AN:Not my favorite chapter but I needed to add it. I'm falling behind on writing this story so forgive me if I go a day or two without updating. I'll try my best not to leave you with a very suspenseful chapter. Again, thanks for the reviews so far! They mean a lot that I have readers enjoying my story :) I hope you enjoy the new chapter.

Rick opened the door to his loft and led the two Becketts inside. "Make yourself at home. You can place your things in my room..." This made both Becketts give him a look. "The guest room's ceiling is leaking and I'm not letting my guests sleep in a room that isn't suitable for sleeping in. I'll take the sofa".

"Castle, that's not necessary".

"Yea, we're the guests. Guests who happen to have someone that wants to kill them. We'll take the couch".

Castle smiled at their kindness. "No, no. There's two of you and one of me. The bed will be much more comfortable for you two".

Kate and Kathleen gave him a soft smile before placing their bags in his room. "Kate, if you want me to take the couch so you can have your way with him in here just let me know". Kathie whispered as she smirked, trying to bring some humor back into their situation at hand.

"Oh ha ha. You are so funny". Kate rolled her eyes before throwing a pillow at her sister's head.

Kathie caught the pillow. "I do stand up comedy at the bar on weekends" She smirked again.

They took of their shoes before heading into the kitchen to finally eat their Chinese food. Kathie was in the middle of eating her egg roll when the door opened. All three of them looked at the front door and saw the two red heads walk in.

"Richard, darling, you'll be happy to know that Alexis and I spent enough money on your credit card to earn you a free flight to Aruba. I'd be happy to cash cash your points in and take the ticket" Martha smiled as she took off her jacket and placed her shopping bags down.

She had yet to see that Kate and Kathie were also there until she stepped further into the kitchen. "Oh I didn't know we had company. Kate, it's always wonderful to see you! And you must be her sister, Kathie?"

Kathie smiled. "Yes, that's me. I'm flattered that you feel the need to talk about me" She gave Castle a small smirk.

Alexis came forth to see what Detective Beckett's sister looked like. "Well it's nice to meet you darling. I'm Martha, Richard's mother, and this is Alexis, his daughter".

Kathie gave them a polite smile. "It's nice to meet you both. I hope you don't mind Kate and I being house guests for the night".

"Oh of course not. Kate knows she's welcomed here anytime and so is Kate's family".

Kathie gave the elder red head another soft smile before taking the last bite of her egg roll.

"Hey, dad I hope you didn't forget that tonight is the night that I'm going to kick your butt in laser tag".

"Oh, you wish Pumpkin. You're going down".

"Laser tag? You have your own laser tag gear?" Castle nodded. "And here I thought my Aadam's Family pinball machine was cool".

"I still can't believe you bought that". Kate shook her head before taking a sip of her water.

"Hey, you're just jealous that they don't make a Temptation Lane pinball machine". Kathie smirked which made Kate roll her eyes.

"You're welcomed to play a round with us if you'd like" Alexis offered.

"I'm in! But how bout we make this a little family face off? The Castles vs. the Becketts. Losers wash the dishes. What do you say?" Kathie looked at Kate with a look that Kate wouldn't be able to say no to.

Kate sighed. "Fine. Lets show these two what the Becketts can really do". Kathie smiled before getting down from her seat.

Castle got the laser tag gear out from his closet in his study. He handed a vest and a gun to his opponents before handing Alexis's hers. He put his on and his mother turned off the light before heading into the kitchen to steal one of the egg rolls that had been tempting her ever since she walked into the loft.

"First team to have 5 kills wins. No cheating Becketts" Castle said as he turned the lights on his gear.

"Oh please Castle, we won't need to cheat to win" Kate smirked before turning on her gear. Once Kathie and Alexis were both set to play the war started. Kate was going to go after Rick while Kathie was looking for Alexis. Kate had to admit that this was a lot more fun than sitting in her apartment and it took all of their minds off of the situation they were dealing with in the real world.

Kate had spotted Rick from his hiding spot behind the sofa. "Gottcha Castle" She said as she heard the noise the vest made when the laser from the gun made contact with it.

"Damn it Beckett. Without those heels I can't hear you. This is really an unfair advantage".

"Nice excuse but just admit that I'm better at this game than you are". She smirked.

