"This situation is getting ridiculous now Richard," Martha stated as she stood in her son's bedroom, staring at him as he stood buttoning his shirt up for the event he was going too. "You walked out on her, you were the one who walked out on her when she was trying to apologise. You've made this whole thing worse when it could have been done with practically a week ago and now everyone's walking on eggshells around you two. You don't talk to each other, you barely spend time in the same room now," the redhead stated, clearly frustrated as Rick shut his eyes for a moment. "We can't keep living like this. Alexis doesn't know what to say to either of you and Kate is practically locking herself away because she doesn't know how to act around you."

"I don't know what you want me to do mother," Rick sighed before reaching across for his bow tie, wrapping it around his neck as his mother watched. "She's nervous of being around me now because I told her that I liked her. I should never have told her about how I felt, I should have just kept quiet because now she's nervous and scared to be with me just as a friend," he declared, clearly angry with himself as he attempted to tie the bow tie.

"Come here, you always get it wrong," Martha sighed as he turned around to face her, rolling his eyes when his mother began to do up his bow tie like always. "What time will you be home tonight?" she asked quietly as she completed his bow tie, straightening it from him as he smiled at her.

"Early hours of the morning probably," he muttered as Martha nodded slowly. "I'll try and be quiet when I come in," he stated, knowing that his mother was worried about him disturbing Kate. "Can I ask you something?" he asked as Martha nodded slowly, stepping away from her son as he turned to look in the mirror one more time. "How is she? How's Kate doing?"

"She's okay, not brilliant and she's become extremely withdrawn," Martha explained as Rick shut his eyes for a moment. "She needs some she can bitch to Richard. She's terrified of upsetting Alexis or me if she discusses you so she's keeping everything bottled up," the redhead declared as he nodded, knowing that Kate desperately needed to get out of the apartment. It had been a week since their disagreement and she hadn't left the apartment since. "You need to get her out of the apartment Richard; she needs to talk to people."

"Give me a second," he sighed, Martha watching as her son disappeared out of the room. Walking down the stairs, Rick quickly walked through his office before knocking on his old bedroom's door before waiting for a response. "Kate, it's Rick, can I come in?" he asked quickly.

"Come in Rick," Kate sighed, the writer opening the door to see her sitting on the bed with a book, exhaustion covering her face.

"Hi," Rick said quietly as she smiled weakly at him, not knowing what to say to him. She hadn't really talked to him since he'd admitted that they though their evening out was a date. She didn't know what to say to her, she didn't know how to act around him now that she knew that he liked her in a way that was more than friendship. "Look, I was thinking and I know things between us have been awkward," he began as she bit into her lip. "But you need to get out of this apartment and I have this event tonight so why don't you come with me as my friend?" he asked.

"So you can get angry again when I talk to other people?" she questioned.

"Kate, you were flaunting yourself," he sighed, remembering seeing Will and Kate dance close to each other, their arms tightly wrapped around each other's body.

"Before I even danced with him you were angry at me. When I brought him to our table you were angry at me because I was talking to someone else," Kate declared before shutting her eyes, not wanting to start another argument over this. "I don't think I'll come tonight, we can't seem to manage being civil to each other anymore Rick and I don't want to have a fight again over talking to people."

"For god's sake Kate, I'm trying to sort things out but you don't seem to want that," Rick said in frustration before moving towards the door. "I wanted to get you out of this stupid apartment to meet some people, to live your life but you seem determined to say no to everything," he declared as he opened the door again to leave, Kate staring at him for a moment as he stood in silence. "I know that it's awkward Kate but I just want to try and be friends with you. Like we used to be before I was a jealous idiot that night," he explained before leaving the room, Kate's eyes shutting as she ran her fingers through her hair. "Mother I'm leaving now, I'll see you tomorrow" Rick called out, knowing his daughter was asleep, while Kate remained silent, listening when the front door slammed to indicate Rick's leaving.

XOOXOXOXOXXO

"I thought I'd get to meet Kate Beckett tonight," Lanie commented as she sat down beside the writer, watching as he finished another drink. "What's going on Castle? Javi says the two of you are close, he can't quite believe that you'd leave her alone to come to an event," she asked as Rick sighed and glanced across at the ME. How did Lanie always guess something was wrong? "Tell me, I can give my womanly advice."

"I keep getting womanly advice," he moaned before shutting his eyes. "Kate and I went out last week, I thought it was a date but she clearly didn't," he explained as Lanie groaned, realising already where this was probably going. "She met this man, Will, at the bar and the rest of the evening she spent throwing herself at him and I wasn't going to watch as she made an idiot of herself. She looked desperate Lanie and it was obvious he only wanted to have sex with her and I couldn't watch that happen," he explained.

"So?" she asked.

"We had a fight and I left her there. Gave her the number for the car service and just left her in this club, hoping she'd realised that he was just interested in having sex and not in her," he sighed, opening his eyes to look across the busy room. "I was jealous, I'll admit because I like her Lanie. She's different to anyone else I've ever met and I really thought we were on a date but we had another disagreement when she came back to the apartment and she found out that I liked her and well, we haven't really talked since," he explained as Lanie sighed, her head shaking at the writer as he remained silent. "I tried to get her to come tonight but that started another disagreement because she says I'll be angry if she talks to anyone."

