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Chapter Two.

They meet under cover of darkness...

"I am about one step away from tattooing the phrase 'use your words' on one of their foreheads". Lanie grumbles as she storms around the room. She narrowly misses sending a wine glass in freefall towards the floor, but only because Ryan makes a grab for it, raising his eyes at Esposito.

But Esposito is too busy watching Lanie as she continues to navigate the furniture in the living room of her apartment. Occasionally ranting, but mainly just getting everyone where she wants them before she sets out her idea.

The last twenty minutes have been enlightening for everyone, who, unbeknown to the woman in question, have all made silent vows to never get on her bad side. Or more aptly her romantic, frustrated side.

They have agreed to meet here, knowing Castle is on another 'date' and Kate, having been blown off by Lanie, has secreted herself away in the confines of her apartment.

They sit, preparing to discuss schemes and plans for domination like a weird superhero group whose only mission is to make two fools see the light of day.

Lying to their friends should feel like more of a chore. Working in secret probably shouldn't be as fun as it is, even if they are all completely over the secrets and lying and crap. There is just something...uplifting about banding together.

At least until they start to argue.

Lanie puffs out an exasperated breath, striding past Martha who is next to Ryan on the sofa.

"They are driving me crazy." Ryan states with a shrug and a shake of his head.

"They're driving everyone crazy," Lanie barks, feet moving again. "God I wanna...slap her and kick him and …"

"Bang their heads together?" Martha suggests, swirling her glass so the wine rides the sides in mesmerizing waves.

Ryan sighs longingly, not meeting anyone's eye as he speaks "They should just sit down and talk."

Lanie spins on the spot, rounding on him, not entirely able to believe her ears "Yes Ryan...Yes they should." She points at him glaring forcefully "Privately. With no interruptions..."

Ryan nods sedately, agreeing. "Yes exactly. They should just talk about it without...

"Oh hush, " Lanie barks "you're part of the problem. In and out, in and out..." She starts to wave her hands in time as she speaks, her eyes burning into Ryan's as he retreats into the cushions. "Back and forth, you ever think of just shutting up when you walk into a room and see they are trying to have a conversation?"

Ryan stays silent, assuming it's a safer option, a rhetorical question. But Lanie narrows her eyes and steps forwards, arm stretching out before her, one finger pointing at him accusingly.

"Well?" she demands in a way that makes everyone in the room very glad she doesn't carry a gun. Probably for the best her scalpels are locked up at the lab as well.

Ryan, feels the blood flood to his cheeks in the face of such harsh criticism, even if it's warranted. "I...we... There were cases Lanie, I have a job to do." He can hear the near whine that has taken over his voice and he clears his throat before he continues "I needed to pass on information and..." he pouts and turns, pointing to Esposito, seeing a way out. "He is just as bad, worse even."

Esposito's eyes grow wide and his mouth drops open in shock before he turns. "Oh throw me under the bus bro, nice."

"But he's not wrong, is he?" Lanie chirps, with a smirk, eyeing Esposito as he moves around her apartment all too comfortably.

"No," He agrees shocking her into silence for the first time all night. "Ryan isn't wrong." He throws back a little of the attitude that's being aimed at him, enjoying sparring with her, even if they do have an audience. "We do have work to do and cases that need..."

A low growl from behind has them all turning or rising in confusion as Alexis stalks through the room "There are always cases, always excuses...it's frustrating...infuriating...she's infuriating."

Alexis paces, her hands on her hips as she narrowly avoids the boys, who move out of her way as she storms about the room intimidatingly. The two men catch each others eye, one raising an eyebrow and the other responding with a sly grin. Alexis is looking a lot like the woman she's annoyed with as she slams around the room her eyes fierce.

Lanie turns, waving her finger "Hey, little Castle, I love you I really do, but do not bad mouth my girl in front of me. She's been working through some stuff and, sure, she's slow...my god snails move faster than she does. But...she's ready."

Martha puts her glass down on the table as she sits up, making herself known to the room. Her voice is commanding, forceful when she speaks "My son's been ready and willing to wait but she lied to him." She shakes her head, sighing softly, "He can forgive a lot," she looks pointedly at Alexis, her mind flooded with memories, her eyes softening, "God knows he's had to, but she lied."

