Hiya folks, thanks so much again for all your comments - they're like oxygen for this little writer!

I hope this chapter makes you smile, even just for a while...

"Yes sir... I know sir", Beckett sighed tiredly into the phone.

She had called Captain Gates and informed her of that night's events as soon as she got back to the confines of her and Castle's room. Needless to say, the Captain was not happy that she let a suspect walk out of their grasp.

Castle lay in bed, with a sour expression on his face, watching Beckett pace the bedroom.

"You do realize Detective that if this woman is guilty, we will most likely never see her again" Gates said sternly.

"Sir, with all due respect, I really don't think Liz would just leave like that; even if she is... our murderer." The words stung Beckett's lips.

"Oh, so you think she's just going to come back and say, "I confess, hand me a jumpsuit and lock me up", because I sure as hell don't see that happening anywhere outside of the Agatha Christie series!"

Beckett put her hand to her head, willing the headache she could feel coming on, to keep at bay for just the night.

"You had better hope, when you finally catch up to her, she's willing to talk, because if she doesn't; you know the law detective - she will be going down for this, regardless of whether she committed the crime or not."

"I know sir, I'll take care of it."

Gates hung up, without bidding the detective goodnight.

Beckett balled her fists tightly and punched the air. 'Ugh!" She cried out.

Castle gave her a quick glance. "You'll give yourself an ulcer."

"Yeah... I've already got one", she said bitterly.

She flopped down on the bed, sighing. "How did I screw this up so badly?"

Castle didn't respond.

"I just became so comfortable with Tom and Liz, I really started to feel like we were kind of becoming..." She broke off. "Kind of becoming like family."

Castle looked down at her, his expression softened. "I guess the way they treated us, making us feel at home like that, it made it easy to forget the job we came here to do. Made it easy to forget that we were supposed to be considering everyone to be a suspect, including them." He sighed. "And I guess I didn't help matters."

Beckett sat up and looked over at him with a furrowed brow. "What do you mean?"

He motioned between himself and Beckett. "Creating this, initiating... us."

Beckett averted her eyes from his, guiltily. "Rick."

"I never should have encouraged this, Kate, not here, it wasn't the right time or place."

Beckett shrugged. "That's it though Castle, you only encouraged this; I was never forced to latch on to it. I was the one who allowed it, allowed something to happen between us."

She paused and looked at him, bringing a hand to touch his face. "Do you regret it?"

Hurt showed in his eyes. "Regret it? The only thing I regret is that we had to do this under a guise, under other peoples' names. I never pictured our first time being just about sex. I pictured it being about something deeper than that. A perfect moment where we knew exactly who each other was and what we wanted. Those woods were hardly the most romantic place, but at least we were far enough away that we could call out each others' names, and that meant so much to me."

Beckett blushed.

He shimmied over to her in the bed, and took her hands in his. "Kate, your name is like a mantra to me. And when you call me Rick, do you have any idea what that does to me?"

She looked deep into his eyes.

He waved his hand in the air. "Forget about the breathing... just hearing my name come out of your mouth... well; let's just say, it's all the encouragement I'll ever need."

She grinned, as he did.

"Rick." She said. Castle closed his eyes, letting out a soft groan, showing her how much he truly did appreciate her using his first name.

She chuckled slightly and then put on a serious face, before continuing. "I just want you to not be disappointed in me."

"Me? Be disappointed in you? In what way could I possibly be disappointed in you?"

"I let the suspect go, and I saw the look in your eyes when I did."

Castle shook his head. "Kate, that wasn't disappointment. Firstly, she isn't "the suspect", she's Liz. And secondly, that look you saw me give, you're reading it all wrong. It wasn't disappointment, it was sadness; sadness for you. For what you're having to go through."

Beckett felt a tear fall down her cheek, why did his words cut through her emotional barrier so?

"I know how much of a connection you feel, to Liz, I've seen it. I feel it too, Kate, they are wonderful people - parents, grandparents, pillars of their community, and great adventurers, people who know how to have a great time and still be grounded enough to support others. If I could live life the way they have, I'd consider my life to be a great success."

