Work Text:
Beckett leaned against the side of the desk as she stared at the murder board. The murder was solved and the murderer was behind bars while the paperwork was waiting for her to begin working on it.
"Coffee?"
Beckett looked away from the murder board to see Castle standing nearby with two cups of coffee in his hands. She took one of the cups and brought it to her lips. "Thanks."
"I didn't think we were going to ever solve this case. It seemed like everyone was triple crossing everyone else."
"Yeah, well, we found the murderer and it's over." Beckett glanced to her desk. "Everything except the paperwork. Did you want to stay and help or are you planning on running away from the big, bad paperwork like usual?"
Castle laughed nervously as he took his phone out of his pocket. "I'll stay, but I am hungry. What do you say to pizza? We can make a night of it."
"Right, because paperwork is so exciting. All right, order the pizza." Beckett sat down in her chair and folded her hands on the desk. "I might as well take advantage of your offer while I still can. It's not like this happens ever."
"You are just jealous of my ability to know when to hand out my favors." Castle dialed a number on his phone and walked a few steps away to talk.
Sometime later, a pizza delivery man entered the police station and Castle paid for the pizzas. "Dinner is served!"
"Thank you." Beckett opened the lid and took a slice of pizza. "So Castle, I'm going to introduce you to the fascinating world of filling out reports after a murder is solved."
Castle grabbed a nearby chair and sat down. "Ha ha, this isn't fascinating at all. It's like a Cliff Notes version of what we just went through. Not as exciting as going through the real thing."
Beckett rolled her eyes at Castle. "No, nothing is more exciting than catching the murderer and solving the case, but the grunt work still has to be done too."
"Yes, but I prefer solving cases. There is nothing more fulfilling than the rush of bringing justice to the world. I feel like a superhero sometimes."
Beckett laughed. "Yeah right, Castle. Why don't you do something useful and take down the photos from the murder board so I can add them into this report?"
"Your wish is my command."
"I like the sound of that." She took a bite of her pizza slice and watched as Castle get up and head towards the murder board. "You have to admit though that no matter what you've written in your novels, real life is still going to amaze you and not always in the best of ways. Like this case for example. Everything could have been avoided if people communicated with each other and didn't sneak around."
"Ah, human nature. It always gets the best of us." Castle placed the photos on Beckett's desk before sitting back down. "But that's why we have people like you and Ryan and Esposito. You're there to make sure that when crimes happen, you catch them and bring them to justice."
"We try anyway. Besides, I know what you're doing, Castle."
"And what's that?"
"You're trying to avoid doing work." Beckett wiped her hands off on a napkin before handing a file to Castle. "But don't worry, I have your back." She winked as Castle took the file. "And I promise, it won't be too long before another murder happens and we're back out on the streets trying to solve the case."
"Hopefully it won't be too long. I've never been good at staying still." Castle reached for a slice of pizza and smiled at Beckett.
"Then it's a good thing that between the two of us, I'm the cop." She shook her head and returned to writing.
