Okay, here's to extra long author's notes.


Firstly, sorry for the delayed update. I wanted this chapter to be up last night but it just wouldn't cooperate. Hopefully it makes up in length.
Secondly, sorry for last chapter's LAME title. It was late. I was tired. Wit is exhausting.
Thirdly, love you guys for the reviews. As always.
Fourthly (this is getting ridic, I know, I'm sorry) (again), I HATE this chapter. Hate it. I despise it. I really do. Sorry if it's not up to standards :/ AND I herby apologize for the typo's in the last chapter. Unacceptable. I will be more careful from here on out.
Fifthly, there is no fifthly, I just like the number five. What a good, clean cut number. Alright, now that that OCD is out of the way, try really hard to enjoy this chapter.


A Reprise

A month.
She had been living with them for a month.

Comfortable.
That's what she was.
In the best way humanly possible.

Not always rays of sunshine-
She was still Beckett, and lord knows he was still Castle.
But petty arguments aside, things were good.

More and more of his faults became evident.
He had a ton.
The fact that she loved him for them,
That became evident to her, too.

She loved him for it, she realized, as she was riding the elevator up to the 12th precinct. The 'him' at question was not accompanying her on this particular Friday morning, as he was caught up in the latest trials of detective Heat. But back to her first train of thought. Her mind forced a refocus on the fleeting word that had entered her mind without permission.

Love.
She loved waking up with him beside her.
She loved the feel of his warm, sleeping body during that one moment when she had awoken but he had yet to. She loved waking up said sleeping body. Violent methods used as needed, of course. She loved the way he snored, and the way he sometimes drooled a little on his pillow. How he read to her when she couldn't sleep.
She loved him.

This dawned at her just as the lift creped past the 10th floor marker. She had known for months and months she cared about the man- his family, his life, him. But that word hadn't been spoken or thought. Did he love her? She had him pegged for the verbal type. He was the verbal type. He talked and talked and talked. He would have told her by now if he did. Did he? She sighed, frustrated at herself, smashing the button with the letters B3 on them. To the morgue, it was.

Castle was at his desk, typing away. The words poured out o him with more ease than they ever had before. Derek Storm had never been this easy to write. Easy, yes, enjoyable, yes. Fun, even. But not this important, and definitely not this easy. Then again, he wasn't in love with Derek Storm. Maybe in the way a writer loves his creations, but not this way.

Love.
There was that word again.
It demanded the forefront of his attention, and forced him to pause his typing.

He did love her.
Always knew it, too.

But the time was nearing.
He had to tell her.

He had refrained for the obvious reasons. Kate was not the one to throw the word out lightly. No, there was great conviction there. Kate never did anything without careful consideration and forethought. And dropping that bombshell…that would scare her away for sure. But as of late it was getting harder and harder to suppress. There were close calls where the three words threatened to erupt, but he caught them last minute.

He had to tell her.
If he didn't she wouldn't know.
If he did she may get scared.

Ughh.
He shut the top to his laptop and crossed his arms, frustrated.
This was hard. Before he could dwell any farther on the fact, though, a flash of bright red in his peripherals got his attention. Alexis stood in the doorway, arms crossed, watching him. Sadness tainted her beautiful features, breaking Rick up inside.

"Hey sweetie," he greeted. She walked towards him and let him hug her, planting a sideways kiss on her head. "What's wrong?" she just nodded into his chest as she held the embrace. "Anything ice cream sundaes can't fix?" he asked her. When he received only a sniffle in reply, he answered himself. "Who am I kidding? There is nothing an ice cream sundae can't fix!" and with that, his own worries forgotten, he pushed he backwards, still in a lopsided hug, sliding her along the hardwood until they reached the kitchen.

"You think you say what now?" Lanie's voice echoed through the empty air of the morgue. Kate was sitting on the only vacant autopsy table, talking to Lanie as she worked. Kate let out another sigh and ran a hand through her hair.

"Love him," she repeated for what must have been the thirty millionth time.

"What?" she asked again, for what must have been the thirty-one millionth time.

"Lanie!"

"Of course you love him, honey, you're living with him, aren't you?"

"Yes…"

"You you do laundry together?"

"Yes…" Kate was now thoroughly confused at Lanie's method of questioning. However unorthodox, Kate would put money on her in an interrogation room. Lanie could annoy, pressure and confuse answers out of anybody.

"Then it's obvious, isn't it?"

"I fail to follow your logic," Kate admitted.

"You do laundry together," she said again, making Kate feel like a stupid child. "It means something." Instead of fighting her friend's hypothesis, Kate continued.

"Why hasn't he said it? he seems like the type of guy who would say it," she said, letting worry seem into her words. Too much worry, probably.

"He loves you too much," Lanie reasoned.

"So you're saying he loves me so much he can't tell me he loves me?" Kate asked, completely bewildered.

"Exactly."

"So are you going to tell me or am I going to have to facebook stalk you to find out?" Castle asked. They were settled at the kitchen bar, both snacking on masterpieces that were chocolate sundaes. Alexis's tears had dried up and the puffiness around her eyes was dying down, but she was obviously still upset. Trying to be gentle rather than prying as he wanted to be, he took his usual Castle-method.

She cracked a small smile at her father's antics.
He could always make her smile.

"It's just drama at school, it's nothing important," she shrugged it off.

"What's his name? I'll beat him up for you," Castle swore.

"No, dad, not a boy. Just Paige," she let out a sigh.

"You can tell me anything, you know," he promised, earnestly. He hoped she knew how much he meant that.

"She went out with some college guys- some of the high school grads from last year that she knew. She went out all last night to a bunch of Frat parties," she spilled.

"Well that's poor decision making on her behalf, but why has that got you all upset?" he asked, once again being gentle.