"You may have gotten the first shot but I'll get the next", he said as the vest stopped flashing. Kate had already taken off by then to find a good hiding spot from him.

Another noise was heard from the other side of the room. "Beckett two, Castle zero" Kate heard Kathie say. She smiled, that was her sister alright. She hadn't changed a bit. She heard footsteps coming towards her and got read to aim but then noticed it was Kathie. She hid next to Kate. They were planning on double teaming them.

The too sisters looked at each other and nodded when they heard footsteps closer to them. They quickly got up and shot at the opponents. Kate had made contact with Alexis's vest but Kathie wasn't fast enough for Castle and he shot her's instead.

"Don't worry, Castle. I'll get you back for that one". Kathie said as she saw her vest stop flashing.

The game continued on for about thirty minutes until it was now a tied game. Martha had been enjoying the two families bounding over the friendly, competitive game and also enjoying the left over food.

Kathie was behind the sofa and Kate was behind one of the arm chairs. Kate could see Castle trying to be sneaky and get a blind shot on Kathie. She wasn't going to let that happen. She moved slowly towards him and pulled the trigger. She smiled when she heard the noise come from the vest. Castle turned around and saw a smile on Kate's face that could of lit up all of New York City in a power outage. At that moment he didn't care that he had just lost, that smile was his prize.

"Better luck next time Castle" Kate said before walking over to turn on the lights.

"Oh come on. That was a cheap shot. Rematch?"

"Not tonight Castle", she said as they took off their vests. That made him smile. There was hope that this evening would repeat itself, hopefully next time on better circumstances.

"This is so not fair. I didn't even eat any of the food and I have to wash the dishes"

"You know she does have a point. I'm a gracious winner. I'll take your spot, Alexis". Kathie said before walking over to the sink. "You wash, I'll dry". She grabbed the towel. Once Martha knew there wasn't going to be a rematch that would interrupt her sleeping she excused herself for the night.

Alexis was kind of shocked that Kathie had offered to do the dishes but she wasn't complaining. She looked over to where she saw Kate last but she wasn't there. Kate had headed into Rick's study to put the vests away.

Kate saw something though that caught her eye. When did Rick get a white board? She looked behind her and saw the projector that was facing the board. Alexis saw this through the doorway and knew she had to throw Kate off what her dad was really doing. She'd kill him and she had enough to worry about right now with her sister. "Dad uses it to watch movies on sometimes. He doesn't want us to know when he's procrastinating".

Kate turned a bit so she was facing the young red head. "Unless the walls are sound proof how does he expect you to believe he wasn't screaming because he was watching a scary movie". She smiled a bit, which Alexis returned.

"He bribes me by sharing the bag of gummy bears. I'll show you the draw he keeps his secret stash in".

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen Kathie was drying one of the plates before placing it in the cabinet Castle told her that it went in. "So does my sister always snoop around your study whenever she's over here?"

"I think she likes to make sure I'm not doing anything illegal so she has an excuse to arrest me again".

Kathie laughed a bit as Rick just hoped that Kate's detective side didn't kick in and open up the laptop. He knew one day he had to tell her what he was keeping from her but now was not that time.

Kathie saw the look on his face, the kind of look that he was keeping something. "You aren't doing anything illegal are you?"

He shook his head. "No". Unless you count lying and meeting a mysterious man in parking garages to protect your sister illegal...

Kathie put the last dish away and saw that Alexis had walked into the study. "Good...but that look on your face says you're hiding something. Kate might not see it but I can. What's going on?"

He sighed. "How did you..."

"Kate didn't tell you I was training to go into the FBI before I picked teaching did she?" Kathie smiled. "I know how to read people...Kate does too but when it comes to the people she cares about she pushes those knowing looks to the side".

"Well that explains a lot...the FBI part". He looked over to the door way to make sure Kate or Alexis didn't have any plans of coming out of the study anytime soon. "You can't tell her but I've been getting these calls from a mysterious man after since her shooting. He says that if I protect Kate from looking into her mother's case then she'll be safe. I've been trying to figure out who he is and who the killer is ever since".

Kathie sighed. Everyone they knew always seemed to get into this case, even when they didn't want them involved. "Thank you" was the only thing Kathie could say as she looked down to the floor. She then looked up to look at Castle. "I know getting Kate to listen isn't easy, especially when it comes to this, but I promise whatever happens with Anna I won't make all your efforts go to waste. I promise she'll be safe".