Lanie waits a second, taking in the pain and anger in the older woman's voice before she asks "What?"

Martha sighs, "Richard heard her in the interrogation room, the day of the bombing. He heard her say.."

"She remembers..." Lanie nods "Oh, this explains so much." She can feel the eyes of everyone in the room focus in on her as she has a mini revelation all alone. It's easy when you have all the information, and therein lies the problem. "Kate said she could feel Castle pulling away, but she didn't know why. I get it now," She smiles widely "God, they are both so freaking blind."

Martha chuckles "For a Detective and a mystery writer they sure do miss some glaringly obvious clues."

"But so did he." Alexis suddenly blurts out, as if she has had an epiphany of her own, unaware as the other four stop dead to stare at her.

Esposito elbows Ryan as he sits on the arm of the sofa "You following this?"

Ryan shrugs, his eyes looking pained "Kind of." He lies. He's pretty certain he knows what's coming.

Alexis shakes her head "Grams you said Detective Beckett lied, but Dad did too." The girl speaks with such reverence that Lanie realises she's missing something else now.

There are too many damn secrets floating around and she can feel her tentative grip on her temper slipping rapidly.

Martha opens and then audibly shuts her mouth, unable to defend or deny anything. She lets out a breath, scrunching her lips and tilting her head. "This is a complete and utter fiasco." She exclaims picking up her glass again and swigging from it.

"You knew."

Esposito and Lanie both turn to stare at Ryan, before they bark at the same time "Knew what?"

They startle, catching each others gaze and there is a roaring flash of heat between them.

Their eyes remain locked and, oh, it's not good.

They are doing that Castle/Beckett thing, or maybe it's worse. It's the Javier/Lanie thing that leads to blushing memories and late night phone calls. Frantic, heaving, desperate, kisses and...

Ohh god.

Lanie swallows as she remembers last night and being pressed deliciously slowly into the couch Martha and Ryan are sitting on at this very moment. If they only knew that...

Martha clears her throat with a smirk, before she looks at Alexis, who in turn looks to Ryan and asks "He told you?"

Ryan nods with another sigh, "Yeah."

"Oh well isn't this all just a fine mess." Martha says refilling her glass before plonking the wine bottle down on the table

The three of them nod, all in agreement about a situation that continues to leave Lanie in the dark. She can feel her patience slipping again and she starts to talk in a singsong, scary, voice that quickly captures everyone's attention. "Oh Javi, I'm gonna kill one of them if someone doesn't tell me what the hell is going on."

But Esposito doesn't react at all how she expects, his eyes are narrowed as he looks back and forth between Martha and Alexis, before levying the full force of his gaze on his silent partner.

"He looked into the case didn't he." Esposito states with a slow shake of his head.

"WHAT case." Lanie barks as the final shard of patience she was clinging to explodes into nothing. She glares around the room, moving away from them all as they stare at her. Like she's slow, like its obvious what case...

And just like that, it is.

Her mouth opens and closes, once, twice before she finds her voice again. "No way in hell...and he's upset cos she didn't tell him she heard him? Oh that hypo..."

"Do not call my son a hypocrite." Martha warns.

"But he is one..." Lanie says rolling her eyes and folding her arms across her chest.

"So is she." Alexis blurts out defending her father, expecting an argument, a tirade from the other woman in defence of her friend, but Lanie laughs.

"Oh I'm not denying it. They're both morons."

Alexis huffs a relieved laugh as she nods "Idiots."

"Dumb-asses." Esposito grunts in agreement.

Martha stands, dramatically claiming the attention of the room as she raises her glass in a toast "And so say all of us."

They laugh, and it's enough to break the tension. It reminds them all that they aren't here to take sides, there is no team division. They have one common goal, they are a united front in the face of stupidity, denial and secrets.

"So Chica, " Esposito says, raising his eyebrow and flashing her a smile "You're running this show, what's the plan here?"

Lanie grins wickedly at him, before turning the full force of her calculating smile on the rest of the room and saying with a satisfied hum "Divide and conquer."