Kate shook her head slowly. "Their life has only been that way because they had each other... that's why I couldn't bring myself to believe that Liz could have done this, especially not after tonight. It's so obvious that Tom and Liz need each other, and if Liz goes away for this, I know Tom won't survive."

Castle smiled. "Someone very wise told me once that true love is when you'd be willing to break someone out of jail. And if he can't do that... he'll wait for her."

"What if she makes him wait too long?"

There was a definite shift in direction with this conversation that Castle and Beckett could both sense.

Castle shook his head. "When someone is in love, they'll wait forever."

Beckett's breath caught in her throat. "Castle..."

"Hopefully he doesn't have to, but he won't go anywhere." Castle told her, stroking her hand softly with his thumb.

"She might need to do something... say something. As an incentive to make him stay." Beckett suggested, softly.

"Only if she's ready." Castle said, squeezing her hand softly for comfort.

"Rick." Beckett croaked, locking her fingers inside of his.

"Yes Kate?" Castle said, looking into her eyes hopefully.

"What if she's scared?" Beckett asked timidly.

Castle smiled at her. "Then he'll be there to hold her, and tell her that it's OK, that he will wait for her, until the time finally comes when she isn't scared anymore."

Beckett shook her head. "I think she's made him wait long enough."

Castle's eyes widened, and he looked at her expectantly.

"R-Rick", Beckett stumbled, nervously.

He tightened his grip on her hands, encouraging her supportively .

Beckett took a deep breath. "She has to tell him now, right this second because she loves him so much that sometimes it feels like she can't breath."

Castle smiled, his eyes glistening. "And by him and she, you mean?"

Beckett smiled back at him. "What I mean is...I love you too Rick."

Castle beamed, but he squinted at her. "Too?"

Beckett took in a shaky breath, she'd known this would be coming, and she was prepared for a verbal lashing.

"Yes... I heard you Rick. I remember."

Castle's grin widened.

Beckett stared at him open mouthed. "You're not mad?"

He looked at her wide eyed. "Mad? Are you kidding? I'm furious!"

He grabbed her and kissed her, to show her exactly how furious he was.

When he pulled away, he still had his hands on the side of her face, he shook her head, playfully.

"You are the most exasperating woman in the world, but I can't help myself... I just love you so much."

Beckett laughed, while tears of relief and joy streamed down her face.

They placed their foreheads together and nudged noses affectionately for a while, occasionally kissing parts of each others' faces.

Beckett sighed, smiling into his mouth. "Well that only took us four years."

Castle gasped. "I knew you'd been in love with me all along."

Beckett bit his lip. "Shut up and kiss me, you over grown child."

"Oh, OK." And Castle did just that, dueling tongues with her as he did. She moaned softly into his mouth.

Their kissing was so filled with so much more passion that it had been previously, and the fact that he knew all of her secrets now, made her feel free and totally turned her on.

"Oh, god I love you", she moaned between fiery kisses.

"Sorry, who do you love?" Castle tested her.

Beckett rolled her eyes, but obliged, licking his ear. "I love you Rick."

Castle groaned in approval, as his mouth smothered hers. "I love you Detective," he breathed out, while transferring his mouth from her lips, to her neck.

She moaned appreciatively, as he bit her clavicle. Her hands went to his hair, caressing his wavy locks.

"Mm, oh Rick..."

Castle groaned into her neck.

A most unwelcome sound then greeted them. Beckett's phone was ringing.

They both paused for a moment in their actions, both hoping futilely that it would just stop.

After the fourth ring however, Beckett pushed herself off Castle and clambered over him to pick it up. Castle complained.

"Go to hell, you stupid phone!"

Beckett couldn't help but smile at his comment as she picked up the phone.

"Beckett."

"Detective Beckett, this is Gareth O'Bryant."

"Oh, Mr. O'Bryant, how are you?"

"Please, it's Gareth. I'm doing alright I guess, considering... Just waiting for my wife's body to be released so I can give her the burial she deserves."

Beckett felt empathy for the man, her voice dripped with sadness. "Of course, Gareth, and we're working as fast as we can to make that happen." Her voice shook with the lie.

