Although it's really late here, I just couldn't wait until a decent time of day to post this. I'm really excited about this chapter. It was such fun to write. Lanie's discussion with Kate will be in this chapter. I just had to find a way to still have it be from Castle's POV. That took me a tiny bit to figure out and is the main reason for the delay in posting this.

Disclaimer: I don't even remember when I last did one of these, so I'd better do another one. I do not own Castle, which just means that I can have tons of fun writing fan fiction about it. Now if there was just a way to get Andrew Marlowe to read some of them (there are some awesome fan fics out there that would work perfectly for the show; whenever I read one, I mention it when I leave a review).

Honey, just because you can't see what's going on, doesn't mean that everyone else can't see what's going on.

A Rose For Everafter

"She said 'see you tomorrow, right?" Rick asked Martha a few moments after Kate had left the loft. A part of him couldn't believe that he was asking his mother, of all people, for reassurance. But she was the only one there, and for all of her love of melodrama, Rick knew that she could be a surprisingly steady anchor when he was falling apart. Which he was on the verge of doing at that very moment.

"Yes, darling, she did," Martha said.

Rick didn't know how much more of this he could take. Those days without Kate after he'd told her about being able to read her mind, with her cold "Unless I call you" ringing in his ears, had hit him hard. Having her need to leave again, this time looking like she was on the verge of tears, tore at his already battered heart. Even though he understood her need to go, it still felt like rejection.

Rick had no clue how long he'd stood there lost in thought, Martha's hand still on his shoulder. He usually needed to keep himself busy, but he just couldn't bring himself to move from the spot where he'd been standing when he'd last seen Kate.

After a while, Rick admitted to his mother that he just needed some time to himself. After giving him a brief hug, Martha headed upstairs.

Finally, not knowing what else to do, Rick went to his office to get his laptop. Settling down on the couch in the family room, he started writing. Like he had done the last time he'd been without Kate, Rick poured out all of his thoughts and feelings in a short story that no one else would read. This time, though, he couldn't even bring himself to use the fictional names of Nikki Heat and Jameson Rook. It was either write or hurl a glass-or two or three or four-against the wall. That was way too violent a reaction for his taste, and would probably make his mother more worried about him than she already was. It would make him more worried about his emotional state than he already was.

Rick had just shut down his computer and was contemplating at least attempting to sleep when an image of Kate and Lanie filled his mind.

For the first time since the whole mind reading thing had started, Rick began to feel real hope. He recognized what he was seeing as one of Kate's memories. That meant that she had to be close. It also meant that she was showing the memory to him willingly. Which meant that maybe, just maybe, Kate Beckett was finally done hiding...

"Girl, you're a mess," where the first words out of Lanie's mouth when she saw her distraught friend. "So are you going to tell me what this is all about?"

"He knows, Lanie," Kate choked out. "He knows everything."
"What are you talking about?" Lanie asked. "Does this have something to do with Castle?"

Kate nodded.

"So what exactly does Castle know?" Lanie questioned her friend.

"Everything, Lanie!" The words burst out of Kate. "Last summer, the hotel room, the fantasies-everything!"

"Whoa, back up, girl," Lanie said. "You're making very little sense right now." Then her eyes went wide as what Kate had just said sunk in. "Hold on, did you say fantasies?"

"If that was all he knew about, it wouldn't be so bad," Kate admitted. "I could deal with him knowing how much I-"

"Want to get your freak on with Writer Boy?" Lanie supplied with a knowing smirk.

"Lanie!" Kate could feel her face growing hot.

"Just calling it like I see it," Lanie said with a shrug.

"I wouldn't put it exactly like that, Lanie," Kate said. "That makes is sound too...and it's more...it just sounds wrong, okay?"

"Ah, I think I get it." Lanie smiled slyly at her friend. "It makes is sound like its just lust when we both know it's a lot more like love. Am I right?"

"Lanie!"

"Don't Lanie me," Lanie was in no way intimidated. "You've been in love with that man for at least a solid year. If you don't see that, the only one you've been fooling is yourself."

"I was mostly trying to fool him," Kate mumbled.

Lanie shook her head. "Bad idea," she said. "What if you succeeded? Esposito told me what he said to you last summer. Last year it was Demming. This year it's Josh. How long do you think Castle will hang around this time?"

There was no way Lanie could miss the way Kate flinched and tears glistened in her eyes, threatening to fall.

"I know," Kate whispered in a shaky voice. "It could have happened again. Castle could have left again. And if he had," a couple tears slipped from her eyes and slid down her cheeks, "he wouldn't have come back."

"So have you finally told him you and the doctor are history?" Lanie asked.

"He knows," Kate said, letting out a slow breath, trying to regain what little composure she had.

"That's something at least," Lanie said. "When did you tell him?"

How do I explain this? "I didn't," was all she ended up saying.

"Then who did?" Lanie asked.

"No one."

"You're not making sense again, Kate," Lanie said. "How does Castle know that you and Josh are no longer an item if no one has told him?"

"See, that's where things get weird."

"Things are rarely normal with Castle," Lanie pointed out.

