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HERE IS THE NEXT CHAPTER FOR YOU GUYS

ENJOY!

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"Hey Castle sorry we're late traffic was hell." Esposito said as he practically barged his way in the apartment, pizza in hand.

"Yeah, right. Traffic? More like we drove to Three different pizza places just so he could get an extra extra large Pizza? I mean seriously? What are you? A Bear?" Lanie quipped as she entered the apartment right behind her boyfriend and handed her coat to castle rolling her eyes at Kate as she passed her and headed further in to the apartment.

"Hey Chica? Man's gotta eat." Esposito quipped back as Ryan entered with a pack of bear.

"Hey Ryan wheres jenny?"

"Hey castle, yeah jenny sends her apologies her mom came into town unexpectedly. Hey Beckett, I bought the alcohol, thought we might need it." He said when he reached her, with a strange mix of understanding and smugness on his face.

"Thanks Ryan." Kate said politely as she followed everyone else as they headed to the kitchen dining area. When Kate entered she saw Esposito unsurprising already devouring a slice of pizza and Lanie looking at him with slight humour and annoyance. Ryan went to join them at the table and Kate looked around the room for her husband. He was standing at the kitchen counter pouring wine into some glasses. Kate discretely walked over to him and pretended to help with the drinks while she whispered in his ear,

"Rick, I seriously don't know how to do this." Rick looked towards her and caught himself in her gaze. And he immediately understood. She wasn't Detective Kate Beckett right now. She was Mrs Kate Castle and she was scared. She had never been this person around Lanie and the boys before and she was starting to doubt herself.

Rick subtly slid his hand off the bench and down to grasp her and gave it a light squeeze. "Look, why don't we just eat some pizza, drink some wine and when moment is right we'll do it or when they ask what they are doing here. Whichever comes first. Now get your wine and let's do this, baby." With one last squeeze to her hand he let her go and picked up the drinks for the others and made his way to the table.

Kate took a deep breath and then followed him. She really would have given anything to have him hold on to her and not let go for the rest of the evening. But she knew what had to happen now and cowering behind her husband was not it.

"Hey so Beckett so thought you might want to know right before we left the feds were moving in their gear. Are you seriously not taking point on this one?" Ryan Said once she sat down.

"Yeah, I'm letting this one go. Captain was right to call them in, I'm too close and we want a solid case. One with evidence that sticks, the FBI will do that." Kate replied sipping her wine. Kate thought for a moment before reapproaching Ryan on the subject, "Hey , do you know who the lead Agent is?"

Ryan hesitated before he answered and Kate met his hesitation with a confused and weary look. But before she could ask, her husband jumped in,

" know! Is it Agent Shaw? Please tell me she bought her smart board and magic finger print phone!" Castle said starting to get excited at the prospect.

"Ah nooo, unfortunately it's not Agent Shaw." Esposito piped in slyly as he took another piece of pizza.

"Ryan, who is it?" Kate almost ordered.

"Uh…"

"Ryan?" Rick asked confused by his friend's hesitancy.

"It's Kaye." Ryan said quickly and immediately reached for a slice of pizza for something to do.

"What?" Kate asked as though she hadn't heard him correctly.

Ryan swallowed his bite and said slowly. "The Agent in Charge is Special Agent Serena Kaye. She was their ordering people around when we left. According to the Cap, she requested the case when he put in for Fed assistance."

"Huh." Was all Kate replied with. While Rick started to get an unsettling feeling in his stomach he couldn't place. Something was off; his gut was telling him and his gut was almost never wrong. They all sat in silence for about two minutes before Lanie finally spoke up.

"Okay, writer boy, why have you pulled us over here? Whatever it is you just need to say it because judging by the expression on your face it's making more worried by the minute." Lanie paused and then reapproached him. "Is something wrong Castle, because you know no matter what we got your back right? Even if you're sick or –"

This was where Rick cut her off. He was worrying her and judging by the expressions on the two detectives, Lanie's questions had worried them two.

"No, no Lanie. It's nothing like that, actually I hope that it's something that after you've had time to process you will be very pleased about…maybe." He said as he started to get a tiny bit intimidated by the Latina ME.

"Okay Castle just spit it out." Esposito said in suspense.

