Author's note: I'd like to take the time and thank of you who stick with this story and let you know that I really appreciate your feedback. Thanks a lot especially to my beta annem57

Disclaimer: I most definitely do not own "Castle".

Chapter 20 – Wine and Crackers

Lanie's POV

Monday, May 31st 2021

Lanie had almost reached the door when she hesitated, although she'd thought it all through already. If she'd called first, her friend would have done anything to get rid of her and avoid the conversation Lanie was determined to not let her avoid anymore. Recent events had shown that there was clearly something going on that Kate had been reluctant not to let her in on, and Lanie wanted to find out about it, even though it might not be that easy. So she went up the last steps to the apartment and raised her fist to knock vehemently at the dark wooden door. After waiting for a moment without any response she repeated the action, her knuckles firmly hitting the door for another round of knocks.

"Lanie?" an obviously surprised Kate answered the door with a towel draped over her arm, her feet bare, and swung the barrier open.

"Sorry to interrupt your date with the bathroom," Lanie motioned at the towel, "but my friends and I decided to pay you a spontaneous visit. Can we come in?" Kate – as expected - gaped at her in bewilderment. When the other woman tried to look past her into the corridor, it gave Lanie the perfect opportunity to slip in, heading straight for the kitchen where she unloaded her purse. She placed the dark bottle of 2014 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon on the counter accompanied by a package of breadsticks and a box of crackers. She'd planned on having a fruitful conversation, not to acquire a hangover when she's supposed to rise early for work the next morning.

"You call these your friends?" Kate, who'd followed her into the kitchen, laughed at the sight. Lanie only shrugged in response, opening the cupboard to get two wide wineglasses while her friend fished a corkscrew from a drawer and opened the bottle.

"Aw, you shoulda known by now. Wine can be a very good friend - listens patiently, and sometimes also knows how to make you do something unexpected yet worthwhile," Lanie stated as she watched Kate pouring their glasses half full to let the red breathe, handing her one of them then leading her into the living room.

"And this time it convinced you to come over – unexpectedly." Lanie smiled at the mocking statement.

"You gotta do what a delicious drop suggests. Since we haven't had a proper girl's night in some time and I've got the feeling there's a lot of things we've got some catching up to do about it, was easy to agree with," Lanie all but hinted to the reason for coming by as she put her glass down on the coffee table, taking her spot on the soft brown leather couch Kate ensconcied herself right beside her as usual, pulling one foot underneath her and facing halfway to Lanie.

"Something new about Wilson?" she questioned.

"That's not what I meant," Lanie remarked, tilting her head to one side and raising a single brow. She'll let her get away with it; for now. "But if you have to know, you're right," she confirmed the doubts Kate had voiced earlier about it really being a suicide. "The quick tox testing strip is shining in all colors of the rainbow. I guess he had a nice drug cocktail down when he took his bath. He most likely was already passed out when his arms got cut open. There's no way the guy killed himself, intoxicated as he was. We'll have to wait for the full lab report on his blood and stomach content, but I already gave a statement declaring it to most likely being homicide." Kate had been nodding all the while, not the least bit surprised obviously.

"So, 36th jurisdiction, isn't it? Who's working the case?" she asked, while obviously considering how to get better access, or how to get the 21st to take over the whole investigation.

"Detectives Waltham and Baker, but I don't think they'd like to have it taken from them," Lanie warned, "And murder clearly beats burglary, but I don't need to tell you, do I?" Kate only squinched up her face at the statement. Of course she would know. And considering the kind of cop she was herself, she would never have let a murder case be taken from her team without putting up a fight. But then again, now being Captain she had a little more power, and could maybe use her connections to join teams, or take charge of the investigation. Lanie felt a giggle bubble up as she imagined the slightly neurotic Baker wiping away and renewing half of the writing at the white board, which Kate still preferred to a smart board when it came to work out the details of a crime. She wondered how Castle would fit into the picture. Oh yeah, Castle, that's what she'd actually come for, to find out what happened that changed their relationship from running into each other by accident, being angry at each other to turning up at a crime scene together.

"Now it's my turn to ask questions. Because you, girl," Lanie pointed at her friend, "You've got some explaining to do." She expectantly eyed the woman, trying to get past the cop shell.

Instead of answering, Kate chose to reach out for a bread stick, nibbling at it casually. "I don't know what you mean," she replied innocently, not fooling Lanie for a second though, who took another sip of wine before continuing her interrogation.

