Kate didn't know what to do as she sunk to the floor of her bedroom clutching the fake orchid to her chest. Her hand instinctively reached for her phone and dialed the number of the person she needed to talk to.

The other line picked up on the first ring.

"Hello?"

Kate couldn't bring herself to make her voice work.

"Kate?"

"I – I don't know…"

"Kate? Are you alright?"

"Lanie."

"Yes?"

"I don't know…" Kate knew she was repeating herself but she honestly didn't know what to say.

"Katherine Beckett! Talk to me!" Kate could hear the fear and frustration in her best friend's voice.

"Can you come over?"

"Kate, what's wrong?"

"Please?"

Lanie let out a sigh and looked at her watch. It was after 10 and she had promised to meet Javi for drinks.

"I'll be there in 20 minutes."

"Thank you."

Lanie looked at the phone in her hand as the dial tone blared back at her. She fired a quick text to Javier telling him she couldn't make it for drinks but would make it up to him. Without waiting for a reply she gathered her belongings from her office and rushed to hail a cab to Kate's apartment.

The cab ride to Kate's passed with incredible speed considering it was a Friday night. When she pulled up in front of the building, Lanie jumped out and threw the cash at the driver with a rushed, "thank you."

With no hesitation, Lanie found her spare keys and opened Kate's apartment building door and rushed to the elevator, impatiently jabbing the button. When the car finally arrived, Lanie scampered in and again jabbed the button to Kate's floor. Lanie spent the entire ride up bouncing on her toes; worried that Kate was in some kind of irreversible trouble.

Keys ready in her hand, Lanie strode up to Kate's apartment door and unlocked it without pause. As soon as the door opened, her senses were assaulted with the fragrance and sight of various yellow flowers and she froze in her tracks.

"Oh my gosh…" Lanie let out a soft gasp as she surveyed her best friend's living room. Every available surface was covered in a yellow plant.

"I should have just told him what her favourite flower was!"

Lanie's disbelieving gaze dropped to one of the notes propped next to a vase of yellow daisies. She gingerly picked it up and read,

I think you're the light at the end of my tunnel.

"I don't know if that's really lame or really sweet," Lanie muttered to herself as she placed the note back.

A stifled sob caught her attention and she remembered why she was in Kate's apartment in the first place. She followed the sound to the bedroom where she found her best friend in a crumpled heap on the floor. Lanie slid down beside Kate and gathered her in her arms and rocked the sobbing detective until the tears subsided.

"What's going on?" The question seemed incredibly dumb coming from her lips, but Lanie had no idea how to deal with a broken down Beckett… because that's exactly what this was.

"He loves me."

"Yes, I know. I thought we covered that earlier?"

"He covered my living room with yellow flowers. All kinds of flowers!"

"He also wrote you little notes."

"He loves me."

"Just to be sure we're on the same page… who loves you?"

"Rick."

"Rick? Not Castle? Rick?"

Kate sat up straight and looked into Lanie's eyes and smiled. She reached up and wiped her hands over her face, removing all signs of her tears save for the red eyes.

"Castle is his public image. Castle is the guy that is always joking and making innuendos and spins theory. Rick is the guy who brings me coffee and a bearclaw every morning, who pried open my mother's case, who followed me to LA… who made my apartment throw up yellow."

"He has yet to bring me a bearclaw!" Lanie mumbled with a smirk.

"That's what you got out of everything I said?"

"As long as you realize who he is to you, that's all that really matters."

"I just need to know… why is he doing all this now?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's been months! He knows I asked him to wait. Why is he attacking me with flowers now?"

"Maybe he just wanted to brighten your day? Or maybe he just wants to remind you that he's here. Waiting. How'd he get in here anyway?"

Kate stared at Lanie with a blank expression. Despite being the NYPD's best detective, that particular thought had not crossed her mind yet. How DID Castle get in here? She had been so touched and so overcome with everything that met her home coming, she'd neglected what should have been her first question.

"How did he get in here?" Beckett parroted the question out loud with a mystified face that Lanie had never seen on Kate.

Lanie let out a laugh that startled Kate from her puzzlement. "What?"

"You! I can't believe you didn't lay into him as soon as you walked in!"

"I couldn't. The things he wrote, the things he said… it was so bright and cheerful out there I couldn't even begin to think the murderous thoughts that I am now."

Lanie shook her head and smiled at the detective. For the first time, she noticed the flower that Kate had been toying with in her hand. "What's that?"

