Author's Notes: First off, I want to apologize for this being late today. We decided to go to the library and I didn't know it would take that long. Second, I would like to thank everyone again for the wonderful reviews. It truly made me feel so much better after those negative ones. And it gave me another story idea too for a case fic this time. Well, enough talking and on with the story.

The following Monday, Castle came to the precinct far more chipper than Kate thought he would be. Even the boys noticed, they glanced at each other then Kate. They looked to her to see if she was jealous, mad, or feeling a bit chipper herself. She realized that they thought that Rick had gotten lucky over the weekend and she guessed, in a way, he did.

"So did you have a good weekend Castle?" asked Ryan once they caught him in the break room, obviously hinting for details when Beckett wasn't around.

"Yes, I did. Saturday was wonderful."

"Oh, do tell," Esposito asked with a grin.

"Yeah, we want details."

"Well I got up, showered, ate breakfast, got the mail," Castle started as Kate walked into the room.

"Dude, not that many details," complained Esposito.

"But I just told you the best part."

"Breakfast was that good? Who cooked it for you?" Ryan asked suggestively.

"My daughter," Castle said, glaring at Ryan. "Alexis got the mail and she had two more college acceptance letters."

"Hey, that's great," Esposito said. Kate just looked at him over the rim of her coffee mug waiting to here where they were from.

"Where did she get accepted?" asked Ryan.

"So far, Oxford, Harvard and Princeton," he said meeting Kate's eyes.

"That's great, Castle. Did she apply to NYU?" Kate asked.

"No, she said it was too close," he said a bit sadly.

"Well, you probably would have expected her to just live at home," Ryan commented.

"What's wrong with that?"

"Castle, we need to have a talk about teenage girls and freedoms they need when they get to college," Kate commented.

"Oh no. We will NOT be talking about my daughter like that." Ryan and Esposito decided to go ahead and leave and not get in the middle of the fight that they were sure was coming. But Kate could tell he wasn't mad, he just didn't want to think of his little girl growing up too much.

"I'll call you tonight," she said softly as she walked past him to head back to her desk.

The rest of the morning passed in a blur to Castle, he kept thinking about Kate calling him later that night. He was surprised that she had mentioned their phone calls in any way at work. He had tried, very hard, to make sure that he didn't refer to them at all. Other than the time that he almost tripped over his feet when he saw her wearing what was probably the same blue shirt that she had worn the night of the phone call.

Kate didn't get the chance to call him that night due to a case. They did get a chance to talk about Alexis growing up though while they were on a stakeout the following day. She just told him that she had seen some girls in college who were very sheltered and then once they had the freedom of college, they went totally wild. Kate then had to reassure him that she didn't think that would happen to Alexis since the girl was too smart to do something too stupid.

They broke that case and immediately was handed another one, keeping busy all week. Lunchtime on Thursday came and Castle ordered pizza for himself and Beckett while the rest of the team did their own things. Ryan ended up taking a lot longer of a lunch than Castle thought he would and he seemed bothered when he came back.

"Sorry, I'm late, boss," Ryan said as he slipped back behind his desk.

"Everything okay?" Beckett asked.

"Mostly," he said with some sadness. "Jenny is going out of town for a week. There's some conference for her work. She just told me about it over lunch. She leaves on Monday."

"That's not much notice," Castle said.

"Yeah, her boss was supposed to go but he got sick so she is going instead. That reminds me, I have something for you, Castle. I'll bring it in tomorrow."

x-x-x-x

The following day

"So what's in the bag Castle?" asked Kate causing him to jump and try to make sure the bag was completely closed.

"Nothing."

"Why are you carrying an empty bag?"

"It's not empty," he said quietly.

"Then it's not nothing, is it? Besides, I saw Esposito with a bag just like that when I was leaving the morgue. Did Ryan buy you guys a present?" she asked jokingly.

"Yes," he said turning a bit red letting her realize exactly what type of present it was.