"Girl, I know you do, but let me spell it out for you: we're talking about this writer of yours waltzing in on the crime scene all of a sudden." To say she'd been surprised to find him there was an understatement. Even though she knew Kate and Castle had met each other after their run-in at the hospital, she'd never expected them to dive into their old partnership again.

"He's not my writer," Kate retorted indignantly, clearly anything but pleased with Lanie's choice of words.

"So you are say. But then tell me, why was he with you at the scene - a crime scene we just worked out you shouldn't even have been at - when you're not working together as you claim?" Lanie abandoned her glass in favor of fully turning to Kate, to show her she wouldn't let it go. Her friend didn't stand a chance as she tried to stubbornly stare her down instead of responding.

"Well, if you must insist on knowing, Wilson is a suspect in a burglary of a gallery coincidentally owned by a sorority sister and friend of Castle's girlfriend. And I've been struck with the misfortune to deal with this case while Patricia O'Neil, the gallerist, obviously decided to hire Castle as some kind of private eye." Kate hesitated as if she was waiting for a response but Lanie only frowned at the story. Since when did the head of a precinct run some burglary case? And the writer had added another profession to his list? And they just so happened to find their suspect murdered in his bathtub? Sounded more like something Castle would have written. Then again, Lanie, could recall him stating something like "turning a plain burglary case into a homicide" which only seemed to confirm the strange story. Uh, the detectives working the case wouldn't like that mess. She eyed Kate.

"And that's for real?" Lanie inquired eventually, only getting a nod for an answer. "So, you decided to join forces and relive the old days?" She really needed another eyebrow since she didn't know how to push that one any higher. Even though Kate had insisted that they weren't working together, the cute baseball guy officer had told her that Castle had been waiting for Beckett at Wilson's apartment. Something about working as a consultant.

"No," the low answer of her friend almost sounded like a question, seeming even more suspicious than before, anything but convincing. Kate fiddled with the stem of the wine glass. So what was true then? Working together or not? Taking advantage of the slightly uncomfortable and wine eased state of Kate Beckett, Lanie decided to let her still raised eyebrow do the talking, waiting her friend out. Sometimes she needed pushing, and sometimes less was even more.

Her single expectant "Girl!" finally broke the silence and cracked her friend.

"Ok, I may have agreed to working together on this single case in the end," Kate admitted, surprising Lanie after all - but only by a little, as she'd already suspected as much. Maybe writer boy still held some spell over her friend, who usually wasn't one to let somebody else meddle in her work. If she were more of a romantic, she clearly would smile at that thought, the story fitting perfectly into some cheesy love novel. If she were romantic, that is. But since she was more of the realistic kind, she couldn't help but wonder what effects this reinstalled partnership – no matter how short lived it was going to be – would cause and how it would affect Kate.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Lanie questioned, barely hiding her concern. Although Kate wouldn't admit to it, and had desperately tried to hide it, she hadn't taken it well when their extraordinary partnership had come to an unexpected end. It had been so typical Beckett, being stubborn and holding back until it was too late. As good as she was professionally acting on and trusting her instincts, when it came to her personal life, she managed to turn it into a complete mess at times. Maybe if her sense of timing had been just a little better years ago, Kate might never have started the thing with Davidson. Kate claimed to be over it, that she'd moved on after her divorce, but judging on her obvious lack of a personal life over the past years, Lanie wasn't really convinced about it.

And now the past in the person of one Richard Castle was catching up with her again? Lanie had her doubts about that being good for her friend. For all she knew – what she'd managed to get out of Kate actually - the both of them didn't really have a good start meeting again, although their conversation at the crime scene earlier wasn't that different from the way they'd acted back during that first year when Castle had started tagging along. While waiting for a response, she watched Kate carefully, who took an astonishingly high interest in her own feet and wriggling her toes. That was a good sign. It showed Kate was really thinking about it and would probably give an honest answer.

"I don't know," the other woman stated, sighing when she looked up at her again. Lanie rewarded her sincerity with an earnest nod. "I really don't know, Lanie. But it's only this one case, so what could possibly go wrong?"

Lanie knew better than to point out a number of possible outcomes, or even that she highly doubted it would keep at only one case. She narrowed her eyes at her friend. "So, you're seeing him again tomorrow" after the tiniest of a pause adding, "to work together?"