"It's an orchid."

"I can see that, but it's a fake orchid. Why do you have a fake orchid?"

Kate pointed above their heads to her bed and curiosity piqued, Lanie stood and surveyed the items lying on the sheets. A very beautiful bouquet of very real orchids stared back at her. Confused, Lanie looked back down at Kate who had been staring up at her the whole time.

"These are real."

"You are very observant, tonight."

"I think Castle's snideness is rubbing off on you a bit too much." Lanie smirked back at Kate. "These are real but the one you're holding is fake. Why?"

Without a word, Kate handed her the note that was nestled between these petals. Lanie's soft gasp as she read Castle's words caused Kate to snap her eyes back to her friend's. Lanie slid back down to the floor next to Kate. Giving the note back to Kate, Lanie smiled and nodded. Kate understood this as a silent confirmation to her earlier confession.

"So… What are you going to do with all those flowers?"

Kate had found a vase and carefully arranged the bouquet of orchids in it. She placed the vase on her nightstand and walked back to the living room, where Lanie had collapsed on the couch with a bottle of wine and two glasses.

"Want?"

Kate looked at her friend and raised one eyebrow. "You're actually asking if I want any of my wine?"

Kate curled up on the couch next to her best friend and smiled, "Pour me."

The duo basked in the brightness that was Kate's living room.

"So what are you going to do with all of these?" Lanie gestured around the room with her glass.

"I don't know. There's no way I can keep them. They must have cost a fortune and I would just kill them."

"What about giving them to your neighbours?"

"That is the most un-New York thing I have ever heard!" Kate laughed so hard, she had to put her glass on the table.

"Well, I'm sorry Miss City Girl! I was raised with southern grace."

"Oh yeah? Then why is this the first time I'm hearing of it?"

"Are you kidding? I ooze charm."

"I'm sure Esposito thinks so."

"You better believe it!"

The two women sat in comfortable silence as they drank their wine.

"I'm going to kill Castle."

Lanie jumped at the sudden outburst, and looked at Kate over her glass.

"Have you figured out how he pulled all this off?"

"I've been racking my mind, but I can't think of anything unless he bribed my super! And if he did, I'm going to kill him."

"There are a lot of death threats being thrown around here!" Lanie laughed at Kate's serious expression. "I guess it's a good thing your best girl can declare the death of Castle due to natural causes."

Kate barked out a short laugh but sombered quickly.

"Lanie…"

"Yes?"

"Seriously, what are we going to do about the flowers?"

After polishing off the rest of the bottle of wine and a failed brain storming session, the two women ran around Kate's building delivering a yellow plant at the doorstep of each tenant.

Still a little buzzed, Kate and Lanie once again crashed on the couch comforted by the vase of yellow daisies that remained on Kate's coffee table.

"These really are a cheery flower."

"I know. I kept these because they remind me of Castle. Always able to brighten my day."

"Have you read all the notes yet?"

"No, but I'm too tired now. You're staying?"

Lanie pulled out her phone for the first time in almost three hours. She has a missed call and a couple text messages from Javier asking her where she was. Lanie looked up at Kate and made her decision, answering as replied to Javi.

"Yes. It's girl's night."

The two bunkered down on Kate's couch and settled in for a night of girl talk.

The next morning, Kate woke feeling lighter than she had in months. After the night spent talking and laughing with her best friend, Kate was ready to slowly begin to help Castle break down her wall. Not even the call from Esposito that another body had dropped brought her down from her high.

After a quick shower, both Lanie and Kate climbed into Crown Vic and headed to the crime scene.

"What is wrong with this seat?"

Kate glanced over at her friend laughed at the uncomfortable expression the ME wore.

"You sound like Castle."

"Is that a spring digging into my back?"

"I guess… I've been meaning to get it fixed. Castle's been complaining about it for years."

"Gosh! It's a wonder he's stuck around as long as he has, having to sit here every day!"

"Guess he does love me."

Lanie stared at Kate slack jawed at how nonchalant she said the words.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"It's just that I'm starting to see the little things that he's done over the years to prove himself…"

"You're NOW starting to realize all this?"

"Yes, well, being bombarded with flowers kinda makes you think, y'know?"

"Are you going to tell him?"

"Castle?"

"No, the Pope. Of course, Castle!"

"I don't think so."

"In the name of all that is holy! Why the heck not?"