"So you can buy what you did without embarrassment," she said cryptically since they were still in the precinct. "Esposito even bought something that didn't bother you but Ryan's gift, Ryan the good little Catholic boy, his gift embarrasses you?"

"Ever heard the phrase, 'it's the quiet ones you have to worry about?'" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, I don't have to worry about you," she grinned at his discomfort.

"Ever notice how quiet Ryan is?" he asked hoping that he really wasn't going to have to spell it out in detail.

"Yeah," she said knowing that he was trying to avoid saying too much.

"Let's just say that a couple of weeks ago wasn't the first time he's been to Naughty Lisa's. From the sound of it, he's a frequent customer."

"Really?" she said honestly surprised.

"I know, shocked me too. Almost as much as this," he said as he nudged the bag but pulled it closer when she tried to peek.

"Why come up here and show me the bag, if you aren't going to show me what's inside?" she asked.

"I can't take it home. Alexis will see it. And to make it worse, she is having a party tonight. So between her and half a dozen teenage girls, I cannot take this home."

"Just give it here and I'll take it home. I can bring it by sometime when Alexis won't see it."

"No, I need to explain this before you see it," he said refusing to meet her eyes. "Oh wait. I can't let you take it to your place. Josh might see it and that would be bad. Very bad."

"Josh and I broke up a while ago. I thought you knew that," she said not meeting his eyes.

"No, I didn't. Why didn't you say anything?"

"I don't know," she tried to pass it off. "So do you want me to take the bag home?"

"Yes but let's grab something to eat on the way. My treat this time, Chinese?"

"Sure," she said.

Soon they arrived at her apartment and Castle was glad to settle onto the couch and start dinner before opening the gift bag that was taunting him from the coffee table. They talked about anything other than the case they just wrapped up and the bag that was waiting to be unwrapped. Finally, they were finished with their dinner and Castle knew that it was time to show her the bag.

"So, what's the story behind the bag?" Kate finally asked as she put away the leftovers and he tossed the trash.

"Don't you want your fortune cookie?" he asked trying to stall a bit more by selecting one for himself.

"Fine," she said with a grin as she cracked open one. "Wine?"

"Sure," he said as she poured two glasses then settled back on the couch.

"What's your fortune?"

"Hey, I got two!" he said excited as he read the first one. "Your thoughts are highly regarded."

"Not sure about that, Castle," she said jokingly, earning her the famous Castle squinty glare.

"What's yours say?" he asked.

"Pleasures await you by the seashore," she read.

"You know you have to add the words 'in bed' at the end, right?" he grinned at her.

"Castle," she rolled her eyes. "What's your other one?"

"It says, um," he stopped. "I'm not making this up, I swear."

"What's it say?" she said as she held her hand out to read it herself. "Tonight will be a lucky night."

"In bed," he said before he could stop himself.

"Maybe in your dreams. So are you ever going to tell me what's in the bag?"

"Do you trust me?" he asked, suddenly serious.

"Of course," she said with no hesitation.

"It seems that Ryan wanted to give Jenny something to take with her to remind her of him. So he bought her another toy."

"God, that's just so hard to believe, Ryan buying sex toys," she said with a shake of her head.

"I know!" he exclaimed. "But it wasn't just any toy. I honestly don't know what possessed Ryan to buy three of these. I mean I can understand Esposito but he knows we aren't, um, aren't."

"What did he buy?" she asked now even more curious. "I know they don't have anything too outrageous."

"Trust me, it is," he said trying not to think about how well she seems to know the store and its merchandise. "I mean there probably wouldn't be anything wrong with this if we were together but, um."

"Castle, just show me," she said somewhat exasperated.

He silently held the bag out to her almost dreading her reaction. He was not expecting the laughter.

"Clone a Willy. He is so dead," she laughed when she saw the gift. It was a kit to make an exact replica of your man's erection.

"Can you just imagine Esposito's face when he saw this?" Castle said.

"I would have paid to see that. I bet Lanie will love this," Kate was still laughing as she read the packaging.

"So you aren't mad?" he asked.

