Castle went over to bolt the door behind Rita after she left, then paced slowly back into his office, leaving all the lights on. Poured himself a drink and sat at his desk for ten minutes; anyone watching would figure he was ruminating over his recent appointment. At last he finished off his drink and went over to close the blinds, left the lights still on, and pulled the hidden switch for the secret room.

Kate leaped to her feet the moment the door shut behind him.

"You heard all that," he confirmed.

She nodded. "She can't really think that's going to work, does she?" she asked incredulously. "Just ask and it'll be done? Does she know us?"

Castle actually smiled. "Not as well as she thinks. I'm pretty sure that she and Hunt don't think we could fool them about our situation, no matter who else is or isn't fooled."

"Kind of overconfident, isn't it? On Rita's part, I mean."

"Overconfident, or desperate," said Castle. "D'you suppose something's afoot?"

"She reminds me of Vikram," Kate said. "Always butting in and warning me against so much as talking to you. Like he thinks that'd make me drop the LokSat investigation at any moment."

She caught Castle's expression and went over to put her arms around him. "Which I would do," she assured him softly, "if I thought it would save you, or us. But it's too late for that, you know that, right?"

"Too late to give up the investigation," Castle agreed. "As long as you understand, Kate, that it wasn't you who kicked the hornet's nest. It was probably me."

"Don't," she said, kissing him. "Don't go there. We didn't create LokSat, and we didn't create this situation. Bracken was just a link in a chain, and I intend to be sure the chain is destroyed beyond hope of repair. All the way to the end."

"Together," he reminded her. "All the way. And it isn't too late for you to move back home, either, Kate. You thought separating would be safer for both of us, and it hasn't made a damn bit of difference. Come home."

She was still in his arms for a while, her head on his chest as they stood there.

"Okay," she said at last. "Okay. How should we do this?"

"I know a good way to start," he grinned, and bent his head to engulf her in a kiss.

"You moved back in."

Kate looked up from her work. Vikram stood before her desk with a dour expression.

"Do you need something?" she asked calmly.

"You moved back in with Castle. Do you think that's a good idea?"

"Obviously," she said dryly, "or I wouldn't have done it. I do occasionally act on my bad ideas, but I make sure to hide the bodies in that case."

She gave him a pointed look. He sat heavily in the chair facing her.

"I thought you were worried about him finding out about - our investigation," he said, more quietly.

Kate folded her hands on top of her papers. "Is that why you planted a listening device in his loft?"

"What?" The kid really had no poker face to speak of. "Why would I do that?"

"I don't know, Vikram. Maybe you don't trust that either he or I know what we're doing. Maybe you think Castle's part of LokSat. Maybe you think he *is* LokSat."

"Of course I don't."

"Then why did you do it?"

She'd found it useful to jump directly to the question she needed answered, rather than deal with the tiresome exchange of "no I didn't"-"yes you did". Vikram, unprepared, fell into the trap.

"I thought it would be useful to know what he's been up to," he said defensively. "If he *is* investigating LokSat, he might alert someone on their side - inadvertently, of course! - and - and be unable to warn you before he was silenced."

"You've been reading too much John LeCarre," she said. "And Castle and I have been dealing with criminals, together and separately, long enough to know exactly what the risks are. To ourselves, to each other, to our working and personal relationships."

"But what if he - "

"That's enough," Kate interrupted. "You came to me, trusted me to help you, and that is the only thing that connects you and me. Castle is not your concern. If you have any faith at all in me, you should know that I can handle my own husband. You can back off that subject now."

She debated inwardly whether to reveal her knowledge of the other bugs in her office and phone, and decided to hold back on that for now.

"I don't want to have any more office visits like this," she said to Vikram. "Either you trust me, or you don't. And if you don't, you can stay in your tech room and leave LokSat to me. Dismissed."

She walked into the loft, feeling for the first time in weeks that she could enter without knocking. This was her home, now - again, still - more of a haven than any other place she'd lived in her adult life. She sighed and went over to put her bag down on the counter.

One thing was conspicuous by its absence. She went looking for its owner and found him in the laundry room upstairs.

"Hey," she said from the doorway. Castle looked up and grinned as he pulled an armload of sheets out of the dryer. It always amused her that people thought the rich were idle.

"Hey," he said. "I thought clean sheets were in order. These are your favorites, and why are you home before I got around to putting them on?"

"Got done early for a change. That's my story and I'm sticking to it."

He leaned in for a kiss and followed her back downstairs. As they made the bed together, Kate asked, "Where's Lucy?"

"Is that a new game? Like 'Where's Waldo?'"

"Seriously."

"Seriously," said Castle. "I switched it off, disabled it, removed the power source, stuffed it back in its box along with as much packing material as I could find. Took it downstairs to the storage area."

"Wow." Kate wasn't sure how to put the next question. "Did she - put up a fight?"

"A fight?" He straightened up, looking puzzled.

"She was programmed to have a personality," Kate said. "I just - wondered if she tried to argue with you."

"Nope." Castle finished up the pillowcases with a sigh of satisfaction. "And right now, resistance would have been futile. I am master of my fate and captain of my soul."

"I thought I was captain of your soul," she teased.

"You're captain of my heart," he assured her. "So what happened today?"

He always knew.

"Vikram," she said. "Came in yet again to frown on my moving back in. Copped to planting the bug - I didn't tell him how I knew about it - he said it was to protect you."

"From what?" snorted Rick.

"From any LokSat minions who come after you to get to me," said Kate. "He must think we're really naive."

"He's not the first to make that mistake. It's my boyish charm and carefree facade. Fools everyone."

Kate smiled. Here was yet another reason she loved this man.

"Not everyone," she said. "Listen, I want to float this by you before I do anything about it… I'd like you to see Dr. Burke."

She sat on the bed and Rick flopped down beside her, looking alarmed.

"Me? Is this the first step to getting me committed? Because I should warn you, it's been tried before."

"He helped you with the memories before," she explained. "Maybe he can help you make sense of this - thing that happened when you heard Reed."

"I don't know, Kate. His office - it's not as private as I'd like. Anyone could get in there and plant a recording device. Or something else designed to set me off." He grimaced. "Top two things I hate about this investigation - one, that my brain seems not to be my own, and two, far too many bugs."

"I second both of those," said Kate. "I have another idea as to how we can meet with him."