Disclaimer: I don't own Castle or any of its characters, I just love them!

Plan B

As they leaned towards each other, already tasting the inevitable kiss on their lips, they both heard it - a slamming door. Then his mother's voice, "Richard, I'm home!"

He looked at Kate with panic on his face and gasped, "Oh my God!" As the words came out of his mouth, his arm went around Kate, and he launched them both off the bed, in a tangle of sheets that landed them in a heap on the floor, to the sound of Kate's "Ahhhh!"

Just as quickly as they had fallen, they were both on their feet again, wrapped in sheets and bedding, and looking like a pair of deer, caught in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle.

"It's my mother!" he rasped. "She's not supposed to be home yet!"

"Richard," she called again. "Aren't you even up yet? Alexis is with me!"

"Alexis?" he gasped to Kate. Realizing the bedroom door was still open, and that his mother or daughter could stick her head in at any moment, Rick quickly stumbled to the other side of the room to close it. "I'm up now," he called as he firmly shut the door. "Just give me a few minutes to get dressed!"

He opened a dresser drawer, took out a pair of boxers, and was pulling them on, when he realized that Kate was still in the same spot on the other side of the room where he had left her. The look on her face made her appear like a lost little girl, and he stopped for a moment before he could speak.

"Kate," he whispered as he walked towards her. "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know." She said quietly. "I don't think I should be here right now."

He reached out, cupped her shoulders in his hands and said, "Kate, don't get me wrong here. I'm not ashamed of you, of this," and he motioned his finger between the two of them, "but I'm not sure I'm ready to present you to my family just yet. Not this way!"

"Well, I'm not ready to be presented yet, either," she said, with a little giggle.

"Okay," he said, as he turned away from her and walked towards his closet. "Find your clothes. I have a plan," he said.

A few moments later, he walked out of his closet wearing a pair of jeans and pulling on a dark shirt. Kate, meanwhile, had found some of her clothes, scattered as they were around the room, and was buttoning up her shirt. Again, Rick stood, frozen in his tracks, taking in the sight of Kate in his room. He sighed as he realized what was happening - Kate was leaving. She had just gotten here and she was leaving already. This was not how he had wanted this day to go - not how he would write it, certainly. "I really don't want you to leave, you know?" he said quietly. "I wanted us to spend the day together. I wanted to make you breakfast!"

She walked to him, and put her hands on his chest, as he brought his arms around her back.

"I know," she replied softly, looking up into his face. "But like you said, we're not quite ready to face them yet, are we?"

He hugged her to him, as her hands snaked under his arms and around his back, and she settled her cheek against his chest.

"Not quite," he almost chuckled, resting his chin on top of her head.

"You could come over to my place, later, if you want," she whispered against his skin.

"You wouldn't mind?" he asked hesitantly.

"Of course I don't mind," she said. "I want to spend the day with you too."

This woman would never cease to amaze him! "I'd like that," he answered. "As soon as things settle down here, I'll come over."

She tipped her head back to look up at him then and said in a bit of a teasing tone, "Okay now, Rick, what's your big plan for smuggling me out of here?"

He put his hands on her arms and held her away from him, shaking his head and laughing slightly. "If anyone had told me yesterday that I'd be smuggling you out of my apartment today..." and then he couldn't even finish the thought, shaking his head again. "Here's the plan," he said, waggling his eyebrows. "I'll go out there, distract them, while you slip out the door behind their backs. I promise, they'll never suspect a thing!"

"That's your plan, huh? That means I have to be the sneaky one, and you just have to keep talking. This could work!" she quipped.

"It could," he laughed, "but you'd better find your pants first!" He pointed then at her bare legs.

She looked down, realizing that she was still wearing nothing but her shirt and her panties. "Pants, right," she grunted.

But before she could return to her search, he reached out, taking her face in his hands, and leaned down to kiss her. She put her hands over his hands on her face, and returned the kiss, humming into his mouth. He broke the kiss all too soon, keeping his hands on her face and leaning his forehead down to hers. "I'm glad this happened," he whispered, "and I miss you already."

She smiled up at him then, and biting her lip slightly first, she answered, "Me too, on both counts."

He kissed her again, softly, slowly and full of love and want and longing, before he pulled away and let her go.

"I'll see you later," he said.

"Later," she answered, nodding her head.

He turned then and headed for the living room, buttoning up his shirt as he went.