Here is the next installment... Thanks for your continued support and give a round of applause to Muse for staying up late to help me (: what would we do without her?

~MDH

Liar

Castle jumped as the door to the loft slammed.

Uh-oh. Rick thought. Kate is not too happy right now.

As if sensing his thoughts, she stormed into his office.

"You're a liar. I can't believe you!"

Double taking, he spoke quickly.

"Wait, what did I do now?" Clearly he was confused. But then again he always was.

"I told you, not to do it, and you promised you wouldn't! Really, Castle?" She was unmistakably exasperated (once again) by his antics.

"Why can't you listen to me for once in your life?" Her hands found her hips, fingers tapping heatedly, as she stood in front of him with an eyebrow raised.

Dumbfounded, he tried to make sense of her frustrated rambling. Standing quickly, he grabbed her hands, stilling the furious

tapping from her fingers and brought them to his chest.

"Sweetheart, you are going to have to refresh my memory. I seem to be lost," he glanced at her, seeing something more in her eyes than just the angry glint on the surface. Something else was definitely there, but he couldn't put his finger on it. "What did I do this time? I swear, I did NOT touch your chair. That was Esposito!" His voice lowered. "I told him not to mess with it. I knew I would be the one to get in trouble."

Kate's hand moved to his mouth and covered it quickly. She was NOT in the mood to hear him complain about Esposito's recent crimes.

"Mr. Castle, you know EXACTLY what I am talking about. A little Castle told me what you bought the other day."

Alexis. He thought bitterly. How could my own child betray me like that?

She spoke again. "And I want to know why, exactly," a flash of annoyance gleamed in her eyes, "you chose to disobey my direct orders?"

Castle gulped loudly.

"Well, I – uh. Well, you see, I just, uhm. Yeah, well….I—I…uh. Because?" He started to get pale as Kate's eyes bore into his.

"Because—what, hon?" A dangerous look swept over her face. She moved forward until he was pushed against his desk.

"What the matter, sweetie? Cat got your tongue?" Her hands moved over his chest and shoulders, up to his ear. He flinched.

Kate smiled and laughed, pinching his ear.

"YOUCH!" He squealed.

"I'M SORRY HONEY! I'M SORRY! Apples-apples-APPLES!" Screeching loudly, he apologized profusely until she relinquished the death grip on his ear.

Kneeling at her feet he spoke once again. "Kate, I am sorry… but it's not like I wasn't going to buy you a birthday present. I had to! You're gonna love it, I promise!"

Kate just smirked and bent over to look at him in the eye.

"Now Castle, was that so hard?" He shook his head as his hand rubbed his reddening ear.

She helped him up from the floor. "Show me this wonderful present of mine. It better be good, or your other ear is going to get it."

He grabbed her hands for the second time that evening and pulled her towards their bedroom for her surprise. She playfully reached for his other ear a time or two, each instance causing him to both let out a yelp and spring out of reach.

Yes, his ears were going to pay. But this time, he was certain the benefits would far outweigh the costs.

Don't forget to leave a lovely review!

~MDH

(Publisher's Note: We are sorry there was no update last night, and that this update is coming so late tonight. apparently is going through some maintenance, so until it is finished (they are saying by Tuesday, they hope) I will do my best to post chapters. We should be back on track soon... I am planning on updating again and posting 'M' tonight, but I'll have to see if it will even let me. I was surprised that it even let me in (after three tries) right now to post this. Bear with me! ~MTAM)