A/N: The 100th episode was just friggin' awesome!
Disclaimer: They don't belong to me...
Chapter Twenty-Five
The next morning, Rick went along with Kate to drop Arriana at school. Kate was explaining to Ms Julie what had happened the previous day and was wondering if she could speak to Jacob's mother when Ms Julie exclaimed, "Oh there she is, Mrs. Borne is walking up with her son now."
"Your girl can sure pack a punch," Rick muttered gleefully to Kate, trying to keep his tone down when he saw the mother and son walking up. Jacob had a nice bruise developing on his cheek and he was going to have that sore and painful reminder for a few days to come at the very least.
"Mrs. Borne, I'd like to have a word with you regarding your son," Kate greeted when they came closer.
"Ms Beckett, here to apologize, I presume?" the mother said haughtily.
"Actually, no. I've spoken to Arriana and told her that fighting is wrong, but I do believe your son should be the one apologizing," Kate said firmly, already disliking the other woman.
"Jacob apologize? What– Are you out of your mind? Look at his face! Just look at what your girl did to him!"
"Arriana would not have fought with him if he didn't provoke and bully her," Kate defended.
"Hmmph! Well, its not like we can expect much from either of you I suppose, a single mother raising her child, and a cop no less! Couldn't you have found a more respectable job? And flaunting your relationships to her, just parading your men to her like that – she's probably never had a stern father figure in her life! No wonder she turned out this way."
"Mrs. Borne, if you had an inkling as to what your son did and said yesterday you would be singing a very different tune! If you have a problem with me, feel free to take it up with me, but leave my daughter out of this! Is it really necessary to say all this in front of the kids? We're adults here, you should be ashamed of yourself!" Kate shot back heatedly.
"I've got Pilates to go to, if you're not here to apologize, I don't see why I should continue wasting my time," Mrs. Borne drawled tiredly with a roll of her eyes. Bending to drop a kiss on her son's head, she told him to keep safe in school and left just like that.
Kate was spluttering incoherently as a result of her anger. How utterly rude!
"I'm sorry if that didn't exactly go as you would have liked," Ms Julie offered.
"You think?" Kate said wryly, exchanging a look with Rick.
Bending to be eye level with Arriana, she hugged her and told her to have fun in school, and to remember what Kate had told her the previous night. Arriana returned her with a kiss on the cheek before bounding into the building, eager to meet her friends.
"That woman is impossible! No wonder her son turned out the way he did," Rick muttered as they began to walk back to her car.
"I'd like to put two rounds into that empty head of hers! I'd be doing America a service by getting rid of her! You know what, I'm glad Arriana punched that Jacob kid yesterday!" Kate vented.
"I'll help you carry the body," Rick offered, "and I'm sure the boys and Lanie would help too. They'd never find her body – or even if they did, they wouldn't be able to pin it back to us."
That brought some laughter out of Kate. "Thanks," she told him with a smile, her previous anger dissipating off.
"Always, but hey, I'm serious if you are."
"We've got enough murders in this city Rick. Come on, let's drop you home so I can get to work," Kate told him as she pulled out of her spot.
"Is Jim picking her up today? Can I pick her instead? Do you think they'd let me? Oh, maybe you can write a note or call them or something, so that I can pick her up today. I want to take her out for ice cream. She deserves the reward, you know. She earned it, giving the other kid that shiner. I'll be the cool Uncle Rick who brings her out to celebrate the good deed she did yesterday. You can't, because you have to be the bad cop – the strict mom, you know, responsible and all that. But Uncle Rick, yeah I'm gonna be her favorite uncle!" Rick babbled on as Kate maneuvered through the morning traffic.
"Don't go putting ideas in my daughter's head. Fighting's still wrong, even if the other person's a douche. Do Not repeat the last part to my daughter," Kate warned sternly.
Kate had many things to do in the precinct after their lead yesterday turned out to be a bust. Lanie sent her a text saying she might have something that would be able to help, so Kate headed down to the morgue.
Turns out, their victim had been laced with heparin, an anti coagulant. As it wasn't easy to purchase, Kate now had some pretty good leads to follow. "Hold on there girl," Lanie told her when she made to leave.
"You've got something more for me?"
"No, but you might. The boys told me yesterday was pretty tough with Arriana. How's things on that end?"
Kate gave her a quick run through of the previous days' events, telling Lanie how Rick helped her handle Arriana.
"Oh it's Rick now, is it? He seems to be spending a lot of time with you and your daughter recently, won't the guy you're seeing be jealous?" the medical examiner teased her long time friend.
Kate opened her mouth to reply something but nothing came out. She shut her mouth and gave a sly smile to the medical examiner.
"I'm not playing your games Lanie. I've got real work to do," Kate hedged, deflecting the question.
"Hey, I invoke the favor you owe me for hiding your daughter from me all these years," was the sassy reply Lanie threw back at Kate.
"Lanieeeee," Kate whined, but her friend just fixed her a look, raising an eyebrow. Huffing in defeat, Kate leaned against one of the exam tables, telling her, "Fine, the… guy I'm seeing knows about it, and he's not jealous."
The medical examiner remained silent, waiting for her to elaborate. "Things are good, Lanes, and I don't wanna jinx anything. It might or might not be what you're thinking?" Kate ended with a smile.
