I somehow managed to turn about two hundred words into just under three thousand, so voila - another chapter! A huge thanks to everyone's comments/reviews and alerts! Hope you like this chapter, and as always, please review! It always puts my day off to a great start! :)

Thanks to "Tsurwolf" (from Castletv .net).

When Castle arrived at the precinct the next morning, he was not in the same state as when he left Monday afternoon. Ryan and Esposito watched as Castle greeted Kate with a cup of coffee. The boys couldn't hear their conversation, but they were quick to notice the sudden mood change.

"I see that you two kissed and made up." Ryan said nonchalantly as he and Esposito walked over to Kate's desk. He didn't realize the meaning his words had.

"Castle! You told them!?" She was enraged. "You just came in! What, did you call them as soon as I left last night? You couldn't wait to tell everyone what you accomplished?" Kate was screaming at him.

"I never told them… but thanks to your little outburst, they know now." Castle just looked at the ground.

There was no denying it now. "Oh," was all she could say. She was mortified.

"It's true? Wait, you guys actually… I mean, seriously?" Ryan and Esposito couldn't believe what they were hearing.

"I want my thirty bucks back!" Esposito held his hand out to Ryan.

"You guys actually had a bet?" Kate stared at them causing both detectives to turn ghostly white. "There is paperwork on my desk. Thanks to your bet, it's calling your name." She flashed them a smile. "And it was just a kiss. Is that so hard to believe?" Kate shifted in her seat.

"Well you're… you and Castle's… well, Castle." Shock and confusion were written over Ryan's face.

"Hello, Beckett, you in there? Who are you and what have you done with our boss?" Esposito stared at her in disbelief.

"I'm just irresistible to the ladies. I tell you boys, it's a curse." Castle tried to make a joke as he could tell Kate was uncomfortable.

She was grateful and seen this was her chance to escape. "While you discuss this imaginary charm he," she glared at Castle, "thinks he has over the ladies," she retuned her focus on her detectives, "I'm going to get Lanie to brief me about what she found." Kate knew she could have easily asked one of them for the information, but she needed to get out of there. Plus, this was an excuse for some girl talk. "Don't forget about that paperwork, you two."

"Wait, so let me get this straight. Castle kisses you and you get all ditsy and have visions of hearts and flowers dancing around in your head. Which forces Esposito and I to get stuck doing paperwork?"

Esposito looked at Ryan. "Hey bro, I guess all we have to do in order to get out of paperwork is make out with Beckett here. Worked like a charm for Castle." He focused his attention to Kate. "So, what do you say Becks? Pucker up. I hope you brushed your teeth this morning." He never had any intention of following through, but he loved to push her buttons just as much as Castle.

"If you take so much as one step in my direction you will be doing paperwork for the next year! And never ever use my name and the word ditsy in the same sentence ever again! Got it?"

Neither had time to respond because she was already on her way to see Lanie. Ryan and Esposito turned and glared at Castle. They were expecting answers.

Castle tried to defend himself. "What? The bet just came up in conversation last night. If I knew she would use it against you, I would never have brought it up."

"This isn't about the bet." There was a different tone in Esposito's voice that Castle couldn't quite recognize.

"The kiss? It was only –"

"Only a kiss? Is that what you were going to say? It's not only a kiss. It's Beckett and a kiss." Ryan and Esposito always teased Kate but they knew she had their back, and they had hers. "What are you intentions towards her?"

"Intentions? What is this, a cross-examination?" Castle flashed back to when he found out about Alexis and Owen and all the questions he had. "Yesterday you two were taking bets on if we slept together, and now you lecturing me on intentions?" Castle was shocked and a little annoyed they didn't trust him.

"Don't hurt her." This time it was Ryan who spoke.

"What? Why would you think I would ever hurt her?" Castle himself felt hurt at the comment.

"Don't hurt her." Esposito's voice echoed Ryan's. Castle could tell he was being serious and not just pulling his leg. "Ryan and I find clues that help us catch killers. Don't think for a second we wouldn't be able to commit a murder and not get away with it. We catch murders on a daily basis. It'd be easy for us to make sure we didn't leave anything that would connect us to the crime."

Castle gulped.

Ryan stepped toward Castle and suddenly he felt like he was being interrogated. "And Lanie would be on board. We wouldn't need to ask her twice. She'd probably be the first one to smack you around a little." The boys knew they were being a little excessive but they wanted to get their point across.

"Whoa, okay guys. I get it. Listen nothing is even official. We haven't even talked about where this is going to go." He now knew he always wanted to be on their side in an interrogation room.

"Good." Both Ryan and Esposito replied in unison.

Castle let out a breath that he didn't realize he was holding.

"Now that we've had our little talk we're off to do paperwork, because you couldn't keep your mouth shut."

Castle cautiously waved.

"Remember what we said."

All Castle could do was nod. He had heard them loud and clear, and was afraid to say anything in fear they would carry out their threat.

