Kate knew that the reason they were at odds with each other was because of her. For the last nine months, she knew that he was pulling away from her and she could do nothing to stop it from happening. Knowing that she knew what he thought she knew every time he brought up the subject of her shooting and if she remembers anything, she decided to skirt the issue and tell him that she never remembered anything from that fateful day. But now she thinks that the time has finally come that he has given up all hope of having her for his own. She would be okay with that but if she did admit to everything she was keeping from him it would most likely ruin what she had built with him so far. And that was the one thing that she couldn't bear to lose. Aside from Lanie, he was her best friend.

When she had Lanie over to her apartment one night last week, they talked about things that she never really speaks about with her best friend. It was then that her friend told her that maybe Rick was tired of waiting for her. And the sad thing about it is that she thinks it's the truth. The only way she could come out of this whole mess and keep him was to admit to Rick that she heard him confess his love for her. That in itself was going to be the hardest thing for her to face. Because if she did admit to him that she heard his confession of love he would probably disown her once he heard her admission and never speak to her ever again.

Sitting on the couch in her apartment she had the news on mostly for background noise and then something she heard the reporter say caught her attention.

"The victim was found shot dead shortly after midnight. In his bag, there were three severed heads."

Kate stops what she was doing and looks at the TV screen. What she sees as something she'll regret. The on-scene reporter continues with her report.

"Detective Slaughter, can you tell us what is going on with the case you're working on?" The reporter asks.

Just then Kate sees a very scraggly looking man badly in need of a shave walk up to the camera and says with his hand extended,

"If you don't turn off that camera I'm going to put a bullet through it and you!"

Kate knew Slaughter. He was a run and gun type of cop. She was a by the book cop. He on the other hand was a cop who could care less about what he needed to do to get an arrest. He would do questionable things in order to get his witnesses to talk to him. And when he did that it would always end up with someone getting hurt. He didn't care about the end result he would just go ahead and do what needed to be done in order to solve this case leaving bodies in his wake. There were rumors that he had gone through six partners in a very short amount of time. This tells her that he doesn't play well with others and that the rumors were true. As far as she knows he's been a solo act for the past three years. With the news report finished she turns off the TV.

Knowing that tomorrow was going to be a full day for her she decided to turn in early. Sleep was the most important thing she could do for herself before prepping for a case of this magnitude.

Kate woke up to the sound of her alarm. It was the type that blared when it went off. She was never one who hit the snooze button for another fifteen minutes. She was up and out of bed in less than five minutes. Realizing that if she didn't get out of bed she would likely sleep the rest of the day away. She was showered and made two pieces of buttered toast with her first cup of coffee. She finished her toast, downed her coffee, and cleaned up after herself. She grabbed her keys, her gun, and her badge. The gun and badge were placed on her hip then she put her blazer on to cover her sidearm. She locked her apartment door and left for work

Arriving at the 12th Precinct she checked in with her captain letting her know that she was at the precinct and going to start prepping for the upcoming trial. As she returned to her desk she was met with two federal agents with hand trucks. On the hand trucks were banker's boxes filled with files that she had to start going through for the trial. There were ten boxes in total and she could tell that today was going to be a very long and tedious day. The fact that she got some rest last night was a bonus.

"Good morning guys, can you do me a favor and park those boxes in the conference room please?" Kate asks as she points to the large conference room.

Both men turn and head in the direction that Kate is pointing with hand trucks in tow. Less than a minute later they left the boxes in the conference room and headed for the elevator to go back to Federal Plaza. When Kate turns around to head back into the conference room she is startled by who she sees. But she recovers quickly.

"Hey Castle, what are you doing here?" Kate asks.

"I haven't seen you in a couple of days so I just stopped by to see how you were doing."

Kate looks at the cups of coffee that Castle holds in his hands. He always bought her coffee but now she thinks there is something else he's looking for just by the way he is looking at her. Then she thinks maybe they can have a conversation about why he's becoming so distant towards her. She accepts the cup of coffee he gives her and then tells him,

"Thanks for the coffee Castle. Actually, things are going pretty great. With the trial prep being in full swing now I'm getting home at a decent hour and getting the rest that I so desperately need in order to testify for this case."

Kate hesitates for a second and then says,

"It's great to see you."