"True," Kate agreed with her friend's assessment of her partner. "But this is weird, even for Castle. Mind reading is involved."

"Did you just say mind reading?" Lanie asked. "You, who laugh at Castle's alien theories and roll your eyes at psychics?"
"It's like Castle said, Lanie, mind reading would be really hard to fake."

"And yet he pulled it off well enough to fool you?"

Kate sighed. "I didn't believe him at first. But then..."

"What?"

"He knew that I thought his alien infiltrating the C.I.A. theory was funny, because he could hear me laughing in my mid. Then he knew that I was wondering if he was pulling a prank because of the whole mummy curse thing, when the guys and I rigged his chair and the espresso machine. Without me having said a word out loud. Then he started answering my thoughts..."

"Okay, okay," Lanie held up a hand to stop Kate's flow of words. "So he can read your mind."

Suddenly Kate felt a twinge of panic. 'You can't let anyone know, Lanie," she implored her friend. "We'll be thrown into a psych ward. Or some government agency will treat us like lab rats."

"Don't worry," Lanie said. "If I told anyone, I'd be right there with you." She thought for a moment, and then a wide smile graced her lips. "These fantasies you have about Castle...what exactly can he hear?"

"Anything I'm saying or thinking," Kate said. "But it's more than that. He can see them, too. Like he's watching a movie, or something."

Lanie squealed with glee. "So after a mind-blowing kiss, then what happened?" she asked, assuming that Rick's seeing Kate's fantasies had to have resulted in a kiss between the two. "Something obviously went wrong, or you wouldn't be here right now."

"Kiss?" Kate was puzzled. "What does that have to do with anything? That happened months ago."
"You kissed Castle months ago and didn't tell me?" Lanie shrieked.

"Lanie, calm down. It was an undercover thing, to throw off the guard so that we could get in to save Ryan and Esposito. I haven't even spoken with Castle about it."

"So how was it?"

"I really can't think about that right now."
"Nuh uh, girl," Lanie said with a shake of her head. "Spill."
"Fine," Kate grudgingly gave in. "I'll just say this-most of the fantasies have those kisses in there somewhere."

"Did you say kisses? As in more than one?"

Oops. Now I'm in for it.

"The first one wasn't enough to fool the guard," Kate explained. "So yeah, there was more than one."

"How many more?" Lanie demanded to know.

There's no way Lanie is going to let this go.

Kate chuckled and shook her head at her news hungry friend. "Just the two, Lanie. But it was enough to fool the guard."

"And give you fodder for fantasies for months," Lanie's eyes were shinning with excitement. "Some of which Castle has seen. So what about the kiss he gave you after seeing your fantasies?"

What is Lanie talking about?

"He didn't kiss me," Kate said, her tone showing her confusion at her friend's comment. "And before you ask, I didn't kiss him, either. I came close once," Kate admitted, thinking of when Castle had opened the door in nothing but a towel, "but nothing happened."

"You're telling me that Richard Castle, whom has practically every unattached woman between 25 and 45 that can get close enough throwing themselves at him on a fairly consistent basis, didn't so much as kiss you when he saw your fantasies? Fantasies that were about him, I might add?"

Lanie has a point. Why didn't Castle try anything? I know he's not as much the playboy as the media makes him out to be, but he's no monk, either. So why?

"What did he do?" Lanie asked.

Kate wracked her brain, trying to remember. "He either pretended like nothing happened or he left the room. Once I followed him into the break room, because I was worried about him."

"And then what happened?"

"He told me that he was trying to remember all the good reasons to not kiss me," Kate said, unable to stop the blush that reddened her cheeks. "Because he said that was the only thing stopping him from kissing me."

"And then?" Lanie pressed.

"Then, nothing," Kate said. "After that we were focused on trying to figure everything out about the mind reading."

Lanie's lips curved into a beaming smile. "That is so cute!"
"What is?"

"Don't you see what he was doing?" Lanie asked excitedly.

"No," Kate drew the word out slowly, showing that she was at a complete loss over what Lanie was getting at.

"He was being a gentleman, honey," Lanie explained. "He knew that you couldn't control your thoughts, so he was either running from temptation or acting like it wasn't a big deal, so that you wouldn't be embarrassed. Or at least any more embarrassed than you already were."

"That's not all," Kate suddenly realized aloud. "When he found out about how I really felt when he went away to the Hamptons last summer, he didn't insist that we talk about it. All he did was give me a hug and tell me about the mind reading thing. And then again, when he knew everything I was thinking about at the hotel in L.A., he-"

"He what?" Lanie asked.

"He gave me what I needed," Kate said, still somewhat stunned by her epiphany.

He gave me the space I needed. Like he's doing right now.

"I need to go," Kate said suddenly.

I need to go now. I can't wait until tomorrow. I need to see him now.

"Go where?" Lanie asked, although the twinkle in her eye showed that she knew.

"To see Castle."

So what did you guys think? There is only going to be another chapter or two of this, but I'm debating having an epilogue. Would you guys rather the story end on an emotional note (no epilogue) or a humorous one? I'll let you guys decide.