First FanFic ever. I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with this yet, but please leave comments and reviews. I'd love to hear them.

Disclaimers: I only wish I owned them...

It had been 6 long days and nights of hard work but the team finally closed the case. Detectives Ryan and Esposito were wrapping up their paperwork, but Beckett still had a few more hours of desk time ahead of her.

"Yo Boss," said Esposito, "It's late, and none of us are on call tomorrow. Let's get out of here, and get a drink."

Beckett resisted the urge to decline only because she knew he was right. Everyone was dog tired, and the paper work would still be there Monday morning.

"Ah, what the heck, let's go." she said as she stood and pulled on her long black trench.

Det Ryan, holding his phone, approached his partners as they turned off their computers and gathered their belongings. "Um, I just got a text from Castle, he wants us to meet him at the Old Haunt."

"C..Castle text you?" a stunned Beckett stated more than asked

"Yeah, I thought he wa.." But before the Ryan could finish he felt his phone vibrate again. He opened the text and read it.

"Dude", said Esposito, "care to share with the rest of the class?"

"Castle is supposed to be in L.A. until next week. What is he doing back already?" asked Kate, while silently adding, "and why is he texting you and not me first?"

"I guess it doesn't much matter since I already told you what the first text says, but apparently he didn't want you to know he was back."

Espo and Beckett stood wide eyed facing the Irish detective as they were waiting on him to continue.

"And?" asked Beckett as she lifted an eyebrow towards him.

"Oh..um, well he said for me to tell Javi but not to tell you he was back. He just said for us to do whatever it takes to convince you to leave the paperwork and go with us."

Now both men had turned to face the blushing senior detective. Kate knew it was only a matter of seconds before they asked. They were trained, professional detectives. There is no way they would miss what Castle had said in his text to Ryan.

"Sooo Beckett," yep, there it was, "how would Castle happen to know that you were busy with paperwork?" a suspicious Javier asked.

"Lucky guess, I suppose." She wouldn't dare admit to the boys that she missed her plucky side kick, and she sure wouldn't admit that she and her writer had basically text 24 hours a day since he left for his mini book tour.

Neither of the guys believed her, but they knew her well enough to know that the scary Beckett glare meant they had better not push further if they knew what was best for them.

It was still early when the trio left the precinct, so Kate decided to go home to shower and change before meeting the boys at Castle's bar. They had agreed that Beckett should pretend that she knew nothing of the text exchange between Ryan and Castle since it was clearly supposed to be a suprise.

She showered quickly, dried her hair and left it to it's naturally wavy state. She stood staring at her closet trying to figure out what she should wear. It had been a couple of weeks since she had seen Rick and she smiled at the thought of teasing him a bit.

"Rick. Rick. When did I start thinking of him as Rick, instead of Castle?" She said aloud, to no one but herself. There had been many times over the past months that she has nearly called him by his first name in front of her team. That would only add to their already curious minds. No, she and Castle we're not dating. They weren't together and they sure weren't physically involved with one another. So what were they? Honestly, Kate Beckett had no idea. She had slowly, without even realizing it, begun to welcome the closeness of her partner. Is that all he is to her? Her partner? Yes he is her partner, but more than that he is part of her family, her best friend, her... She wasn't sure how to admit what they were exactly but she knew it was important that they address that soon. She had to eventually come clean and admit to him that she remembered, actually, never forgot him declaring his love for her. Once she did that, however, there would be no turning back. She had to be ready to not only deal with the consequences of being untruthful to him, but also ready to answer his questions. Did she return those feelings?

She looked at her watch, and realized that she had been lost in thought, still staring at her closet for more than ten minutes. She finally settled on a pair of dark jeans with embellished back pockets, a scoop neck, cream, fitted sweater and gray boots which of course came with 4 inches of heel.

Her cell was ringing just as she pulled on her coat and headed out of her apartment.

"Beckett" she answered

"Yo Becks, where are you?" said Esposito

"On my way, I'll be there in fifteen" she replied

"Alright, but hurry up before writer boy wears a hole in the floor from all the pacing he is doing"

Kate couldn't help but smile at the image of an anxious Castle waiting to 'surprise' her. She just hoped that she could appear genuinely surprised enough that it wouldn't ruin it for him.

She hailed a cab and gave the driver the address as she pull out her phone to send a text to Mr. Castle, himself.

"hope ur day has been better than mine. headed to meet the boys n lanie the old

old haunt for celebratory drinks. wish u could join us. -K"

She laughed when her phone buzzed only a moment later. Apparently he had been waiting to hear from her and was just as anxious as Esposito had said.

"Sry 4 ur rough day. Tell the bartender u r friends with the owner so u won't have to

pay for drinks- RC

She couldn't resist the temptation.

"castle, i don't need to mention ur name to get free drinks..."

Rick Castle had become so used to seeing Kate Beckett nearly every day over the last several years that being away for a non-mandatory book tour was miserable. They hadn't even been able to talk on the phone. Both had left voicemails for the other, but their timing was terrible when it came to making those calls. Actually, when it came to the two of them, their timing was just terrible in general.

Castle couldn't stand it. He called Gina, canceled the rest of his meetings and signings and booked a flight home to surprise her.

So there he was, pacing between the bar and the door. "How is it, she can make it to a crime scene anywhere in Manhattan in less than twenty minutes, but takes more than an hour to get from the precinct to the bar?", he thought to himself. Little did he know that she had gone home to primp, though she would never admit that.

He was still pacing when his phone vibrated and he read the text about her ability to aquire free drinks on her own without his help. He stopped mid pace, his mouth hung open and he stood staring at his phone suddenly unsure how to respond and unsure what that meant exactly.

"Finally," Kate thought, as the cab approached the Old Haunt.

"If you don't mind, could you go down to the next block?"

"No problem, Miss" said the driver.

She gathered her things, paid the fare and hopped out of the cab. She used the short walk back to the bar to gather her composure and practice her 'surpised' reaction.