Notes: Nikki abandoned me on Skype so I wrote this and sent it to her a paragraph at a time.
Disclaimer: I don't own Castle. No me gusta.
Lanie sighed and dropped her forehead onto the arms that were neatly folded across the table. She then repeatedly banged her head. "Girl, you are killing me!"
"Well, I don't know what you seem think I'm doing! I finally tell you I kiss him and you act like I've smacked you," Kate groaned, pushing herself up off the couch and pacing across her living room.
Lanie looked up from where she was sitting wedged between the coffee table and the couch. "Seriously?" she scoffed, "You just... Katherine Beckett. You kiss the man, wait nearly a year to tell me, and then expect me to not feel just a little bit betrayed? You owe me better than that."
"It was the best kiss I've ever had?" Kate offered, pausing in the middle of the room to look at Lanie, "I can remember it perfectly? I can still feel it? I can still taste it? There was tongue, Lanie. I had a boyfriend and I was kissing another man, and God... I could feel that kiss in my toes. I have never been kissed like that before."
"And you want to be kissed like that again," Lanie finished, tugging her wine glass over to her.
"More than anything. Everyday for the rest of my life." Kate moved over to the couch and fell onto it face first. "I have it really, really bad."
"Yeah, you do," Lanie teased. "It's cute though. Just don't wait another damn year to tell me. When you finally go after your boy."
Kate turned her face and looked at Lanie. "Is a month better than a year?"
Lanie sprayed her wine across the coffee table and jerked her head around to meet Kate's eyes. "You've been bumping uglies with that man for a month and none of us knew?"
"No. Two weeks, but our first offical date was a month ago."
Lanie growled and grabbed the Union Jack pillow from the floor next to her and turned fully to face her friend. "Let the smacking begin," she warned before getting up and wailing on Kate with the pillow. Lanie walloped and beat and pounded on Kate until the brunette got to where she could wrestle the pillow away from her friend.
"You made your point. Stop beating me. My boyfirend will be very mad if you break me," Kate said very seriously, tucking the pillow behind her head. She gave Lanie a broad smile as she watched the woman's face work through a myriad of emotions.
"Your b-bo-boy... Your boyfriend," Lanie whispered. "I have never, ever seen you so easily say that word. Look at you... acting like a real girl."
"Hey!" Kate laughed, giving Lanie a friendly shove.
Lanie crossed her arms and looked down at her friend. "He's good for you, Becks. You're all giddy and smiling. I'm happy. Cos, look at you!" She laughed a watery chuckle and shook her head.
"Are you crying?" Kate sat up and tugged Lanie down onto the couch next to her. "You're crying... over me?"
"I'm just feeling a lot of emotions right now. Good tears though," Lanie choked out wrapping Kate in a tight hug.
"How many is a lot?"
"All of them, Kate. I'm feeling all of them," Lanie answered releasing her friend and reaching for their wine glasses. "Now we toast, to Writer-Man always keeping you this happy."
Kate took her glass and clinked with Lanie before downing the last of her glass. "We had a picnic on the roof of his building. I've never had a more awkward first date in my life, Lanie. Neither one of us knew what to do." She let her head fall onto Lanie's shoulder before continuing, "I don't think we said anything for at least twenty minutes. Just awkwardly bumping arms and shy looks. I was 13 again. It didn't go back to normal until he spilled his wine and we started laughing. Then it was every dinner we've ever grabbed at Remy's. Except he kept holding my hand and playing with my hair."
"I think I'm slipping into a diabetic coma over here. Keep going."
"He walked me home," she grinned. "It was chilly and he... Did you know that I fit perfectly against his side?"
"You are a lost cause, girl. Keep going."
"So, he's got me tucked up against his side and we cut through the park. I swear every third step the man stopped and kissed me. I think I was more drunk off of that than I had been off the wine we were sharing. After all of that, when we get to my door, he kisses my cheek."
"Your cheek?"
"Yes, it was sweet."
"I was wrong, you're both lost causes," Lanie chided, bumping her knees againist Kate's. "Best last first date of your life?"
"Yes, definitely. He's it, Lanie, my one and done." She bit her lip and twirled her hair around her finger. "I love him."
"Well don't tell me that, tell him!" Lanie laughed and turned when they heard the knock on her door. "You expecting company?"
"Only you, and you're here."
"Get more wine, I'll get the door." Lanie rose from the couch and went to the door while Kate went into her kitchen for another bottle.
Kate perused their options while Lanie dealt with the interloper. Once she made a selection she grabbed the cork screw and began the work of opening it, jumping slightly when a pair of strong arms encircled her waist.
"Lanie said to tell you she would see you tomorrow. I didn't know I'd be interrupting girls' night. Sorry," he apologized, pressing a kiss to her neck.
She put the bottle down and twisted in his arms. "Since Lanie let you in, I guess I can forgive you," she whispered, getting on her tip-toes to kiss him.
"Sorry. Ignore me. Don't stop kissing on my account, left my purse!" Lanie explained as she barged back into the apartment.
"She knows," Kate told him before pulling him in for another kiss.