"Tony, get the dough! Get the dough!"

"I can't, the straps are caught!"

"Everybody can see us, man. Run!"

"I'm not leaving without my money!"

Kate Becket turned the corner on her usual trek for coffee before work, lazily watching the street as she allowed her car to amble down the road behind the morning traffic. Her thoughts were on the debate of if she should actually spend the extra money to grab an extra cup of java, considering now there was a perfectly fine coffee machine was at the precinct. After all, even though Richard Castle had managed to worm his annoying presence into the station, the coffee at least had been significantly improved.

"Allan, get your act together and get a move on!"

"I don't care if everybody's watching, I want this money!"

Kate heard the yelling from the side of the road. The traffic light had just turned red, and as her car pulled to a stop was stopped she had a perfect view of two men desperately struggling to pull a bulging duffle bag from the manhole in the sidewalk.

"Who knew that money was so heavy?" one of them grumbled.

"Well, we just robbed the freaking bank, I think you should be able to handle a few freaking pounds."

It took Kate a few seconds to register that she'd actually heard what she thought she'd heard. The traffic light still hadn't turned green yet, and she had the time to stare incredulously at the two men as the finally pulled the duffle out of the manhole – and promptly began to run across the street.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," she muttered as she immediately stepped out of her car, pulling out her badge and beginning to chase after the two men. (The light was still red).

"Stop, police!"

The man carrying the duffle jumped at the sound of her voice. "Oh crap," he whimpered, "This cannot be happening."

The other man hurriedly shoved his partner forward as he broke out into a sprint. "Shut your trap and start running, you idiot!"

"This entire job was bad luck from the start, man!"

Kate reluctantly accepted the fact that she would have to run faster in order to catch the two men, until she realized that the other person was couldn't be moved; he was too frozen in fear.

"This wasn't even my idea," he moaned in dismay. "You told me there would be a tunnel and some easy money. You never said we would get caught."

Tunnel? Becket wondered. Bank? Are you kidding me?

The partner was trying to shove his friend forward again, and Kate allowed herself to slow down and catch her breath as he proved unsuccessful in moving the man. Just when he decided to simply grab the duffel bag himself and run, she had already caught up to them.

"Police, freeze," she said, huffing tiredly.

The man whirled wildly to face her, staring for a moment before immediately taking off, leaving the bag of money on the ground and his partner sniveling pathetically in the middle of the street.

She cursed as she sped up again, reaching the first one but then immediately coming to a stop. She knew she couldn't keep track of both men at once, and she struggled between the decision of chasing after the more daring suspect, or arresting the one holding the duffel bag with the stolen money.

In the end, however, she didn't have to choose.

As if the lady luck had suddenly decided to be extremely unhelpful toward the two men, a passing car came by and promptly ran into the man trying to escape her in the streets. With a scream, the man crashed into the car and rolled across the hood before falling in a heap on the ground, groaning in pain and cradling his leg.

Becket winced in sympathy, but thanked her lucky stars as she hurriedly handcuffed the first man (who was still crying in shock) and dragged him over with her to subdue his fallen partner.

"You're under arrest…" she began.

"Beckett?"

No way.

Beckett froze in shock, too stunned to react to the voice she heard. Was it even possible for her day to become even more bizarre?

"Castle?"

Richard Castle was standing in the street, halfway out of his car, staring open mouthed between the man he'd ran over and his partner who was standing in the middle of the streets.

(The traffic light was, incredibly, still red)

Beckett found herself staring at Castle in shock, huffing incredulously as he gestured in astonishment between the car and the man lying on the street.

"Were you…?" he stuttered off.

"Yeah."

"And I just…"

"Ran him over? …Yeah."

"Huh." Castle turned to stare at the guy writhing in the streets, taking an exceptionally long time in watching the man cradle his leg and shout curses at the world, until he turned back to Beckett with a surprising smirk. "Who knew?"

Hours later, as Beckett and Castle found themselves back in the precinct, retelling the story to the throng of friends that had gathered around them like kids at story time, Beckett brought up her question about the meaning of his words.

"Hey, Castle?"

"Yeah?"

"What did you mean by 'who knew'?"

"What?"

Beckett frowned impatiently. "You know, this morning? You ran the guy over…" She shrugged theatrically, exaggerating his actions. "'Who knew?'"

It took a moment, but when Castle remembered, he grinned.

"Who knew," he said, "That even before the day begins, I can still help you take down crime?"

Beckett stared open mouthed at her partner. As Castle smiled cheekily at her reaction, she found herself caught again in the usual befuddled amusement that she'd grown accustomed to whenever she was with him. She rolled her eyes and groaned with exasperation, turning around to walk away with Ryan and Esposito, leading the rest of the precinct out of their huddle as they all returned to their usual work routine. She left her partner standing alone in the middle of the bullpen.

"You know you can't live without me!" Castle called out from behind them.