I do not own any of these characters.


Separated from one another, Rick standing a few feet behind Kate, a good distance apart, the pair stood in shock as they saw Will approach, hesitantly at first.

"I didn't mean to interrupt but I just… wow… Kate! It's a surprise to run into you here."

"Oh no, it's fine believe me. I'm actually glad I ran into you. I've been wondering how you've been since the Candela case." She said smiling.

Surprised by her reaction he glanced between the pair only to find Castle looking downwards at his feet, refusing to give any emotion away from his facial features. Will was almost very positive that he had indeed interrupted something

And he had. Well at least to Castle. He was finally going to ask her what they were… well the finer parts of what they were. He knew they were friends. He knew she would be the first person he would go to with a problem, but he found himself doubting if she would do and felt the same. He was almost completely appalled when she dismissed Castle's presence and said that it was okay that their moment was ruined. Their moment. Kate and him just had a moment he realized!

Castle snapped out of his reverie before lifting his gaze to meet Will's eyes.

"I was wondering, if you two aren't doing anything already of course, how about we have a drink to catch up?"

"Actually –" Castle began but was cut off by Kate.

"We'd love to" she said finally remembering that Castle indeed was within her presence.

"Well then, where to?" Will asked as he started towards the pair and gained speed, motioning them to follow.

Kate had said they'd go get a drink with him, even after all of their fun time alone. He thought they were actually moving forward tonight, but all she did was back track. She just thought they were more than friends at the moment because even he himself did, but he wondered if she thought about him as more as well. He needed to know but here she goes and pulls that out of her back pocket. He knew that if he went along he'd feel like a third wheel, despite all of his stories that he could tell as a cover-up to how he was feeling, because Will was apart of Kate that Castle didn't know, nor did he really want to know.

Castle watched as the two started off down the streets but remained motionless.

Realizing his lack of presence, Kate turned around to find Castle standing still looking upwards at the sky.

"Kitten, stop stargazing and lets go." She urged him in a playful tone.

"Kate I'm just going to head home now, I don't feel like drinking tonight. Will, thank you for inviting me along but I'm going to go back to my house. I assume you will see to it that Beckett will get home safely?" he said, lacking the usual passion and animation in his voice.

"Of course, and thanks for taking care of her." Will said as he stepped forward and patted Castle's shoulder.

With that, Castle turned on his heel to walk the opposite way down the street only to find himself pulled out of his own little world when her hand made contact with his shoulder.

"What the hell Rick?" she fumed as she spun him around to face her.

"Detective, if you don't mind letting me go I would appreciate it if I could go home now."

"Why won't you come for a drink?" she asked ignoring his request.

"Beckett I don't feel like drinking tonight."

"Why the hell not?!" she pressed on.

"Because I know it will make me do something stupid in relevance to something. Now as I stated before, I would like to go home now if you don't mind."

Ignoring him once again she asked, "in relevance to what?"

"Well if you hadn't accepted his offer to drinks perhaps we would be discussing that topic right now but I can see it may no longer even be up for consideration. Detective, I should be getting home now."

"Kate!" she exploded and now didn't care about keeping it cool while Will was around. "It's either Kate or KB. Now what the hell is up with you calling me detective, which is meant now only for on the job? What did I do wrong? So what, I pushed our little conversation off for a little while! It can wait until tomorrow, after all, you're the one that wanted to get out of my apartment and we did! Why was it so wrong for me to accept an offer for drinks from an old friend?"

Disbelief was etched into his face along with sorrow. She didn't even realize that she had wounded him by not being there for him when he needed her. Instead, she thought it was all a joke that could be put off until tomorrow. Not this time, tomorrow was it for him; he needed to make a decision that he could see she would not weigh in on at this point.

"It's fine if you want to have a drink with Will actually. Even though he wasn't there through those tough cases and wasn't supporting you when you needed someone at 3 in the morning and I was, it's really fine. I see where we stand now is respects to one another. If you need anything, call Alexis I suppose. I'll be out of cell service for a while; I'm going to my other house in the Hamptons to cool down. Goodbye now." He said in a saddened tone before turning again and walking down the street.

Despite hearing her calls to him he continued walking. If Kate wanted to have drinks with an old friend, that was fine with him and didn't make a difference any more. That meant that if he wanted to go home and brood his sorrows away until tomorrow when he would put on a smile and happy face, he could.

Kate watched Rick's retreating figure until it disappeared into the night.

"I'm assuming we're not going for drinks anymore?"

"No, I don't think we are Will." She said as she began to walk home. "Another time though" she added while she pulled out her cell phone and hit one of the speed dials.

"Alexis? Can you give me a key and address to your father's house in the Hamptons?"


review please?