Not fluffy :/ does end on a decent note though. In case you were wondering this is another Probable Cause possibility. And it's set in holding. In my defense I started writing it before the promo and only just had time to finish it.

Also if I owned Castle I wouln't be concerned about the middle parts of Mondays episode (I'm fairly certain the begining and end portions will be fine)

Made a Promise

It's cold down here. Not freezing but markedly colder than the bullpen. She's never had a reason to notice before, but then again she's really never spent more than ten minutes down here before. Now she does though. She's been leaning against the hard brick for over an hour just watching him sleep, head propped against the far wall. He's going to have a crick in his neck of that she's certain.

She couldn't sleep. No way. Not when everything in her own apartment haunted her from the knick-knack, he'd asked her about last week, to his toothbrush sitting unassumingly next to hers. So she'd come back here and was now just watching him in the dark hallway of holding fighting back tears.

She's been there at least two hours when he shifts waking with a small groan at the realization that his neck is thoroughly out of sorts. It takes him a minute to adjust to the extreme lack of lighting because she can tell the exact moment his eyes lock on her by the sudden inhale that echoes through this powerfully depressing place. It must be another five minutes before either of them do anything and then it's him whispering, "Kate," as if he's afraid she's a figment of his imagination. But she's like a moth to a flame with the sound of his voice. Suddenly she's across the hall fingers wrapping around the bars holding herself as close as possible to him.

"Should you be here?" he finally asks, with a look in his guarded look in his eye somewhere between anger, pain, and hope.

"I don't know what I should be Castle." Whooshes out of her leaving her even hollower than she was before.

"Did you get any sleep?" Despite his situation, one that she's directly responsible for, he's still concerned for her. She smiles heartbreakingly at that shaking her head as a single tear etches its way agonizingly down her face. "Go home Kate."

"I can't Castle." She can't because he's all over it and he's not there and he should be there, but instead he's here and she made him a promise. "I promised I'd get you out."

That catches him off guard, he sucks in a hard breath trying to restore motion to the lungs that haven't really be able to pull in a deep breath since Esposito snapped the cuffs on him hours ago. "You're not here to break me out. You can't let me out. You'll lose your job." He snaps like a dad telling his pre-teen that he has to put back all the candy the kid snuck into the grocery cart for the twelfth time in twenty minutes.

That's her breaking point. She dissolves into laughter. It's all too much. This is ridiculous; all of this is fucking ridiculous and so unfair. And he thinks she's just crazy enough to jail break him because he thinks she believes he killed his ex girlfriend. It's just too much. It doesn't help that he's looking at her like she's grown a third head while she tries to get herself under control.

Finally, her emotions mellow out a bit and reality settles in again. "I'm not here to jailbreak you Castle."

He looks a little taken back by that, maybe just confused, "Then why are you here? If you're not here to get me out and you think I did it. You think you have evidence that proves I did it even when I keep telling you I didn't that it's not me on the camera's, and I didn't pull the money and the fingerprint really has to be an accident. You still let them slam cuffs on me and put me in here. So why are you here Kate?" His eyes have gone hard during the rant, like he's only now facing the reality of the situation and how royally screwed, he is because not even his girlfriend believes him and the girlfriends always believe in the suspect even when they're totally wrong. But most suspects girlfriends are cops, aren't hiding their relationship, and aren't the arresting officer. So yeah, he's pretty much screwed, and he just came to terms with it.

"Castle," it's low and desperate, but she can't get the rest of the words to follow for a long moment. But he doesn't say anything he just waits her out, uncharacteristically quiet. She studies the ground for a long moment, before she finally asks the question that's been weighing on her chest, "Were you sleeping with her?"

He jerks at that, wrist keeping him trapped to the bench. "Kate, no. Oh god no, no, no, no. I dated her briefly before I married Gina years ago. But Kate you're it. You've been it since before you got shot. Just you Kate. Just you."

She studies him, taking in the desperation in his eyes, the honestly, the disbelief that she doesn't really believe him, the fact that she can tell the mere question has broken heart. The fear that she doesn't trust him. "Ok."

"Ok," he echoes.

"And you didn't pull that money out or buy the necklace?"

"No, the only jewelry I've bought for anyone other than my mother or daughter in years was those earrings you're wearing."

"How do you explain the fingerprint?"

"I forgot to put gloves on before we went inside and tripped caught myself on the table, remember? You scolded me for not already having my gloves on." He's calmly answering her questions, knowing that yelling or shutting down isn't going to get him anywhere, not when she is clearly on his side in the moment.

She closes her hands around the bars again, "And what about the thing," she can't bring herself to say it, "we found in your office?"

"I've never seen it before," He tells her slowly and calmly. "Kate, someone is framing me. You have to see that," only now does desperation leak into his voice.

"Why?" Who would want to mess with this imperfect but wonderful man?

He shrugs, "There's only two people that I can think that would go to such extreme lengths to fuck with us."

She jerks, "Fuck with us? You think this could be about me?"

"Or me." He nods, "You because I'm someone you care about or because I saw right through him."

"You think it's Senator Bracken or 3KX."

"Think about it Beckett." He leans forward, arm pulling against the cuffs, "Bracken has gone to serious lengths to cause you as much heartache as possible and Gates is a psychopath that likes to be in control and mess with people."

She huffs out a hard breath, emotions coming into check. They're certainly plausible explanations. "I have to go." She's striding out of holding, determination in gear as she mentally runs down the possibilities.

"Wait what?" Castle is looking at her like he can't figure out what just went down inside her head.

She stops and the door and smiles back at him, and for the first time in hours the emotion meets her eyes. "Someone has to get you out Castle." It's three in the morning but she's going to get this figured out.

Penny for your thoughts on my variation?

Babyrose