"What do you have for me Lanie?" detective Kate Beckett asked as she walked into the crime scene, the wind blowing through her short hair, and highlighting the cool summer evening

"Whoa girl, slow down I just got here. I haven't even had a chance to properly look at the body yet." Lanie said Esposito and Ryan walked in, Ryan was eyeing the crime scene and Espo was giving Lanie a once over.

"Looking fine Lanie" Espo grinned cheekily. Lanie promptly smacked Esposito on the head and glared at him for the comment, All the while slightly flattered by the attention, while this was going on Kate had been walking around and observing the crime scene.

"Does this look familiar to anyone?" she questioned

"No should it?" Ryan inquired

"Roses on the body, sunflowers on the eyes, come on, don't you guys read?" she asked incredulously. The blank stares she received answered her question easily, "alright well I know who to start our interrogations with."

"Who?" They questioned

"Richard Castle"

"That mystery writer? What about him?" Esposito asked

"This scene is directly out of one of his books," being met with nothing but blank stares Beckett let out an exasperated sigh. "Seriously guys you really need to read more."

"Come on Beckett, we work all day finding creeps who commit murders. I don't really want to go home and read about it." Ryan explained, as Esposito nodded his head in agreement looking at Kate as though she was crazy.

"Same here Beckett, I deal with dead bodies all day long; when I get home I just want a hot bath and a romance novel." Lanie scoffed

"Well then it's your loss because today's mystery writers are some of the best out there. Besides, Ryan, Espo you guys will have to read the book this one came from in order to familiarize yourself with it. Just in case the happens to be more that's been copied" Kate defended, "while you guys finish up in here I have to go make a call and I'll meet you at the cars, from here we should probably pick up Ri-Mr. Castle." She stated quickly recovering from her slip.

"Ya sounds fine, we'll see you outside." Ryan replied for the both of them

Stepping out into the cool night air, Kate pulled out her phone and hit speed dial, calling the one person she needed to talk to most.

"You have reached Rick Castle the ruggedly handsome, incredibly intelligent mystery writer, who just so happens to be desperately missing his girlfriend. What can I do for you?" He said as he answered his phone with a teasing lilt in his voice.

"Rick what would you have done if it hadn't been me?" She laughed

"Caller ID babe, caller ID. So what can I do for you? Please tell me you've reconsidered and that you're going to come save me from my book launch." He begged and questioned simultaneously

"Sorry Rick, but no. I just left a crime scene." She said

"And it was a really bad one? Cause if you need me I can leave right now and meet you at your place in ten minutes you know I'm there for you know matter what." The teasing in his voice immediately disappearing with the thought of her in distress.

"As sweet as that is, that's not why I'm calling. I'm calling because the crime scene I just left is an exact copy of one of your books. And because of that I'll have to bring you in for questioning. So be warned I'll be crashing your party in about forty-five minutes." She explained

"Oh, well that's fine one question though can we play with your handcuffs once we're done the interview?" the teasing lilt had returned to his voice at full force and she had to shake herself to clear the image of him cuffed to her bed from a few nights ago out of her head.

"As much as I would love to that's not happening tonight Rick, before I go there is one thing we need to talk about. I don't think we should let people at the precinct. I know that we said we would tell everyone one the weekend and let Paula release a press statement but I can't let anyone know yet." She took a deep breath and then rushed on trying to continue and explain before he could cut her off. "I love you and you know that, it's just that if my captain finds out there is absolutely on way I would be able to work this case and with the little evidence we have they have probable cause to arrest you, and if they know we're dating I wouldn't be able to do anything about it, because I would be off the case." She finished, praying that he would understand.

"Kate, while I'm not thrilled about hiding our relationship much longer because it has been almost 6 months since we started dating, and the only people who know is my family and your dad. But I understand, and we can always tell the rest of our friends once this whole mess is over." He said with a deep sigh that she could hear distinctly through the phone.

"Thank you so much Babe, I love you and I promise once this case is over we can tell everyone. I'm tired of having to watch blonde bimbo's throw themselves at you when you are mine, and no one else's. What kills me is that I can't even claim you as mine." She pouted

"I know how you feel Kate but know this, I am only yours and there is no one else. My issue with not telling any one yet is that I won't be able to kiss you when I'm at the precinct or when you show up at the party. You know how little restraint I have when it comes to you." She could practically hear him grinning through the phone.

"Oh, I remember how little restraint you have, but remember that goes both ways. I have the same lack of restraint when it comes to you, but we'll just have to deal with it" she stated, hearing him mumble something that sounded distinctly like easy for you to say.

"I'll see you in a little bit Babe but I got to go Paula is giving me the evil eye and she'll probably sick Gina on me if I don't hurry up. Love you, bye"

"Bye Rick, love you" With that Kate hung up the phone and walked back too where the cars were parked, there she found a grinning Ryan and Esposito waiting for her to return.

"What's got you so happy Beckett?" Esposito questioned gleefully as though he had caught her doing something naughty

"Nothing, why?" she questioned

"It's just you were on the phone for twenty minutes and now your grinning like a fool," Ryan explained

"Don't worry about it guys." She said quickly searching for anything to change the topic to, "So I was thinking that we might as well go get Mr. Castle now seeing as he's pretty close to where we are." She stated confused as to the confused stares the boys were giving her. "What's with the faces?" she questioned.

"It's just we talked to the precinct and the address they gave us is way on the other side of the city. What do you mean he's near us?" Espo answered.

"That's true if he were home tonight he's at a book launch tonight a few blocks from here."

"And how would you know this?" Ryan asked, realizing her mistake Kate quickly came up with what she thought was a reasonable explanation

"Oh I saw the announcement for it in the paper this morning." Glancing at the other two detectives she made her way towards her car closing the discussion for the remainder of the night. She called to them over her shoulder,

"Come on boys, we have a murder to solve." With that Kate got into her car, praying that she and Rick would be able to hide their relationship for at least another week. They had been successful so far but no one had seen them in a room together only those who knew they were dating. Even then it had been in the confines of one of their apartments. All Kate could think as she drove towards the book launch was that this was definitely going to be n interesting case.

Please review and let me know what you thought of the story.

Hi everybody,

So this story wouldn't leave me alone I had to write it. I will be working on this story simultaneously with my other story Shadows of the Past and I will try to update both of them at least once a week. Reviews are greatly appreciated.

Carolyn