldly. "Anything new on the case?" She shook her head and leaned back in her chair, her arms crossed behind her head.

"We've got nothing. This guy is damned good, and we're just not making the cut to catch up to him, let alone be a step ahead of him. You come up with anything?"

"Nothing. You're right, he's damned good." He sighed, crossing to the murder board and glancing over it. The man that they were looking for had been scoping out local youth shelter and recruiting them to commit homicides through out the entire city. The only problem had been that he'd scared the shelter volunteers to the point that none of them were willing to talk. "I know they know something. They all know something, but no one is talking." He pressed his fists into his eye sockets and rubbed his eyes wearily. There was something about the fact that this man was recruiting troubled children to do his dirty work had everyone on edge.

Ryan and Esposito had actually spent the weekend at Esposito's mother's house, visiting his nieces and nephews so that they could remind themselves about the goodness that children were supposed to possess. They'd both come back look more bright eyed than when they'd left on Friday night, and Castle thought that perhaps they were onto something. He made a mental note to spend quality time with a zombie flick and Alexis when he got home that night.

Beckett stood from her desk and stood next to him, leaning against the front of the desk and scowling at the murder board. Castle watched her out of his peripheral vision, watching the way that she was rubbing at the bottom of her chin thoughtfully, her brow furrowed in anger. He'd seen that look on her face hundreds of times over the amount of time that they'd been working together. She couldn't stand the fact that they had nothing. She was used to being the badass homicide detective that could solve any murder in the blink of an eye, and she wasn't used to having to actually work this hard. The case had gone on for going on a week, and there had been four more murders since they'd started investigating. They both knew that the longer it took them to figure out what was happening, the greater the chance that they would kill again. Neither of them wanted that.

"Yo, Beckett, I just got off the phone with one of the volunteers. He didn't say which one it was, but he said that were should consider the possibility that the problem is much further below the surface than we think." Esposito called from his desk.

"What the hell does that even mean?" She questioned, shaking her head curiously.

"I'm not really sure." Esposito replied, walking over to them, Ryan in tow behind him. "That's all he said." They all sat in silence a moment, staring at the murder board.

"Wait a minute!" Castle barked, spinning to face all of them. "Didn't Lanie say that she found traces of a bunch of different muds, rusts and household items on the last guy's clothes?"

"Yeah, but Castle I don't under...Oh my God." Beckett gasped, realization hitting her.

"You guys mind explaining? Cause we have no clue..." Ryan muttered, quirking his eyebrow curiously.

"The sewers!" Castle yelled, throwing his coat on.

"They're much further below the surface than we've been looking, they're full of different run off, which creates mud and silt, and they are full of household waste! We need to get uniforms canvassing every inch of the sewer systems." Esposito and Ryan stared at them a moment, waiting for the words to sink it. Beckett glared at both of them. "Now!" The boys scrambled at the sound of her booming voice, nearly tripping over themselves as they moved to their desks and called it in to dispatch.

Beckett heaved a relieved sigh and glanced over to where Castle was standing, his eyes trained on her. The small, proud smile on his face was something that she hadn't seen since the day that he'd kicked her out of his house. It was a glimmer of the old Castle, and it was enough to turn her world on its head. It wasn't exactly confirmation that they were back completely. But it was a good start. She returned his smile and threw her coat on as well.

"You ready to go catch us a killer, Castle?" She asked, a hint of playfulness in her voice. His grin grew into a smirk and he trotted after her towards the elevator.

"Always."

So, there's chapter two...thoughts? Reactions? Suggestions? Drop me a review and let me know.

Much love, J. Rook