Overheard

Knowing another bomb could be in their near future, Castle stood watching Beckett as she interviewed McManus. Just as she was telling the suspect truthfully that Bracken had killed her mother and gone after her mother's friends and that he had tried to have her killed as well, Gates joined Castle to observe the interrogation.

"Is she talking about Bracken?!" Gates asked in surprise.

"She's just trying to get through to him any way she can," Castle countered.

Gates looked at him questioningly; but she let it go in favor of watching the rest of the interview, finally pulling Beckett out when it became obvious that the detective was losing patience and nothing was going to come of the interview. By then a vest with a bomb had been found, and the captain's attention was pulled in other directions as the case seemed to be winding to a close. However, the claims about Bracken's involvement in Johanna Beckett's murder and Kate Beckett's shooting wandered through her mind briefly at moments during the rest of the day. Something was nagging in the back of her mind, but she was too tired and too busy to place it.

xxxxx

Kate used the remote and clicked off the television as she and Castle sat in her apartment at the end of the day, disgusted at the images they had just seen of Bracken again twisting publicity to the advantage of his ill-gained career. In spite of her bravado about being ready when the senator slipped up, there was still a look that told Castle how hard the whole situation had been for her.

"Come over here with me," he told her, and took her hand to pull her from the sofa and into his lap, tucking her close and kissing the top of her head as she curled into his comforting warmth. As he held her, he mentioned that Gates had heard what she told McManus about Bracken.

"Oh, God," Kate moaned, looking worried. "What did she say?"

"She asked if you were talking about Bracken, and I covered."

"Do you think she bought it?"

"For a second or two I thought she didn't; but she let it go, so I guess maybe…"

"We should know before long, " Kate answered. "If there's something on her mind, she doesn't usually hesitate to confront us about it."

There was another frustrated moan, and Castle tried to sooth her, saying, "If she brings it up, we'll deal with it. That's all we can do. Tomorrow morning we'll see if we can come up with a plausible answer; but, for tonight, let's try to relax at least enough to get some rest. You're exhausted."

"This helps," she admitted.

"It's helping me, too."

She could feel his smile after he dropped another little kiss on her head, and he could feel hers curving against his chest.

"Snuggle with me a little longer," he offered, resting his chin on her head. "Then I'd suggest a warm shower and bed. I'll rub your back…help you relax. Tomorrow will be rife with paperwork."

"For you to watch?" she teased.

"Yeah." A short little laugh rumbled through his chest.

"Not sure what I'd do without you, Writer-man."

"Absolutely sure I don't want you to find out, Detective."

They sat and talked a little longer, conscientiously avoiding mention of Bracken, cases, Gates, the precinct, or anything even remotely unpleasant. Later they followed Castle's earlier suggestion and managed a decent night's rest after the turmoil of the last few days.

The captain was in before her detectives the next morning, ready to tackle the backlog of her own paperwork, which had piled up mercilessly as she dealt with the situation involving the senator. Beckett's words to the suspect broke into Gates' thoughts again, and she suddenly remembered what had been nagging at her. When she had introduced her best detective as being in charge of the case, Bracken had seemed hesitant enough that she had asked if there was a reason he didn't want to work with Beckett. How could she have forgotten that? And Beckett looked as if she might be daring him to challenge her. Some of it could have been her imagination, but for that moment, it looked like something was in the air between them.

'I can't take time to deal with that now,' she mentally scolded herself and willed her thinking toward the stack of work she needed to complete.

She glanced up when she heard the elevator and saw Beckett go straight to her desk, start her computer, and pull files from her desk drawer. She was followed in short order by Ryan and then Esposito. None of that drew her attention away from her work; it just accounted for the rest of the team. About ten minutes later, Castle came in with his standard two coffees. What in the world was the man doing here? Until a new case reared its head, this was a paperwork day.

Gates saw the smile her detective gave Castle when he handed her the coffee…the way they each allowed their fingers to linger against the other's only slightly longer than necessarily. And she was certain that the number of women in New York alone who would pay to have Richard Castle look at them the way he was looking at Beckett could provide Mr. and Mrs. Gates with a substantial retirement fund. Who did those two they think they were fooling? But she had to hand it to them…work was kept professional, and a happier detective was a lot easier to work with. The more she saw of them together, the more she realized there was no keeping them apart. Partners, however the term was meant, described them well. She smiled indulgently as she returned to her work. She would leave them alone unless it became an issue.

A call came in right after lunch. The body of a teen-aged boy was found in the storage room of an electronics store, so the team was dispatched to the scene. After their initial observations of the site and an initial consultation with Perlmutter, they discussed possible witnesses, necessary contacts, and what needed to be done immediately; then they went their separate ways to handle their own agendas.

When Ryan and Esposito arrived at the precinct, Gates was returning to her office with a cup of coffee.

"Anything promising on the new case?" she asked them.

"Not yet, but we're about to do a little digging into backgrounds. Maybe something will turn up."

"We did identify the victim…Thomas Lattimer, Tom, eighteen years old, Ryan answered. The manager said Lattimer had worked there part-time for about a year. He was closing last night…manager went home early for his daughter's birthday party."

"Where are Beckett and Castle?" Gates was too late to catch herself. It was the first time she had slipped and referred to Castle by last name only, the way she often referred to her detectives; and she knew the boys had noticed, even if they tried not to show it.

"The kid only had his father. The mother died a couple of years ago…natural causes. They went to notify the father…see if he had any information that might be helpful," Esposito explained. We've got the address if you want it."

"Put it in an email and get to what you need to do," she answered as she returned to her office.

"Yes, Sir."

"Did you hear that?" Ryan asked quietly as they walked into the break room for their own coffee.

