Chapter 7

Lanie's Joy

She is sitting down next to her friend's table. Not on her chair. She will not disrespect that. That chair is Katherine Beckett's, and if someone tries to sit down on it she will make sure to smack them hard on the head. And there is no way she is going to sit on Writer Boy's chair. The first (and last) person that was not Castle and tried that got glared at by Katherine so hard he got nightmares for several days.

Not that Castle knows, of course. Kate swore her to secrecy. Damn that woman. She has denied for nearly three years her attraction to Castle. She has told her that she should do something, but instead she kept going for guys that did not suit her.

But this ends now. If she has to, as soon as Kate gets out of the hospital, she is going to take her and Castle and lock them in the break room until they are either making out like two teenagers in lust or one of them is dead. Should that happen, she would bet on Castle's being the body she would have to hide away.

Talking about bodies, she is glad that there are none in the lab. She cannot stop thinking about how near her friend has been to death, and right now she knows that any body she were to work with would inevitably wear Kate's face, even if the body is that of a completely unknown person.

She hears several steps coming towards her, and a pair of long, dark-skinned arms surround her while two lips kiss her right behind her left ear.

"Hey, Chica," the man that has kissed her says, softly.

"Hey yourself, Javi," she replies, smiling, and turning around so that she can kiss her boyfriend as he hugs her.

"What are you doing here?" Javier asks. "Not that I am not glad, I am just surprised."

"There are no bodies coming today. Got told the other precincts would handle today for us."

"Huh. I was wondering about the fact that we were not getting any actual calls. There is only paperwork to do... but there was so little that I finished it all real fast," he confesses.

"I also want to know how Beckett is doing, Javi, but we have to wait." She sighs. "I am sure she is going to get out of the woods soon, but..."

"You still fear for her, don't you?"

"Yes. You never know, with injuries like those. They seem to be under control after the surgery, but at any moment the stitches can break and everything gets worse."

"Don't worry, Lanie. Beckett is going to pull through this, and then she is going to help us catch the bastard that nearly killed her. And then we will all have to take turns watching each other so that the guy does not end up mysteriously dead."

"Nice. And I guess I'll end up having to rule it as natural causes while saying his injuries were caused during his arrest, after he resisted authority," she says.

"That remains undisputed," Javier replies with a small chuckle. "Of course, we will have to keep Castle well away from the guy, or else it will be impossible to pass his death as natural or accidental."

"True," she replies, chuckling too. She leans into his embrace, before putting her arms around his neck and kissing him soundly.

"Where is Ryan?" she asks, once they break the kiss.

"He sent me a text. Said that he was going to take Jenny home and stay with her. She has taken all of this rather bad, and Ryan knows it will take a bit to calm her down."

"Hope she does not get too nervous about him going back to work."

"I hope the same."

Just then, their mobile phones bleep, telling them that they have received text messages.

"Who do you think this is?" Javier asks.

"Twenty bucks say it's Castle about our girl," she says.

"Ain't betting on a sure thing, babe," he replies, taking his phone out and checking the message, while she does the same.

Both of them have the same message.

Kate is awake! RC(L)KB! :D

They look at each other, and they have the same silly grin. They are really happy to see Kate has awakened, and the last half of the message makes the first half even sweeter.

"So, how do you think it happened?"

"I guess that, as soon as she opened her eyes, she declared him her undying love."

"Naaah, that's not the Kate I know. I bet that he has taken her into his hands, hugged her, said something dirty, and after she looked at him as if he wanted to kill him for that, he said he was sorry and then he told her how much he has loved her from the day they met. And then Kate smiled at him and told him she loved him, too."

"Well, you know what this means, don“t you?"

"Yes, that you get to pump the info out of Castle and I'll take charge of Kate."

"Yeah!" Javier says, laughing. "Also, I am wondering, who won the pool?"

"I don't remember. I would have to check the list. I have it at my office," she replies.

"We will have to take care of that, later. Now, since you don't have anything to do, and I have finished the paperwork, why don't we get out of here, have a celebration for the eye-sex couple finally getting together, and then go visit them."

"Are you really trying to entice me into having sex just because our friends will soon have it, too?" she asks, raising her eyebrow.

"Oh, no, not at all, Chica. It was more of a misguided attempt to take you to drink some coffee, preferably at my house, with the whole sex thing being a nice extra I would love to experience, but not one that is expected to happen at all."

"Oh, honest, Javi, if you ever channel Castle again, Imma smack you!" she threatens, and he smiles cheekily at her. "But I will not say no to that coffee if it comes with something sweet."

"Am I not sweet enough for you?" Javier avoids her smack and then hugs her for all his worth before kissing her soundly on the mouth. "OK, let's go to the coffee shop and take a bear claw for you. Then we can meet Castle at the hospital and check on what the two of them did."

"Great plan, baby," she replies, and hooks an arm with his, both of them leaving the precinct and hoping that their friend and co-worker will be back with them soon.

A/N: This one is dedicated to my muse, who even at more than 1000 kilometers away is able to give me great inspiration for my writing, and make me smile just with her memory in my head. May Rick&Kate go the same way my muse and I do.

A/N2: Honest, would it actually kill you to write reviews? I find it a bit depressing that more than 8000 people have read at least part of this story and I only have 23 reviews. Remember, the more reviews the happier I am!