A/N: I hope you all got to read chapter three after the issues the site had the other day! Thank you for your reviews :)

And really, I couldn't believe it when I saw Halloween in '98 was on a Saturday, perfect ;)

"I still can't believe you and Jack gave up after one date," Lanie said for what had to be the six hundredth and forty seventh time in the past three weeks.

"I told you, Lanie, it just wouldn't have worked," Kate replied as she threw herself onto her bed. It was seven in the evening and a Saturday, no less - Halloween. She was supposed to be getting ready for the party but her enthusiasm for it had gone out the window three days ago and no matter how much Lanie tried to convince her it would be fun, Kate just couldn't bring herself to get excited about it.

"But how can you know it wouldn't have worked when you gave up after one date?" Lanie pressed.

"There just wasn't a connection, no sparks," Kate shrugged, her mind flashing back to the aftermath of that disastrous date - mainly for the fact that Rick Rodgers had barged his way in.

"I uh..had a good time tonight," Jack smiled at her as they reached her dorm building, he had insisted on walking her back to her door, saying his mother would have his head if she knew he hadn't seen his date home. "I um.."

Kate was just going to have to say it, she couldn't lead him on, couldn't let him think they'd have more dates and have it lead somehwere, it wasn't fair and she'd been brought up better than that. "Mm, me too," she replied honestly. "But uh..oh god I'm sorry but I don't think it'll go anywhere." There, she'd said it, got it out in the open, the ball was in his court now.

"Oh thank god," he breathed, surprising Kate. "I mean..I had a good time and I'm glad you did too but I agree, it wasn't.."

"Right," Kate said, knowing what he meant even though he couldn't find the words. "But we can be friends, right?"

"Definitely," Jack told her, "I'd like that. So..see you Monday?"

"See you Monday," she repeated.

"Oh," Jack said, turning back towards her, "you said you and Rick weren't really friends, you just kinda knew each other?" Kate nodded, a slight frown on her face. "Well..from the way he was looking at you all night I don't think he'll be seeing Kyra again."

Kate blushed. God, it was one thing if they were having flirtatious conversations across the table but for her date to notice it? How obvious were they being?! "Oh..I um.."

"Just..be careful, okay?" Jack said. "I've heard about Rick Rodgers and his reputation, I don't want you to get hurt."

"Thank you," Kate smiled back, his concern was sweet. "But I can assure you that there is nothing between me and Rick Rodgers, I'm not that stupid."

Jack shot her one last smile before heading back to his dorm, but Kate hadn't missed how he definitely hadn't looked convinced at her words.

"And you know," Kate said, "it was a mutual decision, it's not like I crushed his heart by telling him we weren't going anywhere. And we're friends now - he's my date tonight, remember?"

"Uh huh," Lanie muttered. "And how much of your decision was based on your feelings for Rick?"

Kate rolled over onto her stomach and screamed into her pillow. "Lanie," she said through gritted teeth. "I do not have feelings for Rick Rodgers!"

"Sweetie, listen to me," Lanie said, walking over to sit on Kate's bed. "This is me you're talking to, you know I won't breathe a word of what you say to anyone. And it's not good to keep everything inside, you need to talk about it."

"Lanie," Kate began diplomatically. "I will admit that he interests me, okay? He's..the typical bad boy that every girl loves." Lanie scoffed. "What, you never had a thing for bad boys?"

"No comment," Lanie muttered.

"Right. But I'm not an idiot, okay? Even I was interested in him, I wouldn't go there, it's just not worth it because give him two weeks and he'd have replaced me with some other brainless tart. He's hot," she shrugged, "everyone can see that, but he's a complete and utter jackass. Sure, he can turn on the charm, use it to get whatever he wants and I'm sure it works the majority of the time but I'm not naïve enough to think I could be the one to tame the lion okay?" Every word that she had just said to Lanie was the truth, no matter how much he charmed and flirted his way towards her, he wasn't getting in her pants. Because that's all it would be, another conquest, another name in his little black book and Kate Beckett wasn't just a notch on anybody's bedpost.

"Okay," Lanie said after a minute. "I'll drop it, okay? You don't have the hots for writer boy." That was the name Lanie had given him once Kate had spilled the story of how Rick and Kyra had joined her and Jack on their date and it had stuck. "So, you gonna get your ass up and in the shower? We've got a party to go to."

