Castle's partner

Poison

"Lanie get him back to the lab and run DNA for the skin under his nails. The four of you come with me." Beckett points to us.

They all follow her, but I stay behind.

"Hey Lanie, did you happen to find a necklace at the morgue or at Castle's?"

"No sweetie I'm sorry. Did you lose one?"

"Yeah. If you find it can you please tell me? It's a nickel on a chain."

"Of course. And that was some pretty amazing stuff. I didn't even figure that out."

I smile sheepishly.

"Thanks Lanie."

"Ross!" Beckett calls from behind me.

"I have to go. Oh where's Oliver?"

"On his way."

"Well tell him I said hi."

I turn and run the other way, towards Beckett.

When we get back to the precinct she takes out a bag of evidence that includes a phone, a wallet, and a set of keys.

"Well, vic is 45. George Paine. Ryan and Espo are tracking down next of kin and I'm waiting on a warrant for the phone and financials. It should only take an hour or two. In the meantime, I never asked how your date was! Tell me everything!"

"It was fun."

"What did you do?"

"Went to dinner and then watched the fireworks."

"Ooooh. And were there any extra fireworks?"

"Beckett!"

"I'm serious!"

"We kissed."

She half smiles at me.

"Do you feel safe with him? Do you trust him?"

"I do."

"Good. Hey, if anything ever happens that you're not comfortable with, you tell me. Ok?"

I nod.

Her phone goes off.

She reads the text.

"Lanie got a hit on the DNA. The address is for a house in Albany. You ready for a drive?"

I smile. "Always."

"Let me call the boys."

We arrive at the house an hour later. Beckett pulls her gun out and leads the team to the front door. She knocks, and no one answers.

I look off to the side of the house, and it seems...quiet. Like there's nothing alive.

A few yards away I spot a carcass laying on the ground. It can't be that old, nothing had started to eat it, and there is no smell.

I tug on Ryan's sleeve.

"What?"

I point to the dead animal.

We all step cautiously towards it and approach the side garage, making sure no one is in there.

And there isn't. The only thing there inside is a lot of purple flowers growing...well everywhere.

And some purple liquid in a beaker.

It doesn't seem unusual, and then I realize what it is.

Just as Ryan reaches out his hand I yell, "don't touch it!"

He stops. "Why?"

"It's poison, aconite. If it gets into your blood stream it will kill you in less than a minute. It's one of the fastest acting poisons known. And the fumes can kill you too, if it's boiled down. We need to GET OUT OF HERE."

Just then we hear the crunching of gravel outside, and a car door closes.

"Hide!" Beckett whispers fiercely.

I duck behind a table with the boys and Beckett crouches behind a desk.

The door opens and I hold my breath, hoping he doesn't notice us.

"Hey! NYPD! Put your hands in the air!"

Beckett, really?

I cautiously lift my head above the wood to see what's going on.

He slowly raises his hands.

Then all at once he picks up the beaker of liquid and hurls it at Beckett.

It shatters on her hand and she winces in pain. With her other hand she starts shooting but he's gone like lightning.

She drops to the ground holding her hand, and I scramble to stand up.

The team rushes to her, but I run the opposite way.

I grab various containers trying to look for a base.

"C'mon, c'mon!"

I fumble over myself reading faster than I ever have.

Less than thirty seconds Samantha.

Finally I find ethanol.

I sprint to her and grab her hand.

She groans but I pour the solution on the cut.

It seems to work for a few seconds before her hand catches on fire.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" She screams, tears falling from her cheeks.

I pull her to the sink and remove a piece of glass from her hand, shoving it under the water and the flames fizzle out.

Her hand shakes as I turn off the faucet, but I know she's ok.

They all stare at me in disbelief, and maybe a little confusion.

"What just happened?" Asked Espo.

"I just neutralized the poison. Ethanol neutralized the poison so it was a pH of seven. But the two together created fire probably from other stuff you had on your hand."

"How did you know how to do that?"

I shrug.

"Oh come on! It may come as a surprise to you but not many people would have known to do that." Says Castle.

"I like chemistry, that's all. I wanted to be a forensic chemist before my dad died. Then I applied the knowledge I had from that to crime scenes."

"You saved my life. None of us even knew it was poison, let alone what to do to stop it."

I feel my cheeks turn red and I duck my head.

"Samantha I'm serious. Thank you."

I nod sheepishly.

She clears her throat.

"Ok we need a team down here. Get SWAT and a medic just in case."

Ryan and Esposito pull out their phones and start calling.

Castle turns to Beckett.

"We need to bandage your hand."
He takes it gently in his, and I know she suppresses her reaction to the pain.

"Samantha, can you-"

"Yeah." I cut him off knowing what he's going to ask.

I sprint to her squad car and pull out the first aid kit. I run back and hand it to Castle.

He carefully wraps a bandage around the wound.

"Does it hurt?"

"No I'm ok." She forces a fake smile on her face.

I know she's lying.

Everyone's so busy worrying about Beckett's wound, no one notices mine. Not even me.