Kate woke up wrapped in Rick's arms. She smiled contently to herself and snuggled closer to him. As if he already developed a sixth sense for her or having just felt her move, Rick woke up moments after her. He pulled her closer and leaned down to nibble on her neck. She made a noise somewhere between a sigh and 'mmmmm', she then manuvered to look up at him causing him to move his mouth to her collar bone before looking at her. He smiled down at her and brushed a few stray hairs out off of her face, tracing her jaw line. He marveled at how beautiful she looked, laying naked and looking satisfied. She reached up and placed her hand on the side of his face and stroked his cheek with her thumb.

"Good morning." Rick said gruffly.

"Morning." She replied softly.

They smiled sweetly at one another. Emotion flashed quick across Rick's face as he looked away, he looked down at her again with concern.

"So.. you." He began, he cleared his throat before continuing tentatively. "You don't regret wh-"

Kate stopped him mid-sentece with a kiss, pulling his mouth to hers effectively shutting him up. She felt like kissing him was something she had been waiting to do all her life, it just felt so right, as if her lips were made to kiss his lips. He reveled in the way her lips formed to his, the way her tongue flicked out tracing his lower lip and eventually slipped in his mouth battling for dominance. They rolled over so she was on top of him and broke off the heated kiss. She smiled down at him licking her lips.

"No matter what happens from this point on, Rick, I will never regret last night." She smiled serenely at him, brushing a strand of his messy hair out of his face. She thought it a little funny that she never realized how long his hair had gotten. He watched several emotions move across her face and through her eyes. He noticed she had start to look a little green and he watched in concern but waited for her to speak, recognizing that she was getting herself ready to say something big.

She took a deep breath and centered herself through the feeling of his hands resting on her bare hips. She managed to look unflinching into his eyes and say the words she had been to scared to say, fearing they would change everything. It was a little late for that, she thought as she said, "I love you, Castle."

She smiled down at him a little hesitantly, he could tell she was still getting used to facing the idea but she had said it, finally, and she even looked happy.

"I love you too." He replied, loving the way it sounded on his lips she almost asked him to say it again.

Rick leaned up and kissed her again, deep and hard, he rolled on top of her and pressed his body close to hers. She could feel him pressing hard against her inner thighs. She deepened the kiss causing him to buck his hips and moan into her mouth. He finally managed to pull away from her gasping for air. He gazed down at her with a huge grin plastered on his face, he shifted his weight to brush his fingers along her jawline causing her to smile up and him. She captured his hand in hers and pressed it to her mouth placing light kisses upon his palm. She released his hand and just as he leaned down to continue his assault on her lips, as if on que, the phone rang. Rick groaned and breifly laid his head down on her bare shoulder. He raised his head to look at Kate.

"I'll get it." Rick grudgingly said as he got up giving Kate one final kiss on the nose. She watched as he scrambled out of bed and dashed naked across the room to get the phone. He picked it up just in time, though he didn't have time to look at the caller ID.

"Hello, Richard Castle speaking." He answered in a sing-song voice.

Kate watched as the person on the other line talked to Rick, his face went from blissfully happy to serious and grave in a matter of seconds. Kate got out of bed, stretched, and grabbed one of his button up shirts to wear over her panties. Kate groaned when her body protested againts her sudden movements, she hadn't felt the extent of her injuries last night, the pain had probably been held off by the adrenaline coursing through her body as a result of her much overdue decision. She certainly felt them now. She was sore all over, she felt like she actually fell off of that roof hitting everything possible on the way down. Her other activities last night deffinitely didn't help, but she didn't regret it at all. As she finished buttoning up the last couple buttons Rick hung up the phone. Kate walked over to him wrapping her arms around his waist pulling him close to her.

"What's wrong, Castle? Who was that?"

"Gates." Rick replied, tight lipped.

Kate was not expecting that and she slowly let him go so he could turn around to look at her.

"Wh-What did she want?" She asked, her voice just barely kept in check.

"She said there was something you had to tell me, she didn't think she was the one that should tell me..?"

He let his response hang in the air, ending with a question. She could tell he was scared and he'd probably question what happened between them once he found out. She couldn't lose him now, she had to make him see that her resignation had nothing to do with her coming to his house last night. She sighed, looking around the room trying to find the right words to say.

"She's right. A lot happened yesterday."

She was struggling with how to bring it up, how to soften it somehow.

