1046. Chapter 1046

After A Chill Goes Through Her Veins

Episode 1.05

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: If you've been paying attention, you already know I don't own this. Rating: T Time: See above.

Castle had been wrestling with a problem for over two hours. His heroine, Nikki Heat, had two ways to proceed in her current investigation and he couldn't decide between them. Both were good solid, ideas and both were something that Nikki would do. He had even thought about having a long lost twin sister of Nikki's show up so she could pursue both simultaneously. Maybe a clone of Nikki?

The knock on his door lifted his spirits. He could avoid making a decision for a bit longer. Perhaps even for the rest of the night, depending who was at the door.

He sprang to his front door and threw it open happily. "Beckett. What are you doing here? Do we have a body? Something weird? Something gruesome?"

Beckett glared at him. "Could you at least invite me in?"

"Certainly. Sorry. Can I take your coat?"

Beckett turned around to let him help her out of her coat and he leaned forward to inhale the scent of her hair. Cherries. He loved the scent of cherries on Beckett. For just a moment, he imagined a line of dialog: I love the smell of cherries in the morning. It reminds me of…Beckett. Imagining how Beckett would react, be discarded the idea at once.

"Would you like something to drink? Coffee? Some white wine?"

"Could I have some Scotch, please?"

He was a little surprised since Beckett usually kept a tight lid on her drinking, just as she kept a tight lid on just about everything about herself. But, he went to the bar, got out a glass, got out some ice and was interrupted.

"Would you mind having one with me? I don't like to…" Her voice trailed off.

Castle remembered her telling him about her father's problems with alcohol after her mother had been murdered. He quickly got out a second glass for himself.

He poured a finger of Scotch into each glass and was interrupted again. "Three fingers, please, Castle."

He poured more into her glass, but not into his. Something was wrong with Beckett tonight and he wanted to be awake and alert.

They sat on his couch and Beckett took a long sip of her Scotch. "I just talked to the DA's office about Ben Davidson."

"They're still working this late?" He asked.

"The Filbert trial. Big financial scandal. The Feds and half a dozen states are suing everyone. And everyone is suing everyone else. But the DA's office agrees with me. With us. What Ben Davidson told us is not a confession. It's a theory of what might have happened. Nothing more."

"What about his questions to Mrs. Marsh about the delivery of the freezer?" He asked.

Kate shrugged. "He was trying to find out about the disappearance of his daughter. We have no evidence that he knew at the time that the freezer had actually been delivered to Sam, his son-in-law. Or that Melanie's body went into the freezer. All we have is a concerned parent asking Mrs. Marsh about the time Melanie disappeared. If we were feeling really nasty, we could ask the DA to file a complaint for impersonating a cop. They have a lot more important things to do."

"And as far as the killing of Sam Cavanaugh goes, there are no witnesses, no security cameras and at this late date, no hope of ever finding anything that puts Ben Davidson at the scene of the crime. The police at the time called it a mugging gone wrong."

"More sterling police work like that done by Detective Sloan?" Castle said, sarcastically.

"Don't be too hard on them, Castle. They had nothing to work with." She held out her empty glass. "Refill, please?"

He refilled her glass for her. She downed it in two swallows, and held out the glass.

"Beckett, I think that…"

"Can you just give me a damned drink and skip the lectures?" She snapped at him.

Castle refilled her glass. This time she just sipped it.

"What about the gun?" He asked.

"I checked. He never had a permit for any kind of a weapon. If he brought it back from the war…What war do you think, Castle? Vietnam?"

He thought for a second. "Forty plus years ago, he was probably in his twenties. I'd guess there were all sorts of pistols floating around in Vietnam in those days. So, he brings back some handgun. Even if we found the murder weapon, we'd never be able to tie it to him. He's smart, so he got rid of the gun as soon as he used it on Sam. It's gone, Beckett. Long gone."

"And so, the case is over." She held out her glass for a refill. Castle hesitated for a second, then got up and refilled it. This time he brought the bottle back. If Beckett was determined to get drunk, it was better that she do it here, with him, than in some bar someplace.

"I went back to the precinct and filled out my report. Melanie Cavanaugh, killed by her husband, Sam, according to Charles Wyler, who was his accomplice after the fact for getting the freezer and paying for the storage fees. Sam Cavanaugh was killed later by a person or persons unknown. All tied up in a neat little box just like Detective Sloan would have done it."

"Beckett, you're nothing at all like Sloan. You're ten times the cop he is. Twenty times. A hundred times."

"Damn it, Castle. I know that, but, here I am, just giving up and letting a murderer slide. That's not me. That's not who I am. That's not what I do!"

"What would you do, then?"

"I'd drag Davidson back and interrogate him. I'd drag in his wife and his neighbors and I'd ask them about this gun of his. I'd ask him about every damned thing they ever heard him say about Sam Cavanaugh. I'd…"

"Get nowhere." Castle finished for her. "Davidson would come in lawyered up and you can't compel a wife to testify against her husband. As far as the neighbors, so what? All they'll say, if they say anything, is that he didn't much like his son-in-law. That's not a motive for murder. And he was worried about his daughter's disappearance. The daughter who made a habit of running off. As far as the gun goes, the neighbors could tell us all about it in great detail and we could still never tie the gun to Sam's murder."

Beckett glared at Castle, then refilled her glass. She downed the Scotch in two gulps and refilled her glass again. "This isn't why I became a cop." She said quietly. "I didn't become a cop to just give up on a case because it's too hard." She took another drink. "Am I going to give up on my mom's case someday? If so, why am I even trying?"

""This is a court of law, not a court of justice." Castle quoted. "Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. You may not get law out of this one, Beckett. But you do get justice. Sam Cavanaugh murdered his wife and he was in turn murdered by her father. Quite karmic. And throwing Ben Davidson into jail, leaving his wife and grandchildren by themselves is not justice, although it may be what the law demands. We won this one, Beckett. Let it be."

