**This story is based on the promo of 'Kill Shot' and a dream I had about the episode 'Cuffed'.

Lanie Parish sat behind her desk as she looked over the autopsy report she had just put the finishing touches on. She was worried about how Kate would handle some of the details that she had gathered so she sent a quick text to Castle telling him to make sure he came with the detective when she was called to the morgue.

Rick had just finished reading Lanies text when Kate's phone rang. He couldn't help but wonder why the ME had sent him a message making sure he would accompany the detective when they all knew he stuck to her like glue anyway. Just as he was preparing a reply to Lanie, Kate grinned at him and shoved her cell into her pocket. "That was Lanie, I'm gonna run down there and see what she's found out."

Rick jumped up out of his seat and offered the detective his arm. "Shall we?"

Kate rolled her eyes but took his arm anyway and even bumped her hip into his as they walked towards the elevator. "Remy's after?"

"You read my mind." Rick smiled at her as they entered the lift. As soon as the doors shut, Rick covered Kate's hand with his own and smiled at her. Kate rolled her eyes at him but smiled back and leaned her head over to rest on his shoulder. The silent conversation they shared filled both their hearts with hope. Rick's gentle touches and loving smiles were more destructive to Kate's wall than a sledgehammer and it was beginning to crumble. Soon they would be together.

As they neared the morgue doors, Kate pulled her hand out of the bend of Rick's elbow and increased her strides, creating a respectable distance between them before entering the ME's quarters. "What ya got for me Lanie?"

"Victims prints were in the system." Lanie begins as she holds out the arrest report to the detective. "Sarah Conley, age 32. According to the personal info in the police reports... she became a Heroin addict soon after her parents died in a car wreck in '99, she was an only child, never married, and had been homeless for years."

Kate scans the file and then hands it over to Rick. "Any clues as to who killed her or why?"

Lanie cleared her throat to get Rick's attention and held out a clear evidence bag towards her friends. Inside the little bag was a small wrinkled piece of paper that had the numbers 1 and 7 separated by a slash mark. "I found this wadded up in the vics mouth." Rick and Kate leaned in to get a closer look at the item as Lanie continued. "I believe Ms. Conley was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the physco that did this plans on doing it six more times."

Kate quickly stood back up straight and cleared her throat. "Any prints or particulates on the note?"

Lanie shook her head. "Other than the vic's DNA, it's clean."

Rick looked at Kate and then to Lanie. "You think that 1/7 means this victim is the first of seven? It could mean January 7th, it could be the anniversary of something, or it could be..."

"I hope I'm wrong on this Castle, but evidence leads me to believe that I'm not." Lanie motioned for the pair to follow her back over to her desk to retrieve her autopsy report. "The precise location of bullet's entry, and the 308 round CSU retrieved at the scene indicate that the shot was made from a great distance away by someone with some sort of sniper training. The note is what tells me that the shooter killed this woman for no reason other than his sick idea of a game. He is even warning us that there will be others."

Kate subconsciously placed a hand on her chest and closed her eyes. "That sounds logical Lanie, thank you."

Rick noticed Kate's reaction and he glanced over to the ME and then back to his partner. He leaned in and whispered his concern. "Kate, You OK?"

"I'm fine, Castle." Kate snapped at the writer as she grabbed the file from Lanie's hand. "Let's go fill in the boys."

Rick plastered a fake smile on his face and extended his arm out in front of them, motioning for the detective to lead the way. The look he shot over his shoulder to Lanie was one of questioning and fear. If she's right about this, if the killer really is hunting down people just for fun, Kate may not handle it well.

Lanie's sad smile and nod told the writer that she was thinking the same thing he was. She pointed her finger at Rick and then to her own eyes and finally to Kate's retreating figure. A silent plea for him to keep an eye on her.

Rick gave Lanie a quick nod of understanding and then placed his hand on the small of Kate's back as they exited the morgue.

