Chapter 7:

Good 'Ol Lanie!

"I need to go," she began, her mind slowly registering the enormity of what had just transpired between them. "I'm so sorry."

It didn't take long for Beckett to rush out of the apartment. All of her emotions were mixing up inside of her, almost making her feel nauseous. Before she could close the door behind her, she managed to catch a glimpse of Castle, still frozen in place, looking like someone had just run over his puppy.

And I'm the one who put it there. I kissed Castle. We kissed. How am I supposed to work with him after this?

Shaking herself slightly, she tried to think of something else, but to no avail. Frustrated with herself, she allowed herself to relive it.

Face it, Kate. You liked it. And that scares you.

"Damn!" she groaned, pulling out her phone. She quickly dialed Lanie's number, hoping that her friend would answer. Her prayers were soon answered; because her best friend's cheery voice seemed to spring out from the phone.

"Hey girl!" Lanie said happily. "What's up? Where have you been? I've been trying to reach you all day. I even called Writer Boy looking for you. Man, did he sound PISSED! It was almost like I interrupted one of his conquests or something."

"I need to see you, actually. Are you busy?"

"Sure, hon. What's wrong?"

"That's what I was going to talk to you about when I get there."

"Do I need to have tissues and a gallon of ice cream ready?"

"No, I'm not that upset. I'm more confused, if that makes any sense. Anyway, I should be there in about ten minutes. Is that okay?"

"Yeah. Just give me a buzz as usual and I'll let you in."

After hanging up with Lanie, Kate went to her car and began driving to Lanie's apartment. Her phone buzzed, signaling she had a phone call. Seeing Castle's name on caller ID, she hovered hesitantly over the answering button before declining the call altogether. She decided that she really needed to talk to Lanie before she had any sort of interaction with Castle again. She was in far too fragile a state of mind for anything good to come out of her mouth.

As if sensing that Kate was standing right outside the door, Lanie opened it to find her having an internal battle with herself.

"You gonna come in, or just stand there?" she inquired, pausing to look Kate up and down as she entered before shutting the door. "By the way, you look like hell."

"Thanks, that's comforting," Kate shot back, wincing at the bite in her tone.

"Whoa, calm down there, Killer. What's got you all twisted? I thought we were supposed to go shopping, but you stood me up."

"I know, and I'm sorry about that. Castle texted me at 3 this morning because he couldn't relax enough to go to sleep. Naturally, I went over there to try to help."

"Oh, I'm sure you helped him….in one way or another," Lanie said smugly, giving her a knowing look.

"Okay, before you start thinking we had sex or something, we didn't. We started out by watching a movie, and we ended up falling asleep together on the couch."

"Then why are you blushing?"

"Well, originally, I was curled up on top of him, but when I tried to move, he flipped us so I was underneath him. It was too intimate. I flipped him off the couch and onto the floor."

"What did he say about it?"

"He apologized, and I assured him that it would never happen again. And then there was this morning at the dance studio. Castle had to wear a G String. He stopped when he had to wear the cover over it. He didn't want to take it off. He kept saying that it wasn't a good idea, and he looked right at me as he said it."

"So what was wrong?"

"Well, he finally was forced to take it off. And he did."

"So what was the big deal? Just because you were in the room, or what?"

"Well," Kate hesitated, biting her lip. "His G String was entirely too small, and he was pretty much popping out everywhere. Apparently, he's a lot bigger than everyone expected."

"Holy shit! So you actually saw it? No wonder why Writer Boy's so cocky! He's got every reason to be!"

"I didn't see it in its entirety, no. There was still a good bit hidden by his G String, but I got pretty much a good show, yeah."

"What did he do afterwards?"

"I don't know. I left the room in a pretty big hurry. He was mortified! I wasn't about to shame him any further. He honestly tried pretty hard to stop himself from having to be THAT exposed."

"Yeah, but he was dancing in front of you, the object of all of his fantasies."

"Lanie, you're being completely ridiculous."

"So then what?"

"We went back to his place. He had been trying to get me to talk about what had just happened the entire time, and I really didn't want to. So, naturally we argued. We took it upstairs to his apartment because he was pissing me off."

"He pisses you off on almost an hourly basis, if not more frequent than that. You really need a better excuse."

"I don't know how it happened, but he suddenly had me crushed against him…and he was kissing me."

"You kissed him? Whoa, that IS big. How was it?"

"Passionate. He was so angry with me when he did it. I refused to talk about things with him because we're just partners. Partners shouldn't really notice or care about certain things. They should just do their job to the best of their abilities."

"Oh geez. You honestly gave him the "we're just partners" speech? I hate to be the one to break it to you, but you've never been "just partners" to each other. I mean, have you seen the way he looks at you? It's like he's trying to devour you with his eyes. He follows you around like a lost puppy. The man is head over heels for you."

"We practically had sex up against his door."

"WHAT? What stopped you?"

"Technically…and don't think I'm mad in any way…" Kate stopped, swallowing hard before continuing, "…you did."

"What?"

"You called before things got…hot and heavy."

"So THAT'S why Castle sounded so pissed! I figured I was interrupting something, but I never figured it was with you. Damn, girl! I feel really bad now! You could have been getting your freak on had I not called!"

"No, it's okay. Really, it really is. I'm glad you did."

"Why? Don't you want to see where this can take you?"

"Don't shoot me for saying this, but I'm honestly not sure. I mean, the primal side of me is yelling at me for ever saying otherwise. I don't want to lose him. I know I'm being such an illogical freak about it…"

"Then you should probably stop that."

"But I know that sex changes everything. I don't want for anything to ruin our friendship. I just feel like if we have sex, that's all he'll ever want out of me."

"Do you really think so little of him?"

"That's just it! I think too much of him or about him! He's invading my sleep and waking hours. I'm completely immersed in him at work, he visits on the weekends…"

"Sounds like dating to me."

"I know. And this case isn't helping either of us. Maybe I should just make Karpowski work with him. Every time I'm going to see him now, all I'm going to think about is how I want to tear off every bit of his clothing and see what he's really got."

"And you know, he'd probably let you. Look, I'd go back there and talk to him about things. If you're worried, he could probably help you relax. You're so tense right now. If you don't work this out, this case isn't going to get solved because your cover would easily get blown."

"So you're basically telling me to sleep with Castle for the sake of this case?"

"Hey, if that's what you're getting from this, then sure. But what I really meant is, don't block yourself from exploring things with him if the opportunity were to ever present itself again. You'll live to regret it if you do. Now, enough with this! I'm hungry and am feeling like a girl's night. No more talk of Castle is allowed!"

A/N: What did you think? Thanks to all for the reviews and responses. I'm so overwhelmed right now that I'm blushing. Will Kate let herself go and give in to Castle? REVIEW!