She shook her head. "I can't. I haven't been able to get my mom out of my head since I told you about her. I remember her making breakfast on Sunday mornings. I remember the words I hated to hear from her: "I told you so, Katie." I remember how proud she was when I was accepted at Stanford. I remember talking to her about how hard Stanford was and how she'd tell me that I could do it. I just had to keep trying. And I think about things she never got to do. She never saw me graduate from Stanford. Hell, she never even saw me graduate from the police academy. She'll never see me pass the bar and get my first job. We'll never talk about cases, not mother to daughter, but lawyer to lawyer. She'll never see me walk down the aisle at my wedding. She'll never get to hold her first grandchild in her arms. She'll never…"

Rick realized that Kate was crying and crying hard. He realized that somewhere inside the tough homicide detective there was still a frightened, bewildered and lonely nineteen-year old who needed help. He put his arms around her and she collapsed into him, sobbing against his chest.

She sobbed for some ten minutes and gradually the sobs died away. She pulled away from him. "Castle, thanks, but I really have to go…Oh, shit!"

"What? What happened?"

"My crying got my makeup all over your shirt. It's ruined. I'll get a new one or I'll get this one dry cleaned."

"Don't worry about it, Beckett."

"Just let me get it off of you. If it can't be cleaned, I'll buy you a new one."

"Beckett! Please stop trying to undress me. Besides the shirt is a special one I buy for when Kate Beckett cries on my shoulder. It's like a Kleenex. Use it once and throw it away."

"A special crying shirt? Do you expect me to believe that?" Kate kept working the buttons.

"Katherine Beckett! You're trying to seduce me. Remember our agreement? We can't do this sort of thing."

Kate pulled back and glared at him. "Castle, if I were trying to seduce you, I wouldn't be fooling with your shirt. I'd do this." She leaned forward and gave him an absolutely electric kiss. He was so stunned, he didn't even think to try to kiss back until she had pulled away.

"Thanks for everything, Castle, but I have to get home."

He put a hand on her arm to stop her from standing. "You've had too much to drink, Beckett. I'll drive you home."

"I have not had too much to drink and you are not driving my car. Ever."

Both tried to stand up, with Rick trying to grab her and Kate trying to avoid him. Somehow their feet got tangled up and he ended up falling on top of her onto the couch. The first thing he noticed was that his hand was on her boob. He looked down and saw his hand was trapped between their bodies. And somehow her tee shirt had been pushed up so that both of her boobs were in plain sight.

He then said something stupid. "You're not wearing a bra."

"I was getting ready for bed when I decided to come over to talk to you. I don't have any panties on, either. Now, let me up so I can go home."

"I'll call my car service. Then I'll have them at your door bright and early so you can come back and get your car. You've had too much to drink."

"Let me up and I'll prove I'm capable of driving. I'll give myself a field sobriety test. Now let me up."

Castle got up, hoping that somehow Beckett hadn't noticed he had cupped her boob. Yeah. Fortunately, she's a detective, it's not like she's trained to notice things. He thought, sarcastically.

When Beckett stood up, he got another shock. Her tee shirt was still perched on top of her boobs. He thought about trying to reach over and pull it down, but chickened out. This will not end well.

"Castle, I'm going to walk ten paces that way, heel to toe, turn and walk back, heel to toe, ten steps. Okay?"

He could only nod.

She walked in a straight line, clearly counting her steps, then turned and came back ten paces. Castle could hardly stop looking at her boobs coming towards him, bouncing ever so slightly.

"So, are you enjoying the view of my boobs?"

"Ah…Um…Ah…What….Um…I….Wasn't…" He finally gave up.

Kate was standing right in front of him. "I really needed a shoulder to cry on tonight, Rick. Thank you. And if this ever gets out, you'll be crying." She then took off her tee shirt and tossed it on the couch. She took his hand and led him to the bedroom. "You're right. I probably shouldn't drive."

She flopped down on the bed. "Will you take off my shoes and jeans?"

She undid her jeans and her pulled them off her long, toned legs. He stood and admired her beauty.

"Were you just planning on looking?"

He got undressed in record time and joined her on the bed.

"I really need you to be gentle, okay, Rick?"

He began by kissing her lips softly and then moved down to her boobs, just grazing them with his lips. He reached down and found she was very wet. He moved on top of her and entered her. "Tell me if I go too fast or too hard."

"You're going fine."

He moved as slowly as he could and he could feel her responding, also very slowly, to him. As she began to moan, he felt her climax and shortly thereafter, he did as well.

She snuggled up against him. "I should have asked. Where are Martha and Alexis?"

"In Boston. One of Mother's friends is opening a play there. And Alexis wanted to see the USS Constitution, the Old North Church, Faneuil Hall, Paul Revere's house, the whole thing. She's making a multi-media presentation for school. They won't be back until Wednesday."

"Good. I'll set my alarm since I have to get up early to go to work." She did so, kissed him goodnight and went to sleep.

They both woke up when the alarm went off. Castle looked over at Beckett. "How much trouble am I in?"

She frowned. "Why would you be in trouble?"

"I took advantage of you when you were drunk."

Kate laughed. "Castle, you could give me a five drink head start and I'd still drink you under the table. Nothing happened last night that I didn't want to happen. But our deal still stands. You aren't allowed to say or do anything that might lead to sex. Understood?"

Castle nodded numbly.

Beckett got out of bed. "Could you make breakfast? Maybe eggs, sausages, bacon and pancakes. I'll take a shower. You have a great shower, you know."

Castle watched appreciatively as Kate Beckett walked away from him.

I will never understand Kate Beckett.

To be continued in After A Death in the Family