"I'm still not ready. I see this for what it was. I think you hit it on the nail last night. He's just proving that he's here and not going anywhere. He hasn't asked me out on a date and he definitely hasn't proposed. He's just… letting me know I'm on his mind."

"On his mind?"

"That's what he said yesterday when I asked him about the notes."

"Does that mean he's off the hook?"

"For breaking into my apartment? I don't think so."

Kate pulled up to the crime scene to find Castle already waiting with three cups of coffee and two Bear claws. She raised her eyebrow in question and he just smiled in answer.

When the two women walked up to him, he handed a Bearclaw and coffee to each. Lanie winked at him in thanks and headed to examine the body.

"You got her coffee and breakfast?"

"Yeah, she… it's been a long time coming, right?"

"I guess…"

"I owed her. This was just me thanking her for her help."

"What did she help you with?"

Before Castle could answer, Esposito and Ryan walked up and started sharing their notes from the crime scene.

With a sigh of relief, Castle watched as Kate transformed before his eyes into Beckett and the Detective became alive.

The day passed quickly as the team investigated all the leads they found and set up their preliminary findings on the murder board. Beckett and Castle leaned against her desk staring at the board spinning theory and trying to come up with a plausible motive for the murder of their victim. The two lapsed into a comfortable silence as their minds ran wild trying to figure out the mystery in front of them.

"How did you do it?"

Startled, Castle looked over at Kate, eyes brimming with curiosity as he tilted his head asking, "What?"

Kate turned back to stare blankly at the murder board, avoiding his gaze as she answered simply, "Flowers."

Castle smiled. He had been waiting patiently all day for her to ask him about the yellow ambush he had unleashed in her apartment. He didn't answer but stood and reached into his pocket pulling out his key ring. With his back slightly turned to her he quickly separated a key from the set and held it in his palm as he replaced the set in his pocket.

All this had been obstructed from Kate's view and she struggled to remain stoic, but her curiosity got the better of her.

"What are you doing?"

Castle turned to face her and silently held out his hand for her to see its hidden contents.

"It's a key."

Castle didn't say anything, but continued to stare into Kate's eyes.

Slightly flustered, Kate took a closer look at the key. "It's my key!" Kate grabbed the offending object out of his hand held it in a death grip.

"What are you doing with a key to my apartment?" Kate's voice was raising and Castle knew this conversation had the possibility of getting out of hand quickly so he lightly grasped the wrist of the hand holding the key and led her into the empty break room and closed the door.

Castle turned to Kate and calmly replied, "I copied it."

The intense heat blazing from Kate's eyes was enough to back Castle up against the door of the room.

"You did what?"

Castle flinched at the volume and harsh tone of Kate's words.

"I copied it, Kate. But let me explain why."

"I would love to hear you explain your way out of this one!"

"I needed it. If anything happened to you and I couldn't get to you… I don't know what I would do."

"What are you talking about?"

"This place isn't like the old apartment, Kate! I wouldn't be able to break down the door! I need to be able to help you!"

"I don't need a savior!"

"Maybe not, but I need you!"

Somehow over the course of the argument, Kate had moved closer to Castle's body and was now standing a hair's breadth away from him.

She glowered up at him and slammed the key to his chest.

"Fine."

Beckett turned around and walked to the couch.

"Fine?" Castle stared at Beckett with a dumbfounded expression that she would have laughed at had she not just finished yelling at him.

"Yes. Fine. But that is for emergency situations only. If I ever catch you using it to get into my apartment for any other reason without my permission, I will shoot you."

Castle stared at the Detective for a moment before smiling brightly and doing a little fist pump. He scurried out of the room before Beckett could change her mind and took refuge in his seat by her desk.

Kate hadn't moved from her spot on the couch but didn't hide her smile any longer. She knew she had let him off easy, but after all he had pulled last night, she didn't want to be fighting with him. She would ask him eventually exactly how he had copied her key, but for tonight she would let him bask in his ninja skills.

Kate walked back out to her desk and with a shy smile at Castle sat down at her desk to try and make a dent in some paperwork.

Maybe tomorrow they would catch a break.

So this isn't at all the chapter I set out to write! I suppose it's a bit of a filler chapter that got away from me. I'm SO sorry it's taken me so long to update, but the usual excuses are to blame. School and life just take up too much time!

I hope you guys are still with me and the next chapter doesn't disappoint.