Kate nodded. "Right after the big meeting," she replied, a small sigh escaping. Oh yeah, there was still the high priority case keeping Kate busy. Lanie looked at her compassionately. Maybe this whole thing with the burglary and Castle wasn't that bad after all, distracting her from the all time draining case of murdered kids.

"Making any progress?" she questioned, not surprised by the small "barely" being the answer. Lanie followed the cop's gaze to a manila envelope holding a messy bunch of papers, probably containing some information on the case Kate had brought home to work on and browsed through earlier.

"It keeps getting worse actually. Sometimes I wonder if bringing in the feds maybe wouldn't be that bad of an idea." Lanie knew that it was no easy thing for her friend to admit.

"Ooooor," she stretched, "you only need a distraction every now and then, so you can start with fresh eyes." She raised her single brow again and wiggled it suggestively. After a short pause, and taking a lighter tone, she said: "Maybe you have just the right opportunity in picking up where you nearly left off with writer boy." Lanie had always been the one to suggest a more forward strategy, attack being the best form of defense; and in this case maybe even offering some kind of closure to the former Detective.

"Not that again, Lanie," Kate groaned and let her annoyed eye-roll show, lifting her right leg up and placing the foot on the floor as though she'd needed to be grounded. Lanie's smile didn't even waver as she stored away the observation of her friend's reaction.

"All I'm saying is that Castle's aged quite nicely," she stated. "You can't deny that. From what I've seen, I'd say he's not only still looking good but also keeps in his body in shape," Lanie stated casually, and almost choked on the sip of wine she'd taken to create a pregnant pause as she caught her friend nodding. That was as good as admitting she liked him. Her cough, though, drew Kate's full attention to her again, which immediately stopped the probably unconscious gesture of agreement.

"You know, you're incorrigible, Lanie," Kate slapped her lightly on the arm, when she only laughed. "But there is really no danger to be expected from him in those respects, he's got a girlfriend, remember?"

"Don't accuse me for not having your own filters in place," Lanie waved any attempts off of letting Kate get through with her attempts to blame her, noticing the way she'd spoken about the 'danger' in Castle still being good looking. Maybe it was her exhaustion, or that Lanie had surprised her, or the wine had loosened her tongue, but whatever the cause may be, apparently Kate seemed to have some moments of being more open. She definitely still liked the guy in some way, even if he obviously annoyed her. She may not be willing to admit to it though, and definitely not act on it, but she did still like him. And if she really was going through with investigating together with him, then maybe they should set aside some more girl time over the next few days. She would definitely take care of not being left out of the loop any more. Lanie sipped at her drink, smiling. No, she would take good care.

"You know my private life isn't yours to orchestrate," Kate halfheartedly insisted, having placed her now emptied glass on the table.

"Someone has to," Lanie replied grinning while pouring some more of the ruby red liquid into the glass and handing it to her again. "Since you're abandoning it on a regular basis, I just may have to file for custody."

"Show me the judge able to decide on that verdict," Kate finally joined her in laughing. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of it myself." If it wasn't for anything else, at least the honest belly laugh of one Kate Beckett was worth putting in some effort to smoke her out of her hole more often.

"I just have to see that, girl," Lanie replied, the soft sound of a vibration alerting her to the phone in her bag. A quick glance at the display revealed the caller ID. Javi already missing her?

"Speaking of private life, seems yours is calling for you," Kate stated grabbing another bread stick. There probably was no use in denying it.

"Pretty much, yeah," Lanie grinned, "But having a healthy private life doesn't mean I don't get time for my girl." She glanced at the display again, realizing it was almost 11 PM.

Kate watched her, grinning as well. "Time to go, huh?" she asked, clearly amused. There was nothing wrong with enjoying to go home to the man waiting for you from time to time, although it had taken her some time to admit it. Actually, she'd really like to go home.

"Let you get back to your date with the bath after all," Lanie suggested before emptying her wine glass. "But you'll have to promise me a rep."

"That may be possible, if you keep me in the loop with Wilson," Kate promised and got up as Lanie did and snatched the empty bottle. "Thanks for stopping by," she let Lanie know that she'd done the right thing, still being sure that if she hadn't come this evening, Kate would have found some thin excuses to dodge her questions or at least postpone answering her.

Author's note: As you can see this chapter kind of mirrors the former. And yeah, I made up another precinct. Let me know what you think.