"It's good to see you too. Hey, listen do you know anything about this gang cop Slaughter?"

Kate falters for just a second but recovers.

"The severed heads homicide, that's why you're here?"

"Well, I just thought with the trial prep you're going through I could use him for the rogue cop character and get his background for the next Nikki Heat book. You know get a backstory for the bad boy kind of cop so to speak one who can challenge Nikki. Unless that's a problem."

"No, it's not a problem." Kate places the cup of coffee Castle brought her back on the edge of her desk in front of him not wanting it now. He looks down at it knowing that he might have screwed up just a little bit because she always drinks the coffee that he brings her.

She can't believe this! She thought he was coming here just to see her but now she can tell that maybe what she thought was happening actually is. She didn't think that Lanie was right. He doesn't want anything to do with her anymore. So what she thought was true, he is pulling away from me. Maybe she can recover some of her dignity and hurt feelings. There's got to be a way that she can make it through without looking like a woman who is emotionally compromised. She only hopes that she can do it without him realizing it.

He can't believe that she still thinks he doesn't know about her lie. He stood there in the viewing room next to the interrogation room when she made the comment about her remembering everything about her shooting. He really can't get over the fact that she admitted it to Bobby, a perfect stranger just to get a confession from him, a confession that never happened because their suspect was a pickpocket. Right then and there he had lost all respect for her. But he took the high road. He didn't want to let on that he heard her admit to what he said. And that's fine but this is gone on a little too far for his liking. So instead of being her plucky sidekick anymore, he decided to branch out.

"Great! So where would I find him?" Rick asks as he gets up from the chair.

Trying to speak around the lump in her throat Kate can only give him the shortest of answers.

"Wherever the body is." She knows he's done with her. Maybe it's for the better. Good luck Rick she thinks to herself.

Rick was a little startled when the door to the morgue flew open and the man he saw on TV waltzed in like he owned the place.

He was quietly looking at the severed heads that were found with the body. He followed Kate's advice and went where the body would be. But now he's second-guessing that advice. Shadowing Slaughter might be the wrong thing to do. The man looked like he was in the middle of a psychotic break.

"Darlin, you might as well confess. I know that you kill them so we can spend some quality time together." Slaughter confidently states as he walks closer to the table where the current body lies.

"Not if you were the last man on earth!" Laura retorts.

"Oh come on darling it's not like I'm not up for the challenge!"

"How about if we skip the Macho BS and I can tell you what killed him."

"Let me guess lead poisoning?"

"You got it in one, three shots to the chest. He most likely died of blood loss within minutes."

"I'm just curious if you fished the slugs out for me," Slaughter asks the M.E.

She holds up an evidence bag containing two of the three slugs removed from the body. Slaughter takes the bag and makes some off comment about what caliber they were. But both Rick and the medical examiner know that he's not talking about the bullets because he can't take his eyes off of her chest. Rick has now put Slaughter in a class below dog shit.

Rick was now doubting his decision to follow Slaughter. His attitude towards women (or anyone else for that matter) was not what he expected not that he expected anything to the contrary but to him, it seemed like he treated everyone like a possession. He could only imagine what would really happen once he left the confines of the morgue. He observed their interaction together. Slaughter, by Rick's standards, was simply a low life with a badge. He never noticed him inspecting the three Jamaican heads that were covered on the table in the morgue. So much for being aware of your surroundings. It was time he made his presence known.

"Aren't you gonna ask about the heads?"

Rick is at the table behind them, lifting the sheet to get his own view of the severed heads.

"Who the hell are you?" Demanded Slaughter.

"That's Castle. He's a writer. And he consults with the 12th." Laura told him.

Laura very clearly likes having Rick around over Slaughter. But she knows Rick he's here to join forces with him for some stupid reason or another.

"It's weird. You can tell they aren't fresh. You can smell it. Formaldehyde with just a touch of decay. Judging from the dirt in the hair, I'd say our victim dug the bodies up and then cut the heads off."

"Yeah, no kidding, Sherlock. I already got unis checking out the local cemeteries. Not that it's any of your business."

Rick decided to smooth things over after hearing Slaughter's last comment. He knew that he was not a fan of pretty boys so he decided to introduce himself.

"Detective Slaughter I'm Rick Castle. And like Laura said, I work out of the twelfth with Detective Beckett."

