A/N: Okay, since several people PMed me and offered to beta after the last chapter, I took the hint that my ORD (Obsessive Rephrasing Disorder) might be out of control. After what I'm referring to as the 'The Beta Intervention of 2013' I decided to call in the big guns, so Blue252 very kindly stepped up to the plate to beta this and all future chapters. She also came up with the closing 2 lines for this chapter, so she gets the kudos for that this go around.

CHAPTER 7

Kate was keenly aware, both at Starbucks and then outside her apartment, that people had noticed her partner. The tux drew attention and it was obvious that people were trying to place him. She had no doubt that a few had.

Castle ignored the fuss until he heard a few young women excitedly trying to decide whether he was indeed Richard Castle. He normally would have indulged his fans, let them take a picture with him and sign their receipts or subway passes or whatever else they could produce from their pockets. This night he wished them all away. He gave a few polite smiles as they passed, but one fan failed to be discrete as she took their picture.

Not good.

He got Kate to the door then said, "Head inside with Lanie, I'll be right there." He could see in her eyes that she had heard the click of the iPhone camera as well. "I've got this, okay?"

She wouldn't look at him as she nodded and said, "Yeah, go ahead."

The last thing he needed was for Kate to be photographed when she was already feeling disheveled and vulnerable.

Lanie swooped in to take his place by her side. "Come on, Sweetie." More quietly she added, "Keep breathin." Kate just nodded and they stood in the entryway and watched him work his magic.

Castle gave her an apologetic smile through the glass then turned and walked towards his fans. Kate and Lanie saw him shake both their hands, take pictures with each of them, sign napkins they pulled out of their purses and then he pulled out his phone, took a selfie picture with both of them, fiddled with his phone, showed them the screen and then shook their hands again. One pulled him in and kissed his cheek. If Kate didn't know any better she would have thought that Castle was eating this up. Instead she saw the tension through the façade.

As he opened the door he exhaled heavily and prayed he had pulled it off.

Kate tried to bite back her anxiety over being so publicly exposed and instead teased him, "What? They didn't ask you to sign their chests?"

"Thankfully, no. I would have done just about anything to get that picture deleted, but I'm not sure they're of age and you're in no state to arrest me."

"You think I couldn't take you down, Castle? This might all be a ruse, you know."

"Oooh, I love the idea that you've sacrificed your body for the sole purpose of luring me to your place. Ah, but tell me, Detective, if your plan was to arrest and detain me, where are you hiding your cuffs? Hmmm? I've all but officially frisked you and I've come up empty." He hugged her against him for emphasis and she leaned on him for support as they walked.

"I'll be cuffin' both of ya'll if you don't stop talking about friskin' each other." Lanie jabbed the elevator call button, the doors opened and as she entered she muttered, "How do Javi and Kevin survive this?"

Castle piped up, "Easy, they love me."

"They love you? They were mine first, Castle."

He conceded, "Alright, alright, you have primary custody but I'm like the super fun dad that gets them every other weekend and spoils them rotten."

"To buy their affection. I'm the one who has to make them work and eat their vegetables."

Lanie interrupted them. "Seriously? I'm gonna call child services on the two of you next time Javi comes down twitching from your unresolved tension. You know, it's so much better for the kids if you two just kiss and make up."

"Sounds good to me." He leaned his head down and stage whispered, "Did you hear that, Beckett? Lanie told me to kiss you."

Kate felt his warm breath envelop her as he spoke just above her ear. She just prayed that he wouldn't be able to feel her pulse quicken at the thought of finally feeling his lips on hers.

She banged her head back against the elevator wall, wondering how she'd let the conversation get this far out of control. "Castle, if Lanie told you to jump off a bridge, would you do it?"

"Probably."

"Smart man." Lanie injected smugly.

The elevator dinged and opened on her floor.

Kate asked him, "So, pray tell, how did you convince your devoted fans not to post that picture?"

"I used my vast arsenal of rapier wit."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Of course you did." She knew the encounter hadn't been his fault, but she couldn't stifle her anxiety. "It can still be undeleted, Castle. What makes you so sure they won't just post it later?"

"I wish I could guarantee that they won't, but all I really could do is give them something better. I tweeted the picture I took with them along with their names. That's what I was showing them at the end. Hopefully that will give me enough 'nice guy cred' that they'll honor my humble request to get rid of the original picture."

Lanie opened the door to Kate's apartment and said, "Well, I, for one, will be disappointed if my picture doesn't turn up somewhere tomorrow. I certainly didn't dress this way to hide in the shadows or impress my date, no offense, Don Juan."

"None taken." To Kate, he added, "You know, it's much more likely that Lanie and I will end up on page six, and that would trump any random celebrity sightings, even with a picture.

Castle helped her to the couch and motioned for her to lie down; which, of course, she refused. Instead, she sat awkwardly, leaning on her right side and slouching to keep her left leg extended. He watched her try in vain to find a comfortable position. When she finally stopped fidgeting she closed her eyes and took a minute to regroup.

Castle noticed her right hand, which was white knuckling her thigh, and also the vein that was traversing her rigid expression. She was in pain and the intensity that had plagued her at Starbucks was returning full-force.

He wanted so badly to hold her. Instead he leaned forward and placed his right hand over her left, which was still holding the ice pack against her hip. "Kate, let me get you a new one." She nodded and loosened her grip. His hand slid across hers as he took it from her. "Be right back."