He nodded. "I don't suppose she'll take this news as good as you are..."

Kathie smiled softly. "Probably not...but once she stops being stubborn and sees that all you were doing was trying to protect her she'll forgive you". She looked back at the door and heard Alexis say something about gummy bears. "But you're not the only one with secrets. Kate will tell you hers eventually and like your secret it's going to hurt...but once you hear her reason behind it you too will forgive her." She looked him in the eye. "But if you push her before she's ready to tell you I will personally kick your ass...or haunt you depending on how the next few days go".

Rick looked at her and he had an idea of what Kate's secret was but he wasn't going to push her to reveal it. He would of done that a long time ago if he was so desperate to know. "You won't have to worry about that...and you won't have to worry about haunting me either because you are not going to die. I know your sister will do everything in her power to make sure you're safe".

Kathie nodded. "I know...that's what I'm afraid of".

"Afraid of what?" Kate asked as she and Alexis headed into the kitchen.

Crap. She needed a good story. "Afraid of monsters under my bed. I was telling Castle the story of the time when I was little and ran into your room because of the monsters. He was keep asking me for a story and this is the only one that I could think of that wouldn't reveal any embarrassing moments of your childhood".

Kate knew her sister was lying to her but she pushed it to the side. "Yea, well you were cute back then so I couldn't say no to the puppy dog eyes when you asked me to protect you from the monsters". Kate gave her a soft smile.

Kathie looked at the time that was flashing on the microwave. "Well it's getting pretty late and I have to make sure my assignments are up before 8am so good night. Thanks again Castle for letting me stay here".

"Mi casa es su casa".

Kathie gave him a soft smile before she headed into the bedroom. Kate wasn't far behind her, she knew that. Kate shut the door behind her and locked it. "Spill".

Kathie sighed. "We were just talking about how I'm scared that you'll put yourself in danger to save me". She sat down on the edge of the bed and waited for Kate to respond. When she didn't she continued. "I don't want to lose you too Kate and make me feel guilty for not being there to help you and be the cause of this".

Kate went over to sit next to her. "Don't you ever think that. If this gang member kills me it's not your fault. We're in this together and we're going to either lock her up together or we're going to die together trying. I promise I'm not going to do anything without you. Okay?"

Kathie nodded and waited for a moment to make sure no one was listening at the door. "You're right you know". Kate gave her a confused look. "He's hiding something from you...you two are going to need a long sit down talk when all of this is over".

"He told you?"

"No, I can just tell by the look on his face that you can't see". She half lied. It wasn't her secret to tell and even if Kate was her sister she couldn't tell her Rick's secret.

Kate sighed and leaned back so she was lying on her back. "Well at least I'm not the only one with a secret".

"Yea...you do know that if I do die during this I will haunt you if you don't tell him you...remember" She said the last part in a whisper even though she knew they were alone.

"You won't have to worry about haunting me because you're not going to die, remember".

"I'm not asking you to tell him...Just promise me after all of this is over you think about telling him". She didn't want to push too much. She told Rick not to because she knew Kate would act differently to him pushing her...plus he wasn't supposed to know she was hiding something.

"I think about it every day Kathleen. I want to tell him that I remember but I just don't know how".

"Well the words "Rick, I lied to you. I remember everything from my shooting from the moment I woke up" sounds pretty good to me".

Kate rolled her eyes. "Yea and it makes me sound like a horrible person because I lied to him".

"Well that's when you explain it to him that you only lied because you didn't want to hold him to those words and you didn't want him feeling sorry for you".

Kate turned over so now her face was snuggling with the pillow. It didn't help that his pillow smelt like him. "You make it sound too easy".

"That's because I'm not the one that is battling with her heart and her mind". She laid down next to Kate. "But you have a few weeks to figure out what you're going to say...in the mean time lets go to sleep. We have to start working on where we can find this bitch in the morning".

"Well with having her name it shouldn't be that hard to figure out". Kate mumbled as she pulled on the sheets to bring them closer to her.

"I hope so...night Kate".

"Night Kathie". Kate looked at the window and saw the night sky. She hoped that this wouldn't be the last time seeing that night sky.