"Ugh, I suppose so," Kate groaned, hauling herself up. "What time are we leaving?"

"8.30."

That gave Kate just over an hour to shower and get ready..it was a good job she wasn't one who took forever on their hair and make up.

"Wow, you look..hot," Lanie exclaimed when she saw Kate all dressed up and ready to go.

"Thanks," Kate grinned, she felt pretty damn good. She had chosen to dress as batwoman for the party, her outfit consisting of a tight black leather-look dress with a jagged hem, a yellow belt around her waist and the batman logo in the same yellow planted across her chest. She had black leather wrist coverings up to her elbows, complete with faux spikes, and a mask over her eyes. She completed the look with black leather knee high boots. Perfect. She'd left her long chestnut hair au natural, falling in soft waves around her shoulders and had highlighted her eyes in dark liner - even if she did say so herself she looked pretty good. "You look great too, Lanie."

"Thank you," Lanie smirked. She had chosen to dress as an evil queen, a floor length, skin tight black and purple dress was smoothed over her body, accentuating her curves perfectly. There was a slit on one side from the floor to the top of Lanie's thigh, showing off her sky high dark purple heels. They both looked awesome.

Kate was about to check the time when there was a knock at the door. "Hey guys," she grinned as she opened it to find Jack and Elliot, their dates, waiting for them. "We ready to go?"

The four of them made their way to the party, Kate feeling much more in the mood now that she was dressed up and they were on their way. It was sure to be the biggest party in a long time, the whole campus was expected to turn up and it was all anyone could talk about for weeks now. When they arrived at the door, they handed their tickets over and made their way in. The entrance was a side door, leading into a long, dark corridor, a few floor lights placed at regular intervals, giving them just enough light to be able to see where they were going.

The four of them had arrived between other party goers, leaving them alone in the corridor. It was dark and narrow and once their eyes adjusted to the light, they could just about make out fake cobwebs and spiders on the walls. When they were about halfway down, a fake dead corpse darted out in front of them, causing the four of them to jump back in shock, before dissolving into a fit of giggles.

"C'mon, let's keep going," Kate pressed but the others were reluctant, worried about what else might be waiting for them.

"You go," Lanie said, "we'll follow behind. You never know there could be ghosts up there!"

"I ain't afraid of no ghosts," Kate grinned, beginning to make her way forwards.

"Ooo, a ghostbusters reference - I like it!" Rick. Was he stalking her or something? How did he keep ending up in the same place as her at precisely the same bloody time?!

She heard Lanie, Jack and Eliot say hi to Rick and Kyra, who seemed to be his date for the evening, but Kate remained silent. In the three weeks since their 'double date', Rick had seemed to leave Kate alone for the most part, simply stopping to say hi if he saw her around campus or in the cafeteria or library, but nothing more than that and Kate knew she should feel grateful but..she had the admit the attention had been kind of nice, even if it wasn't always wanted.

Finally they made it to the actual party, squinting their eyes as they readjusted to the light, entering the large hall the party was being hosted in. The place looked amazing, more cobwebs and fake spiders and bats hung on the walls, pumpkins dotted about the room with candles lighting them up. The punch was a concoction that had clearly been made to look like blood, placed in the centre of a table at the back of the room.

Now it was time to party.

Three hours later and Kate was having a well deserved rest. Since they'd arrived, she had been dancing non stop with Lanie, Jack and Elliot, as well as some of their other friends and now she needed to sit down for five minutes and recharge her batteries.

"Hey," came a voice from next to her. Spinning around, Kate saw that it was Kyra.

"Uh..hi," Kate replied, a little confused as to why Kyra was here talking to her. "Are you enjoying the party?" Kate asked, her gaze heading back out to the crowd, watching as people danced and had fun.

"Yeah, it's great," Kyra replied. "He's not worth it, you know," she added in a quieter voice and Kate frowned, but remained quiet. "I can see you looking at him and it's probably not even intentional, he just has that effect on people." And as the words sunk in, Kate realised she was indeed staring at Rick, whilst his girlfriend was sat right next to her, no less. The man in question was currently surrounded by at least five other girls, every one of them dressed as a bunny - the word predictable came to mind - but Kate's attention was firmly attached to Rick and Kyra was right, she hadn't even noticed she was staring at him.

"I uh..I mean.."

"Don't worry about it," Kyra smiled, "I didn't come over here to pick a fight."

"But you and Rick..aren't you.."