"No 'Mr.' in front of Castle?"

"Yeah. Looks like our boy is finally in," Ryan answered, and they did their victorious hand slap, etc. routine away from Gates' all-seeing eyes.

By the end of the day shift, both Gates and the team of detectives and writer had put in a long day. The paperwork wasn't completely finished, but it was on the good side of 'almost there'; and they had a couple of possible leads in the new case. They all felt good about how much they had accomplished, but all five of them were ready to go home.

"We never had lunch, did we?" Castle asked suddenly, looking toward Beckett as he stood to leave.

"Not unless you want to count coffee and the candy bar from the vending machine," she answered as she shut down her computer.

"Let's go find dinner. I'm starved," Castle said, holding her coat for her. "What sounds good?"

"Food. Not going to be picky. Just lead the way."

Castle smiled, then they said their good-byes and walked to the elevator together.

From her office, the captain watched as the doors closed, looking thoughtful for a moment after the elevator started moving.

Ryan and Esposito had put away a couple of things at their desks and were about to leave when they heard Gates close by, asking, "Is there any reason for some sort of conflict between Detective Beckett and Senator Bracken?" She thought she caught a quickly concealed look of concern on Ryan's face, but Esposito was turned away from her. She couldn't see his response.

Esposito turned as if nothing there was nothing wrong with the question and asked with a smile, "You mean beyond the fact that she despises politicians and he obviously doesn't appreciate the police?"

"When he first came in, I thought… No. You're probably right," Gates answered. "Goodnight gentlemen." With that, she went to her office to gather her things.

Neither man spoke until they were in the elevator when a stunned looking Ryan asked, "I wonder what that was about?"

"I don't know, but we should probably tell Beckett."

"Yeah. She and Castle will probably both freak. Why don't I text them and see if they want to meet us at The Old Haunt for drinks after dinner?"

"That works. Jenny and her sisters are taking her mom to dinner tonight. I'll just let her know where I'll be."

"Whipped, man. You're whipped," the Latino detective teased with his big grin. They reached the ground floor then and walked out into the cold winter evening.

"You're just jealous 'cause you've got nobody to take care of you," Ryan threw back unfazed. "When you text Beckett, let her know it could be important. Otherwise they could turn us down in favor of…other activities."

"Bro'! Don't put those thoughts in my head," Esposito blustered. "She's like my sister."

Ryan laughed. "Send the text. Where are we eating?"

"You decide," Esposito answered, keeping his mind on his typing. "Sent," he announced.

"I'm in the mood for a steak," Ryan answered.

"Sounds good. The grill around the corner?"

"Yeah. Hey, got an answer. We're on for drinks. Castle's gonna text when they leave the restaurant."

When they all arrived at the bar, Beckett and Castle wasted no time asking why they needed to talk.

"It might be nothing; but when it comes from Gates, there's always the possibility that it won't be," Esposito started.

"What won't be?" Beckett asked, looking exasperated. "We had to stew over this while we finished our dinner. Just tell us."

"When you left, Gates asked us if there was any reason there might be conflict between you and Bracken."

"Oh, God." She rested her forehead in her hands, and both men looked to Castle for answers.

"When Kate was with McManus a couple of days ago, Gates walked into observation while Kate was telling McManus that Bracken had murdered her mother and tried to have her killed. Gates didn't hear the name, but she picked up that it was Bracken. I tried to cover, and we kind of hoped the captain would let it go; but our luck doesn't usually seem to run that way. What did you tell her?"

Javi recounted the rest of the short conversation, they discussed the number of ramifications of their captain knowing the entire story, and then they decided to just enjoy their drinks and wait to see if anything else came of Gates' interest in the subject.

"If it's any comfort, I don't think she had any idea what's been happening. She looked more concerned than threatening," Ryan told them.

"Yeah, but that will only last until she finds out one of her detectives is covering for a high profile murderer. I'm already on thin ice with her."

"And I'm pretty sure I'd be toast," Castle added.

"I doubt we'd escape, either," Javi answered.

"You know what she's like when she takes on a mission," Kate groaned. "The IA in her comes out, and she doesn't let go until she has answers."

Castle draped his arm around her shoulders and smoothed his hand up and down her arm. "We'll have to see what happens. If it did take her by surprise and she suspects the truth, she's smart enough to know she can't just jump in anywhere and start investigating. If she thinks he killed your mother and her friends and put a hit out on you, she knows she has to be careful. The IA in her will come out there, too. I doubt she'll do anything to tip him off." He took a deep breath and let it go. "But I don't want to think about the conversation where we'd have to tell her what we know."

"We're toast," Beckett agreed grimly.

Esposito apologized as he stood. "Sorry to bring you such a downer after a long day, but we figured you needed to know,"

"No. We needed to know," Castle answered. "We appreciate it."

Ryan stood with his partner, both preparing to leave.

"Yeah, we do," Kate agreed. "Thanks guys."

"Drinks are on us," Castle said.

"There's a lot of 'we' and 'us' around here tonight," Esposito teased. Turning to Ryan, he asked, "You notice that, man?"

"Yeah, I did," Ryan agreed with an answering grin, but he looked back at the still seated couple and added, "It looks good on you."

Kate looked down as if she were uncertain of how to answer at the moment, and Castle gave her shoulders a little squeeze in response.

"See you tomorrow," he told them, and the boys walked away, leaving them alone in the booth.

Leaning her head on his shoulder, Kate asked, "What are we in for now?"

"I don't know, but whatever it is, I have the feeling Gates will do her best to keep us alive…even if it isn't at the precinct." He kissed her forehead and said, "Let's go home."

"Yeah," she answered, and gave him a quick, loving kiss before they stood to leave.