Castle rubbed her back, comfortingly. She put the phone on speaker so he could be involved in the conversation.

"Victoria informs me that the killer was wearing black Gucci gloves. I wanted to call because I found it most curious that someone at our retreat would be in possession of such an expensive item. We did after all set it up for couples who have little finance."

"Yes, we thought it was odd too." Beckett said.

"What is even more peculiar is that I bought Caroline a pair of those exact gloves last Christmas, and she never took them off, no matter how hot the weather, but for the past week, I haven't seen them anywhere."

Castle clasped his hand over his mouth, covering a squeal.

"I assure you Gareth, we have a very strong lead, that we will be following up first thing tomorrow, where I am confident we will get those gloves, and with them, we will find our killer."

She paused before asking her next question. "Would you... like them back?" It was a difficult question to ask, they were after all a very special memento of Caroline and Gareth's marriage, and they were worth a lot of money. But they were also used to strangle Caroline, until she died.

"No." Gareth stated, and in a way Beckett was relieved. "I never want to see them again. Perhaps they could be sold to get some money for the retreat, they are worth eight hundred dollars new."

Beckett and Castle's eyes bulged. "Wowza!" Castle mouthed.

"Yes, I can have that arranged." Beckett said kindly.

O'Bryant sighed into the phone. "I know none of this is going to bring Caroline back. But she was a great advocate of the people and of bringing justice into the world. This is hard for me because we had differing views on this but, she didn't believe in corporal punishment, and she wouldn't want to see her killer suffer, so... to honor my wife, I would ask you to be lenient on whoever it is that took her life."

Beckett swallowed a lump in her throat.

"We honor the dead. But we know that it's the living who really need the justice."

"I miss her every second of every day, detective." O'Bryant muttered into the phone.

Keeping her composure barely intact, Kate said what O'Bryant really wanted to hear. "I'm going to get the son of a bitch that did this to Caroline, and they will live well enough to spend time pondering what they've done, and if they don't already then someday, they might start to feel regret."

She could see O'Bryant nodding his head. "Thank you, Detective Beckett", he choked out.

"Get some sleep Gareth. Tomorrow we're going to get you some justice."

"Goodnight Detective."

Beckett turned off her phone and exhaled deeply. Castle placed his hand on her thigh. "Killed with her own gloves", he said gravely.

Beckett had a fire lit inside her. "We have to go to that hospital and talk to Liz."

"Now?" Castle asked.

Beckett shrugged. "We need to find out where she got those gloves from. I know she didn't kill Mrs. O'Bryant, I just know it."

"I agree, but Kate. Do you really want to go there tonight? It's almost midnight. Tom will be needing to rest and Liz won't be up to answering any of our questions... are you so desperate to go there to check out the lead or to see how Tom is?"

Beckett bowed her head, if anyone could see right through her, it was Castle.

"OK, fine, maybe a bit of both", she admitted quietly.

He rubbed her arms with his hands. "I know sweetheart, you're worried and that's natural."

"They've been like parents to me, Rick. Like real parents." She buried her head in his shoulder, he traced soft circles in her back to soothe her.

"First thing tomorrow, we will go and we will kill two birds with one stone - figuratively speaking. We'll find out who our killer is, and we'll find out how Tom is too."

"Maybe we could take him something; a book perhaps."

"The rough guide to conspiracy theories?" Castle suggested.

"Hm, part one or part two?"

Castle looked at her, grinning from ear to ear. "You never cease to amaze me... And that is why I love you."

"Mm, say it again, Rick", Beckett purred, nuzzling his chin with her nose.

"I love you, Kate."

She kissed him on the lips, something between a peck and a pash, and then lay back with him on the bed, relaxing into his chest.

"Did you really call me sweetheart, just before?" She asked earnestly.

His chuckle vibrated in her ear. "Yes, I did. Do you like it?"

She smiled. "I do."

Castle stroked her hair softly and planted a kiss on the top of her head.

"What should I call you?" Beckett asked him seriously.

He took her arms and wrapped them around himself, then wrapped his around her small, delicate frame.

"Rick... I like Rick."

...