"I knew it! You and Writer boy–"
"Don't say it! I don't wanna jinx or spoil anything," Kate interjected.
"Okay," Lanie relented, smiling happily for her friend, "What we're both thinking of, how long's it been? I want details, girl! How's the sex? It's got to be mind-blowing, all that sexual tension building up over the years, who else knows? How did it happen?"
Kate laughed at the grilling her friend was putting her through. "Easy there, Lanes. It's been, what, forty three days?" Kate told her, a smile gracing her face.
"Kate Beckett you're such a romantic, keeping the details down to the days! You two lovebirds gotta be head over heels together!" Lanie teased.
"Things are good, Lanes, and I'm enjoying it. The sex is amazing. I thought I've experienced my share, but god, with him, everything's so intense and a million times better," Kate gushed, leaping down from her perch on the exam table.
"No one outside our direct families know, Lanie. And we're trying to keep it that way, so you absolutely cannot tell anyone. Especially Javier. I'm serious, Lanes."
"Okay girl, my lips are sealed, but you're going to have to tell me the full details one day soon. We need to have a wine night, put your little girl to bed, and you can spill all the dirty details," Lanie told her with a glint in her eye.
"After I wrap up this case, okay?"
"Hold you to it, Kate. Go get back to work, the sooner you close this case, the sooner we can have our wine night."
Kate laughed and said goodbye to the doctor, heading back to the bullpen. It felt good, sharing with her best friend. Kate hadn't realized just how much she needed to gush to someone else, and since they were keeping things on the down low, she hadn't been able to share her excitement with anyone, Rick aside. But it felt so good sharing with a third party. Yeah, she couldn't wait to close this case and catch up with Lanie.
Castle was hanging out with the boys when she arrived. She went to update the murder board with the information Lanie had given her. They would start focusing on the victim's cousin who was a pharmacist. Out of all the people they interviewed, she was the one with the easiest access to the blood thinner.
Kate and Rick left to pick her up, leaving the boys to prep in the precinct for the interrogation. As she was heading to the cousins' address, Kate told him. "So Lanie kinda knows about us."
"You- you told her?" Rick asked curiously.
"Kind of. She was sorta interrogating me, and it just came out," Kate said with a shrug.
"Are you okay with that? I mean, I know you wanted to keep things quiet."
"Yeah, actually, I'm fine with it. It's nice to be able to share my excitement with someone outside. I made her promise to keep her mouth shut, though. I'm not quite ready to share with everyone else just yet," she explained.
"Share your excitement? I didn't know you were that excited," he teased his girlfriend.
"Yeah, well some of us just hide it a little better, Castle. Besides, we're on the job now, or at least, I am, and we need to stay focused."
"Oh I'm focused, alright," Rick stated, leering at her.
"On the job, Castle," she reprimanded, but her heart wasn't really into it.
"But there's no one else around, it's just you" he breathed, leaning closer to her, "and me," he continued, nuzzling her neck.
Kate let out an unsteady breath as he continued his administrations higher, breathing softly on her ear, leaving all her nerve endings awakened in the process, sending jolts of electricity to her spine.
"Castle," she protested weakly, slightly embarrassed that it came out more like a moan.
"Just tell me to stop, Kate, and I will," he whispered hotly to her.
"Stop," she breathed, trying her hardest to focus on the road in front.
"Mmm, that doesn't count," he rebuked, placing hot kisses at her neck, nipping at her pulse point. "Say it like you mean it, Kate."
She suddenly swerved to the side and parked her car. He had stopped, shocked by the sudden change in their movement, but Kate launched herself, well, as much as she could while still being held back by her seat belt anyway, kissing him hardly on the lips.
He responded immediately, kissing her back. Giving him a small bite on the lower lip, she pulled back. "We're here."
Castle looked around and took in his surroundings. He had been so busy trying to distract Kate that he didn't even realize that they had indeed gotten to the cousin's building. By the time he exited the cruiser, Kate had already fixed herself somewhat and was waiting for him so they could head in together.
They went to the cousin's unit but no one answered. Her neighbor was just leaving though, and said that she would be back soon. "We'll just wait then," Kate told the neighbor.
"Come on, I've got an idea what we can do while waiting," Rick said, dragging her by the wrist to head back downstairs and out. He dragged her into the coffee shop across the street despite her protests and questions. "Just go with it, Kate, you wont regret it," he told her, walking up to the counter and buying a bunch of honey sticks.
Handing the guy five dollars, Rick asked if there was a washroom they could use since they were waiting for a friend to return across the street but his girlfriend really needed to use the washroom.
The place was pretty empty at this time of the day. The young guy handling the cashier just pointed Rick in the direction of the washroom and went back to his work, stacking up the cookies in the jar with a bored look on his face.
Kate was halfway mortified as Rick's so called plan became clear to her. "Rick, we are not having a quickie in the middle of the day while I'm on the job!" she whispered furiously.
"Come on, Kate. What better way to wait out our suspect? Share some of your excitement with me, won't you?" He teased her in a low voice, throwing the term in her face.
Rolling her eyes, Kate mumbled, "Oh shut up," as she dragged him in with her and locked the door. Rick had the final say, telling her "I think you're the one who should be worried about keeping your voice down."
Suffice to say there weren't any more talking going on after that.
A/N: Please review! :)