"You can tell me, Kate."

She looked up at him and flashed a smile, he gave her the courage to continue.

"How about we get some coffee and sit down for this." It wasn't a question but he nodded. He sighed and walked into the kitchen after grabbing a pair of boxers and a t-shirt from his dresser drawer. After fixing up some coffee they sat down in the living room to talk.

"Okay, shoot." He said taking a sip of his steaming coffee. Kate took a deep breath and looked directly into Rick's eyes as she let it out and then began to explain everything that happened the day before.

"I resigned yesterday after Kevin saved my life. He told Gates about what we had been doing and sent in backup. If not for him I would have died."

Rick had not expected that, he sat quiet for a moment staring wide eyed at Kate before managing to muster up any kind of response.

"How did you almost die?"

He managed to say in a whisper, he had wanted to know last night but he never got the opportunity to bring it up. Kate knew he needed to know the truth, no matter how much it may hurt him. She took a sip of her coffee before answering.

"I chased the guy who shot me, we fought on the roof, well he batted me around more than anything; you saw all the bruises on my body." She raised an eyebrow at him tentatively. If possible, his eyes widened further before settling into something akin to white hit rage. He growled out his response, making sure she knew he wasn't angry with her but with the monster that hurt her.

"He did that to you?"

Rick looked so angry Kate could only think to put a hand on his knee to calm him down and let him know she was okay. She gave him a small smile and spoke.

"I'm fine now, Rick. I'm okay."

Rick nodded closing his eyes briefly before looking up at her, he nodded letting her know it was okay for her to continue. She watched him for a minute to make sure he was really alright, knowing the next part was going to be difficult for both of them.

"I ended up hanging from the edge of the roof." She said quietly, almost a whisper.

Rick involuntarily made a strangled noise, but managed to squeek out a question. "You were hanging from the roof?"

"Hey, I'm okay Castle. I didn't fall, Kevin got to me in time, I'm right here and I'm okay." She said, trying to reassure him.

She reached out and grabbed his hand in hers and he gripped it tight. After a few minutes his breathing returned to an almost normal pace and she could feel his pulse in his wrist slow down slightly, and he nodded to let her continue. Kate was still worried that he might not ever get over this. They'd been in these situations before but this was the first one where he wasn't with her, she knew just that fact hurt him - that he wasn't there for her when she needed him. She looked into his eyes as she continued.

"I called for help and the craziest thing happened to me. I, I thought I heard you calling back to me... but it was, um it was Kevin.

He grabbed my wrist just as I lost my grip and pulled me up."

He closed his eyes and tried to steady his breathing. Kate couldn't tell what he was thinking and she squeezed his hand nervously. This caused him to open his eyes and squeeze back but she barely noticed his hand because his smile... it was so full of love, endless love and she felt her heart constrict. In that moment she knew, without a doubt, that he was it - he was her 'one and done'. She smiled back at him, trying to convey her love for him in it.

"Is that when you...?" He asked her, almost awestruck.

Kate knew exactly what he meant, and she nodded. She didn't even try to hide the small smile playing coyly at her lips.

"Yeah, hanging there I realized I didn't want to die and not tell you how I felt. I tried to tell you several times before but it seemed like something or someone kept getting in the way. I just knew that I wanted you, that everything else I could figure out later."

"We." Rick said, correcting her.

Rick said with a sincere look on his face. She scrunched her eyebrow briefly before the understood and smiled at him. She decided to leave it alone and continue with her story.

"When Javi and I got back to the precinct Gates chewed us out and suspended us both for two weeks without pay."

She looked down at their joined hands, he gave her hand a slight squeez but she only managed to look up to his chest.

She couldn't meet his eyes and say this because every time she did it felt more real, and she felt like Gates was right. Kate began slowly, "She told us that we disrespected the badge and something in me snapped. I resigned."

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Rick looked up at her, she looked back at him with a look that asked for his understanding.

"Do you want your job back?" He asked tentatively.

She sighed heavily before answering him.

"I, I think I do. I probably made the biggest mistake of my life yesterday, by resigning."

They both contemplated her answer for a little while.

"Here's a question: what would you do if you weren't a cop?" Rick asked.

Kate sighed, she never really gave it much thought, ever since her mom- being a cop is the only thing that made sense to her. She sucked in a quick breath before responding, "For so long I have had nothing meaningful in my life but my career, this case, finding out what happened to my mom. I realized there are more important things, like finding someone who.."

