Things between Rick and I had been better than I could have imagined. I know that Espo and Ryan had their speculations. On the job, it was business as usual for the sake of keeping everything quiet. The only difference between now and the past is that I knew what he was thinking without him ever saying a single word. Rick could read me better than he ever had in the past. There was no guessing, just a familiar knowledge that I found to be very reassuring and comforting. Gates was still completely unaware as far as I knew. I was convinced that if she found out, Castle would be deemed an unnecessary distraction.
Castle was a small distraction since I had come to know him so well on my own personal time in such a personal way. I tried not to think about how we spent our nights together when no one was around. It took a lot of energy and concentration on my part to come up with good lies and keep memories from distracting me. I know that Rick had to be doing the same thing within his own mind. He was man.
The only person I knew that would not be easily fooled would be the one woman who had been pushing me the whole time. Lanie was nobody's fool and eventually she would know. A case would unravel my lie and an inopportune moment would get us figured out.
It all started when my phone rang around four in the morning. In the past, I would call Castle. All I had to do now was whisper in his ear after getting his attention with a kiss on the back of his neck. He grumbled a satisfied grumble and touched my face.
"I just got a call of Espo. We have a body." I only saw Rick smile.
I thought I heard a grumbling "okay" that did not make it much passed the pillow.
I dressed and made sure Rick was up. I knew it would be a risk to have Castle arrive with me. I could still make up some story to keep the secret a little longer from the boys. It was Lanie that worried me the most. She would read something into it and I would have to come up with a bigger lie to cover it up.
"Castle, Beckett…Coming in at the same time." I overheard her mutter to herself before I got there.
Actually, I could not hear her. I was reading her lips if not her mind.
"Well Detective Beckett, our vic is a 21 year old female. It looks like she was killed by blunt force trauma. I don't have much for you until I get her into autopsy to make entirely sure." Lanie's eyes showed suspicion.
"Have the uniforms found any kind of identification as to who she is?" I could tell when she used Detective when I arrived she was catching on quick.
"Nothing here Beckett." Espo snuck up behind me.
I shot Espo a dirty look and waited for Ryan to chime in like he normally does, but he said nothing.
"Esposito, check with missing persons to see if any woman matching her description." I turned on my professional voice.
"Ryan, help him with that. Let me know once we get a hit. Once we know who this poor woman is the sooner we can figure out what happened to her." Rick looked mildly amused by my professional voice.
"Castle and I will be looking around the scene for other clues." I saw no suspicion or indication of concern in their expressions.
"Good job Kate." Castle was careful to not give it away too much.
"I hope you have my coffee I could use it. What I just did sapped my energy reserves." It really had been hard on my energy.
"Yes I do. All you have to do is smile and say "please"." Castle was turning up the charm.
I smiled and said what I had to say. I could never explain why Castle's coffee seemed so much better than mine.
After scouring the scene, we found evidence of a weapon in which the crime scene techs bagged up and a smudged on a card that was also bagged up. Castle had done a remarkable job of playing off any conclusion that anyone could silently assume.
After a week of questioning countless persons of interest, we got our suspect. The young woman had been the suspect's secret obsession until he found her sleeping with another man. He had accidentally killed her in a fit of rage. It had not been until after she did not move that he realized what he had done.
"Now that this case is up, I was thinking a girls night out. I enjoyed the last one so much I am requesting another." Lanie showed up at my desk.
I had plans with Castle but I could not tell her that without raising further suspicion.
"I have work to do back at the apartment. Can we do a rain check?" I asked using the best lie I could come up with.
"We can turn the cleaning into an old fashioned girl's night out. You can't say no to that." I could see Lanie was trying very hard to convince me to go along with it.
"I would rather do the work alone. I can do it another time, just not tonight." I was running out of believable excuses to keep her away.
"Okay. We can do it another time. Take it easy." I should have read the easy defeat as a bad sign that she had not given up.
That night Rick and I returned to my apartment for a nice quiet dinner and a good movie. It was no surprise that we ended up back in my bedroom sprawled out on my bed. We fell asleep completely comfortable cuddled against each other.
My phone beeped letting me know that I had a text message at six Saturday morning. I was half asleep when I read it. It was from Lanie. It simply said that she would stand at my door until I opened it. I was hoping that my movement from the bed would not wake him.
I opened my door and there she was holding a bag that smelled good. I prayed that Rick would not stumble out in his boxers before I could stop him.
"I thought after all the hard work you have done that a good breakfast would be in order." Lanie was smiling at me with suspicion.
"I appreciate the thought. I am starving." I forgot about Rick being within smell distance of the food.
Just as I was about to take a bite, I heard the muffled steps coming into my kitchen. Lanie looked at me with the unspoken question I knew she wanted to ask.
"I thought it was just you here. I bet you have company." Lanie was getting warmer by the minute.
"Kate…What in the world smells so good?" Rick called as he entered the kitchen in his house coat on and hair very messed up.
The look on his face was priceless when he realized that Lanie was there with me. Rick looked shocked at first but then relaxed when it all sunk in. Our secret wasn't just our secret anymore.
"Kate Beckett." The tone of her voice sounded annoyed for my omission.
"Call us busted Kate." He shuffled over and kissed my forehead.
"You mean to tell me that you two have been an item and you did not tell me?" Lanie asked still trying to process what she was seeing.
I did not answer with word. For reasons beyond my understanding, I only turned red and gave my best "I-Confess-Without-Words" grin.
"Do us both a favor and keep this to yourself. I am trying not to share this information with anyone else at the 12th." I smiled when I felt his warm hands massage my shoulders through my t-shirt.
It looked like Lanie was thinking about it pretty hard before she answered.
"I can do that. But I do have one thing to say about it." I listened with extreme apprehension and attention.
I waited nervously to know what that was. I had my conclusions but you never quite know what the people closest to us will say.
"It is about damn time. I thought you two would either come together or one of you would leave. I will leave you two love birds to your own devices and I will shop by myself." Lanie left the food behind before gathering up her purse and leaving.
My lesson in this episode of my life was that don't ever try to hide anything from your best friend, because they always figure it out.