WOW! Alright, so first let me start off by saying that you guys are ABSOLUTELY amazingggg! :) Over 20 reviews! You have noo idea how happy that makes me! That deserves a DRATW, wouldn't you agree? And look, because of all those reviews you get the next chapter. So think about it, if you did that all the time...hmmm...

And to those of you who usually just read and don't review, a big thanks! All of those reviews have really made my week! Keep it up!

And it would have been here sooner BUT I had a writing conference and decided to re-write it.

Lastly, a HUGE thanks to BetweenTwoWorlds and ChrisS - you girls are amazing and helped a bunch!

I am still not entirely pleased with this chapter...not sure why though... really nervous about it actually, but here it is *gulp*...


Summer Vacation: Chapter 7

She sat in front of the white board looking at each piece of evidence she had found. The murder weapon: a .22 caliber; bullets found in the victim. The victim: a young (approximately 24 year old) female; still a Jane Doe; Ryan and Esposito would try to search for some form of identification tomorrow. Place of crime scene: dumpster in a back alley; gun found in same place with no fingerprints. Witnesses: so far, none. Leads she had: absolutely nothing. Whether she would solve this case or not was a mystery in itself.

She looked at the timeline. Luckily, Lanie had been able to give her a two hour time frame of when the victim had been killed. That helped her a bit, but with no identification and no leads to follow, she didn't know where to begin. She just hoped that Ryan and Esposito would be able to find something that could help her in some way.

She groaned, rubbing her eyes and taking a long drink of coffee; praying for just an ounce more of energy. She had only gotten around eight hours of sleep in the past three days. She was completely exhausted and was about to fall to sleep from just standing there.

She kept telling herself that he had nothing to do with it; he had nothing to do with the sleepless nights of tossing and turning. The dreams she had that woke her up from her sleep-the ones of him leaving her with Gina and the ones of him getting shot…No. Richard Castle had nothing to do with any of it. Or that's at least what she kept telling herself.

She turned her attention back to the files that were beside her. She took them and began to read them for the fifteenth time now. She glanced at the murder board every once in a while, making sure she didn't forget anything. She knew there was something she had missed; some small piece of evidence that needed to be found to give her a theory.

She glanced at her watch- thirteen minutes after twelve. The precinct was completely empty. She jumped at the voice she heard behind her, "I heard about this term called 'workaholic'; I think I need to call Webster and tell him to put your name beside it." Her heart froze, she knew that voice.

He placed his hand on her shoulder. Just the fact that he touched her sent chills up her spine. "Kate." he almost breathed out her name, "We need to talk."

She closed her eyes trying to think straight. Resentment was starting to take over. Resentment over the fact that he had left her for over a week to be with his ex-wife.

He moved to step in front of her. She looked gorgeous. Tired, but gorgeous nonetheless. "Can we talk?" he asked almost at a whisper.

"I'm a little busy." She told him nodding at the murder board behind him. In fact, she had no desire to talk to him about what had happened. The past week for her had been hell and he just wanted to waltz into the precinct and pretend like they could just talk like good buddies. Hell no, that was not going to happen. She hopped off her desk and went behind Castle to stand in front of the murder board. She shook her head to try to clear her thoughts.

"So let me get this straight." She finally spoke after what seemed like an eternity of silence. She kept her back turned toward him still, "You go up to spend time with Gina in the Hamptons and then you come back here, why?"

He wasn't sure if he should tell her that he talked to Lanie in fear of receiving physical pain, "I have a feeling," he said carefully, "that there were some things left unsaid."

"You had a feeling?" She asked turning to look at him, one eyebrow raised.

"Yes…" He said uneasily. "Alright, I may have heard something."

She turned back towards the board, "Well I don't know where you heard that, but it's not true."

Her guard was up; he noticed it immediately.

She needed some space; some room to think. True, she still liked Castle but she wasn't going to give into him that easily. He had a lot of explaining to do and it looked as if so far he wasn't exactly forthcoming. She decided to refill her cup of coffee to help make her more alert and began to walk towards the break room.

"Kate!" Castle called after her trying to get her attention. "I know about you and Demming." He said making her stop right in her tracks.

"Excuse me?" She asked turning around to face him.

"Demming-you guys breaking up. I know about all of it."

"Who told you?"

"It doesn't really matter." He said quickly. "What I'm trying to-"

"It was Esposito wasn't it? Damn…why couldn't he just mind his own business." She said talking to herself.

"No, it wasn't Esposito."

"Really? Because he told me a little secret of your own."

Castle looked at her puzzled. "What? What'd he say?"

"Oh no. First, you tell me."

"Secrets? I didn't think I had any secrets…" Castle said going off into his own thoughts.

"You know what, Castle? Why don't you just go back up to the Hamptons with your trophy wife? There's nothing that's been left unsaid; whatever anyone told you, they were wrong."

He ignored the first part of what she said remembering what Lanie had told him, "I don't know about that. After all, you did break up with Demming."

"Seriously? You're going to use that as an excuse for going to the Hamptons with your ex-wife? Demming and I just didn't work out; it had nothing to do with you."

"Gina only came for one reason: to help me finish my book and-"

"Ah, yes. I think 'staying on top off you' was the way she put it." Kate shot back.

Castle listed one of his eyebrows. "Do I sense a hint of jealousy?"

"No. I'm just saying that you know why she went with you and it had nothing to do with your book."

"Well your wrong because the whole time I've been up there that's all I've been doing. She doesn't let me do anything else."

"So why did you come back here?"

"To talk to you."

"Well there's nothing to talk about." She told him firmly.

"Fine, listen. I'm not going to talk about this here. But if you want to talk, about anything at all, I'll be home alone tonight. Feel free to drop by." He gave her one last smile trying to offer her hope so she would come.

She knew that she needed to work things out with him. Castle was her best friend; she didn't want to lose him.

She watched Castle walk away. She could stop him; should stop him for that matter. She wondered who had told him about her. Probably Lanie, she thought remembering the diner and what she had told her. Lanie was right though, there had been an attraction between them and she did have to admit that she had always had a high school crush on the famous author. Maybe they could work everything out…

"Castle!" she called out before he had reached the elevator. They both paused, "I'll see you later?" She asked him, turning around to face him.

He smiled again, nodded. "Alright."

The elevator 'dinged', signaling its arrival. He entered it, happy with the fact that she was at least willing to talk to him. Kate Beckett was his best friend and whether they still had feelings for each other (God, he hoped they did), he didn't want to lose her over a stupid fight. Even if they didn't want to pursue their relationship any farther, they could still work together and he could still shadow her, never giving up the fight to win her over. She was his inspiration, his muse. But deep down, she was much more than that. Now all he had to do was convince her of that and leave the rest up to fate.


Another cliffhanger?

Why are some author's just so cruel? And yes, I am expecting black/hate mail for this chapter.

I'm sorry but it's one of those 'building block' chapters. And honestly, it's not one of my favorites.

I would try to bribe you guys for reviews again, but I don't really have to do that, right? You guys know by now that alot of reviews=faster updates?

Well, let's see... =)