Set sometime after 47 Seconds, but before The Limey.

Castle & Lanie

Lanie Parrish was leaning over the body making last minute notes when Castle walked into the morgue.

"Castle! Where's Beckett?"

It amazed him, sometimes, how her best friend could switch so effortlessly between calling her "Kate" and "Beckett." But then, he'd been doing that a lot, lately, too, hadn't he?

"Said she'd meet me here," he shrugged. He sat in one of the chairs at a desk along the edge of the room. He didn't look up as Lanie came over and peered at him.

"What's wrong with you, Writer Boy?"

"Nothing, Lanie. What do you have?"

"Oh no. I'm not going through this twice just because you don't want to spill. We're waiting till Beckett gets here."

"Fine."

She waited for him to continue, and when he didn't, she prodded, "Seriously."

He considered her. "Lanie, you're her friend."

"Yeah, yeah I am."

"Hmm," he agreed mildly—with himself—and once again lapsed into staring at nothing.

"Castle, I will smack you."

"I just…" he sucked in a breath, steeling himself. "Does she care about me at all?" he let out in a rush.

Lanie was stunned for a moment, but recovered herself quickly. She knelt next to his chair and put a hand on his arm.

"Oh, honey, of course she does," she said soothingly. And when he didn't respond one way or the other, she continued, "What brought this up? You two have been close lately."

"I thought."

"What happened?"

"She said—" He seemed to suddenly realize where he was and who he was talking to, and his mouth clamped shut.

"Richard Castle, do not shut me out now," Lanie said in her best I'm-being-comforting-but-you'd-better-do-what-I-say voice. "I'm her friend, but I'm yours too."

"First thing you'd do is tell her. It's a girl thing."

"You don't believe me? Don't you know that we've all stood up for you to her at some point? Who do you think talked sense into her after you messed up two summers ago? Hmm? That was me. And when Beckett tried to push you out of the precinct, who fought her on it? That was Ryan and Esposito. Believe it or not, we have your back too."

Castle finally looked up at her. He'd always thought that in the divorce—mom would get full custody of the kids' loyalty. The way Lanie was talking, he might have visiting rights after all.

"In interrogation. She said…she told him she remembered everything. From her shooting."

He looked like he needed prompting again, so she made an encouraging noise in the back of her throat.

He took a deep breath, and ran a hand over his face. Stalling tactics, he knew, but he hadn't said these words out loud since that day…

"I told her I loved her."

Lanie didn't react as he expected her to. She simply squeezed his arm and smiled. Her face—it wasn't pity, exactly. More like sympathy, from someone who understood what it felt like to be on the receiving end of Kate's invisible affection. Affection that was there, certainly, and strong; it just had a hard time finding its way to the surface, and, as a result, remained buried in subtext.

"Castle, thank you for coming out of the closet, but most of us already knew that."

He floundered, his mouth opening soundlessly, until he managed, "But I—but I never…"

"Was it supposed to be some big secret?" she asked in that kind, gentling voice.

"No, I guess it wasn't. I'm so used to—to not saying exactly what I mean that I—I forgot. I forgot that not everybody is as standoffish as we are. And that we're maybe not as subtle as we think." He gave her a self-deprecating smile.

It was such an unusual look to see on his face that she squeezed his arm again and said, "Castle, she loves you too. Maybe not in the way that you want," (Yes, in exactly the way that he wants), "but she cares about you a lot."

"Then why wouldn't she tell me she remembers?"

"You think that means she doesn't care?"

"Do you have a better way to explain it?"

"No, no. I want to hear your version first. Writer Boy."

And once again, he found himself having a hard time getting the words out. "The way I see it—she gave me an out. Let me save face, stopped me from embarrassing myself. Any more than I already had. Guess I messed that up, too."

"I don't think that's it at all," Lanie started. She moved a hand to his face to make him look at her. "You said it yourself—your conversations aren't on the surface. You two never say what you mean. Think of the trauma she'd been through—I know, she's had time now, but if you let something sit for that long how would you bring it up? She was scared; I know that, and you know that. She even admitted it herself, so you know it was big. She was scared for her life, and her father's, and yours. You were all tied up in that case, and she thought you were all in the crosshairs. We still don't really understand why they stopped coming."

"You think she didn't tell me she remembered because she was scared of what I'd do if I knew?"

"That's one way to think of it."

"Thanks, Lanie."

"Just don't give up on her, okay? You stay long enough, she'll come around."

"So, dead body?"

He was good at changing the subject. It was a subtle art.

"Not until Beckett gets here. But you can help me stand up." She'd been knelt beside him for so long that her heels were starting to go numb.

He stood and grabbed her hands, pulling her upright.

"Really, thank you, Lanie."

"It's no problem, Rick. When the two of you get your issues sorted out—there's a lot of us that are going to be happy. Not to mention the money involved."

He laughed. The office pool—constantly shifting but always in his favor.

"Oh, the stories I could tell you, Dr. Parrish." And just like that, Richard Castle was back.

When Beckett entered the morgue, she heard laughter echoing up the halls. She didn't know what was going on, but it didn't seem very surrounded-by-dead-bodies-appropriate.

A/N-From here, I suppose it either goes AU or stays canon and Castle just completely ignores Lanie's advice. Either way.

This turned out angstier than I wanted. Castle was a little OoC, but I like to think that this is his time in between being really angry and really angry-in the middle he's just kind of depressed and resigned. Maybe I'll try for fluff again next time...

Thanks for reading! Please review-I really value (constructive) feedback.