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"Good evening Detective. I just thought I'd call to let you know how well I'm doing. Such a shame we can't work together anymore, although I see that you have quite the lover in Mr. Castle. Relax, I won't be calling you anymore after this. I plan on seeing you soon gorgeous." The line went dead and Kate's heart stopped beating. There was no way in hell he was planning something, how stupid could he be?

She needed to get back into bed, to wrap herself in him and never let go. He was the only thing that could keep her grounded, steady and level.

She left her phone on his desk in favor of getting back into bed with him as quick as possible. There was no way sleep would come back to her at this point, but just being next to him relaxed her. As she crawled into bed, he started to stir and mumble. She made soothing noises and told him to go back to sleep, that she had gone up to use the bathroom and she was sorry she disturbed him. His arm flung over her stomach and pulled her against him, her backside to his front.

"Stay." He breathed into her hair and drifted back off into his dreams, leaving his detective wide awake.

…

Her muscles started to slowly relax as she felt his breathing even out. Her eyes drifted shut in an effort to fall asleep but to no avail. Kate was scared, scared that someone had managed to somehow invade her personal life. Her brain was bouncing with ideas, questions and restlessness. The warm body at her back did little to calm her nerves as she started to think more and more about the phone call.

The situation seemed borderline obsessive, if not already. Yes a few years back she had fooled around with him, but a normal person would have been able to move on like she had, a normal person would have been able to respect her personal space.

Kate sighed and stood up, making sure to not wake her sleeping lover as she made her way over to his closet and picked out some athletic gear. Exercise was the only thing that would help clear her mind enough to figure out what to do in the coming hours. She grabbed her work clothes, stuffed them into a duffle bag and took one last glance at Castle before making her way out of the loft.

...

"Kate?" She turned when she heard her name, sweat dripping from seemingly everywhere on her body. Her chest rapidly rose and fell as she struggled to get her breathing under control. She had been at the precinct working out for almost three hours, it had helped her work out her confusion and her anger all at once.

"How long have you been here?" Gates asked as she stepped closer to Beckett, confusion evident in her features as she took in her best detective's appearance.

"Almost three hours, I just had some…issues to work out." Beckett sighed and took a deep breath.

"Anything you want to…talk about?" Gates cautiously asked, careful not to make Beckett feel like she was forced into talking about her personal life.

"It's um…" Kate trailed off, she didn't really know if she should tell her boss. The confusion she had spent the better part of two hours working through came rushing back.

"Sir is…is detective Cooper still around?" Beckett's tone was a little shaky, and it was strange for Victoria Gates to see her lead detective so open, so…unguarded in these early morning hours.

"No, what's this about Kate?" Gates stared intently at Beckett, genuine concern etched on her face as she waited for an answer.

"I…I got a call last night from him. It wasn't exactly a friendly one." Kate admitted and looked up at her Captain who had a look of shock on her face.

"Well what kind of call was it? I need details Kate." Beckett didn't know it would be this hard to admit something like this, but she just felt so overwhelmed. Her brain was swimming with worst case scenarios and her concern for Castle was just too much to hold in all at once.

"I was over at Castle's last night and I got the call around 3AM. It was Cooper and he told me…he told me he was doing well and that he had basically seen me…with Castle. He also said he'd be seeing me soon."

"And by seeing you with Castle you mean…?" Kate blushed and tried to fight off a little bit of embarrassment after telling her boss that Cooper had basically seen them in an intimate setting.

"I see…well I can't possibly stand for this. Get dressed detective, we have some work to do." And with that Captain Victoria Gates left Detective Kate Beckett to wander in her thoughts, a sense of relief now making its way through her system.

…

The boys had made their way into the precinct around 8, Beckett had just emerged from the break room with a steaming cup of coffee in her hand.

"Morning boss." They greeted as she waved back, entirely focused on her agenda.

Her and Gates hadn't been able to pinpoint Cooper's location, but they had managed to figure out that he was no longer employed by the NYPD after his captain had heard about his fiasco with Beckett while he was at the 12th. Kate's frustration was mounting as was Gates, mostly because not knowing where this slime ball could be was a scary thought.

"Kate!" She looked behind her to find Castle almost jogging toward her with two cups of coffee and a smile on his face.

"Hey, I missed you this morning. Why didn't you answer your phone?" His blue eyes locked onto hers and she felt so guilty for leaving him out of the loop.

"Sorry I had it on silent. Can we talk for a sec?" He nodded and followed her into the break room. She couldn't leave him out of the situation anymore, so she told him everything that happened starting from the phone call. By the end his eyes were cold and his jaw clenched, he looked terrified. She suddenly felt warm arms wrap around her, felt his broad chest engulf her slender frame.

"God Kate, why didn't you tell me sooner?" He was so concerned and it broke her heart that she had put him in this situation.

"I'm sorry Rick I just…I didn't know what to do. So I came here and talked it out with Gates. I know I should have told you but you were asleep and I didn't want to wake you up." He gazed at her and lifted a palm up to her chin.

"Always wake me up for things like this, I want to help Kate." He softly told her as she gave into his warm touch, her eyes slipping closed and a wave of exhaustion hitting her. He softly kissed her and she smiled, loving the moment.

…

They had returned to her desk after that and had dug into every resource they had in order to find some sign of this guy. The boys had been filled in and were working their butts off, Esposito had let out a string of Spanish curse words when Beckett had finished telling the story.

"Unbelievable, we've been at this for nearly two hours and nothing! It's like the guy just fell off the face of the planet!" Esposito angrily threw papers down and leaned back into his chair. They hadn't heard from Gates lately and frustration was growing on all of them.

Everyone's attention was caught when they heard their Captain's door swing open suddenly and saw a tired Victoria Gates standing at the entrance of her office.

"Detectives…we have a lead."

Sorry for not updating guys. It's been a ridiculous summer and school started up about a month ago, I've been non-stop busy. But I do get your messages on tumblr and those messages actually motivated me to get this done. If you're still reading, thank you so much! I love you guys.

REVIEW!

-Talar (becks-castle41319 on tumblr)