Girls Night

by RGoodfellow64

Chapter 2, March 2009

Alternate title: I'll shoot him; you prove he died in his sleep. Deal?

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Disclaimer: See Chapter 1. Not only do I not own Castle or get any money for these, I don't own Star Wars either. Some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed.

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"Come on Kate, admit it. He is totally hot."

"Lanie!"

Lanie didn't catch the look in Kate's eye and just kept on talking. "That 5 o'clock shadow is really working for him too…and those eyes! Kate, did you get a chance to look at his eyes!"

Kate drained her drink and motioned to the bartender for another. Lanie looked at her and said, "Hey Kate, easy on the Tequila."

"I don't think there's enough Tequila in this bar, let alone the state, to let me forget the past few days."

Lanie smiled and asked, "Is he really that bad?"

Kate picked up her drink and swallowed it in one gulp. "Worse, Lanie. Far, far worse than I ever imagined."

"That bad huh? And to think, he's your favorite author."

Kate ordered another drink and said, "Was."

Lanie gave a little snort of amusement and said, "Yeah, right. Are you giving away all your books?"

Kate glared at Lanie, who simply smiled and took another sip of her own drink. "Didn't think so."

Kate didn't even wait for the bartender to put the drink in front of her before she grabbed it and downed it in one gulp, then requested another.

"Gimmie your keys," Lanie said.

Kate shrugged her shoulders and said, "I can hold it Lanie."

Lanie ignored what Kate said and grabbed her purse. Before Kate could take it back Lanie found her keys, took them out and put them in her own purse before handing Kate's back to her.

Lanie saw that Kate was glaring at her again, but ignored it. "Just making sure."

Kate turned away from Lanie as the bartender returned with two Tequilas, and placed them on the bar. Kate looked at her and said, "Why did you bring me two?"

The bartender pointed to her right and said, "The second is from the man at the corner table over there."

Kate turned her head to see a very good looking guy who at any other time she wouldn't mind meeting, but she shook her head no and pushed the second glass away. Looking back at the bartender she said, "I can buy my own, don't want any from him."

The bartender said, "Hearing parts of your conversation I can understand."

Kate gave a puzzled look and said, "Yeah?"

"Yeah, boyfriend trouble…" the bartender started to say when Lanie burst into laughter and exclaimed, "Oh! You have no idea!"

Two things came to Kate's mind, the first was the thought 'that's my line', and the second was the wish she'd never said that to him, it just encouraged him to try harder, but then the bartender's words registered and she exclaimed, "Boyfriend!? Not in this or any other lifetime!" Kate was visibly shaking with anger as she continued, "My God! He's…he's…Oooo!" At that, she drained her glass.

Lanie was still working on her first drink of the evening and added, "Mmmm hmmm, all that and more."

Kate looked up at the bartender and said, "Another one please."

The bartender looked closely at Kate and then asked, "Are you driving?"

Before Kate could respond, Lanie held up the car keys and said, "Go ahead, I've got an eye on her."

As the bartender walked away, Kate put her elbows on the bar and then rested her head in her hands. "A book, Lanie. He's going to write a book with a character based on me."

Lanie smiled and shook her head as Kate, head firmly in hands, waited for another drink. "I'd think you'd be excited since he's your favorite writer."

Without raising her head from her hands Kate replied, "Was."

The bartender stopped in front of Kate and looked at Lanie, "You're going to take care of her?"

"Yeah," Lanie said.

The bartender nodded and said, "Then you're cut off for the rest of the night and as for your friend here…" she paused and then placed an empty glass and the bottle of Tequila that Kate had been drinking from in front of her. "It sounds like she really needs it."

Kate looked at the bottle then back to the bartender and said, "You are a true friend," then giving an aside look at Lanie added, "Unlike this one here."

The bartender smiled, shook her head and said, "I figure there's another six shots in that bottle," before she turned back to take an order from the other side of the bar.

Lanie smiled at Kate and said, "You are so going to regret this tomorrow morning."

Kate poured herself another shot, picked up the glass and looked at it contemplatively, "If I do this right," she said before turning to look at Lanie, "I should be in so much pain tomorrow that no jury will convict me when I shoot him." She held up the glass and made a toast, "Here's to shooting him tomorrow," then downed it in one gulp.

Lanie laughed, "Girl, you know you'd never shoot him, he's your favorite author."

"Was," Kate replied, and then after a moment said, "You know, he killed off Derrick Storm, he should find out what that feels like."

As Kate poured herself another glass Lanie cautioned her, "You know what Tequila does to you Kate, maybe you should stop with the last one."

Kate shook her head and downed the glass. "I told you before; there isn't enough Tequila to make me forget the last few days."

Lanie gave Kate a calculated look, "I heard from Karpowski that Castle was a lot of fun, made folks smile."

As Kate poured another shot she said, "Murder isn't fun, Lanie. You of all people should know that."

Lanie watched as Kate drained the glass and said, "You're right, murder isn't fun, but nowhere does it say that you aren't allowed to break the tension now and then."

Kate suddenly turned to Lanie and said, "He jokes all the time! He never listens to what I say and he always butts in where he isn't wanted! He has his own key to get out of handcuffs, Lanie!"

Lanie smiled at Kate's outburst and asked, "I wonder why he needs his own key?"

Kate snorted and said, "Probably because everyone wants to lock him up for the public good."

Lanie watched as Kate lowered her head into her hands again and said, "He's going to base a book on me and Montgomery is going to let him." She sighed and said in a small voice, "What am I going to do, Lanie?"

Lanie put her arm around Kate and said, "Unless the Mayor is impeached tomorrow, you just do the best you can till he gets bored and goes someplace else."

Kate pulled her head out of her hands, looked at Lanie and said, "I never should have teased him after the Tisdale case, should I?"

"Well you did sort of light a fire under him then," Lanie answered.

"It was just so easy Lanie," Kate replied. "I don't know why, but he is just so easy to tease." She paused a moment and added, "I twisted his nose when we left the elder Tisdale's office, did I tell you that?"

"No!" Lanie exclaimed. "Why did you do that?"

"He made a comment about the case after we left and then immediately dropped it when he saw a hot dog vender and decided he wanted one."

"Huh?"

"He has the attention span of a goldfish Lanie, and I may be giving him too much credit by saying that."

"And that's when you…"

"Yep, he turned to ask me if I wanted one and it just seemed so natural to grab his nose and twist it." Kate smiled at the memory and added, "It was kind of fun punishing him like that."

"Kate Beckett, you were flirting with him!"

"No I wasn't!"

"Oh no, you can't lie your way out of this one, you were flirting with Richard Castle!"

Kate put her head in her hands again and said, "Maybe I was, just a little. But what the heck Lanie, I figured I was never going to see him again so what's the harm, you know?"

"But he called the Mayor."

Kate sighed, "Yeah, then he called the Mayor." After a few seconds she quietly asked, "What am I going to do Lanie?"

Lanie picked up the bottle of Tequila, poured another shot and handed it to Kate, "Have another drink and hope for the best."

Kate took the drink from her and downed it in one gulp, then held up the empty glass, thoughtfully looked at it for a moment and said, "I really think I ought to just shoot him."

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AUTHORS NOTE: I have always wanted to see a scene with Kate and Lanie after that first episode, I imagine being hung over and still thinking about shooting Castle is why she glared at him when he was signing the papers and asked, "Can I shoot him now?" Man I love this show!