"No. If you had made this then given it to me, I would be because that would be creepy."

"I know." He took a deep breath much calmer now knowing that she wasn't going to be angry with him. Not that he had done anything actually but still. He was lost in thought when Kate pulled a card from the bag.

"What's this Rick?"

"Huh?" He looked at the card confused since he hadn't seen it earlier. He reached for it and read it out loud.

"Maybe Kate would like to try something just like the real thing." He looked up at her shocked by what he just read. "Did you tell them?"

"About the calls? No. Not the guys, I told Lanie but swore her to secrecy. Did you tell them?"

"Of course not," he swore from his end of the couch. "So either they are just fishing or they really are damn good detectives," he said with a smile.

"They are good detectives but I think they are fishing."

"But why now?" he asked.

"I guess Lanie told them Josh is gone."

"So when did that happen?"

"A couple of weeks ago," she said.

"I hope the gift I gave you didn't cause any problems."

"No, we split about a week before that. Thanks again for that gift," she said with a bit of a smile.

"So you've enjoyed it?" he asked her.

"Yes I have. Couldn't you tell?" she asked suggestively.

"Yes, but it's always nice to hear just how much a gift is appreciated."

"Oh trust me it's appreciated. I still have to say I'm surprised that you bought me that. And one for Lanie and Jenny too.

"Esposito seemed intrigued to try it with Lanie but he didn't have the cash on him so I thought I would get him one. The storeowner asked if I wanted one too then Ryan walked in, so I just bought three. The guys were a bit annoyed that I bought one for you."

"I so would have thought Ryan would have been offended," Kate said.

"Me too but he looked pretty excited instead. I didn't tell you," he said with an amused look. "I actually got a thank you note in the mail from Jenny. I about died when Alexis saw it."

"She didn't actually write something like 'thanks for the sex toy' did she?" Kate asked with a grin.

"Thank goodness, no. But of course, Alexis wanted to know what gift it was."

"And you hate lying to her."

"Oh, but I did. I just wish I could think of something I could do to embarrass them like that but I don't think anything at Naughty Lisa's will embarrass Ryan. And let's just say Ryan shared a bit more than I expected when he told us how he likes to perfect his observation skills as he calls it."

"Meaning what?" she asking remembering several times where the guys mentioned those skills but she suspected it had nothing to do with police work.

"I can't believe we are talking about this," he mentioned as he took a sip of wine.

"Talking about what? You still haven't said what 'it' was," she said but she definitely had an idea.

"Handling things by herself," he finally stammered out.

"So what's wrong with a woman doing that? Or do you believe in a double standard?"

"Nothing. No. I just, um never watched a woman handling things."

"Why not? Too impatient?" she asked.

"Yes," he said immediately.

"Why am I not surprised?" she said with a smile as she emptied her glass.

"I just want to get to the, uh, the main event," he tried to say calmly as he drank some of his wine.

"Let me tell you something for you to think about the next time, Rick, some women can have more than one 'main event,'" she said as she reached out and patted him on the knee.

"Can you?" he asked looking into her eyes.

"If done right," she said watching as he seemed to lose the power of speech. "See, I told Lanie you couldn't handle this," she said as she stood up, grabbed her wine glass, and walked past him to the kitchen.

"Oh, I can handle it Kate," he said as he reached out and grabbed her hand. She turned her head to look down on him still sitting on the couch. She knew that this was that moment she had thought about, the one that would change everything. Kate looked in his eyes and knew that she could still just brush it off as a joke but she didn't really want to. He stood up slowly, keeping eye contact, then stepped more into her personal space.

"You know this is going to change everything," she said softly looking at his lips.

"I know," he said, amazed at the promise her words carried.

"Can you handle that?" she asked as he placed his left hand on her left hip.

"Yes."

"Prove it."

Note: I have a question for y'all. The last part is over 4000 words. Would you like me to keep it as one chapter or split it in two? If split in two, it will be posted together no more than a few minutes apart. I will NOT make y'all wait another day for the main event. Let me know if you can. Thanks!