"Together? No," Kyra answered emphatically, completely shocking Kate. Apparently she hadn't kept her shock very well hidden, either. "We were, a few years ago, when we were both freshman. It lasted six months and it was great but then Rick realised he had the attention of pretty much every straight girl in this place." Kate listened to Kyra talk, sensing the girl needed to speak about this with someone. "He was great to me..and even when all the girls started paying him attention he never once cheated on me." Kate must have let her expression be seen again. "Oh I know what you're thinking, 'stupid girl, of course he cheated on you' but he didn't."

"Oh no, I erm.." In all honesty, Kate had been wondering. When Kyra had said they were together for six months she had been a little surprised, she couldn't imagine a Rick Rodgers who could keep it in his pants and only be with one girl for half a year, he seemed to struggle with half a week at the moment.

"It's fine," Kyra smiled, "if I didn't know him so well or if I was in your position then I'd think the same. He might be a womaniser and a playboy and have a different girl every week but the guy has a heart of gold, I know, one hundred percent that he would never, ever cheat on someone he was in a relationship with, no matter what temptations ended up in his lap, it's just not who he is."

Something had Kate believing Kyra, despite everything she'd seen and learnt about Rick. "So you're not together but you're..still pretty close?"

"Yeah," Kyra nodded. "It wasn't a messy break up or anything and I was upset when it ended but it was for the best, we could have stayed together and tried to make it work but we were 19, there was no point in being miserable over it. But we stayed friends and now we couldn't be closer."

Kate was a little shocked at this new information, she had honestly thought Kyra was just another of his groupies, despite quite clearly not being the usual type. "So um..if you're not dating, why are you telling me he isn't worth it?"

"I like you, Kate," she answered simply. "Of all the girls that have caught Rick's attention - and trust me, there's been a lot, - you're normal. You're pretty and smart and exactly the kind of girl a guy would be proud to take home to his parents and Rick..well, I love him to pieces but he'll break your heart. Don't get me wrong, he's the nicest, sweetest, most caring person you could ever meet but he doesn't do relationships and with the other girls..well I don't really care, they don't have two brain cells to rub together and they're only after one thing but I get the feeling you're not like that.."

"No, I'm not," Kate replied. "I'll be honest, I haven't really seen much of the sweet and caring person yet but I'm starting to think it's more of an act, that he doesn't want people to know he's actually a nice person." It had been playing on her mind for a few days, how he could go from holding the door open for someone or helping another student who had dropped their books to a flirtatious playboy in ten seconds flat. There was more to Rick Rodgers than met the eye, his revelation about his writing had proved that, but it was the cocky, arrogant side of him that stopped her wanting to get to know him better.

"Yeah," Kyra smiled sadly. "It's a shame because when I first met him he was nothing like he is now. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing because my best friend is still in there and I still get to see him but I just wish everyone else saw that side too." Kyra took a deep breath and continued. "Look, Kate, I'm not telling you to stay away from him because you're an adult and I'm not his girlfriend but please, don't just become another one of a Rick Rodgers' conquests, you're better than that, than them. He's changed a little since he met you, I think when he realised you weren't going to fall at his feet and drop your panties the second he shot you that smile..you challenge him and make him want more, without you even giving him anything if that makes sense. And yeah, it's kinda selfish of me because when he's thinking about how to impress you I see more and more glimpses of my best friend and it makes me realise how much I miss him sometimes."

"I can assure you that I have no intention of jumping into bed with him," Kate promised.

"Good," Kyra replied. "Because I've got a feeling you're the one he's been looking for and giving him what he wants would just ruin everything... Well, I should probably go and interrupt his little party, pretend to be jealous or something," she said with a laugh. "It was nice talking to you Kate, maybe we could get coffee sometime."

"Yeah, that would be nice," Kate smiled as Kyra left. Now that she hadn't been expecting. Not only was Kyra a lot nicer than Kate had first realised, it was obvious she only had Rick's best interests at heart and it was sweet. Kate would keep her promise, she wasn't sleeping with him or letting him think he'd got her right where he wanted her...but maybe she could try and get that sweet and caring side that Kyra had mentioned to come out a little more often..

A/N: if you were interested, a picture of the outfit I put Kate it can be found on my twitter :) this was meant to be longer but it's getting late where I am and I really wanted to update this weekend so the chapter had to be split!

twitter: holaitsjade

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