He walked away wishing he had the freedom to lean in and kiss her. He'd been fighting the urge all night and for many months before that to be perfectly honest. He thought it was pathetic that a random fan could pull him in for a peck on the cheek without a second thought but he couldn't get up the nerve to make the same gesture to the woman who had captured his heart.

Kate heard him softly talking to Lanie in the kitchen then, they both reappeared. Lanie pulled a kit from her bag. She responded to Kate's pained demeanor as well. "Honey, I need to stitch up that arm or you're going to have a nasty scar."

Castle stood behind the couch, put his right hand on her right shoulder to steady himself as he leaned over to place the new icepack on his partner's bruised hip. He assured her, "I already asked if she knew how to do more than close a Y incision. She gave me references. One was Esposito. He's pretty into himself, so I think you're in good hands."

Good hands, huh?

Kate rested her hand over his to take over holding the ice pack and she felt as though an electric current was running from his touch on her shoulder to their joined hands.

Yes, he definitely has good hands.

All too soon he let go of the ice pack and put pressure on her shoulder as he straightened, then with one last squeeze he let go.

Even though they only had that connection for a few seconds she already missed the feel of his hands creating a circuit through her. She chided herself for feeling like she was trapped forty minutes into a romcom at the point where the heroine starts to see the leading man in a brand new light.

She wiped a hand down her face and kept it over her mouth for a beat to keep from blurting some form of "you complete me."

Oh, just shoot me now!

She realized that she had absolutely no idea what was being said around her. She turned towards Lanie in the hopes of stifling the irrational adolescent surges that were plaguing her.

Lanie came through. "Castle, go make yourself useful and get a towel so your girlfriend here doesn't have to get up."

Kate widened her eyes threateningly at her friend.

After Castle disappeared, Lanie dismissed her reproach. "Oh Pah-lease. The man spent the whole night talking about 'Beckett this' and 'Beckett that.' That was even before you called and he was hell-bent on saving you from what could have amounted to a scraped knee."

"Were you – I mean did you think he . . ." She was getting flustered trying to phrase her question carefully. "When he asked-"

Lanie cut her off, "I went so he didn't have to pretend to be into anyone who wasn't you. Never once did I think it was anything more than that."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why didn't you pick up your phone when I called?"

Kate checked her phone. "Shoot. I forgot to turn it off silent after my meeting with Montgomery."

Lanie said flatly, "You don't say. Anyway, I said yes because his media-shy-partner-in-denial had shot him down and he was in a pinch. It sounded like a nice change of pace to spend a Friday night dressed up and hanging out with a fun guy with famous friends who wasn't constantly undressing me with his eyes. Girl, I knew he wouldn't try to make a move or I wouldn't have gone." She leveled a look at Kate, "He didn't, by the way. Even looking as smokin' hot as I did he wasn't tempted to cross that line."

"We're not . . . we're just friends. You could have-"

"You keep tellin' yourself that but do you honestly think no one sees what's going on between you two? I don't need a stethoscope to know your heart flutters every time he touches you, although it is amusing to see you tryin' to hide it. So, what are you waiting for?"

"I just broke things off with Tom."

"Because of how you feel for Castle. Don't deny it, Girl. Sure Demming came in cute as a button and divided your attention at first, but even he knew he never had a chance. Not really. He might be a good guy, but, Kate, you don't need a good guy, you need an exceptional one."

Lanie nodded towards the hallway where Castle had disappeared.

"I know, Lanie. I just don't know how to do this; if I can do this. What if it doesn't work out? I don't know if I could risk losing him."

"If you shut him down too many times he'll start actually respecting your irrational need for too much personal space. You'll give him no choice but to leave you because it will kill him to keep coming in to the precinct knowing he'll never have a shot at you."

"But I feel like we're at a good place right now. I don't want to mess it up."

"You're in a good place now, sure, but relationships don't run on equilibrium. Either you're growing closer or growing apart. Doesn't matter if you're talking about a friend, a relative or a spouse, you need to keep working towards each other because once you start being content and stop that momentum, you start growing apart."

"When did you start watching Dr. Phil?"

"I'm just naturally insightful."

"Should I be paying you for all this unsolicited advice?"

"Taking my advice for once would be payment enough."

Kate couldn't help but smile appreciatively at her friend. "But, seriously, Lanie, he's a public figure and I don't know if I can handle the pressure of being under everyone's microscope. I mean, I'm panicked just thinking of how a single candid picture has the power to obliterate my privacy. How could I handle being approached by the press?"

"If you'd been the one on his arm tonight, like we both know you should have been, you would have realized that the spotlight wouldn't be nearly as bad as you think. He's a fun guy, Kate; and he's good for you. Would it hurt you to step into his world and have some fun now and then, even if you want to say it's just as friends?" Lanie leaned closer and said, "Then again, you two have never been good at sellin' the whole friend angle."

"It's not an angle. We are friends and have only been friends. But if I went with him to one of these big events, no matter what we said, it would be a public confirmation that we were together. There'd be no going back."

Lanie stared at her incredulously. "Kate Beckett, what makes you think that going back is even an option?"

"I . . . I don't know, and honestly, that's what scares me."

"Well, get over yourself because your options are to either do nothing and lose him for sure in the long run or take a chance on the one man you know you can trust." After checking the hall to make sure Castle was still out of sight, she added, "And the one man you should let chip away at that emotional fortress you hide behind."

"I'm not that bad."

"Two words for you, Girlfriend; Fort Knox."

'I'm just trying to protect myself."

"At what cost? You keep going like this and you'll end up protecting yourself right into growing old alone."