"Will stand with you in the end." Rick said finishing her sentence. They smiled at each other.

"Yeah, I was going to say someone you love but that works too. Right now, Rick, you matter to me. We're just going to have to figure out the rest..."

"Together. I only ever kept things from you because I care, Kate. I never wanted to hurt you." Rick cut in, finishing her sentence once again.

She smiled reassuringly at him before saying, "I know, and I'm grateful that you went to the lengths you did but you should have told me the moment this person contacted you. You should have kept me in the loop."

"He told me that if I told you I'd be putting your life in more danger. That you would get hurt. I couldn't take that chance, Kate. I couldn't."

She put her hand on his knee and gave it a gentle squeeze, she smiled up at him.

"I know that now."

"I won't let anything happen to you." He vowed.

"I know." She replied contently. "I won't let anything happen to you either, Castle."

They sat in silence a minute when Kate perked up, almost with alarm.

"Castle, when are your mother and Alexis coming home?"

"Oh not for a while. Mother will be spending about 3 days up at the house in the Hamptons and Alexis will probably spend the day with her friends, I'm not expecting a phone call until at least noon." Rick said, a rather 'as-a-matter-of-fact' tone clearly evident.

Kate sighed, relieved. "Okay, good. I did not want to accidentally bump into them or have to sneak out if they came home early or something."

Rick replied sincerely, "They wouldn't be mad about this. They know how I feel about you. They'd be happy for us. They hide it, mainly because of my conflicting feelings for you for so long, but they care for you Kate. I can see it. They may be hesitant at first to learn about us, but only because they don't want either of us to get hurt. But I love you Kate, and I will fight for you."

Kate put her coffee down, then took Rick's and put it on the table as well, she scooted closer to him.

"You already have me, Castle. And I'm not going anywhere."

She leaned in and placed a sweet kiss on his lips, he growled and pulled her closer. She slid onto his lap and the kiss deepened. Rick placed his hands on her hips, applying pressure to keep her close. Kate, in response, ground her hips into his making him moan loudly into her mouth. She smiled against his lips, pulling away to trail kisses down his neck and nibble his sensitive skin. He ground his hips up into hers causing her to groan feeling his hard member press against her entrance through their thin clothes. Rick pulled Kates attention away from his neck and placed her face in his hands. He looked up at her with a lazy smile.

"How about some breakfast and then we head into the precinct to talk with Gates." He said happily.

"Castle, you don't have to come with me." She said gently.

"Kate, I do. Even for just moral support." He retorted.

He dropped his hands from her face and rested them on her waist. She studied his face for a minute before saying anything.

"Thank you." She replied sincerely.

"Well, well Kate Beckett. I never knew you had it in you. And plus my motives aren't so pure." He stated with a mischievous grin.

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow at the tone in his voice and the smile on his lips.

"I'm planning on bragging that I get to sleep with the sexiest detective anyone has ever laid eyes on." Rick stated with a huge grin.

She rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile at him before she shook her head and climbed off of his lap heading into the kitchen. Over the next half hour she watched him cook. He refused to let her help. Not even with the toast.

"So how do we tell people? About us, I mean?" Kate asked, taking a sip of her coffee.

"I don't want to keep it a secret... but if you do?"

He looked up at her, pausing his strawberry chopping, with an nervous, questioning edge to his eyes.

Kate looked at him with unguarded eyes and replied. "No, I'm not ashamed of you, Rick."

He lot out a breath that he wasn't even aware he was holding.

Rick quickly jumped at her response, just in case she decided to pull back and keep it a secret. "Well then, I was planning on letting Mother and Alexis know when they come home, if that's alright with you. As for Esposito, Lanie, and Ryan... I think we should tell them together. Unless you wanted to tell Lanie on your own, I know she's your best friend. You know besides me and all."

"Oh, you think so highly of yourself." Kate retorted with amusement..

He winked at her.

"So, I was thinking we should go out on a real date. Considering we've already slept together and are now having breakfast together. How do you feel about dinner, this week? You pick." Rick asked casually.

Kate smiled and replied, "That sounds great. How about we see how things go at the precinct and then we'll go from there?"

"As you wish."

He set down a delectable stack of pancakes in front of her with a side of toast and a few strawberries. He refreshed her coffee and set his own plate up next to her.