As Ryan and Esposito made their way to their desks, Castle saw Esposito casually grabbed a file off of his desk. The two detectives were intently reading its contents but speaking low enough so Castle couldn't hear.

"Damn." Esposito mumbled. "Karpowski had this week in the office pool."

"We don't know if last night was their first kiss." Ryan grabbed the folder from his partner. "And Karpowski had this week for their first date. I had this week for when they slept together."

Ryan skimmed the folder's contents until he found what he was looking for. "Lanie had had this week for the first kiss. We'll have to hit her up for details. She tell us if it means she can collect on the winnings."

"Good plan, bro." Esposito said as he closed to folder and buried it under the mound of paperwork awaiting him. "And who knows, if it was their," raising his eyebrow for emphasis, "first time, you and Lanie get to split the cash prize."

Ryan smirked and made his way to his desk.

"Hey, so what happened to our vic?"

"Kate! You never called me last night. What time did you get home?" Lanie's voice and eyebrows went up simultaneously, and Kate knew exactly what she meant.

"Get your mind out of the gutter. You're almost as bad as Castle! Maybe you two should get together."

"It's not like I haven't thought about it, you know. The man is fine, in every sense of the word."

Before she knew what she was doing, Kate nodded. "Yeah."

"Wow, you two must have had some night! You do realize you just publicly admitted to thinking that Castle's sexy."

"I didn't say that!"

"You don't have too; it's written all over your face."

Kate blushed. "Lanie, I came down here to get the details on how the girl died."

"First, I want details on the wild, hot night you had with writer boy. Then we can talk about the girl."

"It wasn't a hot wild night with Castle." Kate couldn't believe she was even uttering the words hot, wild, and Castle, all in the same sentence.

"You can have Ryan and Esposito brief you. Details, now!"

"Ugh, you're impossible!" Even though Lanie was tough and always pushed Kate, she was glad to have her as a friend. "Well, after I finished talking to you I went over to his place. I stood there for forever trying to get up the courage to knock on the door. Alexis made the choice for me though. She was going to study group, or her friend's house. I can't remember, it was kind of a blur. She called out to Castle leaving me no choice but to stay and face the music. Then she hugged me and said she hoped everything worked out. I was really surprised – "

Lanie started to close her eyes and slowly lean to the left.

"Lanie!"

Lanie stood up straight. "What!? This is boring." Lanie looked down at the corpse in front of her. "Performing an autopsy is more exciting. Can you please skip ahead to the hot and wild part?"

She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, after I came in and we sat on the couch. He –"

"Did you do it on the couch? Please tell me you had hot, wild sex on his couch!" Lanie interrupted, practically whining.

(Meanwhile, in the bullpen…)

It had been about five minutes since Ryan and Esposito had their talk with Castle. He had spent these five minutes thinking about what they said. They wouldn't really kill him. Would they? He was so deep in thought he didn't notice when Ryan's phone rang.

Castle's thoughts were interrupted by Ryan's third attempt to break him from his daze. "Hey, earth to Castle!" Castle finally awoke from his daze. "Uniforms brought in a suspect. Go get Beckett and we'll meet you outside interrogation."

The word interrogation made Castle feel a little sorry for the suspect they were about to tear apart. He'd just about been through one himself. "Yeah, I'll go get her now."

Castle made his way down to the morgue. He was almost at the door when he heard muffled voices. He got closer and Lanie's voice was no longer muffled: "Did you do it on the couch? Please tell me you had hot, wild sex on his couch!"

Castle stopped dead in his tracks. Any gentlemen would leave and give them their privacy. Although Castle had a kind and considerate side, there was no possible way he would miss out on this conversation. Ever so slowly he tiptoed to the door and hung onto every word that was said.

"No! You said you wanted details. Are you going to let me finish this story or not?" Kate stood resting her hand on her hip.

Lanie nodded indicating for Kate to continue. "After I came in we sat on the couch, which we did not have sex on." Kate glared at her friend for the latter part of that statement. "He started going on about how he wouldn't leave me, cheat on me or anything. He brought up Will too. The details are a little fuzzy but I've never seen that side of him before. It was like he was a whole different person. He kept calling me Kate. What the hell is that?"

"I don't know, but what I do know is that so far this story is rated G. Don't make me resort to begging you. Is there an R rated scene coming up sometime soon?"

Kate ignored her comment and continued with the nights events. "After a while he said that…" She paused.

"What? What did he say?"

"He said that he wouldn't leave me like my mom left. That he would do everything he could to stay here with me."

"He said that." Lanie was in disbelief. "He actually said that?"

"Yes. I expected some long romantic speech. Instead he made me feel safe and… and loved." Kate looked down at her feet. "I feel foolish telling you this. Here I am blabbing on like a teenager who just had her first kiss."

"No, it's fine. There's obviously something there. I really hope everything works out. And if not, I'll kill him."

Kate laughed. "I know you will."