"Why don't I go and visit her tomorrow?" Lanie suggested. "You could go to the precinct, play cops with the boys and I'll talk to Kate. Woman to woman without you around to make her nervous, she might open up to me and at least I'm someone new," she commented as Rick nodded slowly, knowing it was the most logical plan. "Fortunately for you I have the day off, which I was originally going to spend shopping, but I guess I can go and socialise."

"You are a life saver Lanie Parish," Rick smiled before kissing her cheek, Lanie shaking her head as she laughed.

"Richard Castle, you'll make Javi jealous if you keep on doing that," she smiled as Rick glanced across at the detective who was currently deep in conversation with Ryan.

"What can I say? I can't resist gorgeous women," he teased as she rolled her eyes at him before a waiter walked over.

"Oh yes more drinks here," Lanie shouted while Rick shook his head, glad that the ME had offered to go and see Kate.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Stepping into his apartment, Rick quickly removed his jacket before staring at the emptiness around him. Everyone must have gone to bed, he realised before he slowly moved towards the stairs, stopping when he heard sobbing coming from the direction of his office and bedroom. Slowly walking through his office, Rick bit into his lip before gently tapping on the door and opening it to see Kate lying across the bed with her face buried in the pillow while dressed in one of his old t-shirts.

"Kate," he said quietly, shocking her into sitting up and aggressively wiping the tears away with her fists. "Hey you'll hurt yourself," he blurted out, taking hold of her hands to stop her as she stared up at him for a moment. "Come on you," he said quietly, wiping her tears away with his fingers as she bit deep into her lips, causing it to bleed. "Kate," he sighed, staring at the blood as she shook her head.

"I'm fine, I can deal with it. You should go to bed Rick," she blurted out before climbing off the bed and walking towards the en-suite.

"Kate, what's wrong?" he asked, staring at her as she stood in the doorway. "Can we just forget everything just for one night? I don't want you to be on your own and upset Kate," he explained, falling silent as she remained perfectly still before she sighed and turned to face him, clearly emotional and exhausted. "Come on, let's get you into bed and then if you want, you can talk to me or I can disappear Kate. It's your choice," he sighed, stepping towards her before leading her back towards the double bed. Lying down in it, Kate shut her eyes as Rick draped the blanket over her body and stared at her for a moment.

"I don't know whether I can do this," she blurted out, the writer staring at her as she kept her eyes shut, not wanting to look at him. "Rick I don't know whether I can live this life because it doesn't feel like mine anymore," she sobbed as he felt the panic covering her face. "I'm so lonely Rick, especially now and no one from my life is here. My mom's dead, my father's an alcoholic who is god knows where and the only friend I have…" she began before falling silent. "The only friend I had I lost because I made a stupid mistake which I regret more than anything right now," she said quietly, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

"Kate," he whispered as she opened her eyes and stared at him as he watched her. "I was too harsh that night and I should have made it clearer what I thought it was anyway. I was stupid too."

"I was the one who was acting desperate. I was rude to you by ignoring you and I was throwing myself at him, you were right. God Rick, I was acting like a really stupid teenager and I know better than that, my mom taught me to behave better than that," she said angrily, clearly frustrated with herself. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry and you must think I'm horrible. I even think I'm horrible," she whispered as he shook his head while she sat up and watched him.

"Kate, I'm not happy with you for the way you acted but in your head I guess you're still nineteen years old and you had alcohol in your system, that can make anyone act like an idiot sometimes," he sighed as she slowly reached across and found his hand. "I wish I'd acted differently instead of just being angry at you immediately. I should have talked to you and tried to explain what was annoying me."

"I guess I should have explained why I was desperate for Will's attention," she sighed before glancing down at his hand that she was clutching onto. "I felt like you were suffocating me and well, I just wanted someone's attention but not because they were worried I'd fall over or was exhausted. He seemed interested and for a while, I guess I enjoyed it," she admitted before yawning, clearly exhausted.

"I'm sorry if you felt like I was suffocating you," he whispered as she relaxed back again and shut her eyes. "I worry about you Kate but I'll try and stop it. You're clearly strong enough now," he smiled as she nodded slowly and shut her eyes again, the writer glancing down at his hand which she was still clutching onto. "Kate," he said quietly.

"Yes," she responded.

"I need my hand back if I'm going to go to bed," he smiled as she slowly let go of his hand, the writer standing when he was free. "Try and get some sleep, I'll see you in the morning," he commented as he watched her curl up into a ball practically in an attempt to get comfortable. "Kate," he said again, a small smile covering her face at the sound of her name.

"Yes," she repeated.

"Can we try again?" he asked as she remained silent for a moment. "I don't want to lose our friendship over one stupid evening where we both made mistakes."

"We can try," she yawned as the writer smiled and silently walked out of the room, smiling to himself as he walked towards the stairs.

I loathe this chapter. I don't know why but I do. It wasn't what I really planned to write when I started this morning because I think they forgive each other too quickly but this is what the brain wanted and well, I don't usually argue with it. Hopefully you enjoy the chapter and decide to review, your opinions mean a lot to me.

I do promise that they won't go back to the Caskett before Will appeared. There is still go be issues to get over and some arguments and I'm sure some other stuff will come up, I might just throw Josh in too just to be really evil, especially if I get really desperate. Anyway, anything you want to see happen, just send me a message (review or PM, I don't mind) and well I'll see if I can fit it in as this story wouldn't be happening if it wasn't for you.

Next chapter- Lanie and something else, don't know what yet.