The murder board still had very little info on it when Kate decided to call it a night. "It's late guys, I need food and a good night's sleep. Let's get out of here."

Esposito and Ryan smiled at their leader and gave Rick the same kind of concerned look that Lanie had this morning and then they shut down their computers and stood to leave. "Sleep tight guys." Ryan said with a smile and Esposito was quick to join in on the little jibe directed at the writer and his muse. "Don't let the Castle bugs bite."

Kate turned around and playfully shoved both of them. "Get out of here!" She punched Rick in the shoulder as she walked past him to grab her jacket. "Stop smiling! That was all your fault."

"My fault?" Rick grumbled and rubbed his throbbing arm. "How do you figure that?"

Kate hit the button to call the elevator up and gave Rick a glare as she began to name off the reasons she blamed him for the ribbing the boys just gave them. "You stand closer to me now and you smile that smile or you say something totally inappropriate and you make sure to touch my hand when you give me my coffee. You're the reason they think we're together."

Rick laughed at her as they entered the elevator. "I have always done those things Kate."

"And that's another thing!" Kate interrupted. "You call me by my first name a lot more than you use to."

"Kate, the only thing that has changed is that you like these things now." Rick smirked. "That's why I see this all as your fault, not mine. I'm doing nothing any differently than I did 3 years ago."

Kate crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes at him but didn't move a muscle when he drew closer to her and lowered his head to whisper in her ear.

"You like it when I call you Kate. You like the feel of my hand at your back." Rick pulled his face away from hers and looked into her eyes as his arm circled around her waist and he put his hand right where he was just talking about. "And your smile puts mine to shame." He glanced down at her lips and noticed she was biting her lower lip just to keep from proving him right. Rick brought his hand up to Kate's face and he tapped his finger on her chin. "Don't fight it Kate."

Kate opened her mouth to quip back at him but she lost her train of thought when she felt his hand slowly slide up her cheek to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. All her anger had been replaced by desire and when she finally spoke, it came out as a sexy sigh. "Rick..."

"Thank you, Detective for allowing me to prove my point." Rick said as he looked down to see that Kate had, at some point, placed both her hands on his chest. "You're the reason they think we're together."

Kate released the death grip she had on Rick's shirt and pushed him away just as the elevator stopped. "I hate you."

"You sure do have a funny way of showing it." Rick chuckled as they exited the lift. "So, where are we dinning tonight, your place or mine?"

"You at your place, me at mine." Kate informed him as she opened the driver's side door to her unmarked and slid in.

"Kate..." Rick whined as plopped down in the passenger seat.

Kate started the car and checked her mirrors before pulling away from the curb. "Castle..." She said in the same childish tone he had just used.

They rode in complete silence for at least ten minutes. Both kept stealing glances at the other every now and then until Rick finally broke. "I'm sorry if I seem too pushy."

"You weren't being too pushy. We've both gotten use to this new routine of dinning together at the end of the day."

Rick cleared his throat and cough-spoke into his fist. "Dating."

"We're not dating, Castle."

"Whatever you have to tell yourself, Kate. Anyways... you were saying?"

Kate shook her head lightly but couldn't bring herself to verbally dispute what he had just said. "I was going to say that I'm just too tired tonight."

"Ok, so... tomorrow night, dinner at my place! We'll order in some nice Italian, have a little too much wine and then you lean over to me and whisper..."

Kate couldn't help but laugh at his insinuating and she slapped his thigh to shut him up. "Goodnight, Rick."

Rick snapped out of his daydream and realized they had arrived at his place. "Not exactly what I was thinking, but at least you didn't call me Castle." He wiggled his eyebrows at her suggestively then quickly leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Brick by brick Kate, that wall's coming down."

Kate pulled her lower lip between her teeth and gave him a shy nod of agreement as he opened his door and stepped out.

**Click the tab below or find me on Twitter rayleenw and let me know what you think.