"Continue…" Lanie could barely contain herself.

"Well, after that I kissed him."

"You kissed him! You made the first move?" Lanie was almost squealing.

"Well, technically the second." Kate flashed back to when she had run off on Saturday.

"And?"

"That's about all. We curled up on the couch and watched some TV, and talked. There was an infomercial for a Snuggie. He ordered two, one for him and one for me. It was actually kind of cute. He got all excited over it."

"Wait. Hold up. Did I just hear the word cute, come from you mouth?"

"Huh?" Kate was confused.

"I didn't think the word was even in your vocabulary. Don't go getting all soft on me now that you're in love."

"Now you hold up! I am not in love!"

"Maybe if you keep telling yourself that you might actually believe it."

Kate shot Lanie an I'm-not-impressed look.

"So you really only kissed once, and then ordered stuff from infomercials? Doesn't sound like such a fun night. You had me all worked up for nothing."

"Well - "

"Dad! Dad! Dad!" Alexis' voice rung through the air and Castle darted for his phone and hit the ignore button.

"Castle!?" Lanie shouted and both women turned towards the door.

Castle knew he was caught. He swung the door open to reveal Kate and Lanie staring at him. He could tell be their expressions they were not impressed.

"How long have you been standing there?" Kate demanded.

"Long enough to know Lanie really wants us to take part in some extra curricular activities which involve my couch. And quite frankly, I'm game."

Kate was frustrated. "Why are you here?"

"Ryan said a suspect was brought in. He told me to come get you." He looked at Lanie. "You two can finish your girl talk later. I'll bring the wine."

"Get out!" Lanie barked at him.

Castle swung his arms in front of his body and extended them in the direction of the door, "Ladies first." He smiled sweetly.

"And here I thought chivalry was dead." She replied sarcastically and proceeded towards the door.

"It is. And women killed it." He teased her.

Kate pushed him out the door. "Let's go!"

"Ow! Apples!"

The door swung closed and Kate and Castle made their way down the hallway. Castle's pace suddenly slowed down. "Beckett, I need to ask you a question." He couldn't get Ryan and Esposito's speech off his mind.

"Okay…" She noticed his sudden serious tone of voice.

"Hypothetically, if a bunch of cops got together and planned a murder… would they get away with it?"

"Well, I suppose. If they were careful and knew the right people. We're like a brotherhood; we'd do pretty much anything for each other." She giggled, "Castle, where is this coming from?"

"No reason." He could feel his heart race.

Kate gave him an odd look. "Okay..." She wasn't sure where the idea came from but she chose to ignore it.

"One more question." He reached his arm around her and playfully bumped her hip. "When were you planning on telling Lanie that our hot, wild night got interrupted by Alexis returning from study group?"

She shruged. "Not sure." Effortlessly Kate wrapped her arm around him and the pair walked down the hall together.

"I think we should give you a story to tell Lanie. We can visit Barry from The Love Shackle! We could get a pair of the fussy handcuffs he showed you. I wouldn't want to disappoint Lanie. I only have her best interest at heart." He paused for a moment, "Or do you know what else we could do?" He didn't give her time to answer. "We could play naked laser tag! We'd just have to hold our guns strategically." A grin danced across his face.

She couldn't help but laugh. "We are not playing naked laser tag! And we are not going to The Love Shackle!"

Castle's disappointment didn't last long. Kate used her strength to manoeuvre the two so Castle was trapped between the wall behind him and her body. "We don't need to go see Barry," resting a hand on his chest, "I already have a pair;" she leaned into him and whispered in his ear, 'they're pink... and sparkly."

His facial expression made her giggle and she released him. For once, the writer was speechless. After running about a million different scenarios through his mind, he briefly thought of Ryan and Esposito's warning. He knew there was no way he could ever hurt her. And if he did, he would rather be dead. He could never forgive himself if he put her through any more pain then she'd already been through.

He watched as she turned and walked down the hall. It was the same saunter she had when she turned him down after their first case. This time everything was different. He wasn't trying to chase her; he had her, they were together, and he couldn't be happier.

Kate reached the end of the hallway and turned around only to see Castle in the same place she had left him. She noted his back was still to the wall. "We have a murderer to catch. Are you coming or are you going to just stare at my ass?"

Although he found the latter question to be quite enjoyable, he didn't have to be asked twice.

"Right behind you, Mistress Beckett." He teased as he ran to catch up with her.

Okay, so this is the end. I am positive this is the last chapter for When you play with fire, you get burned. Anything beyond this would have to include the murder, and I'm not very good at writing the procedural part of the show. Plus, I like this ending better than the previous chapter.

Again, thanks for the lovely reviews, favorites and story alerts! They make my day. A lot of people said they would like me to do another story. So, who knows, maybe I'll do a sequel? I'm taking ideas/plots! I'll be sure to credit you. :) If I do a sequel, I'll most likely post a teaser as a next chapter (including the title, summary, etc.), just so you'll know!