"She told her mom she was over here. She didn't even tell me!" Of course, it was no big deal to him. But to Alexis? Talk about the utmost betrayal. "And now I feel guilty for being a part of her big lie, and I want to tell her mother but if I did, Paige would never ever ever talk to me again, and I just don't know what to do!" She said, the last bit rolling out so fast he had barely had a chance to register it all. He reached out a hand, rubbing her back comfortingly.

"Oh Lex," he cooed, softly, pulling her into another hug. "It's alright. It's my problem now, alright? Now it is in the hands of the grownups, and whatever does or doesn't happen, whomever tells or doesn't tell on whom, it is officially out of your control," he assured her.

"You will tell her parents for me?" she asked, looking up at him.

"I might," he told her. "But you just know I plan to. If I forget, that's to no fault of your own."

"Thanks, Dad," Alexis told him. Meaning dripped from her words as she released him and sat back in her chair, helping herself to her ice cream. "So you going to tell me about your problems, or do you want to drool over how hot Justin Beiber is?" she asked him, knowingly.

"First of all- ew. He's like eight. Secondly, it's…"

"If you say complicated I will smack you," Alexis cut him off. He smiled at her again.

"Lanie, it's just-"

"If you say complicated, I will smack you," Lanie cut her off. "Just tell him. It's not that hard. Three words. Three little, itty-bitty words."

"It's not that simple, Lanie. Those words mean something to me."

"It meant something to me when I helped haul all your stuff across town to his apartment. Would you seriously do that if you didn't love him? Do you seriously think I'd let you if I didn't know you did?"

"But what if he doesn't-" again, Lanie cut her off.

"Do you think he would let you anywhere near Alexis if he didn't?" she had a point.

"No but-"

"No buts girl. Did you come down here to be convinced to tell him, or did you come down here to ask me to drop a hint?"

"No! Don't call him, don't you dare!" Lanie just smiled mischievously.

"You need to tell her," Alexis decided, after a mere second of thought.

"But-"

"No buts, Dad, you need to. She needs to know. I know, Grams knows, the whole precinct knows. She needs to hear it. From you."

"My sultry voice is very appealing, isn't it?" he wiggled his eyebrows.

"Tell her," she told him again, ignoring his fictitious ego. "Tonight. I will be out of here- Grams is taking me to see that play, remember?"

"You're going to see C. Zeta Jones live without me?" he asked, appalled. She nodded.

"Take her out. Tell her," Alexis made him swear.

"How did you get so smart?" he asked her, tousling her hair, lovingly.

He picked her up from the precinct. It was a surprise, but a pleasant one. She didn't put up much of a fight, the paperwork stacked on her desk not providing much of an argument, and let him whisk her away. They caught a cap and somehow, they ended up at the diner.

Two Swiss mushroom burgers and two tall glasses of soda were ordered. The waitress smiled, knowingly, taking their orders and leaving them to each other.

Kate looked at him, sideways, smiling at him as he hid behind his menu. "What?" she asked him, shyly. He shook his head.

"Nothing," he told her.

"Your being all quiet," she told him. It was making her nervous.

"You're beautiful," he told her, after a moment. He would do that- randomly tell her that. After a day like hers-the ones where she was going from five am to midnight, where she looked like hell and felt like hell, it was nice. As much as she denied it even to herself, she needed to hear it. He seemed to sense that. She just blushed, looked away and said nothing.

He had thought about bringing her to Tramonti's, but decided against it. It was a special place, but they shared it with Alexis. The diner was just their place.

"I need to…" he began, but stopped suddenly, unhappy with his opening. "I've been meaning…" again, he stopped. He was stumbling over his words, they came out in all the wrong order, and so he gave up. She looked at him oddly but said nothing. The waitress dropped off their food, and they ate. Lame talk of her day ensued, followed by his, then Alexis's troubles.

"Let's walk," Rick told her, when they had left the diner. Kate retracted her arm from the air and wrapped it around his, puling herself into his body. Déjà vu struck again. She smiled at the memory."What are you smiling about?" he asked her, quietly.

"Memories," she mumbled back. He nodded. He was hit by the same wave of reminiscence. They walked, up about four blocks before he mustered up the courage to tell her. At the white walking man on the light disappeared and a red hand replaced it. Rick reached out and grabbed Kate's arm, pulling her back on to the curb and right into him.

"I-" he began, with every intent to tell right, right there. This was it, there was no going back.

"I love you," she told him. It was barely a whisper, but the force of his pull put her lips right by his ear and he caught it. He was momentarily stunned. Words, he reminded himself. Use your words.

"I love you too," he told her, a smile turning up the corners of his mouth, before lowering it on to hers in what was possibly the longest, most passionate kiss they had ever shared. She held his face, not wanting the moment to end.

But oxygen.
Damned oxygen.

They broke apart, desperate for it. She smiled, shyly, biting her lip to keep the idiotic smile off her face. Rick didn't even bother trying, just pulling her closer into his side and wearing it with pride.

He was going to have to tell her that more often, he thought. Yes, more often.
Every day. In the morning, at night. When they hung up the phone. Yes. More of that, he vowed.

Love. Kate thought to herself as they walked. It felt good to proclaim such things. To just say it. She was going to have to try it more often.
And she had one writer in mind.

I fear this may be the end! There is always a chance for additional chapters or even a sequel, should I feel so moved. I think the ending is hideous, so there is a good chance I will try to correct this with another, but for now I have new fics begging to be written.

Please please please leave a review, they thrill me so.
And look out for more of my fics, because I for sure can be seen, right under category Castle! :D

Love you guys, thanks for staying with me through my first ever fic!
Gahh I should stop before I get all mushy and sentimental.
Stay awesomesauce, guys.
Love,
sof