Beckett looked up from her coffee at the sound of the bell on the coffee shop's door ding, a smile spreading over her face as her friend walked through the entrance and towards her table. "Hey," she laughed. "You seem like you're in a good mood."

"Why wouldn't I be?" Emily smiled before sitting herself down across from her high school classmate. "I'm engaged to the sweetest and sexiest man alive, I gave Alexis her birthday present today and she absolutely loved it, and I had the most amazing sex this morning. I have the right to be in a good mood."

The younger woman's jaw dropped. "Morning sex? Really?"

Emily grinned at the green eyed woman. "That's the best kind," she winked, setting down her purse just as the waiter came up to take her order.

God, Beckett thought, sighing at the thought of the two together. What was she supposed to do to get the other woman to stop talking about her ex? "So how are things over at the FBI? How'd you get so much time off?"

"Oh, well I'm practically a workaholic," she laughed, "so I banked up a couple of days."

"And the cases?"

Emily bit her lip, giving a small 'thank you' to the waiter when he handed her the coffee and muffin she had ordered before looking back to her friend. "Well they never get easier. Kids are the worst."

Beckett sent a sympathetic look to the older woman. "I get it."

"But what about you? I heard you're a decorated officer now."

Clearing her throat, the light haired detective nodded her head. "Uh yeah, late last year actually."

Emily watched as her friend's eyes cast down toward her coffee, and her fingers curled tighter around her mug's handle. "What happened?" she whispered. "If you don't mind me asking."

Beckett was quick to shake her head. "No, I don't mind." Biting her lip, the New York detective did her best to smile at her longtime friend. "I was at my captain's funeral and when I was speaking, I was shot in the chest."

"I'm so sorry," Emily whispered, concerned for the younger woman. "Was everything alright? Did you need surgery or was it a clean through-and-through?"

"It was lodged in my heart," she nodded. "Surgery was the only way out of it."

The FBI agent reached across the table and laid her had atop Beckett's. "Katie I'm so sorry."

Beckett let out a strained laugh, not wanting to yank her hand out from under her friend's. "Well let's not act like I'm the only one. I bet you've been put in harm's way more than once."

"Too many times," she chuckled. "But the latest one was a stake stabbed through my abdomen."

"Oh my God, are you ok?"

Emily smiled, nodding her head quickly to take the worried expression off of her friend's face. "Don't worry, I'm fine now. I had physical therapy after my surgery and waiting period, and got back to work right away. I don't do desk duty."

Beckett shared a grin with the ivory woman, lifting her mug to clink it against Emily's. "I hear you there."

"So what about the dating scene?" Emily grinned, blowing on the scalding liquid in her cup before tentatively taking a sip. "You're way too gorgeous to not be in a relationship right now."

The younger woman tried to hide her nervousness with a smile. "Yeah, I actually just got out of a relationship about nine months ago and I haven't gotten back out there yet."

"Well that's ok, everyone needs to take a good break from time to time. Who was the guy?"

"The guy," she sighed, "was a guy that I had fallen in love with on maybe the fourth day I'd known him."

Emily's face lit up at the glassy look in the brunette's eyes. "That's precious," she gushed. "What happened? Why'd you break up?"

Looking up from her order with sadness in her eyes, Beckett shook her head. "We broke it off because I loved him so much more than he could love me."

The older woman squeezed her friend's had just a little tighter. "I'm so sorry, that's terrible." Seeing something dark hiding behind those green eyes that she had remembered seeing every day for those two years of high school; the two best years of her life. "If you don't mind me asking, why do you think he couldn't love you more?"

"Because he was in love with my best friend from high school," she replied curtly, seeing Emily's eyes widen and that hand that had been covering hers clench. "Mmmhmm. Castle left me for you."