"That's impossible. How could they get a court order that fast?" Castle reads the paper over her shoulder.
"I don't know. Maybe you should ask your girlfriend." Her voice comes out harsher than intended, but the hurt of the matter is starring them both squarely in the face. Kate Beckett is jealous.
"Girlfriend?" Lanie's voice raises with the questions she's not asking about the situation.
"Yes, ok. We slept together. It was a long time ago. What's the big deal?"
"There is no big deal. Sleep with whoever you want. The more, the merrier." Kate sarcastically replies as she looks over the sheet in front of her. It really was a big deal to her, but now's neither the time or place to bring up her feelings. But she's the only one that feels that way it seems.
"You know there is only one person I want to sleep with. You." The maddening, frustrating woman in front of him can only stare, shocked that he actually admitted his feelings for the first time since her shooting. Yeah they almost died- again- today, but she never expected him to admit his feeling of how much he wanted her.
"You what?" Kate Beckett can't find the right words, much less ones to sass him back about what he just said to her.
"Um, I have those toxicology reports you asked for?" Alexis's voice pulls the two out of their own world and reminds them that they aren't alone in the morgue. Lanie and Alexis just witnessed Castle admit his feelings for Beckett and Kate can see on her partners face that he's only embarrassed that his daughter heard him, he's not embarrassed by anything he said.
"Thank you sweetie. Just set them there and I'll deal with them later. You can actually head home for the day. Thanks Alexis." Lanie lets the teenager leave so she hopefully doesn't have to listen to her father and the woman he's hopelessly in love with discuss their feelings. But the redhead stands with her arms crossed staring at her father. Castle turns to meet his daughter's eyes and he tries to convey to her that they can talk later but she stands her ground.
"Alexis, Dr. Parrish said you can go home. We still have a case to work on."
"You finally admit you have feelings for Detective Beckett and you want me to leave?" The redhead's eyebrow raises at her father. She has watched her father battle his feelings for the hard headed detective for years at this point, but now he's not holding back anything?
"Go home Alexis. We can talk later." As much as Castle loves his daughter, he needs to talk with Kate on her own. Lanie has a feeling that she will either be asked to leave or that the pair will leave the morgue, but this is her best friend that was just confessed to. She'll hear the end of it all sooner or later. Hopefully over a glass of wine and including the rest of whatever happens to turn it into the most interesting girl's night to date they will have.
"I'll, uh, we'll come back Lanie if you find anything else." Beckett grabs Castles shirt sleeve and pulls him into the hallway. She drops his arm once they're in the hallway and he's staring at her again. "You're staring Castle."
"You're beautiful." He already misses her touch and he will say or do anything to get her back in his personal space as soon as possible, but it's easy for the words to come out when they're the truth.
"Excuse me?"
"I thought we were stating the obvious here." Castle shrugs and she knows that he doesn't regret what he said in the morgue, but she can't help but wonder something else.
"Castle, did you mean it?"
"That you're beautiful? Of course I do."
"Not that. You know I'm not asking about that."
"What I said in the morgue? No I don't mean that." Kate's heart shatters- she thought she was going to be able to finally tell him that she remembers everything from her shooting. "Wait Kate, that came out wrong. I meant I didn't mean just that. Yes I want to be with you like that, but I more meant I don't only want be with you in bed. I want to be with you in every sense of the word. I want you always. You don't remember, but I told you I loved you-"
"When I got shot," Kate finishes his thought process for him. Castle's eyes find her's and for a moment she sees pain flash through his eyes. "It took some time for me to remember. For a while I wasn't sure if I was remembering things or creating them because I was in pain. Then it took me going through therapy to separate what was true and what wasn't."
"You're in therapy? I didn't know."
"That's because I didn't tell anyone. I went first because we are required to after being shot and at first I couldn't even tell my therapist the truth. I told him I didn't remember being shot either and left, but then I came back to it because I wanted to put in the time so I could be in a place where we could have a fighting chance of having more. When I realized that you actually said it, you actually told me you loved me, I couldn't figure out if it was just a dying declaration or if you actually meant it."
"I meant it Kate. And oh how I mean it still."
"I know." Kate pauses thinking over everything that has and hasn't been said between the two of them. "I think I've known for a while, even before I got shot. It just wasn't until after I was shot that I even thought about giving us a chance but I knew in order to do that I needed to get my shit together."
"So are you saying you want to give us a chance now?" Castle steps into her personal bubble as he asks. She used to hate whenever anyone would get this close to her before she was going out with them, but this was Castle, who had been getting into her personal bubble for years, pulling her pigtails and stealing her heart.
"Yes." Kate surprises them both with her answer, but her actions are what surprises them more. She pulls his lips towards hers and when they meet again, nearly a year after their first kiss, no matter how fake they tried to claim that kiss was, this kiss is perfect. "I love you too Rick." She murmurs between kisses, but it's the use of his first name that catches his breath.
"Really?" His head pulls back in surprise, ending the kiss before either of them are ready for it. She lets a small smile escape before nodding.
"Really Rick."
"And here I thought you only kept me around for the coffee."
"Mmm, that's a good reason, but they say you can't live without your heart and you seem to have stolen mine so I'll keep you close so I can keep utilizing it from time to time."
"Why Kate Beckett, if it makes you feel better, mine has been yours for years." Rick says sincerely before looking at her with suggestive eyebrows, "Or you're welcome to use your handcuffs on me for stealing your property. Just remember, my safeword is apples."
"I'll keep that in mind for after we finish our case." Kate leans up to place a quick kiss on his lips before walking back towards the elevator, feeling Castle's eyes on her ass the entire time she walks away. "You coming Castle? Or do I have to solve the entire case myself?"
"Coming! Sooner we get to work, the sooner we get to bed." Castle says more to himself as he quickly pulls her in for one last kiss before pushing the button to call the elevator repeatedly.
"You waiting for something to happen Castle?" Kate teasingly says as she watches his long finger press the button over and over again.
"You sure you can't take a long lunch?" He asks with a pleading look on his face.
"I don't think a long lunch can satisfy what you want, what we want Rick." Kate winks at the man that she knows holds her heart.
"KA-te." He whines as the elevator opens up to take them back up to the homicide floor.
"After the case Castle. I'll make it worth your wait. I promise." Her hand slipping down to grasp his tightening jeans and the light squeeze she gives him makes him jump. "I'll even see about taking a long weekend. That seems like a more reasonable amount of time for us. Three and a half years is a lot of pent up energy."