When Slaughter totally ignores Rick he takes another stab at what he wants.

"Here's the thing. I was hoping I could ride along with you on this one."

Laura can already see where this is going. Without Slaughter seeing her she shakes her head for Rick to see that going with him is a very bad idea.

'No." Slaughter says.

"No?" Rick asks.

"I need a writer hanging around me like I need a case of the crabs."

"That's – What can I say to change your mind?"

"You know I really do like the coat that you're wearing."

Rick looks down at the coat he's wearing and can tell that it's one of his favorites. But if it will get him to have Slaughter change his mind then he will gladly give it up.

"I think this would fit you just right."

Rick takes off his coat and hands it to Slaughter. Slaughter takes off his own coat throws it to the floor and Rick helps Slaughter into his own leather jacket.

"So, are we good?" Rick asks.

"No." Slaughter pushes past Castle and turns to Laura,

"See you later, gorgeous."

Slaughter walks out of the morgue. Rick follows him hoping he can get his coat back.

"You said I could ride along if I gave you my coat."

"I never said that." Slaughter fires back.

"It was implied," Rick whines back.

"Look, I work alone. Nothing you can say is going to change that."

Slaughter keeps on walking pushes open the door and walks out and away from Rick.

He rushes through the doors of the morgue with the intention of offering up his friendship with the mayor as a way to work with him. Well, that was his initial thought anyway. But the second thing he wanted to do is get his damn coat back. But as he makes it halfway to Slaughter's retreating form, he decides that working with Slaughter would only be a death sentence. He turns around and goes back into the morgue. As he walks through the doors Laura looks up from Glitch's body and says,

"Came to your senses didn't you Rick?"

"How could you tell? Is it that obvious?" Rick said.

"Let me fill you in a little about him. Slaughter is not the kind of cop that your current partner is. If I were to venture a guess I bet you were going to use your friendship with the mayor in order to work with him in some way shape or form. If you did that, he would have exploited you and the fact that you are friends with the mayor. It could only lead to bad blood between the both of you eventually. Why do you think everyone calls him the Widowmaker?"

"I bet he would have. But now what am I going to do? Beckett is tied up with the trial prep she's doing so she's not assigned any new cases until it's over." Rick said with a trace of anger in his voice.

"Hold on a second you're telling me that you were going to use Slaughter as a fill-in for Kate? What's wrong with you Rick? Don't you know that she is desperately in love with you?"

"Laura you've got to be kidding! Beckett in love with me?" Rick just looks at her as if she had lost her mind.

"Come on Rick it can't be that hard not to notice. You've been working with her for over three years. You had to have some idea that she at least likes you a lot. Either that or you're blind"

"Yeah well if he loves me she's sure got a real funny way of showing it."

"Men. Sometimes you can be so dense."

"Wait, what? I'm the one who's dense?"

"You are! Who else would we be talking about?" Laura tells him.

"Laura, I am not dense."

"Rick let's be honest with each here, you are dense! I'm guessing that you did something to make Kate mad or she did something to make you mad and now you're trying to avoid each other like the plague." Laura concludes.

Rick just drops his head in shame knowing that he's going to have to tell her something he should have said or rather confront someone else with.

"Laura, you do remember when Kate was shot in the cemetery when she was reading her captain's eulogy?"

"I wasn't there but I heard about it. All I know is that she was gone for almost eight months before she returned back to duty."

"You're right. But what I'm saying is that when she was lying there bleeding out on the grass I told her that I loved her. I took a chance and laid my heart on the line and she has repeatedly told me that she doesn't remember anything from that day."

"Rick, I know this can be hard on you but do you want some advice?"

"Sure advice is always good. Especially if it's free." Rick grins a little and it gets Laura to smile just a little bit too.

"March through those doors and go upstairs and talk to her. Pull her away from the trial she's preparing for, sit her down in the conference room, and push the envelope. Get her to tell you what she's feeling and tell her what you are feeling. For two people who are so in love with each other, I can't believe the two of you can't have an honest conversation just once and for all."

He had to hand it to Laura, she was right. They needed to talk and have a serious conversation. She just gave him the courage to do just that so he got up, picked up Slaughter's discarded jacket throws it into the garbage pail, and pushes the doors open to the morgue heading for the elevator.