"Alright Castle. stop brooding."

Castle perks up, "so you're talking to me now?"

"Yes, as long as it has nothing to do with last night."

"So that's why you've been avoiding me all day?"

"Castle. You can't just..." they pass by a uniform in the hall and Kate's voice drops to whisper "...ask me something off hand and unplanned like that and not expect me to be a little upset."

"We'll it wasn't exactly unplanned."

Kate's eyes narrow. "So you planned to ask me like that?!"

"Well not exactly."

"How were you going to ask me then?" shooting Castle a stern, yet inquisitive, look.

"I can't just tell you- you know what? Every time I have tried to surprise you or give you something my plans always go awry."

"Very true." She flashes him a bright smile.

"Look, I know I screwed up here but would you at least let me make it up to you?"

Kate catches sight of the boys walking towards them, "can we just drop it for now and talk later?"

"I can do that! What about when we're done for the night? we could grab a drink at the Old Haunt?"

"Sorry Castle, I already have a girls night planned with Lanie... Hey guys. What you find out at the convenience store by our vic's apartment?"

"Nothing. Well, nothing useful anyways." Esposito tosses the cruisers keys onto Ryan's desk.

"I got three words to cheer you up: drinks. on. me. Old Haunt after we wrap up tonight? say 8ish?" He glances at Kate out of the corner of his eye. If she's going out tonight, after this fiasco, so is he.

"Sure bro!" Esposito sneaks off towards the break room acting like he is going grab a cup of coffee and when none of his partners are looking he makes a dash for the stairwell.

"Yeah! Just let me call Jenny and let her know." Ryan steps out, into the conference room.

Kate scoffs and talks through her teeth "I swear if you tell them what we've been talking about I will say no."

"Well. To be fair we haven't really 'talked,'" emphasizing his point with air quotes, "about it, we've just sort of hinted at it."

"Castle."

"okay fine- wait. you said 'you will say no', so there's a possibility of you saying yes?"

"Castle, we're not talking about this right now remember?"

Castle gets a smug grin on his face and sits back in his chair.

"Hey Ryan, I got a few more places for us to check out tonight before we call it a night, where's Esposito?"

Ryan smiles.

"Lanie?"

"Of course. I don't understand why they're hiding it. It's not news to any of us."

"Well. Let them be. This time around is different for them. Special."

"Never pegged you for a romantic, Beckett."

"Oh shut up, Ryan."

"Well. It's almost seven now if we don't hit up those two places soon we'll all be late, plus we don't have time to wait for Esposito to drive all the way back here from the morgue. Ryan, you're taking Castle. I'm texting you the second address now." Kate pockets her phone, grabs her coat and keys, and boards the elevator.

"Jeeze, bro. What'd you do this time to get booted out of Beckett's car?"

"Nothing. She just is avoiding finishing a conversation we started earlier."

"About?" Ryan prods.

"I'm not supposed to talk about it." Castle says carefully avoiding eye contact.

"You brought up something serious didn't you?"

Castle scoffs, "No!"

"Mmhmm. Keep holding it in, we'll get it out of you somehow." Ryan smiles and as they jump into his cruiser.

About an hour and a half later Castle calls Kate, "you find anything?"

Kate huffs, exhausted, "No. You guys?"

"Nothing. I don't get why it's so hard to find anything about this case. It's like all of the evidence has disappeared off the planet... ooohh. Wouldn't that be a twist. The murderer was a astronaut and flew to Mars talking all the evidence with him..."

"Castle. Stop spinning wild theories and have fun getting a drink with the boys. I'll see you tomorrow."

"What? No phone call at the end of the night?"

"No. I'm fairly certain that after you're done getting drinks with the boys, when they know you're hiding something from them, you might end up drinking one too many and calling to tell me more that I'm not ready to hear."

"Valid point. Well... have fun at Lanie's. I guess this is goodnight."

"Goodnight, Castle."

"Goodnight."


Kate takes a deep breath, shakes the tension out of shoulders, and knocks.

"Alright, Lanie. I'm here."

"Glass of wine?"

"Please."

"Alright, girl. What is going on between you and Castle. Did he ask you to move into the loft or something?"

"Somethin' like that..." taking a giant swig of her wine and keeping her eyes glued to the bottom of her glass.

Lanie's eyes get big in realization... "Oh!... he didn't!"

"He did!"

"Well. What did you say?"

Kate takes a couple more big sips from her glass, "I... well... I... y-you should have seen him Lanie. He looked so heartbroken when I couldn't respond right away. I was so stunned. I mean, I knew we were heading in that direction but not quite this soon and I definitely thought the gesture would be a little bit more romantic."


fin for now. ;)


Authors Notes: trying to have the next chapter written sooner than this one. This last semester is kicking my butt. sorry for the long wait! Also, sorry if this seams choppy for some reason it does a little bit to me.

I won't beg but review if you'd like. ;)

-B