"Okay, well it's actually something that Kate and I both have to tell you together. And I know it will shock you all, well most of you," he added with a quick glance to Ryan, "but the thing is Kate and I are-"

Unfortunately his was cut short by the banging of the door and the unexpected entry of his daughter.

"DAD! MOM! Are you here? Please if you are indecent like last time say now and I will wait in the hall! I really don't think I can manage the mental image of you two again! MOM! DAD! Where are-"

"Where in here Pumpkin!" Castle finally spoke up after his short shock. He looked around the table to see weird expressions on all three of their guests. Ah! They had caught on to the "MOM" reference.

"Hey pumpkin!" Castle said as Alexis entered the room and jumped up to pull her into a hug. "What are you doing here? Semester doesn't end for another two weeks, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, no, I got some time off from classes. Believe it or not when it's on the news that another killer is after my mother I tend to stop what I'm doing and come and check she's still alive." It was then that Alexis pulled out of her father's embrace only to be wrapped in her mothers.

"It's Okay sweetie. I'm fine, nothing to worry about, Lex." Kate cooed to her. They only pulled away to the clearing of a throat somewhere behind them. Kate had completely forgotten the situation they were currently in and quickly forced herself to return to the present.

"Okay, I don't know whether you figured it out yet but-"

"You and castle are together?" Lanie asked with a small glee and disappointment in her voice.

"Yeah well actually it's a bit more than that…"

"You're married." Esposito stated calmly and in strong surprise.

Everyone in the room turned and looked at him in shock.

"How did you know that?" Castle gasped in shock.

"Well, one, Alexis just burst into the room calling out "MOM" and with a distinctive reference to your sex life and two, I am pretty sure I am staring right at your wedding picture." Esposito finished and everyone followed his line of sight and sure enough on the far wall of the dining room there was a wall with a lot of pictures and one in particular big picture of Kate and Rick at the wedding; in total bliss.

"Okay, seriously what is it with us and pictures?" Castle whispered quietly to himself.

After a few moments of silence Lanie spoke up.

"How Long?" Her voice was really still in shock to express any other emotions but Kate could tell her friend was hurt to be kept out of the loop.

"Four Years." Kate replied, waiting for the moment Lanie would explode, yelling at her for keeping such a secret from her.

"Wait! What? Four years! But you guys have only been partners for just on three. You were married before Castle started following you?" Ryan exclaimed confused and again shocked.

"Okay, I am going to go unpack and we can talk later. I'll let you deal with this." Alexis said to Kate and kissed her dad on the cheek on the way out of the kitchen.

"How on earth have you managed to keep this a secret for four years Kate? And WHY?" Lanie demanded more than asked. It was obvious this ME was more than pissed.

Kate sighed this was going to be a long conversation, she sat back down and Rick came up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders in support. "We didn't have a choice Lanie. No one besides my dad, Alexis and Martha knew about our marriage until just recently. It was to protect this family…. Look at first it was about the publicity, we didn't tell anyone because then it would have just leaked out. Then when we eventually decided to tell you guys, my mom's murderer came up out of nowhere and all my ghosts started haunting me. When I say no one knows about our marriage, I mean that you can't even find it in public records. It was to keep everyone safe. More importantly Alexis safe." Kate sagged back a bit in her chair. Today had been exhausting for her and she was losing energy fast. "We decided to tell you now because we realise we can't keep pretending around you guys. Not around our family. We love you all and we hope you can forgive us for lying but please believe me when I say I really just didn't want anyone getting hurt. That's why we did this."

Rick decided it was his turn to say something, "I know this is a shock. But we will answer any questions you have and promise to keep you in the loop with everything from now on. Please just don't be mad at Kate; she was just trying to protect everyone."

"I have a question?" Esposito spoke up, slowly coming out of his shock.

"Yeah?" Rick encouraged, thankful someone was saying something.

"How on earth did we not suspect anything? I mean we are cops!"

That seemed to somehow break the ice and the tension in the room; even Lanie smirked a little bit. However, as soon as the tension was broken and it actually looked like things were improving, four mobiles went off at once.

That could only mean one thing.

Murder.

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AND THERE YOU ARE. ANOTHER CHAPTER.

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